"Separating the Wheat from th Chaff"

Today is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday. It is also the 40^th anniversary of the first Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday signed into law by President Reagan on January 20, 1986.

Sunday was wintry in Essex, Connecticut, a good day to get one’s mind off politics and curl up with a good book. Thus, the photo. The stump in the lower left of the photo is from the first log I chopped, a memento saved by my parents almost eighty years ago.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Separating the Wheat from the Chaff”

January 19, 2026

 

“The wise will strive to manifest a brave new world, while

the foolish and unkind will suffer for their lack of common sense.”

                                                                                                Anthon St. Maarten

                                                                                                Divine Living: The Essential Guide to Your True Destiny

                                                                                                2012

 

The title of this essay comes from the Bible, Matthew 3:12: separating the wheat (useful grains) from the chaff (useless husks). It means we should distinguish between the good and the bad, what is important and beneficial from what is superficial and harmful. To the media, it should mean to report the truth of events and restrain biases. To politicians, it should mean to focus on the agendas that are important to the people and to avoid the mean-spiritedness of personal attacks. 

 

The world always faces threats. History does not end. There will always be people and nations attempting to accrue power, to unseat the United States of America. That is the wheat that we should target. While Russia is a nuclear power with a recidivistic leader, China is the biggest threat. Russia has an aging and declining population, engaged in an unending war, and with an economy that faces hurdles. Keep in mind, the EU plus Britain have a population 3.5X bigger than Russia, with a GDP almost ten times that of Russia.

 

The bigger threat comes from China. They have a population of 1.4 billion, and a GDP almost equal to the EU and Britain. Over 150 countries and international organizations, spanning five continents and Oceania, have signed cooperation agreements with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Norh America’s Canada has not signed up as a full partner, but last week’s trip to Beijing by Prime Minister Mark Carney – and given President Trump’s disrespect for the man – suggest that Canada is looking to forge a new strategic partnership. No one should underestimate the goals of Communist China. It is why President Trump wants to halt their expansion in South and East Asia, limit their incursions into Central and South America, and stop their progress in the arctic. Past Presidents have underestimated the will and the aims of the Chinese. As well, at home we face unsustainable debt and the lure of Socialism with its promises of false hopes. 

 

But President Trump has failed to cull the chaff. The prosecution of his political enemies consumes too much of his time. I understand that he was unfairly treated in his first term, but he should move on. Closing the border and deporting criminal migrants are to be praised. But jailing and deporting law-abiding people who have jobs and families undermines the good he is doing. Fighting with the Federal Reserve in senseless and, in fact, dangerous to our economy. His spat with Jeremy Powell is part of what I call chaff. I recognize that the Fed has become politicized. In the fourth quarter of 2008, in response to the credit crisis, Fed Funds were reduced to .25 basis points from 2% in the third quarter (and 4.25% in the first quarter.) Despite the fact that the economy recovered in the 2^nd half of 2009, and remained positive for the next ten years, Fed Funds were not raised again until late 2015. When President Obama left office in January 2017, the rate was still only 1.50%. Does anyone believe that Mr. Obama did not pressure the Fed? Low rates for so long have been a boon to asset prices, including speculative ones like crypto currencies, and they helped give rise to our unsustainable debt.

 

There are other issues that either distract or harm us, more chaff. That the Supreme Court should be forced to define a woman is the peak of silliness. We are not assigned – as was the question on a medical form I recently filled out – a sex when we are born. We are either male or female. Perhaps doctors and nurses no longer study anatomy? Allowing men, who claim to be women, to compete as women in sporting events, or to use their bathrooms, is unfair and an expression of deviant behavior. There are public schools where equity is deemed more important than Shakespeare or calculus. Sitting where it sits, and atop rare earths, Greenland is strategically important militarily, a fact that did not seem to concern the Obama and Biden Administrations. But Denmark is an ally. There is no need to bulldoze our way in. Moving on. Jeffrey Epstein was a pervert. Too many leaders of both parties were his friends. They all should be ashamed of themselves, but the story titillates; it does not inform. Tariffs, no matter how defined, are a form of taxation. For consumers, they raise the price of imported goods. To classify them as an asset, as Mr. Trump has done, is the height of ludicrousness. Should the $4.9 trillion raised in federal taxes in 2024 be considered an asset? It is on the federal government’s balance sheet, but for citizens taxes are a liability.  

 

Back to the wheat. Fraud in Minnesota confirms government corruption permeates our society. It shows how much we need a department devoted to uprooting governmental dishonesty, graft and inefficiencies. Violent protests in Minneapolis and other cities against ICE contrast with Martin Luther King’s call for peaceful protests. The shooting of Renee Good was unfortunate. There should be an investigation into her death, and it should include both federal and local officials. Let the legal system prevail. We are, after all, a nation of laws. However, the responses of Minneapolis Mayor Democrat Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz remind me of Southern governors like George Wallace of Mississippi and Arkansas’s Orval Faubus when they refused to adhere to the nation’s anti-segregation laws.

 

The number one issue for voters, as is almost always true, is the economy. Polls reflect nervousness. We are in the midst of a technology revolution. Jobs are threatened by Artificial Intelligence. While down from its highs, inflation remains above the Fed’s target. Raising minimum wages discourage small businesses from offering “starter” jobs. Birth rates below replacement will have negative economic consequences a decade or so out. Gallup finds that 68% of Americans say the economy is worsening. According to Morningstar, the U.S. has fallen from 11^th place to 24^th in global happiness rankings. 

 

I am unsure what this means for the future or for midterm elections, though it does not look good for Republicans. According to Gallup, President Trump’s approval ratings have dropped from 47% last February to 36% today. Things can change; that I know. But my advice to Mr. Trump: ignore conservative pundits. Instead, take heed from the Book of Matthew, and start separating the wheat from the chaff.