Federal Lands

The US Federal Government “owns” and controls 28% of the US Land Mass.  Most of this land is in 12 Western States.

Nevada 84.5%

Alaska 69.1%

Utah 57.4%

Oregon 53.1%

Idaho 50.2%

Arizona 48.1%

California 45.3%

Wyoming 42.3%

New Mexico 41.8%

Colorado 36.6%

Washington 30.3%

Montana 29.9%

https://www.vox.com/2015/2/16/8046349/federal-government-land-by-state

The case for returning Federal Lands to the States is that the US Constitution restricts federal land ownership to necessary government facilities like military bases and government offices. Federal Lands were established in violation of the Constitution because no Amendments expanding federal enumerated powers to own land for tourism were filed or ratified.  If Congress had filed Amendments in 1872, States would not have ratified them and Yellowstone would be a complex of State Parks.

The practical reasons for returning federal lands to the States are that States compete with each other and excessive federal land holdings prevent economic development in the States where federal land ownership is excessive. Another reason is that the US Interior Department Agencies do a poor job of maintaining these lands and the federal government needs to be downsized.

The Interior Department was formed to ensure waterways were clear for shipping of goods to markets and roads and roads were built to do the same. Nationalizing tourism was not a reason to bother the federal government. Progressive politicians started this and as we all know now, they were Communists.

The Annual US Forest Fire and Mud Slide Festivals could be reduced in size dramatically if these forests were owned by millions of family owned tree farmers who would live on-site, with good fire-fighting capability, tree harvesting and maintenance of underbrush.

One reason to delay the wholesale transfer of federal land to the States is the number of “rogue” Liberal States developing in the West like California, Oregon, Washington and others. These rogue States would use their ownership to stop commerce and for political purposes. This could include State laws banning oil drilling, mineral extraction and overseas shipments.  It’s best to deal with this issue on a State by State basis. Trump already ceded land back to Utah based on their request.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Arable Land by Country

Agricultural production has always been key to national security. Arable land appears to be available and expandable. Food production remains vulnerable to droughts, floods and incompetent governments. Food availability remains vulnerable to wars, bad roads and temporary disasters. Food costs continue to be controlled by the law of supply and demand, keeping costs down as much as possible. Food import and export systems keep food moving to where it is needed.

Many poor countries have high percentages of arable land, buy many of these countries are small in overall land mass. African countries lack clean water for drinking, lack irrigation for production and lack roads for transport to markets.

Percent of arable land

Bangladesh   59.0%

Denmark       58.9%

Ukraine         56.1%

Moldova        55.1%

India              52.8%

Hungary        48.5%

Rwanda         47.0%

Comoros       46.7%

Togo             45.2%

Gambia         41.0%

Czech Rep.   41.0%

Romania        38.9%

Burundi          38.9%

Haiti               38.5%

Mauritius        38.4%

Malawi           38.2%

Serbia            37.7%

Nigeria           37.7%

Barbados       37.2%

Poland           37.2%

Lithuania        34.9%

Uganda          34.1%

Germany        34.1%

Cuba              33.8%

France           33.4%

El Salvador    33.1%

Malta              31.3%

Thailand         30.8%

Bulgaria          29.9%

Netherlands    29.8%

Gaza               29.0%

Slovakia          28.9%

Pakistan          27.6%

Belgium           27.2%

Belarus            27.2%

Turkey             26.7%

Syria                25.4%

UK                   25.1%

Liechtenstein   25.0%

Spain               24.9%       

Luxembourg    24.0%

Sierra Leone    23.4%

Benin               22.9%

Azerbaijan       22.8%

Italy                  22.8%

Albania             22.7%

Cambodia         22.7%

Tonga               22.2%

Burkina Faso    20.8%

Sri Lanka          20.7%

Ghana              20.7%

Vietnam            20.6%

Bermuda          20.0%

Montserrat        20.0%

Virgin Islands    20.0%

Bosnia               19.7%

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-most-arable-land.html

Arable land in most populated countries

Country             Arable Land    Population

China                 10.0%             1.390b   

India                   52.8%             1.312b

US                     16.6%               332m

Indonesia           10.0%              271m

Pakistan             39.9%              211m

Brazil                    9.6%              211m

Nigeria                37.3%              209m

Bangladesh        59.0%              163m

Russia                  7.5%              142m

Mexico                10.6%              127m

Australia               5.2%              25.3m 

https://www.census.gov/popclock/print.php?component=counter

Agricultural commodities by country are displayed at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_producing_countries_of_agricultural_commodities

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Land Ownership in Africa

How does private ownership of land influence the wealth of a country? By Bert Sonnenschein, 4/10/18.

