Pension fund bailout is the sequel to a Hollywood movie.

 $36 billion in federal funds has been paid to labor union pension funds.  The funding is from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that was signed into law in 2021.  Some details are included in the following article:

$36 Billion Union Pension Fund Bailout

Note that the majority of funding is going to the the Central States Pension Fund.  This organization has a colorful history.  It is a multi employer pension fund created through collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters Union.  During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s the Central States Pension Fund was used as a source of loans and funding for real-estate development.  It became famous for loans and funds provided to Las Vegas hotels and casinos.

This episode of union pension funding of Las Vegas casino expansion was the basis for the  the 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino.  Although this film is listed as a drama, all who are familiar with the Chicago mob's Las Vegas adventures will realize that the film is very close to a documentary.  Some of the film's main characters are as follows:

Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, a film depiction of Frank Rosenthal, also known as "Lefty."

Nicky Santoro, a film depiction of Anthony Spilotro, also known as "The Ant."

Andy Stone, a film depiction of Allen Dorfman.

Allen Dorfman was the conduit for funding of the Las Vegas investments through the Central States Pension Fund.  Dorfman was a Chicago mob associate who rose to power due to his father's previous association with organized crime.  Dorfman became a close confidant of Jimmy Hoffa.  On January 20, 1983 Allen Dorfman was murdered.  The news clips in the following link provide the details:

Allen Dorfman's murder

Note that the Federal Government bestowed on itself the authority to spend $1.9 trillion for coronavirus relief under the American Rescue Plan.  Then the Federal Government bestowed on itself the authority to pay the Central States Pension Fund $36 billion from the coronavirus relief fund.  You might find it interesting or amusing that when the mob was making the investment decisions for the Central States Pension Fund they never needed a government bailout.

It ends with a whimper.

And just like that, the pandemic ends in Iowa.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced on Thursday that she will allow the “public health disaster emergency proclamation” to expire on February 15, 2022.

“We cannot continue to suspend duly enacted laws and treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency indefinitely. After two years, it’s no longer feasible or necessary. The flu and other infectious illnesses are part of our everyday lives, and coronavirus can be managed similarly,” stated Gov. Reynolds. “State agencies will now manage COVID-19 as part of normal daily business, and reallocate resources that have been solely dedicated to the response effort to serve other important needs for Iowans.” 

Restrictions are easing or lifted in many states, see the following article: 

USA Today map of state restrictions

Defeat the Mandates

A rally was held in Washington DC on Sunday, 1/23/22.  The name of the rally is Defeat the Mandates: An American Homecoming.  As you might assume from the name the rally was held in opposition to vaccine mandates.  40 speakers and organizations made presentations including Master of ceremonies JP Sears, Robert F. Kennedy JR., Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Peter McCullough, Del Bigtree, and Steve Kirsch.

This link will take you to a video of the event.  There are many speakers which makes for a long viewing process.  If you have limited time I recommend that you watch Robert F. Kennedy JR's speech which begins at the 2 hour and 20 minute mark.  I was impressed by Kennedy's speech, but even more impressive is that this speech is from a prominent member of the Kennedy family.  Please click the link below: 

 Defeat the Mandates

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities

Rachel Reeves is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom.  She holds the office of the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

On a British news channel, she was asked the following question:

Is it transphobic to say that only women have a cervix?

Chancellor Reeves has great difficulty answering this question.  Please view for yourself at the following link:

Rachel Reeves interview

The title of this post is a quotation from Voltaire’s ‘Questions sur les miracles’ (1765).  Voltaire continued with this warning: "If you do not use the intelligence with which God endowed your mind to resist believing impossibilities, you will not be able to use the sense of injustice which God planted in your heart to resist a command to do evil. Once a single faculty of your soul has been tyrannized, all the other faculties will submit to the same fate."

Reject the absurdities of tyrants.  Do not let tyrants capture your heart and soul.  Do not become a participant in atrocities.

Los Angeles takes a Great Leap Forward

Los Angeles city planners ignored history and have chosen a name for their newest welfare program that is eerily similar to a program instituted by Mao Zedong: "The Great Leap Forward" that killed tens of millions of Chinese.

The BIG:LEAP is a basic income guarantee (BIG) program.  Los Angeles will provide approximately 3,000 individuals with $1,000 per month for 12 months. These will be unconditional, regular, and direct cash payments to individual participants that supplement existing welfare programs.  Details are available at this link:

BIG:LEAP

The program website linked to above provides this explanation of poverty:

The relentless poverty experienced by too many Angelenos emerges out of a lack of financial resources, not a lack of judgment. While Angelenos are doing everything in their power to achieve financial security, the burdens of a high cost of living, unaffordable housing options, and insufficient wages too often exceed families’ ability to confront those challenges on their own — and we know that the economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 will outlast the pandemic itself.

It is quite ironic that government regulation and taxation cause the high cost of living and unaffordable housing.  Occupational licensure and minimum wage laws cause limited access to jobs with sufficient wages.  Economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 are all the result of government mandates.  Therefore all of the causes of poverty in the above list are the result of government action.  The solution promoted is of course more government action!  Ronald Reagan said: "The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan."

In another section of the BIG:LEAP website we find this paragraph:

GBI programs are founded upon the belief that the people enduring financial instability or poverty are best positioned to make informed financial decisions that efficiently address their household’s needs— whether that means paying for rent, a new tire, or an unexpected trip to urgent care. These participants are granted the freedom to meet their most pressing needs without delay.

The planners got one thing right when they say "...the people enduring financial instability or poverty are best positioned to make informed financial decisions that efficiently address their household’s needs."  The principle underlying this sentence would solve most of society's problems: let individuals make their own decisions.

Government is the national religion

New York Governor Kathy Hochul addressed a gathering in New York City's Christian Cultural Center on Sunday, September 26, 2021.  A short video excerpt from her speech is available at the link below:

The gospel according to Kathy

“And I wear my vaccinated necklace all the time to say, "I'm vaccinated." All of you. Yes, I know you're vaccinated. You're the smart ones. But, you know, there's people out there who aren't listening to God and what God wants. You know this. You know who they are. I need you to be my apostles.”

 

A new location for the goal posts (further down the field)

Now the goal for Hawaii is to keep “cases” (positive test results) under 100 per day.  The last goal of “70% of the population vaccinated” has been achieved but will not result in any change in mandates because the goal posts have been moved (again).

Gov. Ige interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Spotlight Hawaii

Note that the video includes these statements:

1. “Safe Travels will continue as long as there are those traveling that are not vaccinated”.  – What is the guideline for ending this program?  Will travelers arriving in 2025 still be subject to these requirements?

2. “Governor Ige said that he is considering plans to incorporate booster shots and antigen tests into the Safe Travels program as well.” – Apparently, travelers will soon be required to have a booster shot before entering Hawaii without a quarantine.

How does Ige’s last emergency proclamation provide authority to set goals that would take effect on 1/1/2022?  This date is more than 60 days beyond the effective date of the emergency proclamation.

Personal privacy

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano provides a brief history of personal privacy laws at this link:

A Brief History of the Law of Personal Privacy and Bodily Integrity

Can vaccine mandates be justified?

 In an emergency order issued on 8/30/2021 City and County of Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi imposed a vaccine mandate that went into effect on  9/13/21.

Considering the current statistics available from the Hawaii Department of Health and research on COVID-19 and the vaccines can a mandate be justified?  The following report answers this question.

Vaccine Mandate Research

The American Descent into Madness

Victor Davis Hanson recently published an article on the American Greatness website.  He begins with this statement: "Nations have often gone mad in a matter of months."  He continues with this:

"In the last six months, we have seen absurdities never quite witnessed in modern America. Madness, not politics, defines it. There are three characteristics of all these upheavals. One, the events are unsustainable. They will either cease or they will destroy the nation, at least as we know it. Two, the law has largely been rendered meaningless. Three, left-wing political agendas justify any means necessary to achieve them."

 This article provides many astute insights.  The following is an insight that I had not recognized on my own:

"Yet universities now have both hands around their golden goose’s neck and are determined to strangle it...The new woke admission policy ironically is targeting the liberal suburban professional family, the Left’s constituency, whose lives are so fixated on whether children graduate from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, or like campuses."

 I urge you to read the entire article at the following link:

The American Descent into Madness