Alaska2Alberta Railroad, Often rumored and even planned, is there an economic reason to connect the Alaska Railroad to the rest of the Standard Gauge Rail System in North America directly by Rail?

The morning of July3, 2019, I found the following article in the Yahoo Groups RailfanLegal.net post #2734.

Rail News: Short Lines & Regionals

Alaska Railroad OKs historic pact to build new U.S.-Canada rail connection

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Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARRC) and Alaska to Alberta Railway Development Corp. (A2A) have signed a master agreement of cooperation calling for the construction of a 1,500-mile connection between ARRC’s system and Canadian railroads that also would link to the lower 48 states.

The agreement for the proposed $13 billion project (CA$17 billion) was announced yesterday after approval by ARRC’s board.

“A rail connection between Alaska and Canada and the rest of the United States is a project that has been talked and dreamed about for close to a century,” said ARRC President and Chief Executive Officer Bill O’Leary in a press release. “Completing that connection has amazing potential for Alaska and this agreement between the Alaska Railroad and A2A Rail is an important first step to get the project underway.”

Under the agreement’s terms, the two companies will cooperate in applying to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for a right-of-way guaranteed under state law for a rail connection to Canada.

In addition, they will develop a joint operating plan that will specify the new track needed to connect ARRC’s line to Canada, as well as identify work needed to upgrade existing rail facilities, bridges and track on the railroad's 512-mile mainline, which runs from Seward to North Pole.

Full construction would begin after a right of way is approved, a presidential border crossing permit is received, environmental reviews are conducted by the United States and Canada, and the Surface Transportation Board and Canadian Transportation Agency bless the plan.

First Nations, indigenous groups and Alaska native entities, whose traditional lands are crossed by the route, are being consulted during the process, ARRC officials said.

A full project description for the rail link in the United States and Canada is expected to be completed later this year.

“We are pleased to reach this milestone with the Alaska Railroad,” said Sean McCoshen, CEO and co-founder of A2A Rail. “It will help assure global investors that obtaining a right of way in Alaska is achievable, and sets up major cooperation in permitting, operations, and marketing with the Alaska Railroad.”

A summary of the master agreement and a map of the proposed route are available here.

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The A2A Railroad would have more than a few benefits:

1. It would link Alaska to the rest of the North American Standard Gauge Rail System by Rail rather than By Car Float Barges from the Puget Sound.
2. It would potentially allow Oil Trains to originate from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to be shipped into Alberta, where the thick tar sands could be "thinned" with North Shore/Prudnome Bay Crude that would be easier to ship by railcar to refineries in the United States.
3. It would allow Rare Earth Metals that are found in Northern Alberta to be shipped by rail into the contiguous 48 states or into Alaska, where it could be loaded onto ships.
4. It helps cement the Alaskan Peninsula, originally a Russian property that was purchased by the US with the contiguous 48 states.

PROOF that Islam is Culturally Incompatible With Being an American=> Daniel Greenberg=> Sultan Knish Blog=> In 5 States, 1 in 5 Prisoners are Muslims

WOW!!!!  Someone actually provided proof of what most Americans believe:  Culturally, Islam is INCOMPATIBLE with being an American.  No, we Americans aren’t trying to be racist (as if Islam was a racial thing) or exclusionary.

So where is the proof?  A column in Daniel Greenberg’s Sultan Knish Blog examined the prison populations of Muslims based on data by states and it turns out that the Muslim population of our prisons, both Federal and State are remarkably higher than the overall Muslim populations in America by States.

So how does this prove that Islam is Culturally Incompatible with being an American?  Let's start with our laws.  Our laws are enacted by Legislatures and Enforced by Administrations.  They may be ancient, derived by the Hamirabic Code or the Ten Commandments or some other Ancient Wisdom.  These are expectations of how we should act that have been codified and guardrails that keep us from behavior that is barbaric and uncivilized.  When someone goes outside of these codified laws, rules and guardrails and are caught, charged, tried and convicted for living outside of the rules of our culture, they are sentenced to probation, jail or both. The idea is that if a person won't participate in the rules of the culture, what makes us civilized, he or she won't be allowed to participate in civilization (at least for a time).

Let's also look at the
Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America

Oath

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Note: In certain circumstances there can be a modification or waiver of the Oath of Allegiance. Read Chapter 5 of A Guide to Naturalization for more information.

The principles embodied in the Oath are codified in Section 337(a) in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which provides that all applicants shall take an oath that incorporates the substance of the following:

1. Support the Constitution;
2. Renounce and abjure absolutely and entirely all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which the applicant was before a subject or citizen;
3. Support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
4. Bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and
5. A. Bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; or
   B. Perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; or
   C. Perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law.

The language of the current Oath is found in the Code of Federal Regulations Section 337.1 and is closely based upon the statutory elements in Section 337(a) of the INA.

