We've Been Doing It All Wrong...

I'm guessing when our Founding Fathers founded this place they had no idea one of thier founding ideas was flawed.

I'm pretty sure they felt that the original Ten Commandments, coupled with the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, would be all the laws we'd need.  And if we needed any more, (ahem), we could send Representatives to Congress to craft them.

Maybe a few dozen of them.  Or hundred.  Not many more.  I mean, how many laws do we need?

But those same Representatives our FF's envisioned have grown not in number, but in proficiency.  And profligacy.  And pure excess.  They keep putting out new laws like wild pigs produce piglets.  And each of those laws we, The Citizens, must somehow inculculate.  And embrace.  Or at least be forced to follow.  

Too Gag Level, I'd say!

Fellow Patriots, I believe we need to change Congress a tad.  We need to have these folks spend one year out of every four de-commisioning present laws.  We're tired of having every move we make and every breath we take being micromanaged.  We should demand that for every new law passed, 10 old ones have to go.  Let them spend all their time trying to figure out which laws should go.  Then they won't have any time to try and conjure up new ones.

New Ones We Don't Need!

Did you know that CA's Assembly and Senate passed and sent 1,287 laws to BoyGuv Newsom's desk this year?  For his signature?  I guess the good news is he only signed 996 of them into law.  Almost One Thousand News Laws.  Do we need a thousand new laws every year?

I've written before that California has a Grand Total of 366,398 laws on the books.  Rules, regulations and Executive Orders.  The very most in the Nation.  Almost twice as many as Number Two, New York (176,443).  With No. 3 Illinoway sporting "only" 112,445.  As compared with Montana's 23,554.  How in Hell are we supposed to follow 336,000 laws?

And an even better question, how in Hell are CA's sworn Law Enforcement Officers, all 82,000 of them, supposed to inculcate 336,000 laws?  Or are they only trained on DUI's and speeding and other money generating laws?*  You can almost hear the cash register ringing with all those fines pouring in. 

Is that the real reason we have them?

We know that banding together into a city or town or berg or hamlet carries with it certain responsibilities on our part, the Residents.  But being picked clean by a band of grinning road pirates is not one of them.  And I believe I speak for many of my colleagues.  It's time to write your Congressweenie and let them know how you feel.  

If you agree, pass it along... 

*   6 class days out of the 26 weeks cops must spend in Police Academy Training are dedicated to learning various laws.  Only.  45 classroom hours.  Surprised?  

Are You Not Entertained?

When I used to order something from Sears Roebuck, or J. C. Penney, or Montgomery Ward, back in the old days, it usually came a week or two later, in a brown box, and without fanfare.

No Longer!

Now we give Jeffie Bozos $140.00 a year so we can order anything, at anytime, around the clock, and get it to our doorstep within days.  Sometimes hours.  Plus some movies, too.  Without having to pay for shipping.

But I'll bet you didn't realize we're also getting entertainment with our shopping!  Yes, Fellow Patriots, we now get to watch Jeffie's little rockets vaulting a select few into (almost) space.  For a few minutes.  And then return back to Earth, all safe and sound.

Like on Tuesday.  He sent his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, an ex-TV helicopter weather girl.  Plus Katy Perry.  Who sings, if you were unaware.  Plus Gayle King, a TV personality of sorts.  Plus 4 other women who we've never heard of.  Girl power, they said.  A "crew" of all women.  Except all they did was sit there, and wait for the rocket to light off.  

And then, WHOOOSH!  They flew up to 93 kilometers (sixty three miles), just past the "Karmen Belt."  The very edge of space.  But not space.  Nope, just real close, and then 4 minues of weightlessness.  Raucous fun, no doubt.  Look at me!  Floating!  And then you come back home.  The multiple parachutes open and you float safely to a soft landing.  They then let you keep your spiffy blue uniform, and probably some keepsakes.  An ashtray and some little pins to wear on their ample chests.  That's it.  

What's all that cost.  Well, just like Jeffie's annual fee isn't cheap, neither is his "E-Ticket" ride.  We're told it's $One Million Dollars per seat.  Of course, his babe flew free.  Did Katy and the others pay?  We'll never know.  But for the price, I'd like to think the whole thing would last longer than 11 minutes.  

It doesn't.

But there's one thing for sure.  We're getting to watch him waste our subscription $Dollars by sending his friends into near-space.  It's entertainment.  And it now comes with the deal.  

You and I are gifting this dude with our $Money and he's blowing it on his little hobbies.  His 554 foot yacht, his "Blue Origin" E-Ticket rides, his 5 private jets, and his girlfriend.  

