Anything For A Click

 It should be fairly simply to verify facts.  Things happen, people witness them, reports are filed and we draw conclusions.

However somehow this has all been called into question. Lets be clear.  Im not talking about opinion just facts.  

We just had n election in which 150 million Americans, voted.  We have the official results but a fairly large segment of the population thinks the numbers are wrong.

They base this on people opinions and when I say people they are significant people who argue the election was rigged and stolen from the the real winner.

Now American who should know better have perpetrated this lie for Political advantage of a sort.

We live in an age where our sources are not trusted by many.

It is true that technology would allow certain events to be fabricated, just look at CGI in movies, but real events where real witnesses saw what happened shouldn't be questioned without actual proof.

Media personnel want ratings or clicks and politicians want attention and votes.  They have decided being outrageous works.  We need to teach them it doesn't.

Jobs Is More Important

 If you think about our history, at least since 1900, prosperity has followed when Government has increased spending.  The Great Depression was really only resolved after great amounts of money were added to the economy via the New Deal.  It wasn't until the World War that we saw prosperity because we wouldn't spend enough.

Perhaps our greatest period of prosperity, when we started paying off the National Debt from the World War was when we continued to spend on Defense and also had our largest infrastructure project, the Interstate Highway system.

Once we slow down the spending  the results aren't so great.

Trickle down has never worked, give the money directly to those who need it and will spend it does.

Simply put a dollar provided to a rich person doesn't go directly into the economy, some gets invested, some gets saved and while some jobs may be created it is not in response to demand.

Give the money to those who need it and will spend it and demand for products will skyrocket and in response jobs will be created and the economy will grow.

Growth solves a lot of problems with the potential of inflation.

Its a risk worth taking over all.

Fight For Justice

 Most people who feel the need to say I am not racist are very racist indeed.

They tend to say it just as they do something quite racist.  They may not realize that pushing for voter ID or supporting things like qualified immunity for police is racist, or maybe thy do, so they add the "I'm not racist" comment.

If you grew up in America its hard not to be racist.  Its primarily a problem among white people but it infects everybody to some extent.

Maybe this is starting to change but the fundamental problem is simple.  Many high crime neighborhoods were populated by poor Black people and many of them were exposed to few opportunities so they didn't et a good education, job opportunities were slim and they often fell into drug abuse and crime.  

There is an interesting dynamic here which is difficult to understand and/or change.  There is clearly a black culture that most white people do not share or even understand.  I don't really know if the sense of community they have from that is going to help integrate them into society.

Or maybe we should merge?  As long as our current attitudes stay the same racism will prevail.  

I don't expect racism to simply disappear.  Hopefully like other diseases we will wake up one day and be healed.  Until then don't ignore the symptoms, fight them.

Rushes to Judgement

 Remember when you used to worry about things being on your permanent record?  In the past this was generally a lie or the permanent record was locked away and un available. 

Now of course we are finding our that everything that was ever recorded in a document or newspaper may in fact constitute a permanent accessible record that might come back to bite you someday.

Certainly everything you ever did on the internet is available.

Some of this old stuff is being  used to "cancel" people.

They really can't be cancelled but we now live in a society where it can pop up as if you just did it and ruin an opportunity or cause you to be harassed.  In addition we now live in a culture where people won't be interested in your side of the story and quickly judge you.

I'm not talking about really bad things you might have done, just stupid things young people do.

Ever go to a party and have your picture taken in something inappropriate?

Can come back when you least expect it.

Maybe when you read about someone doing something years ago you should take a second to consider what it is before rushing to judgement.  Its only fair.

Democracy Under Attack

 Looking at how we are starting to see Republicans trying to suppress voting in order to retain control as best they can against the changing demographics is troubling.  Their continued invocation o fvoter fraud as an excuse is sort of pathetic and a clear decpetion.

It apparently means that too many of the wrong citizens voted so they need to restrict that.

Its pretty similar to what happened after reconstruction except they are trying to be less direct.  