So in short, we're seeing that these incarcerated people, who are adherents of Islam, whose belief system tells them that they must follow the "code of Mohammed" over the codified laws of a country to which they've come.  They have chosen to defy the cultural rules of the civilization in which they live naturalized, swearing they take their oath freely and without mental reservation.  Having been convicted by a jury of their peers, their actions, have testified, much louder and with more force and weight than their words, testifying against them when they swore "...that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same...and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

This is BOLD!  Who’d have thunk it?  So, without further adieu, here’s Daniel Greenberg.
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In 5 States, 1 in 5 Prisoners are Muslims http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2019/08/in-5-states-1-in-5-prisoners-are-muslims.html Posted: 12 Aug 2019 03:50 AM PDT At 1%, Muslims are still a small percentage of the population. But there’s one place in America where they are vastly over-represented. State prisons. Take Maryland, which has an estimated 70,000 Muslims, making up over 1% of the population. But of Maryland's 18,562 prisoners, 5,084 were Muslims. That's 27.4% or over 1 in 4 prisoners. It would also mean that 1 out of 13 Muslims in Maryland may have been in a state prison. Those are startling numbers, yet they come from Muslim Advocates, an Islamist legal advocacy group. Both MA’s numbers and the number of Muslims in different states may be miscounted, yet these figures raise serious questions about public safety and the toll that immigration is taking on our communities. While Maryland’s numbers are some of the worst, MA lists similar figures for Washington D.C. where out of 5,219 prisoners, 1,232 were Muslims, so that once again 1 in 4 prisoners were Muslim. D.C. does have one of the largest Muslim populations in the country, numbering between 2 and 3 percent. Even taking the highest estimate, 6.5% of the Muslim population in D.C. was in jail in 2017. Muslims make up 1% of the population in Pennsylvania, but 1 in 5 of its prisoners. Of the 48,438 prisoners in Pennsylvania, 10,264 were Muslim. That’s 8% of an estimated statewide Muslim population of 128,000, meaning that 1 in 12 Muslims in Pennsylvania were in prison in 2017. In 5 states, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, Muslims make up 1 out of 4 or 1 out of 5 prisoners. In another 4 states, Wisconsin, Missouri, Delaware, and Arkansas, they make up 1 in 10 prisoners. That’s a total of 9 states in which Muslims make up between a quarter and a tenth of state prisoners. The MA numbers are incomplete because the Islamist group only includes information from 35 states, but they do point to the scale of the problem of what Muslim Advocates call, “overrepresentation”. Overrepresentation may be partially a product of the success of Islamic Dawah or missionary activity in prisons. Islamic prison Dawah has produced many converts and at least some terror plots. And it may serve to explain high Muslim prison numbers in some states, but not necessarily in others. Delaware is a fairly small state with a population of under a million and a Muslim population of 10,000. Nevertheless, of its 5,235 prisoners, 516 were Muslims. That’s not only around 1 in 10 of the prison body, but also around 5% or 1 in 20 Muslims of the statewide Muslim population of the First State. The Muslim settler population is usually at around 1% in the country and its varying states. But in only two states, South Dakota and Idaho, was the Muslim prison population at 1% or below. The overall population, as MA noted in its partial numbers, was 84,882 or 8.9% of prisoners. Combine all those Muslim prisoners into a city and you have a population larger than Youngstown. The MA report also claims that 12% of federal prisoners are Muslims. (CAIR in the past had claimed that it was only 6%.) The current federal BOP population is 177,619. That would mean over 21,000 prisoners. And over 105,000 Muslims are prisoners in state and federal prisons. Using Pew’s growth estimate, which projects that the Muslim settler population will reach 8.1 million by 2050 (a severe underestimation of actual growth), that would mean a quarter million Muslim prisoners. This is not just an abstract statistic. It’s a compilation of human misery, lives lost, futures taken, a litany of abuse, loss, assault, and the accompanying taxpayer expenditures on trials, prisons and free lawyers. The current cost of incarcerating Muslim federal prisoners is taking $670 million a year from taxpayers. By 2050, the cost could climb to over $1.5 billion. In some states, inmate incarceration costs are much higher than they are in the federal system. In New York, inmate incarceration costs run to $69,355 per inmate. There were 7,838 Muslim prisoners in New York in 2018 at a cost that approaches $550 million. By 2050, New York would also be spending billions. Maryland is already spending over $225 million on its Muslim prisoners. Michigan is spending an estimated $265 million. New Jersey is blowing through around $250 million on Muslim inmate costs. Texas spends $191 million on its Muslim inmates. Wisconsin is on the hook for $113 million a year. North Carolina taxpayers face a $160 million Muslim inmate bill. Missouri taxpayers shell out some $70 million. In Illinois, it’s up to $180 million. Florida is blowing through $93 million. Georgia spends almost $30 million. And Connecticut is forced to spend over $100 million and Ohio spends $90 million. Even tiny Delaware is stuck spending $20 million on its Muslim inmate population. Pennsylvania taxpayers have the worst of it and are spending $438 million on Muslim prisoners. These numbers however are based on average inmate costs. Muslim inmate costs may be higher due to their special needs and special circumstances. Nidal Hassan, the Fort Hood Jihadist who murdered 13 Americans, ran up $548,000 in costs. But even these extremely incomplete numbers suggest that the federal cost plus the cost in 15 states approaches $3.5 billion. Assuming average state costs across the total population would mean a $2.8 billion cost to the states. (Although this is an extremely inaccurate means of calculating these figures.) But it does mean that by 2050, the nationwide bill for Muslim incarceration would approach $10 billion. Estimating the projected increase of Muslim prisoner populations can be tricky, but the rise in Muslim crime documented by the MA report still appears to be disturbing. In Colorado, the Muslim share of prisoners doubled between 2010 and 2018. In Utah, the number of Muslim prisoners doubled, and in Georgia, they tripled between 2011 and 2018. In Michigan, the number of Muslim inmates rose by almost 1,000 even as the general prison population fell by 4,000. In Missouri, the number of Muslim prisoners increased by over 800, even as the general population only rose by 600. D.C., Indiana, and Minnesota, saw share increases of between a quarter and a third. In Kansas, the Muslim prisoner share rose by a fifth. Texas added over 1,500 Muslim inmates even as its overall number of prisoners fell by 10,000. These are worrying numbers in an era where crime numbers and arrests have been declining. And they forecast the future of states which have consented to refugee resettlement without calculating the harm and expense that migration will inflict on their people, their children and their future. In British prisons, the proportion of Muslim prisoners rose from 8% in 2002 to 16% in 2018. As a report to the British parliament noted, aside from Muslims, "no other religion had a higher proportion of representation in prisons than among the general population." We have begun seeing similar numbers in the United States. As the debate over immigration continues, we must ask ourselves difficult questions about the price we are willing to pay to welcome in one particular group without caring about the cost to ourselves. How many thousands of lives, how many billions of dollars, are we willing to pay? And is diversity worth the price? Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. ************************************************************************************************************* So our choice is clear:  We either let others bully us into having a diverse population, that includes our sworn enemies, or we start defending ourselves by denying citizenship  to domestic enemies who've proven that their allieegance belongs to a sovereignty (in this case a Theocratic Culture) that is at war with us.   You know, maybe we should require a different kind of punishment for those who come here and falsely swear to the Naturalization Oath and then live outside of our laws and culture.  Maybe it's time for President Trump to also make a case to deport and ban ANY non-citizen who has come here and refuses to live by our laws and revoke the citizenship of those those who recently naturalized.  And while there was an uproar when he suggested an immigration ban on males coming form countries that the Obama Administration had also banned it was upheld by the Courts of the United. States.

