March 1, 2021

Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to be “cancelled”. Merriam-Webster notes that to “cancel”, as used in this context, means “to stop giving support to that person” while Dictionary.com defines cancel culture as “withdrawing support for public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.” Cancel culture constitutes a form of boycotting involving an individual who is deemed to have acted or spoken in a questionable or controversial manner. For those at the receiving end of cancel culture, the consequences can lead to loss of reputation and income that can be hard to recover from. Thank you to Wikipedia.

The Radical, Right wing, Regressive Republicans have decided that this is their new talking point, taking the place of fake news. To make their point, they have gone after controversies that can at best be considered inconsequential. Without going into details, they have railed against Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, the Muppets, a dust up at Smith College, and something about San Francisco that no one really knows or cares about unless you live in San Francisco. These are not examples of cancel culture. This is what we used to call political correctness. Regardless, it’s not important in the scheme of things.

What is important is the pandemic, voter suppression, climate change, immigration, infrastructure, and more. The RRRR is bankrupt of ideas. They have no platform. They have canceled themselves.

March 3, 2021

One of the major debates in Washington today involves relief for debt-burdened students. Progressives are proposing debt relief of $50,000 per student. President Biden is at $10,000 with proposals for free education at community colleges. Conservatives are not part of the discussion. I am okay with whatever proposal makes it through as long as it is based on need. It needs to be targeted aid, and not a shotgun approach.

I made it through college with no debt when tuition, room and board were approximately $3,000 per year. My parents paid the portion that was not covered by financial aid. For spending money, I did what I had to. I flipped hamburgers, worked in factories, drove a cab, cleaned dorm rooms and toilets, baby sat for the children of alumni, and offered my body to medical science. Loans were not part of the package. However, graduate school was a different story. We had substantial loans that had to be paid off, which we got done after several years. Because we paid off our loans, you may be thinking that I am totally opposed to student loan forgiveness, but I am not. Things change.

The staggering amount of debt that many students graduate with today is not comparable to what it was. The cost of a college education has grown much faster than average incomes. Financial aid and loans help at the elite schools, but there is no trickle down economics in education. Unless the school you go to has a multi-billion dollar endowment, you are dependent on parents, scholarships, student loans, and term-time work. Excessive debt affects employment choices, quality of life, and the ability to consume. It is clearly a direct result of income inequality, which then gets exacerbated by students unable to continue with their studies. If a worthy student needs a break, it’s okay with me.

February 26, 2021

How would you feel if…

…members of your community or your family were unfairly targeted by police resulting in unnecessary deaths

…your family was separated at the border, and brought here in chains

…your national protest was characterized as an anti-fascist conspiracy

…state houses around the country were devising schemes to keep you from voting

…one of the major political parties was attempting to invalidate your vote

…white supremacists who attacked the Capitol believed the Presidential election was stolen by people like you

…large numbers of people were buying even larger numbers of guns because they are afraid of you

…you and your family were dying in far greater numbers from the pandemic

…you and your family have much shorter life expectancies than others

…the first person of your group elected President is attacked for not being born here

…a major figure on talk radio called the first person from your group to be elected President a “magic Negro.”

…terrorists attacking the Capitol called police officers like you the “N” word.

…you suffer from inequality of opportunity and income

…the President of the United States told people like you to go back to the s#$thole countries that you came from

How would you feel?

February 24, 2021

We are all taught to not speak ill of the dead, but, in Rush Limbaugh’s case, I will make an exception because he spent his career maligning people, who he disagreed with. He disparaged them in the most heinous of terms. In a Springfield Republican op-ed, Cal Thomas says we need to understand the people he appealed to. Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida ordered flags to be flown at half mast. However, Rush Limbaugh did more damage to the United States than any other media figure short of Roger Ailes. Ultimately, he gave us Donald Trump.

