Quicker Is Better

12 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by in Politicians

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Who has a right to a speedy trial as the sixth amendment requires? Apparently the politicians have a right to go as slow as possible for a trial date. Some of these trials could last several weeks or even months. Defense lawyers stretch the pre-trial motions and motions during the trial out for years.

Calendars for courts are stacked for years but I am sure quick dates could be had if authorities tried. The longer the trials are postponed the more likely witnesses are to forget or die or evidence to be lost. In high level political trials the latter may be more likely.

Mike Madigan’s trial should have been over a long time ago but the prosecutors don’t seem to be in a hurry. Of course, at his age, he might not live to be tried, much less get jail time. Trump will probably die of old age before any trial and he has said enough to be found guilty in any unbiased trial.

The old axiom is wrong. It should be “The bigger they are the longer they fall”.

Wars Have Become Too Expensive

12 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by in Ukraine

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           The war in the Ukraine should and probably will be taught in every military school around the world. As a student of military history and the weapons used, I was surprised at how effective the Ukrainians used the new high tech ones to destroy a 1990’s army.

            The European theater in World War II thought US tanks without infantry support were sitting ducks. Today’s shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons have a range outside normal infantry support. In previous wars thicker armor overcame the anti-tank weapons but not today.

            Today drones can do damage that aircraft and artillery would have done a few years ago. The suicide drone is a man-carried weapon that can be guided to a tank, artillery, or a depot from miles away. Larger drones carry missiles hundreds of miles away and then orbit an area until a target is identified.

            Explosives have gotten more powerful so they can be used in smaller weapons. One hole in Kyiv caused by a Russian missile must have been fifty feet across and twenty feet deep. A World War II 1,000 pound bomb wouldn’t have made a hole that big.

            Military intelligence has always been the butt of jokes but in today’s world it has the ability to physically locate an enemy and their communications network. The Ukrainian snipers have killed eleven Russian Generals whose communication was hacked.

            Fixed wing and rotating aircraft have become much more efficient in their jobs. Many of the weapons the Ukrainians are using are the old Soviet ones that are being piloted by well trained people. If they had some of our most advanced craft their successes would be even greater. A squadron of five 35s costs more than the GOP of many countries.

Ups and Downs

12 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by in Finances

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            Conflicts abound in today’s financial world. We are told that we must invest our money for retirement because Social Security won’t be there in a few years. I remember the ads on TV were to invest the maximum allowable into an IRA and have a million in the account.

I have been investing in equities and an occasional bond before most of the talking head experts were out of grade school or a twinkle in their father’s eye. I have gone through Black Tuesday, Dot com, Pandemic and a myriad of Fed rate raises and cuts. I get great ideas from Cramer’s Mad Money, CNBC’s talking heads, business magazines, Bloomberg financial, and stock brokers. I have gotten some great and some disastrous ideas. The point is markets go up and down. Some boom and some bust.

People are saying to sell out of the markets but then, where would one put their money? When interest rates go up, bond prices go down. The interest rate remains the same but when the Fed raised rates in the late 1970s, a twenty-year 1,000 dollar bond was 350 dollars until the rate drops or the bond is recalled.

An example of conflict is when Cramer says to buy particular stocks at today’s prices and then spends ten minutes to say the Fed should hit the country with a one percent hike further reducing stock prices.

One place not to invest is crypto currency. Investing in it is like betting on which Triple Crown ghost horse will win a race. The race is as much fantasy as crypto currency.

Investing is good advice but be aware finances go up and they go down. Not keeping a critical and frequent eye on them is required. Stay involved.

Who Watched the Truth?

11 Saturday Jun 2022

Posted by in Insurrection Jan 6, 2021, President Trump

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      After watching the first night’s episode of the January 6 Committee’s work, I can’t believe anyone can still believe Trump won or he didn’t cause the insurrection, or that he didn’t try to overthrow the government, or he should not be arrested on several charges.