I’'ll answer you by giving you the opposite example. I live in Mozambique. In large parts of Africa traditionally people do not own land. The cattle graze on communal lands, they cut reeds for their houses at the nearby lake where they also fish.

You own your house, your trees, your crop. And as long as you use it it’s yours. Your children will inherit it. But if the family stops using it, for some years, at a certain moment it returns to the community. Now Mozambique has a colonial past. Portugal claimed ownership over the land and sold it of to private people. When FRELIMO inherited the colony in

1975, it installed a communist regime and claimed ownership over the land. Even after several revisions, it is is still the constitution today. In 1997 it approved the present land law. Before 1997, 99% of the people did not have any formal land or even land use rights.

The 1997 Land Law in principle solved that problem by giving every Mozambican the Land Use title over the land that s/he was effectively having in use (the plot of their house, the land they till as well.) Communities were also was given the Land Use title over their communal lands. Note that these Land Use titles were given by law. There was no need to register and upon applying, the Government was legally bound to issue the title. The titles are tradable and inheritable, and the government will have to extend the Land Use title upon expiry. The Government cannot claim the title back and hand it out to another person. For the Government not to extend the title, or to withdraw the title, there should be a public cause and compensation should be paid. So far all very nice and clear. And not so much different from real ownership.

So how does this work in practice. In practice the communities and small land owners are not issued the land titles and without the paper work done, they cannot trade their title for a good price. Big investors negotiate with the communities and "buy’' the land for a small fee. Sometimes for 10, 100, 1000, or 10,000 hectares. They then do the paperwork with the Government agencies. The state doesn't sell the land, so the investor gets it for free. Once s/he’s got the title, s/he has an enormous wealth at almost no costs. Now they can split the title and sell of Land Use titles, which have a high value.

So in 1975 the State claims the enormous capital by constitution, taking it away from the people traditionally own it. in 1997 it grants the Land Use to its original owners, but never issues the corresponding titles, depriving the people they represent from their legal rights to trade their land. And now issues Land Use titles, which is the real capital, for free to individuals, depriving the state from the capital it claimed by constitution. No need to say that only a happy few do have access to the Land Use titles.

So I would say, maybe not on paper, but in practice, private ownership of land influences the wealth of a country and its people. In Mozambique, the ownership by State has proven to deprive the state as well as its people from an enormous asset. Between law and practice, it is practice that counts.

https://www.quora.com/How-does-private-ownership-of-land-influence-the-wealth-of-a-country

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Taliban Peace Talks

The current population of Afghanistan is 38,183,426. In 2018 Nominal GDP was $19.6 billion. The Labor Force was 14 million with 44% working in agriculture. Poverty was 55%. Unemployment was 24%. Nominal Per Capita GDP was $543.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Afghanistan

There are 178 districts in Afghanistan. 59 districts are under Taliban control. The remaining 119 districts remain contested and controlled by neither the Afghan government nor the rebels as of.6/24/19. The Taliban controls 33% of Afghanistan.

Negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government include making the Taliban an official political party. Allowing hostile forces to remain is usually a bad idea. It has been tried in Israel since 1948.

The Taliban need to be defeated by the Afghan army with some help from their neighbors like Pakistan and Islamic Fundamentalism needs to be outlawed in Afghanistan and offenders need to be jailed or executed for capital murders committed over the past 40 years. I see no alternative to resolve the Afghan problem with the Taliban. The Afghan government will continue to be outspent as long as the Taliban has control over the opium trade.

The Afghan government must seize all opium trade and limit it to medical use for morphine and other hospice-oriented drugs.

I think we need to be tough with the Taliban.  I like the way Bruce Willis negotiated with the Alien Arms Dealers in the movie “The 5^th Element”.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Taliban Tyranny

In 1987, when Islamists entered the government, they imposed fundamentalist Sharia law and banned most normal activities including employment, education and sports for women, movies, television, videos, music, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, clapping during sports events, kite flying, and beard trimming.

