January 26, 2022

“Owning the libs” is a political strategy used by some conservatives that focuses on upsetting political liberals. Users of the strategy emphasize and expand upon culture war issues intended to be divisive to provoke a reaction in others, according to Wikipedia. More recently, the strategy is associated with Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. This method was adopted by the alt-right and alt-lite as a form of trolling and antagonism in the mid/late 2010s.

Which begs the question. How would one “own the conservatives?” Then it came to me. President Biden has promised to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court. Many qualified candidates have been mentioned except one. I would like to nominate Anita Hill. Anita Faye Hill (born July 30, 1956) is an American lawyer, educator and author. She is a university professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the university’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her supervisor at the United States Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, of sexual harassment.

I call it “con-trolling.”

January 26, 2022

Here is a thought experiment. Who would you rather have dealing with the crisis in Ukraine…Biden or Trump? Lest we forget, Trump was impeached for withholding authorized foreign aid from Ukraine, demanding dirt on President Biden’s son. It was called a “quid pro quo.” In Helsinki, when he was standing next to a smirking Vladimir Putin, Trump refused to answer a question about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, saying that he took Putin’s word that it wasn’t him. Trump did whatever he could to sow divisions within NATO, threatening to walk away from the alliance while he tried to shake down individual countries for more money. He attacked Macron and Merkel, and pushed the President of Montenegro out of the way for a photo op. Trump was subservient to Putin at best. There is no reason to believe that he would stand up to Putin at this moment.

Biden’s experience with Russian affairs spans more than 38 of his years in federal public office under seven US presidents other than himself. Joe Biden has served as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He served for eight years as the Vice President. He has met with at least three Soviet leaders and two Russian presidents. With the exception of SALT-I, he played major and minor roles in each of the most consequential arms treaties between the two nuclear powers over the past 50 years. He previously met with Russian President Vladimir Putin when Biden was vice president and Putin was prime minister.

We don’t know how this is going to turn out. Regardless, I will take my chances with Joe Biden.

January 25, 2022

Inflation is problem, economically and politically. The Consumer Price Index rose 4.7% in 2021. It was worse for food. The prices of food eaten at home rose 6.3%, and the prices of food eaten away from home (restaurants) rose 6.5%. Buying groceries and putting food on the table has become a challenge for many people. It is more of a problem if you don’t have a job, but that is another discussion.

Another inflation problem is the inflation in American waistlines. The adult obesity rate is 42.4%, up from 30.5% in 2000. The obesity rate is up 26% since 2008 per the CDC. Obesity is a major cause of heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer. There is evidence that there is a high correlation between obesity and COVID deaths. Since 2008, medical costs related to obesity are estimated to be $147B. Obese adults generate $1,429 per person more in health-related costs than non-obese people.

Here is an unpopular idea. Maybe we could eat less as one way to control inflation? Maybe a better idea is that we could eat better? One of the healthiest things to come out of the pandemic is that we are eating out less. We are eating at home, eating better, and eating less. We are not super-sizing ourselves. Nothing good dietary-wise comes from eating out. The dirty little secret in restaurants is the amount of salt that goes into everything. Cut out fast food. Cut out junk food. Exercise portion control. How about exercising? Dessert should be a treat, not a right. If the average overweight person cut the number of calories he or she consumed by the rate of inflation, that would come to about 150 calories per day, which is the equivalent of three Oreo cookies or half of a McDonald’s hamburger with cheese.

January 23, 2022

Seth Myers does a bit from time to time on Late Night called “Stories We Need More Of.” They are generally off-beat, uplifting stories that give you hope in troubled times. I came across one of these articles in The Atlantic recently. It was titled, “Is Old Music Killing New Music?” The writer goes on to say, “Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market…But the news gets worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking. All the growth in the market is coming from old songs.” How great is that?

The song catalogs in most demand today are by musicians who are in their 70s or 80s (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen) or already dead (David Bowie, James Brown).  Did anyone mention The Beatles? Some people, especially Baby Boomers (like me) tell the writer that “this decline in the popularity of new music is simply the result of lousy new songs. The old songs had better melodies, more interesting harmonies, and demonstrated genuine musicianship, not just software loops, Auto-Tuned vocals, and regurgitated samples.” There will never be another Sondheim, they say, or Joni Mitchell, or Bob Dylan, or Cole Porter, or Brian Wilson. In other words, “Why can’t they be like were, perfect in every way?”

In a recent spin class, the instructor introduced her playlist by saying she was going to be playing oldies…from the 80’s. Yikes! We were immediately assaulted with a medley of hits from the boy bands of the day. Class couldn’t be over soon enough as far as I was concerned. With this latest news, I don’t feel as irrelevant and uncool. Now, when I play my music in spin class for my spinners, I can say, “This is what everyone is listening to.”

