The President Trump $1 Coin and $250 Note?

There's been a proposal to mint a commemorative dollar coin and engrave a $250 bank note, both with President Trump's likeness upon them, to mark the 250th Anniversary of our Republic.

Naturally this has certain people up in arms as well as being agog and aghast claiming it goes against all precedent.

Newsweek:  Trump Wants His Face on New $250 Bill; an 1866 Law Says It’s Not Allowed

 Newsweek in the article states that it is not allowed due to a law that prohibits living people from appearing on the currency:

The enthusiasm, however, runs directly into a long-standing legal barrier as federal statute prohibits living people from appearing on U.S. currency. The last time it happened was 1866, and Congress outlawed it immediately afterward. 

 The federal statute enacted in 1866 bars living people from appearing on U.S. currency, a rule created after the government briefly allowed a Treasury official’s portrait on a 5‑cent note. The restriction has remained in place ever since, meaning the Treasury cannot legally produce a $250 bill with Trump’s image unless Congress changes the law. 

Well, that statement is not in fact correct, nor has the restriction has remained in place ever since 1866. 

In honor of the United States Sesquicentennial, in 1926, a Half Dollar was minted with both President Washington and the then President Calvin Coolidge on the coin:  

 

So, yes,  there is precedent for a living seated president to be on money in the year of an important anniversary of our republic. Calvin Coolidge, being a darn good President certainly was worthy of the honor in any case.

However, these days, short of the coin and note being limited runs strictly as commemorative items, it would take legislation passing to have President Trump on a bill or coin in general circulation, and there is proposed legislation at the moment to do so.  

It may be tacky to some, even as the mock-ups of the coin and note do look pretty good.  

It may cause his opponents to go even crazier (which they seem to have no problem doing) -- which could be considered a bug or a feature.  

But, it is not the first time it has been done and it is not unprecedented for a present president to be put upon the currency.

When Even Al Jazeera Says It

Then mayhaps the US is indeed winning, and decisively winning,  the current conflict with Iran.

Al Jazeera: The US-Israeli strategy against Iran is working. Here is why

For Al Jazeera, the Qatari, pro-Iranian media to publish this piece means things are likely going very, very, well for the US in this conflict - so much so that the results can't be hidden:

- Top Iranian leadership dead and successors keep getting eliminated as they get announced

- Achieving Air Superiority on the way to Air Supremacy in the skies over Iran

- Iranian nuclear, weapons, and command and control and communication sites getting worked over repeatedly.

- Dismantling of Iran's air defense network, touted as some of the finest Russian and Chinese technology available.

- Sinking Iran's Navy wherever it can be found including it's mine-layers.

- Reducing Iran's ballistic missile and drone attacks by 90% so far 

 -Now playing whack-a-Basiji thug in the streets on demand via drone. Iranian citizens are reporting locations of Basiji checkpoints, and the US and Israel send drones over to whack them and thus save civilian lives from those thugs.

The Democrats and the Mainstream media both want the USA to lose and Trump to suffer a defeat in time to boost the Democrat's chances for the midterms.   Party over country for them, every time.

In short by any metric the US and Israel are winning, and are on the way to winning decisively.  Don't let the Democrats and the Media tell you otherwise.

Victor Davis Hanson puts it rather succinctly: Victor Davis Hanson: This Is A Surreal War, What Is Actually Happening In Iran Is Not Being Reported

Well worth a watch, that.  In short don't be misled by claims that 2 weeks in we're somehow in a "forever war" and Iran is winning.  It is not. But Iran's regime and the Left and the media are desperately hoping a propaganda campaign can save them and deal a defeat to President Trump, America, and Israel in spite of the facts on the ground and in the air.

Iran's Mullahs Getting Massively Mauled

Its now confirmed that Khamenei and a whole host of the upper echelon of the Mullah's government in Iran have indeed been sent to meet their maker.

Included in that host is former President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had repressed his own people harshly, and announced that he would wipe Israel off the map. He has himself now been wiped off the map.  Poetic justice, that. 

The Israeli and American action against Iran seems to be focused on decapitating the despotic regime in order to assist the people of Iran change their regime to a less oppressive one, and also eliminating Iran as a regional threat and source of world terrorism. 

This is all to the good. 

The Detroit News: U.S. strikes over 1,000 Iranian targets, military says

So far, 9 ships of Iran's navy have been sunk with the sinking of the remainder pending. 