At least with Elon, you get the full ride.  So much so that he single-handedly returned our stranded astronauts from the Space Station using his Falcon 9 rocket.  And those on the Left repaid him by burning his cars and firebombing his dealerships.  

If Jeff's trying to compete with Elon, using our money, I'd say he's losing...

It Must Be Tough...

I think regular readers of this unassuming little blog must know, I identify as a gay Black Jew.  Who's living in what used to be San Francisco.  Because that's all that's necessary to participate in the Reparations my fellow Blacks are trying to get "Hairgod" Newsom to throw their way.  

I mean, what the heck!  BoyGuv has set fire to more than $8 Billion to "cure" the homeless problem so far, and it's grown by 40% in the interim.  What's a few $Billion more to placate the very few Blacks still living in San Franpoopco?

And I use the term "living" advisedly.

But what you may not know is I also identify as a Transgender.  But not just any old Transgender.  No, No!  I further identify as a Transgender identifying as a man.  Thus eliminating any need for me to change clothes or put on lipstick.  There's a lot of identifying going on here, I'll admit.  But nobody put a limit on them, did they?

Having all my bases covered, I come to you today to offer my condolences to all those "Left of center" folks who've grown up or old with their Party controlling all the levers of Gubmint.  I mean, a Democrat president has owned the White House for 12 of the past 16 years.  They've become accustomed to blowing tons of cash trying to change the weather.  And patted each other on the back because they want a border Wide Open.  And clapped politely as men won all the girls' sporting events.  And spent all their time figuring out how to soak the "rich."  

Meaning, those who have more money than they do.

Funding windmills and closing coal mines was their focus.  They meddled with our shower pressure and how we heat our houses rather than reducing crime.  

Busybodies avoiding the necessary while focusing on the needless.  

But now, The Donald's come to town!  And boy, are you pissed!  So much so that those of you who used your kid's college fund to buy a Tesla, are now in favor of burning them!  And out-and-out gangsters from foreign countries, who broke in to America, you want to grant full judicial niceties.  You so want Trump to fail, you spend your days looking for negative postings on the Net so you can share them with all your Lefty friends.  Looking for approval as you try to sink America.

Face it:  There's nothing Trump can do that would please you.  If the tariffs work, you'll be pissed.  If they don't, you'll consider your admonitions proven true.  It's a study in psychology to watch this all unfurl.  It's both funny and sad.  And it's not gonna' get any better any time soon.

As I've recommended ad nauseum, those who find themselves in the throws of "TDS," go buy a fishing pole and go fishing.  Check back on how America's doing six months from now.  If it's doing badly, you'll be happy.  And if it's doing great, well, that's up to you...  

How the Chuckmeister Became "Unleashed."

I was asked again a couple of days ago why I choose to use the name  "Chuckmeisterunleashed" for my humble little blog.

I've answered that question before, but perhaps new followers to this little bit of sanity in an otherwise insane world may not have heard it.  So here it is...

I was a professional pool player for more than ten years.  Some of you already know that, but that's how I got the name.  I won several pool, billiard and snooker tournaments over the years under the moniker, "Fast Cass."  But then, having been invited to spend some quality time in Germany, I won the 1968 "European Pool Championship."  All while serving in the U. S. Army.  And the locals called me the "Chuckmeister," meaning "master," as a result.  

And then, a bit later in life, the Daily Pilot hired me to write a column once a week.  The "Pilot" is a terrific little, 100+ year old community newspaper, serving the communities of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, California.  

A nice little paper that we all love to read.  Except it's owned (and controlled) by the Lost Angeles Times.  The single most Left-wing Liberal rag West of the Mississippi.  Only the N.Y. Times and the Chicago Trib can compare in Left-wingedness.  I'm sorry to say.*

But they hired me to represent the "Conservative" folks in our 2 towns, I presume.  Identity politics, on display.  The "Blue" influence in famously "Red" Orange County was taking hold.  Except those who hated what I wrote.  It grated on them.  Like sand in their bathing suits, the staff wanted to dump me the day before their Editor hired me.  That was just before one Adam Lange (in)famously shot and killed 26 people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, they finally had what they needed.

Why?  Because I wrote in my weekly column that this outrage in Connecticutt, that massacre, could have been avoided outright had anyone in that school been armed.  Amed and willing to protect those precious lives.  They weren't.  It was a "Gun Free Zone."  In a "Sanctuary State."  So they all had to die to prove the lunacy of that choice. 