Limbaugh, like Trump, was an entertainer and a rank opportunist. He didn’t criticize. He insulted and ridiculed. He didn’t question the biases of his listeners, he amplified them. He called President Obama a “magic negro.” He made fun of gays. He coined the term “feminazi.” He referred to the NBA as the “Thug Basketball Association.” He called a law student a “slut” and a “prostitute.” He mocked Chinese. He referred to Chelsea Clinton as a “dog.” He said, “Indians have casinos, what’s to complain about?” Finally, he denied the results of the Presidential election. There is lots more, but I think the point is made. He is not to be honored. He is to be reviled. He did not give voice to the “silent majority.” He gave it license.

February 23, 2021

There are many ways of assessing how a President did his job? One of the more important ways is to assess how a President affected America’s standing in the world community. On that score, Donald Trump was a miserable failure. He was laughed at during a United Nations speech. He damaged our relationship with NATO. He pulled out of the Paris Agreement and the Trans Pacific Partnership. He withdrew from the World Health Organization. He said that Mexico would pay for his wall. He got impeached for his Ukrainian quid pro quo. He canceled the Iran deal. He withdrew troops from Syria, leaving our Kurdish allies exposed. He kowtowed to Vladimir Putin. He had nothing to show for his Chinese and Korean photo ops.

In addition, the things he did at home eroded America’s influence around the world even more. His response to the pandemic and the resultant loss of over 500,000 lives has made us a laughing stock around the world. Our adversaries use this ineptitude to take exception to American exceptionalism. China, Russia, Iran and others have been using the Trump-inspired insurrection as a major talking point, and as a way to maintain control over their own populations. The climate deniers and deregulators, who were supported by Trump, were responsible for a mass disaster in Texas that is tailor made propaganda for our enemies.

Polls show that our status and favorability ratings around the world have dropped dramatically. Our European allies are hedging their bets by doing more business with China. It will take years to correct the damage that has been caused. America’s standing in the world was knee-capped by Donald Trump.

February 22, 2021

George Washington

“History records few examples of a leader who so earnestly wanted to do the right thing, not just for himself but for his country. Avoiding moral shortcuts, he consistently upheld such high ethical standards that he seemed larger than any other figure on the political scene. Again and again the American people had entrusted him with power, secure in the knowledge that he would exercise it fairly and ably and surrender it when his term of office was up. He had shown that the president and commander in chief of a republic could possess a grandeur surpassing that of all the crowned heads of Europe. He brought maturity, sobriety, judgment, and integrity to a political experiment that could easily have grown giddy with its own vaunted success, and he avoided the backbiting, envy, and intrigue that detracted from the achievements of other founders. He had indeed been the indispensable man of the American Revolution”

Excerpt From

Washington

Ron Chernow

February 19, 2021

There is a healthy debate going on about the need to get children back in schools. Is it safe to go back for children, teachers, administrators and other support personnel? I am not sure what the answer is, but I am confident a rational, non-politicized solution will become possible. I believe schools will pass the test. The Republican Party, however, continues to fail the tests it has been presented even though they are take home, open book, pass/fail tests.

Their first test was the impeachment trial. It could not have been any easier. The “teachers” gave them the answer. All they had to do was write down the answer on the test sheet. They had only one true/false question to answer, and they got it wrong. They accused the teachers of giving them the wrong question. Rather than answering the question about Trump’s guilt or innocence , they essentially said, “Who’s to say?” For that, they have earned a failing grade, which will be on their transcripts for life.

Their second test was administered in the state of Texas. The Governor failed the leadership test, which was a multiple choice test where taking responsibility and solving the problem were the correct answers. Rather than getting out in front of the problem, he went on Fox to blame AOC and the Green New Deal. I am not sure if he was blaming AOC for not doing enough to solve climate change, or was trying to do too much. No sooner was he trying to walk that back when Ted Cruz was getting on a plane for Cancun. Rather than taking responsibility for his poor decision, he blamed his daughter for not giving him the test answers.

We need to get the schools open as fast as possible because Republicans are failing miserably, and should be made to repeat the past year.