The Detroit News: U.S. sinking Iran's Navy, Trump says

Meanwhile, protesters, here in America who can be counted on to protest against the USA are at it yet again, exchanging their Venezuelan flags for Iranian ones.  

These protestors regularly protest claiming that the USA is a despotic, theocratic, and anti-woman country (quick note - by any objective measure it is not any of those), are now busy protesting against the USA on behalf of what IS objectively a despotic,  theocratic, and anti-woman regime.

Meanwhile, the people of Iran are cheering the attacks against the Mullahs, demonstrating in the streets in support of the attacks, and shedding their theocraticaly-mandated-on-pain-of-death hijabs.

Iranians in the USA are similarly grateful for the actions to help end the theocratic regime. 

Funny, that. 

SOTU, So Good

President Trump's showmanship and brashness was fully on display last night.

From the honoring of the US Hockey team to the the well-deserved publicly made awards for valor and gallantry to heroes assembled in the visitors' galley, it hit all the right notes, with a little over the top boasting that we have come to expect from President Trump.

The energy he had giving a very long speech certainly gives an indication of his continued fitness as President, and gives lie to the idea that he is tired or incapable of holding office as was his predecessor at this stage,the SOTU showed a very clear divide between Democrats and the rest of the country.

The State of The Union address yet again publicly and firmly put the Democrats on the 20% side of 80/20 issues.

The Democrats simply could not support the idea that they should represent the interests if Americans over illegal immigrants - and everyone watching saw that quite clearly.

That the Democrats could not stand and honor those who lost their lives to illegal alien criminals, and to criminals released on no-cash-bail and Democrat soft-on-crime policies was also clearly seen. 

From Rashida Tlaib's F___k ICE! badge, which was very classy; to Ilhan Omar getting all out of sorts when the $18 billion in Somali Fraud in Minnesota was pointed out, to Al Green's acting out and getting ejected yet again, the Democrat's performative outbursts for their base likely made their base happy, and turned everyone else off about them if they were watching.

Not all Democrats showed up in white as had been previously announced as a form of protest, but some did.  Democrats have a habit of dressing in all white for protesting major political events.  Perhaps someone pointed out the optics of doing so this time would be less than optimal.   No pointy hats on the Dems this time, thankfully.

In short Trump, while being bombastic firmly fixed the Dems on multiple issues as being out of step with ordinary Americans - and got coverage for many issues the Dems would rather be swept under the rug. 

The speech was overall very good, albeit overly long, with an energetic and optimistic look ahead for the country -- and it properly honored numerous American heroes. 

Biden's Tweet Aged Like Milk

Yep, this tweet, among the many, didn't age well:

Funny how it took Trump to stand with the Venezuelan people and democracy to actually do something effective, eh?

Quite An Appealing Brief

Trump's attorneys have filed an appeal in the THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK v DONALD J. TRUMP case. The one where he was convicted of 34 very dubious felony counts in a proceeding  that very much was a case of "Give me the man and I will give you the case against him."

But, that conviction. as irregular as it was, gave the Democrats their ability to call him a felon during and after the election, and that is all that mattered.

While the very well-written brief is obviously written to favor Trump's side of the case, the facts and law in it are rather damning.

It's worth a read to see the documented multiple machinations and legal f--kery that went on in the case, and it points out a multitude of grounds for reversing the conviction  -- and all it takes it one. 

I'd expect this conviction to be reversed on appeal, much to the horror of the Left. 

Give it a read and decide for yourself.   It will be fun to see the brief in response.

Lack Of Standing, Much?

Some knowingly sloppy legal filing on the part of the anti-Trump left in an effort to be seen to do something to fight President Trump.

Politico: A Virginia couple is asking a judge to block Trump from tearing up the East Wing

A Virginia couple has gone to court to try to block President Donald Trump from proceeding with demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for a new ballroom.

Charles and Judith Voorhees filed a motion in Washington federal court Thursday afternoon, asking a judge to halt any further damage to the White House while the legality of the project is assessed.

There's some definite problems with this court filing.

First, there's no complaint to start the case, it is simply a motion for an injunction without any support nor any brief backing it up. Sloppy and it should be dismissed out of hand for that alone.

Second, for its basis, it cites a law that specifically exempts the White House from the law. Not a winning argument, that, especially when you're seeking an injunction and once of the main elements in the granting of an injunction is the seeker's likelihood of prevailing in court.

