November 6, 2024

The Dark Ages is a term for the Early Middle Ages (c. 5th–10th centuries), or occasionally the entire Middle Ages (c. 5th–15th centuries), in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which characterizes it as marked by economic, intellectual, and cultural decline. We have unofficially entered the new Dark Ages. I will leave it up to future historians as to whether this marks the “official” beginning of the new Dark Ages, or, more appropriately, Dark Ages 2.0. I realize this seems terribly dark, but this is where I and millions of fellow citizens are today. It’s mourning in America, or for America. We are not despondent because we lost an election. That has happened many times in the past, and probably will happen many times in the future. No, we are discouraged because so many of our fellow citizens think this okay. A Republican friend of mine said that it must be tough losing to a Republican. I responded that losing to a Republican was not the issue. Losing to a Fascist and wannabe dictator was the issue. No one ever got hit by a train they saw coming. The train came barreling down the tracks, we all saw it, but we refused to get out of the way.

This is not about me. Whatever happens is not going to change my lifestyle although it might influence the people I choose to associate with. My modest stock portfolio is surging this morning as it continues its unprecedented rise from the Great Recession of 2008. As the Wall Street Journal said, the 47th President is inheriting a fabulous economy from Joe Biden similar to the one the 45th President inherited from Barack Obama. The markets are discounting another two trillion dollars in debt as tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations become permanent. Ironically, traders are already discounting higher inflation. Many voters are hearing for the first time that tariffs will hit their pocketbooks. Years ago, Jamie Dimon addressed a national conference of branch managers of Shearson Lehman Brothers. The Lehman Brothers research department had just been ranked #1 by Institutional Investor. Dimon, who was very good at getting to the bottom of things before he flinched on the last election, said, “If you gave my mother $40,000,000, she could have built the top research department on Wall Street.” Similarly, if you gave me $2 trillion of additional debt, I could give you a great economy. However, the bills will come due.

This is about future generations, which we have forsaken at the altar of greed and ignorance. It’s all about what can you do for me now, and I don’t mean the National Organization of Women. If something untoward were to happen to me, it would be unfortunate for me and everyone around me, but it wouldn’t be a tragedy. I have rounded third base, and am heading for home. However, future generations will have to live with the consequences of the mess we have made. We have turned over the keys of the car to a driver drunk on power and money, and the car does not have FSD (full self-driving) despite having Elon Musk in the passenger seat. I can only imagine what our children and grandchildren are going to think about The Worst Generation. How are you going to answer the question when your granddaughters ask, “Who did you vote for in the 2024 Presidential election, Gramps?”

I have turned off the television. Unfortunately, I couldn’t cancel subscriptions to the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal because I never had them. My goal is to be as ill-informed as the average Trump voter. The average voter, when asked if Trump was an authoritarian, responded, “What’s an authoritarian?” Trump voters get their news primarily from family and friends, and random websites and podcasts. Democratic voters get their news from traditional news channels. I guess that’s our mistake. Ignorance may be bliss, but, in this case, it is very dangerous.

October 22, 2024

In March 2020 (sound familiar), a college friend of mine started a Zoom book group called “Aging Athletes.” We had all been active individuals our entire lives, and we were looking for ideas and encouragement as to how to keep it going. We would read a book that we had agreed upon about every two to three months. In all, we read about sixteen books. Unfortunately, the book group has temporarily been suspended because we have pretty much exhausted the topic.

The following are some excerpts from Judy Foreman’s book, “Exercise is Medicine,” How Physical Activity Boosts Health and Slows Aging. I am not a medical professional so nothing here should be taken as a recommendation. If you are interested in the science behind her conclusions, you will need to read the book.

To a biologist, aging is one of the most exciting mysteries in the universe. We can’t get rid of it, but we can dramatically minimize it with exercise. Exercising moderately for half an hour a day five days a week increases life span by 3.5 years. Even running slowly for just 5-10 minutes a day helps, and it’s just not running…walking, swimming weightlifting, dancing, gardening, jumping rope and so on also work. Anything that gets you moving is helpful. Motion is lotion. A sedentary lifestyle is a stronger predictor of premature death than obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking.

The following are some of her conclusions from the scientific literature:

1. Exercise at least 150 minutes per week at moderate intensity.

2. Do muscle-strengthening, resistance training twice a week.

3. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is highly effective, and more time efficient.