January 23, 2022

I have sworn off chocolate for the month of January. Like most people, I love it, but it became much too easy to grab a handful of M&M’s, redesigned or otherwise, and tell myself that they were so tiny what damage could they do. Eventually, I will get my just desserts.

Fortunately, some very famous anti-vax professional athletes are getting their just desserts right away. Aaron Rodgers, who got suspended for a game for misrepresenting his vaccination status after having contracted COVID, just got bumped from the NFL playoffs by our almost own Jimmy G. I guess guest hosting a game show was not enough Jeopardy for him.

Antonio Brown, a New England Patriot for a New York nanosecond, ripped off his shirt, and walked out on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs. Apparently, he was angry that defensive backs were not respecting his right to have them stay six feet away. AB was suspended by the NFL for lying about his COVID-19 vaccination status. TB was apparently okay with that. After all, vaccinated All-Pro wide receivers are hard to find.

Lastly, Serbian tennis player, Novak Djokovic, was deported from Australia for flouting its vaccination mandates. Tennis greats like Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall put Australia on the map. Novak Djokovic has now put Serbia on the map, which is a good thing because how many of you could actually find Serbia on the map? If I told you it was near Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, would that help?

All of these entitled professional athletes can now sit at home and enjoy their just desserts…unlike me. (Sigh)

January 21, 2022

The President of the United States has been falsely accused of recommending the defunding the police. Just because you repeat it over and over does not make it true. In the face of increased pandemic-induced crime in some major cities, I think most responsible people want to both fund the police at the same time reforming some police practices. However, our Republican friends want to take funding the police to the next level.

Politicians in three states, including Ron DiSantis in Florida and David Perdue in Georgia, want to create a new and separate police force whose sole objective is to ferret out election crime. Arizona is the third state. Beyond the fact that this is an incredible waste of money and morally indefensible, these poor police officers will be looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. They will be looking for something that does not exist. They would be more productive looking for the Yeti or the Loch Ness monster.

These are the same people, who refuse to condemn the January 6th seditionists, who attacked and killed police officers. But why stop with the election police? Texas has virtually overturned Roe vs. Wade. Gov. Greg Abbot of Texas should create a police force dedicated to finding abortionists and the women seeking abortions. Gov. Glen Youngkin of Virginia should have a police force knocking on the doors of private citizens looking for books espousing Critical Race Theory or books written by Toni Morrison. DiSantis already has his police force effectively looking for people advocating for vaccines. In Florida, this is a crime. In parts of America, if you now don’t like something, hire some cops. Nobody is going to malls so there are plenty of cops available.

January 19, 2022

It seems like only yesterday when we were storming the Capitol. Ah…memories. The last year has been unlike any other so it is probably a good time to sit back and reminisce on how President Biden has done in the face of a “Let’s Go, Brandon” attitude from the folks on the right.

The administration determined wrongly that the best way to fight COVID and its variants was to rely on the good sense of the American people, who would choose vaccinations over shutdowns and death. Pretty funny. Obviously, they hadn’t met 30-40% of the population. The carrot didn’t work so they went to the stick with vaccine mandates. Obviously, they hadn’t met the Supreme Court, which was led by Justice Neil “I refuse to wear a mask” Gorsuch. As a last straw, they decided to leave it up to the states. Obviously, they hadn’t met Governor Ron DiSantis, who wants to jail anyone getting a vaccination.

The Biden administration has appointed a record number of Federal judges, all of whom have not be recommended by the Feralist Society. Issues like increasing the size of the court and term limits are bottled up in committee due mostly to the potential of a filibuster. Interestingly, Merriam-Webster defines filibuster as “an American engaged in fomenting insurrections…” As in, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are filibusters.

President Biden has correctly identified Republican attempts to limit voter participation, to control who counts the votes, and to decide who gerrymanders Congressional districts as Public Enemy #1. One might say these are the real “enemies of the people.” Two bills before Congress are languishing. One cannot accuse the Republican Party of being the do-nothing party. Personally, I liked them better when they were doing nothing.

President Biden has reversed many of Trump’s executive orders on the environment by executive order. However, the Republicans refuse to provide any support for the environmental provisions included in Build Back Better. Some $500B in funds are earmarked for environmental initiatives. Only when fires, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, locusts, and pestilence of a Biblical nature hit every red state will we have a national consensus. They won’t believe scientists, but they might believe Jim and Tammy Faye.

The economy is growing, unemployment is way down, and Wall St. appears happy. Inflation is relatively high, but what did you expect coming out of a massive, pandemic-induced recession? Some grocery shelves are empty, and there continues to be supply chain issues despite the fact that The Grinch never stole Christmas.

Christmas was like Y2K. Both were over-hyped, and ended with a whimper. The reality is no one ever got hit by a bus they saw coming. Yet, people are dissatisfied. Give me a break. Where are the gas lines, double digit interest rates, body bags by the thousands coming home, buildings collapsing, assassinations, and Great Recessions? Can we please add a dose of perspective to what we are going through today? We will get through it. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not UV.

