Big Tuesday Motes

A really crappy headline: Suicide Killed More Than Twice As Many U.S. Soldiers In Three Months Than COVID Has Since The Pandemic Began”. According to a Pentagon report, more soldiers in the U.S. military’s active-duty, National Guard, and reserve forces died from suicide in the second quarter of this year than soldiers in the entire U.S. military died from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. From April 1 to June 30, a total of 139 troops took their lives, with 99 classified as “active component,” 14 as “reserve” members, and 26 as National Guard. Broken down among service branches, the active component deaths include 60 from the Army, eight from the Marine Corps, 17 from the Navy, and 14 from the Air Force. Add to that, the 20+ veterans that commit suicide EVERY day. We need to figure out something to stop this. And do it.

There’s them, and then you: If you are wonder whether the White House is concerned about the middle-class being impacted by massive increases in gasoline, high home heating costs, extreme food inflation and empty shelves… Well, the message from White House chief of staff Ron Klain is very telling: “Most of the economic problems we’re facing (inflation, supply chains,etc) are high class problems. We wouldn’t have had them if the unemployment rate was still 10 percent. We would instead have a much worse problem.” Worse? Apparently feeding your family and making ends meet is a “high class problem.” The elitism and disconnect from the average American always shows up when you look at DC democrats language. They always talk down to those they view as ‘the help’. Klain is a career bureaucrat, having served as a law clerk, legal counsel etc., and , imho, never had a real job. He’s never worried about payroll, medical, mortgage, or just buying groceries, you know, that elite stuff.

Taking responsibility: Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was found guilty after he entered guilty pleas to all five charges he faced — including “contempt towards officials,” “disrespect toward superior commissioned officers” and “failure to obey order or regulation” — after videos of Scheller criticizing military leaders about their handling of the withdrawal went viral. Scheller has yet to receive his characterization of discharge. As a part of the plea deal, he will likely receive either an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions. Here is a man that spoke his mind, accepted the responsibitiy for his words and did not try to weasel his way out of the repercussions. Well done Lt. Col. Scheller. Well done.

Justice*: A man described by Kenyan authorities as a “bloodthirsty vampire” who allegedly killed at least ten children, in some cases by sucking blood from their veins and leaving them to die, has been lynched by a furious mob. the alleged child-killer escaped from custody hours before a court appearance over the murders of 12 and 13-year-old children. He had been arrested in July over the disappearance of two kids, but officials said he then admitted to killing ten over a sickening five-year spree. on Friday, “he was spotted by villagers in Bungoma, and beaten to death before he could be re-arrested. The law of the jungle as applied by irate villagers prevailed.” *Do not construe this as an approval for vigilantism. *

The wrong answer to the problem: A new proposal under the Biden administration would allow the IRS to see more of the money flowing in and out of your bank account each year. It’s the latest effort to crackdown on tax evasion, and make sure wealthy Americans are paying their fair share in taxes. Banks would report the total amount of money deposited and withdrawn from personal and business bank accounts each year. That’s only if there is $600 in the account or transactions equal to that. The idea is to close the tax gap and recover some of the estimated $600 billion per year in unpaid taxes. Couple of things here, 1) This is not a crackdown on “wealthy Americans, I know homeless people with more than $600; 2) this won’t close any “gap” ; 3) This will dump a huge amount of extra work on the banks; 4) this is B…s..t.