What A Mess Joe Biden Is In. What A Mess Blue States Like Connecticut, Are In. (And What A Mess We Are In)

What a mess Joe Biden is in. What a mess his functionally incompetent personal handlers are in. What a mess the Democrat Party is in. What a mess the United States border is in. What a mess the National Debt is. What a mess our military is in. What a mess inflation is in our economy. What a mess non-prosecuted criminals have made our streets, cities, and states to become. What a mess higher education is in our society. What a mess green energy has become in our economy. What a mess paid anti-Israel protestors have made for Jewish people in our country. What a mess fuel prices are. What a mess insurance prices are. What a mess China, Russia, Hamas, Iran and North Korea are creating for the world.
Yet, with all these messes, Joe Biden and the Democrat Party truly believe that their liberal/socialistic laws, policies and decrees are working. And all these illusions are sufficient for a now truly dysfunctional, aging, haggard, and mentally challenged Joe Biden to be re-elected for a second term in his current nonfunctional mental and physical state. In business, education, and in other governments, a person of his current condition would not be working or governing but would be signed into elder care. However, in the United States. this career politician, who has continually gamed his political influence for his family's financial gain through the years, is supposedly the best overall person in the country and his party to lead our country. Kindly recall that Joe Biden was the person who was to unite our country and to somehow preserve our democracy back in 2020. It was drilled into us by many in government and media that The Democrat Party was supposed to resolve so many issues in our country and our world after the purported Reign of Terror of President Donald Trump. We were to be much safer than we were under that supposedly evil, flag loving, non-woke man. And the phonograph machine cranked on. However, in true Saul Alinsky fashion, Biden lied. The Democrat Party lied. The state-controlled media lied. And many people died as the result of the last four years of this Biden machine.
Reality does not exist with Joe Biden, his handlers, and at all levels of the Democrat Party. The realities of forced liberal/socialistic laws, policies and decrees have failed our country miserably for the past four years and many finely working systems now hang by a thread. You are not better off than you were four years ago. Our National Debt exceeds any ability our country has to possibly pay it off by a wide amount. So, desperation and illusion become the norm to buy votes. Giveaway gimmicks are one such vehicle that Joe Biden and his serially incompetent Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona have employed by pretending to forgive student debt, but such schemes have lasted only as long as they have been found to be illegal by courts of law. Inflation has cost Americans any savings they had remaining in many cases as they try to pay for necessities such as food, housing, and transportation. Woke administrative and DEI policies are making our country a banana republic, especially with our military. The surrender of nine military bases in Afghanistan along with hundreds of millions of dollars in live military equipment and supplies only has re-energized terrorists throughout the world. Why were American lives lost in this debacle? These failures economically, socially, and militarily are the responsibility of Joe Biden and his handlers. They own the numerous crises that they have created. And they will be difficult to fix in the short run.
In addition, the ancestors of the now-persecuted Jewish people of America were often fond of saying that apples do not fall far from their trees. And a perfectly formed apple of the rotten Democrat tree is that of the State of Connecticut, being much like other Blue States. And what a laughingstock Connecticut has become. Recent National-newsworthy events in Connecticut include an ever-worsening state voting scandal, enabled Climate-change protestors marring a world-class major golf tournament, a state representative filmed while making an obscene gesture outside of President Trump’s home, and the murder of several state employees, (one a state trooper) on the state’s interstate highway system by impaired individuals. But rather than acknowledge these grave faults and taking steps to correct them, no acknowledgments are ever made by any Democrat in Connecticut government. Just like things are at the National level, Connecticut is on the Comeback Trail! Do you disagree? (In that case, you must be some sort of racist, right-wing nut, or conspiracy theorist filled with hate).
But real Americans are fed up with these same failed liberal/socialistic laws, policies and decrees that have done nothing whatsoever to improve our economy or society. If one disagrees with Joe Biden, his handlers and or the Democrat Party you are considered the enemy. Freedom of thought and speech are only for the Democrats. Don't forget the incendiary rhetoric Biden's "unifying speech" in 2022 and his condemnation of all things Trump, where he ineloquently barked that “MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth, but in the shadow of lies,” "They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country."(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/09/01/remarks-by-president-bidenon-the-continued-battle-for-the-soul-of-the-nation/). And yet America was forced to suffer through a pathetic President trying to debate his challenger and make you want to vote for four more years of his insanity. You truly are not better off with Joe Biden, his handlers and or the Democrat Party. They will not compromise. They are a group of political elitists and extremists who rule through intimidation, brute force, and shaming.
This chapter of American history needs to end quickly, so that our country can survive yet another 248 years of freedoms. Our country truly will be lost, and possibly destroyed, if we follow the lost paths of Joe Biden, his handlers, his Blue State acolytes, and/or the Democrat Party.

 

248 Years Of Freedom July 4, 1776 - July 4, 2024

 IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated  Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

The Steady Habits Of Crime And Incompetence In King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable's Connecticut

It has been a while since I revisited the crime issues of Connecticut. "Crime Free Democrat Connecticut" is a fantasy media-enabled construct that King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable and his cronies in the Democrat Party and state-supported media preach to Connecticut taxpayers daily. We see the inept and serially incompetent United States Senator Chris Murphy bellowing that the Biden Administration-created border crisis is the fault of the lack of action on the part of the Republicans. He creatively avoids any Democrat responsibility for the horrific crisis the left has created and is never taken to task for this by a lap-dog media. On the other hand, Connecticut Democrats crow that there is little to no crime in the state based on the diluted and maligned statistics they boast. These same statistics seem to show little to no actual reality as far as crime is concerned.
Do you disagree? Allow me to share a serious case in point being an amazing article that was actually published by the left-leaning Hartford Courant concerning a crime that could have been avoided. The alleged criminal Franklin Post, 35 years old, apparently sped through a stop sign in Griswold, CT and killed Charlotte Degrado, 96, of Branford, who was an occupant in the car that he hit. According to the article, Post has at least a dozen criminal convictions and has at least ten more criminal cases pending against him. He has served hard time in prison on three different occasions. He was free on bond even though he has been arrested six times since January. Inexplicably, he has had the ability to post $275,000 in bonds. (https://www.courant.com/2024/06/13/court-files-show-ct-driver-suspected-in-crash-that-killed-96-year-old-woman-has-long-criminal-record) Post also has repeatedly violated his probations, and this time fled after the accident. "Troopers found drug paraphernalia and a knife inside of the Audi, according to Connecticut State Police. Witnesses told authorities that three people inside of the vehicle had gotten out after the crash and ran away...His GPS ankle device had been tampered with, he had pills that tested positive for fentanyl and had more than $4,000 in cash on him."(https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-london/serious-injuries-reported-after-griswold-crash)

Based on all of Post’s prior convictions, violations of probation, and ostensible drug use, why was this man free to be allowed to murder this 96-year-old innocent woman by his vehicle? In a stark, staring testimony to the total lack of professionalism and integrity of the administrative state in Connecticut, how is it even possible that he maintained his driver's license? Why was he walking free in numerous violations of his probation? These questions need to be answered immediately, if not sooner.
It is evident that the Connecticut Democrat Party and its assorted facilitators and enablers have little to no concern whatsoever about public safety in the state. Spending just a few minutes driving on a state highway, or in any of the sparkling cities and inner-ring suburbs in Connecticut will tell anyone that. Connecticut is at such a state of disaster that even a prominent state legislator referred to it this past week as a “laughingstock”. Where no real and productive job creating business would ever venture to come into the state, we are instead treated to The Unaccountable’s self-serving visions of “Innovation Clusters” benefiting his family interests. But none of that matters, as more weighty issues concern the left like lowering the prison population and making everyone unsafe except for the career criminals and crime gangs that roam freely in the state as they are now coddled and protected by the left. Car insurance costs on the state have skyrocketed due to the constant theft of vehicles in the state and the abysmal traffic enforcement on state highways and roads. Juvenile delinquents roam free to steal with no fear of any type of legal action due to the dysfunctional and defective state legal system that apparently will not prosecute them. Retail store costs of shoplifting continue to climb with costs being passed on to you and I as legitimate customers. Blatant crime exists with thefts of anything and everything in the state, from being held up while trying to put your groceries in your car, from pumping gas, and even now with you a law-abiding citizen sitting in your home being at risk of intruders breaking in.