February 18, 2021

One of the new conspiracy spreading techniques being employed by Republicans is the “just asking the question” ploy. For example, recently, radical right Republican Senator Ron Johnson asked, “I don’t know. I am just asking the question. What did Nancy Pelosi know and when did she know it about the Capitol insurrection.” Wow! That will get you thinking. Ironically, this was after Democrats proved what Donald Trump knew and when he knew it about the attack on our democracy.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas wants to know what AOC knew and when she knew it about windmills. Apparently windmills froze up in Texas, and rumor has it that it was the fault of the Green New Deal. Inexplicably, windmills in Canada are doing just fine. Apparently, Texas tried to provide wind power on the cheap by not buying freeze-proof blades. I guess climate change isn’t real until it happens to you. Even then, if you are a true red Texan, blame a girl. Isn’t Abbott in the pocket of the oil and gas industry in Texas? I don’t know. I am just asking the question. I would like to know.

According to the “previous guy,” Mitch McConnell is being paid by the Chinese. Isn’t McConnell’s wife Chinese? It seems like he is very accommodating to the Chinese, and willing to ship jobs overseas. Maybe that’s why he went after Trump, who was tough on Xi? I don’t know. I am just asking the question. I would like to know

I find it awfully convenient that Rush Limbaugh decided now to die. He has a lot to answer for. Do we really know he had lung cancer? A lot of people are saying that he died of COVID. Everybody knows he was hated by the Clintons. Maybe Rush had evidence that the Clintons killed Vince Foster. It seems very suspicious. I don’t know. I am just asking the question. I would like to know.

February 15, 2021

The evidence fit, but they still acquit. In the latest iteration of the McCarthy (Kevin) hearings, evidence was introduced and dismissed. Unlike the original McCarthy (Joe) hearings, people were actually guilty. Mitch McConnell did his best impersonation of Captain Renault in Casablanca, who famously said, “I have no conviction, if that’s what you mean. I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy.” We will have a 9/11-style commission where we will learn more than we want to, and Bill Barr won’t be there to whitewash it. The latest Republican talking point is that it really wasn’t much of a riot anyway, which is just baiting the white supremacists to do it bigger and better next time. Given the surge in gun sales, the next insurrection may already be in the works. Regardless, we have to move on, but how?

One of the keys to getting opposing sides together is to “force” them to work on a mutually agreeable and mutually beneficial project. Based on research into group psychology, there are conditions that increase the chance that groups will be successful. Being a real team results from having a shared task with clear boundaries with stability in group membership. The group must have a compelling direction, which results from a clear, challenging, and consequential goal. Defining the goal is up to President Biden. Hopefully, it will be infrastructure and the environment. The question remains will Republicans want to play nice, and chose cooperation. As of now, there is no evidence that they want to.

February 15, 2021

At a time when the country is at a national crossroads, suffering from the twin ills of a pandemic and an aborted, seditious takeover of our government, the PGA of America took the courageous stance of allowing professional golfers to use range finders on a limited basis. Wow! The next thing you know they will allow players to wear shorts when the temperature goes over 100 degrees. For the uninitiated, amateurs have been able to use range finders for many years now. And it’s not like range finders are the only publicly available information regarding distances. Most courses already have marked their sprinkler heads, and put out yardage markers at 100, 150 and 200 yards. Some courses even put yardages on cart paths. Many pro shops have yardage books ready available.

On the pro tour, caddies walk off yardages and check their yardage books endlessly while the rest of us are forced to watch the drama of picking the correct club. Four hour rounds become five and six hour rounds. The ratio of action to airtime is worse than football. Caddies are self-servingly objecting, saying that range finders will actually slow down play. Clearly, this is a job preservation strategy, which pains me to say as a former caddie. Other than because of history and tradition, I am not sure why caddies should be allowed to do anything other than carry the bag and keep the clubs clean, but that is another discussion. Players should be responsible for determining their own yardages, making a club selection, and reading putts. Regardless, the PGA is late to the party. However, they may run into the USGA coming in as they are leaving.