July 22, 2022

Summertime, and the living is queasy. While we should be out at Nauset Beach getting ready to catch the next wave on our surfboards or boogie boards (assuming there are no sharks), we are girding ourselves for the fourth wave of the pandemic. The coronavirus is hot, hot, hot. It may not be as hot as the weather and fires out West, but it’s close. We will soon be trading scuba masks for face masks…again.

People say they are scared to get vaccinated. No wonder. The conservative blogosphere is scaring the bejesus out of people. Disinformation is deadly. Maybe we should recriminalize marijuana because these disinformers are smoking something. They are hallucinating. 660,000 dead is a hoax. The January 6th attack on The Capitol never occurred. Flooding in Germany, droughts in the west, fires in Portland, and historic rainfall locally is not happening. Before you know it, they will be saying that Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos faked their space launches.

I would rather be flying Delta than getting delta. The lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are turning into just hazy and crazy. If we can avoid catching the fourth wave, we will be sitting on top of the world. If not, we will be huddling under the boardwalk.

July 16, 2021

ICU in September

Don’t look now, but COVID is back in the guise of the Delta variant. Cases are rising almost everywhere, and ICU units are refilling up. I hate to be the one to spoil your backyard BBQ’s and pool parties, but September will be here before you know it. That is when we have all decided to return to “normal.” At the rate we are going, normal will unfortunately be what we have been experiencing for the last year and a half.

The unvaccinated are showing up in hospitals and morgues. Hospital workers are not sure whether they should get angry or just give up. Newly admitted patients, many of whom are young, say they are embarrassed to be there, but it is often already too late. Politicians are pretending that there is nothing to see here. They demonize Dr. Fauci with slogans like “Don’t Fauci Florida,” or saying they don’t want the “Ouchie Fauci.” They are killing their own citizens with misinformation. They are guilty of political malpractice. Members of CPAC cheered anti-vaccination diatribes. Soon they will all need CPAP machines. They claim that volunteer outreach efforts to get people vaccinated will lead to the government taking away guns and Bibles.

I can’t believe this is America. We cherish our freedom, but freedom doesn’t give you the right to be stupid. How did we get to be this dumb? The rest of the world hated us because we refused to acknowledge the coronavirus. Now they hate us because we have vaccines, and refuse to use them. They would die to be in our position, and we are dying despite our position. ICU in September.

July 9, 2021

Marc Theissen had a recent editorial in the Washington Post and reprinted in the Springfield Republican titled, “Give Trump Credit For Vaccines.” Trump desperately tried to take credit for the vaccines, reportedly wanting to name them the Trump vaccines. Trump would have a hard time spelling DNA never mind knowing the difference between DNA and RNA. The research that led to the development of the vaccines was initiated by Nobel Prize-winning scientists. That is the same Nobel Prize that Trump coveted, and hated President Obama for receiving. According to Walter Isaacson in his book “The Code Breaker,””the invention of easily reprogrammable RNA vaccines was a lightning-fast triumph of human ingenuity, but it was based on decades of curiosity-driven research into one of the most fundamental aspects of life.”

We should give Trump credit for the 50% of the population that refuses to get vaccinated for all sorts of spurious reasons. He poisoned the well early on, and it remains poisoned. This is the same person who used extraordinary means to stay alive after contracting COVID, and then used his bully pulpit to get vaccinated in secret.

Isaacson utilizes thought experiments to discuss the morality of genetic engineering. Here is one that he did not come up with.

You have not been vaccinated.

99% of the people who have died from Coronavirus have not been vaccinated.

What does that make you?

July 7, 2021

Recent surveys have shown that 65% of Americans believe that alien life exists. Our defense department has documented hundreds of occurrences that cannot be explained. They label these episodes as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. I am believer, and I also believe that alien life is already here. We have ample evidence because, in the parallel universe where the aliens come from, up is down and right is wrong. Do they have ulterior motives?

These aliens come from a world where global warming doesn’t exist. They don’t trust the earthling scientists, who all agree that climate change and global warming are existential threats. All the aliens have to do is look out the windows of their alien space crafts to see the devastating hurricanes, raging forest fires, record temperatures, melting glaciers, and rising oceans. Admittedly, their views are hampered by Trump 2020 stickers and Confederate flags.