One can only hope that Degrado family takes all possible legal avenues against the state judicial system, its judges, probation officers, defense lawyers and state elected officials to expose and hold them liable for their actions for the death of their family member. Yes, it is high time that our highly paid and serially unaccountable Connecticut administrative system hold responsibility as well along with the criminal in this case for their careless and negligent attitude in handling this career criminal. Yet another innocent life is lost due to the crime spree that exists in "Crime Free Democrat Connecticut", for no reason at all except for the stupidity of a politically correct non-functioning judicial system. A system that helps to buy votes evermore for a horrific social experiment that is now at a point of no return to a once proud and productive state, called Connecticut.

The Economic Cancer of Democrat-Centric Economics

I have studied Economics all my life and have taught the subject for 42 years. It never ceases to amaze me the twists and turns of our economy and how the supposed (and often state-supported) economic experts are so far off in many cases regarding their predictions and policies. Regardless of what the state-run media tries to jam down your throat daily, even the most ignorant of observers cannot ignore the horrific economic impact of the poor economic policies and programs of the Biden and Lamont administrations. The focus of their irrational and nonsensical policies continues to be an incessant death march to green renewable energy at any cost and economically incoherent tax and spend policies that persist in driving the national debt and state debt to incalculable levels. From 2021, we continue to have rampant inflation as the cost of food and housing has skyrocketed making it unaffordable for many in our economy. Needless to say, the cost of goods and services is a direct coefficient of the cost of energy, and nonsensical Democrats along with Climate Change-paralyzed Republicans continue to feed or enable the impossible myth of “affordable green energy”. And this is a costly and crippling political fantasy. To refresh your memory, our current national debt is an astronomical $34.8 trillion dollars, and growing daily. Each United States Taxpayer owes a mere $266,000 plus for this debt, while Connecticut Taxpayers are on the hook for $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities on top of that. High government debt at all levels, high taxes, regressive trade policies, waste, fraud, abuse, unsustainable social welfare programs and one of most complex tax codes/laws in the world are hindering our economy. Some things must change.

The Biden re-election candidacy seems to be mired in their constant blaming of former President Trump for everything and anything, including (but not limited to) events that happened well past his Presidency. If we candidly examine the economic differences between the two Presidencies there are stark and undeniable contrasts. The Trump Presidency offered great financial gains for the economy especially for low- and middle-income workers and people of color that saw their income and opportunities increase. Real wages rose, many jobs were created, and most of all prices were stable with little to no inflation or inflationary pressure. This all changed with the draconian pandemic shutdown of the economy. Since 2021. the Biden Presidency has delivered an incredible tide of inflation and runaway inflation with the highest increases in prices seen in food/groceries, housing/rents, and insurances of all types in decades along with massive increases in the costs of new and used vehicles. Tied into the Biden economy are the wars that are currently taking place in the Ukraine and Middle East having a negative impact on our economy due to the gargantuan amounts of aid being sent by our government. In my opinion, it is now critically imperative for voters to put personal feelings aside and ask themselves while voting “am I better off economically than I was four years ago?” I will venture to say no you are not, and therefore you now must vote accordingly.

The Biden Administration keeps trying to tell you that the economy is great, and you are much better off than you were under the Trump Administration's economy whether you know it or not! This is sickening economic gibberish as the real economic figures are showing a much more gloom and doom scenario since inflation has raised the costs of mostly everything and real wages have gone up to support the inflation rate. If you are on a fixed income like most retirees, you may be skipping meals to stretch your budget due to the excessively prohibitive costs of food. There also seems to be a disconnect in the labor market as certain jobs remain unfilled while gluts of workers are seen in other industries. The service industry has been especially hard hit since the pandemic as many former service workers left the industry during the pandemic as restaurants were forced to close (without good reason as finally admitted in 2024), and will never return. President Trump has actually offered a real economic incentive to help stimulate real wages and the service industry by eliminating taxes on tip income. This policy will put more in the hands of many lower-income workers, thus giving them a greater ability to spend, save more and eliminate debt. But rather than embracing a bold and necessary economic solution, cowardly politicians from both parties turn a high tail and run, seeing the possibility of their cherished administrative state being starved out. But what value is failure unless you come full circle? The Biden Administration brainlessly seems to be placing all of its efforts into green energy jobs especially with electric vehicles and its attendant “DEI” and “equity” quotas that are impossible to fill. The Biden Administration does not see its own attendant failure with the gargantuan number of jobs eliminated from needlessly shutting down fossil fuel industries where it now looks like few if any of these new "green" types of jobs will generate any economic or tangible return to society whatsoever.

Not to be undone, the Connecticut of King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable enjoys this Biden-esque assault on genuine economic prosperity to steroidal proportions. While connected elites prosper, dangerous and incoherent conditions in cities have caused restaurant and storefront businesses to close in staggering numbers. Taxes on fuel have accelerated so rapidly that many modest people have been forced out of their critically needed vehicles. Taxpayer paid “economic development” funds are funneled to a should-be-abolished Department of Economic and Community Development to fund elitist and speculative projects with investment potential for the Lamont family business interests. Motorists following all of the rules are in a daily fight against the State Legislature to keep operating their gas-powered vehicles. Homeowners are vilified as racist, exclusionary, and environmentally dangerous by some Socialist-Marxist members of the Legislature and their tax-dollar supported nonprofits for merely wanting to live quietly in their homes and pay their bills. But as far as King Ned The Unaccountable is concerned, the state economy is great! After all, he’s been caught on several occasions benefiting from these state development dollars providing a major assist to his related-party investments, which he never admitted until my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo first caught him. In addition, he’s been to the Middle East at least three times by his own admission (twice in the post-war time frame) for supposed state “economic development” missions where few (if any) details have been provided to the public. All said, I would surmise that the Democrat-driven economic plans are great, if you are a high-ranking and loyal Democrat.

But as we return to the baseline, high taxes, high government debt and runaway inflation driven by incoherent and economically irrational economic policies and programs should be the theme of this year's Presidential and state elections. An unstable economy led by a feeble, mentally challenged President who continues to make poor choices enabled by equally incompetent economic advisors is ruining both our society and economy. Stable prices led by economic policies that promote growth and a country's self-sufficiency are essential for our country. But soon, the childish illusions must end. The United States cannot sustain a Democrat Party-controlled economy with instability and uncertainty. Because America has the economic ability and economic resources to expand and grow. America has the know how to resolve many of the current economic problems it has, the biggest being excessive government interference through a byzantine labyrinth of absurd bureaucracy force fed to us by the inefficiencies of our taxpayer supported government. We need new economic thoughts in 2024. Boldness. Innovation. Clarity. Not name calling, bloviation, serial incompetence, shaming, gloating and lies that we are forced to endure on a daily basis. It is high time for all Americans of all persuasions to prosper, and not just an elitist politically connected ruling class.

The Great Failed Reset And Pandemic Puppet Show

On June 3, 2024, the U.S. Senate Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic heard the testimony of Dr. Anthony Fauci (“Fauci”), the retired head of the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with respect to his management (or more properly, mismanagement) of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though some of the Congressional questioning and criticism was incisive and targeted, Fauci, being a skilled bureaucratic swamp creature, darted and dodged through many questions and statements that were either weak or rather were glowing statements by many Democrats. In the final analysis, only time will tell if this hearing was a springboard leading to a more effective prosecution of the fraud and of the mismanagement of Covid-19.

Unfortunately, many critical observers were left wanting after the Fauci testimony with respect to the critical questions left unanswered after the hearing concluded. Due to a myriad of reasons unknown, Congressional representatives did not sufficiently press Fauci as to where the convoluted nonsensical policies and reasoning as to the “coronavirus response” in the United States originated. For example, how was “social distancing” developed? Why were the schools closed? Who developed “phased reopening's”? How about “positivity counts?” Why was there masking and limited capacity in venues? Who killed the restaurant business? Why were there continuing coercions to forced vaccination? What was the logic? What were the reasons? Why was there gross mismanagement and errors in judgment? As my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo said on his June 4, 2024 “Lee Elci Show” segment, the vast majority of political operatives and politicians do not have the mental capability nor vision in order to devise these masterplans, so something else must be afoot. However, it is unquestioned that Fauci held himself out as the living final authority on all things regarding Covid-19 as he arrogantly held the entire country under his authoritarian thumb.

