Jill Stein has led efforts to conduct a recount in the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, over certain noticed anomalies in the percentage of votes. There is a reasonable concern that the integrity of the voting and/or tabulation process may have been compromised. That doesn't mean that it was compromised, but it's possible, and Stein felt that it should be investigated. This feeling has been shared by several cyber-security experts, and she's had no problem raising money to fund the filing and attorney fees.
One notable treatise about this was published by Dr. J. Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan. You can read about it here. If you at least skim the article, you'll understand much of what I'm going to type.
https://medium.com/@jhalderm/want-to-know-if-the-election-was-hacked-look-at-the-ballots-c61a6113b0ba#.t8x7hmg3m
If no evidence of vote tampering is found, then all is well, and Trump should be inaugurated on January 20th. The time and money spent will be justified by providing peace of mind to the American people that the voting process was fair and honest (which can't be said about other elections, notably in 2000 and 1960).
My belief is that there was vote fraud not only in those three states but also in several other "battleground" states. I believe this because polls are seldom as wrong as the polls apparently were this time. Polls today are much more sophisticated and accurate than they were even a decade ago. They seldom miss by as much as they seemed to this time in as many states as they seemed to this time. There is simply no way that polls conducted on the day before the election AND exit polls conducted on the day of the election could have ALL been as far off as it turned out. Trump won states that he was supposed to lose, won states that he was ahead in by more than was predicted, and lost a couple of states that he was supposed to lose by less than predicted. And yet --- here is the part that makes no sense:
States that Trump was supposed to win easily, and states that Clinton was supposed to win easily fell almost exactly to the percentages that the polls predicted. Yet Trump outperformed the polls in every state that was considered to be a "tossup."
Read the bold type again. How is it that the states that were solid red and solid blue by wide margins all performed exactly as they were supposed to --- but Trump outperformed expectations in all the battleground states?
If recounts and forensic analysis shows that there was indeed tampering in those three states, then these things need to happen:
1) There needs to be an investigation to determine (if possible) who was responsible for the tampering, and who knew about it in advance.
2) The entire Presidential election results --- for ALL STATES and the District of Columbia --- need to be tossed out, and a new election needs to take place: one entirely with paper ballots that are monitored (both at the polling places and during tabulation) by representatives of any participating candidate who is interested in such monitoring. All participating candidates from the general election should be included again for states in which they qualified for the ballot. Yes, that will be expensive, but we're dealing with the election for the President of the United States. It needs to be done.
3) Security needs to be upgraded so that this won't ever happen again.
In 1960, Richard Nixon asked his party to not contest his election loss against Kennedy. Nixon was not stupid: he knew or strongly suspected that there was ballot box stuffing in both Illinois and Texas, and winning both states would have given him the election. Nixon was concerned that contesting the election would deeply divide the country, and he was probably correct.
IT'S GOING TO GET UGLY, REGARDLESS
There's no such concern today. The country is deeply divided as it is, and third-parties (in this case Stein) can contest it, provided they have the money to do so where fees are warranted. This is going to further divide the country, and it will get much worse if tampering is discovered and worse yet if the election results are changed or voided.
If the Supreme Court (where it would ultimately go) does uphold the voiding of the election, and it's held again, how many fewer votes would Donald Trump get, now that those who voted for him have seen him renege or hedge on 6 to 10 (depending on what you consider to be reneging and hedging) of his campaign promises? If the election is held again, by manually-counted paper ballots, it's virtually certain that Clinton will win.
If the three states swing to Clinton and give her the election, things will get uglier than can be imagined.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Welcome to World War 3
Donald Trump is appointing Hard Right folks to his security positions. The HRS (Hard Right Sheeple) think this is a good thing. "I feel safer already." "Much better than Obozo." "Donald Trump said he was for law and order, and he meant it." Which not oddly were spoken and/or appeared on blogs of Breitbart, Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh's show, because like all good Polly Parrots, HRS never have an original thought.
Remember the big flack over the NSA snooping on people it shouldn't have been snooping on? That began under Bush Jr. not under Obama. Because Uncle Crackhead (Limbaugh) said that Obama did it, the HRS all nodded their heads in unison, like the good little automatons that they are, and they went to the streets and to cyberspace and preached the bad word.
Regardless of who was responsible for the invasion of privacy, it was nothing like it's going to be. A Conservative government is a snooping, prying government. Think "1984" and "Big Brother is Watching." If you have things that you don't want the government to know about, you'd best clean them up before January 20th, because Big Brother is going to know about them.
Now you may think that it's a good thing that the government should be more vigilant than less, because after all there are terrorists plotting things. If the idea is to catch the terrorists, which it should be, then its better to over-snoop than to under-snoop, as less is missed that way. The problem lies in the fact that the Hard Right types tend to go overboard on security and tend to overreact. If the military had its way, we would have nuked Russia 60 years ago. Of course, we would have gotten nuked ourselves. But the military sees it as a numbers game, and that 50 to 60 million lives lost is a good thing if the enemy loses 120 to 140 million. They see that as a win. And that's the problem. The people Trump is appointing do see things that way. And Trump, being a complete neophyte on military strategy and foreign policy, is going to take most of what those people tell him at face value. And that will be catastrophic.
There's a reason that diplomacy is sought first before going to war. The next world war will be the last one for civilization. The type of people that Trump is appointing are long on action and all-too-short on diplomacy, scarily like Vladimir Putin of Russia. And when you pit two superpowers who are heavy on action and light on negotiation against each other, it's just a matter of time before the friction sets off the chain reaction that ends life as we know it. It's almost happened on four different occasions during the Cold War. Three were under Republican administrations; the fourth was the Cuban Missile Crisis, during which we couldn't do much other than what we did.