The aliens believe that the last US presidential election was stolen even though every audit done since then has shown no proof. It is what we earthlings from the United States call the “Big Lie.” The aliens attacked the U.S. Capitol, and tried to tell the rest of us that it was a normal tourist visit that never happened. They wanted to see what our reaction would be. They got their answer, and are obviously getting ready for something bigger.

The Coronavirus doesn’t exist in the world where the aliens come from. As a result, they don’t wear masks, or feel the need to get vaccinated. Ironically, as the new Delta variant spreads around the globe, it is the aliens who are dying. 99% of US organisms that have died from COVID are aliens, who have not been vaccinated.

Finally, the aliens have their own sources of information. They tend to listen to other-worldly broadcasts from their control rooms back home wherever that is. They take their marching orders from human-like forms whose bodies have been taken over by the aliens. These humanoids spout evils lies designed to foment internal strife. Beware, the aliens are already here.

July 3, 2021

Sha’Carri Richardson, America’s best hope for a gold medal in the 100 meters in the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo, has been disqualified for using marijuana. She may be able to anchor the 4X100 relay team. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) claims that marijuana is a performance enhancing drug. Per the WADA, drugs are banned if they meet two of three criteria…they enhance performance, pose a health risk, or violate “the spirit of sport.”

I don’t think that there is any credible evidence that marijuana poses any significant, or even insignificant, health risk. Otherwise, why have many states legalized marijuana already for either recreational and/or medical use? It is a booming business. As for the “spirit of the sport,” that is truly a highly subjective catchall that allows the powers that be to decide the fate of captive athletes based on a “feeling.”

Is marijuana a performance enhancer? Based on anecdotal evidence, marijuana is as much a performance enhancer as alcohol is to steady one’s nerve before playing golf or going on a long drive. Marijuana sharpens nothing. It dulls the senses and impedes reaction times, or so I am told. You don’t use marijuana before you do something. You use it after you have done something.

This unfortunate story feels similar to the NCAA’s stranglehold over college athletes. The college “plantation” system did not allow athletes to benefit monetarily from their name, image, or likeness. This finally has changed. In a similar vein, the WADA and the IOC control the lives of Olympic athletes, many of whom are black. This will change also, but probably not in time for Sha’Carri Richardson. We will all be deprived of watching her flaming red hair race down the Olympic track.

June 27, 2021

The Summer Olympic Games are less than a month away. The track and field trials were great, and they identified a whole new generation of world class athletes. I can still remember some of the races from 1960, especially Wilma Rudolph’s triple gold medal winning performances. These athletes are critical to the US team’s success. Do you go out fast, or hang back setting up a ferocious kick? I thought that is what people were referring to when they were talking about critical race theory. As it turns out, it isn’t about the Olympics at all. I couldn’t understand why people were so opposed to discussing the Olympics in school, and why Congressmen were questioning five star generals in hearings. With all of the uproar, I thought there was a call to defund the Olympics.

As it turns out, critical race theory isn’t nearly as much fun as the Olympics. CRT originated in the ‘70’s, over fifty years ago. It is nothing new. Conservatives for some reason have decided to make all old things new again. CRT examines social, cultural and legal issues as they relate to race. That seems like a good thing. As General Milley said when being questioned by alleged sex trafficker, Matt Gaetz, “ I have read Lenin and Marx, but that doesn’t make me a Communist.” You would think the schools were trying to turn students into racists as some people claim. This all seems like much ado about nothing to me. In the meantime, I will be setting my DVR so I don’t miss a second of the Olympics, which really are a big deal and critical for many.

June 23, 2021

There are discussions going on in Washington these days about eliminating the capital gains tax, and making all capital gains subject to ordinary income tax rates. I am of two minds when it comes to the capital gains tax. On the one hand, the Biden government needs to fund its infrastructure proposals. Infrastructure should not be funded by increasing the deficit. Also, the capital gains tax favors the wealthy, and contributes to income inequality. On the other hand, as a practitioner for over thirty years, I saw more bad investment decisions made because of the capital gains tax. Investors would continue to hold on to bad investments rather than pay the capital gains tax, and watch their investments go down.

