Odds and ends number 124
Since I'm using the concept from monoblogue, I'm keeping the numbering system, too. Here are thinner slices of bloggy goodness.
Now that I have some news, it’s time to go back to a “regular” odds and ends. Tuesday evening reading actually will come back this coming week.
Good news from the state (for once)
Usually when a politician is heading out the door, he or she thinks in terms of legacy-building by approving some new government program or giveaway. John Carney might yet do that, but I like to give some credit where it is due and he vetoed a bad bill.
“Over the past several years, I have listened to legislators, advocates, and constituents who have reached out to me and my team to share their views,” Governor Carney wrote in his veto message. “I also followed the action of the Delaware General Assembly, where this legislation passed by just one vote in the House and the Senate. I appreciate the thoughtful consideration of the legislation, and I recognize that the bill's sponsors made compromises in an attempt to limit abuse and protect vulnerable patients. I still don't believe a firm consensus has been reached on what is a very difficult issue—in Delaware or nationally…And although I understand not everyone shares my views, I am fundamentally and morally opposed to state law enabling someone, even under tragic and painful circumstances, to take their own life.”
While the bill tried to make it difficult to come up with a rash decision for someone to end their life in a “legal” manner, the invariable result of these sorts of bills is that it becomes easier and easier to do something that’s not right. For example, first it was medical marijuana, strictly controlled. Then it was decriminalized, and after that the state started taxing it like cigarettes. We start with this bill and pretty soon it’s, “oh, grandma is loaded and I’ll bet she has dementia - let’s talk her into assisted suicide.”
So it was a good move by Governor Carney, and let’s hope his successor stands just as firm.
Late edit: In researching the governor’s race for an upcoming post, I found the following from the social media of Democrat candidate Matt Meyer:
Everyone deserves the right to a compassionate and humane end to life’s journey when faced with a terminal illness.
I stand with those who support medical autonomy and the right to die with dignity and, if elected, will make this law. We must continue together to champion policies that respect the personal freedoms of all Delawareans.
So he won’t be as firm unless we give him some backbone.
Where the money comes from
Our friends at the Caesar Rodney Institute did a little research, comparing Delaware’s 2014 revenue stream with our current one. It’s a good read, but these are the money sentences:
According to the Federal Reserve, Delaware’s economy is only 2.4% higher today than in 2014. Yet government expenditures have increased by 52.6% over that period (Source: 2014 and 2024 Budget Bills).
With several primary revenue sources stagnant (escheat and gambling) and a revenue growth forecast below the inflation rate, the Personal Income Tax and Corporate Income Tax are likely to be raised.
Delaware is sitting on a record $2.7 billion in COVID-19 cash, so the government could use one-time money to fill any pending shortfall. Another target could be senior citizens, Delaware’s only growth industry. Will the General Assembly go after Grandma? (Emphasis in original.)
You bet they will! That’s a lot of income to tax.
Here’s the scary thing: our national GDP has gone up somewhere around 20-25% cumulatively since 2014, while our state’s GDP lagged way behind. Without looking, I’ll bet it’s at best bottom 10 in the country if not bottom five. We’re doing something wrong. Yet their solution will likely be to raise taxes, making the state less attractive to businesses and real growth (and not the assets retiring seniors bring with them because they believe it’s a good state to retire in.)
It is a good question to ask our gubernatorial candidates: how do you grow the economy to alleviate the need for higher taxes?
Wider link love
I’ve linked to the before, but this is a time when their work on Substack was noticed outside our information silo.
As noted on Just The News, “What good is ‘green energy’ if you can't access it? The analysis Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling conducted found that the EPA used assumptions that Orr and Rolling found to be ‘shockingly unrealistic’ and ‘irresponsible.’”
Their (very valid) point is that those who favor wind and solar energy use an incorrect assumption to justify their expense.