Its sad that so many of our citizens are willing to back these blatant lies and reactions but America needs to enforce democracy for all of us not just the favored group.

You can wonder if this is more about power or racism but either way anti-democratic measures are simply wrong.

Working Class Reflections

You hear about white privilege and you also hear some white people say they never got any.

Of course being white in America does open up some doors and keeps you from being racially profiled.

If you are white working class you don't feel privileged and in many ways you see others getting privileges that used to be yours.

I was talking about Unions the other day and many of them, especially the tradesmen ones were reserved for certain people with the right relatives or connections.

Well it was still a bit hard to get in and get that Union pay but then they had to open it up to minorities and women. This eliminated people who had expected to get in because there are only so many apprenticeships to be had.  To those who lost their place in line the privilege seemed to be on the other foot.

It has always served the interests of the true elite in this country to prevent the working class of all nationalities unite.  After the Civil War poor southerners were told that freemen were going to take their jobs, their farms and their women if they didn't watch out.  It restored the pre civil war power structure pretty quickly.

That tactic has been so successful it continues today although it has been expanded to include other nationalities.  

The privilege you get as a white person in this country is not so much economic as social.  When you lump together the working class white people with the elite, it may look like they are doing better but that's not universal.

The divisions and resentment are real if unjustified.  Everyone is doing the best they can to survive and as a society we need to give them that chance.  Building the America of the future is our chance to restore economic prosperity to the entire working class.  Reducing income inequality using the tax code is also needed.

When you are struggling to survive the enemy isn't the person in the mansion, its the person competing for the good job.  Changing that is the real challenge.

They Won't Use Socialist

 The actions of any single person may or not be representative of others.  Clearly if they are acting as part of a group it is. However we live in a world where we want to explain the actions of everyone as part of something bigger.  

If for example the Atlanta shooter was motivated by a hatred of Asians it doesn't mean anyone else shares those views.  They might but he didn't belong to a group like the KKK which would have encouraged him.  We shouldn't have hate speech about Asians or anyone else for that matter, but that's regardless of this shooting which may have been more directed at sex workers than Asians per se.  

Clearly there are people who hate specific groups in this country and the problem is likely spreading.  People who are or were supposed to be our leaders have contributed to it.  It seems more prevalent as one of the major parties in this country sees diversity as their enemy and have joined forces with white supremacists.

The concern they have is that the country is going to be more than 50% non Wasp soon.  Of course they anon-white but I think it depends on how you categorize Hispanics.

They want white women to have more babies.  Sort of like the old kinder and kuchen slogan of one of their heros.

I would be curious to know what they consider the difference between their message and that of the NAZIs who believed in a master race.

I guess they wouldn't use Socialist in their party name..  

Maybe National American Workers Party (NAWP) would work?

We Are All In This Together

 When I grew up in the Bronx the world was defined by ethnic boundaries.  The West Bronx was an Irish enclave and if you lived there the expectation was that you might be a cop, fireman or other public servant. Being Irish gave you an "in".  Italians had the criminal world and certain construction areas.  Jews were going to be bookkeepers or teachers generally.  Blacks had a lot of service jobs like doorman, train porters etc.  The final division was the the construction unions and each of them tended towards a particular nationality which got you into the apprentice program.

Hardly anyone thought this was wrong, it was simply the way it was, and it was expected that each group would take care of its own.  Clearly not everyone fit into these neat categories but many did and it helped if you weren't a rebel to live a pretty good life.

The way out of this was going to school, specifically college which was the path to a brighter future if you could afford it.  It was a tradeoff, the other jobs paid you something now while college was going to pay off in the future.  Something I heard a lot when I was a teenager was I like to work with my hands so college is a waste.  This all started to break down in the 60s and the greatest revelation for many was the time spent in the Service.

You might have went in as an Irish New Yorker but you came out as an American.  For many of us it was the first time we had interactions with people who didn't share our exact backgrounds.  Whatever our differences we had being American in common and while we were going home when we got out, if we got out, none of that mattered then.