I come from Small Town in Upstate Missouri, you see.  Where everyone is armed and nobody bothers to lock their doors.  I was an apprentice gunsmith by the age of 13.  I was building custom sporting rifles by the age of 16.  I was a competitive rifle and pistol target shooter by the age of 15.  I won numerous trap and skeet clay target events with my shotguns.  And "quick-draw" events as well using Colt Peacemakers.  I also shot 998 out of 1,000 at the Ft. Leonard Wood rifle range while in Army basic training.  

And it's still the record.  More than five decades later.

Interestingly, I placed 4th in a regional pistol competition in West Germany in 1968.  Had I placed 3rd or better, I would have qualified to represent Germany in that Summer Olympics.  While serving as a U. S. Army soldier.  That wouldn't have gone over so very well, I'm thinking... 

So in case you don't remember the specifics, the Sandy Hook shooter started his day by stealing his mother's AR-15.  He then murdered her by shooting her in the face.  Twice.  Two felonies already and it was before 8:00 a.m.  He then stole his mother's car, another felony, loaded the AR and two other stolen pistols in the trunk, four more felonies.  He then drove across 3 states and 5 counties with illegally-obtained firearms.  11 more felonies.  He shot his way into the Sandy Hook school, which was locked, two more felonies.  And then he hunted down and executed 20 children and 6 teachers and staff members.  Reloading twice.  That's 26 more felonies.  

My piece in the Pilot emphasized that this killer was already motivated that day.  He was going to acquire a weapon and kill a bunch of people...unless he got stopped.  By somebody else with a weapon.  A "good guy with a gun" evens the odds against a "bad guy with a gun."  And the fact that he had time to reload proved my thesis: 

There would have been time to disarm him.  With extreme prejudice.  And therefore time to have saved those lives.   

I simply stated that, because of their illogical fear and hatred of firearms, there was nobody there to protect those kids.  

There was a big sign out front of that School.  It said, "Gun Free Zone.  No Firearms Allowed."  I said, it would have been far better to have that sign read, 

"Notice:  Teachers and Staff are armed and considered dangerous, and anxious to prove it.  To all those planning on doing harm, Enter at Own Risk!"

But the L. A. Times is filled with a bunch of "Commie Pinko Dumbass Liberal Weenies."  And they fired me as a result.  Thereby "Unleashing" me from having to thereafter moderate my written content.  So as to no longer hurt their tender feelings with my Conservative presence.  And all the hurtful words that so triggered them.  And so I started this Blog as a result.  

(That was almost 15 years ago.  Thanks for the help, Geoff!.  Or I apologize, whichever is appropriate).  

Come to think of it, they never sent me my last check!  We can add "Cheapskates" to their acronym, now making it "CPDLW+C."  Take that, all you "LGBTAA2AS+'s!"  

So The Chuckmeister is now "Unleashed."  Read at your own risk.  It just might result in a mild nod of approval.  Or even a chuckle or two.  Or even tears and lost sleep... 

*    A nice Chinese doctor now owns the "Crimes."  He says he's all about achieving a more centrist focus for his Paper.  I'm guessing all his employees will bail if he does.  Like is happening at the Washington Post.  We'll see...

    

Why No Cadillacs in Germany?

I'm an inveterate car guy.

I breathed, ate and slept them for many years.  So I was very excited to learn I would be sent to Europe to defend your hide from communism.  And socialism.  And Marxism.  And every other "ism."

I was first stationed in Deutchland.  Or Germany as we prefer to call it.  Ahhhh, the land of the Autobahn.  That road that Hitler built, enabling us to drive as fast as our cars can go.  For hundreds of miles.  Top end.  150 mph+.  And miraculously, all the other cars would automatically pull to the side to let us pass.  

Germany.  The land of precision motorsports.  Where cars ran fast, cornered well and stopped on a Deutchmark.  Everywhere one looked was a Porsche.  And a Ferrari.  And a fast Mercedes-Benz.  But wait!  As I looked around, I saw nary a single American car!  We had plenty of VW's and MB-zzz, and even the occasional Porsche back home.  So why, I asked myself, were there no American cars?  We had Corvettes, and Cadillacs, and Mustangs.  Why weren't they being scooped up, especially since they were mucho cheaper than Eurocars?  Here's the answer...

We, America, impose a tariff on incoming cars from Europe of two and one-half percent.  That's it.  Not bad.  No one can bitch about that.  So what does Germany charge on American cars?  Ya' ready?  

