What makes me happy?

Tags

children, family, parenting

I am sitting in a small living room in my daughter Anna’s flat in Spain. She recently had surgery for a herniated disk, the second in 8 months. The surgeon says that in 15% of the cases it does just return, but this time was worse, and she had surgery with a month of the terrible pain beginning. At least she knew what was wrong this time. The first time she didn’t and it was during strict lockdown in Spain, so even going to the doctor would have been next to impossible.

That doesn’t make me happy, but being with her to do things for her as she recovers her range of motion is very satisfying. She’s 37, but your children are always your children, and whether it’s changing a diaper, or changing the dressing on a surgical wound, you still want to care for them.

My husband and I tag-teamed this. He came over a week or so before I did because I had received the Covid vaccine only a week before his trip, so I had to wait until mine was two weeks in the past. He took her for pre-surgery tests, the surgery, and bought her home a day after it was successfully completed. (I hope this is the last time.) He was a good nurse, though some things were awkward or unfamiliar to him. When I flew over to overlap with my husband for a week, Anna was still in a lot of pain — it’s amazing how much affects your back. Even sneezing was an ordeal at first! Now, over a week since surgery, with me staying on for a week after my husband left, she’s rapidly improving, though it will be a while before longs walks or standing up for long periods of time will be possible. Her favorite “sport” is running, but it will be months before she can do that. So patience is necessary.

When all of our children moved away, then had their own families and lives, I felt a bit lost. I had to ask that important question, “What makes me happy?” and it was hard to answer. I still like feeling needed, and I was a lot when they had their weddings, their first children, learned to cook, and fix-up homes. Now, though, they’ve become totally independent, but I know they still need me, perhaps most importantly for advice and for moral support, and as a sounding board. They are also great people. That was my aim in raising them. Good grades, etc. were important, but seeing them turn into decent, thoughtful people has been the most rewarding part. My husband feels much the same, and for a while we had to search for ways to reconnect and live new lives. A lot of our travel and efforts, though, still go into being with family. It seems to be a need that doesn’t go away, and I include extended family in that category, too.

Much of the time, being happy is a choice, and one to be made each day. If a day begins badly, it;s not a bad idea to stop, and recenter, saying “No”, and change one’s attitude.

We still enjoy travelling and are lucky to have children in mostly interesting places: Spain, Idaho, North Carolina, and one close by us in Northern Virginia, whom obiously we see the most. So glad at least one family and grandchildren is nearby. We even have a whole family reunion scheduled for May in Utah in a big AirB&B house — for our 50th wedding anniversary. None of us have every been there so it will be an adventure for all of us!

There is so much to look forward to in coming years, and as long as our good health continues, I think we’ll have a lot to keep us both happy!

My, how the country has changed!

Discord. Stridency. Lies. I think these are the biggest changes I’ve seen. Argumentation, too. People are unable to have civil discourse on almost any subject. At a time when you would expect people to be more open-minded, because the world is smaller than it used to be, they seem to have closed their minds in ways that are strange and harmful to the greater good. The art of listening is in danger of extinction and moderation or civility is barely discernable in subjects of national or personal importance.

The president and others are constantly harrassed by accusations of racism, misogyny, nepotism, collusion with “the enemies” of the United States, etc. Name calling, personal attacks, false accusations, and downright lies are thrown into the modern colisuem like red meat to the lions. Half truths and opinions are treated as facts, and the truth is so cleverly hidden that it is nearly impossible to know what it is anymore. My sense is that the general public is getting tired of this constant back-stabbing and blood-letting, and would prefer to see their government operate like it’s supposed to, addressing real problems, equably debating and passing needed legislation, and acting like adults. They’d like to see appointed officials and their staffs doing their jobs honestly and efficiently, without bias or subterfuge.

We need to go to the voting booths every time there is an election and keep in mind what principles we hold dear and essential to the survival of the future of this country and way of life, coveted by so many others (individuals and countries).

Living just outside Washington DC, local news is national news. That’s a very troubling thing at present because the people running the country and covering the “news” are crazy! They’ve totally lost their moral compasses. News is biased, and opinions are controversial and often indefensible. Yet, they are often treated as fact. I can’t believe at the lack of intelligence and common sense in the representatives (both House and Congress) whom people have elected to “serve” them. Too often, these are not nice people, not people you’d want to invite to your home. I do advocate for one side of the political spectrum, but never have I seen such hatred for the president, for the people on the other side of the aisle, for the press, for conservatism, and for liberalism. There seems to be no common ground (and no desire to seek common ground), and as a result, major issues that need to be addressed now are going by the wayside.

