Fifth Amendment Fauci

"I Look Forward to Testifying Before Congress" (Fauci 2022).

Dr. Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Alas, the humiliating release of his secret COVID-era diary just days before had already provided all the answers we needed about his demented ego and matchless mendacity. Grandpa and Grandma Cuomo must be hiding in the cellar with the tomatoes.

This is the guy who in 2022 said..."I have nothing to hide. I look forward to going before Congress and answering their questions". Sure you did. After all you had Joe Biden and the autopen in the White House and Merrick Garland in charge of Justice.

Fauci short-circuited fireworks at the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing, by pleading the Fifth Amendment 111 times, even though he has a full pardon courtesy of Joe Biden. No loss...we'd already heard plenty from him, thanks to the diary that was discovered on Fauci's government computer.

Interesting question...are you legally permitted to invoke the 5th to prevent self incrimination when you've already been pardoned? I guess the thinking was Biden pardoned him for past sins but if he lied to Congress now he was fair game. Guess his lawyers were dead certain he'd lie if he opened his mouth.

Think It's Not Important to Maintain AI Lead?

Consider these little tidbits...

The United States and China are locked in a race to develop AI, and on that front, the U.S. still leads. China’s “biotech stack” — from research to fabrication to testing — is, however, far more integrated than that of the U.S., allowing China to innovate and commercialize much faster. And losing the race would leave the U.S. dangerously dependent on its rival.

China approved 48 first-in-class medicines in 2024, more than double the total two years prior. Faster approvals, a vast centralized hospital network and lower operating costs have turned China into the destination of choice for clinical research. It now hosts more than 7,100 clinical trials, surpassing the U.S. as the world’s leading destination — an Western pharmaceutical companies are not just running their trials in China; they are increasingly licensing the drug candidates that Chinese Biotechs develop.

China also dominates the production of the active pharmaceutical ingredients the rest of the world relies on; the U.S. depends on China for 44 percent of its pharmaceutical imports by weight, and for some 100 ingredients that can be sourced nowhere else.

Then there's space, which as you know, I believe will be the crux of future military weaponry, missile defense and, if Elon has his way, data centers. Coverage of China’s space ambitions has largely focused on its military and human spaceflight developments, but far less attention has been given to its commercial space sector and the industrial base supporting it, which are growing at stunning pace on an unprecedented scale. Chinese launch startups, satellite internet companies, and remote sensing firms. They are building reusable rockets and mega-constellations, while satellite gigafactories, aerospace cities, technology hubs, and new launch sites are appearing across the country. 

AI is and will be at the heart of this. Need those data centers!

Good Jobs Don't Equal Wealth...Automatically

Just a reminder.

They don't hurt. They're better than crappy ones and, for sure, better than no job at all. But more is needed.

Advice to...: “Go to school, study, and find a good job." doesn't cut it. Might as well be saying..."Go and join the rat race, the endless routine of working for everyone but yourself. And try to save along the way."

Real advice should start by saying...Go learn about how finance works, especially compounding and taxes. Buying good assets is the key and then letting them grow. Buying a house can be a great investment or a crappy one if it doesn't appreciate more than other readily available investment options. Especially, if it saps you of all capital to invest elsewhere.

The best advice is simple. Generate as much capital that you can afford to invest as possible, then start investing it. This means slimming down today's lifestyle to enrich tomorrows.

Buy assets starting NOW. Stocks are assets. Usually the best kind. Real estate is an asset just not maybe the best kind. Used to be the smart guys bought "hard assets". That's no longer the case for most. The stock market has become too reliable, too safe.

Rarely borrow to invest and never to spend. That's what credit cards do. Starting your own business may lead to outsized returns, but it saps investable cash flow while building it. Do the math.

Taking risks are fine but they are just that. Risks. While waiting for them to pay off, other investment options are in limbo. And time it is a passin'.

Wanna invest in yourself? Invest to learn, especially things with big upside.

Kinda Says It All.

Florida has close to 24 million residents. NYC has about 8 million. Yet, amazingly, NYC's budget is bigger than Florida's. Blue state. Red state. You pick whom you want to spend the taxes you pay.

Not Class Warfare? Then What?

You are most likely aware of Comrade Mamdani's program to put a special tax on wealthy property owners who maintain a pied-a-terre in the City. A second home if you will. He said this would apply to about 31,000 property owners.

Yesterday Comrade released a searchable database containing 960,000 residences potentially in line to be hit with the tax. Since when are the names and addresses of taxpayers made public knowledge? One only does that to set targets.

Government-run Groceries

Yup, Comrade is following through. I won't bore you with the economics of this scheme ($70 million in taxpayer monies). They are awful. The cost per foot of these groceries is slated to be $3000 a SF. Whole Foods or Trader Joes cost $800. So right out of the box - a loser.

Here's what's coming as I understand it...

Mamdani has a plan for five city run grocery stores to alleviate the terrible hunger and plight of NYC residents. They will charge 30% under market for groceries. They will publish prices at the beginning of each month and they won't change.

It is projected that each store will LOSE $300,000 a year. Guess who's going to make that up?

Forget about the solution. What about the problem? Is access to a decent meal at a reasonable price really a huge problem? Is the cost of food at the crux of the hypothetical "affordability crisis"? A bag of groceries with over 2000 calories including adequate protein is about $25. If so many people are suffering from the lack of food to eat, why are Americans so obese? Jus' sayin'.

For sure people go hungry in this country. But there are multitudes of food banks not to mention food stamps to address. In many cases people going without food is one's own doing. With drugs and derelict parents at the center of the problem. The last thing we need is government owning and running anything else. Remember the nine scariest words.

Probably Thought I was Joking...Or Sniping

Or both. When I reported that the French were blaming their heat wave on air pollution caused by AC in the US.

We’re not even finished with July, but already 2026 heatwaves have claimed a five-figure European death toll.

Health authorities in Europe reported over 10,000 ‘excess deaths’ during June alone—most of them senior citizens who succumbed to extreme heat.

Yet that current Euro-tally of heat-related deaths is likely an underestimate.

Modeled real-time results from an Indiana University study suggest Europe’s true heatwave death count was actually over 20,000—and that’s just for June.

For the full summer of 2024, according to the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, heatwaves were responsible for nearly 63,000 “attributed deaths” in 32 European countries—and an average of 60,000 such deaths per summer for 2022 through 2024.

Summer heat simply doesn’t decimate Americans this way. In the US, according to CDC death-certificate data, heat-related deaths averaged just under 2,200 annually for 2022-24.

So what is Europe’s problem? Two words: air conditioning. (Or rather, the lack of it.)

Over the postwar era, AC has gradually come to rule American homes. Between 1955 and 2025, according to Census Bureau and Energy Department figures, the share of US residences with any air conditioning steadily powered upward, from under 2 to 90 percent today. Central air conditioning now climatizes two-thirds of American homes.

Against this American mirror, European countries are decades—often generations—behind.

Except for Greece, AC in Europe rests at pre-Reagan levels. France is akin to America in 1965. Germany is (at best) like America circa 1963, when JFK was president. British AC saturation today tracks with America’s in 1956.

But plentiful air-conditioning isn’t just an American “excess.” All around the world, thanks to technology and prosperity, home AC is on the way in—except, apparently, in Europe.

Some Western countries have even higher residential AC coverage than the US—Israel and Japan among them. South Korea is now approaching total residential AC coverage (98 percent). Temperate New Zealand beats all Euro-competitors (save Greece). Even in Canada, 40 percent of whose territory is considered Arctic, fully two-thirds of homes have AC these days—far more than Italy (56 percent), Spain (41 percent), or France (24 percent).

So the striking lack of AC nowadays in affluent modern Europe looks very much like some sort of stubborn choice.

But what's new. Can you imagine the summertime aroma on the Tube or Metro?

WOKE - The Great Obfuscation

Swearing allegiance publicly to DEI and Woke causes has been great camouflage. Corporations, educational, healthcare and government institutions discovered early on that being a disciple could disguise a multitude of other misdeeds. Pledging fealty, hiring DEI directors, establishing multimillion dollar departments and making bold pronouncements was a foolproof strategy for keeping mainstream media, law enforcement and liberals off your back.

Might even qualify for a boatload of federal and state grants. Free money!

Take, for example, investment giant Goldman Sachs. On the verge of being indicted for paying billions in bribes to the IMalaysia Development Fund, GS launched a major PR campaign saying they would no longer take a company public if they didn't have at least one "diverse" director on the Board. Hardly a bold leap since every Fortune 500 company at the time had at least one woman on its Board. Eventually GS did pay $5B in fines for the slush fund they created.

The Smithsonian is, supposedly, our most prized museum. Lonnie Bunch III, the Smithsonian Institution secretary who called DEI an "integral to excellence in museum practice," raked in over $4.4 million from 2020-2024 in base salary and added benefits. During his tenure, Bunch has championed a sweeping transformation of the institution's cultural footprint, stating during a 2019 interview he wanted the Smithsonian to make "diversity and inclusion so central that it’s no longer talked about." Ka-ching. Ka-ching

Companies also changed their raison d'etre. From shareholder value to stakeholder satisfaction. Stakeholders comprised everyone including the guy who services the AC. Heck, Black Rock even created funds that were dedicated to DEI and stakeholder centric companies. Eventually the plug was pulled on these. Why? Lousy performance and investment returns, of course.

Investors knew and citizens must learn it isn't the job of corporations to teach morality. That is the job of parents and, hopefully, educators. When forbidden gestures, words and microaggressions start ruling every day life, we're in big trouble. Such behavior grants acceptable status to privacy invasion and censorship. As we've learned, it also promotes extreme divisiveness and the complete suffocation of productive dialog. Not to mention condones the denial of meritorious performers their "earned" rewards in favor of those the DEI police designates as victims.

