Blue Patriot in a Responsible Community

Bill Gates Support of AI Robots Note:  It is the editor's position that AI Robots, if not all robots, should be taxed based on their "labor" just like human employee would be taxed based on their earnings on the job.   Bill Gates has been a vocal and consistent advocate for advancing artificial intelligence and robotics as tools for economic progress, improved healthcare, and enhanced productivity. He frames AI and robots as extensions of human capability that can perform repetitive, dangerous, or highly precise tasks more reliably than people, freeing human labor for creative, interpersonal, and supervisory roles. Gates emphasizes practical deployments where automation yields clear public benefits, such as precision agriculture, surgical assistance, elder care augmentation, and logistics optimization. Gates links support for robotics to a broader policy agenda that buffers society from disruptive transitions. He proposed taxing automation or “robots” that replace human...

Historical uncertainty about Jesus’s appearance No contemporary, reliable physical description of Jesus exists in the New Testament, and there are no portraits created during his lifetime. Early Christian writers and canonical texts focus on his teachings and identity rather than ethnographic detail, leaving a visual vacuum that later artists filled with symbolic and cultural choices. Early Christian and Byzantine conventions The first pictorial traditions (catacomb paintings, sarcophagi, and mosaics) did not present a single consistent racial type; they often showed Jesus as a youthful, sometimes beardless figure or as the Good Shepherd, borrowing Greco‑Roman imagery and symbolic forms rather than realistic portraiture. As Christianity became imperial and doctrinally defined, Byzantine iconography developed a canonical visual vocabulary: stylized facial types, haloed faces, and spiritualized features meant to communicate divinity and authority rather than literal ethnicity. Thos...

Hugh Thompson Jr. Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. was born on April 15, 1943, in Atlanta, Georgia. Raised in nearby Stone Mountain by strict but supportive parents, he briefly attended Troy State University before dropping out and volunteering for the U.S. Navy in 1961. Assigned to a Seabee construction battalion, Thompson served until 1964, then returned home and ran a funeral home while contemplating his lifelong passion for flight. His early experiences instilled in him a strong moral compass and a determination to act decisively in moments of crisis. In 1966, Thompson enlisted in the U.S. Army to pursue helicopter pilot training at Fort Wolters and Fort Rucker. Upon completion, he joined the 161st Aviation Company (Assault Helicopter), which was reorganized into the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) in January 1968. Known among his peers for flying the agile Hiller OH-23 Raven observation helicopter with precision and courage, Thompson quickly earned a...

   Food prices: current direction and why Food prices are rising overall, though the pace varies by category and region. U.S. grocery prices climbed 0.6% from July to August 2025, the fastest monthly increase since late 2022, and groceries remain substantially higher than before the pandemic. Consumers see uneven movement: some items (eggs, beef, coffee) are driving headline increases while others (certain fruits and vegetables) have softened compared with last year, leaving households with persistently higher average bills. Main drivers of the rise Supply shocks and pandemic aftereffects (1): COVID-era supply‑chain disruptions restructured production, processing, and transport capacity. Those shocks reduced buffers and made prices more sensitive to subsequent disruptions, amplifying later cost swings. Geopolitics and commodity markets(2): Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised energy and commodity prices globally, increasing costs throug...

 As of September 2025, Michigan has not eliminated property taxes. However, there is an ongoing citizen-led ballot initiative, as well as several legislative proposals, aimed at significantly altering the current property tax system. Citizen-led ballot initiative A group called AxMITax is currently collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment to place on the November 2026 ballot. • Failed 2024 effort: The group failed to gather enough signatures for the 2024 ballot. • Goal: To eliminate all property taxes on homes, farms, and businesses and replace lost revenue with existing state sources, such as income and sales tax. • Other provisions: The proposal would also require a 60% supermajority vote to approve any new local taxes and a two-thirds vote in the state legislature to increase state taxes. • Criticism: Opponents, such as the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, warn that eliminating the estimated $22 billion in property tax revenue would be "economically devastat...