      His chief of staff and others refuse to testify. Many of those refusing had asked Trump for pardons but he threw them under the bus and refused. Many were elected officials or appointed by Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Some were never confirmed because he made their appointments temporary.

      Will these proceedings convince people’s minds about the election and Trump? How can they watch and not feel they are being conned and lied to on a massive scale? Will they watch and read the truth or will they rely on those far right wing podcasts and websites which will still deny the truth and continue with the fantasies and alternate realities? Fox News talking heads are continuing the fantasy.

      If those millions can’t see and react to the truth then the American Dream is shattered!

When the War Is Over

08 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Ukraine

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            As of this date the Russian Chiefs-Of-Staff have stated they are winning the battle to take their only goal. Depending on the translation they either said they will control the eastern part of Ukraine or control the Donbas region which isn’t much more than the areas they had by supporting a rebellion area.

            This is a face saving stance which the Ukrainians President and many of the common people say is unacceptable. Putin should not get a single foot of their country and they will fight to force them out. That decision is up to the Ukrainians.

            The rest of the world and Europe in particular will need to make a decision. After the war is over when will the sanctions be dropped? The Russians have literally destroyed many towns and cities. The infrastructure has also been destroyed. The cost to rebuild will be trillions of dollars and take years. Since this war was entirely caused by Putin and his military, they should pay for the rebuild.

            How about this idea? Sanctions having to do with exporting oil and gas should be eased so the oil and gas can be sold. Instead of the Russians getting all the payments, they get only 15 percent and the other 85 percent will go to the fund to pay for those repairs. This will continue until Ukraine is back to pre-war condition. Otherwise the rest of the wealthy state will have to pay and Russia gets off without paying for what was destroyed during the war.

The Enemy Among Us

08 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Republican Party

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            I have been a Republican leaning Independent voter for four decades until Trump took over the party and supported militant radicals. Almost all the moderates in both parties are gone. The people who were considered fringe elements of both parties five or six decades ago might be considered a moderate today. Ronald Reagan and his advisors would be considered liberals today. Even Senator Barry Goldwater would be a moderate today.

            Several GOP governors who have supported legislatures are racing each other to the bottom. They are pushing gun ownership, low taxes resulting in few social services and infrastructure maintenance, minimal regulation, gender identification, investigations and many other far right ideologue ideas. What is interesting is these same governors are telling schools and businesses what they must say or do to comply with their demands.

            The new Trump ideologues cater to the militias, gun lobbyists, and a few religious leaders. The Republicans of old used to criticize Democrats for being easy on crime and loose morals. Today the GOP is lead by a person who flaunts his lack of morals and criminal activities. How did the Grand Ole Party get so far from the center of America? They are causing their base to go farther to the far radical right by destroying the government they have sworn to “protect and defend against all foreign and domestic enemies.”

            As Pogo supposedly once said in a comic strip decades ago, “We have found the enemy and they are us.”

Catch 22

08 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Immigration, Population

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            Somewhere around 1970, one of my college classes made me aware of the population boom and its projections for the future. At that time the world had about three and a half billion people and now we are closing in on nine billion. The average age of that population is rapidly increasing putting pressure on Social Services, Social Security, Medicare, and the labor market.

            We currently have over 340 million with 60 million over 65 years of age. 74 million are under 18 years old. Adding both together means at least 134 million are not of working age leaving 200 million possible. We know 10s of millions of those remaining are unable to work for one reason or another. 20 of those millions have disabilities making them unable to do any work.

            As our population has grown, we demand more goods and services. Much of the services must be performed in America but our goods have been off shored to keep costs low. Geo-political conditions and transportation problems tell us that those foreign plants can’t always supply items on time. The government and companies are going to re-shore thousands of those plants needing people to work at them. America is close to 100 percent employment. Even if a few million decided to un-retire we won’t have enough people to do all the work.

            Many jobs do not have people wanting to do them because they are strenuous and low paying. As much as most Americans dislike seeing people walking across the Southern border, we need them doing those jobs. Those people not from crime ridden and terrorism countries will be retiring back in their home country.