4. Fitness strongly predicts mortality regardless of body size. Exercise burns fat all over the body, but does not work as a “spot reduction.”

5. More exercise is better than less for extending longevity…to a point.

6. There is no evidence that doing too much exercise causes harm.

7. By and large, men and women do not need to exercise differently.

8. Exercise alone can help you lose weight, but it takes an awful lot of exercise. Typically, you need to change your diet.

9. Overall, it’s easier to regulate appetite if you are expending a lot of energy.

10. Caffeine can act as a performance enhancer.

11. Antioxidant vitamins don’t enhance the benefits of exercise.

12. Movement sensors like FitBit and Apple Watch are pretty good at counting steps, but are not so good at calculating caloric expenditure and heart rate.

13. Exercise can improve vision.

14. Exercise can benefit the skin.

15. You need to vary you workouts. You need to “surprise” your muscles, or else they get “bored.”

16. Exercise can affect circadian rhythms and remedy jet lag.

17. The best time to exercise is whenever you can fit it in.

18. Regular aerobic exercise during the day can help relieve stress, and help with sleep.

19. Exercise can be habitual, but it is not addictive.

20. Running is more efficient than other exercises like biking or walking in terms of expending calories per unit of time.

21. The ideal program includes both aerobic and anaerobic (weightlifting) activities.

22. Exercise can offset the mortality risks of drinking.

23. You won’t live forever, but you will look great.

Until very late in life, your lifestyle choices, including exercise, control 75% of your health and longevity with only 25-30% depending on your genes. In other words, the older you are, the healthier you have been.

October 20, 2024

We are mercifully coming down to the last few days of the 2024 presidential election. I truly hope that I will never have to think about, speak about, see, listen to, or write about Donald Trump ever again. That remains to be seen. I have been accused by more than one person of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which is a cute but terribly unoriginal phrase. It’s actually not a thing just like Jewish space lasers are not a thing. And it’s not derangement if what you are saying is true just like it is not paranoia if you are actually being followed.

I really don’t think I am deranged, but who’s to say? I haven’t paid hush money to a porn star or a Playboy centerfold; I haven’t lied about the size of my crowds; I haven’t called Mexicans rapists and murderers; I haven’t labeled Muslims terrorists, and tried to ban them from entering the U.S; I haven’t made fun of disabled reporters; I haven’t thrown paper towels at Puerto Rican hurricane victims; I haven’t insulted the military again and again while denigrating their service; I haven’t insulted the memory of POW John McCain; I haven’t tried eliminating health insurance for millions of Americans; I haven’t been impeached for threatening a Ukrainian quid pro quo; I haven’t been impeached for an attempted violent takeover of Congress; I haven’t been convicted of 34 felonies for fraud; I haven’t denied the results of the last election; I haven’t been convicted of sexual assault; I don’t have classified material in my bathroom; I don’t have a foundation that has been found guilty of fraud; I haven’t cheated students out of tuition money; I don’t stiff people who have done work for me; I haven’t declared bankruptcy six times; I didn’t play a fake businessman on TV; I haven’t insulted Gold Star families; I haven’t favored Vladimir Putin over my own intelligence agencies; I am not hawking bibles, gold coins, NFT’s, sneakers, digital coins, or anything else; I have not threatened to use the military against U.S. citizens; I don’t think Haitians are eating cats and dogs; I don’t think I am smarter than the National Weather Service, or that Democrats can control the weather; I don’t think that FEMA is diverting emergency funds to illegal immigrants; I haven’t prevented pregnant women from getting lifesaving medical care; I didn’t lie about COVID; I didn’t recommend that Americans take hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, inject chlorine and introduce UV rays into their bodies; I don’t think there are “good people on both sides;” I haven’t invited Nazis to the White House for dinner; I didn’t get my Vice President almost hanged; I don’t think that some of my fellow citizens come from shit hole countries; I don’t pal around with white nationalists; I don’t deny climate change; I didn’t separate families at the border; I didn’t lie about building a wall at the border, and having Mexico pay for it; I didn’t threaten Georgia’s Secretary of State to get more votes. I could go on, but it’s no coincidence that a panel of 154 Presidential scholars voted Trump the worst President of all time. I may get a fifteen yard penalty for piling on, but more than 400 economists and former White House policy advisors endorsed Kamala Harris.