I'm not sure where this happens now for the the people who don't go to college.  In college you have a somewhat similar experience without the danger, but if you grow up and simply get the expected job after high school you inhabit an insular world defined by people like you and everyone else.

Without any real scientific basis I think this explains why we see such divisions now-a-days.  The way people vote and the views they hold reflect this division.  We need to figure out how to make everyone realize we are all in this together and an American is an American even if he disagrees with you on something.  

Action, not Blame

 You can call anything a crisis and some media outlets do.  The question generally is more about the scale of the problem then the terminology.

Climate change is a worldwide crisis that will imperil billions of people with flooding, extreme weather and will cost many lives and loss of property.  It will impact all of us to some degree.  That is a crisis and we are already seeing the impact.

Immigration is maybe a crisis for the people immigrating but it hardly impacts anyone else except some border towns and it actually helps their economies if yu think about it.  Very different scale.

It actually doesn't matter what you call them,, just what you do.  It might be popular for some to simply try to blame their political opponents so they can win some elections but it isn't actually helpful.

Action is better.

 

Obstruct or Help, Simple Choice.

 Americans want things to happen and we care more about moving forward than what party controls things.  The previous President got elected aer his opponent failed to convince enough traditional voters she was going to help them going forward.  He didn't promise much and delivered much less but he proposed things lie a border wall and revival of manufacturing and coal.  None of that is much changed, even symbolically and enough Americans realized that, especially after the virus hit, that he lost and lost significantly.

We now have a President who in the very early part of his administration has delivered a significant stimulus bill that looks like it will give the economy the signifcant boost it needs.  He has also improved the vaccine rollout and started to reduce that risk.  There are still many challenges and Americans want him to address them.

One of the impediments to that is the recalcitrance from Republicans who have no real agenda except to cause issue that they can blame on the President. They failed to embrace the stimulus and the Covid problem so they now are trying to attack his health.

He is clearly doing fine in that area and everybody can see. I wonder sometimes if Republican's actually go out much?  They rely on polls that tell them what they want to hear more than reality.

Since the election everybody except the white supremacists are feeling better about things.  They can be part of the process addressing immigration, clean energy, infrastructure, human rights or they can try to obstruct.  The choice is theirs. 

Fact Based Opinions

 There are politiians in this country opposed to making changes unless of course the changes are desired by their corporate sponsors.

Being friendly to business is not the problem, being unfriendly to everyone else is.

For example opposing renewable energy because it will hurt an energy company that donates to you is putting the short term benefit to donor above the needs of everybody else.  

Possibly an argument might be made that in the very short term the short sighted policy might be better or not worse.  However, clearly the world needs to reduce polluting the earth we all live on and time is starting to run out.

Some continue to ignore the science and if this is an honest opinion I can respect that if they can in fact support it with factual data and not just political BS.

I was on an on-line forum and one participant wanted to know why liberals didn't believe or respect conservatives?  This is the sort of crap you see on conservative media all the time.  I listen and resect every conservative position that is backed up by data

However I will not accept claims like their was widespread voter fraud.  Not even sure why this is a conservative position, seems nonsensical since there is no evidence at all.  Their were allegations but allegations need some proof behind them.

I don't respect or give much credit to opinions that are simply based on political spin.  Take the border.  We can all agree it needs to be fixed.  It is not based on some Democratic plot to disrupt this country.  Similarly the Covid 19 issue is real and science supports us taking precautions like wearing masks.  If you choose not to do so because you don't believe the science i really would like to see your evidence.

If all you have is Democrats want it so it must be bad, try again.

Immigration Policy?

 How big a problem is immigration?  It depends on who you ask and where you are.

Latest data shows that attempted border crossings have increased 28% in the first month of the Biden administration.  We don't have enough data yet to know if that is the start of a trend of a one time blip based on people hearing about the relaxation of restrictions.