Think about it. When dialog becomes so uncomfortable, so risky then we stop talking to one another. When talking stops, knowing stops. Chances are when someone is a stranger you are more likely to fear, to mistrust, to dislike. Wonder why we are divided? Start with talking.

Never though I'd say this but DEI/Woke was a bigger fleece job than Green Energy.

Kamala Still Bobbin' and Weavin'.

In continuation of her career-long commitment to combatting racial disparities in housing and touting the importance of living among Black people, former Vice President Kamala Harris’s new California mansion is situated in a neighborhood with...wait...wait... virtually no racial diversity.

Harris’s new $8.15 million property, is located in the exclusive seaside community of Point Dume. It includes ocean views, multiple wine fridges, private golf greens and enough parking to accommodate five vehicles.

Point Dume is, according to the Census Bureau’s Survey, just 0.2% Black and 94% White.

When you feel powerful, you are powerful. Kamala

Allies? Allies? You got to be Kidding!

In November 2021, Coach Jim Mora of the Indianapolis Colts, after losing a game in which his team threw 5 interceptions, was asked in the middle of his postgame rant, "Do you think you'll make the playoffs?" He screeched, "Playoffs? Playoffs? Don't talk about the Playoffs. You gotta be kiddin'. We'll be lucky to win another game!"

That clip came to mind recently when I was listening to a recount of the help we can depend on from our NATO allies. Retired Admiral Montgomery, when asked how much help we could get from from our European allies to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, answered, "Not much. It will take 26 destroyers to keep the Strait open. Britain has two. France has two. Spain is unknown and besides they're not playing."

A while back I raised the question would Europeans step up even if the threat of direct attack on their homeland loomed? Guess it doesn't matter.

Allies? Allies? You got to be kidding. We'll be lucky to get tours of Windsor Castle and Versailles.

INVASION!

GASP!!!

We all know the Socialist leanings of Western Europe, especially Spain. Spain who denied us access to military bases for the Iranian conflict. What happened this week makes Joe Biden look like the JV.

60,000. That’s how many people local authorities estimate have crossed from Morocco into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta over the past 24 hours. The footage of the crossings was extraordinary. Unvetted and unimpeded. You might think, families seeking a better life. Wrong. There were no women or children in this deluge. Droves of young, military-age, men jumping out of trucks at the border, swimming around breakwaters, clambering over fences, sprinting down streets. Again - virtually all were military age men from 15 to 40.

Now what in the hell do you think they're up to? Looking for carpenter jobs?

Is It Racist

To be worried or at least cognizant of the dramatic growth of Muslims in our own country? In NYC in 2001, there were 600,000 Muslims living in NYC. Today there are 1.5 million. There were about 100 mosques in the NYC area. Today there are 300. The Muslim population was 3%. Now it is 10%.

In the US, the Muslim population, while still small, has doubled. And the demographic profile is much younger than the average.

We now have a Muslim mayor in NY. Minnesota is run by Muslims. Michigan too.

Should we not, at the very least, be vigilant? There are 300,000 (best guess) armed members of Hamas, al-Qaeda and Hamas. 150 million Muslims express passive support or approve of these terrorist groups or their violent tactics (Pew).

Like Reagan said...Trust but verify.

Nine Years and No One's Listening

Medicare turned 61 this month. On July 30, 1965, Medicare was signed into law. At the time only 50% of Americans over 65 has hospital insurance. Largely as a result, one-third lived in poverty. Today coverage is nearly universal. Medicare has been a GOOD THING. A VERY GOOD THING.

But dark clouds are gathering. For 9 straight years the trustees of Medicare have warned the Congress and the President that disaster is coming. That Medicare is headed for insolvency. Some studies say 2033, other 2040. All agree doom is coming.

Many Americans assume that Medicare is prepaid for life. Wrong.

MCR has two fundamental components. The Hospital Trust Fund which is where the payroll deductions go and is, in theory, covered 100% thereby. This is called Part A. Supplemental coverages, known as Parts B,C & D, which cover drugs, doctor's visits and other stuff, are not covered by payroll deductions. Premiums plus federal contributions pay for these benefits.

Everything is in trouble. When MCR started there were 4.5 workers paying into the fund for every beneficiary. Today there are three. Our society is growing proportionately older. The cost of care has skyrocketed well beyond the rise in payroll deductions.

The hard cold truth is MCR cost $1.2 trillion last year. By 2035, it will cost $2.5 trillion. Over the next decade, MCR will become the single largest source of federal spending other than...wait...wait...interest payments on our national debt.

How much longer can we kick the can down the road? Attacking fraud with a vengeance unknown to politicians is a worthy first step...but far from enough.

When will we elect someone who will really do something about this Titanic in waiting.

John Adams' Prediction

No one did more to constitute these United States of America than John Adams. Not Washington, not Jefferson.

Here is what he had to say about "democracy".

"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did

not commit suicide."

A Laugh or Two?

I hate double standards. Burn a body at a crematorium you're being "a respectful friend". Burn one at home and you're "destroying evidence".

Don't forget. Bring healthy is basically dying slower.

Enjoy the very steamy weekend.