            We need a way for most of those people to come in and work in the vegetable field, landscaping, medical facilities, and many other places dependent on lightly trained people.

Plausible Deniability

03 Friday Jun 2022

Posted by in President

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            One of the most interesting revelations coming from books by people who worked for Trump or were in his inner circle is he didn’t give orders to do those outrageous and totally illegal ideas he ranted. He might have an idea of what he wanted done so he would yell, scream, and stomp around the Oval Office in front of people who could get that job done. They would then carry out his “directions” without getting direct orders and thus giving him deniability.

            Remember Trump’s call to the Georgia Secretary of State suggesting he find enough votes to make him the winner. He came up with an idea to put 250,000 regular army troops on the southern border. He didn’t directly tell the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to do it but had some of his sycophants push the idea which Esper rejected. He was later fired.

            Plausible deniability isn’t new for a President and Reagan is a great example of getting caught by “didn’t know”. Nixon tried but was too involved to use it. Trump’s plan was to never directly tell someone what to do. He just suggests it to a sycophant who commands it in his name. Putin keeps saying he had nothing to do with the deaths of his political opponents. The King and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia deny they had any knowledge of the murder and dismemberment of the New York Times reporter.

            It is two words for the three monkeys who saw no evil, spoke no evil, and heard no evil. A fourth monkey would have said it invented no evil.

The World is a Mess – Again

03 Friday Jun 2022

Posted by in President Biden

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            President Biden is the first President in many decades to be faced with so many foreign and domestic problems. On the foreign side we have Putin’s ego and dreams of rebuilding the Russian Empire. Xi’s promises to bring Taiwan back under the Chinese control and expand their military power into the South China Sea. Kim Jung Un has been trying to get attention by exploding nukes and firing many missiles. The Middle East is always a lit fuse with countries being our friend when they need help and unfriendly when it serves them. Add to those Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Venezuela. The crime and instability in the Central American countries are causing millions to need to leave home and try to immigrate to the United States.

            Thanks to Trump, Biden is dealing with the most fractured society since 1860. Americans have been conned into believing all the country’s problems are the responsibility of the other side. The left is told their problems are from the economic factors which are against them. The right is told their problems are the result of big government, race, immigrants, inflation, “Big Lie”, and taxes. The right is so strong in gun rights and conspiracy inspired fears that militias are gaining members. Mass shootings are caused by those fears.

            Economic issues are clouded by supply disruptions, Ukraine War, shortages, inflation, and a myriad of other issues which the pandemic is still affecting people.

            Add climate change impacting weather causing drought, fires, storms, hurricanes, heat and rising oceans, and a large portion of people who don’t see it and the causes. While trying to cut carbon emissions, America is going to be the world’s biggest supplier of LNG.

            These are just a few of the problems Biden faces every day but the world is depending on American leadership to put things to right again.

Teach the Truth

03 Friday Jun 2022

Posted by in Education, School

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            The February issue of the “Scientific American” had an item about an interesting question concerning how to teach the truth when a student’s parents live in an alternate reality. Many parents don’t believe man landed on the moon so their kids don’t either. How did they teach than in science and history classes? Tens of thousands still believe in the grassy knoll conspiracy because their parents did. Imagine trying to teach about the Holocaust and the crimes committed by the Nazis when a student’s parents are Neo-Nazis.

            Even if parents and kids are at odds on many topics, parent’s beliefs filter into their kids’ thoughts concerning subjects taught in school. That is how prejudices from one generation to another are kept going. Studies have shown this is true unless governments force the truth to be taught in schools in spite of what parents believe. Germany is an example of a government trying to stop the generational lies and influences of Nazism. They have strict laws on the subject.

            Racism, religion, and political extremism are passed down from one generation to the next further dividing our country. Now we have people who come up with fake problems like critical theory to divide us. People are told their children are being taught this idea in their grade and high schools when it is an option only in the three graduate schools. Parents want to hide the truth so as to continue the alternate reality many live in today.