So this is the guy that almost half of the country wants to vote for. Maybe I am deranged. In 2016, I can almost understand someone voting for Trump. If you weren’t from New York, you might not know his history racism, misogyny, grifting, and failure. You were looking for a fresh, new, orange face, and you just didn’t like Hilary Clinton. I get it. In retrospect , you could claim plausible deniability. In 2020, after four years of sufficient evidence, it was clear that Trump was anti-democratic, dare I say, Fascist to the core. Now you have moved from plausible deniability to willful blindness.

Here is the really bad news if you are considering voting for Trump in 2024. You may say that you don’t like Trump, and how he behaves, but you like his policies. You say that he is good for business. It’s not quite that easy. You don’t get a free pass. If you are in for a penny, you are in for pound. You may like his policies, and you may think he is good for business, but you now own all of the other stuff. As we have heard from Maya Angelou over and over, “When someone tells you who they are, believe them.” Trump has told you who he is. If you are a three-time Trumper, you are telling everyone who you are. There would be no daylight between you and him. You can’t pretend that is not how you think because that is exactly how you think. You approve of it because you have voted for it twice, and are prepared to do it again. You are contracting out your dirty work. However, when his bill comes due, are you going to pay it, or pull a Trump?

October 7, 2024

Divisive politics has driven a wedge through the heart of our country. Family members have been alienated from each other. Holidays with relatives can be painful. I don’t want to point any fingers, but anyone who reads this column knows where I stand. Regardless, when things got uncomfortable, we could always talk about the weather, or at least we could. The other day, I was talking about Hurricane Helene with another person. We were both expressing how bad we felt for the victims when, out of nowhere, I was informed that FEMA was diverting funds to illegal immigrants, and leaving North Carolinians high and not dry. That seemed like some crazy stuff until I received my daily e-mail from political historian Heather Cox Richardson. Her well-researched piece documents how the internet and right wing media are crawling with all sorts of conspiracy theories about the government’s response to Helene. This is not the first time that the weather has become a political football for Republicans.

Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey just days before the 2012 presidential election. President Obama did what presidents are supposed to do. He flew to New Jersey to offer Federal assistance where he was met by Governor Chris Christie. The moment was captured in a famous photo called “the hug.” Many Republicans complained that the Governor gave Obama a bipartisan boost that hurt Mitt Romney. That was pretty much the end of Christie’s political career. What was left of it was snuffed out by Bridgegate and Jared Kushner, who didn’t exactly appreciate Christie putting his father in jail.

In 2019, the internet ruthlessly mocked Donald Trump for posing with a weather map that appeared to have been altered by a Sharpie to wrongly show Hurricane Dorian’s trajectory into Alabama. Trump had spent the past several days doubling down on a tweet that claimed, baselessly, that Alabama was in Dorian’s path, even after being rebuked by the National Weather Service. Rather than acknowledge the mistake, Trump attacked reporters and kept claiming that Alabama was initially forecast to be in Dorian’s path. Trump caused all kinds of chaos in Alabama because people believed a government official who told them they couldn’t believe other government officials.

In May, 2024, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that deleted most of the mentions of climate change from state law. He did this even as South Florida faced record high temperatures. The heat index was well over 100 degrees for days on end. The Florida Climate Center reports that the January-May period has been the hottest on record. Even as I write, Hurricane Milton, a category 5 storm, is heading for central Florida with 180 mile per hour winds. Florida has seen record heat, flooding, rain, and insurance rates. The corals are dying all over the state, yet the climate denial nonsense persists. To underscore his pettiness, DeSantis refused to take a phone call from Vice President Harris for political reasons I can only guess.

Natural disasters are a feeding ground for bottom feeders that peddle bald face lies about deadly storms. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been condemned for her conspiratorial comments about Hurricane Helene. She suggested that she believed that the government can control the weather, implying that Democrats were behind Hurricane Helene. Other crazies are saying that you can’t trust anything the Federal government says about Hurricane Milton. The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official was forced to go on TV to condemn false claims made about Helene and its relief efforts, stating that such conspiracy theories, including those made by Donald Trump, are causing fear in people who need assistance and “demoralizing” the workers who are providing the assistance.