Main Street & the Mayberry Lifestyle

The television show Seinfeld, featuring the comedy of Jerry Seinfeld, has cemented its place in American Culture, with its iconic characters, usually involved something trivial (or as Jerry Seinfeld would say “A show about nothing”) but that usually happens to us at sometime in our lives. 

One of the later and I think most colorful, secondary characters added to the show was J. Peterman, the owner of his namesake business, where the main female character, Elaine Benish, is employed.  Peterman is portrayed as a verbose entrepreneur that sells high end clothes.  Portrayed by John O’Hurley, whose distinctive voice and diction made his portrait of the character, I assumed Peterman was just a figment of the screen writer's imagination.  But J. Peterman exists as does a company bearing his name and his wonderful essays are very much in character with ultra descriptive, somewhat approaching the verbose, almost catalog sales pitch descriptions O'Hurley's character gives on the show.

The real life J. Peterman has mastered writing and the art of description in a way that could be best described as the way an old school radio personality (e.g. Paul Harvey) could.  Using words, he paints a picture that even a blind person could recognize.  It takes someone with a VERY GOOD GRASP of words, to describe a scene in such a way that you don't need any visual interpretation "to see" what they are describing.

Here's a perfect example of the descriptive capabilities of Peterman (and maybe his staff) from the "Peterman's Eye" page of the J. Peterman website, simply entitled Main Street.

A 200-mile trip might take the average person six or seven hours. I’ve been known to do it in three days. That’s because I always take the alternate route, otherwise known as Main Street, USA.

With the collection of Home Depots, Wal-Marts and Targets lining the highways, you could be anywhere. But you always know where you are when you’re on Main Street, whatever the actual name of the street may be. I’ve also found that the nice thing about traveling on Main Street is that one seems to leads to another.

Unfortunately, some aren’t what they used to be.  But some are. In many towns, “the diner” is still on the corner where it has been for 30 years. There’s Sal’s Barber Shop, and now Sal Jr. has the first chair. The hardware store is a good place to talk about plaster screws for a few hours. There’s the local version of Starbucks, where you don’t have to pay $6 for a latte. And if you forget your wallet anywhere on Main Street, someone will send out an APB looking for you.

For more of the local color, you can look at those ubiquitous corkboards, with notes tacked to them announcing important things. Like the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at the firehouse. Or a church rummage sale. Or one man’s crusade to save the American Elm. That hardy breed of statuesque trees lined many Main Streets with a graceful, arching beauty – until urban development and a sudden epidemic took care of them.

If you dally too long on Main Street, you end up talking to strangers – who now feel like friends – and lose all track of time. Don’t worry. Just consider the $15 parking ticket as a contribution to an American way of life well worth preserving.

Some Main Streets are quite resilient. They’ve survived Sinclair Lewis’s “Main Street,” Grace Metalious’s “Peyton Place,” and Frank Capra’s “Bedford Falls.” People gossip everywhere. The only difference in a small town is that everyone knows whom you’re gossiping about – and that kind of makes it more intimate.

What really makes Main Street special is its intimacy. Even if you never lived near one, you feel it right away. And there’s a certain comfort in knowing that this is a place that hasn’t changed much.

For my next excursion, I have my eyes on the Lincoln Highway. About 3,400 miles, coast to coast. It has been called “The Main Street Across America.”

I’ve taken parts of it, but have never made the entire trip. Is there anyone out there who has?

The description of this non-specific place reminds me of the towns in which my parents grew up, that I visited to see my grand-parents.  There was the main drag.  It would have drug stores, banks, the county courthouse, gas stations at each end, a Liquor Store, Pharmacies and Grocery Stores on it.  Some even had the local Doctor's office on it.  There were usually Railroad Tracks parallel to the Main Street.  The towns weren't very "wide," with 5 or six streets paralleling each side of the main drag, before you got to the city limits.  They tended to be "long," stretching a couple of miles down that main drag, slowly fading into the rural surroundings.  Everyone knows everyone else.  Life seems to move at a slower pace.  And like my wife's family, when they moved across the mountain into western Pennsylvania, they were the "new folks in town" even when they had moved there 10 years ago.  

It seems magical, even mythical.  This was life for most of Americans many years ago.  Like the Legendary town of Mayberry, NC, there were the "characters" that made the town complete.  In my Dad's town, there was a World War II veteran, who'd get drunk and race his Twin-H Carbureted Hudson Hornet through the town.  There was the town Doctor, one of those medical geniuses, who decided NOT to be a surgeon, but Instead a general practitioner., His Nurse, was a single Mom, when it was scandalous to be one.  There were Successful Farmers, Mechanical Geniuses, and there was even the kid that thought he'd outrun the local Sheriff, only to find him in his driveway, nonchalantly talking with his Daddy on the side porch, as he pulled into his driveway.  There were revival preachers who held Camp Meetings to include the late James Brown (!!!) and friends and family who worked in the local Mill.  

It was a slice of America, served up with all of its goodness and hard times.  This seems like a good place to live and a place to which I'd want to retire.  And it will be, in the future. 

Blow Back: Decisions Always Hit the Fan. What Matters is Where You Are, WHEN the Fan Changes Direction.

After 7+ excruciating  years of Barack (the Destroyer of Class Mobility) Obama as President, the Financial Crisis, with its Bank Stress Tests, tightened Credit Policies and Zero Percent Interest Rates is still not over.  Those called Wall Street Banksters are still making money thanks to the Crony Capitalism.  Yet loans to those unworthy of credit because of past failures to repay debts are still demanded by many (who are racial minorities), claiming discrimination.  Small Businesses, the backbone of the Economy, the fertile place where Entrepreneurism becomes reality through hard work and most of the job growth and entry level jobs are created are starved for capital. 

With Barack (the Destroyer of the Middle Class) Obama as President, the middle class has been decimated by his policies.  We've watched as he intentionally has bankrupted the coal industry (for claimed environmental reasons) and forced all of the North American Class 1 railroads to look for other commodities as means to support base operations.  Say good bye to (middle class) Coal Mining and (high paying, upper middle class) Railroad Operations Jobs.  He dawdled on making a decision about the Keystone Pipeline, which would have shortened the pipeline routing of oil from the Oil Sands of Alberta and the Light Sweet Crude Oil of the North Dakota Bakken oil field (also for environmental reasons, which ironically, cause  both of these types crude oils to be shipped by rail, where the light sweet crude is far more likely to burn in an accidental derailment).  This killed off both Steel Mill jobs making pipe and Pipe Laying Jobs to include Welders, Pipeline Construction and Compression/Pump Station Construction Jobs.  All of these jobs were high paying, upper middle class jobs. 

The only real job expansion that we've had since Obama (the Destroyer of the American Dream) took over the office of President is in the Petroleum industry, specifically through the exploration and extraction of Oil and Natural Gas by Fracking.  And while he's tried to stop this, through prohibiting further exploration and extraction by American Companies in the Gulf of Mexico, prohibiting the further exploration and extraction on Federal Lands, the industry has been successful, until recently, when the new King of Saudi Arabia decided to "go to mattresses" by dropping the price of oil to levels that were below the cost of extraction in the United States (Good-bye high paying, upper middle class jobs for oil and gas workers).  As a long term strategy, this won't work, but employees have to live now, in the short term.

Additionally, President Barack Obama (The Destroyer of Hope) has found a way to confiscate water rights, putting additional financial pressure on both Ranchers (horse, cattle, sheep and goat) and Farmers (Family and Commercial).  Neither of these vocations has had great stability, due to weather and markets.  Each year's crops are a crap shoot, where the farmer or rancher plays the odds and prays for the best.  You've got to love the land (and probably your heritage as a farmer)  to do this job.  Entry cost barriers are high for the land and the machinery required to plow, plant, sew and reap.  It make a living, but you've got to love the life.

And Barack (our "leading from behind," Commander-in-Chief) Obama, has cut the Military budget to the point where the Military is shedding its current group of volunteer men and women soldiers sailors and airmen.  Young men and women who feel the call to defend their country and learn a trade no longer can enter the military, due to the budgetary cuts.  The forces have been shrunk to a point where readiness is questionable and exercises to teach readiness cannot be afforded, due to personnel or money.  We're losing patriots as well as the system that is generally the alternative to both college and apprenticeship (both union and non-union) into Middle class jobs.


But what he might consider to be his greatest achievement is Barack (the Destroyer of Freedoms) Obama's war against the culture.  He has turned Political Correctness up to a whole new level, accusing those who are against him of Racism and suing local Police Departments for "Civil Rights" violations, when any Black Person is killed by a white Police Officer.  He has bullied the Supreme Court into calling the Tax for failure to sign up for Obamacare, a "Penalty" that was unconstitutionally originated in the Senate.  He has Forced the American People to choose Obama Care, enriching Insurance Companies that provide "gap coverage policies."  He has Forced those who are granted Freedom of Religion to Go Against Conscience and comply with purchasing insurance that provides coverage for Abortion or to file suit just to have their Constitutional Right to Freedom of Religion protected.

