Christmas 2020 Message From Ronnie Milsap & Mike Huckabee

Click here & here to hear two beautiful Christmas renditions from Ronnie Milsap with Mike on base.  

Merry Christmas & Happy 2021.

The Passing Of Professor Williams

It was with extreme sorrow that I learned of the sudden death of Professor Williams last week - one of my life long mentors.

Professor Williams influenced generations of students starting in the 1970s @ Temple University all the way through his forty years of academic excellence @ George Mason University, including being head of the economics department.  He died shortly after his last class of the current semester.

My fondest personal experience with Professor Williams was when I had a question about something I had heard him say & called his office @ George Mason to talk to him about it - & left a voicemail message detailing my question.  Well, the professor had no idea who I was other than I was someone (i.e., a student) with a question who took the time to call him.  The next morning Professor Williams returned the call to my home & asked to speak to me.  I took notes & have presented what he told me countless times on RTE.

Thanks to Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) for sending me this video of Professor Williams' seminar entitled The Role Of Government In A Free Society & to Hillsdale College for the professor's Imprimas essay entitled Future Prospects For Economic Liberty.

Long time readers of RTE, who are students of economics, libertarianism, individualism, & free market value, know that the principles presented on this blog follow the teachings of Professor Williams, Ayn Rand, Frederic Bastiat, Susan Lee, Professor Friedman, & Thomas Sowell.

My condolences.

Thanksgiving Proclamation In The Year Of The Independence Of The United States Of America The One Hundred & Twenty-First

On November 4, 1896 President Grover Cleveland issued Proclamation 388 - Thanksgiving Day, 1896 to the people of the United States - the same people our Constitution has to do with.

President Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms as president & governed in the mold of our founders.  He emphasized economic freedom & economic liberalism following the teachings of John Locke, Jean-Baptiste Say, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, & Adam Smith.

In this regard President Cleveland promoted laissez-faire capitalism, fiscal discipline, opposition to high-tariff protectionism, & the gold standard.  He used his veto power more than any previous president to control Congress's growing spending appetite, often citing our founding principles of limited government & personal responsibility as the reason for his veto.  In vetoing spending bills that Congress intended for purely local or regional benefit & not for the "general Welfare of the United States" (i.e., national welfare), President Cleveland was following the example of virtually every president before him especially our best president James Monroe & our first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, the founder of the nation's financial system.

In order to sustain the excellence of a self reliant citizenry that he gave thanks for, President Cleveland believed that it is the neighborliness & charity of fellow countrymen that should be relied upon to relieve local misfortunes of fellow citizens & not government dependent handouts.

Below is President Cleveland's message to Congress during his first administration highlighting what he perceived as the injustice of taking more money from the people than the government needed to pay its operating expenses as delineated in the Constitution.

"When we consider that the theory of our institutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may be his share toward the careful and economical maintenance of the Government which protects him, it is plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice ... The public Treasury, which should only exist as a conduit conveying the people's tribute to its legitimate objects of expenditure, becomes a hoarding place for money needlessly withdrawn from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our national energies, suspending our country's development, preventing investment in productive enterprise, threatening financial disturbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder."

Cleveland's third annual message to Congress, December 6, 1887.[124]

In selecting this Thanksgiving Day proclamation, that has been an annual observance on RTE since starting the observance in 2014 thanks to One America News Network, I was particularly struck by President Cleveland's thanks "for our defense against disease & pestilence during the year that has passed."  

Grover Cleveland - 24th President of the United States: 1893 ‐ 1897

Proclamation 388—Thanksgiving Day, 1896

November 04, 1896

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The people of the United States should never be unmindful of the gratitude they owe the God of Nations for His watchful care, which has shielded them from dire disaster and pointed out to them the way of peace and happiness. Nor should they ever refuse to acknowledge with contrite hearts their proneness to turn away from God's teachings and to follow with sinful pride after their own devices.

To the end that these thoughts may be quickened it is fitting that on a day especially appointed we should join together in approaching the Throne of Grace with praise and supplication.

Therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, president of the United States, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 26th day of the present month of November, to be kept and observed as a day of thanksgiving and prayer throughout our land.

On that day let all our people forego their usual work and occupation, and, assembled in their accustomed places of worship, let them with one accord render thanks to the Ruler of the Universe for our preservation as a nation and our deliverance from every threatened danger, for the peace that has dwelt within our boundaries, for our defense against disease and pestilence during the year that has passed, for the plenteous rewards that have followed the labors of our husbandmen, and for all the other blessings that have been vouch safer to us.

And let us, through the mediation of Him who has taught us how to pray, implore the forgiveness of our sins and a continuation of heavenly favor.

Let us not forget on this day of thanksgiving the poor and needy, and by deeds of charity let our offerings of praise be made more acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

Witness my hand and the seal of the United States, which I have caused to be hereto affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 4th day of November, A. D. 1896, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and twenty-first.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President:

RICHARD OLNEY,

Secretary of State.

Grover Cleveland, Proclamation 388—Thanksgiving Day, 1896 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/205596

God Bless The USA & Veterans

Click here to hear Lee Greenwood dedicate his signature song to veterans.

Biden & Harris Want To Ruin Everything

To paraphrase Jon Voight's open letter to America presented on RTE on May 17, 2010 - the American people are witnessing a skillful deception to fundamentally transform America that is being cleverly orchestrated by the Democrat party where a malleable elderly man (Biden) of significant mental decline is set up to be a temporary President with the most progressive member of the Senate (Harris) set to take over implementing AOC's agenda.  The Biden-Harris campaign has taken advantage of & run a presidential campaign around the physical constraints of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic that has kept Biden sheltered from scrutiny - a campaign of the worst sort designed to attract the needs of people who have not educated themselves enough to understand the forthcoming assault on their liberties that they take for granted & upon the very poor, elderly, & needy who live to be taken care of. 

Biden & Harris will do or say anything to get elected - from not answering questions about whether or not they plan to pack the Supreme Court with people who have no intention of following the Constitution to outright lying about not banning fracking after Harris was an original Senate co-sponsor of AOC's Green New Deal.  It's a real sleight of hand how the Biden campaign can put the Green New Deal on its website & also disavow it - & get away with it. 

The Wuhan coronavirus pandemic has given Biden cover for staying close to home.

But what has become obvious to even the least discerning among us is that Biden is an empty suit that will be used like a Trojan horse, if he wins, to bring in all the Bernie Bros to run the government - Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, Ilhan Omar, & the rest of the Squad.

This is being tipped to us by Kamala Harris referring to "a Harris administration together with Joe Biden" & then Biden himself referring to "the Harris Biden administration."   From there Biden has @ least three times during the campaign said he is running for the Senate not presidency, & could not remember Mitt Romney's name although Paul Ryan was his counterpart on the 2012 ticket.  And who could forget Julian Castro questioning Biden's memory from "two minutes ago" in a Democrat primary debate in 2019 (notice Biden turning to Bernie for support from Castro's attack & Bernie offering it @ 26 seconds on this video - snip below).

Now the Trojan horse idea is not being accepted well by AOC who has plans to force Biden to adopt her agenda if he wins the presidency.

On October 8 AOC & the Squad joined forces with the Working Families Party (WFP) to put out their agenda known as the People's Charter.  The WFP endorsed first Elizabeth Warren, then Bernie Sanders, & lastly Joe Biden on August 13 just before the Democrat National Convention. 

AOC's People's Charter wants to 1) defund policing, jails, & detention centers & shift money saved into other areas of need, 2) provide free Covid testing & treatment for all, including a vaccine once it is available, 3) extend expanded $600 per week Unemployment Insurance, including to illegal aliens, until the pandemic passes, 4) cancel rent & suspend debt payments, & ban evictions, foreclosures, & utility shut-offs during the pandemic, 5) ensure every student learning from home has the devices, nutrition, & accommodations they need, 6) care for the homeless, migrants, people with disabilities, trans people, & survivors of domestic & sexual violence, by making sure everyone can access vital services & has a safe place to go, 7) direct federal funding to states & cities to prevent layoffs & cuts to schools, hospitals, & other public services, 8) get help to small businesses to protect jobs, 9) put 16 million people to work immediately upgrading infrasturcture, & modernizing & retrofitting millions of homes & buildings to make them more energy efficient while raising the minimum wage everywhere to $15 per hour, 10) make healthcare free & universal while taking healthcare insurance & profits out of the picture, 11) ensure that every worker who wants a union can join one, 12) guarantee universal child care, paid family & medical leave & paid sick days, & income support for parents taking care of kids full time, 13) provide safe, affordable housing for all, 14) cancel student debt, 15) tax the giant corporations & the wealth of billionaires who don't pay their fair share (in AOC's opinion), & 16) save the USPS so we can vote by mail.

Although AOC has always said she will support the Democrat nominee she also said that Biden throwing a "couple of bones" the progressives' way won't be enough, meaning that the agenda of Bernie, Warren, & the rest of AOC's squad - partially summarized above - will remain front & center if Biden wins the presidency.

Of course Biden has his own destructive plans for America.  Most notably - Biden's tax plan would repeal the Trump individual tax cuts, meaning just about everyone would pay more income taxes under Biden than Trump including the small business owners who would pay more than 25% additional taxes (including the payroll tax increase) through the individual tax rates instead of the corporate tax rates - these small business owners employ more than 40 million people.  The step up in basis for inheritances would be eliminated & the quadruple whammy here is the increase in the estate tax rate coupled with the lowering of the exemption & the doubling of capital gains tax rates on these inheritances when sold.  Whether you come under these regulations or not the entire estate-inheritance tax matter is grossly unfair.  Biden plans to raise the  corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% (plus state rates) & increase taxes on foreign income while imposing a new minimum tax on U.S. companies thereby reducing the projected earnings of the S&P 500 by over 9% for starters - source BofA Global Research.

An Analysis Of Vice President Biden's Economic Agenda: The Long Run Impacts Of Its Regulation, Taxes, And Spending, a Hoover Institution Study by Fitzgerald, Hassett, Kallen, & Mulligan dated October 13, 2020 is an economic report just completed that includes Biden's proposals on the economy as a whole.  The report concludes "that in the long run, Biden's agenda would reduce full time equivalent employment per person by about 3 percent, the capital stock per person by about 15 percent, real GDP per capita by more than 8 percent, and real consumption per household by about 7 percent. Relative to the CBO's 2030 projections for these variables, this suggests there will be 4.9 million fewer employed individuals, $2.6 trillion less in GDP, and $1.5 trillion less consumption in that year alone. Median household income in 2030 would be $6,500 less."  

All told, Biden is proposing a record $3.8 trillion over ten years in new taxes compared to Hillary's proposed $1.1 trillion in new taxes in 2016.

In addition Biden plans, & is virtually obligated, to do away with Trump's $10,000 yearly cap on federal deductions for state & local income taxes whereby politicians from high tax states (Democrat controlled states like NY, NJ, & CA) hide the real cost of their state governments meaning that people in low income areas in Alabama & Mississippi picked up part of the high tax states' costs prior to the enactment of the cap.  Since enactment of the tax cut law in 2017, under Trump, high income taxpayers in NY, NJ, & CA have paid their share of state & local taxes in full & many do not like it. 

In mid-July Biden made a $2 trillion over four year proposal to combat climate change which when added to the more than $7 trillion over ten years in new federal spending he previously proposed just shows that after a while all of the spending turns into a blur of numbers that has no meaning other than it will be paid for by tax increases on corporations & the wealthy – meaning all middle class readers of this blog – & stimulus spending meaning expanding the money supply so that everyone pays via inflation. 

In this regard the aforementioned $2 trillion is a climate change down payment.  AOC's Green New Deal is in reality the largest expansion of government since LBJ's Great Society – a previous post detailed the costs @ $93 trillion over ten years.  It not only proposes getting the U.S. off of fossil fuels within nine years, & counting - now getting close to eight years - but also provides universal healthcare, government job & housing guarantees, & a host of impractical ideas like replacing air travel with trains & upgrading & retrofitting every building in America to make them more energy efficient.  In short, it is more about AOC's economic agenda for America & less about eliminating carbon emissions that Biden is stumbling into.

Biden's proposals are nothing but more government that would be a drag on economic growth & our standard of living.  Name one tangible Biden accomplishment in his 47 year government career?

Contrast the above with Trump's record of accomplishment in which he built an economy with his policies that produced record low or near record low unemployment for every group – whites, blacks, women, Asians, & Hispanics – & every one of these groups experienced increased incomes before the Wuhan coronavirus hit & the state & local governments shut down the economy.   We have no reason to believe Trump cannot restore prosperity once the pandemic passes & no reason to believe that Biden can based on his 47 years of bureaucratic politically correct experience in government.  

 
Trump was true to his word in selecting Supreme Court nominees (& hundreds of lower court judges) based on the list of originalist jurists provided by Leonard Leo formerly of the Federalist Society.  The recent hearings of Amy Coney Barrett revealed as fine & qualified a person to sit on the Supreme Court as I have ever seen.  Any Senator who votes against her confirmation is an enemy of America in that they are afraid of a Justice who will judge cases based on a clear reading of the law & not use their own progressive feelings to decide cases.  Such a Senator, especially Republicans, should think ahead to envision the next nominee & ask themselves what better qualifications will they bring?  The answer is none.

Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem & in September, under Trump's leadership, Israel signed agreements establishing diplomatic relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.  And just last week Trump brokered an agreement to normalize ties between Israel & the North African Muslim nation of Sudan.  Trump should be a hero to Jewish people.

Trump has worked tirelessly needlessly fighting against Democrat governors, mayors, & one unelected federal judge after another who have tried to thwart his effort to protect the citizenry from illegal aliens, drug financed gangs like MS 13, & rioters & looters from Antifa pretending to the hostile anti-American media to be concerned about BLM.   

Trump wants to end sanctuary cities & sanctuary states, while restoring the enforcement of the nation's immigration laws including eliminating the fallacious destructive anchor baby claim to birthright citizenship.  

But properly handling illegal immigration is just part of the politically correct poison threatening to ruin America that Trump was elected to remedy.  In addition to fighting illegal immigrant border crossings Trump has withstood attacks & distortions by the hostile anti-American media regarding the First & Second Amendments, the incompatible relationship of Muslims who follow Sharia law taking a U.S. citizenship oath, & banning people from Muslim countries where terrorism thrives from entering America until we know that immigrants & refugees from these countries are not terrorists.

Over the past four years Trump has given us a chance @ a start for a change to the political correctness mindset that is wrecking America.  Trump deserves your vote.  Biden does not.  In fact I can't think of any presidential nominee who has campaigned less to earn your vote than Biden.

The issues immediately above are all bedrock matters that must be settled before issues like tax reform, healthcare, climate change, the national debt, the budget deficit, or even adequate national defense can be addressed - they are issues that ask "do we have a country with borders & national sovereignty"?

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, AOC, Bernie, & Warren, want to fundamentally transform America.

They want to ruin everything.

Virtual Debate - Biden vs. Biden

In preparation for Thursday night's debate of Trump vs. Biden click here to watch a virtual debate of Biden vs. Biden.  Regardless of what is said or happens @ Thursday night's debate this is the one that will tell you what you need to know. 

 

Trump-Biden Side By Side Tabulation Of Policy Choice Differences

Thanks to a charter member of RTE for passing along the following term paper from a friend who took a college level course via Zoom last semester.

The term paper lays out twelve issues, side by side, presenting the positions of both Trump & Biden that voters will find very useful.

	IF TRUMP REELECTED	IF BIDEN ELECTED
US Industry	·     Trump will continue to advocate for return of currently off-shore US manufacturing to CONUS and will continue bargaining for trade deals that favor US domestic production and jobs ·     Trump administration will incentivize weaning the acquisition of some critical materials (e.g., medical, military, computers/networks, certain strategic metals, etc.)  from off-shore in favor of US domestic production ·     Trump administration will continue in-force the 2017-18 cancellation of regulations on manufacturing/ commerce and will cancel other regulations seen by the Administration as restricting/restraining growth ·     Trump administration will continue and possibly lower corporate tax rates	·        As he has promised, Biden will reimpose regulations cancelled in 2017-18 by Trump, causing new business formation and manufacturing slowdowns, exodus of manufacturing and jobs from the US ·        Biden administration will discontinue and, as promised, raise corporate tax rates incentivizing  relocations of US firms overseas
US Energy Sector	·     Trump administration will continue policies encouraging vigorous growth in oil/gas/coal drilling and mining as well as pipeline deliveries, continuing US energy independence, strong exports, and low consumer prices	·          As Biden has promised and, as will be advocated by the Bernie Sanders/AOC faction, federal policies, regulations, and lawsuits alleging climate-change imperatives will force oil/gas/coal companies out of business together with widespread job loss and reversion of US as a net importer of energy ·          The price of gasoline and fuel oil will greatly increase, driving up costs across the business spectrum (manufacturing, agriculture, retail, delivery, etc.) ·          As did Obama and as Biden has promised and, as will be advocated by the Bernie Sanders/AOC faction, "Green" energy sources will be favored and large federal sums will be spent on hopeful but unproven wind/solar/hydro programs (recall the Obama "Solyndra" solar scandal and the $500 million "green jobs" training boondoggle that led to nearly no permanent jobs)

 

US Military	·     Will be maintained at world-leading strength levels ­  US Navy will continue checking Chinese naval expansion, even as China enlarges its navy ·     US Army will continue being withdrawn from mid-east	·        As did Obama and, as will be advocated by Bernie Sanders faction, military troop numbers and funding will be deeply cut resulting in rapid loss of US military dominance/parity ·        China will be tempted to expansion and adventurism in Far East ·        Russia will be tempted to expansion and adventurism in former Soviet "republics": Belorussia/Ukraine/Baltics/"the Stans"
North Korea will	·     be increasingly squeezed by economic and trade sanctions resulting in continuously-declining GDP ·     continue its moratorium on ICBM launches over Japanese airspace and in direction of North America, although it will keep "sabre-rattling" about ICBMs and nukes ·     continue its moratorium on nuclear weapon tests ·     meet with Trump although whatever concessions may result remain to be seen	·        obtain relaxation of economic and trade sanctions via international pressures expressing sympathy for plight of people of North Korea ·        aggressively flex military muscle: ­   resumption of nuke tests ­   provocative missile launches ­   instigate border skirmishes with South Korea ­   begin laying groundwork for invasion of South Korea to "reunify" country (which may or may not occur) ­   repeatedly denounce US-South Korea alliance and threaten South Korea
China will	·     be increasingly squeezed by economic and trade sanctions and tariffs resulting in declining GDP ·     be checked in previous commodity dumping as repatriation of US manufacturing continues and grows ·     without better alternatives, continue to buy US agriculture products in huge quantities ·     be challenged in South China Sea by US Navy, checking expansionist moves ·     be strongly and continuously criticized by the US for military and commercial trade secret spying by accredited students/workers/academicians in the US, leading to strained relations and – maybe – some but not all cessation of the spying	·          Increase naval expansion eastward, pressuring Philippines and Malaysia ·          instigate navigation/fishing skirmishes with Formosa ·          begin openly discussing invasion of Formosa to "liberate" and "reunify" country (which may or may not occur) ·          continue and increase military and commercial trade secret spying by accredited students/workers/academicians in the US ·          continue and increase commodity dumping in US, resulting in inability of US manufacturers to compete and decline with great loss of US jobs
NATO member states will	·     face continuing Trump pressure to pay agreed contributions; pressure will be partially successful ·     strengthen East European buffer of Russia with defense modernization/permanent troop deployments (mostly US) in Poland, Baltic States, Hungary, and Romania	·          slack off agreed payments and will not be pressed by Biden resulting in general weakening of NATO as protector against Russia

 

Iran will	·     be increasingly squeezed by economic and trade sanctions and tariffs resulting in declining GDP and population unrest demanding regime change ·     continue nuisance-level aggressive naval maneuvers in Straits of Hormuz and measured nuisance-level missile and artillery attacks against US and Coalition forces in Iraq/Syria/Afghanistan but will be checked by US air forces in the region ·     continue masterminding/supporting limited terrorism in US and homelands of Coalition partners, carefully measured to fall below provoking feared powerful punitive responses  ·     continue clandestine development of nuclear weapons but will not risk a detectable test	·          Step up clandestine support for a broad spectrum of terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, homelands of the Western Democracies, and Russia.  Orchestrate and control frequent spectacular terrorist strikes, resulting in many deaths and Western adoption of cumbersome but futile preventive measures ·          Take advantage of a US/Coalition absence to restart, fund, and control a new "caliphate" in a TBD Middle East state, complete with customary bestial atrocities.  Will not be effectively challenged by a Biden Administration
US Space Program	·     will be continued at current and planned levels, including Moon, Mars, Space Station, and scientific/ satellite communications missions	·        As did Obama and, as will be advocated by Bernie Sanders faction, Moon, Mars, Space Station funding will be deeply cut or terminated, resulting in loss of US space dominance/parity ·        Will revert to paying Russia (or other emerging capable state) to transport US astronauts to the Space Station
US Supreme Court	·     President Trump will appoint 2 more Conservatives between 2021 and 2024.	·          Biden will appoint 2 liberals between 2021 and 2024 ·          Democrats will try legislatively to increase the number of Supreme Court justices to more than 9.  This would require passage in both Houses of Congress.  Unless Republicans continue to hold a majority in the Senate, modern-day Democrats will pass such a bill.

 

Felons, Perjurers, Leakers, and other miscreants involved in spying on Trump 2016 campaign that continued into his term of office	·     A few prosecutions, guilty pleas, suspended sentences	·          All investigations will be discontinued and will disappear, forgotten
US Healthcare	·     Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will be fully repealed ·     A new federal program will be enacted, however Congressional Democrats will demand inclusion of many provisions strongly opposed by Republicans	·          Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will be retained and expanded both in services covered and eligible persons covered, including illegal aliens.  Will be "paid for" via increases in federal income taxes and Social Security contributions ·          Private and employment-related health care coverage will be outlawed ·          The quality and availability of US healthcare will decline substantially.  Wealthy foreigners will stop coming to the US for quality healthcare either unavailable in their home countries or available only after long waits
2nd Amendment	·     No change	·          Despite strong White House support, both houses of Congress will fail to pass a draft amendment to repeal ·          Biden will sign a bill(s) restricting: ­  gun ownership ­  both open carry/concealed carry and guns in vehicles ­  ammo magazine capacities ­  prohibited ownership of selected firearm categories

Biden's Political Career Was Built On Plagiarism & False Claims Of Academic Achievement

"The 20 - the 200 million - the 200,000 people that have died on his watch, how many of those have survived?" - Joe Biden @ the first presidential debate.  Say what?

This post highlights two videos of Biden's past that should disqualify him from receiving your vote to be President of the United States.

Kat Tiemp calculated that Biden has been in government about one fifth of the time the U.S. has had a federal government.  Isn't that enough time to have made a positive difference - if he was going to make one?  Or is it reasonable to conclude Biden has taken the taxpayer for everything he or she is worth for his own benefit & that nothing is different this time?

At the first Presidential debate on September 29 (& repeatedly since) Biden 1) was too weak to denounce Antifa, the group that has terrorized, burned, & looted Portland every night for months - calling Antifa "an idea, not an organization", 2) said "I am not going to answer that question" regarding whether or not he supported ending the Senate filibuster rule that would lead to packing the Supreme Court with liberal judges thereby debasing & degrading the independence of one third of the United States government, 3) claimed to be a climate change champion while disavowing the entire pact he made with Bernie Sanders including AOC's Green New Deal -  a host of impractical ideas that he really supports like replacing air travel with trains & upgrading & retrofitting every building in America to make them more energy efficient - @ a price tag of $93 trillion over the next ten years, 4) promised to eliminate the Trump tax cuts thereby taking money out of every taxpayer's pocket, 5) defined "reimagining policing" as having police answer 911 calls accompanied by a psychiatrist or psychologist to help "talk people down" (like a crazed gunman holding his wife, children, & neighbors hostage), & 6) refused to condemn the FBI's actions regarding the Trump-Russia probe that was based on a false dossier prepared by a man under FBI suspicion of being a Russian agent. 

In 1987 then-Senator Joe Biden presided over the failed hearing of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.  On the fourth day of the hearings Biden was accused of plagiarism & dropped out of his first run for president.  Without shame, during the next week, evidence surfaced in which Biden plagiarized other people's words. - Source Mrs. Robert Bork writing in the WSJ on September 29.

To learn of Biden's lack of character that spans his entire career, including his false academic claims & examples of plagiarising Robert Kennedy & others - click here.  It is also illustrative to see how the media treated these matters in 1987 when the media more nearly provided their intended purpose.

***

With regard to the second video please reread the quotation @ the top of this post when Biden was trying to make a serious point - it is gibberish, i.e., speech that is nonsense. 

Now anyone can misspeak, but couple the above quotation with the 30 in this video & you have consistent continuous unintelligible manner of speaking - talk that does not warrant a vote for president of the United States.

The purpose of this segment of the post is not to present humorous gaffes but rather to respectfully & honestly highlight Biden's clear signals of mental decline that naturally comes with age for many people.  If Biden wins the presidency he will be older on inauguration day @ 78 than President Reagan was @ 77 when he left office.   

***

At the end of the first debate Biden was slowing, giving the perception that he is too old, too weak, & too feeble to be Commander in Chief of the U.S. military.  I recorded the debate so that I could watch it a second time to understand the context that the media gave in their post debate analysis, but the idea that President Carter expressed - that he did not have the energy @ age 80 to do all the duties required of the presidency came through loud & clear @ first viewing as applying to Biden's tiring debate performance..

The fundamental transformation of America that Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, Ilhan Omar, & the rest of the Squad tirelessly advocate for is the real threat to our way of life & only Trump or Biden stands in their way.

Debate Questions For The American Citizenry

In person early voting started on September 18 in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia, & Wyoming followed by in person early voting in five other states (New Jersey, Vermont, Missouri, Illinois, & Michigan) - all before the first presidential debate on Tuesday night. 

Another seventeen states have in person early voting starting before the second presidential debate (eight of these starting before the VP debate) & another fourteen states starting before the third presidential debate. 

Makes me wonder if early voters in these states have already made up their minds & don't need additional information like will their preferred candidate still be alive on November 3?

But the trend in early voting has increased as shown on the graphic below & can only be expected to increase further in 2020 due to concerns about the Wuhan coronavirus & Democrats preference for voting by mail - estimates are that over 50% of voting will be early voting including mail-ins. 

I have prepared the following list of questions that I hope will be asked during the debates.  They certainly are not meant to be trick or gotcha questions but rather questions that every voter should know the answers to themselves - if you don't know the answers make it your business to find out.  This can only make you better informed & America stronger.

Whether you are an early voter or plan to vote on November 3 you should also know how each candidate answers these questions.  We'd be in a lot better place if our elected representatives knew the answers to these questions & better yet if they knew we knew.  

As for me, I'd settle for us even knowing what to ask.

1.  What is the significance of the national debt now that the federal government owes more to the public than the economy produces in a year?

2.  Scott Hodge, President of the Tax Foundation, calculated that to bring every family in America to average would require the people in the top two quintiles to pay higher taxes than they currently do with people in the top quintile paying the vast majority of an additional $2.4 trillion per year in federal taxes or 74% of their income.  What is the maximum amount of a person's income anyone should ever have to pay to the federal government in income taxes?

3.  The Social Security Administration clearly tells people in bold print on page 2 of the document entitled "Your Social Security Statement" (available to everyone online & mailed yearly to people over 60 who do not have an online account) that "by 2035, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 79 percent of scheduled benefits."  Shouldn't we be taking steps now to head off this 21% reduction in Social Security benefits & if so what are these steps?  If not, why not?

4.  It has been shown that a premium support system, unindexed to inflation designed for people younger than 55 years old, will bend the Medicare cost curve down, softening the 12% reductions in hospital benefits projected for 2024 (two years earlier than projections done before the pandemic).  In addition the cost of Parts B & D are 81% funded by general revenue & growing too fast to be sustained.  Do you support a premium support system unindexed to inflation to replace traditional Medicare?

5.  Ken Blackwell & others have proposed a "cut, cap, & balance" plan in which federal spending would be controlled so that projected borrowing is cut in half next year (not 10 years from now), spending would be capped @ 18% of GDP (it was 21% before the pandemic), & under a balanced-budget amendment the president would be required to submit a balanced budget within the foregoing guidelines that call for super congressional majorities to raise future debt limits or tax rates.  Do you support such a plan? 

6.  Do you approve of the Federal Reserve's program of inducing 2% inflation that will reduce the purchasing power of the median-income American household by $1,370 each year?  In addition the Fed's policy of near zero interest rates coupled with 2% inflation is my definition of negative real interest rates.  How do you justify this policy to savers, especially senior citizen savers, many of whom live below the median income level, & are losing their meager purchasing power every day on their life's savings?

7.  Explain the importance of the connection between economic freedom & overall freedom.

8.  Ayn Rand wrote in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal that "A system of pure, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism has never existed anywhere."  In 1996 Professor Friedman said "America has been more than fifty percent socialist for many years & we are not getting our money's worth."  Explain the importance of capitalism to America's future.  How do you see socialism fitting in with your vision of America? 

9.   Explain the difference between extinguishing civil liberties & allowing violent protests like we have had in Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Kenosha, & NYC.  Was it a hate crime for people to block the emergency entrance to a hospital so that the two police officers who were ambushed & shot in the face @ point blank range in Compton, California could not receive prompt medical attention?  The people blocking the hospital chanted "we hope they die."

10.   Do state & local stay @ home lockdown orders that have shut down or severely limited commerce & forced many businesses to close across the country violate the Constitution?

11.  What is the significance of the phrase "& subject to the jurisdiction thereof" in Section 1 of Amendment IV of the Constitution regarding so called birthright citizenship?  Didn't Ohio Senator Jacob Howard, author of the Citizenship Clause, intend the amendment to apply to freed slaves & not illegal aliens who snuck into the country to give birth thereby taking advantage of America's generosity?

12.  How important is the presidential oath that you take per Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution to you?  Please point out any responses from your opponent tonight that do not comply with the presidential oath or the Constitution.

13.  More & more the legislative & executive branches both run to the courts to provide cover for themselves by having five unelected judges provide the answer to unpopular questions.  Doesn't this just seem wrong?  What is your idea of the proper role of the courts?

 14.  What are the consequences that China should pay for manufacturing & intentionally releasing the Wuhan coronavirus to the world causing over 200,000 deaths in the U.S. so far?   

***

I thank everyone who sent in their own list of questions they would like to have asked during the debates.  I have posted the questions received on RTE - just click on comments @ the bottom of this post online to read them.  Please let me know if you think of any other questions & I will post them also.