He Needs a Time Out

 Watching the play date go wrong last night it was clear that one of them needed a time out.

From the start it was clear that one was not going to ply nicely and no one there was going to get him to behave.

Bad behavior and then lots of lies.    I'm sure the proud boys loved it, they got a new slogan.

He was going all out to fluster Biden and he failed mostly.  It seemed to me like a desperate gambit although his sycophants on FOX talked him up.

I don't imagine it changed much of anything except to add a new level of rudeness to our political process and to perpetrate the idea that he has no limits.

Of course he does, maybe not internal honor but others still respect heir constitutional oaths.

Time to give him his time out is getting near.

Real America

 As we approach the first debate tonight I think even the myopic President sees the handwriting on the wall and will go all out to turn it around.

Most of the time after he fires off a series of lies about his opponent, calls him names or stalks around the stage, the best response will be simply to stick to the talking points.

I do think that if the behavior gets too outrageous he should request the moderator to instruct his opponent to stay in his area.

I don't think many people are still undecided so the irrational behavior by the President is unlikely to help him much.

His base is not interested in facts, they support him for reasons that are self serving.

Yes, Evangelicals may think that they are serving God by opposing abortion and they aren't changing.

The racists and xenophobes are not going to change.

So Biden needs to talk to Americans who actually put America and Americans first.

Sensible and fair tax plan.  Improved health insurance.  Real and effective response to the Coronavirus.  Creating real jobs that pay a living wage.  Increasing the minimum wage.  Protecting all our people from unconstitutional discrimination and harassment.   Dealing with the real and imminent threat of climate change.  Revising our immigration policy to continue our long tradition of helping the oppressed.  Protecting Dreamers and others who have lived here and worked hard at being Americans.

Its time for America to be America again and lead the world into the future with leadership based on our core values, not buffoonery.

Bankrupt Dreams

The real trouble with the current President is that whatever his vision is he lives in a fantasy world about how to achieve it.

This isn't new.  In his business life he was convinced in his own mind he could have the best casino or the best university or the best shuttle airline, etc. but he couldn't do it.

Steve Jobs was very demanding about building a quality product but he built it.  He built Aple into a great company.  Trump had to bankrupt his visions.

This trait continues and was a little effective in criticizing the doers of this world.

The trade agreements were terrible his would be so much better, the Affordable Care Act would be replaced by his great plan, the climate accords weren't needed, he could fix the problem, the deficit would be solved, and the wall would be easy to build and paid for by Mexico.

Once again he can't achieve his visions.

It would be like voting in a beauty pageant contestant who said she wants to end war, or end world hunger.

We know that would be nice but we know it isn't something she could do.

Was everything he did a failure?  No just the hard things.

This is Why You Have to Vote

 For everyone who knew Hillary was the more progressive choice than Donald Trump but didn't vote for her because she wasn't progressive enough, or you bought into the Fox lies about Benghazi or her husband cheated or her e-mail server was different or whatever, this is what you get.

We will soon have a strong conservative majority on the Supreme Court that will jeopardize things like Health Insurance, Roe vs Wade, Social Equality, and Voting Rights.

You have to admire Republican who held their noses and voted anyways.

The margin of victory was so small in certain states that while other factors were in play, it was mathematically those that wouldn't vote for her that gave us this.

It doesn't seem like we are going to have the same problem but each election is important and if you give away or waste your vote you get to live with the consequences.

To just repair the damage of the last four years is going to take time and effort.

Those of you who want the world and want it now, well it just doesn't work like that.

Vote now, vote next time and hopefully things go the way you want.

Or don't vote and be certain they won't.

Its called choice.

Who's at Fault?

 What happened to Breonna Taylor was a tragedy that shouldn't have happened.  Who was responsible is the bigger question.

It is easy to fault the officer's who were executing the warrant, but they weren't really responsible.  They may not have properly announced themselves, uncertain, but once they breached the door and were fired upon they were going to return fire.  

The boyfriend who returned fire was also not responsible.  If he didn't know it was the police he had the right to defend himself.  