One Taliban list of prohibitions included: pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography, and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures and Christmas cards.

Men were required to have a beard extending farther than a fist clamped at the base of the chin. On the other hand, they had to wear their head hair short. Men were also required to wear a head covering.

Possession was forbidden of depictions of living things, whether drawings, paintings or photographs, stuffed animals, and dolls.

These rules were issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice and enforced by its "religious police". In newly conquered towns hundreds of religious police beat offenders (typically men without beards and women who were not wearing their burqas properly).

Theft was punished by the amputation of a hand, rape and murder by public execution. Married adulterers were stoned to death.

Women were prohibited from working as teachers and schools closed. Employment of women was restricted to the medical sector.

Women were also prohibited from wearing unapproved clothing, taking a taxi without a "close male relative", washing clothes in streams and having their measurements taken by tailors.

Women were made to wear the burqa, a traditional dress covering the entire body, with a small screen covering the face through which the wearer could see. Taliban restrictions became more severe after they took control of the capital.

In 1996, a Taliban decree banned music, shaving of beards, keeping of pigeons, flying kites, displaying of pictures or portraits, western hairstyles, music and dancing at weddings, gambling, "sorcery," and not praying at prayer times. 

In February 1998, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations ordering "householders to blacken their windows, so women would not be visible from the outside." Home schools for girls, which had been allowed to continue, were forbidden. 

In June 1998, the Taliban stopped all women from attending general hospitals, leaving the use of one all-women hospital in Kabul. There were many reports of Muslim women being beaten by the Taliban for violating the Taliban interpretation of the Sharia.

 Taliban Prohibitions on culture - Movie theaters were closed and music was banned. Hundreds of cultural artifacts were destroyed including a major museum and countless private art collections. In 1998 the Taliban drove their pickup trucks "up and down the narrow streets of Mazar-i-Sharif shooting to the left and right and killing everything that moved — shop owners, cart pullers, women and children shoppers and even goats and donkeys." More than 8000 noncombatants, mostly Shia were reported killed.

In February 2001, Taliban used sledgehammers to destroy representational works of art at the National Museum of Afghanistan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban%27s_rise_to_power

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Afghan Recent History

The Afghan monarchy ended in 1973 and was replaced by the Afghan Republic that lasted until 1978 when Communists took over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Afghanistan#Modern_era_(1504%E2%80%931973)

The Afghan government from 1978 to 1987 was a Soviet-backed Marxist government that was replaced in 1987 by a Marxist Islamist government that ruled from 1987-1992.

The Soviet Union engaged in military action in Afghanistan from 1978 to 1992 and was opposed by Islamic fighters led by Osama Bin Laden.

The US CIA gave Osama Bin Laden some military equipment in the early 1980s for their fight with the Soviet military. This was a mistake.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 left Afghanistan open to a power vacuum that was filled by Taliban Islamic Terrorists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan

In 1994, the Taliban captured Kandahar. In 1996 the Taliban captured Kabul and took control of 12 of 34 Provinces.

In 2001, Osama Bin Laden coordinated the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center in NY and the Pentagon in DC, killing 3000 US citizens. In 2002 the US invaded Afghanistan.

The US has maintained a troop presence in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2019 protecting the Afghan central government from continued Taliban attacks.

The Taliban is an Islamic Extremist Terror Organization that began in Afghanistan in 1979 with Islamic Fundamentalist from Pakistan and other Arab countries.  The Taliban is a Drug Cartel that is funded by the continued availability of opium sales from the Afghan poppy crop.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

Opium Trade

Opium poppies thrive best when growing in dry, warm climates around the globe, and are usually grown in remote mountain regions. The vast majority of illicit opium poppy is grown in either the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia which covers the mountainous area around Myanmar, Laos and Thailand or in the Golden Crescent which is located in the mountainous areas in the nations of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. 

Top Opium Poppy Producing Countries

Afghanistan 328,000 hectares

Myanmar 37,300 hectares

Mexico 30,600 hectares

Laos 5.700 hectares

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-opium-poppy-producing-countries.html

Illegal drug production is affecting the governments of Afghanistan and Mexico.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader