PEACE: The UN is unable to prevent the very wars, hate, injustice, and instability it was created to alleviated to prevent

Saturday, November 29, 2025

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/11/the_un_must_go.html

November 18, 2025
The UN Must Go!
By Moshe Phillips

*** begin quote ***

The world’s democracies, which provide the lion’s share of the UN’s funding — especially the United States — find themselves routinely outvoted by blocs of authoritarian regimes that use their membership not to promote peace or justice, but to shield each other from accountability. The result is an institution that rewards the corrupt, legitimizes the violent, and sidelines the nations that actually uphold the values the UN was meant to defend. And it is American taxpayers who foot the largest share of the bill for this failure. Each year, billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars flow into UN programs and peacekeeping missions that produce little peace and even less accountability.

*** and ***

It is time to admit what has long been obvious: the United Nations is no longer the solution. It is part of the problem. And the UN, like the League before it, belongs in the dustbin of history.

*** end quote ***

And the US can’t afford the luxury of it any more.  As with most Gooferment creations, it too is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. As well as untrustworthy.

Atrocities by UN “peacekeepers”, the WHO that has been captured by liberals and Big Pharma, Ukrainian corruption with US bio labs, the inability to stop or even condemn genocides, the rampant expansion of NATO to threaten Russia, and on and on and on.

“When in a hole, stop digging!” — old Wall Street maxim

It might be a small irritant, but the behavior in NYC of UN “diplomats” denotes an attitude of entitlement as opposed to serious people as guest in another nation.

While clearly “might makes right” with respect to who is seated in the UN, like China versus Taiwan, we don’t have to provide “free parking” for tyrants, dictators, and criminals just because they seize power.

It’s time for the USA to call a halt to the “kabuki theater” that the UN has become and stop paying for its abuses.

The world would be better off if there was no “United Nations” to interfere with peace.

— 30 —

 

Leave a Comment » | Peace | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

DISCOURAGING: Everyone might have seen the 8th grade tests from the turn of the century … …

Monday, December 23, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/12/a_half_century_of_miseducation.html

December 17, 2024
A Half Century of Miseducation
By John M. Grondelski

*** begin quote ***

The New York Times reported December 4 that math and science test scores for U.S. fourth and eighth graders have been essentially stagnant since 1995. Nor have they have been stagnant near the top — lots of countries outrank us — but rather in the middling middle. American elementary/middle school students perform behind Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, England, Ireland, and Poland.

“’This is alarming,’” opined a Department of Education commissioner.

Yes, it is, but perhaps not just for the reasons the article identifies.

The spin of the article is that scores are down and American kids have lost significant ground as a result of the pandemic. Author Dana Goldstein says the results corroborate “a large body of research showing significant academic declines since the Covid-19 pandemic began.” “Experts are debating potential causes,” reports Goldstein, including maybe the fact that American public schools were shuttered comparatively longer than in other countries.

Let me argue that spin is far too limited and selective.

*** end quote ***

I’m not an “educator”, but I can observe some factoids that do NOT inspire confidence.

  • Everyone might have seen the 8th grade tests from the turn of the century.  Some of those questions even I couldn’t answer.  As a fat old white guy retired injineer, I should have been able to “nail” the math and geometry questions.  Not so.
  • There’s a meme on Facebook that talks about a circa WW2 car owner’s manual that decribes how to adjust the valves.  Today’s say “don’t drink the battery acid.”
  • The amount of money spent on education in 1988 per pupil was enough the send kids to the private Petty School in Princeton.  Those amount have gone up from there.
  • Teacher’s pay has stagnated.  But budgets keep rising.  Teachers’s unions in the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee dominate the state legislature.
  • All the stats say either we are birthing stupider children or “education” ain’t educating.
  • Asian children seem to be doing just fine.  Indicating that non-Asian parents are not motivating their children to excel at anything other than “feeling good about themselves”.
  • And, my perpetual gripe, “participation trophies” that denigrate accomplishment and fail to teach children to deal with setbacks early in life.

In summary:

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” — attributed to Einstein

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — attributed to Einstein, Ben Franklin, and Rita Mae Brown

So what can we change?

  • Eliminating the Department of Education seems like a reasonable start.
  • Returning “education” to the local communities’ control
  • Disempowering teachers’ unions
  • Ending “public education”!

Seems “simple” to me.

—30—

 

Leave a Comment » | DISCOURAGING | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Time to repeaal the 17th Amendment

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/12/trump_should_bring_a_constitutional_gun_to_the_senate_swamp_knife_fight.html

Trump Should Bring a Constitutional Gun to the Senate / Swamp Knife Fight
By Vince Coyner

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2024-12-04>>

*** begin quote ***

But of course, the leftists eviscerated the Founders’ original intentions about the Senate with the 17th Amendment. As a result, the Senate has become simply a more entrenched version of the House. Therefore, if a cabal of geriatric swamp-loving RINOs wants to try to shanghai the president’s mandate because the close balance of party power in the chamber allows them to do so, to paraphrase Sean Connery in The Untouchables, Trump should bring a constitutional gun to their knife fight and keep them from doing so.