The different departments of the government, especially those we depend on for our personal, national, and international security, can’t get along, and guard their knowledge like a kid hides their Halloween candy. We’ve recently seen how those agencies designed to protect us, can no longer be trusted. Nor can we be sure they will abide by the laws or the Constitution. How can individuals have faith in the laws of the country when they see them perverted and unequally applied? How can we believe in “blind justice” when the court system administers punishments that don’t fit the crime, find crimes to fit an agenda, and fail to punish crimes that are still illegal.

I believe in borders; they define a country, and protect its people, its laws, its ecomony. For those who want to change they way immigration works (and there are volumes of laws on it), there is a legislative process that can be used to address perceived inequities. Until then, the law is the law, and should be adhered to. We don’t pick and choose what laws we follow.

Moreover, we haven’t had a budget in years. I remember in times past, when the presentation of the budget by the President to Congress was a big deal. People waited anxiously to hear where their money would be spent. Apparently the last time Congress completed all budget bills on time was in 1996. Instead of a functioning appropriations process, Congress has resorted to massive omnibus appropriations bills and continuing resolutions that carry over spending from the previous year (with predetermined increases). The government comes to a halt when the resolution runs out. Is this a way to run a a multi-national “corporation”?

Furthermore and rather disheartening for this taxpayer is the way the proportions of the budget have changed over the years. Fifty years ago approximately 70% of the budget was discretionary spending, and 30% was automatic spending. Today it is exactly the reverse. How can there be that much automatic spending which is the hardest part to change? The United States brings in a lot of money, and apparently 70% is earmarked before it hits US coffers. This leaves only a small proportion that can be used for new programs, innovation, and development. I find all of this pretty scary. It’s like we’re on a heavily loaded freight train in the mountains without brakes.

In articles I’ve read, it is reported that the Pentagon doesn’t really know how much it spends, and a recent audit totally failed to document spending (partly because the Pentagon won’t share “secrets” on where the money went). HUD also spends millions more than it can account for. Overspending, and lack of budgetary controls could account for up to $21 billion for government agencies. We can visualise a thousand dollars easily, and a million, probably. A billion is a whole different ball game, totally out of the realm of imagination of most Americans.

People in government seem to have not a care for how much money they spend. If there’s a project that is over-budget, they don’t pare it down, they just pay the increased price. It has been said that there won’t be social security for those retiring in the future. What did they do with the money? Why wasn’t it safeguarded and invested? (That’s what we do with our personal retirement accounts.) Why doesn’t government operate like the giant business it is? The government spent it; they took it out of the social security chest and spent it on something else. Then they tell us that there are not enough workers contributing now relative to the number of people retiring. Would that be true if the money had been handled properly? The sums of money proposed for various programs are so high in dollar amounts, that, to the average person, the numbers are incomprehensible.

I liked the days when the transfer of power was orderly. Even if you didn’t like the person who was elected president, you respected the office. I didn’t agree with all the choices, but I knew it was just the way system operates. You could always vote again in four years. Sure, you could criticize, but it wasn’t war, particularly guerilla warfare. We used to have freedom of the press, but that, too, seems to have gone by the wayside. I was a jounalism student, and I learned the basic principles that were taught — as well as the ways in which news can be biased. These are all in common usage these days.

Not respecting the office of the president, questioning the election process as set up in the Constituion, the ideal that the Supreme Court is indepedent and justices unbiased by politics, and the sanctity of the Bill of Rights, are now continually questioned. This cannot be tolerated; it is our Constitution that sets us apart from other nations where leadership and laws are constantly in flux and chaos often ensues.

Thank God I’m Sober!

It was not with a sense of gratitude that I entered my first AA meeting 28 years ago. I won’t go over the doubts I had that about being an alcoholic; I struggled for a couple of years with admitting that, and until I did I was a lost soul. I went to at least three in-patient programs, the longest being 28 days. Despite the relapses, I was obviously absorbing the information I was hearing, and listening to both the professionals and the people in the recovery programs. There must be acceptance before healing can begin.

I prayed to God for acceptance and when it occurred, I changed into a recovering alcoholic, and so it have continued for over 26 years. I am truly grateful that I am a survivor; many do not recover.

I learned a very important lesson as an in-patient and in AA meetings: people I wouldn’t ordinarily associate with can have immense wisdom. It changed they way I treat other people; I don’t judge people based on how they appear, and I value their intrinsic worth much more than I did before recovery. After all, alcoholism is classless; so are the people in the rooms. There we are equals and anything we can give to one another is valuable on our road to recovery. They are there and no matter who they are they are, they understand me better than people and family who have known me for years.

I’m grateful, too, that I hadn’t used other illegal drugs. I was in recovery centers with people who were in withdrawal from all sorts of other dependency drugs. They suffered more than I did, and the incidence of relapse, and even death, are higher than with alcohol. I’ve even been in treatment centers with people hooked on marijuana — that drug that is supposedly much less dangerous than other drugs. Dabbling with any addictive substance is a game of roulette, but even more is at stake than money it costs.

I’ve also came away from meetings with a prayer I use for all sort of challenges. There are a lot of occasions when we need serenity and acceptance!

“Being in recovery has given me everything of value that I have in my life. Integrity, honesty, fearlessness, faith, a relationship with God, and most of all, gratitude.”

— Rob Lowe, actor

One Nation Under God

Tags

Equal Justice, Freedom of Religion

In the Constitution we assert generic Christian values. That’s not surprising since many who initiallly came here had been forced out of their own countries because their divergent religious beliefs were not tolerated. Others, like Catholics from Scotland, were often given the choice of death, or deportation to the colonies, thus we had a large influx of Scots after (if I’m not mistaken) the defeat of the Jacobites in the battle of Culloden and the hated Highland Clearances, an effort to break up the stong clans. Some Scots went to Catholic Ireland, thus the Scots-Irish, but ultimately true freedom of religion was not to be found until Catholics and other Dissenters (from various countries) settled in the United States.

Obviously the Puritans were the first to feel the push to leave England because of their separation from and persecution by the established Anglican church. But many others came too, sparsely filling the large country (only a fraction of what is is now).

“Local variations in Protestant practices and ethnic differences among the white settlers did foster a religious diversity. Wide distances, poor communication and transportation, bad weather, and the clerical shortage dictated religious variety from town to town and from region to region. With French Huguenots, Catholics, Jews, Dutch Calvinists, German Reformed pietists, Scottish Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers, and other denominations arriving in growing numbers, most colonies with Anglican or Congregational establishments had little choice but to display some degree of religious tolerance. Only in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania was toleration rooted in principle rather than expedience. Indeed, Pennsylvania’s first constitution stated that all who believed in God and agreed to live peacefully under the civil government would “in no way be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion of practice.” (Facing History and Ourselves, “Religion in Colonial America” https://www.facinghistory.org/nobigotry/religion-colonial-america-trends-regulations-and-beliefs)

Thus the Constitution recognized the desire for freedom of worship, and the belief in the existence of a God shared by these various religions. They became tolerant of their differences and were more than willing, when the time came, to separate themselves from the types of governments they had fled, generally monarchies. Thus they also wanted a written Constitution which would explicitly prevent all-powerful government in the future. As different as the people were, they shared common beliefs, aspirations, and a past in which they had been alienated and shut out, so they were able to come together with shared goals, which were stated first in the Declaration of Independence from the British monarchy, and later in the more important document, the Constitution which included all people, religions, and origins in its development. States held back from signing, as history tells us, until the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments, were added to the Constitution enumerating important specific rights.

The founding documents of our country acknowledged God as the creator and imbuer of natural rights. Today, some people have a problem with God in our Constitution, and confuse the inclusion with established religion. This is both a cultural and theological misunderstanding. Religious freedom was not surprisingly at the forefront in forming this new country with a vast number of people that came here expressly for that purpose. No named religion is included in the Constitution and the separation of church and state is directly addressed in its text. People then, like people now, did not want any established religion. While there were Deists, Catholics, Quakers, unaffiliated persons, and perhaps atheists, (and more) who signed one or more of the founding documents, the reverence for a God above all was still a centrally held belief then — and no doubt still is by a majority of citizens, whether they choose to participate in a specific religion or not.

Furthermore, the Judeo-Christian principles enshrined in the Constitution from a largely European population put human dignity at the forefront. It follows on the ideas in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…” and (quoting Jefferson) “… that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ….”  

American Judeo-Christian ideas have been linked to honoring life, liberty and creativity from the outset; deriving wisdom from reason, common sense, and biblical principles. These form the basis for our laws in this country. Our judicial system with courts and juries, presumed innocence, and appropriate punishment meted out under humane standards come from a respect for individuals.

We expect justice to be blind and laws to be administered equitably. We expect our elected officials, who are provided for in the Constitution to carry out their duties in accordance with the laws of this country and with the needs of their constituencies in mind. We expect law-breakers to be prosecuted and punished in accordance with sentencing guidelines, and where appropriate, under the authorization of a jury of peers. We do not incarcerate “enemies of the state” because of their political beliefs; we do not banish those whose free speech offends the ruling party. We expect officials and those who are appointed to high positions in the government to abide by the oaths they have taken to abide by the Consitution and laws of this country. We expect elections to be fair and ballots to be secret, with no repercussions on people for the way they voted.

There is provision for a division of powers between the federal government and the states. In a country this size and with such regional differences, state rights are essential. The tenth amendment was added to the Bill of Rights before it was ratified: It states that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Sadly the federal government continually seeks to infringe on these rights. The proposal to make the election process a federal function directly takes power from the states. Also, authority is indirectly taken from states by making receipt of some monies or benefits conditional on conforming to federal regulations that have been established, in educational grants for instance. Officials should not have the power to force citizens to unwillingly comply with laws which interfere with an individual’s personal welfare.

Our country is lucky to have a written Constitution. It makes it clear what our country stands for, and how it should be administered. It should be referred to continually to check that what is happening is in compliance without waiting for courts or political action groups to address discrepancies — or not. To remain one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all, we must continually defend our rights and freedoms. Once they slip away through apathy or inaction, they’re almost impossible to retrieve.

Changing Lives

Tags

charter schools, education

I was really moved and impressed by this story of the aspirations of this young man from Albany:

“At just 21 years old, King Randall has big plans to give back to community youth, even more than he already has.” … He “wants to step up his pace while making and impact … “In his envisioned school, boys will reportedly be taught traditional academics, trade skills such as welding and auto repair, the science of family and manhood, and firearms training …” The county School Board is selling the a disused school to him for refurbishment and repurposing.

“Doing workshops teaching young men how to do different skill trades and ,,, doing a book club and teaching them how to read because 93% of the children I come into contact with can’t read. But now we have an 86% reading comprehension rate,” Randall reported. “This is a much-needed man-making institution. If there is no one to CONSISTENTLY help our young men, the community and the society will remain the same if our men never are taught to stand up for their families.” He includes a possible boarding school in his forward looking plans. Randall has been working with young men for two years now through his X for Boys organization https://thexforboys.org — its motto, “Making Men Great Again.”

What a goal for such a young man, but perhaps because he can relate well to young men, he knows what they need including the ability to honor faith, family and themselves. So by combining general educational and courses with job training, I think he’s on to something that addresses real problems and will impact the lives he touches.

This is what it means to think these lives matter.

Tough Love

Tags

cartels, drugs, immigration

Some parents use Tough Love, particularly while parenting teens. Tough love is a parenting approach that can help children see that although their parents love them, they aren’t going to enable them. Tough love parenting sends a message that essentially says, “I know you don’t like what I’m about to do, but I’m going to do it anyway because it’s good for you and I love you.” It allows adolescents to face the consequences of their actions, learning life’s tough lessons, with empathetic and caring parents. Too often these days parents step in and take over, trying to erase consequences for their child, and thus no lesson is learned except that “my parents will take care of it for me,; I don’t have to worry about it.”

We need tough love on the border. Letting these immigrants enter the United States illegally and with no particular consequences, abdicates our responsibiities to them, and more importantly to the people who are already citizens. The previous president understood that we could not let unvetted people flood through the borders because that causes overcrowding in border facilities and overworked agents spread far too thin. Meanwhile adults and children suffer in overcrowded facilities, and often are released into our country with little processing, and without dates for court appearances to adjucate their asylum claims (if that is their excuse for entry).

My son-in-law is Canadian, and a few years ago became a US citizen. He had to fill out pages of paperwork, ensure he had income, and pay a fee for processing his application. It was probably an easier procedure for him because he is married to my daughter, a US citizen. Nevertheless, he did it properly and in accordance with the law.

There are literally volumes of immigration laws: Among these, US permanent immigration is limited by yearly quotas based on countries and categories. No country can contribute more than 7% of all immigrants that are allowed in based on family sponsorship or an offer for employment. The per country-limit does not apply to DV (diversity visa)-winners, refugees/asylum seekers. This only touches on how many different ways immigration can take place. Read more at https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works

If we want immigration laws changed, they should be propertly researched over a period of time and passed by Congress. First there should be identifiable borders, just as there should be well-defined laws, which govern where and when people can enter the United States. Normal law-abiding citizens from all over the world go through immigration control at all international airports. It’s a security thing to know who has entered your country.

With no border in the south, practically speaking, who knows who is coming in. Those who actually check in with border security agents are currently rushed through and minimal requirements are placed on them. They are sent on their way supposedly going to a relative whose handwritten address they carry in their pocket. What do you do with minors though? Just put them on a bus and hope that someone at the other end is actually a relative and not a trafficker, and can provide them with a place to live? How do you know if young men, especially, are going to join gangs? And what about the runners who cross the border in deserted areas and get away without being seen at all? While most are from Mexico and Central America, many are not — they’re from everywhere. Are they good guys or bad? Do they want a better way of life, or to destroy ours? Will they get work or live in overcrowded conditions wherever they arrive?

Danger also comes from the fact that many of these people have Covid, and they may have other diseases that we don’t suffer from any more in this country because we are vaccinated, or like TB, which has been pretty much wiped out. Tests for Covid are not necessarily administered, but I assume people who are sick enough get medical care.

A bunch of money is being expended on this emergency, and the spending is not over.

Ten thousand people in the San Francisco Bay area are homeless and hopeless. There are not enough shelters, let alone drug treatment/mental health centers, and we have all seen the pitiful conditions in which these people live, fueled by addiction and the ease with which drugs can be acquired. Are there a million homeless across the United States? It occurs in most major cities, and there are pockets in other cities, too. Should these people be getting the shelters the illegal immigrants are getting?

Finally, we don’t want our kids to take drugs. We know where that leads — including death. The amount of drugs coming across the border in a wide variety of ways, are enough to kill us all. In our knee-jerk reaction to the immigrant surge and their desire for our way of life, do we stop to consider that the cartels who kill with impunity and basically run the border region of Mexico are getting mighty wealthy, and they wish us no good. For them there is no humanity involved, just money.

Tough love. We need to consider all the ramifications of what we are allowing to happen, and the misery that we are encouraging.

I Choose Freedom

Tags

freedom, states rights, The Constitution

I don’t like being lied to, or treated like someone who is incapable of making decisions for myself. I don’t like being told what I can read, or read to my children. Banning books is not an acceptable practice in a free society, and neither is “cancelling” someone. Pornography or manuals on how to build bombs may be obvious exceptions, but oddly enough Mein Kampf is still available if you’d like more ideas about changing this country, Mao Tse Tung’s Little Red Book, the must-have accessory for Red Guards and revolutionaries is still for sale. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Freidrick Engels can still be read by those who are truly disaffected by democracy. Oh, and the playbook favored by many current leftists, Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals (and his other books), are still available. Dr. Suess — a ban on six of his books! Guys, this is ridiculous. It is possible to read children book and to note that life is different now, some of the same norms or standards don’t apply in our new society.

We’re in a dangerous time here. Who, in this country, has the right to tell us what books we can or can’t read? I thought the USA was the freest place in the world! I never envisioned this happening in the country of my birth. I feel like I’m in an alternate universe, and I can’t wait for it to return to normal! The first amendment protects speech, and there are many diverse opinions which should be espressed so we can accept of reject as we see fit. We can actually learn from other people, too. We may change minds in a free expression of ideas, and something entirely new may be heard. One of the worst things is that people are becoming afraid to say what they think. Look at the jurors being vetted for the policeman, Derek Chauvin, who is accused of causing the death of George Floyd. Several have said they don’t want to serve on the jury because they are afraid of repercussions on them or their family, including violence. (And even if the jury and comes to a just decision, will there be rioting?) How does democracy thrive when we are afraid to exercise the freedoms that have been guaranteed by the Constitution?