The problems actually were more entwined in the system and displays what is a common flaw in many systems.  Many items become routine and because of that result in shortcuts.  I can pretty much guarantee that cut and paste results in many requests and official documents end up with identical language in at least part of the form.

This isn't just laziness, it is because staffing doesn't allow the type of preparation that would be required.

In this case the warrants were essentially identical and while not perfect were good enough to get approved.

Most of the time the system sort of works.

In this instance it didn't.

The police who got caught up in it are the instruments not the cause.

Health Care is Important

 The simplest way to control health care costs is to expand coverage.  Ultimately everyone who gets sick enough is going to get treated.  The earlier they get treated the cheaper and better is the care.  People without healthcare tend to avoid expensive treatments.  People with healthcare don't.  This leads to a healthier population and lower costs including the costs to the economy of lost time.

Healthier Americans are the objective.  It would be also beneficial if everyone exercised more and ate healthier foods but that isn't too likely so providing them with preventive services is easier.

The Affordable Care Act was far from perfect largely because when it was designed many compromises were added to win over the opposition.  That didn't work but the compromises are still baked in.   It covered pre-existing conditions, preventive care and offered millions an alternative to work based health coverage.

If it gets found unconstitutional the results will be devastating for millions and unless one party is in control of both houses replacing it will be difficult.

Whatever is going to happen in the court case has become more uncertain.

Its time to expand and improve it, not eliminate it.  It should be a bi-partisan issue but unfortunately it isn't.

At least not with the elected people.

October Surprise?

 Considering the two candidates it is unlikely that the Presidential debates will have much impact on most voters.

I guess there is a possibility that one of them will do something so bad that it causes a change but considering that Trump routinely does things like that and Biden has years and years of experience its just not likely.

The polls which are generally fairly accurate, even in 2016, show a clear picture where the real issues are whether the Senate flips.

Clearly the Republicans are seeing the same tea leaves and not willing to wait on the Supreme Court nominee.  You can't blame them.

This is a chance to stack the 9 member court for decades.

What this will cause is far from certain but clearly it endangers a number of issues, such as Roe vs Wade, Obamacare and social justice.

Still we are left with the simple fact that elections matter and therefore voting matters.

I remember a time when many felt that there was no real difference between the parties, both sent young men off to fight.

Well that was true but there is a real difference now and if you favor progressive values the choice is clear.

Vote!

Lose a Battle but the War Goes On

One thing has remained fairly constant in Politics.  Things done for short term gain often come back and work against you.

Take the decision by Henry Reid to abolish the filibuster for most presidential appointments.  Actually what he did was change the required vote to stop debate from 60 to 50 excluding Supreme Court nominees.  This was in response to the refusal of Republicans to allow executive and judicial appointments to proceed.

Well that led to the end of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees as well and we have seen the consequences in the last four years and will most likely see it once again.

Whatever short term gain was achieved has been of course long forgotten and instead we see the party in control able to push through very partisan choices.

The results of the next election may very well swing the pendulum once again but the damage of the last four years will live on.

Our politics have become too fractious and somehow that needs to be fixed.

Possibly the election of Biden who spent many years having to work in a collaborative system will help.

Of course many in the party will want a sort of revenge.

The rule of law and cooler heads need to prevail.

Democracy?

 We are approaching another Presidential election where the possibility again exists that the winner of the popular vote could lose the election.

This possibility has existed since the early days of the republic but until recently was quite rare.

In the first 200 years it happened three times.  Al Gore possibly really won both but after an adverse Supreme Court decision dropped the fight over Florida.  Hillary Clinton followed 16 years later.

Much of the reason for this is that the population continues to migrate to big urban centers.  While the number of representatives in each state is proportional to the population the number of Senators is not.

So built in to the process States with smaller populations have a disproportionate number of electors vs their more populous neighbors.

It is also related to the fact that we award a state's electoral college votes generally on a winner take all process.  

This has in recent elections led to our swing state dilemma. 

So many states are clearly voting Democratic or Republican that their electoral college votes are not at issue.  A fairly small number can therefor sway an election.