If one watched and/or read the Fauci testimony, one may have become sickened that their tax monies supported these insane, unlawful, and draconian policies which led to many needless heartbreaking deaths and a massive economic loss that America has still yet to recover from. At least some of the legislative comments directed at Fauci from this hearing that are worthwhile: “A million Americans died from Covid-19, marking one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history. Four years later, more than 10 million Americans are still suffering from long Covid. We continue to fight for accountability.” “(Fauci), in his role as chief medical adviser to the president, insisted upon mask and vaccine mandates, lockdowns, and overstated vaccine efficacy, often disregarding the public and private medical professional’s ability to assess the facts.” “Blocking FOIA requests: It’s also curious that after Dr. Fauci was questioned by our Senate HELP committee in May 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services shut down all Freedom of Information Act requests. Was (Fauci) involved in any discussions for this decision? Why was that decision made?” Many people also don’t know that (Fauci) received two government salaries simultaneously, making him the highest-paid federal employee ever. He was both the director of the NIAID and the director of civilian biodefense, which was operating with a $6 billion budget.(”https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/under-oath-fauci-must-answer-these-questions-5660314/)  This Senator was well justified in his comments that still are being ignored by the media and the incoherent and unserious Biden Administration. 

Did masks, plexiglass around dining room tables and bars, constant disinfecting of anything and everything, standing six feet away from people while checking out in grocery stores, lockdowns, walking in only one direction in store aisles and many other illogical and unproven medical theories forced us save lives? It is highly doubtful at best. For example, if you are reading this column now, you did not die of Covid-19. Amazing, isn't it?
Also, did Fauci have a brain trust in working his twisted magic?

Needless to say, Connecticut had its profit driven motives during the Covid-19 crisis. I have written about them numerous times since the pandemic resulted in deafening silence from all sides as a result. My good friend Tony De Angelo who initially started to unwind the corruption of these state Covid-19 policies several years ago, re-introduced many of the same unanswered questions in his segment this past week on the Lee Elci Show on 94.9 FM. Tony submitted to the listeners that the same dastardly Covid-19 masterplan was hatched in the minds of Ivy-League consultants and indoctrinated into the weaker political minds of elected officials largely serving as enablers to the festivities along with Fauci and his colleagues. Trendy buzzwords such as "The Great Reset", "The New Normal", "Mask Mandates" and more key word phrases such as “The Greater Good,” are now part of our permanent vocabulary through the efforts of the non-elected but politically tied McKinsey Corporation group. A group who mysteriously was drafting the Covid-19 protocols and manuals for the State of New Jersey in 2019 and released the same in 2020 while forgetting to change the header date. A group whose "Covid-19 Updates" were issued to many elected lemmings such as King Gov. Ned Lamont The Unaccountable and his legislative enablers that did incredible damage to our economy and country as a whole that were accepted as the gospel truth while making these same officials appear cool, calm, collected and in charge where all they were doing was acting by a script. A group that in the case of Connecticut was buried in a nonprofit organization so the public never even knew they were involved, up until the time of Tony’s radio segments. It is unquestionable that something on a much greater scale was involved in pulling the Covid-19 puppet strings, and McKinsey proudly served the governments, colleges, schools, and military in this failed fashioning of The Great Reset.

Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic was a fantastic opportunity for the Lamonts and several of their close cronies and investors to exploit the State of Connecticut for their own personal gain and profit. The Lamont owned Oak/HC Limited Partnership was a fund that made great strides and profits thanks to the no- bid contracts it was able to secure from Connecticut Taxpayers during the Covid-19 crisis marched its way to a bonanza IPO ina huge "pump and dump" litigated stock scheme, with such “economic activity” hidden in and blessed by nonprofit AdvanceCT. This organization was concurrently housing and paying the McKinsey Corporation for its services. Let us never forget that in the beginning of the crisis during June 2020, Lamont-owned equity Sema-4 entered into a no-bid State of Connecticut contract for Covid-19 testing at the opportune moment. And Oak HC/FT invested in Sema-4 which was a DBA (doing business as) of Mount Sinai Genomics. Never forget as well that the Lamont limited partnership through a complex maze of companies, (many of which received Connecticut Taxpayers monies through forgiven loans and state grants), made an enormous profit during this crisis. A profit that goes undisclosed with no reactions whatsoever from ostensibly dimwitted and unconcerned (if not corrupt) body of elected officials from either party. And somehow, the state-run media remains silent with regards to questioning these "deals".

As Tony said on June 2, 2024, this situation is highly worth revisiting since the lies of the Covid-19 are being proven for real four years later. Many did not realize that they were being governed by the McKinsey Consulting Corporation secretly by proxy, with their directives passed down through the Faucis, Cuomos, and Lamonts of the world. And after many businesses and individuals lost everything they had economically and socially to an elite power that was financed by you and me the American Taxpayer, they scored, and you, lost. With that all said and known, justice needs to be exacted upon them all, once, and for all.

 

Deja Vu All Over Again Part V: The New $100 Million Dollar Connecticut Economic Bribe

$100 million dollars can buy a lot of things in our economy. It could help people pay off the medical debt that they owe. It could pay to comfort and house United States Veterans who are homeless and jobless. It could pay to increase border security and keep America safer at the Mexico/United States border. It could also be used to provide badly-needed tax credits and incentives for small business. It could even pay for a tax reduction. But in the usual Connecticut pattern of Democrats and their cronies sucking at the taxpayer trough, $100 million of Connecticut Taxpayers dollars will be handed out to the politically connected and anointed by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (“DECD”), this time using the new buzz word of "Innovation Clusters".

As in past periods, glowing flowery language is required in order to propound the illusion. So here goes: "The Innovation Clusters Program will prioritize funding for catalytic capital projects that contribute to the development of a campus-setting and cohesive sense of place that complement the state’s existing transit-oriented investments and incorporate a strong focus on workforce training, economic development, neighborhood vibrancy and regional stakeholder collaboration." "Other criteria for funding include: Leveraging partnerships with local businesses, universities, and not-for-profit institutions to maximize investment; Attracting and developing talent; Supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; and Ensuring local improvements through community benefit agreements." (https://portal.ct.gov/office-of-the-governor/news/press-releases/2024/05-2024/governor-lamont-announces-creation-of-the-innovation-clusters-program)

If you are a non-connected standard-language Connecticut Taxpayer trying to decipher what on earth the above paragraph actually means, you may be wondering about the hundreds of millions of dollars that the DECD has given out over the years that is fully kept secret to the public and never really accounted for in a continual litany of fantasy “business development” projects, that if not highly questionable or unethical, have turned to dust. However undeterred, we now have another $100 million dollars that will be used in an identical fashion, and as an added attraction, this is an election year where vote-buying is the objective. However, the state-run media and public relations firms tell us that this funding is critical for the economic development of Connecticut! Connecticut! Connecticut! The state which has ranked last and or near last in most business-related categories such as costs, business friendliness, regulations, transportation, and the like. Connecticut! The state with one of the highest tax rates in the country having 344 different taxes and fees! Connecticut! The state that has $100 to $150 billion dollars in unfunded liabilities along with short- and long-term debt, with no endgame in sight nor any plan to satisfy the debt.

Of course, there is little to no originality in the trough-sucking of the “Innovation Cluster” prop. There is no need for any added efforts. First, King Gov. Ned Lamont the Unaccountable approaches the venue at Yale University with rambling platitudes of Connecticut being a “leader in Fintech and scientific innovation.” Yale, being an institution of higher learning where The Unaccountable is quick to come crowing about fantasy visions of economic sugar plums, but being the same place where he was nowhere to be found during the time of Anti-Israel disturbances. Yale: A place where the Unaccountable’s venture-capitalist wife Annie Lamont holds a high-ranking seat with “Yale Ventures” providing her a birds-eye view to cherry-pick any investment she may deem worthwhile at taxpayer expense. Don’t leave out the usual blandishments from the likes of the writers of Hearst, CT Mirror, CT News Junkie, and the business journals. It is the same story and the same characters, but just a different year and a whole lot of new taxpayer money.