If you're frightened by the idea of a Trump administration for the reasons I stated, you're not alone. According to companies who sell survivalist shelters (a.k.a. bunkers, bomb shelters) and supplies, sales have gone up over 1200% since Trump was elected.
Heaven help us.
Remember the big flack over the NSA snooping on people it shouldn't have been snooping on? That began under Bush Jr. not under Obama. Because Uncle Crackhead (Limbaugh) said that Obama did it, the HRS all nodded their heads in unison, like the good little automatons that they are, and they went to the streets and to cyberspace and preached the bad word.
Regardless of who was responsible for the invasion of privacy, it was nothing like it's going to be. A Conservative government is a snooping, prying government. Think "1984" and "Big Brother is Watching." If you have things that you don't want the government to know about, you'd best clean them up before January 20th, because Big Brother is going to know about them.
Now you may think that it's a good thing that the government should be more vigilant than less, because after all there are terrorists plotting things. If the idea is to catch the terrorists, which it should be, then its better to over-snoop than to under-snoop, as less is missed that way. The problem lies in the fact that the Hard Right types tend to go overboard on security and tend to overreact. If the military had its way, we would have nuked Russia 60 years ago. Of course, we would have gotten nuked ourselves. But the military sees it as a numbers game, and that 50 to 60 million lives lost is a good thing if the enemy loses 120 to 140 million. They see that as a win. And that's the problem. The people Trump is appointing do see things that way. And Trump, being a complete neophyte on military strategy and foreign policy, is going to take most of what those people tell him at face value. And that will be catastrophic.
There's a reason that diplomacy is sought first before going to war. The next world war will be the last one for civilization. The type of people that Trump is appointing are long on action and all-too-short on diplomacy, scarily like Vladimir Putin of Russia. And when you pit two superpowers who are heavy on action and light on negotiation against each other, it's just a matter of time before the friction sets off the chain reaction that ends life as we know it. It's almost happened on four different occasions during the Cold War. Three were under Republican administrations; the fourth was the Cuban Missile Crisis, during which we couldn't do much other than what we did.
If you're frightened by the idea of a Trump administration for the reasons I stated, you're not alone. According to companies who sell survivalist shelters (a.k.a. bunkers, bomb shelters) and supplies, sales have gone up over 1200% since Trump was elected.
Heaven help us.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Right isn't Right
After promising to "clean up the swamp in Washington," Trump's short list of candidates is composed of politicians with a combined 150 years experience among them, several billionaires, and his son Donald Jr. Not oddly at all, almost all of these people campaigned for Trump. The "Outsider," to put it plainly, is indulging in political cronyism, and reneging on his promise to only appoint his staff and Cabinet from the private sector. No surprise there. Politicians --- and Trump is a politician, no matter what he says --- make campaign promises that they have no intention of keeping. Trump is no different.
So after appointing Reine Priebus --- the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and about as political as a person can get --- as his Chief of Staff, his next appointment, for his Senior Counsel, is Steve Bannon.
Yes, Steve Bannon who was the executive chairman of Breitbart, which is about two area codes to the right of John Birch.
Yes the Steve Bannon who has hated loudly against blacks, Hispanics, women, gays, and about every other minority and has recommended extreme methods as a means of achieving white supremacy.
Yes, the Steve Bannon whose Anti-Semitic views have been compared to those of Adolph Hitler.
Bannon, who perpetually looks as though he could use a haircut, a shave, and some cosmetic surgery, has radical views, and he doesn't recommend political correctness to achieve them.
The Hard Right is jubilant about Bannon's appointment. The OTHER 85% of the country --- the ones who don't hate everybody who isn't white --- is apoplectic about it. It appears obvious that Trump's grand plan is to implement every Conservative viewpoint as policy for his administration.
The problem with this for most people is that, besides the fact that the vast majority of Americans don't want an Ultra-Conservative government, installing one is going to drive the country even further apart than it already is. This country was created and nurtured by cooperation and by people working together. The last time we were at each other's throats was during the Civil War. To put that into perspective for today, the United States had more deaths in the Civil War than in any other war in our history, and the country was in a shambles when the war ended. While I doubt we'll have anything near that many deaths over the Trump Administration, we may well have a country in nearly as much of a mess, and possibly within months.
Mr. Trump doesn't seem to understand that "Make America Great Again" doesn't mean "Make America Great For My Supporters." One does not unite a country by installing Extremists in key Executive positions, pitting opposing factions against each other, and creating bitterness and resentment among the population.
So after appointing Reine Priebus --- the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and about as political as a person can get --- as his Chief of Staff, his next appointment, for his Senior Counsel, is Steve Bannon.
Yes, Steve Bannon who was the executive chairman of Breitbart, which is about two area codes to the right of John Birch.
Yes the Steve Bannon who has hated loudly against blacks, Hispanics, women, gays, and about every other minority and has recommended extreme methods as a means of achieving white supremacy.
Yes, the Steve Bannon whose Anti-Semitic views have been compared to those of Adolph Hitler.
Bannon, who perpetually looks as though he could use a haircut, a shave, and some cosmetic surgery, has radical views, and he doesn't recommend political correctness to achieve them.
The Hard Right is jubilant about Bannon's appointment. The OTHER 85% of the country --- the ones who don't hate everybody who isn't white --- is apoplectic about it. It appears obvious that Trump's grand plan is to implement every Conservative viewpoint as policy for his administration.