I propose doing away with the capital gains tax altogether. Rather than taxing capital gains, I would subject all investment accounts to a graduated wealth tax. Investors could buy and sell as as many times as they liked without having to worry about tax consequences. IRA accounts could be done away with. At the end of the year, investors would pay a tax on the size of their accounts. The government would have a vested interest in making sure that investors prospered. Investment firms would benefit by increased trading activity. Taxpayers would benefit from much simpler schedules for filing taxes. The capital markets would benefit with a more effective and efficient allocation of capital. And society would benefit by mitigating income inequality.

Addendum:

“. Previously the city (Florence) had raised a large portion of its revenue from taxes by the estimo system, which was mainly used by those in power to inflict swingeing financial damage on their adversaries. What was estimated in the estimo was income, which meant that the landowners paid little; those with a large income did their best to conceal its full extent, and those with too small an income to conceal bore a disproportionately large burden. This had long been a cause of grievance among those who did not benefit from it – that is, the majority of the population.
It was soon realised there would be difficulty in collecting sufficient taxes to pay for the war. The only answer was to change the tax system, and a new method of taxation was now instituted: the catasto (or register of property), which was to be based on a citizen’s entire wealth, rather than merely on his income. This wealth would be declared in a public register, which would list all possessions, as well as income from these possessions and from any other source;

Excerpt From
The Medici
Paul Strathern

June 21, 2021

Per Wikipedia, “latte liberal” is pejorative political term used to illustrate hypocritical behavior by liberals of upper class status; for example, calling for the use of mass transit while frequently using privately owned luxury transportation, especially by limousines or private jets in the case of the extremely affluent, claiming environmental consciousness but driving fuel inefficient sports cars or SUVs, or ostensibly supporting public education while actually sending their children to private schools. I don’t think I qualify. I am not a latte drinker. I drink espresso as my grandfather taught me, which, I guess, makes me an espresso liberal. This begs the question, “What is an espresso liberal.”

An espresso liberal will drive a Suburu and/or some kind of hybrid or all-electric vehicle. He will take the train and/or subway when visiting New York. He hopes that there will be train transportation to Boston some day. He will not drive a pick up truck unless he is a tradesman or has some other practical use for the flatbed. Having an oversized truck to show off his gun rack does not qualify. An espresso liberal will send his child to public school because private schools are overpriced, and do not reflect real life. Public schools are more competitive, and less nurturing. An espresso liberal supports efforts to remedy income inequality even though it may not be in his own financial best interest. An espresso liberal likes his coffee strong, not diluted.

June 17, 2021

A recent op-ed piece in the Financial Times stated “Biden politely reads the riot act to Putin.” I presume that means that Biden told Putin what we know, what we expect in the future, and what the consequences would be if we are disappointed. Only the future can tell us if this summit was successful. Sadly, Putin was also able to read the riot act to Biden. In a classic case of what about-ism, Putin constantly responded to questions from reporters by citing the insurrection of January 6th. Because Republicans have refused to condemn the insurrectionists in no uncertain terms as well as the “big lie,” Putin was able to claim that the United States was the one suppressing free speech and jailing dissidents. Donald Trump chose Putin over his own intelligence services at the infamous Helsinki press conference. Now Republicans are making Putin’s case for him. Someone should read them the riot act.

June 16, 2021

After four years of an assault on our democracy culminating in an actual assault on our government, Democrats want to move on. They are tired, and want to deal with issues other than the Tweet of the day. However, the Republican Party won’t let the last election go. Democrats feel like they have stepped in quicksand, and are slowly being sucked into the insanity that passes for the Republican Party. Democrats are committed, and Republicans should be. The GOP stands for nothing other than election audits, election “reform,” and trying to cover up what happened on January 6th. January 6th is the one thing they definitely want to move on from.

We need to move on, and there in lies the danger. If Democrats move on, they cede the next election to Republican shenanigans. If Republicans win back the House and Senate with the help of corrupt state government officials and bogus election laws, the will of the majority will be suppressed and we will no longer have representative government. Democrats want to deal with infrastructure, climate change, income inequality and more, but they cannot afford to ignore what Republicans are doing at the state level. Republicans have no interest in moving on, and addressing the needs of the American people. Democrats want to move ahead, something Republicans have no head for.