Project 2025, Trump’s conservative blueprint for running the country, calls for the breakup of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA.) The NOAA houses the National Weather Service. The plan, spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, says that the weather service should “fully commercialize its forecasting operations” and focus on providing data to private companies. These are the people that tell you about the weather and help you prepare for hurricanes, which could come in handy some day. Why would anyone think this is a good idea? According to Project 2025, “the NOAA has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” In Florida, the climate change alarm industry sounds like the emergency alarm everyone gets on their cell phone, announcing a mandatory evacuation.

Thanksgiving is coming. We already can’t talk about politics and religion, and now we can no longer talk about the weather. I guess we still have football. Just don’t bring up Colin Kaepernick.

September 19, 2024

After the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, a vast majority of the people polled told pollsters that Harris had won the debate. The margins were about 65-35. People heard crazy stuff from Trump about immigrants eating pets. They heard Trump’s tortured explanation about how Kamala Harris wasn’t black until she decided to be black. Trump ranted about crowd size, which may be his original sin, and once again doubled down on the big lie and all that entails. It was a tour de force that drove many Republicans into hiding, and Independents into thinking.

Subsequently, undecided voters were asked by pollsters about how they felt about the two candidates, and whether or not their feelings had changed. In many of the interviews, the responses were along the lines of “I am moving a little closer to Harris.” “The door is open, but I am not quite there yet.” “I have always voted Republican, and it would be difficult for me to vote for a Democrat.” These undecideds/Independents were obviously having difficulty processing the new information about Trump. What is going on here?

In the second half of the twentieth century, one of the most influential social psychologists of the time was Leon Festinger. Festinger was in a league with Harvard behavioral scientist B.F. Skinner, child development psychologist Jean Piaget, the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, and social psychologist Albert Bandura. Festinger originated the theory of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort experienced when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes simultaneously, or when their behavior conflicts with their beliefs. The theory suggests that people are motivated to reduce this discomfort by either changing their beliefs, justifying their behavior, or minimizing the significance of the inconsistency. For example, if someone values health but smokes, they might experience cognitive dissonance. To reduce the discomfort, they might quit smoking, justify it by downplaying the health risks, or tell themselves they will quit in the future.

Cognitive dissonance is highly relevant in politics, as individuals often encounter conflicting information that challenges their political beliefs or actions.

1. Partisan Loyalty vs. Contradictory Evidence: When people strongly identify with a political party or ideology, they may experience cognitive dissonance if presented with evidence that their party or leader acted against their principles. To reduce dissonance, they may dismiss or downplay the evidence, question its validity, or reinterpret the information to align with their beliefs. This is often seen in the way partisans handle scandals or policy failures involving their preferred party.

2. Voter Rationalization: Cognitive dissonance can explain why voters might continue supporting a politician despite behaviors or policies that contradict their own values. For instance, if someone votes for a candidate who later enacts policies they disagree with, they may rationalize their vote by focusing on the candidate’s other positive qualities or by minimizing the importance of the conflicting policies.

3. Echo Chambers and Media Consumption: To avoid cognitive dissonance, individuals may seek out news sources or social media communities that reinforce their existing beliefs, a phenomenon known as the “echo chamber” effect. By consuming information that confirms their worldview, they avoid the discomfort of confronting contradictory perspectives.

4. Policy Change and Belief Adjustment: Politicians themselves might experience cognitive dissonance when their actions (e.g., compromising on policies) conflict with their stated principles. To resolve this dissonance, they might publicly adjust their stance or justify their behavior in ways that realign with their personal or party’s ideology.

You can hear in the voices of the undecideds how difficult it is for them to do something that they have never done before, and something that generations of their family members before them had never done before. It is painful for them to vote for a Democrat when all of their neighbors and friends are Republicans. Hopefully, by November 5th, they can resolve their angst. As Geoff Duncan, former Republican Lieutenant Governor of Georgia said at the Democratic National Convention, “Voting for Kamala Harris doesn’t make you a Democrat. It makes you a patriot.” John F. Kennedy said that change is the law of life. Hopefully, voters who are in limbo are prepared to follow the law.