What I don't think everyone understands is that bringing people to the border from countries south of Mexico is  a business which is similar to travel agencies, if a bit less savory.

Not many people just decide to walk from Guatemala to the border on their own  It would be a long dangerous trip where robbery and rape are prevalent.  Organizers actively recruit for caravans and charge for the journey.  In some ways it mirrors our romanticized wagon trains of our pioneer days although generally not involving covered wagons.

It is an arduous journey and upon arrival most are not allowed entry.  Still the violence at home inspires them to do it and change their entire way of life, mostly so their children might have a better life.

This was the same motivation prior immigrants had.

The crisis is really for the people fleeing their homes due to violence and gangs.  The impact they have on this country is most noticeable near the borders and even there it isn't disastrous.  

To address this we need a immigration policy, not politics.  The economy is getting ready to rebound and we could use more workers.  It just needs to be a solution that Americans can support.

Sometimes Its Really Just a Joke

 There is one thing you can say about every human being, they aren't perfect.

Whether you are a religious person or not, humans are likely to be imperfect make mistakes and otherwise screw things up.  Of course they also get things right and the general idea is to get more things right, fix the things you get wrong and move on.

There is also a difference between actual bad behavior and somewhat incidental bad behavior.  If someone stops you with a weapon and steals your wallet there is little doubt that is bad.  Someone who finds your misplaced wallet on the street and decides to keep the cash is also wrong but not as wrong as the first person.  Clearly the right thing to do would be to return it intact but the second person was more passively guilty as opposed to the actual thief.

Lets consider the sort of issues we see today where bad things may be done without intent.

Unfortunately if you grew up in this country you were likely exposed to bad stereotypes at a young age.  Maybe by your family, maybe at school but unless you lived in a bubble you were exposed.

Some nationalities were cheap, others lazy, some were bad drivers etc. etc.  During our formative years we tend to soak these things up as we inherently are learning how to be people.

We also were likely taught certain facts about genders, If you didn't learn at home you learned in public as we saw women depicted on TV as homemakers and irresponsible.  Think Lucy and Ethel, although Alice Kramden was the common sense one if she did risk a trip to the moon.

Did anyone think Ralph was guilty of harassment? 

The older you are the more inaccurate (or maybe accurate for the time) depictions you dealt with.

So if someone who's a bit older says to a plane full of people that they can play strip poker maybe its just a joke.  

Not everything is complicated. 

Using Politics

 The problem I try to deal with is that spokespeople for Republicans seem determined to use attack to gain support.

This was the strategy they used when the Affordable Care Act was passed and it helped them bounce back in the following midterms.  That strategy has influenced the last few campaigns.  It is still their go to strategy.

it is simply to find things to attack in whatever the Democrats do and try to convince the American public.  Some of the things they attack are things out in because they supported them.  If the Democrats support something it is bad even if it was previously good.

One of the mistakes made in the past was they allowed Republicans to control the debate. That led to arguing over insignificant details instead of the real points.  That was partly because Obama wasn't really a politician as a do gooder.  While doing good is better, it doesn't win the political battles. 

The current President is also a do folder but an experienced politician.  You need both.

Not Many Facts, Lots of Opinions

 I browse the various headlines and stories everyday to try to see what is going on.  Its not a really accurate outcome much of the time.

The news has become very politicized and internet providers tend to publish items that get the most "clicks".  Traffic determines how much they get for ads and that is how they prosper.

So some of the most outrageous headlines are going to make the pages while others that are more accurate don't.

After a while you realize certain sources are simply so biased as to be unreliable.  I generally don't click on things from FOX news, the headlines are enough and I don't really care about the people highlighted who spew opinions.  

Of course it becomes a bit like twitter since I see one of them said something outrageous while other media points that out.  They all benefit from using his name to get clicks whether good or bad.

