March, 2016, By The Numbers, Part 1: Gitmo Disconnect, Wasting Money In Mexico, FOIA Stonewalling and More

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the third and final post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

1) The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) was passed several decades ago and was one of the few good pieces of legislation passed over those decades. The law requires the Federal government bureaucracy to make a thorough, good faith search of Federal records whenever a private citizen or organizations submits a formal FOIA request. 

Those records would then be presented to the whoever requested the records, assuming that those records do not contain personal information or threaten national security. This is a checkpoint on runaway government to protect the rights of citizens and ensure that government entities and workers are complying with existing laws.

Fast forward ahead to present time and recall that President Obama promised the country that he would operate “the most transparent” Presidential administration ever. Great promise, we, the citizens, would be able to easily see what hanky panky was going on within the Federal government because the head of the Federal government, Obama, promised that we would be able to see everything going on.

But alas, like most, if not all, Obama promises, this one was also a lie. According to the Associated Press:

• In 2015, the Obama administration set a record for the number of times that Federal employees claimed they could not find the records that journalists, citizens, and others requested via the FOIA.
• In more than one out of six requests, the government searchers said nothing could be found that related to the FOIA request.
• This translates to 129,825 times that the Feds said nothing, not a single page or record in the entire Federal bureaucracy, existed related to the search requested.
• The results across different Federal agencies were quite different and disturbing: the FBI could not find any records 39% of the time, the EPA office that covers New York and New Jersey could not find anything an amazing 58% of the time, and the U.U. Customs and Border Protection could not fulfill requests 34% of the time.

The obvious conclusion is that the government is hiding a lot of stuff. Defenders of the Obama administration could counter that assumption by claiming that 1) there are a lot more requests so that the number of empty searches would go up as a result of more searches being requested or 2) the latest searches are looking for stuff that really does not exist.

However, the following paragraph from the Associated Press report destroys those two rebuttal points [my emphasis added]:

In some high-profile instances, usually after news organizations filed expensive federal lawsuits, the Obama administration found tens of thousands of pages after it previously said it couldn't find any. The website Gawker sued the State Department last year after it said it couldn't find any emails that Philippe Reines, an aide to Hillary Clinton and former deputy assistant secretary of state, had sent to journalists. After the lawsuit, the agency said it found 90,000 documents about correspondence between Reines and reporters.

This is called stonewalling, it is illegal under the FOIA legislation and is typical of the corruption within this administration.

2) As we have reported many times in this blog, the city of Chicago has some of the toughest, most restrictive gun laws in this country. And yet, the southern part of Chicago is so violent that it gives the whole city the distinction of being one of the most violent cities in the country and the world. Consider the latest tally of violence from Chicago as reported by AWR Hawkins, writing for the Breitbart website:

• Between Thursday morning and 6:29 the following Friday morning of a recent week, about 24 hours, 21 people in Chicago were shot, one was stabbed and one died.
• The one person who died died as a result of a gun shot, an incident that also saw two people wounded.
• There were 8 separate shooting incidents within that 24 hour period.
• On March 9, Breitbart also reported that 21 people in Chicago had been shot including two who died inside of a 20 hour window of time.
• The Chicago Tribune reported on February 22, 2016 that the Chicago homicide rate was up about 100% over the same time period in 2015.

This violence happens in Chicago even though the city has a violence tax that raises the price of every gun and bullet sold at retail in the city, it limits the number of gun stores and the locations of those stores, and the New York Times says that Chicago handgun restrictions allow Chicago politicians to “get as close as they could get legally to a ban without a ban.”

The numbers do not lie, tougher gun control laws do not reduce violent crime. If they did, Chicago would not be what it is today from a homicide and assault perspective. Maybe another approach to violent crime is in order, the numbers prove the current approach does not work.

3) The lead laden water coming out of the water pipes of homes in Flint, Michigan has been national news for the past couple of months. As most people know, having lead leach into tap water can cause a number of serious health conditions including brain damage. It is a serious condition.