Even a drunken sailor on leave buying drinks for an uncooperative woman knows when to put his wallet away and try his luck elsewhere. But not Connecticut! Connecticut! Where normal common sense does not apply! Where more multi-millions of dollars are handed over without ever having to account for the money that was given to Infosys Limited, Digital Currency Group and its affiliates, "ADVANCECT", Boston Consulting Group, UNITE US (CT), Mt. Sinai Genomics, "Thermo Fisher Scientific", "Sema 4", " Core Informatics", "Ocrulus", "Urjanet", "1life Healthcare", "Galileo Health", "Castlight Health", "Paladina Health", and "VillageMD"“The Horsebarn Hill Investment Fund”, McKinsey, CT Next, and Tidal River Fund. Many wonder where all the jobs and tax revenue are from these companies? Again, we have deafening silence from the Lamont Administration especially when inquiring about the Lamont-based Cayman Islands Limited Partnerships. How much money has been spent, with little to no results from it? Does anyone in the political orbit seem to care?

Again, these are just some more examples of the Lamont-DECD-Oak HC/FT recurring theme of using Connecticut taxpayer monies to prop up questionable investments made by Oak HC/FT and others enabled via the uncontrolled and secretive DECD cash spigot leading to either taxpayer-supported profit but much more often, risk-free loss. Followers of my blog and of Tony De Angelo on 94.9's "Lee Elci Show" are well-familiar with this Lamont shell game. We have both been discussing these problems for several years now with no response from anyone in either this administration or the state-run media. Thus, the new "Innovation Clusters" is the same game with the same result. Connecticut Taxpayers creating profit for the Lamont's family hedge fund and the politically connected Democrat Party. The Lamont rip-off continues unabated to the deafening silence of a lap-dog media and a Democrat supermajority, sprinkled with the silence (or encouragement) of members of the Republican legislature. Once again, taxpayer be damned.

Deja Vu All Over Again Part 4: Democrat Inflation and the Compounded Damage of Politically Generated Economic Stupidity

Over the past three years we have had excessive runaway inflation in our economy. The political explanations for this phenomenon have been farcical, if not frightening. Over the past three years, my students have asked me on numerous occasions to explain what is happening in our economy to cause inflation. To this, I have always defined Inflation as is a sustained increase in the overall price levels of consumer goods and services. In other words, an item that used to cost $1 now costs $1.50 or has increased in cost by 50%.

It is simple. In an inflationary environment, consumers, families, and businesses must pay more to purchase the same items. Where does this money come from? Consumers have limited options that include cutting back on their purchases, buying these same items using credit cards and having to pay back that amount with interest over a longer period, cashing in savings to help pay for these items and/or not buying the item and doing without. Businesses must now cope with raw material cost increases, higher transportation costs, higher insurance costs, higher taxes at all levels of government, and more useless and hurtful government interference during a period of inflation. Consequently, this situation leads business to either increase the costs of the product, good or service that is sold. Of course, it is important to realize that based on our somewhat free market economy, businesses need to make a profit to remain open. How can they stay in business if they do not? Can any elected official explain this to us? Can business stay open only if government says it's okay to stay in business via Taxpayer funded subsidies and or political contributions to elected officials’ campaigns? Look at the contraction in businesses in Connecticut since the illegal shutdowns implemented by the Lamont administration during the Covid-19 debacle.

To get to the roots of inflation, we unfortunately must start at the top. The Democrat Biden Administration has engineered a massive overhaul of the works and functions of our economy since it took office in 2021. The voodoo policy of “Bidenomics” has tortured the economy with disastrous results, including runaway inflation. From a pure economics view, many of the policies it embarked upon defy economics (if not gravity), and are economically incoherent to anyone with the least sense of logic or reason. Examples include an open border with Mexico that has led to Taxpayers paying for illegal migrants coming in from other countries for their clothing shelter, food, transportation, and medical care, among other things. This policy has placed an exceptionally high burden on Florida, Texas and their border communities while increasing numbers of illegals flee to Democrat run cities like Chicago and New York City thereby causing massive social and economic problems such as crime, murder, illegal drug trafficking, human trafficking, a housing shortage and much more in these places. The economic costs of all the social welfare programs to pay for these multi-millions of people here illegally are estimated at $42 billion dollars a year. In my opinion, these costs are underestimated since we have no idea how much the "gotaways" or those illegal immigrants who cannot be found are costing the economy. My economic guess is that Taxpayers are paying roughly $60 billion dollars a year at a minimum for this economic nightmare of the Democrat Biden administration. (https://budget.house.gov/imo/media/doc/the_cost_of_illegal_immigration_to_taxpayers.pdf). This extra $42 to $60 billion dollars is a massive drain on our economy. Illegal immigration is a massive drain on housing costs in cities, medical care, social welfare services and our public education system. It is now common for legal Taxpaying American citizens to be ignored while illegal immigrants are getting a blank check and free hand in their "needs". With an increase in consumption and a decrease and supply and production, inflation soon follows.

Of course, the Democrat-led economically clueless Connecticut State Legislature (and its presiding Paterfamilias, King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable) are not to be undone in continually throwing good taxpayer money after bad, with such disasters always leading to increases in taxes, fees, useless and painful regulations, and the ceremonial hiring of politically connected cronies. As a case in point, I was saddened this week by the closing of a Bob’s Furniture Warehouse in Meriden, CT (https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/financial-issues-threaten-154-jobs-at-bobs-stores-eastern-mountain-sports-warehouse-in). However, in 2018, I had written a blog (https:/swickspeak.blogspot.com/2018/02/connecticuts-department-of-economic-and.html) about the serial handover of taxpayer dollars to this same organization through the oxymoronic Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, a Cracker Jack box of favors for the politically connected. But to the inflation matter at hand, wasted money and increased expenses invariably lead to tax increases, which lead to greater inflation. Even so, no one in our legislature ever makes a proposal of either gutting or abolishing this tax-consuming and grossly incompetent organization as more taxpayer-financed debacles soon to follow.

Are you interested in learning about more money-burning follies? Green energy and the hysteria and paralysis against the use of fossil fuels have led to massive increases in our energy costs in our economy. Why is fossil fuel bad? Can this be explained? Why is there a massive regression racing to an unsustainable green energy plan with undesired electric vehicles due to their cost and lack of range one can drive on a battery charge? Our economy cannot magically retool our driving capabilities for electric vehicles without serious issues in finding raw materials to manufacture their car batteries, deal with their flammability, and managing an electrical grid incapable of keeping up with the demand for electricity with these vehicles being forced into the economy. No amount of Taxpayer funded subsidies will create this Utopian clean energy concept that seems to be the Job No. 1 concern of Socialist/Democrat acolytes.

In addition, there will be long term damage to our environment with the constant demand of large wind turbines that upset our oceans and seas and murder sea mammals. Much more, our country could dramatically reduce energy prices with the reopening of the Keystone Pipeline, more natural gas use and the use of safe nuclear and hydrogen power options. Instead, the political system races to the disaster of a new stone age due to these incoherent policies.

In addition, higher energy costs contribute dramatically to higher food costs. My good friend Tony De Angelo stated on his segment on 5/21/24 on the Lee Elci Show 94.9 correctly that higher transportation prices have led to much higher food prices. He is correct in his cause-and-effect analysis of these increases which are causing massive issues for families trying to feed themselves. Still, the entire political system turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to the simplest and most practical inflation-fighting tool, being the cost of cheap fuel.

If you observe, you will see that the size of some products has gone down, and the prices have increased. The new term made up by woke economists "shrinkflation" blames businesses for this new type of inflation. Sadly, businesses must remain competitive, therefore they have to cut costs. These same businesses are also being hammered by green energy zealots to make all packaging eco-friendly, non-polluting, and recyclable at all costs. This mantra and mandate have increased costs for all food products and in some cases has shrunk the size of the product being sold to meet this unrealistic and fantastic goal of green energy. Instead, Democrats choose to blame grocers for "excessive profits" and "greed". However, these Democrats should be continually reminded that their political system, fundraising activities and promotions are the genuine source of "excessive profits" and "greed" since that money is taken out the economy and placed in nonproductive and programmed uselessness doing little to benefit the economy except for the ruling political class of both the Democrat and Republican parties. Connecticut is an excellent example of this buffoonery in its politically elite system.

America has declined economically and socially since the irrational Democrat Biden administration has taken office, aided by the ineptitude, recklessness, and cluelessness of states such as King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable’s Connecticut. Our country has seen a massive rise in the blatant discrimination of Jewish people, conflicts with the axis of evil, Iran, China and Russia, a damaging open border policy, a fanatical and economically irrational green energy plan, campus unrest and violence, a fixation on proper nonsensical “woke” terms meant to divide and cause hate and derision, and the serious, far reaching impacts of insane government policies by a pathetic and corrupt Democrat President hell bent on destroying our economy through runaway inflation. Legal Americans should not be forced to forage for food like animals, be dictated to by a political system leading from behind without common sense and to be subjected to crime, rape, and murders thanks to an unconstitutional open border policy.

Inflation is a major problem that has turned into a political game of cat and mouse with the losers being the American Taxpayers who must just grin and bear this incomprehensible destruction of economic freedoms and our country as we once knew it. Inflation can be stopped but not by our current elected government and state government and the collective disrespect and hatred they hold for America.

Deja Vu All Over Again. Part 3. A Taxpayer Never Gets a Break in The Land of Steady Habits

Connecticut is a state known by many names. The Nutmeg State. The Gateway to New England. The Constitution State. But perhaps the most apt name for Connecticut over the past few decades is the Land of Steady Habits. This name is incredibly apt and deserved as the steadiest of habits for Connecticut has been its insatiable desire to tax, to spend, and to add to its bulbous and inept Administrative State in grotesque proportions. Again, Taxpayer be damned.
Week in and week out and year and year out, Connecticut Taxpayers do not get a break from paying excessive, new, and higher taxes coupled with the daily fear of crime and having their vehicles broken into and or stolen. The Legislative session of 2024 arrogantly signaled to Connecticut Taxpayers that there will be no respite from paying excessive, new and higher taxes any time soon, and no respite from living with the daily fear of crime and/or having their vehicles broken into and or stolen. Rather, Connecticut Taxpayers received more of the same in review of just some of the brutal bills that will end up costing Connecticut Taxpayers more in taxes and the costs of goods and services they must purchase, thanks to the arrogant Connecticut Democrat Party.
As discussed last week, the horrific HB 5431 "AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE STABILIZATION SUPPORT AND ARPA REPLACEMENT FUND" did indeed pass. Unbelievably, it does mandate for Connecticut Taxpayers to pay for unemployment benefits for striking workers. Why did this pass? Why has the definition of being unemployed changed? Further, why does the burden in the Land of Steady Habits never shift from off the backs of the private sector and small business?
But unfortunately, the oppression does not stop there. These same beleaguered small businesses will now see increased costs from HB 5005 "AN ACT STUDYING PAID SICK DAYS" that expands the types of employees that receive annual paid sick leave. It will also gratuitously expand the definition of “family members” for family leave purposes. This Act will also increase the rate at which leave accrues and broaden the diverse ways leave days can be used. These changes will of course cause an increase in the costs of operating a business which will only be passed on to consumers in the form of higher costs for goods and services. Again, why is there yet one other job-killing business-hostile policy lifted on to the backs of tired and poor taxpayers and small businesses? Yet one is supposed to believe that this Democrat Party-driven policy is a great benefit and blessing to the masses, and the shrinking coffers of the private sector can be damned.
Of course, in Connecticut’s Land of Steady Habits there are never (ever) any proposals from the legislature to lower taxes, cut, cap and end pensions, eliminate "quasi-public" organizations, or to otherwise shrink and streamline the Connecticut Administrative State. But predictably, we see the opposite. As a matter of social justice and right, several bills were brought forth demanding new and higher taxes and or increases in capital gains. After all, this is the Land of Steady Habits! It is the habitual hissing and popping of a broken record, repeating and repeating the same old refrain. More of what we have heard about for the past 34 years. More money will solve all of Connecticut's social ills (like crime), more money is needed for failing schools, more money is needed for underpaid Connecticut state unionized employees, more money is needed for the big, dangerous and corrupt cities such as Bridgeport and New Haven. The list is always endless, and the results are always horrific since nothing is ever mentioned in the state-run media about The Land of Steady Habits having $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with a myriad of unfunded liabilities.
What do Connecticut Taxpayers really get for a $26 billion dollar plus yearly budget? What do Connecticut Taxpayers really receive for over $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities? Connecticut can't declare bankruptcy. It should, given its current insolvent economic state that has grown worse since the establishment of the Utopian cure-all state income tax. No matter how much your income is, you will never pay enough in taxes. No matter how much your taxes increase they will never keep up with the massive social ills, waste, and the increasing and crony driven Administrative State in The Land of Steady Habits that just keeps getting bigger and bigger year-in and year-out.
Taxpayers never get a break in Connecticut, but rather will be broken. The Democrat Party of The Land of Steady Habits will make sure of that forever.

Deja Vu, Part 2. More Bad Connecticut Democrat Party Legislation In 2024, For You. (HB5431)

Picture if you will the end of a state legislative session. The legislators, tired but fulfilled, congratulate each other, and relish the satisfaction of participating in a groundbreaking session of lawmaking and policy that sets a tone for fiscal stability, economic development, and citizen safety for the state. After a rousing address by the Governor, the legislature departs, basking in the glow of a job very well done in the best interests of the public.
And in stark contrast, picture the end of the Connecticut State Legislature’s term on May 8, 2024.
Since the late 1980's, Connecticut's State Legislature painfully ends every session after finding new ways of hemorrhaging more Connecticut Taxpayer money, taking away more personal freedoms, and helping wreck and destroy businesses in the state. The "short" 2024 legislative session was no different than all of the past 34 years of Democrat Party induced economic and societal decay and destruction. In true racketeering legislative style, the one bill that had no public hearing whatsoever and was summarily rammed through the wickets has been nicknamed by Democrats and labor leaders as "The Striking Workers Assistance Fund". It is HB 5431 "AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE STABILIZATION SUPPORT AND ARPA REPLACEMENT FUND" (https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&which_year=2024&bill_num=5431).

Rather than deciphering needless legislative Greek, you, I, and many others may be wondering what this law is and of course wonder how much it will cost Connecticut taxpayers. The bill’s creator, Democrat/Socialist State Representative Manny Sanchez of New Britain originally created a placeholder (aka dummy) bill that has been traditionally viewed as a piece of legislation that does not contain any content, later gets voted out of committee as a placeholder for last day or last minute legislation to be inserted, manipulated, and passed, over any objections by the minority party and of concerned right-thinking citizens watching from afar. Democrat/Socialist State Representative Manny Sanchez of New Britain facilitated the formation this deceitful work of pro-union labor/pro socialist-anti business rhetoric by changing the original name of the bill from “An Act Concerning Expenditures of the General Fund,” to “An Act Establishing the Stabilization Support and ARPA Replacement Fund.”

By way of information, "(t)he amended bill allocates $3 million of unspent funds from the “unexpended balance of funds appropriated to State Comptroller — Fringe Benefits, for State employees Health Service Costs” to create a new account dubbed the “Connecticut Families and Workers account.” Additionally, it mandates the Comptroller to devise a plan on how to spend the funds to support low-income workers."(https://yankeeinstitute.org/2024/05/07/the-house-masters-the-art-of-deception-advances-big-labor-priority-bill).
In simple terms, what is the need for a "Connecticut Families and Workers account" and what does it entail and why? Don't most Connecticut families and workers work to support themselves unless they are disabled or ill, and pay some of the highest tax rates in the country? Once the $3 million dollars in unspent funds is finally expended, how much in new or higher taxes will be implemented to pay for this new socialistic program and how many more cronies and politically connected will be hired with tax dollars to administrate said fund?
Also, from the limited information that has been provided, the bill forces Connecticut Taxpayers to pay for striking workers unemployment benefits. I wonder how this is legal given the current set up of the state's unemployment compensation benefits fund given the following statement:
"You can receive benefits if you meet a series of legal eligibility requirements
You must be monetarily eligible.
You must be totally or partially unemployed.
You must have an approvable job separation; the law imposes a disqualification for certain types of separations.
You must meet certain weekly legal requirements; weekly requirements include being physically and mentally able to work, being available for and seeking work*, and filing your weekly claim for benefits on a timely basis.
If you are identified as likely to exhaust unemployment benefits and are enrolled in the worker profiling and reemployment services program, you must fully participate in all assessment interviews, orientation, and referred reemployment services."(https://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/progsupt/unemplt/claimant-guide/eligibility.htm)
Can anyone explain how striking workers have an "approvable job separation" and who is responsible for determining said approval? By allowing striking workers unemployment benefits, hasn't the state basically redefined "unemployment", and thus ruled the unemployment benefits compensation fund of Connecticut invalid by definition? I will therefore assume that those businesses currently paying into this fund should stop, as the legal definitions of "unemployment" have changed, especially since humble private businesses must now support striking workers that often receive striker’s benefits. When and if enacted into law, should this bill now go to the Connecticut Supreme Court to rule on its legality based on the state's new and bizarre definition of one being deemed "unemployed"?

But as the sun sets over the Nutmeg State, we close the door on another legislative session where non-connected Connecticut citizens measure the success of the same by the smallest possible amount of damages sustained by acts of the Legislature. While bills concerning weighty matters like pizza and puppies become law, the reality 2024 echoes the same as years past where laws comprised on hundreds of pages handed out in the middle of the night must be voted upon with no debate nor any actual reading of the bill. Connecticut Taxpayers who generally have no legal representation in the Legislature must accept without questions the horrific, complacent, self-serving bills of King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable's omnipotent ruling Democrat Party. HB 5431 is just another step in the continuing economic quagmire of the Democrat conflagration of Connecticut Taxpayers and Businesses. And it is this scenario that the omnipotent and arrogant one-party rule Democrat Party demands re-election on in November 2024.

Continuing along this path, Connecticut will be truly damned.

Déjà vu All Over Again. The New Connecticut Slums of 2024

Most readers are familiar with the timeless Christmas movie classic "It's a Wonderful Life," made in 1946. In this film, viewers are transported to the quaint town of Bedford Falls, where the intricate tapestry of human lives unfolds against the backdrop of two contrasting visions of community. At the center of this narrative lies the enthusiastic figure of George Bailey, whose dreams of adventure are perpetually tethered to his hometown's fate. Yet, looming over Bedford Falls is the bleak shadow of his wretched banking competitor Mr. Potter, a miserable miserly man whose wealth and influence cast a long, dark shadow over the town.
As the story unfolds, viewers are drawn into a captivating exploration of these two men and their divergent visions for the future of housing for Bedford Falls. On one hand, there is Potter, whose intention for housing is in his ownership of “Pottersville,” a pathetic, decaying slum where depressed renters pay their substance to this miserable wretch of a man having no regard for them nor any incentive to do better by them. However, in stark contrast stands Bailey, a man whose dreams soar far beyond the confines of his modest hometown. Unlike Potter, Bailey sees housing as a cornerstone of community prosperity. His unwavering commitment to personal development culminates in the creation of Bailey Park – a vibrant oasis amidst the urban blight, a home ownership park where people could live and love and enjoy the fruits of their ownership and respective individual visions, free from oppression.
In the battle between Potter's greed and Bailey’s vision, the enduring spirit of hope and belonging fostered by Bailey created a much better future for all for the most obvious of reasons.

Fast forward to 2024. Rather than making housing policies that foster the growth, development, and financial empowerment of Connecticut citizens, the omnipotent One-Party Democrat machine (with no real opposition) has decided to bring a New-Age version of the slums to every city, town, and village in this formerly great and proud Nutmeg state. Forced socialistic housing.  Government mandated housing. Ugly and/or non-descript buildings.  Rentals only.  No homeownership, as rental properties need to be controlled by political cronies under the guise of “Transit Oriented Housing.”  These days, we are to willingly throw away local control of property and hand it over to yet another highly paid, unelected unaccountable, (and ostensibly racist) bureaucrat with political connections to the omnipotent Connecticut Democrat Party. 
Welcome to “Pottersville-CT 2024” (aka “Slums R’Us”) . Numerous bills such as Senate Bill No. 6; "An Act Concerning Housing to make housing more affordable for Connecticut residents." and House Bill 5390 “An Act Concerning Transit Oriented Communities”, have been introduced and or passed claiming the Utopian "affordable" housing mantra along with "free" public transportation in the form of "exceptionally high-speed trains” and or electric "green" buses in some cases .  These items will sprout up so that people will no longer need horrifically polluting efficient private vehicles nor discriminatory, unjust, biased and racist private homes to live in. (These are not my words, but rather the words of various “housing advocates” that have been on this trail for several years). Moreover, the system must crush all individual vision and initiative for growth because the government and the bureaucratic state can never be anything but the gold standard in their continual quest for the perfect economic and residential train wreck coming soon to a town near you.

What the moronic forces of government continually fail to understand is that socialistic collectivism has failed for over 2000 plus years, but now is again the "best" alternative that the Democrat Party can produce as it drives both the most votes and campaign contributions. This money especially comes from those developers and political hangers on that are seeking these new rental properties and housing developments. It is a devastating game played at the expense of the poor non-connected taxpayer. Further it is laughable that none of these brain-dead legislators and “housing advocates” would be caught dead living in any one of these projects, perhaps recalling the episode of Democrat Mayor Jane Byrne of Chicago. Mayor Byrne fended off complaints of combat zone conditions in the Cabrini Green projects in Chicago by volunteering to live there. (She lasted five whole days).
Why is affordable housing such an issue for the past 40 years in Connecticut?  Could it be a prohibitive cost of living coupled with high local property and state taxes caused by the exceptionally high cost of redundant and incompetent local and state governments and/or their associated unions and lackeys?   Could it be that excessive zoning and permit processes have contributed to the high costs of housing in in the state?  Could it be that businesses in the state have a difficult time staying open and providing higher paying jobs due to the endless taxes, rules and economic burdens they daily must abide by that are force fed to them by elected and appointed governmental officials who have never run a business in their lives nor would they have any idea as to how to run a lemonade stand

My friend and colleague Tony De Angelo continually points out on his two show appearances each week that the “Pottersville” model of housing is a farcical and dangerous charade, proved useless long ago by the devolution of the “affordable” housing projects of the past into drugs, gangs, murders, and eventually, demolition. Tony asked as to why if there is a genuine (and not contrived) need for housing, why not make the units cooperatively owned by residents and subsidize them with mortgages rather than fill the pockets of dubious corporate developers? But there never is an answer to that particular question as that is not how the game is played. This new “workforce” or “Transit Oriented” housing must be taken away from local town and city governments and placed into the hands of new "zoning" czars handpicked by Hartford elitists.  (And questions remain as to why Connecticut needs “workforce housing” where there is only business shrinkage and citizens are leaving the state in droves?)
Further, think back to March 2023 and House Bill No. 6890 a bill, also known as "Work, Live, Ride" giving incentives for “transit-oriented development” within a half mile of bus and train stations, executed under an autonomous new "Coordinator" working in the new "Office of Responsible Growth" within the Intergovernmental Policy Division of the Office of Policy and Management.  How does affordable housing equate to "responsible growth" when cities and towns are wrecked in the process?  Is the "responsible growth" designed to benefit those politically connected to the Ned Lamont and his Connecticut Democrat Party? Citizens of Connecticut are not supposed to ask those questions, nor are they to question the actions or motives of the new acolytes of Mr. Potter. End of story.
Housing is a problem in our economy.  Like the cooperative model above, there are actual ways for housing to become more affordable without the state of Connecticut picking winners and losers, as it does with all the free money it gives to failing businesses in the state.  As just one small example zoning restrictions should be removed in the state with a much lower rate of taxation especially for regions that could actually stimulate real housing growth and make housing more affordable.  Or, how about a pro-business agenda that allows for free market wages to be paid as opposed to an excessively high minimum wage for jobs that require little work skills. This would stimulate more employment and taxation on its own and eliminate the need for governmental interference in the labor market. 
The current economic stagnation that the state has been in since 1990 shows little signs of abatement also contributing to the state's housing crisis.  Instead, the brainless plans being offered are reheated versions of the same failures of the past fifty years and will help create the new slums of the future. Moreover, given the current crop of legislative stalwarts as presided over by King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable, there is little hope for change in sight. 
Just maybe a different course of action might help to house those who need housing in the state. “It’s A Wonderful Life” showed us the blessings of Bailey Park. Instead, Connecticut is brainlessly proceeding to the 2024 version of Pottersville, and a new generation of failed publicly driven housing disasters in progress. When, will we say, enough is enough.