     -  First, Germany charges a flat 10% tariff on every 'Murican car.  Four times what we charge.       

     -  But then, it charges an additional 19% "Mehrwertsteur."  Or, "VAT." That stands for "Value Added Tax."  It adds that tax on the retail price of the landed car, let's say $60,000 for a nice mid-range Cadillac.  

     -  Plus it adds all the shipping charges to that VAT, which can equal $2,000 or more.  

     -  Plus it adds in the original 10%, or double-taxes it, which is $6,000.  Plus 19%, or $13,000.    

So that $60,000 American would now cost a German more than $87,000!  Wiping out the built-in savings for choosing American.  Plenty of VW's, and Audi's, and Fiat's, and MB'zzz he could choose instead.  That's why you'll not see an American car on that Autobahn.  And that's why Germany has been hosing us for decades.  Making it impossible for Detroit to sell anything into Frankfurt.

The other Euro countries do the same.  France, and Spain, and Italy, and the U.K. have protectionist import policies on American cars.  Ya' get it?

So now you know why The Donald has chosen to rectify the situation.  By leveling the playing field.  By imposing tariffs on Germany, and 164 other countries, to almost, but not quite, equal the taxes they're imposing on us.  

Last year we had a negative trade imbalance of almost $1,000,000,000,000,000.  With a "T."  To add to our nearly $37 Trillion Dollar National Debt.  And you've been paying it one way or another.  Other countries have been imposing tariffs on us of up to 100%.  Even Canada, 'dem nice, friendly boyz up North, have been tarriffing us to the tune of more than $268 Billion a Year.  

Time to bring this to an end.

Yesterday crowds gathered in nearly even big city to show their displeasure with Trump's economic policy.  As if they understood it.  Get over it.  He has no third term to seek.  His approval ratings are above those of the Democrats.  He has nothing to lose while trying to rectify our untenable situation.  He's been talking about it since the 1980's.  It's a Big Bet.

We're told more than 50 countries have called the White House looking to negotiate their tariffs downward.  I expect that's exactly what The Donald will do.  Bringing calm back to our edgy markets, and calm to the American taxpayer.  

I hope he wins.  For if he wins, we win. 

It's Dangerous Out There!

I used to travel a lot on business.

I averaged a plane a day for nearly 5 years.  I was the sales manager, the world was my territory, and I lived on planes.

But at the end of the day, when I'd arrived in tomorrow's city and I was all set to go, I'd sometimes try and find a nice bar to visit.  Grab a cocktail or two, maybe have a snack, watch a little TV, relax, and perhaps attempt to find some feminine companionship.  

And whatever might reasonably ensue from that.  Ahem.

But whereas finding a nice babe in a bar is starting off with two strikes, it's still a worthy effort.  How else are we expected to keep divorce lawyers fully employed unless we continue getting drunk and making stupid choices?

Have you ever wondered why they make it so dammmed easy to get married, and so terribly hard to get a divorce?  And so expensive?  

Remember what they say, "alimony is the f--king we get for the f--king we got!"    

Funny.  Not funny.

Anyway, trying to find an attractive babe with whom to share a drink or two in an airport hotel bar at 9:00 p.m., is always fraught with danger.  But never moreso than right now.  That's because millions of us have adopted transgenderism.  As in, putting on a dress and some lipstick and pretending to be a woman. 

BTW, I stopped trying to "drink them pretty" in the Army.  A part of my storied past, no matter what anyone says.  

But back in the '70's before I found my forever wife, the "chase" was a lot simpler.  A LOT simpler.  Back then there were the men, you see, and there were the women.  Only two choices.  As we were taught in biology class.  The concept of 57 genders had yet to be adopted by the State of California.  And however many genders in Illinois.  And New York.  And Oregon.  And another dozen Blue States.  

CA had begun doing really stupid things, but disavowing science wasn't yet one of them.

Those professing what we now call "an alternate lifestyle" had yet to do so.  People kept their sexuality to themselves, because that's where it belongs.  Kept all private like.  They did not wear it on their sleeve, or on both both puffy sleeves and a skirt.  And most assuredly they did not advertise it, unless they were in "that part of town."

Back then we had gay folks to be sure.  The guys who liked guys, and the ladies who went for ladies.  However we did not have millions of transgenders pretending to be the opposite sex.  Those afflicted with gender dysphoria should have an avenue for relief.  Unlike those who've transitioned in order to gain an advantage.  Like the "men" who've managed to steal more than 900 college scholarships from women.  But millions of others are so good at it you cannot tell from a distance with whom you are dealing.  

Which brings me back to the bar.  A dimly-lit bar.

Just imagine you're in a nice airport hotel lounge, and there's a nice looking babe at the other end of the nice bar.  And you think to yourself, why not offer that nice babe a drink?  Since you're on your second, you don't hesitate to head right on over.

Except when you get there you find out it's not Donna but Don, and he just might proceed to take you apart, limb from limb.  Which brings me to my Recommendation of the Day:   

Maybe it's best to confine oneself to church socials when we go out hunting from now on...

"Uncle Sugar"

There are 195 countries on Earth.

Plus two "unofficial" countries, the Vatican and Palestine.  Which was never a country, and never will be.

We, the U. S. of A., trade with 135 of them.  We trade some 600,000 products across the world, and pay a higher tariff on 60% of them than we charge.  That means we pay the exporting country more than they pay us.  And that leads to a net trade imbalance.  Of hundreds of billions of $Dollars.

Today is "Liberation Day," as Trump calls it.  The day when we are supposed to seek "parity" with all those countries who've been screwing us across the decades by imposing "reciprocal" tariffs upon them.*  Tariffs which are supposed to level the playing field.  And because there's been so much confusion about tariffs among the uninformed, I thought I'd try and bring more light on the subject than heat.

Remember, I am a graduate economist.  And although I'll comment on anything, including stuff I know absolutely nothing about, it's glorious to actually know enough to have taught this subject.  So you can "take this to the bank," as they say.

But first, a little history.

I recall my Dad bitching and moaning about how we were spreading our money all over the globe instead of taking care of "America First."  That was post-WW2 when rebuilding war-torn countries was paramount.  We got into the habit of giving to anyone and everyone who needed a hand.  And we haven't yet been able to kick that habit.  Dad called the U. S. "Uncle Sugar."  For good reason.

Learning just how much of a trade imbalance we suffer is often hard to discover.  That's because countries try and hide those numbers, and so does our "Legacy Media."   But these are some of the best numbers I can find for FY 2024:

     -  Canada:  -$63.3 Billion.

     -  Mexico:  -$171.8 Billion

     -  Ireland:  -$86.7 Billion

     -  Germany:  -$84.8 Billion

     -  China:  -$295.4 Billion

     -  India:  -$45.7 Billion

     -  Vietnam:  -$123.5 Billion

     -  South Korea:  -$68 Billion

     -  Japan:  -$68.5 Billion

     -  Taiwan:  -$73.9 Billion

These are just a few of the countries who are eating our lunch.  Both literally and figuratively.  Trump thinks by imposing tariffs on "them" equal to those charged to "us," we can bring in upwards of $600,000,000,000 (with a "B") a year.  Which we can apply to our Federal Debt, currently standing at almost $37 Trillion Dollars.  

Did you know the interest we currently pay on our Federal Debt equals almost $One Trillion Dollars per Year?  More than we pay to fund our Defense Department ($887 Billion)?  Trump thinks it's time to do something about it.  I agree.  Do you?

As an example, these are the import tariffs Canada currently imposes upon America:

     -  Milk:  270%

     -  Cheese:  245%

     -  Butter:  298%

     -  Poultry:  238%

     -  Eggs:  163%

     -  Barley:  160%

     -  Wheat:  94%

     -  Sugar:  265%

     -  Rice:  150%

     -  Peanut Butter:  295%

     -  Vegetables:  100%

     -  Fish Products:  100%

     -  Metals (Steel, Iron, Aluminum):  25%

     -  Tobacco:  100%

Any wonder now why we can't sell milk, butter and eggs into Canada?

It's the same story with Mexico.  The people building cars in our plants down there are paid $3 an hour.  The United Auto Workers in our Country require an average of $48.50 per hour.  Any question why it's cheaper to build cars in Mexico than in Detroit?  And why it's more profitable?  That should all soon change.

The idea of tariffs is to protect products and industries in your country from imports less costly to make than yours.  Canada's been doing that, as you can well see.  And Mexico, and Japan, and China, and South Korea, and all the others.  And they're squealing like a stuck pig over our having finally found out.  And that we're finally, FINALLY doing something about it.  Are we their friends?  Yes.  Are we their "Uncle Sugar?"

President Trump says "No."  

*   Note:  All items manufactured on American soil will be tariff-free.  Zero tariffs.  Which is what these actions are supposed to attract.  To force manufacturers to come on home.  More revenue, more jobs and more taxes generated.  And more American wealth.  Put a businessman in charge and get some sanity back into the way we run our Country.