*** end quote ***

Once upon a time, in a place far away, the Dead Old White Guys tried to ensure that “these United States” would have a strong voice in the Federal Gooferment.  Unfortunately, a befuddled “We, The Sheeple” agreed to strip the “these United States” this power.

Talk about getting money out of politics, Senate “campaigns” funded by rich donors create a “dark money” swamp of conflicted interests.  Maybe today’s “Senators” should be like race car drivers and wear the logos of those that “own” them.

Repealing the 17th Amendment would go a long way towards restoring Federalism that the Dead Old White Guys want to restrain tyranny.

Hard to do?  Not so much now as “We, The Sheeple” seem to be fed up with the current system.

“Would you tell me please, Mr. Howard, why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man’s rights as easily as a king can.” Mel Gibson as the character Benjamin Martin in the movie The Patriot http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187393/quotes

Well, at least, you can have the petty tyrants close enough to “influence” them or tar ’n’ feather them.  Bringing the selection of Senators back to the local legislature makes more sense than having something that duplicates the House of Representatives.

And, now that we have Zoom meetings, why not keep all the Senators and Representatives “locked up” in the home States?  No need for them to go an conspire with these other drones and parasites.

Argh!

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Eliminate DOEd, FEMA, and the FBI

Monday, November 25, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/11/d_o_g_e_is_a_wonderful_concept_and_here_are_some_ideas_to_get_it_started.html

D.O.G.E. Is A Wonderful Concept, And Here Are Some Ideas To Get It Started
By Gregory McCants

*** begin quote ***

With Donald Trump’s election win now a few days behind us and the GOP all but confirmed to have swept both houses of congress as well it would appear that at least for two years we should have a truly unique and remarkable opportunity to make meaningful change in a variety of areas. Of highest priorities would be the economy and border security, both of which were clearly the major issues the American people looked to when deciding their next government.

Within that discussion of economic improvements, Trump has now tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head an informal operation to be known as the Department Of Governmental Efficiency (with the excellent acronym of D.O.G.E.)

*** and ***

FEMA probably just wrote its own obituary with the revelation that a FEMA official in Florida told workers to “avoid houses with Trump signs” in the wake of Hurricane Milton, leading to loud calls for defunding the agency. The truth is that emergency disaster relief should not be handled by yet another agency with large layers of bureaucracy.

Instead, states should be able to request emergency disaster relief funds directly from Congress, with the appropriations then used to purchase necessary resources and materials, ideally from private vendors who can compete for the contracts. This would lead to increased efficiency and better prices for the taxpayer. This would also allow the government to engage in strict accounting to ensure federal funds go where they are supposed to go.

*** and ***

The DOE is on Donald Trump’s list of agencies that should be removed, and it’s been on Republican lists back to the Rick Perry days. The Department of Education (“DOE”) has long been a target of many who feel the government’s meddling in education, and its one-size-fits-all approach is ultimately detrimental. To quote Reason, “Take, for example, federal grants to state education departments. Federal aid incentivizes schools to shift their priorities to meet federal grant requirements rather than local educational needs.”

*** and ***

The FBI, originally created as an “emergency agency” in response to organized crime during the Prohibition era, has become a bloated, redundant, and ultimately useless organization that essentially serves as the outdated grandfather of other agencies conducting operations on the ground, such as the U.S. Marshalls or the Drug Enforcement Agency. One of my personal favorite YouTube commentators did an excellent video on the topic. 

*** end quote ***

As always, the Gooferment “Swamp” is a “target rich environment”.

But I hope that DOGE doesn’t get confused and jump from target to target.

Best focus on these three and drive to completion.

Don’t just trim around the edges; axe them.

If, for example, the FBI’s labs are “valuable”, then transfer them to some “technical organization” like NIST,

—30—

Leave a Comment » | NOTRECOMMENDED, Political | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

ENCOURAGING: A problem and a prescription to solve it (mostly)

Thursday, November 21, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/11/13/opinion/question-for-trump-to-solve-just-how-many-million-migrants-did-joe-let-in-8-million-12-15/

Question for Trump to solve: Just how many million migrants did Joe let in? 8 million? 12? 15?
By Andrew Arthur 
Published Nov. 13, 2024, 7:35 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to crack down on the southern border and deport those here illegally.

But the million-dollar question left by the Biden administration: Just how many people is that?

A recent House Judiciary report says that “For almost four years, Americans have watched as President Joe Biden and border czar Vice President Kamala Harris have abandoned the southwest border and welcomed nearly 8 million illegal aliens into the United States.”

