Last month, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) launched a national advertising campaign to highlight concerns over antitrust bills introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.). The ad features Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg talking about his national security concerns with these bills. Well, we just surpassed 1 million views of the ad on YouTube.  The message is getting out there.  Lt. Gen. Kellogg isn’t the only one raising concerns about these bills.  A letter released by seven former officials from the intelligence, defense and homeland security agencies raise the alarm about bills aimed at reining in Big Tech companies. The national security and cyber security risks are too great to take.
 
Health Misinformation Can Be Deadly

Yesterday, former President Barack Obama gave a speech at Stanford University on the topic of misinformation and what governments can do about the problem. The trouble is, governments are too often either the source or contributors to the problem. Health information related to tobacco harm reduction provides a deadly example.

Every 4 seconds, someone in the world dies from the morbidities caused by smoking. However, it is a little-known fact that it’s the smoke that causes disease and death, not nicotine. For those who can’t or won’t quit smoking, tobacco harm reduction products offer a safer alternative to combustible tobacco. Unfortunately, too many people mistakenly believe that the most dangerous thing about smoking is nicotine. Marginalized communities have the highest prevalence of smoking and, as a result, they suffer the greatest health inequities. Many falsely believe that nicotine causes cancer. When people who smoke perceive nicotine replacement therapy or nicotine vapor products to be as harmful or more harmful than smoking, they are less likely to use less harmful products when attempting to quit smoking.

Lawmakers, medical professionals, and the media are all woefully misinformed about nicotine. Those misperceptions can be deadly if it discourages people from transitioning away from the most harmful forms of nicotine to safer nicotine alternatives. Regulators and public health organizations should be concerned about the public’s lack of knowledge about the relative risks between smoking and reduced-risk nicotine alternatives. The public cannot make informed choices for the good of their health if they are not fully aware of the facts. Barriers to tobacco harm reduction products need to be addressed to ensure the maximum impact on reducing the smoking epidemic.

 
Funding a Second F-35 Engine Makes no Sense
 
From the very beginning of the project, the F-35 has been a taxpayer boondoggle with multiple delays and a budget exceeding $1 trillion. Now, some want to double down on those problems and fund a second engine that is unneeded, expensive, and won’t work across all branches of the military. Many people within the Pentagon and in Congress are calling for upgrades to the F135 engine, which is the main propulsion system for the F-35. The push from the administration and certain officials in the military and Congress would create an Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). This would be an incredibly costly endeavor and would also make little sense from a practical perspective.  This is not the first time special interests have tried to replace the F135. A decade ago, during the debate over the fiscal year (FY) 2011 Defense Appropriations Bill, some lobbied to continue government funding for an F136 engine (a second engine for the F-35). The current F135 engine is manufactured by Pratt & Whitney and had beat out General Electric (GE), the makers of the F136, for the Joint Strike Fighter contract. However, GE and its allies in government still pushed for billions in funding for the F136 regardless. Thankfully, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle recognized the wasteful nature of such a proposition. President Obama threatened to veto the measure if it contained such funding. Then Air Force Chief of Staff, General Norton Schwartz said there was no need for such an extra engine.  Congress may be ready to add funding to spending bills for the unnecessary and expensive second engine. And, once more, GE stands to gain from the adoption of a new AETP, as they would be the manufacturer of the new alternative engine. This is not a new push to adapt to changing circumstances, but a decades-old effort to secure billions in funding despite initially losing out on a contract for having a less efficient engine.
 
One of the other main proponents for an AETP during the Obama years was Frank Kendall. Kendall is now Secretary of the Air Force and is once more one of the leading voices behind this AETP push. The Air Force’s influence on engine development for an aircraft also used heavily by the Navy is illustrative of the issues the military can expect going forward if the AETP is taken up. Kendall has even recently spoken of the need for transformative, modernized equipment. He said, “We have to get rid of what I’ll call legacy equipment in order to have the resources to modernize.” However, he misses the fact that this supposedly “new” equipment is both not new and will hold back other branches of the military in their current operations. In fact, the Navy has explicitly said it cannot integrate the proposed new engine. It is both too costly and would require changes to the Navy’s variant of the F-35 to fit properly. The new F-35 program director has also noted that the new AETP engine would not work on the Marines’ variant of the F-35 either. Essentially, the Navy and the Marines would be footing part of the cost of this hyper-expensive bill for a new engine that can only be utilized by the Air Force. This raises a commonality issue. Were the AETP to be adopted, the Navy, Marines, and Air Force would be flying jets that rely on entirely separate supply chains. Breaking this unified chain would further exacerbate the cost problems with the F-35. One of the only reasons the F-35 program does not cost far more than it does is because of the unified chain and not having to fund the development of myriad different parts. This would change under the AETP. Not only would the taxpayers face the costs of developing a new engine, but of creating an entirely new supply chain in perpetuity as well.
 
Lastly, this change makes little sense from a strategic standpoint. The new engine would take years to integrate and likely could not start until 2027. The country would be put behind the eight ball having to constantly adapt while waiting for this engine to be integrated in its limited capacity. This needlessly complicates things for military services. The federal government should not get ahead of itself on its F-35 engines. There are definitely areas for improvement. Funding a second engine will add billions of dollars in cost for American taxpayers, and needlessly complicate matters for numerous branches of the military. This is not the time for a complete overhaul.

BLOGS:
Monday: The Countdown is Over: Tax Day has Arrived!

Wednesday: Funding a Second F-35 Engine Makes No Sense

Thursday:  Banning all flavored tobacco doesn’t work

Friday: Op-Ed: Could privatization solve the problems at Baltimore’s Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant?
 
 
MEDIA: 
 
April 12, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their story,   “JFX speed cameras to issue warnings beginning Thursday, fines 90 days later.”
 
April 16, 2022: The Salisbury Post (Salisbury, N.C.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “No, the FDA does not need to regulate cannabis.”
 
April 18, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about Tax Day and the IRS potentially preparing returns. 
 
April 18, 2022: I appeared on WHO Radio 1040 AM ‘The Jeff Angelo Show’ (Des Moines, Iowa) to talk about Tax Day and the IRS potentially preparing returns.
 
April 18, 2022:  I appeared on News Talk STL (St. Louis, Mo.) to discuss Tax Day and the IRS potentially preparing returns.
 
April 18, 2022:  I appeared on America’s Voice television to talk about Tax Day and the IRS potentially preparing returns.
 
April 19, 2022:  The Colorado Sun (Denver, Co.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Banning all flavored tobacco doesn’t work.”
 
April 19, 2022: The Livingston Parish News ran TPA’s op-ed, “OPINION | For low prices, look to rail regulatory reform.”
 
April 19, 2022: Kaiser Health News (Morning Briefing) featured TPA’s op-ed, “Opinion: Banning all flavored tobacco doesn’t work.”
 
April 19, 2022: Foxbusiness.com mentioned TPA in their article, “Former Amb. Scott Brown chairs new group to oppose congressional ‘overreach’ into tech industry.”
 
April 19, 2022: The Center Square ran TPA’s op-ed, “Report shows light touch regulatory model has benefited U.S. over EU.”
 
April 20, 2022:  Real Clear Defense ran TPA’s op-ed, “Funding a Second F-35 Engine Makes No Sense.”
 
April 20, 2022: The Northwest Signal ran TPA’s op-ed, “FDA does not need to regulate cannabis.”
 
April 21, 2022:  I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about student loans.
 
April 21, 2022:  WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about taxpayer subsidies going to the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles.
 
April 21, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about remote working for Baltimore city employees.
 
April 21, 2022: The Center Square ran TPA’s op-ed, “Op-Ed: Health misinformation can be deadly.”
 
April 21, 2022: GMToday.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “Report shows light touch regulatory model has benefited U.S. over EU.”
 
April 21, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the Baltimore County Inspector General.

April 22, 2022: The Baltimore Sun ran TPA’s op-ed, “Could privatization solve the problems at Baltimore’s Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant?”
 
April 22, 2022: Issues & Insights ran TPA’s op-ed, “Why Are American Legislatures Supporting The Cigarette Trade?”