The problem with this for most people is that, besides the fact that the vast majority of Americans don't want an Ultra-Conservative government, installing one is going to drive the country even further apart than it already is. This country was created and nurtured by cooperation and by people working together. The last time we were at each other's throats was during the Civil War. To put that into perspective for today, the United States had more deaths in the Civil War than in any other war in our history, and the country was in a shambles when the war ended. While I doubt we'll have anything near that many deaths over the Trump Administration, we may well have a country in nearly as much of a mess, and possibly within months.
Mr. Trump doesn't seem to understand that "Make America Great Again" doesn't mean "Make America Great For My Supporters." One does not unite a country by installing Extremists in key Executive positions, pitting opposing factions against each other, and creating bitterness and resentment among the population.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
White Rage
You can believe your favorite blogger, "news" site, or talking head, and the pundits and analysts will also be busily at work trying to figure out how Donald Trump won the election.
Or you can get the short version from me and save yourself a lot of time:
Donald Trump won the election through White Rage.
Read that bold-type sentence a few times, until it sinks in.
Trump didn't win on an economic platform. He didn't win on a platform based on creating jobs or on "Making America Great Again." He won it by stirring up the whites into a lather of rage and turning them on the rest of the country to bully non-believers into submission.
Now before you go playing a race card on me, I'm about as European as one can get. My ancestry, as far back as I can trace it, comes from Europe. Nothing from Asia, nothing from Central or South America, nothing from Africa or Australia, nothing Inuit (that's "Eskimo" to you Hard Righters), no Native American ("Indian" to you Righties). 100% European. So unless somebody from centuries ago lived on Antarctica, I'm a European Whitey.
According to surveys, the average Trump supporter's median income is $72,000, or about
$20,000 above the national average, and over 80 of them are White non-Hispanic, compared to about 64% of the population as a whole.
Now if you have a fan base of whites, and the idea is to tell them what they want to hear, a good place to start wouldn't be to step up to the podium wearing a shirt that reads; "Black Lives Matter" a cap with "Asians Do it Better" emblazoned on it, waving the Mexican flag, and beginning with: "Let us pause to honor Geronimo's birthday." You're going to dress like a plump truck driver and tell them things that many Conservative whites want to hear, namely: get rid of immigrants, stop letting in foreign refugees, cut back on legal immigration numbers. Since the last president was black (which is the main reason most people who hated on him did so), you're going to speak out against him whenever you can, provided it won't get you into trouble. In other words, you're going to play the race and bigot cards as much as possible, because that's what White Conservatives want to hear.
But Trump took it a step further. Knowing that there were only so many bigots and racists out there, he took to making them his personal messengers by firing them up with the most hateful speeches possible, while mixing in some vague economic plans, the repeal of everybody's favorite hate target: The Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), talk about creating jobs, and talk about cleaning up the corruption in Washington. Like the good head-nodding robots that they are, the now-obsessed followers took to the streets, their places of employment, their clubs, bars, shopping centers --- and especially social media, to spread the word. Being worked up into near hysteria by Trump, they did not spread their message gently; instead, they proceeded to shove it down everybody else's throat incessantly.
But The Donald knew that even he couldn't be everywhere at once --- although it certainly seemed that way at times. So he turned his campaign rallies into carnival shows, knowing that the media would cover every little detail and provide a few billion dollars worth of free advertising in the process. This was fine with the media, which is in the business of making a profit, and no coverage of Trump means fewer viewers and readers. It was fine with The Badyear Blimp, too, because it got his message through to the public day after day after day. No amount of TV commercials, which viewers usually tune out of their minds anyway, could compete with the people seeing The Most Unavoidable Man on the Planet 30 times a day on the news, in the papers, on blog sites, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Then, with his followers whipped into a frenzy, it was time for the final three weeks of the well-laid plan: tone it down a bit, with just enough rants to keep his followers happy, and emphasize the things that the more mainstream people wanted to hear: lower taxes, creating jobs, bringing jobs offshore back home, repealing Obamacare, and "cleaning out the swamp" in Washington. Coupled with the endless rage of his fanatical supporters and a well-timed letter and withdrawal from James Comey, it was just enough to get him crucial votes in crucial states and put him in the White House.
So barring a sensible defection of faithless voters in the Electoral College, Mr. Trump will soon be President. And you can thank White Rage for it. You can also thank the return of and rise of white supremacist/nationalist groups, as these will certainly gain force under the new administration. Because despite what Trump will tell you, you aren't one of his people if you aren't a Whitey like him, unless of course you're a female who is good in bed.
Tomorrow's column will deal with one of Trump's first confirmed appointments to his staff: Steve Bannon.
Or you can get the short version from me and save yourself a lot of time:
Donald Trump won the election through White Rage.
Read that bold-type sentence a few times, until it sinks in.
Trump didn't win on an economic platform. He didn't win on a platform based on creating jobs or on "Making America Great Again." He won it by stirring up the whites into a lather of rage and turning them on the rest of the country to bully non-believers into submission.
Now before you go playing a race card on me, I'm about as European as one can get. My ancestry, as far back as I can trace it, comes from Europe. Nothing from Asia, nothing from Central or South America, nothing from Africa or Australia, nothing Inuit (that's "Eskimo" to you Hard Righters), no Native American ("Indian" to you Righties). 100% European. So unless somebody from centuries ago lived on Antarctica, I'm a European Whitey.
According to surveys, the average Trump supporter's median income is $72,000, or about
$20,000 above the national average, and over 80 of them are White non-Hispanic, compared to about 64% of the population as a whole.