While Flint has gotten all of the publicity about bad pipes, a recent USAToday article pointed out that Flint is just one of thousands of water systems throughout the country that have problems with lead in the water. Their investigation found that an amazing 2,000 or so water systems in the country were tested and showed that their pipes were carrying lead contaminated water.

These water systems and their lead contaminated water is serving 6 million Americans and 350 of those water systems provide water to schools and daycare centers. A Maine elementary school’s water system had lead levels 42 times higher than the EPA limit. A Pennsylvania school’s water was 14 times higher than allowed under EPA guidelines. A New York state school’s water had so much lead that it was pushing the bounds of being classified as “hazardous waste.”

Part of a central function of government should be to protect the safety and well being of citizens that fund that government via taxation. As with everything else that the American political class touches, this is just another example where American taxpayers have paid trillions of dollars in taxes and have been stuck with not only a $19 TRILLION national debt by today’s politicians but we have nothing to show for our tax dollars in return: our bridges are crumbling, our roads are falling apart and we now know that our water systems might be poisoning us, water systems managed by and neglected by the politicians in this country today.

4) And while across the country, Americans are being served by substandard safety processes by their water systems, Washington politicians continue to waste money on themselves while infrastructure needs like clean water go wanting. Consider the cost of a recent ONE DAY trip Vice President Joe Biden made to Mexico City, according to reporting by Elizabeth Harrington of the Washington Free Beacon:

• Just the cost of the hotel accommodations for the Vice President’s trip was over $500,000. Did I mention this was a ONE DAY trip?
• Biden and his entourage stayed at the luxury International Presidente Hotel.
• The trip entailed the American taxpayer paying for 260 rooms and meeting areas with a total hotel tab of $538,528.65. Did I mention that this was a ONE DAY trip?
• This comes out to an average cost of over $2,000 per room.
• The State Department tried to justify the outrageous expense due to last minute changes to the itineraries, which was the fault of, you guessed it, the State Department. How many last minute changes to the itineraries could there have been, it was a ONE DAY trip?
• The hotel where Biden’s entourage stayed is described as a "luxury hotel tower with sweeping city views," the hotel has "world class" rain showers, blackout blinds, spa treatment availability, steam bathing facilities, massages, body scrubs, body wraps, foot reflexology, manicures, and waxing, in other words, this is not a Red Roof Inn.
• As the article points out, this was just for the hotel rooms. It does not include transportation, security, and other costs for a ONE DAY meeting.

The numbers show a pathetic waste of taxpayer money and so many unanswered questions: why so many people for a one day trip, was this one day trip really necessary, why such a high cost, why couldn’t some people stay at the U.S. Embassy compound to save money, and most importantly, what did this ONE DAY meeting accomplish? According to the article, it probably accomplished nothing since no one from either government claimed it accomplished anything. Pathetic.

5) So how has the economy treated African-Americans over seven years into the first African-American Presidency. According to an article from the Seattle Times that was summarized in the March 11, 2016 issue of The Week magazine, while the U3 unemployment rate for white Americans is 4.3%, the U3 unemployment rate for African-Americans is more than double, 8.8%. 

In fact, the state with the lowest African-American unemployment rate, Virginia, where it is 6.7%, is equal to the state with the highest white unemployment rate, West Virginia. So much for “hope and change” changing the economic plight of the African-American community, nowhere in the numbers is that true.

6) According to a recent YouGov poll, as reported in the March 11, 2016 issue of The Week magazine, 56% of Americans want the terrorist prison at Guantanamo to stay open, 26% want to see it closed, and 18% remain unsure. Just another example where many people in Washington, especially the President, continue to be out of touch with what Americans want and value.

Another set of numbers that show how the American political class has failed the American public. Ignoring our priorities on terrorists, failed economic programs especially for African-Americans, wasting our tax money on Mexican luxury hotels, not protecting us from lead laden water, etc. More bad numbers tomorrow.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

February, 2016, Part 3, Political Class Insanity: Another DHS Fail, A Clueless Senator, Snow Jobs In D.C. and More

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time again to review the latest political class insanity from the American political class. Each month it takes us multiple posts to cover the wasteful spending, incompetent government organizations and employees, government programs that usually make a problem worse than resolving it, inane and idiotic politician comments, etc.