Third and most importantly is the lack of standing.  Standing means you have a dog in the particular dog fight you are complaining of, and they simply do not have it in this one.

A couple of progressives in Virginia have no standing to even bring the motion at all regarding construction at the White House. I also see no record that they filed such a motion when Obama paved over an area to make a basketball court and put a bowling alley into the White House, which is most curious.

If you argue that they do because its the people's house, then why were people who merely wandered through Congress given federal charges for trespassing there on January 6?  After all the legislature is clearly the people's house, far more so than the White House, neh?  

In short, this is an ineffectual stunt designed to attract attention, or to try and draw a fellow-traveler Democrat judge who will ignore the law and throw an injunction into the mix because Orange Man Bad. 

Quite simply, the lawyer who filed this dreck should know better and should be sanctioned for this nonsensical filing, but most likely will not be sanctioned. We will see if the case gets properly dismissed or not.

What Happened To Trust The Science There, Lefties?

Lefties were frothing mad that Trump announced the results of a study that suggested that Tylenol taken during pregnancy could contribute to Autism.

That study was done by that well known right wing crackpot institution - Harvard University. 

Not just by some schlub at Harvard mind you, but by Andrea Baccarelli, dean of the faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of environmental health.

And before you say it's just one study (because you didn't bother to even read the abstract), the Harvard Study itself references 47 prior studies that suggest there is a neurological problem with taking Tylenol during pregnancy.

Indeed, even the manufacturer of Tylenol itself stated back in 2017 that Tylenol is not recommended to be taken during pregnancy.

 In short, there is sufficient data to suggest use of Tylenol during pregnancy is very much contra-indicated. 

So, of course, a trainload of pregnant leftist women are going on TikTok and are performatively guzzling Tylenol.   This may provide further grounds for yet another statistically significant study if they keep at it. 

Seriously, if Trump announced a cure for cancer had been discovered, Leftists would start protesting and immediately form CCM - Cancer Cells Matter in response. 

There Are No Walmarts In Iran

Only Targets.

President Trump ordered a successful strike of  Iran's nuclear facilities.

6 B-2 bombers dropped MOP bombs on Fordow and Natanz 

All aircraft involved have returned safely, thanks to excellent planning. stealth, and Israel systematical dismantling Iran's air defense systems, with the B-2s landing back in the United States after a 36-hour mission. 

FoxNews: A full breakdown of Operation Midnight Hammer, the 'largest B-2 operational strike in US history'

Hopefully, this sets back Iran's nuclear ambitions for quite some time, making it's nuclear programs pronouns was/were - at least for the immediate future.

Well done Mr. President.  The strike has been years overdue.

Mexico Dips In To Fight For Remittances

Mexico is concerned that remittances from the USA might be taxed. 

Yahoo News:  Claudia Sheinbaum denounces proposed US remittance tax as ‘unacceptable’

El Paso Times: "This is worrying": Remittance tax would take money needed to support migrant families

The tax of 3.5% (and it should be more, the originally proposed 5% would have been a decent start) would hit the $64.7 billion sent to Mexico from the USA and raise two and a quarter billion dollars to the treasury, helping defray some of the costs imposed by illegals.

This was one of Trump's failures in his first term - had he pushed for, and imposed a tax on remittances then, Mexico really would have paid for the wall.

The remittance tax needs to become a law. 

More On Canada

Yes, pun intended in the title.

Understand dear readers, the main element of the Canadian identity is one thing and one thing only.  It's not poutine, it's not hockey, it's not peacekeeping, its not even the reason the Geneva Convention is now referred to as the Geneva checklist. 

It is one thing and one thing only:

 They are not American. 

The Canadian psyche is locked in on differentiation from being American.

Ask them what is a Canadian, they're going to almost reflexively say Not American.

They may then proceed to other elements of their national essence like Government-run healthcare and gun control, but again these are simply enumerating ways how the country is different from America.

Indeed so much of Canadian identity is simply being not American or trying to differentiate itself frrm the US.  From a reaction to the USA's  melting pot, Canada announced the policy of multiculturalism. Most things Canadian are simply reactions to America.

So much so that they threw the election to the Liberals, after almost a decade of Liberal misrule and decline.  

The Liberals immediately got a campaign issue by immediately championing standing up to Trump for Canada and claiming to be preservers of Canada's unique (non-American) identity.