Now if you have a fan base of whites, and the idea is to tell them what they want to hear, a good place to start wouldn't be to step up to the podium wearing a shirt that reads; "Black Lives Matter" a cap with "Asians Do it Better" emblazoned on it, waving the Mexican flag, and beginning with: "Let us pause to honor Geronimo's birthday." You're going to dress like a plump truck driver and tell them things that many Conservative whites want to hear, namely: get rid of immigrants, stop letting in foreign refugees, cut back on legal immigration numbers. Since the last president was black (which is the main reason most people who hated on him did so), you're going to speak out against him whenever you can, provided it won't get you into trouble. In other words, you're going to play the race and bigot cards as much as possible, because that's what White Conservatives want to hear.
But Trump took it a step further. Knowing that there were only so many bigots and racists out there, he took to making them his personal messengers by firing them up with the most hateful speeches possible, while mixing in some vague economic plans, the repeal of everybody's favorite hate target: The Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), talk about creating jobs, and talk about cleaning up the corruption in Washington. Like the good head-nodding robots that they are, the now-obsessed followers took to the streets, their places of employment, their clubs, bars, shopping centers --- and especially social media, to spread the word. Being worked up into near hysteria by Trump, they did not spread their message gently; instead, they proceeded to shove it down everybody else's throat incessantly.
But The Donald knew that even he couldn't be everywhere at once --- although it certainly seemed that way at times. So he turned his campaign rallies into carnival shows, knowing that the media would cover every little detail and provide a few billion dollars worth of free advertising in the process. This was fine with the media, which is in the business of making a profit, and no coverage of Trump means fewer viewers and readers. It was fine with The Badyear Blimp, too, because it got his message through to the public day after day after day. No amount of TV commercials, which viewers usually tune out of their minds anyway, could compete with the people seeing The Most Unavoidable Man on the Planet 30 times a day on the news, in the papers, on blog sites, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Then, with his followers whipped into a frenzy, it was time for the final three weeks of the well-laid plan: tone it down a bit, with just enough rants to keep his followers happy, and emphasize the things that the more mainstream people wanted to hear: lower taxes, creating jobs, bringing jobs offshore back home, repealing Obamacare, and "cleaning out the swamp" in Washington. Coupled with the endless rage of his fanatical supporters and a well-timed letter and withdrawal from James Comey, it was just enough to get him crucial votes in crucial states and put him in the White House.
So barring a sensible defection of faithless voters in the Electoral College, Mr. Trump will soon be President. And you can thank White Rage for it. You can also thank the return of and rise of white supremacist/nationalist groups, as these will certainly gain force under the new administration. Because despite what Trump will tell you, you aren't one of his people if you aren't a Whitey like him, unless of course you're a female who is good in bed.
Tomorrow's column will deal with one of Trump's first confirmed appointments to his staff: Steve Bannon.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Why They Want You to Believe That Global Warming is a Myth
One of the Badyear Blimp's campaign promises was to pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement that is attempting to switch the world from fossil fuels to more environmentally-friendly forms of energy. Indications are that Trump is going to soften his stance on that once he enters the White House. If he does so, it will be one of the few intelligent things he'll do during his tenure. Of course, that assumes that he even gets sworn in on January 20th. There are several reasons that may not ever happen, and I'll address them in the future. But it's likely that we'll be stuck with President Rump for at least a while. But I digress, even if I did so on purpose.
One of the Hard-Right, a.k.a. Alt-Right/Ult-Right points of view, a view that has been drilled into their feathery little heads for many years, is that global warming, a.k.a. climate change, a.k.a. the greenhouse effect, etc., is a myth. There's a reason that some SIGs (Special Interest Groups) want people to believe that, and there's a reason that it's so easy to sell to the Hard Right. I'll deal with the second part first.
It's easy to sell to the Hard Right Sheeple (HRS) because the "Liberals" (you know, the 85% of the country that ISN'T Hard Right) have the opposite point of view. The HRS views the rest of the world as bleeding hearts, Sheeple, Kool-Aid drinkers, and elderly flower children, a.k.a. Hippies. Of course, the HRS are the actual "sheeple," but that's the subject of another column. Most of the HRS who grew up in the Sixties and Sevenites don't remember that they, too, were probably Hippies and Flower Children --- until they got a bit of money and property, upon which they incorrectly concluded that it was wise to be Republican, because Republicans would better-protect their assets. That's not the case, and it would stray way off course to explain why; perhaps I will on another day. The fact that the "Dems" all believed in Global Warming was enough of a selling-point to convince the Hard Right that it was a myth. If the Liberals believed that the Sun rose in the east, and a SIG had motivation to convince the HRS otherwise, the HRS would now believe that the Sun actually rose in the West and that it appeared to rise in the east because of the Earth's rotation. It's not hard to fool those folks, because they tend to accept everything their favorite talking head or blogger says at face value.
The SIGs that want people to believe that Global Warming is a myth are those who stand to profit, or at least not incur expenses, from legislation that attempts to deal with global warming. Some SIGs would include:
1) The oil companies. Obviously, if people switch from oil to such as electric-powered cars, electricity generated by wind, solar, hydrogen, etc., the oil companies are going to be either out of business or forced to scale back considerably.
One of the Hard-Right, a.k.a. Alt-Right/Ult-Right points of view, a view that has been drilled into their feathery little heads for many years, is that global warming, a.k.a. climate change, a.k.a. the greenhouse effect, etc., is a myth. There's a reason that some SIGs (Special Interest Groups) want people to believe that, and there's a reason that it's so easy to sell to the Hard Right. I'll deal with the second part first.
It's easy to sell to the Hard Right Sheeple (HRS) because the "Liberals" (you know, the 85% of the country that ISN'T Hard Right) have the opposite point of view. The HRS views the rest of the world as bleeding hearts, Sheeple, Kool-Aid drinkers, and elderly flower children, a.k.a. Hippies. Of course, the HRS are the actual "sheeple," but that's the subject of another column. Most of the HRS who grew up in the Sixties and Sevenites don't remember that they, too, were probably Hippies and Flower Children --- until they got a bit of money and property, upon which they incorrectly concluded that it was wise to be Republican, because Republicans would better-protect their assets. That's not the case, and it would stray way off course to explain why; perhaps I will on another day. The fact that the "Dems" all believed in Global Warming was enough of a selling-point to convince the Hard Right that it was a myth. If the Liberals believed that the Sun rose in the east, and a SIG had motivation to convince the HRS otherwise, the HRS would now believe that the Sun actually rose in the West and that it appeared to rise in the east because of the Earth's rotation. It's not hard to fool those folks, because they tend to accept everything their favorite talking head or blogger says at face value.
The SIGs that want people to believe that Global Warming is a myth are those who stand to profit, or at least not incur expenses, from legislation that attempts to deal with global warming. Some SIGs would include:
1) The oil companies. Obviously, if people switch from oil to such as electric-powered cars, electricity generated by wind, solar, hydrogen, etc., the oil companies are going to be either out of business or forced to scale back considerably.
2) The coal companies. The same goes for these folks.
3) Big Business. Yep, the ones who run the country and make most of the rules don't want Climate Control regulations, either, because it would mean a large investment in either changing over from coal/fuel based production to more renewable forms of energy, or upgrading their existing systems to belch less pollution into the air and water.
There was a huge fight over water pollution for lakes and rivers in the 1960's and 1970's. At one point Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes, was so polluted that there was no life in it whatsoever, except for some hardy algae. The Mississippi and many other rivers were so polluted that the smell was noticeable from far away. The sensible people finally won out and got legislation passed to force companies to change their methods of waste disposal, but they had to fight Big Business's lobbyists for almost two decades to get it done.
Now the same situation exists regarding air pollution and its direct effect on Global Warming. The three groups above represent a lot of large companies, and their attitude is "patch the cart up so it lasts the rest of my life," and hang it all for future generations. So they are pressuring Congress and soon-to-be President Trump to get us out of the Paris Agreement, so we can go back to spewing pollutants into the air and warming the Earth. The problem with this is that if we pull out, so will China, and then so will many other countries. Since China and the United States do much of the polluting, it means that the greenhouse gases will continue to fill the atmosphere.
Now the HRS Deniers will be quick to point out that the Earth's climate has frequently changed throughout its history. They point to the Little Ice Age, the Medieval Warm Period, and other cycles, and that the Earth was once in a major Ice Age and may be headed for another. What they conveniently ignore is that the first two were probably caused by volcanic action and cyclic solar patterns, and that the latter evolved over several million years, not in the 40 or so years that have caused the current problem.
The fact is that since global climate record-keeping started in 1880, 15 of the 16 warmest years on record are the 15 consecutive years from 2001 to 2015. The other year, tied for 6th among the all-time warmest, was 1998. Three of the four warmest since 1880 are in 2013 (4th), 2014 (2nd), and 2015 (1st), with 2010 being the other. In other words, it's getting warmer and warmer, and while this has been going on for the past 50 or so years, it's accelerated in the past 15. Natural Climate Change doesn't happen that quickly. This is man-made, and it's the result of our endless tossing of fossil fuel fumes into the air.
Now before the Hard Right Deniers come a calling with "What about this year? It must be getting cooler. Hahahaha!", let me set them straight: 2016 is on pace to be the warmest year on record ever, which means that it will be the THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR that the record was eclipsed, and that 16 of the 17 warmest years on record will be the 16 most recent years (again, the other being in 1998: maybe the Hard Right Deniers can concoct a story about 1999 and 2000 being a "Mini Ice Age").
The Arctic ice cap has been declining by about 12% per decade since the 1970's and is about half of what it was in 1972. Other ice sheets have had similar losses. The HRS Deniers will say "Who cares? We lose a few polar bears." The problem with diminishing polar ice is that it augments global warming. Polar ice reflects sunlight, meaning that it doesn't get into the ocean at those points. If the ice isn't there, the suns energy goes directly into the ocean's surface, warming it. The extra warmth is carried to the rest of the ocean, warming it, which in turn warms the air, which in turn increases air temperatures. In fact, sea temperatures have been rising steadily since 1972. The previous spike was from 1940 to 1945, which is no coincidence: that was the time period of World War 2, when factories throughout the world, mostly coal-powered, were producing the weaponry for the war at a record pace, many in operation 24 hours a day.
The HRS Deniers will be quick to point out that the Antarctic hasn't been affected by Global Warming (they should add "yet" to that statement, and lots of luck getting them to do that). The Antarctic plays by a different set of physics, partly due to an Antarctic ozone hole which has slowed down warming, partly due to the fact that most of the ice in the Antarctic is much thicker than that in the Arctic and thus doesn't completely melt (and will then be able to reflect the sun's rays year-around), the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which keeps warmer water out, and various polar fronts. There is plenty of information about these things on the internet, and you're welcome to go read them.
The bottom line is that simple statistics and facts show that Global Warming is NOT a myth, and that continuing to ignore it will have a catastrophic effect on the world. It's an added bonus if saying so winds up the Hard Right Deniers.
3) Big Business. Yep, the ones who run the country and make most of the rules don't want Climate Control regulations, either, because it would mean a large investment in either changing over from coal/fuel based production to more renewable forms of energy, or upgrading their existing systems to belch less pollution into the air and water.