Sir Isaac Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, states that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."  I've found that this law is generally true in politics as well.

Albert Einstein is credited for having said  "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."


So with the ongoing destruction of the American Dream, the Middle Class, Class Mobility, Hope, Entrepreneurship, Entry Level Jobs, the Military and Freedoms granted in the Constitution, is there ANY SURPRISE that the supposed antidote to all of these maladies, Donald Trump is making huge waves in this year's elections?  He destroys Political Correctness with straight talk that is sometimes as crude as that of a Red Necked Blue Collar Worker.  His campaign slogan of "Make America Great Again," is the stuff of which American Dreams are made, harkening back to the Ronald Reagan's slogans of "Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago" and "It's morning again in America."

A few months ago, Democrat pollster, Pat Caddell spoke at the David Horowitz Freedom Center's 2015 Restoration Weekend.  In his Keynote Speech at the Opening Breakfast Pat said "We stand -- we have not even seen the chaos yet that is about to be unveiled.  Everything else has been almost a precursor to this.  And how it ends I do not know yet, but I want to give you the parameters of it.

We have in this country two mindsets.  Well, we have mine, and then we have the mainstream political class analysis, mainstream media, and all the people who are so upset, because nothing they believe is coming true.  They start from a premise that there are only two parties, and that nothing changes, and that it is a totally divided country, and it is a matter of inches of what happens politically.

And then there is the new reality, which is, as I've said, a country which is not just in revolt, but something greater.  I am writing a piece right now announcing our results.  And I start with the story of saying -- in 1796, I think it was. Whatever it was, when the Bastille fell -- '89, I guess. Louis XVI was in Versailles and [Nicolas], his finance minister, came to him, who was supposed to solve all the problems, and told the king about the fact that the Bastille had fallen, and Necker told him that.  And the king responded -- is this a revolt?  And Necker sighed and said -- no, Sire, I fear this is a revolution." 

(Full disclosure:  I like Pat Caddell.  He may be the only honest Democrat that we have left.   More importantly, he's truthful and gives an honest view of what is really happen in politics, not the typical distorted view of politics from "inside of the Beltway.")

For the past 7 years, Barack Obama and the Democrats have insisted that they have had the only plan that was reasonable, viable and doable.   With willing accomplices in the Democrat Media Apparatchik, shilling for the ACA, the unpopular plan was forced down the throats of the majority unwilling American citizens with ample carve outs for Muslim religious preference (to HELL with you damned Christians), Congress (of course - do what I say, not what I do) and FREE healthcare for our undocumented immigrants.  Of course there's one little catch:  When you sign up for this mandatory health care plan, you must also voluntarily give the Government FULL ACCESS to YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS.  They decided to Bankrupt Coal and subsidize Wind and Solar Power, killing off many good paying jobs, in the Coal Mining Industry, the Railroad and even trucking industries.  They delayed the Keystone Pipeline decision for 6+ years until it was politically expedient (after the last Congressional Election that Obama would have to deal with) only to deny it, killing potential jobs at steel mills and pipeline construction companies. They've forced Forgive me, but this sounds awfully familiar.  It reminds me of when the citizens of Egypt came to Joseph in the 6th year of a 7 year famine

The old commercial by the Forestry Service had Smokey the Bear saying, "only you can prevent Forest Fires."  However, politicians have been only too happy to seed multiple fires, by ruling against the will of the people, hurting them economically and taking away their rights.

It only takes a spark to start a fire and in the tender box of a collapsing world economy, sparks need to be contained.  Pat Caddell is right:  The Revolution is here....  Caddell was candid that "...Revolution is in the air...."  He said "...I've done some research a little bit, again, inspired by Lee and some others.  And we had found the most amazing results -- the American people don't want a cultural war.  But as I wrote in the analysis, God help the one who starts it...." 

As political correctness has taken over and immigrants have not been forced to assimilate and blend into the culture, the citizens have had enough.  Blowback has changed the political narrative.  Forcing Blue-Collar Democrats out of the party, by favoring the agenda of the "Greeniacs" has decimated the middle-class and created the Trump Monster that threatens to devourThe question is "Will it a peaceful Revolution at the Ballot Box, or something much more permanent and even violent?" 

Guest Post=> City AM=> Dr. John C. Hulsman=> How the US Shale Revolution Changed the Face of Geopolitics

Today's guest blog post, How the US Shale Revolution Changed the Face of Geopolitics, comes from  comes from the British Website, City A.M.  

Some things are so obvious that we stare into the forest, missing the tree:  When you're not beholding to anyone for any reason, you can't be influenced by them.  So it is with the US and petroleum.  

When the US was not importing vast quantities of crude oil to use to heat its homes and power its industries, make electricity, fuel its transportation needs and support its military, it could choose its friends, instead of kissing its enemies asses, in the hopes that they'd continue to sell us a resource on which we'd become dependent.  So it became the latter, after we started to see slowing production of domestically produced oil in the 1950s, 60s and into the 70s, importing most of our petroleum needs.  We thought that we'd reached what some would call "peak oil" and scientific theories were predominately that the earth would soon run out of the resource that had literally come to power and lubricate our economic machine.  

We long suffered from having to bend to the will of those that supplied us what we needed and couldn't produce from within our borders.  We put up with their belief systems that are incompatible with the Freedom, in which we believe and base our society upon.  We hung out with despotic dictators who subverted the will and rights of their citizens, because we needed to purchase energy from them.  And it looked as if it would always be that way.

But adversity and the increased cost of imported oil allowed innovation to take hold.  Directional drilling was discovered and perfected for what appeared to be little to no apparent use, until hydraulic fracturing of typically shale rock formations allowed oil first and then methane gas to be released from that rock.  As the process became "refined," costs to directionally drill and fracture shale to release oil and gas deposits, heretofore trapped in rock were discovered to cost nearly what imported gas and oil cost.  Suddenly, over a period of about a decade, aided by governmental regulations that further increased the costs of importing oil into the US, the costs of "fracking" to produce oil and gas became VERY COMPETITIVE with imports of foreign oil. 

A few lessons should be inserted at this point:

1. Theories that are "generally accepted as fact" aren't necessarily true.  While they may appear to have been true from the limited perspective that scientists may have had when the theory was published, technology can reopen the theory for debate or refutation.
2. Hardships are often the catalyst that brings new ideas and technologies to fruition.
3. Economic Hardships are often lessons for us to learn to be more diligent with our finances and to "waste not, want not" with our finances.
4. Never believe that a new technology, for which you don't have current use is actually useless.

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Monday 8 July 2019 4:37 am

How the US shale revolution changed the face of geopolitics

 

John Hulsman

Dr John C. Hulsman is senior columnist at City A.M., a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and president of John C. Hulsman Enterprises. He can be reached for corporate speaking and private briefings at www.chartwellspeakers.com.

In theory, we all know that major technical revolutions change and fundamentally disrupt the face of the world we live in. 

In practice, analysts of all stripes are too often glacially slow to realise this process when it is at work, let alone what it means. 

These events (such as the advent of the mass-produced automobile and the personal computer) transcend their technical importance, having profound social, economic and even geopolitical ramifications – consequences that are far too often seen decades after they have actually come to pass. 

The shale revolution is the latest case in point. 

One of my proudest analytical moments came during my glorious first stint with City A.M., when we, from very early on, not only saw that the shale revolution was real, but that it was bound to overturn both the global energy market, and, equally importantly, the world of geopolitics.

There is nothing that has come to pass in the years since this claim was boldly stated in this newspaper that leads me to change our initial (then unheard-of) assessment. 

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking” – the process of injecting liquids at high pressure into subterranean rocks, widening existing fissures, and far more plentifully extracting oil and natural gas – has been such a technical game-changer. 

It has transformed the US, by far its leading exponent, from a long-term energy mendicant into the largest producer of oil in the world, in the blink of an historical eye. 

By contrast, hapless Europe has been loath to follow the American example, as environmental fears have overcome its desperate need for new energy sources. It remains the energy beggar that the US was just years ago. 

US energy production has increased an eye-opening 140 per cent since the shale revolution took flight in 2008. In 2018, US crude oil production rose by a stratospheric 30 per cent, with natural gas production also up fully 12 per cent. American oil production reached an all-time high of 10.9m barrels per day last year. 

These startling numbers simply don’t lie; the shale revolution is alive and well and here to stay. 

Saudi Arabia, alarmed by the ramifications of the shale revolution, has tried to contain America’s disruptive presence on the global energy market scene. 

First, the Saudis attempted a variation on what I call the “Rockefeller strategy”, following in the footsteps of America’s nineteenth-century energy titan in driving prices down by over-producing (at a loss) to try to force new competitors into bankruptcy and out of the market. 

But the Saudi gambit backfired spectacularly, amounting to a serious self-inflicted wound in a country that needs oil prices to be around $80 a barrel to balance its bloated budget. 

Shale production has proved to be far more price sensitive than old, fixed-rig dominated Saudi and Russian energy production. It can be turned on and off at a fraction of the fixed-rig price like a water faucet, depending on the global energy price. Fracking rigs shut down when the Saudis over-produced, only to restart as the price inevitably edged upwards.

Going in the opposite direction has not worked very well, either. Present Opec and Russian production cuts, while leading to a global energy price increase, have bequeathed to the Americans greater market share. 

In ramping up production, the US has kept a ceiling on global oil prices. It is not too much to say that the shale revolution has left the US, and not Opec or Russia, with the potential to become the global energy swing producer – a change of gargantuan proportions. 

The geopolitical ramifications of the shale revolution are as profound as they are ignored. Shale means that the US must focus far more of its attention on its own backyard. For if Mexico, Canada, and the US work in unison (as the new USMCA trade pact makes possible), the dream of North American energy independence is possible. 

Gone should be the days of over-worrying about the Middle East (except as an offshore balancer), a major strategic windfall for an America determined to turn its attention to Asia, where much of the political risk and reward will be in the new era. 

There, great power rival China finds itself far more dependent on energy production outside its borders, a very real handicap in the emerging superpower competition with the US. 

The shale revolution is a major reason for America’s basic strategic realignment away from the Middle East and towards Eurasia in our new multipolar era. Its importance simply cannot be overstated, and demands understanding. 

Main image credit: Getty

City A.M.'s opinion pages are a place for thought-provoking views and debate. These views are not necessarily shared by City A.M.

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And so, while we once had to "walk a fine line" between our allies with whom we shared values and traditions and the despots with whom we traded our money for oil, we're now unencumbered by our need to trade with those who wanted our riches and chose to try to hurt and suvbjectigate our will for the sake of their oil riches.  We are very much like a man who's had to live his life by a tight budget, while being in debt and raising a family and paying for a house, who suddenly finds himself flush with more money that he can spend, as his children fledge their nest, and the house is paid off.  We have choices in what we can do with the extra cash on hand.  

The wise man continues to live as if he still had debt, but saves the extra capital for a time of need.  He usually spends more for pleasure, but  eventually passes on what savings amount he didn't use to his heirs.  I would hope that our leaders will look at this situation and the new position we find ourselves in and seek wisdom to make the right choices for our country in the future.  However, as our representative republic gets a new Presidential Administration about every four to eight years policy tends to be transactional rather than strategic.  Current leaders may go in one direction while future leaders might decide to go in a direction that is quite different.  All we can do is to choose wisely and hope and pray that who we've chosen for our future leaders, represent our values.

Guest Post=> Doctor Walter Williams=> The Burning Platform=> Were Confederate Generals Traitors?

This is an older Opinion Column, written by the renowned Columnist Walter E. Williams, Ph.D. way back in June, 28, 2017.  It's still important to me though as a Southern Partisan, a History Buff and as a fan of all things having to do with the "Civil War."  

You see, the United States, a rebellious, break-away colony of Great Britain, only became a great nation because of the Civil War.  Until that time, we were just an outpost too far away to defeat and control.  The US was England's Vietnam, a war that cost them lives and resources, which only diminished their power and put them on the slow path toward oblivion, which they've nearly reached, with the final nail in their coffin being the inability to leave the European Union.  It's only when we were willing to fight each other and die (killing a significant part of the country's male population) over who we were as a country, that other countries began to understand that we were serious and a force to be reckoned with.  But I digress.

Some say that "History repeats itself," while others say  "It doesn't repeat, it rhymes," between the past and present.  Which ever statement is more correct, the study of History is important and it should be studied,  as by understanding it, we can hope to recognize and avoid mistakes that others have made.  And while a small very vocal minority demand that we eliminate ALL TRACES of the scourge and shame of slavery on America as a nation, do they really believe that we, as a nation couldn't ever forget and couldn't go there again (with a different social, demographic or ethnic group)?  And though, once again, I restate that the Civil War was not fought over slavery, the winners of the war, in order to justify illegal actions from defying the Constitution and declaring war on the states that withdrew from the Union to what would be considered war crimes to include theft, arson, and defacto murder (by taking all of the food southern citizens had, with the effect of starving the remnants of families) in the looting and destruction of farms by union Soldiers, during Sheridan's campaign throughout the Shenandoah Valley and Sherman's march to the Sea through Georgia and into both South Carolina and North Carolina, the winners of the conflict got to write the history, covering up their actions at the expense of those who rebelled, fought and lost or died.

So without further ado, I preset Dr. Walter Williams view on whether the Generals of the South, who defended their homelands against enemy invaders, were in fact traitors and deserve to have their statues removed, destroyed and relegated to the dust bin of history.

Were Confederate Generals Traitors?

Guest Post by Walter E. Williams

My “Rewriting American History” column of a fortnight ago, about the dismantling of Confederate monuments, generated considerable mail. Some argued there should not be statues honoring traitors such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis, who fought against the Union. Victors of wars get to write the history, and the history they write often does not reflect the facts. Let’s look at some of the facts and ask: Did the South have a right to secede from the Union? If it did, we can’t label Confederate generals as traitors.

Article 1 of the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the war between the Colonies and Great Britain, held “New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and Independent States.” Representatives of these states came together in Philadelphia in 1787 to write a constitution and form a union.

During the ratification debates, Virginia’s delegates said, “The powers granted under the Constitution being derived from the people of the United States may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression.” The ratification documents of New York and Rhode Island expressed similar sentiments.

At the Constitutional Convention, a proposal was made to allow the federal government to suppress a seceding state. James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” rejected it. The minutes from the debate paraphrased his opinion: “A union of the states containing such an ingredient (would) provide for its own destruction. The use of force against a state would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment and would probably be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound.”

America’s first secessionist movement started in New England after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Many were infuriated by what they saw as an unconstitutional act by President Thomas Jefferson. The movement was led by Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts, George Washington’s secretary of war and secretary of state. He later became a congressman and senator. “The principles of our Revolution point to the remedy — a separation,” Pickering wrote to George Cabot in 1803, for “the people of the East cannot reconcile their habits, views, and interests with those of the South and West.” His Senate colleague James Hillhouse of Connecticut agreed, saying, “The Eastern states must and will dissolve the union and form a separate government.” 

This call for secession was shared by other prominent Americans, such as John Quincy Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Fisher Ames, Josiah Quincy III and Joseph Story. The call failed to garner support at the 1814-15 Hartford Convention.

The U.S. Constitution would have never been ratified — and a union never created — if the people of those 13 “free sovereign and Independent States” did not believe that they had the right to secede. Even on the eve of the War of 1861, unionist politicians saw secession as a right that states had. Rep. Jacob M. Kunkel of Maryland said, “Any attempt to preserve the union between the states of this Confederacy by force would be impractical and destructive of republican liberty.” The Northern Democratic and Republican parties favored allowing the South to secede in peace.

Northern newspapers editorialized in favor of the South’s right to secede. New-York Tribune (Feb. 5, 1860): “If tyranny and despotism justified the Revolution of 1776, then we do not see why it would not justify the secession of Five Millions of Southrons from the Federal Union in 1861.” The Detroit Free Press (Feb. 19, 1861): “An attempt to subjugate the seceded States, even if successful, could produce nothing but evil — evil unmitigated in character and appalling in extent.” The New-York Times (March 21, 1861): “There is a growing sentiment throughout the North in favor of letting the Gulf States go.”