In Al Gore's case it came down to a single state, Florida and a number of disputed ballots.  

In Hilary Clinton's case it came down to three mid-western states which were all decided by very small margins.

In both cases the popular vote went to the losing candidate.

Changing this will be difficult because of the opposition of the minority party which is watching its base decline.  Democracy is simple generally, each vote should count the same.

Ours don't

Supreme Court Justices

 The fact that the Supreme Court has become so political is not what was intended or how it should be.

Someone on the Court should be a distinguished person who can apply the Constitution of the United States to situations.  However since the Constitution was written years ago, it doesn't fully address all situations.

What we have seen over the years are interpretations that have to some extent created new law.

Take the 2nd Amendment.  We currently interpret it much differently than we did say 100 years ago.  It has now been interpreted to not only include the right to own guns but to cover the way we can carry them.

Whatever you feel about guns we never used to question a communities regulation of whether you could carry them in public places.  

However the court is not really who should be deciding issues.  Any ambiguity in the constitution or the law should be corrected by the legislature.  Take the right to an abortion.  The Supreme Court decided in Roe vs Wade that the 14th Amendment kept the Government form dictating a Women's behavior but that decision was both controversial and complex.  The fact that it could be overturned in the future was always known but the legislature has failed to do its job.

We are now faced with a situation where a Supreme Court appointment could disrupt prior decisions.  Unfortunately the stench of politics has permeated the halls of justice.

Still allowing this to develop is the fault of the legislature and ultimately the people.

Fix the process.

Vote, Its Our Weapon

 First I want to thank all those who decided not to vote for Hillary Clinton for possibly setting back liberal and progressive causes for the next 20 or 30 years.  I hope that you got whatever it is that you wanted.

We have a slight chance to stop the appointment of another conservative justice before the election but since that rests on Republican senators honoring their words it isn't very high.

The concept of honor and honesty has simply vanished from their world and they simply kowtow to the leader.

It shouldn't surprise anyone who is familiar with history.

In Rome the Senate was full of high minded Patricians until they were bribed or terrorized into whatever the latest emperor wanted.  

In history Brutus lives on as a famous traitor but he really stood for the traditions of Rome vs the rise of Caesar, but Caesar wrote the histories.

In country after country principled people have given way to oligarchs our of either fear or self interest.  In the 1920 all the revolutionaries who had stood up to the Tsar's disappeared under the Bolsheviks primarily by a bullet to the head or a one way ticket to Siberia.

In Nazi Germany standing up to the Nazis was not something that provided long term security and working with them could be lucrative.

On and on in country after country the principled people get eliminated or co-opted as it descends into oligarchy.  We are no exception.

We still have a chance to vote and select people of principle but the assault will continue. 

This election needs to be decisive and if you decide to sit it out realize you are part of the problem.  Possibly the majority of Americans want a country where Evangelical values predominate and people who are different get discriminated against.

I hope that is not the case but voting is the only way to stop it.

RIP RBG

 Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a fighter who helped make some momentus decisions on the court.  She will be missed.

There is likely to be a fight over her replacement but I hope we honor her legacy and wait until after the election.  I think it would have been a no brainer at one time but we seem to have lost all sense of decency in politics.

Still, the public and the senators with some decency left provide some hope that the nomination willl wait.

It makes getting out to vote even more important.

The lesson I hoped everyone has learned by now is not voting because your candidate isn't perfect gets you a terrible one instead.

Vote for the one you want but if the one you want didn't make it vote for the next best one or you will possibly get a real horror instead.

A Simple Choice

 The last time we were able to balance the budget was during the Clinton presidency when we had significant growth and reduced military spending.

We then had an election which was probably stolen where we elected George W. Bush who decided to give the wealthy a significant tax break since we had a surplus.  Then 9-11, the start of our involvement in the middle east, significant deficits leading to the financial crisis.

The financial crisis had many causes but the underlying reason was the belief that real estate would keep going up so giving people bad loans secured by property was low risk.  It wasn't.

In fact it came close to destroying the economy but we were able to recover under Obama with some stimulus and added bank regulation.

That recovery was somewhat slower but steadier than previous ones and started to reduce the deficit.

We then elected the current guy who replicated that tax cut for the rich, despite a significant deficit, on the long disproven premise that a tax cut would pay for itself in growth.

It didn't but he managed to keep the Obama recovery going until the Pandemic cause the economy to crash.

We are now in a significant recession which is going to take time to get out of while our give a ways have greatly increased the deficits.

We obviously need a change to fix it but it is going to be a real challenge based on the mess we have now.

We can have a boom if we actually embrace the change to renewable energy, electric or hybrid cars, solar panels and replace our crumbling infrastructure.

Or we can continue to subsidize the rich.

Simple choice.

Just Musing

 Saying that Democrats  support rioting is the same as saying Republicans support mass shootings.

There is a constitutional right to own a gun and a constitutional right to assemble for redress of grievances. 

Most gun owners do not go out and commit mass murder.  Most protectors do not riot.

To condemn either group for the actions of lawbreakers is well unconstitutional.

Everyone should support measures to prevent the crimes and apprehend the criminals.

This isn't really a partisan issue it's simply common sense.

Lying At a Whole New Level

 So the President of the United States tweeted a doctored video of Joe Biden replacing Despacito with an anti police song and thinks he can get away with it?

Do any people with any sense of right and wrong think that's OK?

He can certainly accuse his opponent of views but this is in fact slander.

It isn't the first time but this has no pretense of being accurate since the campaign trip to Florida was widely covered, even on the President's favorite network.

He is now contradicting what he said on the Woodward tapes as he claims he up-played the coronavirus instead of downplaying it to avoid panicking people.

The number of lies he has told is so high that it is hard to keep track and for those of you who think all politicians lie, there is a significant difference.

Politicians have been known to lie but generally the lies are more along the lines of puffery.

Puffery is when you try to make yourself look better by exaggerating your accomplishments.

Some also exaggerate negative aspects of their opponents.

But we are seeing a whole new level in this liar.

Unfortunately he may be dragging American politics down into the mud if he is successful.

Does anyone want that? 

Popular Vote

I don't have much interest in the debates and doubt anyone else really does.  Most polls indicate that the vast majority of Americans have already made up their minds but I guess we need to have them.

It is clear that the strategy of Trump will be to try to intimidate Biden and shake him, but of the two Trump is far more unstable.  However the Republican's will try to focus on any gaffes or misstatements by Biden while ignoring the generally outrageous behavior of their own man.

This is the last ditch effort to convince a few voters in a few states to reject the Democrat, the strategy they used last time.  

It would have no chance of working if we used the popular vote and probably not much chance now, but the electoral college provides a last ditch chance.  In some analysis the only votes that matter are those in some swing states where the outcome may be in doubt.

This year clearly demonstrates why we need to have popular vote elections for the President.  At this point a few groups are the focus since they might sway a states one way or the other.

Because of this you don't see Trump trying to win over the people in Blue states where the majority of the population is but rather focus on narrow policies designed to win specific groups in specific states.

That won't change until we go to a popular vote.

Conspiracy?

 If I consider the possibility that I am completely delusional and living in a country where not just the Government but the media and the press spend all their time trying to convince me that things are happening that aren't really happening and that the entire Pandemic with scenes from all over the world is in fact a big hoax, I reject it.

First common sense tells me that it is far too elaborate for any purpose I can imagine.

Say they are trying to install liberal socialists who will take away all my freedoms and destroy the country.

If they are as powerful as the conspiracists think, why not just do it?

You could easily manipulate the media to say that whoever they wanted won the election.

You have to believe the hoax was hatched after the people had elected the current reality TV star because otherwise he would be apart of it instead of the savior.

In fact as a B-List celebrity and a reality TV start he would be perfect for the tole.

Maybe the conspiracy was to have him run and lose?

So if he wasn't part of it how did he get elected?

Generally most conspiracies originate when something doesn't go right for someone who believes they should have succeeded.  For example you apply to a prestigious college and fail to get accepted.  