There was a huge fight over water pollution for lakes and rivers in the 1960's and 1970's. At one point Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes, was so polluted that there was no life in it whatsoever, except for some hardy algae. The Mississippi and many other rivers were so polluted that the smell was noticeable from far away. The sensible people finally won out and got legislation passed to force companies to change their methods of waste disposal, but they had to fight Big Business's lobbyists for almost two decades to get it done.
Now the same situation exists regarding air pollution and its direct effect on Global Warming. The three groups above represent a lot of large companies, and their attitude is "patch the cart up so it lasts the rest of my life," and hang it all for future generations. So they are pressuring Congress and soon-to-be President Trump to get us out of the Paris Agreement, so we can go back to spewing pollutants into the air and warming the Earth. The problem with this is that if we pull out, so will China, and then so will many other countries. Since China and the United States do much of the polluting, it means that the greenhouse gases will continue to fill the atmosphere.
Now the HRS Deniers will be quick to point out that the Earth's climate has frequently changed throughout its history. They point to the Little Ice Age, the Medieval Warm Period, and other cycles, and that the Earth was once in a major Ice Age and may be headed for another. What they conveniently ignore is that the first two were probably caused by volcanic action and cyclic solar patterns, and that the latter evolved over several million years, not in the 40 or so years that have caused the current problem.
The fact is that since global climate record-keeping started in 1880, 15 of the 16 warmest years on record are the 15 consecutive years from 2001 to 2015. The other year, tied for 6th among the all-time warmest, was 1998. Three of the four warmest since 1880 are in 2013 (4th), 2014 (2nd), and 2015 (1st), with 2010 being the other. In other words, it's getting warmer and warmer, and while this has been going on for the past 50 or so years, it's accelerated in the past 15. Natural Climate Change doesn't happen that quickly. This is man-made, and it's the result of our endless tossing of fossil fuel fumes into the air.
Now before the Hard Right Deniers come a calling with "What about this year? It must be getting cooler. Hahahaha!", let me set them straight: 2016 is on pace to be the warmest year on record ever, which means that it will be the THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR that the record was eclipsed, and that 16 of the 17 warmest years on record will be the 16 most recent years (again, the other being in 1998: maybe the Hard Right Deniers can concoct a story about 1999 and 2000 being a "Mini Ice Age").
The Arctic ice cap has been declining by about 12% per decade since the 1970's and is about half of what it was in 1972. Other ice sheets have had similar losses. The HRS Deniers will say "Who cares? We lose a few polar bears." The problem with diminishing polar ice is that it augments global warming. Polar ice reflects sunlight, meaning that it doesn't get into the ocean at those points. If the ice isn't there, the suns energy goes directly into the ocean's surface, warming it. The extra warmth is carried to the rest of the ocean, warming it, which in turn warms the air, which in turn increases air temperatures. In fact, sea temperatures have been rising steadily since 1972. The previous spike was from 1940 to 1945, which is no coincidence: that was the time period of World War 2, when factories throughout the world, mostly coal-powered, were producing the weaponry for the war at a record pace, many in operation 24 hours a day.
The HRS Deniers will be quick to point out that the Antarctic hasn't been affected by Global Warming (they should add "yet" to that statement, and lots of luck getting them to do that). The Antarctic plays by a different set of physics, partly due to an Antarctic ozone hole which has slowed down warming, partly due to the fact that most of the ice in the Antarctic is much thicker than that in the Arctic and thus doesn't completely melt (and will then be able to reflect the sun's rays year-around), the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which keeps warmer water out, and various polar fronts. There is plenty of information about these things on the internet, and you're welcome to go read them.
The bottom line is that simple statistics and facts show that Global Warming is NOT a myth, and that continuing to ignore it will have a catastrophic effect on the world. It's an added bonus if saying so winds up the Hard Right Deniers.
Monday, November 14, 2016
And the Reneging on Campaign Promises Begins
One of Donald Trump's endlessly repeated promises was that he was going to appoint his Cabinet and staff from the private sector. Mr. Trump was very specific about not appointing from the political sector. A main theme of his campaign was that he answered to nobody and therefore was under obligation to nobody. A second theme was to unify America.
So now he's been elected, and the American people --- such as the 60+ million people who voted for him --- have no further say in what he says or does. With that in mind he's begun to list the candidates for his White House staff and Cabinet. Here are a few of them, with annotations:
Chief of Staff: Reince Priebus: Priebus is the head of the Republican National Committee. While technically he hasn't held a government office, he's still the voice of the Republican Party, and as chair of the RNC, and that means he's about as into politics as anybody can be.
Chief Strategist: Steve Bannon. The former chief of ult-right Breitbart, Bannon is known for his White Supremacist (e.g. racist), misogynist, and Antisemitic support. Appointing an extremist as his senior counsel is hardly the way to unify a country.
Secretary of State: Bob Corker and Newt Gingrich are the top choices. Corker has 15 years in politics, 10 as Senator, and Gingrich has about 30 years in politics, including as Speaker of the House. So much for the private sector there.
Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin, a multimillionaire trader with Goldman Sachs and Dune Capital. Mnuchin doesn't have any service in politics, outside of being involved in the Romney and Trump campaigns.
Secretary of Defense: The top choice is Senator Jeff Sessions, a 20-year veteran of the Senate.
Attorney General: Top choice is Rudy Giuliani, who has been involved in politics one way or the other for at least 30 years. Another choice, who will end up SOMEWHERE in the Trump Administration, is Chris Christie, who has been involved in the political sector since 2002, 7 years as Governor of New Jersey.