President Biden has restored dignity to the office. Enough said.

Sabrineh Ardalan of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic praises Biden for jettisoning some Trump-era policies, but says he has “doubled-down” on the former administration’s draconian policies such as forcing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico, excessive use of border patrol agents, and detention of asylum seekers. This doesn’t sound like someone who is running an open door policy to me as those on the right would have you believe.

Obviously there were some failures. There was the ugly withdrawal from Afghanistan, a situation created by his predecessors and underestimated by his advisors. We insulted France. Nothing has been done to further the cause of gun safety. Women are on the verge of losing their right to an abortion. Russia may invade the Ukraine, but at least Trump is not there to invite them in.

All in all, I would say it was a successful year despite all of the attempts by Republicans to drag their knuckles. Recently, it was reported that Governor Sununu of New Hampshire refused to run for the Senate because he was told that the Republican strategy for regaining power was to do nothing. I would say they are executing their strategy flawlessly.

January 17, 2022

This was originally blogged on May 1, 2021, May Day, which comes from the French m’aidez, which means “help me.” Our democracy needs help on this MLK Day.

Republican legislatures all over the country are going out of their way to solve voting problems that don’t exist. They say that they need to restore integrity and faith in our electoral process. They are promulgating the big lie by passing laws designed to make it more difficult to vote for everyone with specific targeting of communities of color that voted Democratic. Florida was only the most recent state to follow Georgia’s example. We can all look forward to political goons looking over our shoulders as we vote.

Sadly, the United States is already close to the bottom when it comes to voter participation. According to Pew Research, only 55.72% of our voting age population actually votes. This puts us slightly ahead of Slovenia and Latvia. Of the countries tracked, we rank 32nd, which is a little better than our healthcare system which ranks last among 11 major industrialized countries. It’s a travesty that when we should be doing everything in our power to get more people to vote, we are doing the exact opposite. Republicans should be ashamed, but they have been proven to be shameless. They are clearly afraid of voting rates and voting rights.

January 14, 2022

I was recently on my monthly Zoom call with a bunch of guys from college. The topic of our discussions is “Aging Athletes,” and we read books about the issues we all face as we deal with crumbling infrastructures. Amongst the participants, we have two Olympic rowers, a college wrestler, two college runners, a cyclist, a football player, and a golfer. We discuss everything from sleep disorders, training regimens, atrial fibrillation, knee replacements, polio, torn rotator cuffs, mental health and more. One of the participants just took his annual New Year’s plunge into the Connecticut River. Three of the participants volunteer as high school coaches.

One of the coaches coaches cross country and track for a high school in New Jersey. The coach had a very successful college career at Harvard in cross country and track. Both his boy’s and girl’s cross country teams just won their respective state sectional championships. While stating that he was not representing the school, he e-mailed the members of the boy’s team, suggesting that they should consider getting vaccinated. That is when the proverbial feces hit the fan. The very next day, he found himself in the Superintendent’s office being confronted by the Superintendent and an attorney. They were not too happy with his e-mail. He tried to explain to them his life experience as someone who had dealt with polio at a young age, and as someone who had a brother seriously impacted by polio. In those days, as he explained, no one questioned the polio vaccine. Coincidentally, one other member of the book group also had polio as a child.

While still continuing to coach cross country, the school made it clear that he was to have no contact with any of the boys in Spring track. The boys were being coached by the head football coach and two of his assistants, who have no experience coaching track. My friend suspects that they are laying the groundwork to ease him out of coaching duties altogether. It is a sad state of affairs when school administrators are more concerned with kowtowing to anti-vax parents than protecting the health of the students in their charge.

January 11, 2022

People are angry and fearful about something. They were angry enough to attack the nation’s Capital. Opportunistic and amoral politicians are more than happy to stoke this fear and anger to further their own political ends in their quest for power and money. Politicians like Trump create enemies for their base to attack. They attack immigrants, people of color, the liberal elite, foreign countries, rigged elections, the media, and more. They seek to divide us rather than unite us. They prefer to lie to us rather than enlighten us. However, I believe that what people are really afraid of is losing their jobs, if they haven’t already, and are afraid of falling further behind financially.

The reality is that technology has done more damage to the well-being of more Americans than any other of these other boogey men. We have lost some jobs to globalization and unionization, but the vast majority of the jobs that we have lost have been due to automation. Economists say that half of the increasing wage gap has come as a result of automation. Robots and office software have done a lot of damage. Some of our biggest employers today like Meta, Google, Apple, and Amazon create a lot more wealth with far fewer people than the General Motors of the world. It takes a lot more, well paid workers to make a car than a new app. Artificial intelligence is designed to replace people, not enhance them.

Political leaders need to focus on the real issues angering Americans, and find real solutions. Ginning up anger and discontent, and trying to find scapegoats is not a viable, long-term strategy.