Ken's Comments

 If the Republican Party has an ounce of sense 2021 will be the year they start taking back the cities.  It is a year for local elections - cities, boroughs, townships and counties.  It is an opportunity for the Republican Party to start fielding credible candidates who run on a common theme - law and order. Many cities across America are seeing elevated levels of crime, record numbers of murders. And that's before factoring in the rioting, looting, burning and generally obnoxious behavior by the Antifa and Black Lives Matter types.  At the same time this has been going on, Democrat officials have endorsed defunding police Departments and Democrat District Attorneys have refused to prosecute individuals for looting and rioting. The coronavirus pandemic, and resulting lockdowns and restrictions, has been masking the economic damage this has caused to cities - the loss of businesses and jobs, along with people moving out of the cities to safer environs, resulting in a ...

 For the past four years, the media has downplayed, denied, or ignored the accomplishments of the Trump Administration.  Record economy - just a continuation of what President Obama started.  Record low unemployment for all minorities - same.  First President since Jimmy Carter not to start a war or get into a military conflict - ignored.  And now the latest, crediting Biden before he's in office for accomplishments Trump achieved. It started with the media falsely claiming Joe Biden will have the first female senior communications team.  Not true.  President Trump staffed his senior communications team with females.   Then there is the appointment of a gay person to a cabinet position.  The media claims Joe Biden has appointed the first openly gay person to a Cabinet position.  Not true.  Donald Trump appointed Rick Grenell, who is gay, to be Acting Director of National Intelligence.   When called out for their false...

 Prediction: In 2021, I predict President-Elect Biden is going to take steps that will make things worse, implementing his "national strategy," mandating masks across the country, and generally issuing edicts that negatively impacting the economy and make things worse.  All the while Biden will be saying, and the media will be agreeing, that the suffering is President Trump's fault.   After a few months, about May when experts are even now predicting vaccines will be distributed widely enough to create significant immunity, Biden will take credit for the vaccines being distributed and declare victory.  At that point, the media will be praising President Biden for saving us.   Before that happens, let's look back on 2020 at what really did happen, both bad and good. Bad - The Obama Administration depleted the US Govt. supplies needed in the event of a pandemic and the Trump Administration did not replace these in their first three years. Good - Presiden...

 It did not take long to see the importance of adding Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court, by a 5 to 4 vote, sided with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and the Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish group, and granted a temporary injunction blocking the State of New York from restricting attendance at religious ceremonies as the State has been doing.  The Majority argued the religious groups were likely to succeed on the merits of their argument that the New York limitations impinged on the First Amendment right to exercise religion.   Earlier this year, similar cases came before the Supreme Court where religious institutions asked that California and Nevada restrictions on church attendance be overturned.  In each case the Court decided, by a 5 to 4 vote, in favor of the State governments that the restrictions were not a violation of the First Amendment. There were differences between the State restrictions in t...

  If Joe Biden won, and right now it appears he did, congrats to all who supported him. I'm curious though, if you supported Vice President Biden did you vote for him because you want America to be a country where anyone who disagreed with you and voted against Biden is to be put on a list ( https://twitter.com/trumpaccproject )* and, to paraphrase the recent tweet by Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, be blacklisted from any government or corporate job and not "be accepted into 'polite' society?"** As I said, just curious if that's what you wanted because that's what is actually happening as a result of Mr. Biden being declared the victor. Now some might argue that had Donald Trump won, the same thing would be happening. Perhaps or perhaps not. But if it did I'd be speaking out against it because that's not the America I voted for or want. But Biden won and the question has to be put to those who supported him - is that the America you wa...

 President Trump grabbed one opportunity but missed another during last night's Town Hall on NBC.  The opportunity he grabbed was related to the Coronavirus relief plan.  The opportunity Trump missed was questions about dreamers and DACA.  Both could have been tied together to point out a consistent theme that I think could label the Democrat party for a number of decades - that the Party leadership cares more about power than people. During the Town Hall, President Trump was asked about passing another Coronavirus stimulus package.  He expressed a willingness to approve a bigger package than his negotiating team has offered in the past.  Then President Trump told the American people the obstacle was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying "...she doesn't want to do it because she thinks it is bad for her election..."   The President seized that opportunity by delivering a message to viewers that Speaker Pelosi "couldn't care less about the American wo...