It can't be that you just didn't make it, it has to be a conspiracy that let some more favored group get admittance.

Manufacturing jobs went away and it couldn't be the fact that we got outcompeted.  Someone did it to destroy the country.  Of course the fact that when I was young we used to know that you didn't want to buy a car made on a Friday because the work was sloppy.

American blue collar workers are no better or worse than workers anywhere else, after all they are descended from people who came from someplace else.  They just got expensive.

You don't need a conspiracy you just need economics.  

Profits are the name of the game, not people.

A Regular Joe

 The idea that anyone can think that Trump is more patriotic than Biden is mystifying to me.

All Trump has ever cared about was himself.  Outside of external showmanship there is not one patriotic thing you can say about him.  He never served the greater good, none of his children ever did anything of note and he shares his father's viewpoint that people who have to serve in the military are suckers.

If you get killed you are a loser.

He acts like he revers the flag and lashes out at convenient targets who he thinks will resonate with his base.  He has shown no loyalty to this country at all.

Joe Biden comes from working class roots and has served the country as has his son.  He is a real self made man in the sense of what a working class American can achieve on his own.  

He grew up in modest neighborhoods, went to affordable schools and earned a law degree.  He has represented Delaware for most of his adult life and has managed to do it without endorsing scam products or declaring bankruptcies. 

His personal history is an American one with tragedy and joy, victory and defeat, with deep faith and a loving family.  He is in fact a regular Joe.

Like anyone there are changes in views and he supported some laws that in retrospect he might regret.  His interaction with the Anita Hill hearings could have been better.

However one thing about Joe is that he is honest and wants to do what's best.  You can trust him because he has lived a real American life without celebrity or double crossing or cheating.

We need a regular Joe now. 

Suicide by Carbon?

 The scientists tell us that this planet has passed throught a number of different stages in it long history.  The was snowball earth at one time and a water world earth.

There have also been a number of mass extinctions where the species that dominiated simply were wiped out.

These extinctions were caused by various events and changes and sometimes it was the life on the planet causing the change.

About 2.5 billion years one celled bacteria started to pump oxygen into the atmosphere creating a new environment.  It likely killed off a lot of the organisms at the time but allowed for the evolution of oxygen based animals.

Changes are generally rather slow but some are, at least in geologic time, abrupt.

As we have grown as a species we have effectively started pumping carbon into the atmosphere.  In a fairly short time, especially since the industrial revolution, we have started to change the sir we breathe and the greenhouse effect.

There is a no reason for the Earth to be the way it is.  We tend to believe it is designed to support us but really the earth was what designed us, how we breathe, how we move, etc.

The earth existed and we evolved to live on it.

We are now trashing it with carbon and if we keep it up, we won't be able to live here.

The earth will of course survive and life will survive.

Maybe not us though.

Musing on 9/11

 It was nineteen years ago when terrorists attacked us in New York and Washington.  The attack was horrific but it merely energized us to eliminate their bases in Afghanistan and kill Osama bin Ladin.  

It has been a period where we saw the rise of the Caliphate which  has now been beaten back.  

We continue our involvement in the Middle East but maybe we can get out soon.  Our interest in the area related to oil and Israel. 

There is little reason for us be there and these are countries that can finance their own defence.

Getting entangled in this mess is giving the terrorists a victory. 

We need to stop wasting resources and sacrificing our military there.

Peace would be wonderful but in the history of civilization very elusive.

Let's Pick Normal This Time

 I guess the point is simple.  Someone who lies as much as Trump does lies to everybody.

Years ago someone told me that when I enjoyed the backstabbing gossip of someone I should realize they talked about me the same way when I wasn't around.

If you haven't figured it out by now Trump is a narcissus who really was never successful at anything except PR and a reality TV show.

Yes he had some money but he got a lot of it from his father and had six businesses go into chapter 11.  You can read about that here.

Murse, Tom. "Why Donald Trump's Companies Went Bankrupt." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/donald-trump-business-bankruptcies-4152019.

Currently he has effectively bankrupted the county with massive deficits and massive debt.  He also failed to address a dangerous disease and lied about it.  