Once the ballot box was the place where you could vote anonomously and with some expectation that your vote would count. Now even the prospect of that is being threatened, as no ID, anyone-can-vote, felons included, ballots mailed out to everyone, and the usual number of dead people will be contained in the voter pool. We cannot continue to have elections that are contested, or carried out under a cloud of suspicion. It should be a priority for states to ensure that their voting procedures are secure, safe, and accurate. Of course, the infamous HR1 is also seeking to impose national authority over state election procedures, but as a republic, this is a right that was distinctly allocated to states, so federal interference may not be tolerated (under the Constitution).

We are still being told to limit our activities because of Covid, and the President, whoever that may be in July, may let us have the freedom to celebrate the 4th of July. Is that how people want to live, being told when, where, and with whom they my gather? Legally speaking, I’m not even sure we should be forced to wear masks. People who are afriad of getting the virus should be the ones who protect themselves. What I choose to do should be up to me.

Value your freedoms, because the government is coming after them under the guise of safety, and knowing what is best for each of us. I don’t believe they know that and I’d rather make the decisions about my life myself.

As White as Snow

How well the snow covers the ground and trees like a fairyland. This morning all looks pristine and a bit like a fairyland. The snow will melt, and wet slush and dirty snow will appear. This is a metaphor for Washington D.C., indeed politics in general.

Bait and switch. Unity. Gosh, How we all want that. When the Democrats came to power, many probably thought, great — they won’t be picking on Trump all the time, and making politics a constant battle ground and name calling event. With Trump gone, who can keep the Dems up in arms, and pontificating daily on mainstream news? Yet we’re learning a times flies quickly by, that Unity means falling in line with liberal ideas. Those who oppose them, and those who still “co-conspired” with Trump to Make America Great Again, are now the targets of hate and retribution. Compared to riots which have been plaguing cities across the United States , the fracas at the Capitol was ended quickly and decisively, so much so, that Congress was able to get back to business within hours. Some cities in the US, and their citizens, will never recover. Nor will they have the advantage of an unsurmountable fence built around them to protect any incursion.

There was momentary hope that maybe Congress would actually get something meaningful done, like immigration reform, infrastructure, a budget, foreign policy including China’s militaristic advance, peace with no new troops sent abroad, election reform. Ah, but like the snow, the peaceful appearance is rapidly melting away. An illegal impeachment trial is next on their agenda! Fortunately not cancelled is Trump’s plan for vaccine distribution, and let’s hope it can be done as quickly as he made development of a vaccine happen, from start to finish. Nine to ten months to discover vaccines and begin distributing them.

No thought was given to some of the good things Trump had done, like building the southern wall, working with Mexico and Central American leaders to hold immigrants back, and adjudicate their asylum claims in Mexico before letting them cross into the US. It is the first time these three governments have worked together to address the surge into our country. And it is our country to defend and protect. What is happening is illegal — against the laws earlier Congresses have passed and had signed by presidents. There needs to be a consistent and fair policy for immigration, and proper goals and criteria should be met, as is has been for the millions who have immigrated legally to the United States.

Other Trump successes, except for the rapid development of the Covid vaccine,and a plan for distribution, were cancelled without thought as to their success. (It reminds me of the Chinese Communists “disappearing” people.) The coal and gas industries are under attack, as it our access to inexpensive gas and electricity, and our freedom as a self-sufficient energy producing nation. While there is no way of producing alternative energy at the moment, the safer-than-alternatives pipeline was put on hold, all the work and investment done so far, abandoned. Meanwhile, Canada will sell their oil to other countries which will be happy to have energy for expanding industries.

When immigrants heard the Biden had been elected, they began a new massive effort to enter the country, and with some of the powers ICE had before Biden taken away, the flow is constant. Little effort is or can be made to vet the immigrants, even as to their criminal or gang backgrounds. Adults who say that the children they brought in are theirs are allowed to keep them. Human trafficking is becoming a big problem in Mexico, led by the gangs, and the flow of dangerous drugs will continue with less deterrence. What’s worse, is that the gangs who rule the border areas, make money getting people into the United States, at great cost to the people, and little care for their safety and whether they live or die. It’s a dangerous situation from all points of view, especially as Mexican gangs are begining to take up residence in various cities across the United States to control and facilitate the drug and human trafficking trade.

The Democrats are turning the country around — and in a detrimental and destructive way. Personal freedoms are being overlooked, and with the aid of technocrats, people’s free speech is being halted unceremoniously. We have a Constitution, and what is happening is not in keeping with it. Have we really gotten the country we deserve? Elections have consequences.