 CBS news recently repeated what they admitted is speculation - that the Hunter Biden email information being published in the NY Post was originally stolen by Russia in a "hack and dump" operation (see link below for details). To which I respond - who cares?   The issue should be less about where the information came from and more about is it accurate.  The origin of the emails should not be the question, if they are Hunter's emails then the media should be asking: Is it true that Joe Biden's son was engaged in selling to foreign companies or foreign governments access to Joe Biden when he was Vice President of the United States?  And specifically selling the access to foreign companies or governments who would directly benefit because Joe Biden was overseeing their country for the Obama Administration, e.g. Burisma and the Ukraine.   And just as importantly, is Hunter Biden doing the same thing now that Joe Biden is the Democrat nominee for President...

I don't care whether you like or hate the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare.  Let's dispel some misinformation. Will repealing Obamacare will cause all people with pre-existing conditions to lose coverage or being barred from coverage by insurers?  NO.  It's flat out not true.  Anyone who says it will result in loss of coverage due to a pre-existing condition is either ill informed or a liar.  I'll let you decide how to categorize the Democrat United States Senators making such statements at the hearings to consider the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Why do I say that?  Answer: HIPAA  HIPAA means the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.  It was sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Nancy Kassebaum and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996.  HIPAA is mostly known today because TV cop shows constantly show police thwarted from getting key evidence because HIPAA prevents doctors from releasing...

 Vice President Mike Pence scored some key points during his debate with Senator Kamala Harris.  This is a recap of those points. 1. President Biden will raise your taxes - Kamala Harris, like Joe Biden, stated if elected the Trump Tax Cuts will be repealed.  Pence pounced on that.  He correctly pointed out that under the Trump plan middle class families across America all got permanent tax cuts.  Therefore, repealing the Trump Tax Cuts means taxes for middle class families will increase.   The only basis Senator Harris had for denying this obvious truth is by denying that middle class families saw their taxes cut under the Trump Tax Cuts.  That's just not true.  Millions of middle and lower income Americans benefitted from the reduction in taxes provided to them. Opportunity missed: Pence could have added that in addition to raising taxes on middle class families, repealing the Trump Tax Cuts will restore a significant tax deduction for mil...

Recently a relative forwarded a post from Douglas G. Frank - Dr. Frank Models.  A person asked Dr. Frank "What would it take for you to support a [coronavirus] vaccine Dr. Frank?" Dr. Frank posted a long response that I won't copy here.*  But I'll summarize and then respond.  Two key premises of his position: 1. The reward has to be worth the risk 2. Polio is not Covid and the reward [for taking the polio vaccine] was worth the risk (and the price). Of course that led into a long dissertation on why the reward for taking the Covid vaccine is not worth the risk, with a lot of mathematical equations on what percent of the US population has been infected and what percent has died and speculating on what value the vaccine will be.  And he also tossed in a suggestion that Covid will just fade away if we don't vaccinate. Let's make one obvious point first.  He's commenting about a vaccine or vaccines that have not yet been approved and for which no side-effects ...

This is a story that came to a head last week. Previous to last week, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a quasi-federal Agency, fired approximately 200 tech workers - American workers - and, it is reported that they forced those people to train their replacements, all of whom work for foreign based companies and many of whom were coming to the US to work on H1-B visas. Here's what happened last week: Monday: President Donald Trump meets with representatives of the tech workers in the White House to hear first hand what happened to them President Trump immediately fires Skip Thompson, the Chairman of the Board of the TVA.  Thompson was a Trump appointee.  Didn't matter.  "You're fired" in classic Donald Trump/Apprentice fashion. President Trump then says: “So, let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board. If you betray American workers, then you will hear two simple words: You’re fired. If the TVA does not move swiftly to reverse their decision ...

A friend posted a meme on Facebook titled "Trickle Down Economics" and it offers the following facts.  $2.3 trillion was spent in stimulus this year That's $23,000 per working age adult (assuming 100 million such adults) The meme goes on to say but "you got 1,200 per person & big companies got the rest." The meme wraps up by showing President Trump's signature, clearly intending to hold him responsible for this atrocity. I did something I rarely do on Facebook.  I posted a reply to something political.  Here is a version of my answer. In 2008 when 10 million Americans* were losing their homes, how many people got a check in any amount?  No one.  Who did get checks in the bailout packages?  AIG, Wall Street financiers, and the big banks - all of whom were involved in causing the economic meltdown. Contrast that with what happened this year, 2020.  What happened to the average American: Every American with incomes below a certai...

At least that's what many in the media will have you believe - that the most dangerous thing to do to our children is to send them to school this Fall. The fear is hitting social media too.  There was a meme on Facebook, allegedly quoting US Education Secretary DeVos, who appeared on all the Sunday morning talk shows last weekend, as saying 0.02% of kids might be at risk of dying due to Coronavirus if schools re-open.  The posting suggested that would be over 14,000 kids. That's scary. A single child's death is tragic.  14,000 even more so.  However, I'd like to suggest there is another side to this issue. It is estimated there are 22 million or 30 million children* for whom school meals are the only nutritious meals of the day.  If 0.02% of those kids die of starvation, that would be 440,000 children (if we use the lower figure).  I don't know if that is a correct calculation but you have to come up with a much smaller percentage to go from 440,000 k...

I am not a fan of the organization that goes by the name "Black Lives Matter" but I am in complete agreement with the concept that Black Lives Matter.  There are three events in recent months that should be rallying points for all people to come together and recognize it is time to not just protest but offer ideas on how to do more to end the inequality that still exists in America. The events I refer to are: The killing of Ahmaud Arbery - in Georgia a young man killed for no apparent reason while he was jogging and then the local police and local DA find no reason to charge the perpetrators The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis  Learning of the higher impact of the Coronavirus on black communities All Americans, regardless of color, deserve to be viewed as individuals and not by skin color, religion, or any other grouping.  All Americans deserve the same opportunity, the same treatment and respect, the same justice.  Unfortunately, the three events I ...

It was an opportunity to unite the nation to do something positive, to bring people together to fight racial discrimination and injustice in the policy and criminal justice system.  And it's been lost. In February, Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed by Gregory and Travis McMichael and a local district attorney said there was not sufficient evidence to charge those two with a crime.  A tragedy and a total disgrace.  Thankfully, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in and the two men have been charged. Last week, George Floyd was killed by a police officer who refused to take his knee of Mr. Floyd's neck for an extended period of time and while ignoring Mr. Floyd's pleas that he could not breathe.  Another tragedy and total disgrace. These two cases point out that, sadly, there still remains injustice towards black Americans in the police and the justice system. These two cases could have united Americans to come together to fight this, to demand chang...

I rarely post political thoughts on Facebook.  It's a nice way to keep in touch with family.  I like to see the stuff they post.  I leave politics for this blog.  If they want to see my thoughts, they can come here. But today, my nephew said something and it demanded a response.  I responded both to his comment and then posted my views on all the violence.  I am reposting it here because this is where these views normally belong and some of the people who read this may not be on Facebook.  This is what I said: I reject the idea that violence solves problems.  Jackie Robinson started dramatic change in American not by fighting back on the baseball field.  He started change by turning the other cheek and using his talents to show people they were wrong. Martin Luther King, Jr. continued that process not by fighting back when Alabama police turned hoses and dogs loose on him and his marchers, but by maintaining peaceful protest.  Rev...

President Trump on Friday announced religions are essential business and that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued guidelines on how to open religious buildings safely for worship.  The President then said he would overrule any State that does not treat religions as essential. Then the fireworks began. In the press conference, the members of the press present peppered the Press Secretary with questions about how religious institutions can open safely and why does the President think he has the authority to overrule State Governments.  At least one MSNBC commentator opined that naming religious institutions as essential is a violation of the separation of Church and State. That the media raised any objection is a measure of how the press reacts in a knee jerk fashion, without any thought, to simply disagree with everything President Trump says. Let's consider these points. The first point - how can churches, synagogues and mosques open safely - was ridiculous....

Put aside the argument of whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) should or should not drop charges against General Michael Flynn and let's look at how we got here and why his treatment is the norm not the exception. For those who point out General Flynn pleaded guilty (twice according to some reports) that was not his original position.  He was originally fighting these charges and relented to a plea bargain when a) he was bankrupted by the legal fees and, especially, b) when the FBI started investigating his son.  General Flynn agreed to a plea deal and to assist the prosecutors in return for them dropping the investigation of his son.  Sounds like pretty dirty pool doesn't it?  Well, it is and it's not unusual. When I was practicing law in the 1990's, seminars I attended that covered federal investigations laid out some key facts.  The Feds are like any other people or organization.  People want to advance and you advance with wins.  An investig...

I believe in fixing the problem, not fixing the blame.  I also believe that when something goes wrong you look at the process not the people because if the process is right the people usually can't go wrong.  A fair review of what happened during the Coronavirus spread will find process breakdowns and many lessons learned that can help prevent a future occurrence like this. But the Democrats and their media mouthpieces don't want a fair review.  They want to put all 80,000+ Coronavirus deaths at the doorstep of President Donald Trump.  They best watch out if they start that game because it may backfire. Now if there is one thing we know, it is that nursing homes are incubators for Coronavirus and a huge number of the Coronavirus deaths are occurring in nursing homes.  So let's look at what is happening in some states across the US. New York - Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Administration early on adopted a rule mandating that NY nursing homes must accept patients wi...