We see protests and in some cases riots in American cities because he has enable additional racism in th e country.

He doesn't really have any respect for our military or its leaders since as a group they sacrifice the most for this country for littles financial reward.  The idea of Patriotism or other altruistic ideas is beyond him.

In contrast Joe Biden is a real American rising from modest beginnings to serve the country most of his adult life.  He isn't perfect, who is?  He is however someone who shares the values of America that we all grew up with and has demonstrated that.

He is no radical enough for the progressives and not conservative enough for the racists.  He understands that Americans who are black are Americans with all the same rights and needs of the rest of us.

He will move us forward once again in every area without being disruptive or dismissive of others.

Its time to return to our American values and unite as a country!

Unified America?

 The election has started since some states have started mail in voting.  It is still going to be two months before all the votes will be cast.  Most Americans tell the pollsters they have already decided who they support.

Polls have lost credibility after 2016 although even then they were reasonably accurate about the national vote.  It's all but certain that Joe Biden will win the popular vote but that is not enough in this country.  You also have to win in the right states.

A system designed to protect slavery now serves much the same purpose.  What it sort of protects now is the ability of Republicans to be viable.  There are large areas of this country that have been largely isolated from modern dynamics.

Its not like they don't have access to media or that they aren't educated, they just live a traditional way of life that seems right to them, go to a traditional sort of church that teaches or accepts values much of America has rejected and have a tenuous relationship with Government.  

That is an oversimplification but there is clearly a rural vs urban divide and as an electoral map clearly demonstrates, the states that are primarily rural vote one way and urban states vote another.

This is what it is but because rural states tend to get disproportionate electoral votes because of the formula it allows a candidate to lose an election with a majority of the votes.

This is not likely to change because the most undemocratic part of our Government, the Senate, is proportioned much the same way.

So yu have to win the right votes to win, not just the most votes.

This year it looks like we might have a democratic result if the polls are reasonably accurate.  Still the electoral divide also represents a cultural divide as so many support values that are rejected by the other side.

Bringing America together is the hardest task facing our country.  It clearly is not happening now.

Real Americans

 There seems to be some concern by certain people about what America will look like in `100 years.  They see projections that the people here will be more diverse with "real" Americans in the minority.

First, none of us will be alive and second what is a "real" American?

Considering that the history of our species has been one of expansion over the earth from its origins in Africa the ongoing migrations are just more of the same.  Some Asians crossed the Bering land strip in pre-history and they expanded to be the people we refer to as Native Americans.  

Since then we have seen migrations from all over the world into both North and South Americas where those people were largely displaced.

How many years ago did you have to arrive to be a "real" American?  

They also tend to define the real Americans by where their ancestors came from.  Americans brought here from Africa perhaps hundreds of years ago don't seem to qualify.

Americans from south of the border who include people who are descended from native Americans and Spanish immigrants but whose families have been here as long or longer than ours don't count.

Only people from a relatively small section of Europe count in their eyes.

Why they care about changes they probably won't live to see is because people tend to forget they will die.  They really have nothing to worry about though.

Our history shows that immigrants become us, not the other way around.

Bigots will continue to exist.

Labor Day Assesment

If you consider how things were 4 years ago versus how they are today, almost everything is worse.

The one exception is related to the price of stocks which have gone up as  the Federal Reserve continues to subsidize the markets with extremely low interest rates.

Whatever changes have been made to trade policy, it hasn't impacted us very much at least not in a noticeable way.  Our trade deficit is as high as ever and we haven't seen a great boom in manufacturing.  Companies are still moving production overseas.  We hae imposed some tariffs but that just drives up some prices since we pay for them.

Unemployment is much worse although it did get better before the Pandemic.  However it was quite low four years ago and the reduction in the rate is also related to the number of people leaving the workforce.  The jobs haven't got better, many of them are simply low paying service jobs which are growing for various reasons.

The state of health care is much worse as we have a Pandemic but in addition we he increased the number of uninsured over the last four years.  The current administration has no real plan or none they will reveal.  I suspect it is simply to let the market decide and let a lot of people suffer or go bankrupt.  