Free Israel. Free Jewish Students and Professors. Free Jewish Students from Campuses Where They Are Being Persecuted.

Free Israel. Free Jewish Students and Professors. Keep them from harm and abuse in colleges such as Columbia, USC, and Yale. I really cannot believe we are having this discussion in our society today. But with our economy, lives and society turned upside down by Joe Biden and his liberal socialist/communist Democrat Party along with complicit state governments run by incoherent and delusional haters of our country, the hatred of Israel and people of Jewish faith should be no surprise.

I and many others have had enough of the anti-Israel and Pro-Hamas demonstrations we have seen on our college campuses and through the illegal protesting at airports, highways and other public places in our country and world. I and many others have simply had enough of the surreptitious posture of feckless leaders like Connecticut’s King Gov. Ned Lamont the Unaccountable making statements about the Yale protests such as “I think broadly speaking (the anti-Israel protests) been a peaceful demonstration over a cause people believe in,” https://ctexaminer.com/2024/04/23/rise-in-antisemitic-incidents-spark-fear-security-concerns-in-connecticut/. I and many others have had enough of cowardly legislatures such as Connecticut’s not cutting off state funding to schools like Yale until such time as the abuses cease. I and many others have had enough of the silence of elected officials overall, especially Jewish Democrats in not condemning the terrorist actions of Hamas and the murdering in cold blood of over 1,200 Jewish people on October 7, 2023. I and many others want to know why our work, travel and education must be violated by these protestors. I and many others wonder why we must endure their incoherent psychobabble nightly on television and wonder why these attention-seeking spoiled brats are not summarily arrested, or at least summarily ignored by now. Many Taxpayers are sickened that their hard-earned tax dollars have been sent in all sorts of financial benefits to many of these same Universities where it seems like these protests are nurtured and encouraged.

Yale, Columbia, USC, and New York Universities come to mind as being models for anti-Jew and anti-Semitic conduct by observing what is taking place on their campuses. Universities where learning obviously no longer has a place for the students and professors of the Jewish faith who attend and teach there. Racism and bigotry reign supreme for these woke, liberal cesspools of supposed learning and diversity that Taxpayers help to fund.

As an educator, my view of the targeting of Jewish people is ironic, if not dastardly. The Jewish people have always prized the gift and virtue of education as one of their highest priorities. This thirst for knowledge reaches back to Biblical times. Boys aspiring to become rabbis had to memorize the first five books of the Old Testament by the time they were thirteen. The Torah reinforces the forty-eight (48) scriptural virtues, many having to do with education. My friend and colleague Tony De Angelo pointed out on the Lee Elci Show that the goal of Senator Joe Lieberman’s mother was to encourage him to be the first Jewish President of the United States. So, it would seem perversely apropos that the most devastating attack upon the Jewish people would be against their education. (And it is also a blessing that Joe Lieberman is not alive to see the travesty that is taking place against his people at his beloved Yale University, especially with such tragedy engendered by the modern-day version of his Democratic party).

Moreover, having taught for over 42 years on a college level, I have instructed many students of all different faiths including Jewish students. In my own observation these Jewish students excel in their studies. They try to better themselves through education. They have a true respect and tradition with many colleges and universities throughout the world. Why is it socially acceptable now to strip them of this achievement? Why is it acceptable to satisfy these protestors who are in the minority in their beliefs and twisted ideologies of terrorism? Where are the leaders of these colleges? They obviously are ill equipped to remain in their highly paid positions of power if they are so blind to what is happening on their campuses. Campuses that are now segregated between Jews and non-Jews. Campuses where Jews are being persecuted regularly. What happened to the rights of all students, of all faiths?

Are we as a people just going to stand back as those did in the 1930's when the Nazi's started rounding people of the Jewish faith to begin the Holocaust? Are we beginning the new Holocaust of 2024 with paid college demonstrators and their love of the Hamas terrorists? The protestors have no issues with the terrorist actions of Hamas and their murdering of over 1200 Jewish people in cold blood. And now, we have now absolutely no decency or respect for the human life especially if one professes the Jewish faith.

It is time for these protests to end. It is time for the Hamas terrorists to be eliminated and jailed for their crimes against humanity. It is time for educational institutions facilitating this abusive and abhorrent behavior to be defunded and starved out. Remember that this situation would not have reached this point of no return if these Hamas terrorists did not murder on October 7, 2023. And are the Hamas terrorists the true government of Palestine? It sure seems like it to many rational law-abiding citizens of the world.

Israel will always defend itself against those who wish would eliminate it and its right to freedom of religion and the right to self-government. Maybe, (just maybe) we could see a daily condemnation of these Hamas terrorists by both sides of our political aisle, followed by a withholding of educational grant funding. Maybe (just maybe) we could see the entire Connecticut legislature pass a unanimous joint resolution condemning this wretched behavior and withholding its state funding until this nightmare ends. If this were to occur, it would be the first time in the past four years that the horrific Biden and Lamont Administrations did something right for both religious freedoms, and the free world.

 

Connecticut! The Place Where Your Government Is Your Best Friend, and Where Your Grocer Is Your Bitter Enemy

From time to time, we are treated to a manufactured fake-news event promoted by the Connecticut Democrat Party in their sworn mission to damage Connecticut's fragile and failing economy.  This latest event concerning “elevated” grocery store prices led us to a pseudo-intellectual faux economic mission reverberating all over state-run media outlets last week stating that grocery stores of all sizes are "price gouging", are earning "excessive" profits, and telling us that only state government can fix this problem. During a charade of a press conference held on April 10, Democrat Attorney General William Tong stated: “We won’t stop!” in announcing the inquiry. “We will keep going until we have an understanding of this market.” (https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/connecticut-ag-launches-inquiry-grocery-price-gouging). 

 First, I had no idea Democrat Attorney General William Tong had degrees in economics and/or accounting and was an expert in grocery store logistics and management.  Secondly, I had no idea that grocery stores large and small were price gouging?  Third, I had no idea that Democrat Attorney General William Tong could instantaneously get his finger around the concept of runaway inflation which has been occurring since Democrat President Biden has taken office in 2021.  My good friend Tony De Angelo talked about this new Tong investigation at length on this past Tuesday in his weekly segment on the Lee Elci Show 94.9 (A MARKUP OF MISINFORMATION- Tony De Angelo) where Tony pointed out that the 63 page Federal Trade Commission report (“FTC”, “report”) sourcing this press charade, never even once mentioned the term “price gouging” therein. This is even more startling, considering  that the report was engendered by the far-left Biden-appointed Marxist-inspired Commissioner of the  FTC, Lina Khan. And as Tony pointed out, who can trust any representation the media-political machine makes in Connecticut, especially when one remembers the debacles of the Scott Franklin-BLM mural vandalism a year ago in Hartford, or much more the lies, graft, and mismanagement of Covid-19.

As a primer to the political class, there are many costs involved in running a business.  In order to remain in business, a business needs to make a profit.  A profit may be defined as when the amount of revenue is greater than the costs of producing/selling a service or product.  In the case of Connecticut's grocery stores, revenue must exceed the cost of products they are selling.  It is very difficult for any business to operate during a period of runaway inflation and dysfunctional energy costs such as we have experienced since the Biden regime took office in 2021.  Depending on what you may see, food prices over the past three years have gone up between 30 and 120%.   Food store operating costs have basically doubled along with increases in most other consumers products such as energy, housing, insurances and transportation.  Everything we need to live on has gone up dramatically. And everything we either have or do or purchase has a cost factor tied to energy. When one considers the fantastical and irrational wind-driven climate change-paralyzed energy policy of Connecticut, none of what we see is difficult to understand in the least of ways.

For those of us who are based in reality and candor, here is a mere sample of the costs that grocery stores incur when trying to sell those "overpriced" almonds or eggs in their stores: labor costs that include hourly wages, social security taxes, workers’ compensation insurance, mandated Family Medical leave taxes, benefits paid by the grocer including (but not limited to) paid sick, vacation, personal, holiday time off, medical and dental insurances. If there is a company retirement plan, it is an administrative monster to administrate; if there is not, the store must deal by law with the confused, horrific (and inept) “My CT Savings” plan presided over by a state Comptroller with no understanding of the present value of a dollar and his accompanying four-star CT administrative state Retirement Security Authority. But wait! There is more!  Like Insurance costs! These costs include insurance premiums paid on property including accident, personal property liability, vehicles owned by the grocery, and theft.  There are also the costs of transportation to get the products to the store (since fossil fuels have been attacked by the Democrat Party, prices have skyrocketed).  There are also the costs of transaction fees by customers using debit and credit cards.  Taxes are a large cost to the grocer that include but are not limited to permits, licenses, local property taxes, state corporate income taxes including surtaxes, sales taxes collected and sent to the state, state and federal taxes on fuel, state unemployment compensation taxes, and other miscellaneous taxes paid to the state.  There are also increasing utility costs that include one of the highest electric rates in the country, internet, phone, and natural gas.  The costs of all of the food that is sold by the store also have to be factored in. The costs of maintaining and cleaning the stores both inside and outside need to be added.  We should include the costs of shoplifting and theft in grocery stores as items stolen by criminals in Crime Free Democrat Connecticut are removed from inventory.  There are more costs both implicit and explicit including the actual time spent filling out governmental bureaucratic forms, but we can save that for another time.  In review of all of the above costs, it is clear that just about all of our elected officials have no clue of the costs and burdens involved in running the "profit gouging" grocery stores in Connecticut as they are the people responsible for causing the increases in the first instance due to their burdensome and horrifically costly policies.  

I am also confused as to how "price gouging" can exist given all these costs?  And if most of these grocers are private businesses, what right does Connecticut's state government have to either impose limits on their "highest" profits and or tell them what they can or can't charge in their stores based on exceptionally low profit margin which are traditionally 1 to 3% of gross sales? But I know it is possible to get more votes in an election year by bashing an entire visible industry like evil capitalist grocers.  This burden is especially obscene as this same government placed such costly and ridiculous protocols on grocers to stay open during the pandemic while erasing their meager profit margins. But during that same pandemic, didn't King Ned Lamont's The Unaccountable’s family hedge fund Oak HC/FT, make some incredible profits at Connecticut Taxpayers expense during the same Covid-19 crisis and such fact is not even disputed by his sycophants, toadies, and lackeys? Why has that not yet been investigated by William Tong? We also see sales tax revenues at an all-time high due to inflation.  Why isn't this considered "price gouging"?  Why isn't there an investigation launched to study this, as well? 

Why would any rational person want to own and operate a business in Connecticut?  Connecticut still has over $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities. Connecticut is still a bottom five state in our country in all business categories including high taxes, excessive regulations, a pitifully poor infrastructure, and is still incapable of creating new jobs to get out of the recession of 2008-09.  Rather than deal with this compounded corrupt and inept mess, the solution for Connecticut Democrats is to slam the grocery industry and put them in their place.  I can only imagine the contraction in the grocery industry in the state after this latest farcical attempt by elected rulers to demand, demean and destroy their profitability.  Yet, this is another example of a state government's excess and its economic illiteracy and incompetency as to how the economy works.  The food shortages and food deserts will be coming soon due to your local closed and out-of-business "profit gouging" retail grocery store, thanks to the omnipotent Connecticut Democrat Party. 

 

 

The Economic Farcical Clown Show Commonly Known As Connecticut

This past week, the poor, beleaguered taxpaying citizens of Connecticut were treated to the public sham and spectacle of the state’s leading political brain trust cursing and condemning supermarket operators for “price gouging”. Since just about every single one of these people has never done anything whatsoever in the realm of private-sector gainful employment, or can tell the difference between a profit and loss statement and a kite, it does not dawn upon them (or just about anyone in the Connecticut Legislature) that bad and foolish energy policy is the root cause of the majority of economic problems. All products and services are affected by fuel. Fuel costs money. Fuel costs increase expenses. Expenses impact prices. And as my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo often says, it's as simple as that, and just as difficult. And unfortunately, these concepts are much too difficult to comprehend for just about every elected official in the state.
Welcome to the pie-in-the-sky fintech-wind powered-climate-change-terrified Economic woke-liberal universe, where simple economic facts understood by high school business students are difficult to comprehend for many of the liberals/Democrats and Socialists in our country. We can see this from the complete economic failures of the pathetic, inept, and corrupt Biden Administration featuring runaway inflation, a failed green energy plan, excessive taxation, and a crippling $34 trillion dollar National Debt. As apples do not follow far from trees, let us now focus on the vast economic wasteland with an omnipotent one party Democrat-ruled government known as Connecticut, with socialistic pressure on legitimate businesses, high taxation, a loss of jobs, a poor and uncoordinated infrastructure, an imperious administrative state, excessive state mandates on its cities and towns, and the excessive economic costs of rampant and unchecked crime that the state does not wish to control and frequently explains away in its state-run media broadcasts.
As just about no legacy–reward the loyal with government jobs media outlet in Connecticut can be trusted with any consistent objectivity, one is forced to look outside of the state to find honest and objective information as to what is actually happening. In this connection, these economic facts were presented in the "2024 Rich States, Poor States ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index © 2024 American Legislative Exchange Council report". (https://alec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-17th-RSPS-State-Pages_WEB.pdf). This report presents pure and objective economic facts for all 50 states. When reading the report, one can see the differences between "liberal Blue states" and "conservative Red states". As a spoiler alert, Connecticut did badly in this survey. According to the ALEC-Laffer State Economic Outlook Rankings, 2024, Connecticut is ranked 40th out of 50 states that is based upon equal-weighting of each state’s rank in 15 policy variables for this category. Connecticut ranked 48th out of 50 states for the ALEC-Laffer State Economic Performance Rankings, from 2012-2022 based on its State Gross Domestic Product that measures cumulative growth over this time frame, since it was only 33.59%, its non-farm payroll employment showed a .91% growth over the same time frame, and its absolute domestic move-out of state rate reflected a loss of 181,117 people over the same time frame (https://alec.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-17th-RSPS-State-Pages_WEB.pdf page 12).
Also, there is one horrible elephant in the state-run media newsroom that this veritable Ministry of Information does not want for you to focus on...Illegal Immigration. Just how many illegal migrants are being transported into the state? Credible reports from real citizens tell us of squatters and break-ins happening in formerly safe neighborhoods. Every bordering Blue State to Connecticut unabashedly admits its mismanagement and incompetence in not being able to stem the tide of the Biden open-border policy. But we have none of those issues in the Land of King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable! He keeps Connecticut safe! Much like he mismanaged Covid-19 while busily figuring out how he could rip off Pandemic money. After all, it's simply the best state to be in!
Regardless of the state-run media spin that Connecticut residents pay for with their tax dollars, even an unobservant observer can tell what is happening in the state by just living here from day to day. Connecticut is graced with high state and local taxes, a high minimum wage, a high debt service as a share of tax revenue along with it also not being a right to work state. Connecticut is perpetually in a recession of its own making. Connecticut is always at the bottom of most business and economic categories. Connecticut still has over $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities. Economic facts are difficult to accept to the economically illiterate Democrat Party at any level of government. Tax more, spend more, promise more, demand more, rule as dictators never compromising on anything at all especially economic issues is their platform. It is a platform that has failed miserably but is endorsed at all costs to the point of economic ruin.
As the above-mentioned report is proof of the failures of Democrat led states such as Connecticut, one really does not need it. Just venture a little way into the state and draw your own conclusions.