Confederate generals were fighting for independence from the Union just as George Washington and other generals fought for independence from Great Britain. Those who’d label Gen. Robert E. Lee as a traitor might also label George Washington as a traitor. I’m sure Great Britain’s King George III would have agreed.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com

Political Dynasties in America

A friend, whose political leanings are similar to mine, recently sent me this video  about the 4 families that control California.  The video came from Info Wars (Please ignore the advertisement at the end of the video). 

I said a couple of years ago, Alex Jones doesn’t look like such a kook and lunatic anymore.  I am not kidding….  If you can wade through the commercials, yelling tirades and the rest of his Bull Shit, Alex Jones and the Info Wars crew has done the American Citizenry a huge service and favor, exposing the swamp and giving the people a reason to awaken from their slumber and to vote against Hillary Clinton and to (temporarily end that Dynastic Political Family).

Way back when I was in college, I took a singular Political Science Class, not because I ever wanted to be a politician, but because of general interest.  Most citizen voters are unwilling or unable to spend the time to research each politician's positions on issues, in order to vote for their best (economic) interests.   One of the key factors in being a successful politician (and success is defined as being elected and then being re-elected to office) is NAME RECOGNITION.  It's interesting to see and understand these families that find a way to control politics in an area turning into a county and then a state.  The really good politicians, good being understood as being able to establish name recognition and build a Base that goes outside of state and regional areas, to achieve re-election.

In the video, I was familiar with Nancy Pelosi and her Dad, Mafioso Kingpin “Big Tony” D’Augistino.  I even vaguely remembered Pat Brown, but did not realize he was Jerry Brown’s Dad from California.  None of this surprises me or should surprise anyone that’s ever paid attention to politics involving Democrats and Liberal Republicans.

For your Consideration, I present just some of the  “Political Families (Dynasties)” in our lifetime:

• The Clintons of Arkansas to include President William J. "Bill" Clinton and his carpet bagger wife Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky, who was a political commentator-reporter for NBC News.  Note:  I'll call any elected Senator or Representative who did not live in the District or State before they were elected. 
• The Bushes (all the way back to) Senator Preston Bush, President George H.W. Bush, Governor and President George W. Bush and Governor Jeb Bush are perhaps the most successful American Political Dynasty, but not the best known
• The Alaska Murkowskis (father Frank and daughter Lisa), 
• The Kennedy’s, John, Robert, Ted, and John Jr.
• The Cuomo’s of New York to include Mario, Andrew and Chris (who is doing his duty in the Media Apparatchik Wing of the Democrat Party)
• The Landrieu’s of Louisiana, to include Mitch and Mary
• The Gores of Tennessee, Senator’s Albert Gore and his son Albert Gore Jr.
• The Senators Dole, Bob from Kansas and his second wife Elizabeth, the carpet bagger Senator from North Carolina
• The Jacksons of Chicago to include Community Organizer “the Reverend Jessie Jackson” and his now convicted Congressman son Jessie Jackson, Jr.
• The Pauls, Congressman Ron of Texas and his son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky
• The McCains of Arizona, after the mercifully late Senator John McCain tried to make a deal where his second wife Cindy would serve out his (literally) expiring Senate term to become an incumbent and his daughter Meagan who is a media celebrity opinionist
• The Harrisons, to include William Henry Harrison and Benjamin
• The Roosevelts to include Theodore and his nephew Franklin Delano Roosevelt and
• The Adams, to include Presidents John and his son John Quincy

There have always been the "elite" citizenry in America.  The First Families of Virginia were socially, monetarily and influentially powerful.  Virginia is said to be the Mother of Presidents and the number of presidents who were born there bear that statement to be true.  

The American Political Dynastic system was altered by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who understood that the power now lies more in the Media Apparatchik and (unelected Government) Administration wings of the Democrat Party than in the candidates them selves.  

George Washington was a very shrewd politician, who after two terms as President went back home and became a citizen farmer, mirroring what he did as Commander in Chief of the Continental (Rebels against England) Army.  But more over, he Refused to take the job as “President for Life” when it was offered to him.  He set a precedent for how one should serve in office, a precedent only broken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  

The American citizenry considered that breaking the precedent was such an important issue that the since Roosevelt, individuals and families have been pushing against that precedent, starting with the third term election of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution was created and then ratified, because FDR was elected to a third and fourth term, breaking the tradition set by George Washington, to return to private life, after serving two terms as President.

There are citizens who now believe that term limits need to be expand, in order to limit the career politicians in our state capitals and in Washington, D.C..  They make a compelling case about the stagnation and the politicians voting against "the will of the people."  

While I believe that term limits, by Constitutional Amendment, might increase the turn over in both houses of Congress and all of the federal District, Appellate and Supreme Courts, this is only half of the problem.  We would also have to implement a set of term limits that would limit the service of career administrative positions.  This has become increasingly important with the manufactured scandals designed to thwart Donald Trump or cause him to resign his election as President, involving the Departments of Justice, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agsancy, and the National Security Agency.  Reaching back, before the election of President Trump, the Internal Revenue Service was weaponized to thwart the efforts of conservatives to elect conservative leaning politicians that would thwart the Obama Administration's agenda(s),