But that 8 million is likely an undercount — and perhaps by a lot.

The House Committee on Homeland Security estimated in the spring that there would have been 10 million encounters during Biden’s four-year term. And that doesn’t include “got-aways” — people who crossed illegally without ever talking to a Border Patrol agent.

There are, meanwhile, all kind of “parole” and other programs the Biden administration used without Congressional approval to fly immigrants in directly from South America and other parts of the world.

*** end quote ***

OK, so the answer is “a lot”.  Some proportion are criminals or neer’do’wells,  While the rest are a mix of those seeking a better life or some who want to collect on the dole.

How do we differentiate who is a “Priority One Removal” and who don’t we really care about?

Fortunately some really smart people have some great ideas.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/11/expediting_deportation_using_carrots_and_sticks.html

americanthinker.com
Expediting Deportation, Using Carrots and Sticks
By Ned Barnett

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2024-11-13>>

*** begin quote ***

How do you deport the roughly twenty million individuals living illegally in the United States? For a lot of reasons, this will be a huge challenge, and likely a costly one – when was the last time the government did anything even remotely correct without it busting the budget?

Well, for one thing, you could try offering incentives for people to make their deportation easier than it might otherwise have been.  

First, offer them an option. Go home on your own, and you will be eligible to apply for legal residency, along with anyone else who wants to come to America and who hadn’t broken our laws to get here.

*** and ***

What about the stick? Tell this same population that if the government has to take actions to deport them, they will have to wait for more than the current ten years before even getting to the end of the line for legal immigration, lengthening the time before they can return to America, but this time as legal immigrants. 

*** end quote ***

And, the details outlined seem very reasonable.

Then DJT4547 and his team can focus on the criminals, welfare cheats, and sanctuary cities and NGOs.

I like this approach.  We’ll see how they tackle it.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | ENCOURAGING | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Lessons from the DJT electoral landslide

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/11/has_the_left_learned_anything_from_the_election.html

americanthinker.com
Has the Left Learned Anything from the Election?
By Susan Quinn

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2024-11-07>>

*** begin quote ***

Trump’s election to the Presidency is a breathtaking achievement. So many thought he had too many issues working against him and were certain that the country would not elect a convicted felon or a man who “planned to be a dictator” on his first day in office.

But they were wrong.

It’s a worthwhile exercise to study the Left’s positions now that they’ve lost the Presidency. A major factor in their loss is that they ignored the people.

  •  The Left (which includes the legacy media) paid no attention to the desperation of the people when they cried out about the economy and inflation. Kamala Harris made some pathetic promises in her campaign to help the people, but at that point, I think that no one believed her.

*** and ***

  • Regarding legislation, the Republicans must stop agreeing to pass laws that increase our debts. If they want to pass another part of the legislation, they must free it from large financial commitments. Fiscal responsibility must become our goal.Regarding legislation, the Republicans must stop agreeing to pass laws that increase our debts. If they want to pass another part of the legislation, they must free it from large financial commitments. Fiscal responsibility must become our goal.

*** end quote ***

I’d say that the legacy lame-street media is dead.  Podcasts bypass the filters and take ideas directly to “We, The Sheeple”.

Further, I’d say that DJT4547 has a long list of things he has to do.  Day 1  — pardon all those unjustly imprisioned  — repeal ALL of the Executive Orders ever signed  —  Close the Department of Education and move the Department of Agriculture to Kansas.  Send Elon Musk and Ron Paul into the swamp to cut the size and shape of the Federal Gooferment bureaucracy.

Day 2  — make peace your number 1 priority.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Need an “illegal alien” plan!

Sunday, September 29, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/09/10_million_illegal_aliens_what_is_to_be_done.html

americanthinker.com
10 Million Illegal Aliens: What Is to Be Done?
By Randall Childs
<<  2024-09Sep-25 Wed >>

*** begin quote ***

After the economy, illegal immigration ranks highest among voters’ concerns. President Trump has spoken of “mass deportations” of the more than ten million illegal aliens who have flooded our country under Biden-Harris. That’s appealing political rhetoric to the base, but he needs to build policy muscle upon the rhetorical bones.

First, the optics. We’re talking ten million people, and then some. Men, women, children, oldsters, families. Some are the “hardworking people seeking a better life,” as they claim; others are gangsters and terrorists, plus lots in between. Rounding them up and arranging transport of a population equal to Michigan will be no small feat. Prepare for nightmarish images of armed agents descending upon “immigrant” motels and shelters; rounding up families and frog-walking them onto buses, trucks, trains, and planes; and shipping them out. We can expect horrific portrayals of “children in cages” revisited, oldsters with ailments, detention centers portrayed as internment camps, all that. Wouldn’t the anti-Trump media have a field day? Families torn apart! Lives disrupted! Local economies hit hard. And what if their nations of origin refused their re-entry? More ugly media attention.

Candidate Trump needs to present a credible plan to repatriate these people in an orderly, efficient, humane, and politically palatable way. This can be done by arranging deportations in cohorts according to immigrants’ harm and costs to our nation.

We start with the criminal elements: murderers, rapists, drunk drivers, drug-dealers, and professional shoplifters. By legal and administrative means, illegals who have been involved in criminal activity will be prioritized in “grab” lists and subject to arrest and detention. Being flight risks, they must be denied bail, then given a simple choice: be prosecuted, or be deported with the understanding that re-entry will be a mandatory five-year felony. The point is to get bad actors out of the country.

*** end quote ***

Well, it seems like a no brainer to start with the high priority criminals.  

I’m sure that would make a huge difference in “the problem”.

I like the idea of having a plan for the “sanctuary cities and states”.  Cut off the federal funds  seem like a way to get “cooperation”.

Argh!

—30—

Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: EVs make no sense

Monday, September 9, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/09/the_cold_hard_kamala_repelling_truth_about_electric_vehicles.html

americanthinker.com
The Cold, Hard, Kamala-Repelling Truth about Electric Vehicles
By Warren Beatty

*** begin quote ***

Bottom line: over the entire life cycle of an E.V., from raw materials to final disposal, driving an E.V. or plug-in E.V. produces more pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions than a comparable hybrid E.V. We truly live in a Bizarro World, where Kamala’s ideology overrides reality.

*** end quote ***

Over and above the practicality of EVs (i.e., limited range, recharge time, battery fires, accident damage), the “costs” of mining cobalt, and other “rare earth” minerals, in terms of the “dirt” and the human working conditions is inhumane.  Anyone else seen the pictures of children mining cobalt to subsist?  As a fat old white guy retired injineer, I’m not adverse to “progress”.  I am adverse to stupidity and responding to a politically induced “global warming global cooling climate change” “the sky is falling” “let’s give the Gooferment more money to solve a problem” panic.  (If the seas are “rising”, then why are all the rich people buying waterfront property?  Are they stupid? Or do they just know the truth?). In any event, why isn’t the Gooferment allowing diesel and tiny foreign cars and truck into the country?  We know that the politicians and bureaucrats are being bribed by all the Big Industries.  If we can just have a free market, the the Gooferment could shrink to just being a referee.  Argh!  

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: It’s about America’s Future, Not Trump or Harris … … end the fed and cut the Federal budget back 50%

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/08/the_election_is_not_about_trump_or_harris.html

americanthinker.com
The Election Is Not about Trump or Harris
By Civis Americanus

*** begin quote ***

The Harris campaign has raised upwards of $200 million and is garnering enthusiasm from the left wing of the Democrat party. If every one of 38.8 million registered Republicans sends the Republican National Committee ten dollars, we will have $388 million. Independents and centrist Democrats who value the future of our country can contribute as well, but don’t count on somebody else to do it. Do your part to help win in November.

Civis Americanus is the pen name of an American Thinker contributor who remembers the lessons of history and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way. 

*** end quote ***

I’m not sure about sending $10 to the RNC.  Too many RINOs for my tastes.  But, I am sending $10 to my local candidate.

If we are to survive, then we need to #ENDTHEFED, cut the budget, and reduce the national debt.

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Voting for crime?

Monday, May 13, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/05/retail_theft_ring_busts_reveal_some_hard_truths.html

americanthinker.com
Retail Theft Ring Busts Reveal Some Hard Truths
By John F. Di Leo

*** begin quote ***

Los Angeles County Sheriff Department detectives proudly announced a complex and successful sting this week. 

A retail theft ring has been caught red-handed, with millions of dollars’ worth of make-up, perfume, pharmaceuticals, and more, stolen from stores in and around California, much of it still bearing store tags.  

Product has been recovered; at least a dozen locations have been revealed. Multiple fences have been identified, with eight arrests announced at the start, and likely more to follow. They will prove that shoplifting rings were organized to hit the stores that had what the fences wanted – from pharmacies like CVS to big box stores like Walmart.

*** and ***

One of the hallmarks of today’s progressive prosecutors – the many Soros-funded district attorneys of cities and counties like Los Angeles – is the public declaration that police resources are too valuable, and capitalist retailers too unimportant and undeserving of protection, to waste time on prosecuting “minor crimes” like retail theft valued under some arbitrary figure of $800 or $1,000. This position has always been shameful and indefensible, but is all the more so in light of organized theft rings like the one in today’s news. 

*** end quote ***

If the police are doing their jobs and the criminals are back on the street before they finish the paperwork then why are we surprised as crime wipes out society.

When we “vote” for these politicians and bureaucrats, then we are accepting the moral decline of our country.

Murders get a slap ion the wrist and thieves get a free pass.

It is the voters fault!

—30—

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries