The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article [SEE HERE] outlining inter-connected data points for various state economies in a post-pandemic environment.

The topline takeaways are: (1) Employment in red states has fully recovered, and now exceeds the number of jobs as before the pandemic. (2) Employment in blue states remains below the pandemic numbers; meaning they have not recovered. (3) Net migration still shows people fleeing blue states like New York, California and Illinois; while (4) Net migration into red states like Florida, Texas, North/South Carolina and Tennessee is continuing.

(Wall Street Journal) – […] Forty-six million people moved to a different ZIP Code in the year through February 2022, the most in any 12-month period in records going back to 2010, according to a Moody’s analysis of Equifax Inc. consumer-credit reports. The states that gained the most, led by Florida, Texas and North Carolina, are almost all red, as defined by the Cook Political Report based on how states voted in the past two presidential elections. The states that lost the most residents are almost all blue, led by California, New York and Illinois. (read more)

The professional business class analysts (eyeroll) at the WSJ attribute the demographic shifts to the worker disconnect from the office.  Meaning workers can now work from home and are moving to environments where the quality of life is better.  White collar workers no longer bound to the geographic limitations of central office locations.

While some of that is likely accurate, there is no consideration for the lockdown effect.  The results of the pandemic showcased a very brutal acceptance, more people now seemingly realizing the politics of their regional leadership has a direct and consequential impact to the quality of their life.  The blue state leaders, ideologically disposed to dismissing the opinion of citizens, generally dispatched any consideration for the quality-of-life impact they created.  The people were irrelevant.

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Gallup has conducted a survey of American confidence in several institutions [DATA HERE].  Overall confidence in institutions has dropped significantly in the last year, which is not a surprise given the turmoil now seemingly all around us.

The survey measures and compares American confidence from 2021 to 2022.  It is worth noting, confidence in the office of the presidency is the #1 drop in the survey.

GALLUP – “This year’s poll marks new lows in confidence for all three branches of the federal government — the Supreme Court (25%), the presidency (23%) and Congress. Five other institutions are at their lowest points in at least three decades of measurement, including the church or organized religion (31%), newspapers (16%), the criminal justice system (14%), big business (14%) and the police.” (link)

This survey reflects and increasingly dangerous position for government and institutions of society.  We are a nation, a representative republic, that is held together with a common understanding of basic adherence to values, principles and lawfulness.

Take away confidence, and what this survey really starts to outline is institutions losing legitimacy in the eyes of We The People.  Dangerous things can happen when unease and distrust exist.

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The government in the Netherlands is taking a playbook directly from Canada. Keep in mind that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte are two top-tier government influencers of the World Economic Forum, Davos crowd.

Trudeau and Rutte have a close and personal relationship, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the Dutch government trying to stop farmer protests following the same approach as the Canadian government toward the trucker protests.

In a short video resurfacing today, the farmers caught Dutch police units disguising themselves as farmers and infiltrating the protest. According to independent journalists who were recording the events, the plain clothes units were agitating for violence, a tactic to initiate a heavy-handed government response.

When the Dutch people realized they were police the undercover ‘Agent Provocateurs’ pulled batons to protect themselves and desperately retreated to a nearby police van. WATCH:

https://youtu.be/XorUUl4xQsk

Background on Farmer Protests Here

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”

~ Mike Vanderboegh

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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UPDATE: Suspect Captured. The suspect in the Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting has been identified as 22-year-old Robert “Bobby” E Crimo III.  An active manhunt is underway for his capture.  Crimo is reportedly driving a silver 2010 Honda Fit (pictured below).

Update – A person of interest has been identified in Monday’s deadly mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade outside Chicago, authorities said.

Officials said he was 22-year-old Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III and is believed to be driving a 2010 silver Honda Fit.

The gunman opened fire with a “high-powered rifle” while standing on a roof just minutes after the parade began in the tony suburb of Highland Park, where six people were left dead and 24 others injured.