September 12, 2024

Recently, I had the great opportunity to get together with some old friends (are there any other kinds these days?) at the venerable Lenox Club in Lenox, MA. For you history buffs, the Lenox Club was founded in 1864 in The Berkshires, and then incorporated as a Reading Club for Gentlemen in 1874. As we sat on the veranda sipping our cocktails and lying to each other about how great we looked and how we hadn’t changed a bit, groups of similarly aged people started arriving, about forty in all. The Music Room, the Ladies’ Parlor, and the Gentlemen’s Library were set up for group discussions. I asked one of the attendees what was going on. He said it was just an ad hoc group of citizens concerned about age and term limits, and how they affected the three branches of the federal government.

As it related to Congress, the general consensus was that too many members lingered way too long in office. Incumbents had an unfair advantage bestowed on them by special interests funding their campaigns, which created obvious conflicts of interest. Many lose touch with younger voters. Term limits would reduce the influence of corporate lobbying, would decrease potential government corruption, and make representatives more responsive to their constituents.

On the other hand, it was acknowledged that term limits would deprive some voters of their choice of representation. Limits might prevent politicians from gaining policy expertise, and create more lame duck members.

The participants coalesced around proposing a maximum of three, six-year terms for Senators, and nine, two-year terms for Representatives. It should be noted that any change in term limits would require an amendment to the Constitution, which is highly unlikely. As background, James Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 62, defended six-year terms for Senators, insisting that they would have a stabilizing influence on the new government. Longer terms would reduce turnover, keep Senators independent, and force Senators to take responsibility for their actions.

Regarding the Supreme Court, it was mentioned that The Brennan Center for Justice endorses term limits for Supreme Court justices, in part because of “a regard for the evolving views and composition of the electorate.” It should be noted that almost every country limits the tenure of judges, imposing either a mandatory retirement age or a term of service.

As far as the participants were concerned, term limits would prevent Justices from shaping the law for multiple generations, as well as keep them more in tune with changing public values. Justices would also presumably be less likely to engage in unethical behavior. Most participants did not support age limits, but did support President Biden’s eighteen-year term limits. This would only require Congressional action.

The 22nd amendment already imposes a two term limit on Presidents so the only issue to be discussed was imposing an upper age limit on the Presidency. In general, the participants felt that with age comes experience and even wisdom. An age limit would again deprive voters of their choice. There is no consensus about the appropriate age would be, and it would require an amendment to the Constitution. The 25th amendment may effectively deal with age-related issues pertaining to competency, but the participants were not convinced that the Vice President and cabinet officers would ever move against the President that put them in office.

In conclusion, participants were divided in deciding whether to impose an age limit. Most were against it. They believed that this year’s election between two elderly men, before Biden dropped, was an aberration. The fact that Biden did, in fact, drop out was evidence of a self-correcting process.

What struck and impressed me about this entire exercise was that our fellow citizens were willing to come together in a congenial environment to cordially discuss some very contentious issues. They may have self-selected themselves as being of similar minds going into the discussions. Regardless, I think it is always useful to hear what your neighbors have to say on difficult topics.

August 25, 2024

At the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton said “Don’t count the lies, count the I’s.” For 2024, the I’s, in my opinion, are Immigration, Inflation, and IVF. Abortion is one of the most important issues facing voters in the run up to November elections. There are 140 measures on the ballot in 41 states this November.

Because of the actions of some well-meaning people and the motivations of some not so well-meaning politicians, the issue of abortion has moved from the doctor’s office to the Oval Office. The Dobbs decision hobbled those who believed in a woman’s right to control her own body. The people who believe in pro-choice are not pro-death, which is what the pro-life people would have you believe. They believe that people can, in good faith, disagree about when life begins and should be protected. However, Supreme Courts at the state and federal levels continue to hear cases that will restrict abortion rights even further.

The issue of abortion can be very personal for many people. When I lived in Florida, a friend of mine invited to me his home for dinner, and to meet his wife, Sally Blackmun. The name should sound familiar. The walls of their home were covered with photos of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun and his famous acquaintances. Justice Blackmun wrote the majority opinion fifty years ago in the Roe vs. Wade decision. For that, they had to suffer drive by shootings by Right to Lifers, which is exceedingly ironic and troubling.

Sally was a major supporter of Planned Parenthood. She was very open about her own experiences as a young woman, and how Planned Parenthood probably saved her life. Her story probably affected how Justice Blackmun approached the Roe case, and how abortion is a very private and painful decision that some women have to make. Justice Blackmun understood all too well the dangers that bans on abortions posed for the health of young women.