Similarly the articles covering Andrew Cuomo are popular even when there is no new news.  Today there were multiple article written about a letter that was never issued that would have "attacked" the first accuser.  We also know he reportedly likes to talk about his hand size although that is only reported by one accuser so far.

We see a lot about the crisis or non-crisis at the border and apparently the fact that there has been a bit of an upsurge in people coming has eliminated our country since the borders are permeable.  I guess there was no country for most of the 19 century when immigration was so easy.

Meanwhile in the real world we see a lot of progress in the country and the possibility of more.  Whether anything can pass with the filibuster is another big question.  Something may or may not happen there.  We are still getting everyone's opinion.

Innocent Until Proven Otherwise

 One of the fundamental tenets of our legal system is that in criminal cases people are innocent until proven guilty.  The accuser and law enforcement have to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  

You don't have to prove you are innocent, although it certainly doesn't hurt.

This isn't true is other countries and certainly not in the court of public opinion.

Here we have an immediate rush to judgement without concern for the eventual outcome.  In fact that court demands immediate outcomes.

I understand that this can be problematic in certain cases that involve one on one interaction such as sexual harassments. It becomes a he said she said situation and not likely to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Still it is a foundation of our legal system and needs to be preserved.

Without it everyone becomes at risk.

What's The Story?

 If you pay too much attention to the media you will be in trouble.  It was probably always like this but it seems to have gotten worse in the internet age.

Each source is competing to get your attention.  This means they have to find a way to get your attention and that is generally via the use of headlines.

Think about this, in the slightly more than 50 days since the last election the administration has been pretty laser focused on fighting the virus and passing the stimulus bill  The news stories have been all over the place predicting and over how various factions were reacting.

In any given day you could read multiple sources about how it was going to pass or not going to pass using the same basic data.

Similarly the issue about the Governor of NY has been slowly evolving but the media has required every prominent person to express an opinion as to whether he should resign.  Sadly many have, despite the fact that an investigation is underway to determine the validity and extent of the accusations.

"The crisis at the border" is happening no although most of those children started out a while ago.  Once they get there they have to be put somewhere and the issue would simply be are they being treated humanly?  The fact that they are there is not changing.

Story after story gets updated by the main stream media and the rest although they all want to be main stream, whatever that means.

Some have clear agendas while some actually try to be reporters.  Hard to tell the difference often.

Spring Ahead

Changing the clocks is always an annoyance although nowadays a lot of them do it automatically.  In the spring we "spring ahead" and lose an hour of sleep more or less.

We get that back in the fall but the next few days can be hard until we adjust.

I have to say that this year the event seems much more symbolic than usual.

The difference between January and now is substantial, at least in attitude I observe.

We see the virus on the run, we see economic relief on the way and we have an hones caring President who is trying his best to help all the American people.

Some may disagree with certain policies, but that's OK unless of course they start an insurrection.

The issue is we have a leader who loves America and is not pursuing selfish self aggrandizing goals.

What a new day that is!

Cancel or Rush to Judgement?

 I imagine the country will start to resemble some Asian countries as far as masks are concerned.  You will see people wearing masks, especially is crowed public places like you see in some Asian countries.

In fact considering the impact this had on the flu this year it seems like a worthwhile endeavor.

Is this going to change the nature of the country?  Some may say yes but the wearing of a mask is no different than wearing a scarf.  It isn't for everyone but why should it bother anyone?

We just saw another reference to cancel culture because the term itself is under attack.  Cancel culture as I understand it reflects the cancelling of a person because of a specially bad act, like having slaves or sexual misconduct.  It has come to include the elimination of offensive trademarks and mascots, such as Redskins or Aunt Jemima.

Noe of this is generally government actions except removing monuments or changing the names of public facilities.  

Of course some people actually get convicted of crimes, like say Bill Cosby so Iguess you can say he was cancelled.

Still, the loss of public support is not a Government action, it is the public reacting.

It is also possible that it could cause a mostly innocent person, like Al Franken to resign when he probably shouldn't have.

Rushing to judgement is seldom good but we can't seem to help ourselves.