This  championing is even as the Liberals have: consistently degraded the Canadian identity; gone woke on the nation's history; imported tons of immigrants with no attempt to Canadianize them; and have tried to trade in what it means to be Canadian for a more universalist, citizen-of-the-world, euro-type definition. 

And Trump came along and threw the Liberal party and Mark Carney, who is perhaps the very definition of a citizen of the world, not just a lifeline, not just some red meat patriotism to campaign on, but a literal red carpet to hold onto power.

Even further polling showed that Trump running his mouth cost the conservatives. Politico: Poll: Canadians despise Trump and distrust US

Had Trump not decided to inject himself into Canadian politics with the repeated stupid "51st state" nonsense, and then did his quixotic tariff attack over the questionable claim of fentanyl being illegally smuggled over the border,  there would be a conservative in power in Ottawa right now to turn Canada around. 

So yes, the results of this election is Trump's fault.  This was an absolute blunder and completely counter-productive.

The more on Canadians certainly share the blame and will get the government they voted for good and hard as a result. But, had Trump not decided to run his mouth, the results would have been far different.

The Conservatives would have been a far better friend and ally to the USA than what we're about to get.

On the upside, with the Liberals back in power and likely pushing ahead full steam with corruption, net zero, and other progressive economic bromides, it can be predicted that Canada's per capita GDP for the entire country will now continue its drop and slip below that of the state of Mississippi.

So, they've got that decline going for them, which isn't nice, but, at least it will be very Canadian.

Shri Thanedar Moves Farther Left To Protect His Flank

Facing a challenge in Detroit due to his not being Black enough,  and for not being crazy progressive enough, Shri Thanedar decides to dabble in leftist performative irrelevance.

Congressman Shri Thanedar Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against President Donald J. Trump for High Crimes and Misdemeanors

The announcement about the impeachment has all the right proggy buzzwords, like tyrannical overreach" even though it doesn't actually identify any real impeachable offenses, basically it is "Orange Man Bad".

Shri is facing at least two primary challengers, both from the farther left end of the spectrum:

From the more left:

The Detroit News:  Adam Hollier running for Congress again, aiming to defeat Shri Thanedar

Hollier is basically running as a challenger yet again on the "Thanedar is not Black and I am so you Black Detroiters should vote for me" angle, with likely the same results as last time.

But, Thanedar is also facing a challenge from the much farther and less sane left:

 The Detroit News: Detroit lawmaker Donavan McKinney jumps into race to unseat Shri Thanedar in Congress

[Donovan] McKinney, first elected in 2022, starts out with the backing of the progressive group Justice Democrats that helped elect Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, and the endorsements of 14 current and former  state lawmakers, many of them representing parts of Thanedar’s district that covers a swath of Detroit, the Grosse Pointes and Downriver communities.

So Thanedar, after basically acting as a relatively sane Democrat in Congress, loudly announces he is impeaching President Trump in response to this announcement of a progressive challenger.

Because nothing, absolutely nothing, helps establish your far-left bona fides and gets the progressive left vote like tilting at windmills by filing impeachments against President Trump.

Since the 13th District is a complete Democrat lock, the winner of the Democrat primary is the representative in Congress so Shri is just trying to catch some of the loony left vote early and shore up his vulnerabilities in that area with this forlorn hope of an impeachment filing.

President Trump's Unforced Error - Woe Canada

An election that Canada's conservatives had in the bag after years of Liberal Party misrule and the promise of further misrule was lost due to President Trump unnecessarily injecting himself repeatedly into the race.

The Detroit News:  Mark Carney’s Liberal Party wins a Canadian election upended by Trump

The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump’s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.

Yep, Trump unfortunately often says stupid stuff, and then keeps saying stupid stuff, and this just cost him an ally as a result and put a

 Instead of the campaign being about Liberal party misrule, it became all about Trump.

CBC: Carney vows to govern for all Canadians after winning election upended by Trump

Mark Carney achieved what seemed like an impossible feat just a few months ago, leading the Liberals to another victory after an election that was shaped by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and threats of annexation. 

. . .

Then came Trudeau's early January resignation, U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and persistent barbs about making Canada the 51st state — flipping the political script.

With Trump announcing, pausing, then re-announcing devastating tariffs on Canadian goods, the campaign largely became a race about who is best to steer Canada through global uncertainty.

Carney focused campaign on Trump

Carney tried to define himself as a steady, mature outsider who is best to deal with the unpredictable president and map out a new economic and security relationship. Heading into the campaign, Carney did not have a seat in the House of Commons. That changed Monday as CBC News projects he's won the Ottawa riding of Nepean.

While criss-crossing the country, the freshly minted leader pointed to his time as the governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 global financial crisis and head of the Bank of England during the Brexit years as evidence that Canadians should trust him to steer the country's economy through turbulent times.

This is the result of a completely unnecessary and unforced error on Trump's part.

Media Sympathizes For Laid-Off Feds

The Detroit News: ‘I am going through hell’: Job loss, mental health, and the fate of federal workers

I don't recall these kinds of empathetic and sympathtic reportage when pipeline workers were fired en masse due to Biden's policies.

Instead the journos and Democrats told them and laid off miners and pipeline workers to get another job and  "learn to code".

This is different, because after all, these are their people being laid off.

These are credentialed, right-thinking, registered Democrat (vast majority if not all), Washington Post NPR-listening and NY Times-reading folks.

These federal workers being laid off aren't those unwashed working-class union members who Democrats claim they represent but don't really want to associate with. These federal workers are people who look and dress like the journos do, think like they do, shop at all the right stores like they do, and go to all the right places just as they do. 

Quite a difference in handling, isn't it?

Going Fast And Breaking Things Has Consequences

While Trump is right to be proceeding with reforms, in doing so he and his administration are going a tad too fast. This is causing a lot of own-goals and public embarrassments, not to mention unnecessary disruption and collateral damage, which serves to reduce the enthusiasm and support for the reforms.

For example it has caused some major and completely unnecessary turmoil at the National Institute of Health :  The Transmitter: U.S. health agency purge includes 10 lab heads at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

This firing included one of the world's top researches on Parkinson's disease.

This firing led a lot of people to calmly ask:  "WTF?".

Well, turns out the firing was apparently a mistake caused by a "coding error" that mislabeled employees -- once people started making noise about it they were rehired.

The Transmitter: Coding error caused layoffs at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke this week, source says  

Thirty employees—including 11 lab heads—at the institute should “immediately return to work,” according to an email the institute’s Office of Human Resources sent to top administration at the institute Wednesday evening.

Reform is a good thing,  doing it stupidly and making the reformers look incompetent in doing so is not helpful to actual reform of the many, many, real problems in government agencies.

The blanket reductions and stoppages in research funding is having a major effect on good solid research in addition to the wasteful stuff that should be defunded.

"Hasten Slowly" is good advice.

Chesterton's Fence, while usually applied to progressives tearing down institutions, also applies to the Right when they tear down stuff without understanding the direct and indirect effects and implications of what they are doing.

Getting rid of fraud and waste and ridiculous programs that are little more than grants to progressive organizations along with associated graft  is a good thing, burning down the entire research "village" in order to do so is quite another.

Do it smartly, and quickly if need be, but make sure above all that you do it competently and show positive results. 

Trump Is About To Help The Liberals Win The Canadian Election

So mark Carney, the elite replacement for the hapless Justin Trudeau as the head of the Liberal Party of Canada, has called a snap election.  

After the Liberals have run the country into the ground, so much so that the RCMP in a report has noted the potential for unrest due to their mismanagement of the country, the Liberals hope to capitalize on Canadians' dislike of Trump calling for them to be the 51st state.

This cunning plan may very well work.

Until Trump started  his quixotic claim for Canada to be the 51st state and threatening  massive tariffs over some very dubious claims over fentanyl allegedly coming across the border form Canada (the major source of illegal drugs coming into the US, including Fentanyl is from Mexico), it looked like the Liberals were in for a massive and very well-deserved drubbing.

Indeed the Conservatives were ahead 45% to 11% in December 2024.

Now, not so much: Angus Reid Institute: Liberal lead over CPC increases to eight points, but is Carney’s house of dreams built on concrete or sand?

and 

338Canada

This change can all be laid at Trump's feet.

Trump is very much setting himself up for an own goal if he persists in calling for Canada to be the 51st state and continuing the tariff push, as well as some recent announcement about stupid visitor restrictions on Canadians visiting the USA that are really not helping.

The joke about the 51st state was perhaps funny for a very short bit, but no longer. 

In fact, Republicans would not want Canada as a 51st state right now - they;d vote en masse, with the exception perhapos of Alberta, for Democrats.  

Canada's Liberals and its even farther left wing party, the NDP,  can at times make Bernie Sanders and AOC seem downright erudite and centrist. Short of making Canada a US Territory until such time as we teach them to become Americans and get off the socialist bent, bringing them in as a state (or realistically a few states) would be disastrous.

So, instead of Canada getting  a conservative and fiscally responsible government that would be much more likely to work with him on important issues, Trump's about to be the reason a massive globalist and elitist, who has likely spent far more time outside of Canada as a member of the global bien pensants than in  Canada, into power.

The Liberal party has spent decades downplaying and indeed disdaining Canadian nationalism and spreading a multi-cultural and woke globalist outlook about the country while pushing unfettered immigration and a tax and spend policy that would make Democrats, including Adam Schiff,  moist.  

But, even when the Librerals are putting their country into the toilet,  Canadians tend to get a knee-jerk nationalistic reaction when the US criticizes them (and especially so when the criticism is unfair which is the case currently) and the Liberals are using that to try and win an election that by all rights they should lose badly.

Trump really needs to knock this off, and quickly it's not helping US political or economic goals at all.

Inflation Isn't Rearing It's Ugly Head Again, It's Just Being Actually Accurately Reported Again

Right on time for President Trump to take office, the data now shows inflation increasing.

Reason: Trump May Have To Grapple with Returning Inflation

We will note that Reason, an ostensibly libertarian publication is no friend of Trump.  Verily, Reason seems to be having vapors about his actually reducing the size, scope, and spending of government - something you would think a libertarian would cheer for, neh?

One would think so, but no. Basically Reason at this point is all about marijuana legalization and wide open borders, and damn little else. 

It is not "returning inflation", instead it is that inflation is now being reported accurately again after the books have been cooked and the data tortured the past four years.

Politico: How Democrats Were Tricked Into Believing the Economy Was Strong

The Democrats, pace Politico, weren't being "Tricked" -- they were the ones running the trick.  

The Biden-run government agencies were the ones massaging the data and running the scam under reporting inflation and messing with job statistics to give the picture of a rosy economy under Biden that wasn't. 

The Biden Administration and the media establishment (But I'm repeating myself) had been busy boasting and talking up how wonderful the economy under Biden has been, how Biden achieved a "soft landing" and  try to give him a boost for his reelection and then for Harris when even the massaged stats couldn't get him to the finish line.

The administration and media both made themselves busy asking Americans - "Who are going to believe Biden and the Media, or your own lyin' eyes?"

Now that Biden is out, the stats are being reported, presumably more accurately, just in time for President Trump to have to deal with the results of the massive overspending and effects of the policies Biden has left behind. 

The Fed's decision on setting interest rates - including reducing them right before the election which just so happened to assist Biden, was doing so based on the statistics being manipulated.  

The deliberate false reporting of government statistics,  statistics relied upon to set economic policy, should be seen as one of the greatest scandals of the Biden era.  

Perhaps one day it will be.

So Hamas Violated The Ceasefire Agreement

And of course, they lied and claimed Israel had violated it. Hamas is now saying they will not release hostages until Israel makes new concessions.

This tends to be Hamas' modus operandi - agree to an agreement, violate the agreement while claiming Israel violated it, then make further demands beyond what were in the original agreement while only offering to do what they had already agreed to do under the agreement.

Unfortunately for Hamas, they don't have Biden in office anymore, and President Trump has agreed with Israel's demand that since Hamas has now violated the agreement, they must release all the hostages this week.

Given the condition the most recent batch of hostages were in when released, it may be that Hamas wants to delay to try and improve the health and enhance the appearance of the next set of hostages to be released - or there may not be any live hostages left to release.

 Oh, and USAID gave $3 million to a Hamas-affiliated rapper in Gaza (Which means $3 million was funneled to Hamas) to ostensibly create anti-Israel and anti-Semitic songs.

Because, of course they did.

Making Cents - The Case For Ending The Penny

Inflation has made the penny barely worthwhile nowadays. 

Indeed, the early symbol for a penny originated with the Roman denarius - a coin that once was a day's pay for a Roman legionary. When English translations of the Bible referred to a penny they were, in fact, referring to the denarius.

The days when a penny was a day's pay are long, long, long gone. 

Verily, even most people's thoughts these days are more costly than a penny.

Inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the currency, and now the lowly penny may be making its final farewell.