The increase in Racism has been inspired by this Administration which has encouraged racists and white supremacists' to grow.  Some of the racial unrest might just be the fact that we have more visibility into things that have always happened because of cell phone cameras and body cams.  It may be an actual increase.  Either way we need a strong effective police force that respects the lives of all Americans equally.  We don't have second class citizens, or, at least we shouldn't.

Our national defense is probably about the same although our prestige and support from allies has declined.  Our extreme positions of Iran versus our conciliatory positions on North Koreas is inconsistent and has increase the threat of nuclear war.  No on wins that.

The border is effectively the same but our treatment of immigrants is in some cases shameful.  People seeking asylum or peaceful entry into this country are people who should be treated with respect.  Those who cross the border without permission are still people who we need to disposition.  There is a basic level of humanity that seems lacking in our approach.

Certainly our social security and medicare programs are in generally worse shape.  The trust funds are closer to running out and no fix has been proposed.  Further, eliminating the payroll tax will lead to faster depletion.  

The deficit and national debt are much worse.  Fixing those are major undertakings.

Perhaps the worse thing is the failure to address climate change.  We act like it isn't accepted science when it is.  We seem to be sticking our head in the sand which is heating up before it floods.

There may be areas that are better that I missed but any such improvement is not significant.  The working man is not doing better even if he has a job.  

We need to actually repair America now.

Carbon Choice

 Is there anyone who doesn't want to protect the environment?  I know some of you labor under the belief that we can't really hurt it because the world is too big, but even then why pollute it?

There is a fair and capitalistic approach to protecting it, make those who pollute it pay for what they pollute.  If you run a business that emits fumes into the air, install scrubbers to get into compliance or pay a fee for corrective measures.  Use any such fees to finance projects to reduce the damage.  Items imported need to comply with the same standards or pay a fee.

As a species, like all species, our first concern was finding and then using resources.  In the naturel world it tended to sort itself out as eating ripe fruit often led to spreading the seeds.

Similarly hunters were more likely to kill older or weaker animals leading to general improvement to the herds.

This is naturel selection and the impact of humans was insignificant.

Then we became civilized and engaged in widespread agriculture.

Clearly when that happened we changed the environment around us.

While grasslands turning to wheat fields may by environmentally similar, not so for the wildlife like bison that roamed them.  

You can see our impact in every part of the planet but then with industrialization we became more dangerous by far.  We have pumped greenhouse gases into the atmosphere without regard for the impact and we are starting to see the impact happening.

The efforts to fix it can creates millions of jobs and result in a better planet for all of us.

Or we can ignore the issue and let a few get wealthier as the rest of us pay the price.

He Said It

Did Donald Trump make those remarks about vets being suckers and losers?  Almost certainly.  It just fits the person he is.

Growing up in New York there were two distinct types.  What I would call the average Joe's and the elite.  Now the average joes were the great majority and many of them were veterans who served in the military, came home, got the best job they could and raised their family with American values.  

The elites were different.  Some were patriotic but they tended to become officers or get cushy assignments.  Many, especially after Korea, felt exactly like the words Trump used.  Service was for the suckers and if you served and died you were a loser.

This is the look out for number one crowd and no one is more representative of that crowd than Donald Trump.  He grew up in privilege, spoiled and was able to buy his way our of anything he wanted to.

When Kennedy told us not to ask what the country could do for us but what we could do for the country he paid it no mind.  Everything was about what it could do for him.

In that world the only people who normally served were those planning a political career.  I should say some rejected the privilege and joined but that was clearly the minority of that group.

For someone considering a future in the family real estate business, time spent in the military would have been a waste of time and only a sucker would do it.

The words ring true and I will say he wasn't the only one.   The others have better self control however. 

Economic Recovery?

 There was a bit of positive news in the jobs report as the economy added 1.37 million jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.4%.  There are still significant unemployment claims each week and those numbers are not great but it may indicate a bit of rebound from the bottoms.