Are American views on abortion in anyway an outlier among other cultures and societies?  Anthropologists have looked at how the issue of abortion is addressed by various cultures and groups. The reality is that abortion and restrictions to abortion are practiced in different ways by virtually every one of the 350 cultural groups studied. Abortion laws and restrictions vary widely across countries and cultures. Religion is a major influence on beliefs regarding abortion. The Roman Catholic Church is well-known for its prohibition of abortion. Cultural norms and values can influence how abortion is perceived and whether it is accepted or not. Socioeconomic factors play a role. The role of gender and women’s rights can affect the availability and acceptability of abortions. Stigma associated with abortions can differ widely from one culture to another.

Even among less-developed cultures, attitudes about abortion run the gamut from groups where punishment for abortion is high to low or absent. Interestingly, abortion is punished 100% of the time in patrilineal cultures, but permitted in 71% of matrilineal cultures.

Cross-cultural studies of abortion help researchers and policymakers provide insight into the diversity of perspectives and approaches to this sensitive issue across different societies. It is a very complex issue, and does not lend itself to simple bromides and placards. Politicians who hold up photos of aborted fetuses dumb down the conversation in the same way that politicians holding up snowballs in summer to disprove global warming do.There are many legitimate beliefs about abortion, but none are universal.

There is no singular approach to abortion that all people and cultures agree on. There are more questions than answers. Abortion laws and restrictions are clearly the result of the machinations of man, and, thus, are fallible and fungible. If there are no absolute answers that everyone universally agrees on, we should be entitled to proceed in the manner each of us deems as appropriate and conscientious. If the pro-choice advocates are not forcing anyone to have an abortion, then the pro-life faction should not prevent anyone from having one. Not getting an abortion is your right. Imposing your belief system on others is not your right. It is a wrong.

July 29, 2024

The Washington Post had a recent article on the value of having the Democratic candidate for President, Kamala Harris, announce her cabinet picks all at once and before the election. It would be like the Justice League of America facing off against an evil, Magalomanic. “Research in organizational behavior and social psychology demonstrates that… teams are better at tackling complex problems. Groups bring diverse experiences.” A team would recast the conversation about age and vigor, and mitigate some of the candidate’s political disadvantages. She could select swing state all-stars. She could promote popular and effective Biden officials. She could introduce fresh faces.

That got me to thinking about a future Trump cabinet. Trump supposedly had adults in the room in his first term in office that put guardrails around him. They would either say no, or ignore his demands altogether, knowing that he had the attention span of a gnat. They are all gone. Here are some of my suggestions for a Trump cabinet.

State: Paul Manafort. He is 75 years of age, and in his prime as defined by Trump. The convicted and pardoned felon has very important and influential contacts in Ukraine and Russia, which got him convicted. Manafort was charged with various financial crimes including tax evasion, bank fraud, and money laundering. There were 18 criminal charges including 5 falsifications of income tax returns, 4 failures to file foreign bank account reports, 4 counts of bank fraud, and 5 counts of bank fraud conspiracy.

Defense: Donald Trump. In a historic decision, Donald Trump appoints himself because he alone can fix it. He has said he knows more than his generals. He can now position troops all over the country to quell domestic disturbances. Who is more qualified than the draft-dodging man with bone spurs; the guy who criticized John McCain for being a prisoner of war; the guy who attacked gold star families; the guy who called soldiers losers and suckers; the guy who would not visit the graves of the fallen because it was raining; and the guy who asked “What’s in it for them?”

Agriculture: Snoop Dogg. Marijuana is a cash crop after all.

Transportation: Elon Musk. He seems to be doing the job already. He slogan will be “A chicken in every pot, and a Tesla in every garage.”

Education: Deleted.

Energy: Charles Koch. Former Secretary of State and CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, took himself out of contention when he called Trump an “effing moron.”

Treasury: Peter Thiel. He has a lot of money unlike Trump. He is a childless, gay man, which could be a problem for J.D. Vance.

Commerce: Nobody really cares. Insert the name of any member of Mar-a- Lago, who is expendable after Trump ruins the economy by blowing up the deficit, again, imposing tariffs on all things Chinese, and sending half of our labor force back to the sh@#hole countries they came from.

Health and Human Resources: Dr. Anthony Fauci. Just kidding. This job goes to Dr. Ronny Jackson, who called Trump a medical miracle. During a screed about “acing” his cognitive test, Trump referred to his personal, White House physician as Ronny Johnson. I am guessing that not even another four years would make Jackson memorable.

Homeland Security: Enrique Tarrio of The Proud Boys. He obviously uncovered vulnerabilities in our security set up at The Capitol. Brilliant. We need that kind of thinking in Washington. He is a convicted American seditionist, which makes him eminently qualified in Trump world. Stand back and stand by.

Housing and Urban Development: Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. They can carry on the Trump family tradition of endorsing discriminatory behavior in housing while trying to put a Trump Tower in every, deplorable major city. Maybe we will finally have a golf course in Central Park, which would be totally cool.

Inferior: This is a toss up between Senators Cruz, Hawley and Rubio. They have distinguished themselves by being virtually indistinguishable from each other in their attempts to kiss Trump’s derrière. What…it’s not the Department of Inferior? Oh well.

Labor: Jerry Falwell. As a fervent and visible anti-abortionist, Falwell has strived to control all aspects of a women’s reproductive health. He will now be able to control labor.

Veterans Affairs: General Michael Flynn. In December 2017, Flynn formalized a deal with the Special Council’s office to plead guilty to a felony count of “willfully and knowingly making false statements to the FBI about his communications with Russia, Russia, Russia. His stint as National Security Advisor was the shortest in history. He was eventually pardoned by Trump. I am seeing a trend here.

Justice: Clarence Thomas. In order to avoid censure and/or impeachment as a sitting Supreme Court Justice, Thomas moves over to the Department of Justice as Attorney General where he can wage a holy war against his antagonists. His wife, Ginny, will serve as Assistant Attorney General in charge of domestic violence. He’s been called paranoid, but it’s not paranoia if everyone does hate you.

July 24, 2024

Republicans called for Joe Biden to step down, but, once he did, he was accused by Republicans of disenfranchising 14 million Democratic primary voters. These are the same Republicans, who had no problem ignoring the 80 million voters who cast their ballots for Joe Biden in 2020.

Republicans have accused Kamala Harris and others of a massive cover up of Biden’s mental condition. As part of the cover up, it was a stroke of genius to put a supposed mentally-impaired candidate for President in front of 50 million or more voters in a prime time, televised debate.

Kamala Harris has quickly found her punch lines. “Donald Trump, I know your type,” and “We are not going back” are powerful lines. “If he has something to say to me, he should say it to my face.” Oh, snap. The presidential race is being framed as “The Prosecutor vs. The Perpetrator.” It sounds like something right out of the WWE , and something Trump wished he had thought of.

Tim Walz had his own stinger. “Mind your own damn business.”

J.D. Vance did the Dew, but everybody knows that nobody likes Mountain Dew.

Speaking for myself, I prefer candidates who haven’t been shot, not candidates who have been shot. After all, Trump said of John McCain, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Republicans and Donald Trump are throwing spaghetti against the wall to see which attacks lines against Kamala Harris are going to stick. I am offended not as a Democrat, but as an Italian-American.

Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheatle, was forced out by Republicans, and Democrats, for the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for the deaths of 1,139 Israelis on October 7th, and he was welcomed with open arms by Republicans, and Democrats, in the House.

I have been vacillating between Josh Shapiro, Governor of Pennsylvania, and Mark Kelly, Senator from Arizona, for Vice President. I have changed my mind. It’s going to be Mayor Pete because I can’t spell Buttigieg. He’s smart, he’s young, he’s prepared, he’s from the Midwest, and he is vetted. He’s everywhere on TV and YouTube. Is America ready?

I am going to change my mind again. It’s Mark Kelly. He will provide a great contrast to Kamala Harris. Age 60, Navy officer, astronaut, U.S. Senator, bald.

Oops! I got it wrong. Hopefully, Gov. Tim Walz will be the man of 10,000 likes.

Even though Muhammad Ali had changed his name to Cassius Clay two years earlier, Ernie Terrell refused to use it. In 1967, Ali punished Terrell for 15 rounds, yelling “What’s my name,” and winning a unanimous decision. Trump refuses to pronounce Kamala Harris’ name correctly. Trump is going down, or, to paraphrase the words of legendary broadcaster Howard Cossell, “Down goes Trump. Down goes Trump.”

Donald Trump claimed that he would have gotten the American political prisoners back from Putin’s Russia without giving up anything…except Ukraine.

I look forward to the day when we don’t need fact checkers.

Donald Trump is making the Presidential race about race. Kamala Harris is make the Presidential race a race.

The first question I would like to hear in the September 10th Presidential debate. “Mr. Trump, you have repeatedly called Vice President Kamala Harris dumb. You said she was dumber than Joe Biden. She has said “Donald, if you have something to say, say it to my face.” Are you prepared right now to call your opponent dumb to her face?”

I can’t wait for the Vice Presidential debate October 1st between the Coach and the Couch. Or the Crack Shot vs. The Crack Pot.

I led a spin class today, and only one person knew how many ounces were in a quart. And these people presumably vote.

If Kamala Harris has slept her way to the top, then Donald Trump has done a great job of sleeping to the bottom.

It looks like the Kamala Krash that Donald Trump has been talking about is now a Kamala Krush i.e. the stock market is killing it. Fifty five years ago today, the only stock I was interested in was Woodstock.

Quotes from the Road:

“I am not against a woman being President of the United States. I am just against this one.”

“It’s been well-documented that Kamala Harris has slept her way to the top.”

“Blacks account for 13% of the population, and 60% of all crimes.”

From Geoff Duncan, former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. “If you vote for Kamala Harris for President, that doesn’t make you a Democrat. That makes you a Patriot.”

July 23, 2024

We have a new Democratic candidate for President of the United States, Kamala Harris. She is the first African- American and the first Asian American to be Vice President of the United States. She is the daughter of a Black father and an Indian mother. The racist, Republican attack dogs are already salivating about going after a candidate of color. They haven’t had this much fun since Barack Obama. She has been accused of being a DEI candidate by a member of Congress, who would have difficulty spelling DEI. She has been told by J.D. (I’m not an attorney) Vance that she should be more grateful to be an American, and know her place. He accused her of doing nothing but collect a government check for twenty years, which is just one degree of separation from Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queens.” Someone called her “colored.” Trump called her stupid. The only thing missing in this debate is a birth certificate. The not so subtle dog whistles all have one thing in common. They are designed to remind people that Kamala Harris is Black. But is she?

Barack Obama is considered to be our first black President even though his mother was white. Tiger Woods is considered to be a black golfer even though his mother is from Thailand. What is going here? The perception that biracial people with African backgrounds are considered Black stems from our tortured history with race and racism. There are several reasons for this.

Historically, the “one-drop rule” in the United States stated that any person with even one ancestor of Black ancestry was considered black. This rule was a legal principle of racial classification that was used to enforce racial segregation, and the disenfranchisement of Black people. The men in power, who had no trouble fathering children with their own Black slaves, had no trouble kicking those same children to the back of the bus.

People are influenced by social perceptions. Society often categorizes individuals based on physical appearances and cultural markers. If someone has features commonly associated with Black people, they may be socially perceived and treated as black.

Some biracial individuals may identify more with one part of their heritage than the other. For many, identifying as Black can be a source of pride and connection to a rich cultural history and community.

In many societies, racial categories are often simplified. A biracial person may be seen as Black because racial dynamics can be binary or limited in scope, not fully acknowledging the complexity of mixed heritage.

As it turns out, calling a biracial person Black is as much a matter of choice as biology. Barack Obama could just as easily be labeled White, Tiger Woods labeled Thai, and Kamala Harris labeled Indian. They all could just as easily be labeled American. However, detractors will choose to play the race card. I can already hear the Conservative chatter about Kamala Harris. “There is just something about her I don’t like.” “ I don’t like her laugh.” “I don’t like the fact that she is from California.” “I don’t like her pant suits.” Yes, there is something about her that they don’t like, and it’s not her experience as a prosecutor, as an Attorney General, as a U.S. Senator, or as a Vice President.

We live in a multiracial society. The White population remains the largest ethnicity group in the United States with 204.3 million people identifying as White alone. However, the White alone population has decreased by 8.6% since 2010. The Multiracial population was measured at 9 million people in 2010, but is now 33.8 million people, a 276% increase. It was inevitable that we would get a Kamala Harris as a candidate for President. As she said in her first rally in Wisconsin, which may become her campaign’s mantra, “We’re not going back.”