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Senator Lindsey Graham (U-DC) was apparently in Turkey around the same time as the NATO summit.  According to a Twitter announcement by Graham he has returned to the U.S. hopeful to close the deal on selling F-16”s to Turkey now that Turkish President Recep Erdogan has removed opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

“I will do all in my power to support the Biden Administration’s decision to sell F-16s to the Turkish Air Force,” Graham writes.

Also adding, “These fighter jets, in the hands of our NATO allies, will create a sense of stability and provide capability to the Turkish military that is most definitely in America’s national security interests.” {link}

On Tuesday of last week Turkey removed their block of Sweden and Finland from joining NATO, and on Wednesday Joe Biden agreed to sell Turkey 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes:

Newsmax – The Biden administration threw its support on Wednesday behind the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, a day after Ankara lifted a veto of NATO membership for Finland and Sweden.

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During a July 4th celebration in Highland Park, a suburb north of Chicago, a gunman has opened fire shooting at least 16 people and reported killing 6 people.  A press conference is pending.  The shooting took place during a parade to celebrate the Fourth of July.  {Press Conference Livestream}  The shooter is NOT in custody.

Suspect description: White Male, 18 to 20 years of age, long black hair, small build, white or light blue t-shirt.   A manhunt is underway to capture the suspect. According to local officials the shooter was positioned on a rooftop when he opened fire.

Illinois (via NBC) – […] Sixteen people were shot and at least five people were killed Monday morning in a shooting at Highland Park’s Independence Day parade, officials confirmed, urging residents to continue to “shelter in place” as the gunman remains at large.

The shooting happened just after 10 a.m. in downtown Highland Park, according to reports. A large police presence from the state and neighboring suburban Chicago departments was seen along the parade route.

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Separatists in Luhansk had been embroiled in a bloody civil war against the Ukraine military since 2014.  On Sunday Russia announced its military forces and allies had taken control of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region after capturing the final Ukrainian holdout of Lysychansk.   Based on ground reports showing celebrations of Russian troops and the citizens of Lysychansk, the end of that regional conflict appears confirmed.

According to Politico, “Ukrainian troops have retreated from Lysychansk, the last major Kyiv-controlled city in the eastern Luhansk region, the country’s military command said Sunday. “In order to preserve the lives of the defenders of Ukraine, a decision was made to withdraw,” according to a statement from the General Staff of the Armed Forces.” {link}

Previously Moscow media were reporting that Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin Luhansk had been “liberated”, after earlier statements saying the military had captured villages around Lysychansk and encircled the city.

Politico – […] Ukraine’s military command said that given the great “superiority” of Russia’s troops in terms of weapons, ammunition and personnel, attempts to prolong the defense of the city — which had a pre-war population of around 100,000 — “would lead to fatal consequences.

The eastern region of Ukraine is a major target for Russia: Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014 in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that make up the key industrial area of Donbas, and Russia’s recognition of the self-styled people’s republics there preceded its full-scale invasion of the country this past February.

[…]  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that “there is a risk” that the whole Luhansk region could be fully occupied by Russian troops soon. “There are such risks, and we realize them,” he said at a press conference after a meeting with Australian PM Anthony Albanese in Kyiv.

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The colonies had been in conflict with England for over a year in June of 1776. A Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on June 7 of that year. Richard Henry Lee from Virginia offered up a resolution with these now famous words:

“Resolved: 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.”

Lee’s words spurred the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. A committee of five was appointed to draft a statement making the case for the colonies, a statement to the world of the intent and the reason behind that intent.

Members of the Committee were John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Jefferson took on the task of actually drafting the document as we know it today.

The Continental Congress reconvened on July 1, 1776, and on the following day, the resolution for independence by Lee was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, with  New York not voting. Minor changes were made to the Jefferson document.

Work on the document continued through July 3 and into the afternoon of July 4, when the Declaration was officially adopted by the Congress. Of the 13 colonies, nine voted in favor of the Declaration, two — Pennsylvania and South Carolina — voted No, Delaware was undecided and New York again abstained.

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