Secretary of the Interior: Trump's son Donald Jr. has been one suggestion (nepotism anybody?). Another choice is Sarah Palin, who has been in politics in one form or another since 1992 (24 years).
Secretary of Agriculture: Among many names is Texas Secretary of Agriculture Sid Miller, who tweeted a few days ago that Hillary Clinton was "a c---t." Others include governor Brownback (Kansas) and former governors Heineman (Nebraska), Perdue (Georgia) and Rick Perry (Texas).
Secretary of Commerce: Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is one choice for the job. Others include Christie and Mike Huckabee (14+ years in politics).
Most of the other Cabinet and agency positions have individuals from the private sector as main choices, but with so many political cronies to take care of --- and most of the above were involved in Trump's campaign, were vocal supporters, were key advisers, or were donors to Trump Super-Pacs.
So much for the promise to appoint from the private sector. That one went down the sewer in favor of nepotism and political back-scratching. The list is a Who's Who of high-profile politicians, cronies and at least one relative.
Did you REALLY think that Trump would keep all of his campaign promises? Those were said to get him elected. Now that he's past that hurdle, he can do mostly as he pleases.
Tomorrow's column will deal with another promise that Mr. Trump is going to renege on. In the meantime, plan on "the outsider" having an Administration full of political elitists and the wealthy, with few or no selections from the common people who elected him.
So now he's been elected, and the American people --- such as the 60+ million people who voted for him --- have no further say in what he says or does. With that in mind he's begun to list the candidates for his White House staff and Cabinet. Here are a few of them, with annotations:
Chief of Staff: Reince Priebus: Priebus is the head of the Republican National Committee. While technically he hasn't held a government office, he's still the voice of the Republican Party, and as chair of the RNC, and that means he's about as into politics as anybody can be.
Chief Strategist: Steve Bannon. The former chief of ult-right Breitbart, Bannon is known for his White Supremacist (e.g. racist), misogynist, and Antisemitic support. Appointing an extremist as his senior counsel is hardly the way to unify a country.
Secretary of State: Bob Corker and Newt Gingrich are the top choices. Corker has 15 years in politics, 10 as Senator, and Gingrich has about 30 years in politics, including as Speaker of the House. So much for the private sector there.
Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin, a multimillionaire trader with Goldman Sachs and Dune Capital. Mnuchin doesn't have any service in politics, outside of being involved in the Romney and Trump campaigns.
Secretary of Defense: The top choice is Senator Jeff Sessions, a 20-year veteran of the Senate.
Attorney General: Top choice is Rudy Giuliani, who has been involved in politics one way or the other for at least 30 years. Another choice, who will end up SOMEWHERE in the Trump Administration, is Chris Christie, who has been involved in the political sector since 2002, 7 years as Governor of New Jersey.
Secretary of the Interior: Trump's son Donald Jr. has been one suggestion (nepotism anybody?). Another choice is Sarah Palin, who has been in politics in one form or another since 1992 (24 years).
Secretary of Agriculture: Among many names is Texas Secretary of Agriculture Sid Miller, who tweeted a few days ago that Hillary Clinton was "a c---t." Others include governor Brownback (Kansas) and former governors Heineman (Nebraska), Perdue (Georgia) and Rick Perry (Texas).
Secretary of Commerce: Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is one choice for the job. Others include Christie and Mike Huckabee (14+ years in politics).
Most of the other Cabinet and agency positions have individuals from the private sector as main choices, but with so many political cronies to take care of --- and most of the above were involved in Trump's campaign, were vocal supporters, were key advisers, or were donors to Trump Super-Pacs.
So much for the promise to appoint from the private sector. That one went down the sewer in favor of nepotism and political back-scratching. The list is a Who's Who of high-profile politicians, cronies and at least one relative.
Did you REALLY think that Trump would keep all of his campaign promises? Those were said to get him elected. Now that he's past that hurdle, he can do mostly as he pleases.
Tomorrow's column will deal with another promise that Mr. Trump is going to renege on. In the meantime, plan on "the outsider" having an Administration full of political elitists and the wealthy, with few or no selections from the common people who elected him.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
The Morning of January 20th at the White House
(Some of these are mine; others are gleamed from the internet)
On the morning of January 20th:
Biden: Can you fake being sick, so I can be president when The Badyear Blimp gets here?
Obama: No.
Biden: Can I superglue some of the drawers shut?
Obama: No.
Biden: Can I at least put whoopee cushions under the seats of the chairs?
Obama: No.
Biden: Okay, but I'm going to give him a welcome gift. Obama: Oh? Biden: I'm going to give him a Samsung Note 7. Obama: Isn't that the phone that they recalled because the batteries exploded and burned the phones? Biden: That's the idea. Obama: Not a good idea. Biden: How about a fake letter from Miley Cyrus saying she wants a private meet with Trump? Obama: Joe! Biden: Can I remove the "T" from the White House keyboards? Obama (laughing): That would be funny, but no. Biden: Can I change the White House WiFi password to "PussyGrabber1946"? Obama: No. Biden: Can I paint the Mexican Flag on a wall of the Oval Office? Obama: No. (Biden opens a drawer of the Executive desk and places something inside). Obama: Joe, what did you just do? Biden: I put an envelope marked "Top Secret" in the desk. it has a fake birth certificate in it and--- Obama: Take it out of the desk, Joe.... (Trump arrives and walks towards the entrance) Biden: I heard he's a germophobe. I'm going to sneeze on him. Obama: Don't....just ....don't. (Trump arrives.) Obama: Good morning Donald. Trump: Good morning Barack, Joe. Biden: Loser says what. Trump: What? Biden: Haha, gotcha! Obama: Joe.....