To review past posts on this insanity and idiocy, just click on the first few posts in each month listed to the right of this page. After reviewing just a handful of these insanity posts we think you will agree that we are currently being served by the worst set of American politicians ever to hold office in our entire history.

So let’s get started with the latest insanity:

1) The Obama administration along with the President himself has made many gaffes when it comes to homeland security and containing terrorism. A little while ago, Obama claimed that ISIS was a “JV” terror organization, a terror organization that has grown into the most ruthless, violent, and wealthy terror organization of all time. Late last year he claimed that ISIS was contained just before ISIS launched the biggest attack on Paris since World War II. He then tried to reassure us during December that there were no credible or likely terror threats within the country when two Muslims, a husband and wife, shot up a business meeting in California under the flag of ISIS.

We’ve been told that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Transportation Safety Agency (TSA) is protecting us on our own shores. But two days ago we reported how DHS and its employees had lost 1,300 security clearance badges along with a ton of DHS guns and cell phones. We have reported many times on how the TSA is likely one of the most inept Federal entities round, having recently failed to detect 95% of the fake weapons and bombs that passed through TSA screeners as a test of their readiness. 

And now we have the latest homeland security screw up from the Obama administration and TSA. Writing for the Allen West website on January 25, 2016, Michele Hickford reported on a New York Daily News article that described how passengers arriving on an international flight from overseas were allowed out of the airport without going through Customs. As if this was not bad enough, this was the second time in recent months that this had reportedly happened.

Passengers on American Airlines Flight 1223 from Cancun, Mexico, you know, the country of the most violent drug cartels in the world, were allowed to walk out of the airport without having their bags or passports checked. And for this type of incompetence, we pay the DHS billions of dollars a year in tax dollars. Insanity.

2) I love writing about gross hypocrisy, especially when it involves politicians. Hillary Clinton and other Democrats and liberals, including Obama, have long been beating the dead horse of income inequality in this country. Despite the fact that these folks have rigged the political and government processes to make themselves rich far beyond their capabilities and contributions to society, they still go around, for their own selfish political purposes, telling Americans that they do not have enough money because the evil rich, the 1%, took it all. The hypocrisy is rich with these antics and these people. 

And their hypocrisy apparently extends to their children. Last year, Chelsea Clinton, daughter of HIllary and Bill, wrote a book called, “It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!” The book was written to inspire children to “change the world” by discussing the issue of poverty in the United States. Seems noble enough. But consider the book and its intent relative to Chelsea’s actual behavior regarding her recent family vacation:

• Chelsea and her family recently vacationed in the Turks and Caicos islands.
• Trust me, this is not like a long weekend at the Jersey shore.
• They stayed at the luxurious Amanyara hotel, which is supposed to be rated as one of the most expensive resorts in the world.
• The hotel reportedly costs $1,500 a night for the least expensive room during the off season up to $34,000 a night for a six bedroom villa.
• The hotel has features such as a personal chef, personal bar, private swimming pool, and private golf carts.
• With the median U.S.family income stagnating at around $53,000 a year, very few Americans are going to be able to stay at the Amanyara.

According to Forbes magazine, Hillary Clinton has listed $53 million in assets, and has earned a whopping $230 million over 14 years, making her one of the richest Presidential candidates ever.

So please, the entire Clinton family, never, ever tell me about income inequality. You are rich beyond just about every Americans’ dreams, you are staying at the top rated, most expensive hotels in the world, and you got this way just because you knew how to manipulate the system that you created for you own personal wealth with giving minimal benefit back to society. 

3) Many of us believe that the sole purpose of government is to protect the citizenry from harm. Given the limitations placed on government under the tenets of the Constitution, that was probably the original intent of the founders. 