The United States 1 cent coin costs 3.69 cents to make,  a 20% increase this year alone, currently costing the US Treasury a loss of $179 million dollars per year minting them for them to sit in people's drawers or jars, and weigh down their purses.

As such, Trump has instructed the Treasury to stop producing them.

While from a sentimental standpoint, keeping the penny is attractive as the US has had pennies since 1787, it is likely time to join other nations such as Canada in letting the penny make a graceful exit from our money supply.

Other US coins have gone by the wayside. For example, the last United States half penny was last minted  over 150 years ago in 1857 and the lack of 1/2 pennies hasn't been missed or remarked upon. 

Expect the penny to be removed for circulating currency if Congress agrees, and the costs of items to be rounded up or down accordingly.

The end of the penny, after all, just makes cents.

No TDSers, The Helicopter - Jet Collision Is Not Trump's Fault

 The collision between a Blackhawk Helicopter and an American Airlines (flown by PSA Airlines) Regional Jet has brought all the anti-Trumpers out of the woodwork.

Those with severe Trump Derangement Syndrome are already blaming Trump for the accident - without any evidence. In some case ridiculously claiming it is due to chaos caused by Trump or his announcement ending DEI policies in government. This from many who should know better and are typically rational - except when it comes to Trump.

The NTSB will fully investigate and we will get answers in time. 

The DC area airspace is very congested and busy.  In fact a similar collision was narrowly averted the day before between a helicopter and a passenger jet.

So far, it appears to be likely the Blackhawk pilot was both flying above the appropriate corridor for helicopter traffic and the pilot identified the wrong aircraft.  The pilot apparently saw the departing one when the Tower Controller asked the pilot if the pilot had the traffic visually rather than the landing jet that was involved in the crash. Now,  the pilot responded they did have visual o the aircraft, which makes traffic separation primarily the pilot's responsibility at that point. Unfortunately, at night it appears the pilot identified the wrong aircraft and apparently did not have a visual on the PSA jet. 

The Tower controller meanwhile did not pick up on the fact that the Blackhawk was 200 feet above the 200 foot ceiling for helicopters in the area that put it in the flight path of the landing jet, nor did the helicopter pilot.

So were DEI policies to blame?  At this point it is quite simply too early to tell if those policies were a factor.

Indeed it is unknown if the controller or Blackhawk pilot were DEI-hires.  If they were there's going to be plenty of blame to go around. The Tower controller did not pick up on the fact that the Blackhawk was reportedly 200 feet outside of the appropriate flight path and in the flight path of the jet, and the helicopter pilot also seems to have made a series of mistakes leading to the incident.

Now, the Tower at Reagan is understaffed and apparently one controller was doing two jobs at the time of the incident which can lead to important things being overlooked and open the opportunity for accidents. Not hiring qualified white applicants to continue to try and find non-white DEI-scoring applicants may be a partial factor in the shortage of controllers.

In short, the full cause of the incident is not fully known and will not definitively be known until the NTSB completes its investigation. So no it cannot be definitively said what the cause was or if DEI was a factor in the crash but human factors certainly are the primary factor in this incident and DEI hiring doesn't enhance safety in aviation.

DEI has been reducing safety in aviation in a quest to hire a diverse workforce, reducing merit and aptitude as the key factor in hiring and repalcing it with diversity.

Did Biden and Obama adopt hiring polices based on DEI/Affirmative Action rather than merit and ability?  Yes, yes they did.

Did their administrations act in a way to hire unqualified controllers, including feeding Black applicants answers to the controller entrance exam to make sure they can pass the test and get hired?  Yes, yes they did.

Did the FAA even refuse to hire qualified applicants because they were white, while at the same time musing in presentations as to how much of a change in job performance is acceptable in performing diversity goals? Yes, yes they did.

In case you're wondering the answer to that question is that no change in job performance is acceptable  - you either can do the job competently or you cannot regardless of your race or background.  There are plenty of Black and female controllers that are more than fully capable and stand on their own merits and ability as controllers. That they were accepting lower performance in their quest to hire a DEI-workforce and get their ratios up is at the very least shameful and at worst horrific in reducing safety in a quest for DEI-compliance.

Time spent in DEI-sensitivity training could certainly be better spent on piloting skill improvement or aircraft controlling training.

So no, the collision is not President Trump's fault, and we don't know yet if or how much DEI hiring and focus was a factor in the incident.