If the virus starts to rage more it could reverse again and the chances of that happening in the next few months are fairly high since the fall leads to higher infection rates in airborne diseases as people go inside.

One of the "good" things we are seeing is that companies are rethinking how to do their business.  E-trade has been a bright spot and more companies are seeing a benefit from remote or at home workers.

This could be a blow to our cities and to some extent it was probably already in process.  The idea of business is to make money and profits and the reason to accept the high cost and inconvenience of operating in a city was the talent available and the customer base.  

We already saw some erosion in those things as modern technology has enable virtual business opportunities.

Will the advantages of the cities stay high enough to justify the cost of doing business there?  That remains to be seen but the infrastructure advantages are being eroded as technology allows seamless operation from home.

Still economic trends are driven by economic forces and each business will have to decide if central office space is worth it.  It is likely it will remain to some extent but on a lower scale.  

The economy recovers but it doesn't always stay the same.  Look at the industrial mid west.

Some times it is just different.

Time to Upgrade

 There is an interesting video of our current President signing proclamation celebrating the centennial of women getting the vote.  In it he asks why no one did it before and decides it is because he does so much more than his predecessors.

Clearly centennial is too big a word for him but it means 100 years so it wasn't done until this year.

If this was the only example of his lack of intelligence it might be excusable but it is one of many.  We are witnessing true ignorance and incompetence.

I'm not saying he is mentally deficient, he might be but that's different, I'm saying that because of his privilege and wealth growing up he never really applied himself.  He might have average intelligence but he was too lazy to apply it.

There is too much evidence of this in his life, his cheating on entrance exams, his ghostwriters, the trouble he has with concepts and reading, his reliance on visual media and his business record.

Some people in the business world can take a marginal business and make it a success.  He does the opposite as evidenced by his multiple bankruptcies.

His only real success was in the public relations realm where he managed to get his name widespread recognition and let it be used on many questionable products.

He also was able to have a successful TV show but that doesn't take intelligence, merely showmanship.

Being bright isn't actually a requirement to be President, but I think it is a very desirable characteristic.  

Let's upgrade in November.

Gullibility

 At one point will the current President realize that he is in fact the President, even if a terrible one?

He goes around acting like the issues in the country have nothing to do with him. To the extent the state of the country is dependent on Presidential action it is him.

Many if not most things are generally not because of the President although like a football quarterback he gets a lot of blame or praise. Still the one thing the President influence is the public mood and the mood is terrible.

The encouragement of the extreme right and failure to embrace American values has led down this path.

America is not a place of oppression and hate.   Unfortunately it does have a dark side but it has never been as encouraged as today.  Americans who want to look down on others or deprive others of their rights have existed in the shadows. 

Sadly they are being supported by our current conspiracy nut.  Previous President's worked into the night but they spent those hours productively, not exploring the dark parts of the internet.

Anyone can do it and many of those doing it late at night are the same type of people who used to call into all night radio shows, and still do.  They live in a world of aliens (not just ones from this world), conspiracies, betrayals and hate.

They can make seemingly plausible arguments, just seemingly.

Seemingly is enough for our guy, hes not a deep thinker.

End of Days?

 After screwing up for almost four years the Republicans argue that we need Trump to fix it?

Somehow the mess we are in is the other guys fault.

The Pandemic is the Chinese fault although we completely mishandled it.

The unemployment is not his fault, it's because everyone overreacted to the Pandemic.

The racism and violence isn't because he encouraged those elements, it s because athletes kneel during the national anthem.

The deficit and National Debt are at all time highs but it has nothing to do with the tax breaks he gave the rich.

Our international affairs are helping dictators and hurting our allies because that's what America first means.

The fact that hundreds of thousands of Americans are dead because of the poor Covid 19 response, is just not important to him, they weren't his buddies.

The only thing we are missing from the Apocalypse scenario is famine, and we have a good chance of getting that next.

Not what I was hoping for in a President, but I guess for an Evangelical hoping for the end days he is pretty good, he even moved our embassy to Jerusalem.

Vote Republican if you want the end days, otherwise vote for the Democrats who will keep our country and the world going.