The slow, painful death of a giant

"We really need a government who knows how to handle real consequential issues such as this, rather than just being 'woke'. Nobody who has lived in the southwest for decades, had a clue this could happen. In mean, Lake Mead looked like an inland sea. It sure did to me, when I visited there in the 1960's."    

Lake Mead. I remember going there as a kid. My dad, who worked for an engineering and manufacturing company, was fascinated how the Hoover Dam was built to create this giant lake. Built in 1936, it changed the desert southwest. It saved California. It allowed the state of Arizona to become the state of Arizona. Without the Colorado River feeding Lake Mead and Lake Powell, living in Arizona would be like living on the surface of the Moon.

Lake Mead is named after Elwood Mead, who was "Mr. Water" for the desert southwest prior to the building of the Hoover Dam. He was so instrumental in helping getting the projects of Hoover Dam and Lake Powell going, this giant man-made lake Hoover Dam created, is named after him. Mead's dream was a desert southwest, changed forever by having plenty of water from the dammed up Colorado River. I bet he never imagined this once in 1,200 year super drought. He might be spinning in his grave, if he could see Lake Mead today.

Lake Mead continues to drop. It is at about 37% of capacity. If this trend continues, Lake Mead will all be taken out of the formula to supply much needed water to this growing area of our country. And if that happens, what is plan "B"? Good question.

As soon as Lake Mead becomes a minor factor instead of a major factor in supplying water to states like Arizona, it will be the start of a huge migration out of the desert southwest. Folks who own property down there, this will be a nightmare. Is there anything this country can do to help ameliorate the coming suffering from losing Lake Mead? Maybe - but it will take time and money.

Some in the desert southwest, want part of the Mississippi diverted. This would be a MAJOR construction effort, and would take years of planning and litigation. The trick would be to have enough diverted from the Mississippi to help the southwest's water shortage, without hurting cities like New Orleans at the same time. 

Or - put de-salination plants in Death Valley. Again, these would take time and money. But other arid countries have done projects like this. The problem we have is this - time is not our friend. And the press is giving this crisis very little coverage. But they should be. This is HUGE. Without water, cities cease to exist. People will not live there. 

A man and his two adult sons, who live by Lake Mead, has started a weekly You Tube channel to show how this giant lake is shrinking. They show it, week by week. They have video evidence to show how Mead is shrinking. It is amazing to watch. It is scary to watch. 

We really need a government who knows how to handle real consequential issues such as this, rather than just being "woke". Nobody who has lived in the southwest for decades, had a clue this could happen. In mean, Lake Mead looked like an inland sea. It sure did to me, when I visited there in the 1960's.    

The "Remain in Mexico" mess

"Biden does not think he is an enemy of the state. He thinks he might be re-elected should he run again. If he really does not think he is an enemy of the state, he needs to stop acting like one. Opening up our borders to an invasion is treasonous. Just saying..." 

Just like when Roe was still valid, RBG, as well as other legal scholars, said it was bad law. Should have never been federalized. Should have been a states rights issue. As much as I would have liked to see the "Remain in Mexico" policy remain in effect, I also realized, it was bad law. For different reasons than Roe, it was still bad law.

Even though a lower court had mandated the "Remain in Mexico" policy should be followed by the Administration, both Mayorkas and Biden gave the court the middle finger. "Nope - we will not comply!", was their response. And - if the Supreme Court had agreed with that ruling, there is no doubt in my mind that Biden's and Mayorkas' middle finger would have come out again. It ended up being just a big nothing burger.

There was another issue also, which was pointed out by the court's opinion. We really have no right to dictate to Mexico what they will or won't do. When Trump was President, he used his influence with the President of Mexico to get this done. It was not a law with Mexico, it was a gentlemen's agreement, which stood. The fact we had just agreed to the USMCA, cemented that relationship. It was a good deal for everyone.

Where do we go from here? We hold our breath, and wait until January of next year. Lord be willing and the creek don't rise, we can get enough conservatives elected who will be able to blunt Biden's nonsense. If not, if people are still cowed by the sophism coming out of the blue team, I fear the result. Our country could be in for a very bumpy ride.

My hope is that after the midterms, we have enough political will and strength to start rounding up all these "got aways" as will as the "catch and release" folks. Find them, and send them home. Believe it or not, we still have an immigration system which works. That people can come here legally. Not as a mob. Not trafficked. But legally. 

One more thing. After seeing how 53 illegals cooked to death in a "cloned" truck, we need to be even more vigilant at our border crossings. Like, shutting them down. Since Mayorkas swears our border is closed, let's then really close it. The cartels have gotten too cleaver in how to get illegals, as well as deadly drugs, over our borders at legal crossings. "Cloned" trucks, is just the latest example. 

Biden does not think he is an enemy of the state. He thinks he might be re-elected should he run again. If he really does not think he is an enemy of the state, he needs to stop acting like one. Opening up our borders to an invasion is treasonous. Just saying... 

  

You're first, fat boy!

"Lukashenko and Putin deserve no quarter, and none shall be given. They are the worst of the bad apples. They are part of the the Fourth Horseman - the one called death."   

I have grown weary of watching the carnage in Ukraine. I have grown weary of those lying murderous Russians, targeting civilians. And I have REALLY grown weary of being threatened by Vladimir Putin. If not threatening us, threatening our allies. Threatening NATO. Russia does not have the chops to hurt NATO using his conventional forces (which are shrinking fast). But because he was 6,000 or so nukes, he thinks he is the cock of the walk.

Right about now, it would be wonderful to have a normal President. Someone who has the balls to talk to Russia the right way. For example, this puppet whom Putin helped install in Belarus - Lukashenko - wants to be part of the fray. Okay, so be it. If I were President, I would look directly into the camera and say, "If there is any attack on NATO, Belarus will be the first to pay the price. If there is any nuclear device used on NATO, we will turn Belarus into a wasteland."

Right now, all this saber rattling that Russia is doing, is bolstering NATO forces. NATO now has 300,000 troops in the area. The United States is going to put a permanent base in Poland. Why? Russia has threatened Poland. If Russia ever did invade Poland, they would be crossing the Rubicon. War in Europe would break out immediately. Hopefully, having a base in Poland would blunt any adventuresome movements by the Red Army.

By the way, the addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO cannot be emphasized enough. This is HUGE. Probably should have been done years ago, but the political spirit and will was not there until Russian invaded Ukraine. That tipped the scales.

Because the horrors and bloodshed from World War II are still fresh in many minds in Europe, most really don't want to see this movie again. Right now, with NATO troops being 300,000 strong (and growing), that should (we hope) give Putin pause.

On final thing. President Zelenskyy has released some footage of the missile impacting the shopping mall. The Russians denied this ever happened, but the video evidence shows otherwise. This will be yet one more chapter in the book of war crimes which is being put together against Russia. Does Lukashenko also want to be named in this book? Keep he keeps playing with Putin, and no doubt he will be.

Okay fat boy - listen up. You might have chased Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya out of the country, but her voice remains strong for the independent minded folks of Belarus. If you lead your country into ruin, that is all on you - most of your people want no part of it. Evil men like you and Putin, are whom enslave their citizens and turn their soldiers into war criminals. 

Lukashenko and Putin deserve no quarter, and none shall be given. They are the worst of the bad apples. They are part of the the Fourth Horseman - the one called death.   

The trials of misdeeds

"We need to un-ring this bell as much as possible. This unfortunate series of events, which started a year ago last January on Inauguration day, needs to be fixed, and fixed fast. Are Republicans perfect? Far from it. Can they screw things up on occasion? Yep. But they know better than to deliver a fatal blow to our economy. That skill - belongs solely to the Democrats." 

The "stunt" which was pulled on January 6th, was nothing compared to the misdeeds which have been done during the runup to the 2016 elections, the aftermath of the Floyd issue, the entire "deep state" interference of the Trump Presidency, and of course, the disaster which is now called the Biden Administration. One of my left of center friends is concerned that when the adults retake the room next January, nothing but investigations will get done. He is right - do a degree. 