Its just s hard to resist the constant press pressure to make a comment.

Meritocracy and Democracy!

 The next big thing that this country needs to do is to guarantee the right to vote which is under attack in many places.

Citizens have the right to pick their leaders in a Democracy, not some of the people but all of them.  Further each vote should count equally which is another issue we have to face.

There are people in this country convinced that Democracy is ba for them.  Perhaps they realize that it will lead to policies they don't like.  Of course in a Democracy that happens.  Not everyone can get what they want but they might be able to influence the outcome.

There are changes in demographics going on that one side views as threatening.  If you rely on having privileges and opportunities at the cost of your neighbors that could change.  As the "in" group expands you may have to prove your actual merit.

Who you are and where you came from is not important in a meritocracy or a democracy.  What you can do and how well you do it matters.

Next the Future

 The economic stimulus plan passed on a partisan basis is likely to give the economy a tremendous economic boost.  This will lead to a period of growth that can potentially be sustained and help get the Government finances on track.

For this to be sustained the virus has to be contained and additional legislation needs to be passed.  Based on what we have just seen it doesn't seem very likely that things will become very bipartisan any time soon so we may be in a bit of a holding pattern until either the next election changes the dynamic or we tinker with the filibuster.

I suppose it is also possible that we will see a change where bills are worked out via compromise and then passed but that just seems like it doesn't play into today's politics.

Infrastructure and climate change are two things that should be bipartisan but the second has been politicized.

Transforming the country into a renewable energy future challenge some significant financial interests.

Not so much the coal miners who unfortunately are dependent on a dying industry but Oil and Gas producers who have a lot more clout.  They won't of course go away quickly or quietly but the writing is on the wall.

Enough politicians have been bought and paid for to make progress a challenge.

It is something we have to do and the sooner the better.  Our children need it for their future. 

Government Intrudes

 Government does regulate our behavior.  You can't commit crimes, speed or engage in any number of other activities that they prohibit.  

You also have to file taxes, renew registrations and perform jury duty if called.

In the world of business it is even worse requiring various licenses, inspections and reporting responsibilities.

Most place you require permits or licenses to do things like hun, fish or transport.

This is the way it has to be in a modern society.

Violate these rules and you are likely to pay a price.  Yu may in fact lose your freedom.

Imposing a mask mandate is not any worse.  You already have to wear clothes that cover certain parts of your body in public.  

Consider te fact that the Government has now installed tremendous numbers of surveillance cameras.  Some of that has to do with things like tolls or violations of speed or red lights but many others seem intrusive on their face.

Add to that the number of private "security" cameras around and we live in a goldfish bowl.

I'm not saying this is bad, but it is certainly intrusive and much more relevant than whether Pepe Le Pew can continue molesting that cat.  Of course the cat isn't real but neither is the skunk.

Get Religion out of Politics

 How can we assure that Democracy in America prevails?  It doesn't in many areas already and some are working hard to suppress it in others.

There are people who see this country as a White, Christian country and will do all they can to maintain that.  It is primarily that but this country was founded on the idea that you can be anyone you want and practice any religion. Now when we start to see that threatened we see the white nationalists and anti immigrant feelings exposed.

Before we colonized the America's in the 16th and 17th century it was not a Christian area.  The Native Americans had some religious beliefs but Christianity was confined to one part of the world.  In fact it was one of the reasons people justified their behavior of conquest and enslavement to "civilize" the savages.

We can pretend that being Christian is somehow equivalent to being a kind and accepting person but history does not support that.  Even now we object to people who are also Christian but not the exact same type of Christian.

In many parts of the world the dominant religion is part of the political structure.  To some extent it is here also if not as officially as in say Iran.  Many would like it to be.

Suppressing the votes of those who don't believe the "right" way is is some ways acceptable to them.  Its how to keep the country oppressive the way they want it to be.