But somewhere over time, the American political class perverted this principle. It seems it became their duty to strip us of our wealth, protection, and in many cases dignity. This new viciousness was on display right after the recent heavy snowfall in the D.C. area. It is obviously the duty of the municipal government in D.C. to plow the streets as soon as possible to protect the safety of its citizens. Generating government revenue should have been the LAST priority on their minds during a blizzard crisis

But, alas, like most government entities and politicians, revenue and screwing citizens in the process was the mode of operation. Rather than focus on getting the blizzard’s snow off of the city streets, the government cracked down on illegally parked cars, even cars that were stuck in large drifts because the city had not plowed the streets. 

Within just a few days of the blizzard, with many roads still unplowed, the city had issued over a million dollars in tickets and had towed 656 cars. Those people that had their cars towed face a $250 ticket, $100 for the tow charges, and a $25 a day fee for storage of their vehicles. The mayor went public and insisted that cars not parked within 12 inches of the curb were subject to a ticket or tow….even if the city had not fulfilled its tax funded obligations to plow out the city.

So. if anyone from the government ever tells you they are here to help you, make sure you are parked within 12 inches of the curb...and hold onto your wallet.

4) Jonah Bennett, writing for the Daily Caller News Foundation on January 26, 2016, wrote about another embarrassment for the U.S. Navy. Recall a few weeks ago we discussed the embarrassment of a brand new, high tech, very expensive ship, the Milwaukee, having to be towed into port from 40 miles out at sea, because someone screwed up the oil in the engine.

The latest embarrassment is just as stupid. The USS Fort Worth suffered severe gear damage while in Singapore when the crew failed to use enough lube oil in the engine. The ship is now stuck in Singapore, out of commission, because some sailors did not follow procedure when it came to putting oil in an engine. 

Two things come to mind. American taxpayers entrust the Pentagon with over $600 billion a year and they cannot even figure out how to put oil in a ship that likely took billions of dollars to develop and build. And second, want to bet no one anywhere gets fired, demoted, prosecuted for such ineptness since no government employee ever gets fired, demoted, or prosecuted for ineptness.

5) One reason why this blog is often so easy to write is because current politicians keep opening their mouths and idiocy comes out. The latest episode in this trend comes from U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. However, before we get into her silliness, let’s review a few realities. 

In a blog post from last October,

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2015/10/october-2015-by-numbers-part-2-what.htm

we discussed a university study of gun violence that was done by researchers from the University of Chicago and Duke University. Their intent was to try and quantify how criminals got access to their guns:

The study went on to quantify that only 2 out of the 70 primary guns, or 3%, were reported as being purchased from a gun store. NONE of the criminals in the study, NONE, got their weapons from a gun show. The Chicago Sun-Times quoted Harold Pollack, co-director of the crime lab that did the study: “In a survey of almost 100 detainees in the Cook County Jail, few said they get firearms at gun shows or through the Internet. They also said they don’t normally steal guns or buy them at a licensed store.” 

In other words, criminals, being criminals, do not get their weapons via legal means. Which is logical because if they did get their weapons legally, those weapons would be much more easily traced if used in a crime. Simple, common sense.

But often simple, common sense is not a trait of an existing politician. Which brings us back to the good Senator Mikulski. She recently publicly declared that the escalating gun violence in the major city in her state, Baltimore, was at least somewhat due to the so-called “gun show loophole.” She also claimed that this violence was because of Congress’ refusal to pass gun control including its refusal to “close the gun show loophole” and “improve background checks for gun purchasers.”

This idiocy hits two disconnects from reality:

1. The university study cited above showed that a very low number of guns, and possibly no guns, used by criminals were obtained at gun shows.
2. Does she really think that criminals would subject themselves to any kind of background checks prior to committing a gun crime?

The Baltimore Sun reported that there were 344 homicides in Baltimore last year. The Senator did not indicate if she knew how many of those homicide victims were killed with guns obtained at gun shows.

That will do it for today’s insanity. A Senator who is totally out of touch with reality when it comes to criminals’ use of guns, a Navy that spends billions on building ships and then runs short of a few cans of oil to put in them, a government that uses a life threatening blizzard to get money, Clinton family hypocrisy on income inequality, and another major TSA and DHS failure. Some days you cannot make up the lunacy of the American political class. More insanity tomorrow.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w