Someone has a great meme on social media. "I remember exactly what happened on January 6th. It cost less than $30 to fill up my car." Bingo! If we are going to call this stunt an "insurrection", than we will call all misdeeds just listed insurrections also. For example, what happened in Minneapolis for three days immediately following the Floyd issue, was a hundred - no a thousand times worse than what happened in Washington on January 6th. It was a war. And the aftermath of the Floyd riots? Crickets. Yawns. The cabal of an owned press, and the Democrats, have smothered the truth of that debacle.

How bad are things right now? This constant tidal wave of immigrants, many of whom say Biden invited them here, suffered a major tragedy yesterday. In the scorching heat of the southwest, smugglers managed to get about 60 illegals over the border in a panel truck. Then for reasons unknown, they abandoned the truck. That allowed these poor souls to literally "cook". When the truck was discovered, over 40 were dead. For this alone, Mayorkas needs to be impeached, and do the perp walk.

What happened on January 6th, was so minor compared to these other misdeeds, it is laughable. Do I agree with the stunt which happened that day? Not a bit. Do I understand the frustration of people who witnessed four years of Democrat malfeasance? Actually, yes. That being said, I still would have not been part of the stunt. All it did, was give Democrats ammo to use against the citizens and patriots. It was foolish.

What needs to be fixed in our country once the adults retake the room in January? Just about everything. The House and Senate need to pick up where the Supreme Court left off. They need to blunt everything Slo Joe and his minions have done or are trying to do to this country. Reverse what they can. In other words, they need to save us before we sink. Before Biden gets us into a nuclear shooting match with the Russians.

We need to un-ring this bell as much as possible. This unfortunate series of events, which started a year ago last January on Inauguration day, needs to be fixed, and fixed fast. Are Republicans perfect? Far from it. Can they screw things up on occasion? Yep. But they know better than to deliver a fatal blow to our economy. That skill - belongs solely to the Democrats. 

      

Meanwhile, back at the war...

"We continue to stay on the precipice of somebody doing something very stupid over there. Like - letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle. If that happens, we will be in new territory, with very few exit ramps."  

ICYMI - Slo Joe is over in Europe right now, meeting with our G-7 allies. Showing the flag, so to speak. A bit of a pep talk. You see, the folks over in Europe right now are almost on the front lines. Way, way too close to Mother Russia. And things in Ukraine are going from bad to worse. 

First the good news. British intel is showing the Russians are running out of just about everything - everything needed to sustain their war effort. Lots of body bags, lots of destroyed armor, lots of lost aircraft, and a fair number of ships being sunk. I mean come on folks! This is Russia we are talking about! Going up against a far inferior army like Ukraine? Take away the nukes, and a fight between NATO and Russia would be a turkey shoot. 

Now the bad news. Russia is using the much dreaded thermobaric weapon on targets in Ukraine. These are nasty things, which can kill in the most horrible way. Why are the Russians using these types of weapons? They have little choice. This "slugfest" with the Ukrainian Army is proving very costly to both sides. It is a war of attrition, and Russia cannot afford to "attrit" much longer. 

Back to the good news. United States supplied Harpoon missiles have proven to be very effective for Ukraine. It has taken the Black Sea fleet, and pushed it way back, out of effective range of the Harpoon. President Zelenskyy is convinced if the Russian fleet were closer, they would be raining hell down on port cities like Odessa. Again, the Ukrainians have taken out a lot of Russian ships, even though Ukraine has not put one of their own ships to sea. When this war is over, that should be one of the major tag lines.

Now the real bad news. Putin has promised the nut ball who is charge of Belarus, Iskander - M missiles. These are capable of being tipped with nuclear warheads. With a range of 300 miles, it puts quite a bit of the Euro zone in play. This is a dumb, dumb thing to do. Now besides having someone like Putin with an itchy trigger finger, we have another loose canon like Lukashenko, with access to nukes.

How is the war going? Not well for anyone. Lots, and lots of death. Many children in Ukraine are orphaned or displaced. Russia's war machine has taken a huge hit. Many countries in Europe are now seeing the financial consequences of this war.

We continue to stay on the precipice of somebody doing something very stupid over there. Like - letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle. If that happens, we will be in new territory, with very few exit ramps.  

  

"Can't we all just get along?"

"If the left choses to gnash their teeth, howl at the moon, yell at everyone, and threaten our judges - that is on them. I would hope they would not. What the courts did was fix a couple of knots in our national fabric this week. Things which needed to be done. Now it is over. Time to move on. Time to all get along."  

Whom, who was alive during that time, could ever forget the plea of Rodney King after he was beaten by four white cops - all of which were charged and then acquitted? In 1992, the city of Los Angles exploded in riots and violence. A truck driver named Reginald Denny was pulled from his truck and beaten - because he was white. Things got so bad, the person who initially who was wronged - Rodney King - publicly pleaded for all of us to just "get along."

Rodney King, who unfortunately is no longer with us, would be helpful to have around right now. Why? He could see the greater good. Even though he was wronged, he wanted the violent aftermath to end. He wanted all of us to get along. Maybe (my words, not his), to forgive and forget. 

After this week's SCOTUS rulings, especially the ones on 2A and abortion, our Democrat leaders, especially the President and the Speaker of the House, showed anything but leadership. They threw the "Trumpian" Supreme Court under the bus, and all but encouraged protests (albeit, this time, non-violent). They also encouraged everyone to remember this day - where the courts let the people down. "We need to codify Roe!" screamed our Roman Catholic President and Speaker. "We need to elect people who will support a woman's right to choose! It is a right which the court has now taken away!"

Really? Here is what the court really said. Roe was flawed law. Should have always been an Article 10 issue. The court also said the Second Amendment was sacrosanct. Our rights which accrue to that amendment, do not end when you walk out the door of your house. That is it. Simple as that. The 2A ruling was about what was already in our Constitution, and the Roe ruling was about something which was never in our Constitution. What? You don't like our Constitution? Good news for you - there are ways to change it. Not easy ways - but ways. 

Now this week is about to pass into history. What happened in the Supreme Court is over. Time to move on. As Rodney King said, "Are we all going to now get along?" I am ready to. Time to address our nation's real problems. Time to fix things. Time to move forward. 

If the left choses to gnash their teeth, howl at the moon, yell at everyone, and threaten our judges - that is on them. I would hope they would not. What the courts did, was fix a couple of knots in our national fabric this week. Things which needed to be done. Now it is over. Time to move on. Time to all get along.  

Birth of a nation!

"This should not be political. It should have never been political. But it is. And that is unfortunate, as it is ripping this country apart."

 

One thing I have never found, is someone who is 50/50 on abortion. People either love it, or hate it. Not much turf between those two positions. Because of that, when Roe was overturned today, half the country went into toxic shock. The other half said a prayer of thanksgiving. But there is much more to this decision - if folks would take the time to stop, look, and listen.

Roe v. Wade was flawed law. Hey - not my words. Those are the words of RBG. Although very much pro-choice, she was not pro - Roe v. Wade. In fact, most legal scholars worth a salt and have a lick of honesty, would say the same thing. From day one, this should have been an Article 10 issue. It was NOT a right, as guaranteed to us by the Founders. The entire Constitution is silent on abortion. To take this out of federal law, and return it to the states, was the right thing to do.

Will this end the killing of the unborn? Not even close. My home state, Minnesota, will still practice abortion. Colorado will perform abortions up until birth - up until infanticide. "Woke" corporations like Amazon, have already told employees they will give them money to travel to states in which abortion is legal.

Many on the left, who think the judicial branch is only a part of their ideology, have promised "days of rage". What does that mean? First off, they feel betrayed. The courts usually always side with them, even when it may not make Constitutional sense. Next, they will take their revenge out on the cities. Like George Floyd, all over again. BURN IT DOWN! MAKE THEM BLEED! (Hint: might be a good idea to stay out of the downtowns for a while).

There will be some states which recognize life at conception. Other states, life begins at the "quickening". Still others, like Colorado, life is not life until the baby is out of the birth canal, and makes its first cry.

From a faith based position, I know where I stand. This should not be political. It should have never been political. But it is. And that is unfortunate, as it is ripping this country apart.