The Will of the Voters

 When I watch old movies and it shows a Senate filibuster, it always shows a dedicated person refusing to cede the floor and going through a marathon session to stop a vote.

It was rarely used and seldom successful but as the years passed the rules were changed to make filibuster a normal practice, although no actual filibuster actually takes place.

The reason for this is the rule on cloture which means limiting debate and thus ending a filibuster.  It was designed to allow legislation to pass but it has actually had the opposite effect.

It takes 60 votes to invoke cloture and in the absence of that we can assume a no effort filibuster.

The virtual filibuster we now have has reduced the amount of legislation actually considered and passed by the Senate.  Individual Senators do not have to take positions on specific pieces of legislation if cloture is not passed. 

Whether the filibuster has any benefit, it is currently requiring almost no effort at all.  It can be reformed to return to its roots where maintaining a filibuster actually required significant effort.  We have passed rules to allow legislative impasse without effort or even identification.

Some argue that doing this will cause policy to shift every time the majority party changes.  Why is listening to the voters a bad thing?

The Mob has decided! -Guilty!

Maybe I'm not familiar with how the law is being applied by the mob.  I do realize that the Governor has a reputation of being a bully with just about everyone so that might be wrong but its not sexual harassment.  It is also apparent that he isn't the most aware person.

However when I consider the alleged remarks and actions he is accused of I don't come up with much.

Now it is I imagine possible that he was being flirty but none of the accuser claim he asked them for any sexual favors.  In general they don't accuse him of touching them inappropriately with the exception of the one who claims he kissed her as she was leaving.

This behavior would rise to the level of a warning and maybe a refresher course on how to behave.

Somehow being shown a presidential memento is so life altering that she needed therapy and probably remuneration.

If a young women finds herself alone with an older man who engages her in chat, she may very well honestly suspect something that isn't really there.

Feeling, not knowing that the older person wants to have sex with you is not enough.  He might ask inappropriate questions which could simply be bad conversational skills or something else.

He may have been "fishing" to "groom" them but nothing happened and nothing continued.

Of course at this point every news person is trying to find more cases and certainly willing to take any remembrance of anything at all like harassment as proof.

I'd be curious what the official investigation concludes although it is pretty certain it will conclude some sort of guilt.

Still curious what the law is on saying to a plane full of people, "Let's play strip poser to pass the time!".  Take away his joke telling license?

Economy Jump Start

 It seems to me that the Republicans view the current stimulus bill as something akin to the Affordable Care Act of the Obama administration, something they can use to attack the current administration and win back the Senate and the House in two years.

The Democrats failed in the PR battle after it was passed and allowed some fairly minor points to dominate the public debate.  The bill became unpopular and led to a resurgence of Republicans, allowing them to grab many statehouses and proceed to Gerrymander. 

It turns out that upon reflection and a few minor changes the bill is quire popular with the public and hasn't led to all the dire predictions. To some extent it still has to overcome some challenges but I think even Republicans don't want it overturned at this point.

They are unanimous in opposition to the Covid Relief act but they may be miscalculating. The public sees it as needed and the areas that they plan to attack will be harder to depict as damaging to the country.  

It is moving quickly towards passage on a party line vote and I suspect they will attack it for increasing the deficit.  That's not a particularly convincing argument for them at this time and there is a reasonable chance it will truly jump start our economy into the type of growth we need to increase the tax base.

Something trickle down neve did. 

Putting up Roadblocks

 Watching the stalling tactics being used to delay the stimulus package shows you how the Republican party has turned into a clown show.  The issue is that they spread lies and misinformation via their captured Media.

This bill will actually stimulate growth and create jobs.  That will offset some of the debt but not in the first year.  

We can have a great decade of growth and opportunity with this bill to help the recovery and future bills to help infrastructure and conversion to renewable energy.

The Republican in the Senate have stood in the way of actual progress and aren't going to change their ways anytime soon.

The actual media can't ignore the issues and need to honestly point out the Neanderthal behavior they like to exhibit.    Neanderthals did quite well in their time but their time has gone and we need to move forward.