And speaking of Just The News, they recently had an interesting article about the Trump endorsements from former Democrats like Elon Musk, RFK, Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. If for nothing else, I liked the line:
"We now have a trio of Power Rangers who can swoop right into the middle of the rival party and convince traditional Democrats that it's OK to leave a party that left them," said one senior Trump adviser, who asked to remain unnamed.
That makes for a heckuva mental picture, doesn’t it?
A comprehensive 2A primer
I’ve used the fine folks at ammo.com a lot for these odds and ends over the last few years. They make no bones about which side they’re on because their livelihoods depend on it. Luckily, it’s the right side.
So when they come up with a primer on Anti-Gun Control Arguments, it’s worth the read. They conclude:
Gun control is not a new concept and has been debated for centuries. Many arguments for gun control are based on a desire to reduce crime rates, but crime is complex and multifaceted.
Historical and current evidence suggests that governments are often unable to protect civilians as effectively as individuals can protect themselves. Thus, maintaining the right to keep and bear arms is seen by supporters as crucial for personal safety and liberty.
They could have just saved themselves the trouble, though, and said the following: guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Calling for destruction
I know it’s promotion for them, but the Constitution Party has one goal this fall:
The Democrat Party MUST Be Destroyed NOW—Before It's Too Late!
The time for compromise and soft words is over. The Democrat Party is on a relentless mission to dismantle America as we know it. They are pushing an agenda that is anti-God, anti-family, and anti-freedom. And if we don’t act with unwavering force, our nation, our children, and the very soul of this country will be lost.
I’m sharing this hard-hitting infomercial with you because we need to take this fight to EVERY television across America. We’re launching a national campaign to expose the truth: The Democrat Party Must Be Destroyed! (Again, emphasis in original.)
The idea behind this campaign isn’t to win, but to turn two traditional Democrat constituencies away from their party: blacks and Catholics. Both are anti-abortion, and if they can peel a few percent away in both groups, it gives the pro-life candidates a better chance.
Having said that, it would also be helpful if they ran more candidates, which they indeed do in states where they have ballot access. A couple local winners and maybe they’ll start getting somewhere.
Defending the Patriot Academy
You know, if I were 20 again and knowing what I know, this would be my kind of school:
For over 20 years, Patriot Academy has trained young, future leaders to make a difference in politics, equipping them to stand up for what they believe in the public square. Of course, one might assume the Left would applaud such an effort — after all, Biden said democracy is “America’s sacred cause.” And what good is democracy if young Americans cannot stand up for what they believe?
Of course, in this day and age of our banana republic, that cannot stand:
“The insurrection, if Patriot Academy has its way, will be bloodless: a heart transplant for the body politic. Patriot Academy, along with many fellow-traveler evangelical organizations across the country, is engaged in a life-and-death struggle to rewrite America’s Constitution—and teaching its supporters how to defend themselves with a handgun, just in case.”
The initial article bringing up the subject links to a much longer piece in The New Republic talking about the Patriot Academy, obviously from a more left-wing perspective. The author of the New Republic piece, Laura Jedeed, apparently visited the camp in 2022, since the article is from January 2023. But they’re still scared, apparently. Here’s her money paragraph:
I am beginning to get the picture. You will not be forced to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior in Biblical America. You will not be forced to attend church. But there will be prayer in school, and our history will be highly sanitized. Trans people will not have access to gender-affirming care, and marriage will be between a man and a woman. No one will force you to be a Christian in Rick Green’s America. But you will largely need to live like one.
You make it sound like a bad thing…
Every night I pray for our nation. I pray for a revival and I pray for leaders who will uphold our God-given rights and ignore the ones that man made up.
Now I could do without the marketing aspect Jedeed touches on, which is why I’m not hugely into the Convention of States or that selling machine. If you separate the capitalism from the Constitution, it’s a winner. But if this is what it takes to bring us to a point where America blesses God as much as God blessed America, I’ll learn to live with it.
Until my next edition of odds and ends, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.