David French There Are Monsters in Your Midst, Too Sept. 14, 2025 By  David French Opinion Columnist Sometimes one sentence can be immensely clarifying. Several years ago, when I worked at National Review, I was speaking to my colleague Michael Brendan Dougherty on a podcast about a familiar and depressing topic: partisan blindness. Why, when we can we see the evil in the opposition so clearly, are we blind to our own faults? When my opponents do something wrong, that’s emblematic, Michael said, but when my allies do something wrong, that’s exceptional. Here’s what he meant. If, say, you’re a highly partisan Republican, you will often look at corruption and acts of violence by your partisan opponents and say, “That’s just what the left does” or “That’s what leftism leads to.” Corruption and violence reveals the left’s true nature. If a right-leaning extremist commits an act of violence — or if a Republican is brazenly corrupt — then the response is different. “Eve...

 Malcolm X’s statement, “the chickens would come home to roost so soon,” is one of the most provocative and misunderstood remarks in American political history. Uttered in response to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the phrase was not merely a comment on a tragic event—it was a searing indictment of systemic violence and hypocrisy in American society. The metaphor “chickens coming home to roost” originates from the idea that actions—especially harmful ones—have consequences that eventually return to the perpetrator. Malcolm X, a brilliant orator and fierce critic of American racism, used this phrase to suggest that the violence America had sown domestically and abroad was now returning to haunt it. Specifically, he pointed to the U.S. government's complicity in global and domestic violence, including its failure to protect civil rights activists and its imperialist ventures overseas. In his view, Kennedy’s assassination was not an isolated tragedy but part...

Malcolm X – A Pioneering Voice for Black Empowerment Early Life and Background Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little to a working-class family in Omaha, Nebraska. His early years were marked by racial violence: his father’s death, likely at the hands of white supremacists, and his family’s repeated displacements shaped his worldview. During adolescence, he drifted into crime in Boston and New York City, ultimately leading to a prison sentence in the late 1940s. Prison became a turning point: he educated himself voraciously, embraced the teachings of the Nation of Islam, and adopted a new name that signified rejection of his “slave name.” Rise in the Nation of Islam Upon release, Malcolm quickly rose through the Nation of Islam’s ranks under the mentorship of Elijah Muhammad. His eloquence and uncompromising stance attracted thousands of new members, especially young Black Americans who were disillusioned with mainstream civil-rights approaches. As the organization’s national minist...

  Pictures of Chicago burning with helicopters overhead are not real photos but are AI-generated images. Former President Donald Trump posted these artificial images in September 2025, in conjunction with threats to send troops to Chicago. The posts were widely criticized and condemned by Illinois leaders.   Context of the AI-generated images Trump's social media post : On September 6, 2025, Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting Chicago on fire with helicopters flying over the skyline. "Chipocalypse Now" : The image was captioned "Chipocalypse Now" and included a reference to Trump's rebranding of the Department of Defense as the Department of War. Response from Illinois officials : Governor J.B. Pritzker and other leaders strongly condemned the post, with Pritzker stating, "The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal" .  

United States District Court, Northern District ofCalifornia, IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OFCALIFORNIA, GAVIN NEWSOM, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DONALD J. TRUMP, et al., Defendants.Case No. 25-cv-04870-CRB, OPINION GRANTING, INJUNCTIVE RELIEF   Overview of the National Guard   Origins and Evolution    The National Guard traces its roots to the Massachusetts Bay Colony militia mustered on December 13, 1636, making it the oldest element of the U.S. Armed Forces.    In 1903, the Militia Act formally organized state militias into the National Guard; the 1916 National Defense Act integrated it into the federal military structure.    Dual Federal–State Mission    When federalized by the President under Title 10 , Guard units serve alongside active-duty Army and Air Force forces overseas.    Under state authority and Title 32 , the...