Its Not the Goverment.

 We live in a world where the anti-Government people think the Government, like God, is everywhere.

It isn't.

Take events that have no Government involvement lie say the decision by the company that prints Dr. Seuss books to discontinue some because of racist language or imagery.  This was a decision made by a company and ws not directed by the Government.

Similarly the change from Mr. potato Head to just Potato Head was a  business decision. If you support Capitalism you support a company's right t pursue profit which they felt would be helped by this move..  Not sure it would but it certainly generated a lot of discussion about Potato Heads.

Its a bit sad how many people attribute so much to the Government.  Some things are Government related but most are not.  Take Social Media and what they allow.

Unfortunately for many right wing people a ban on falsehoods affects them a lot.  If thye posted truthful thins it wouldn't.  Still it no Government censorship, if its censorship at all.  Refusin to publish know lies seems like a reasonable policy.

After all, Honesty is the best Policy.

Work the Issues

 We have important things that need to be done for this country and we need to keep focus on them. 

First is control the virus which actually seems to be happening.  Let me make one point clear.  The people who work for this country never stopped and it wasn't an overnight sensation.  However in just a little over one month we have utilized the Government resources to get the solution on track and things are certainly looking better.  The virus may have a few more tricks up it sleeve but vaccines are becoming available and things are moving along.

Second is pass the relief bill.  We need this to help thos hurt by the crisis to have a chance to get back to hopefully even.  This also looks promising and while there are some politics left it is likely to pass soon.

Third is climate.  We already know that a significant amount of damage has already happened.  The Green new Deal needs to be refined and maybe renamed.  Some climate actions have already passed but only via executive action.  we need to push for climate control as maybe our number ne issue after the economy.

The economy looks set to take off and with the stimulus growth could be extraordinary.  American industry needs to build products for the future, not the past.  Renewable energy can go a long way but the solutions need to be as bipartisan as possible.  

There are many other issues but especially over the next two years we need to address these major problems and show the American people what a future America can be.  

Guilty if Accused?

 The current "scandal" in New York over sexual harassment in New York is much like the other recent instances and it confuses me.  It seems like the offenses are the result of one person's interpretation of events where we are accepting that interpretation without providing the same benefit to the other party.

We have seen this guilt be allegation at work in our past.  Just feeling like  person is likely to cause you harm should never have been enough to get them arrested or worse (in Salem they burned some and in the South they lynched some.  

Its unverifiable but it tends to cascade after one is brought up as people rethink past encounters.  In some cases trolls dig through the internet to find other missed instances which are easily misinterpreted.

I don't know what really was gong on and most of the people jumping to conclusions also don't.  Accusations should be addressed but the burden is on the accuser, not the accused, at least in this country.

There is an element to criminal matters called intent.  Certain questions can be asked innocently but perceived differently.  It is very difficult in many situation to avoid potential pitfalls.  It used to be fairly routine to ask someone if they were married.  Its called making conversation.  It can be interpreted as flirting.

Certainly instances of sexual abuse or harassment need to be identified and addressed.  The standard of degerming guilt needs to be fair and objective.  

Parties are Factions

 I don't really care about the Republican party.  I also don't care about the Democratic party.  Parties are not really good for democracy but we have engrained them into our existence.  

Ideally our Representatives would stand for things like integrity and excellence and vote for issues based on their merits.  Issues would of course be backed by interest groups but each Representative should be just that, a Representative.

For example I can certainly imagine a pre life representative who was also fiscally conservative.  In our current system they are precluded by party hegemony.

There has been a growing trend of people dropping party affiliation and registering as independents.  We haven't seen that translate into a lot of independents in the Congress or the Senate.  The ones there are really still affiliated with parties.

So much of our politics had devolved into the fact that every issue is divisive.  I suppose we see a few signs of independence but they are few and far between.  

It transfers power into fewer and fewer hands which is just not how democracy should work.