Tag Archives: Biden

Biden’s Mortgage Insanity

The Biden Administration, in order to spur home mortgages to those with poor credit have concocted the an insane solution.

Those who are purchasing homes who have good credit will pay a mortgage tax monthly to fund those who have poor credit all in order to ensure those who banks do not want to lend to because of risk will.

This desire to expand who can secure a mortgage is what lead to the 2008 housing crisis.

Reports state that some may pay a $100 per month extra on their mortgage.

This is insanity.

To penalize those with good credit who put themselves in a position to buy into the American Dream is anti-American.

This fundamentality undermines a hallmark of our society. How much more can those who play by the rules pay?

This is horrible policy.

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First, President Biden canceled student loan debt. Today he canceled students’ education. My daughter‘s class was canceled because POTUS spoke on her campus . . . Last year Scholastic struggled mightily delivering books. I know I stopped ordering from them because of the issues as did many others. Trying again this year. They offered a book for $1 I was interested in, but it was the week school opened. I asked to order the book today. Nope. Had to order last week. They are doing nothing to keep me as a customer and shill for their company . . . Trashed while writing lesson plans. I had to stop when I actually had to write new plans and not copy previous plans. It’s been a happy Sunday . . . Going through some photographs from several years ago of my classroom. I’ve always wondered what happened to a rules poster I had. I think I came up with the solution to the mystery, but it puts a former colleague in an unflattering light. I need to just drop it . . . A couple moths ago I was all aflutter about lockpicking. The adrenaline passed. Just now I thought of that. Glad I didn’t immerse into that . . . Saw Yes is coming to the Keswick next weekend. Good seats still available. I considered it. Then I thought, “Who is in the band these days?” Only Howe. Sure, Downes is there, but he is not Yes to me. I won’t drop $159 for this line-up (It looks like I already knew this) . . . A lot of vloggers seem to fall into the space of providing permission for their viewers to do things. It seems quite odd to me as I do not need permission from someone who does not know me to do something . . . Recently, I taught a lesson to my students about greetings. Ove the last several years I have noted that children do not respond when one greets them. This year I am mandated to greet my students at the door each morning. I grew tired of students walking past me not even making eye contact let alone returning the greeting. Now they do! . . . Had a great week in the classroom. It seems like once the child who should have been in third grade was moved, things became good . . . Clear the blog project and then see what interests me; maybe I don’t need another project/activity. That thought made me smile . . .

The War in Afghanistan

It seems to me I have to admit I know little and that I can be influenced.

I backed President Bush’s war on terror. I doubled-down on that decision when pressure began mounting to pull out during the Obama years. But as time wore on, I can’t even tell you why we were in Afghanistan. The country harbored terrorists? Doesn’t Iran? Lebanon? Yemen?

The reality, Afghanistan means nothing to me. My life in America is not affected by the goings on in that country.

And if that is the case, maybe the United States’ interests there aren’t as grand as the forever war contingent within our government claims it is.

Ultimately, I don’t know.

President Biden has been a mess. And the withdrawal from Afghanistan is the poster of his incompetence. We left Americans behind That does shake the nerve as that is a steadfast value ingrained in us.

But we are out of Afghanistan.

I recall thirty-plus years ago chuckling at Russia for thinking they could enact change in Afghanistan. The oft-repeated, misattributed line:

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

seems appropriate here. We were there twice as long as Russia. We limp away defeated.

At least we are free of the ongoing mess. No more deaths. No more money squandered. It was ugly from beginning to end. But it’s done.

I may have political naivete. After all, I am but a simple man. But if it can’t be explained so a simple man can understand it, perhaps it isn’t as clear as it should be.

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Materialism is alive and well despite me living a simple life. Going through old photographs today reminded me of making apple cider. Now I want a homebrew set again (this would be the third set). C’mon, Bob . . . Yesterday I was researching cameras and stills. I’ve been down this path many times before. One never escapes wanting to buy things, it seems . . . Spring 2007 seems to be where recreating this blog has slowed down. Far too many photographs and some complicated web pages are stretching out the time that I spend doing this . . . ’twas reminded how I tried to take my ex-wife to New Hope many times. She refused each time. Also tried to take her to Prince Edward Island due to her interest in Anne of Green Gables. She wouldn’t go there either. And just today, one of my students told me he went to Williamsburg. That was yet another destination I suggested many times our family travel to. No, we never did . . . Not big on polls, but Biden and Harris are 20+ points underwater right now. On top of that, 64% state they don’t want Biden for a second term. The man hasn’t even been in office a year yet. Yikes! . . . For some reason, Facebook thinks I am interested in skydiving. Not certain why . . .

Driver Shortages

Daily my school district sends out this message or one very similar to it.

Due to a driver shortage, there will be significant delays in morning bus pickups tomorrow, Monday, October 25. Please watch for any additional text updates.

Vineland Public Schools

Our district is not alone. My children’s school district does similarly. Glassboro has been releasing students home up to 90 minutes early every day to accommodate the driver shortage. Students of mine are waiting upwards of an hour or more after school daily. Each morning we here about a bus or two that will be up to 90 minutes late.

Why?

Ultimately, I do not have the answer. The cynic in me states that after a year-a-half of being at home under COVID rules and being paid for to do so, too many people left the profession.

Bus drivers aren’t hired right off the street given the specialty license that is needed.

Some district around here is offering $30/hour and a $1,000 signing bonus. $30 is more than my district pays teachers for after hours work.

Bus drivers, like aides, is a tough gig. It’s a split shift. One has to be available all day, but only are paid for a portion of that time. That would be difficult to convince me to do. I suppose it’s a good schedule for some . . . apparently, not enough, however.

If I am correct that the stay-at-home pay produced the shortage (I am at a loss for any other change that has been made), then we have a very specific result of a failed government policy.

Administrators now babysit students in the afternoon. With all the demands that have been placed on teachers, they walk out at the end of the work day. Morale is down.

I suppose President Biden doesn’t want to hear that.