Biden: Okay, but I'm going to give him a welcome gift. Obama: Oh? Biden: I'm going to give him a Samsung Note 7. Obama: Isn't that the phone that they recalled because the batteries exploded and burned the phones? Biden: That's the idea. Obama: Not a good idea. Biden: How about a fake letter from Miley Cyrus saying she wants a private meet with Trump? Obama: Joe! Biden: Can I remove the "T" from the White House keyboards? Obama (laughing): That would be funny, but no. Biden: Can I change the White House WiFi password to "PussyGrabber1946"? Obama: No. Biden: Can I paint the Mexican Flag on a wall of the Oval Office? Obama: No. (Biden opens a drawer of the Executive desk and places something inside). Obama: Joe, what did you just do? Biden: I put an envelope marked "Top Secret" in the desk. it has a fake birth certificate in it and--- Obama: Take it out of the desk, Joe.... (Trump arrives and walks towards the entrance) Biden: I heard he's a germophobe. I'm going to sneeze on him. Obama: Don't....just ....don't. (Trump arrives.) Obama: Good morning Donald. Trump: Good morning Barack, Joe. Biden: Loser says what. Trump: What? Biden: Haha, gotcha! Obama: Joe.....
The Way Things Are
If you voted for the Republicans this year because you thought that they would bring you change from what you think the Democrats did to you in the past eight years, then guess what? You just got conned. Again.
Make no bones. Both parties are full of crooks. The lure of easy --- and usually tax-free --- money is too great for most to resist. You can kick out every incumbent, and the next batch will be just as crooked as soon as all of the special interest groups, lobbyists, etc. start buttonholing them. And that takes less than a week, if that. You can't change human nature, and with humans, it's all about the money and all about the power.
You think the government runs this country? The government is just one giant conglomeration of puppets.
BIG BUSINESS AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS RUN THIS COUNTRY.
Reread that last sentence --- the one in all caps and bold type --- until you know it by heart. Reread it until you understand what it means. Reread it until you accept it as the truth, because it IS the truth.
You could put 100 Democrats (or 100 Republicans) in the Senate and 435 Democrats (or 435 Republicans) in the House, and we'd STILL have Liberals and Conservatives within a month. Why? Because Big Business and Special Interest Groups (hereafter referred to as BB and SIG or SIGs) WANT both. Some SIGs want Liberal stances. Example: the farm corporations that hire migrant workers --- they don't want the illegal immigrants kicked out; who would work those jobs at less than minimum wage?. Other SIGs want Conservative stances (like the gun sellers --- gun control laws mean fewer guns sold). Those are two simple examples, but there are thousands upon thousands, because there are thousands and thousands of SIGs, and sometimes a SIG will want both Liberal and Conservative stances for different purposes.
Hereafter, I will refer to Special Interest Groups as SIG for one or SIGs for more than one.
Now in the meantime, SOME (not all) Congress and Executive folks try to squeeze in a little time to help the people who elected them --- you know, the people who they're supposed to serve: the ones in their state or district. And that opens a whole new can of worms, because much of the time what the people want goes against what one or more SIGs want. Example: The environmentalists want better pollution control. Big Business doesn't want better pollution control because it costs money. And that brings about one of the great mind-manipulations of the past 200 years: convincing people that global warming is a hoax --- I assure you that it is not, but that's the subject of another column.
And that creates a whole new problem for the politician, because she can't always satisfy BB SIGs if it means she'll be out of office next January 3rd. What most politicians have found out is that they can please the BB SIGs about 80% of the time and throw a few crumbs to the people the rest of the time (mostly near Election Day) and stay in office.
Do you like being treated that way? Neither do I.
While both parties are all about their SIGs, the party that has more time to help the people who elect them are the Democrats. That's been true for at least the past 60 years. Think differently? What kind of people belong to unions? The working class. Which party do almost all unions support? Democrats. What party do environmentalists --- you know, the ones who want our children to have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, animal rights, etc. --- belong to? Democrats. Which party looks out for the common Joe's and Julie's? Democrats. The Republicans have so many BB SIGs in their ears wanting this or that done that they don't have much time for the common people.
So while all politicians are on the take, the ones who have more time to help YOU --- and I don't care if you're a factory worker in Akron Ohio or if you own your own business in Cheyenne Wyoming --- are the Democrats.
If you don't understand that, and you want to cling desperately to what Daddy Rush Limbaugh, Uncle Sean Hannity and Fox News tell you, then go rant on Yahoo News like the rest of the puppets do, and save yourself the time of reading this blog any longer. Because with very few exceptions, I do not like Republicans or what they stand for. I'm not really fond of a lot of the Democrats either but ---- and this is important --- I know that I have a better chance of getting what's important to me done with a Democrat than I ever will have with a Republican.
In the next column, I'll tell you all about the greatest huckster of all time. P.T. Barnum had nothing on this guy. He redefined the art of the confidence game --- and managed to con nearly 50 million people in the process. You know who I'm talking about.
Make no bones. Both parties are full of crooks. The lure of easy --- and usually tax-free --- money is too great for most to resist. You can kick out every incumbent, and the next batch will be just as crooked as soon as all of the special interest groups, lobbyists, etc. start buttonholing them. And that takes less than a week, if that. You can't change human nature, and with humans, it's all about the money and all about the power.
You think the government runs this country? The government is just one giant conglomeration of puppets.
BIG BUSINESS AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS RUN THIS COUNTRY.
Reread that last sentence --- the one in all caps and bold type --- until you know it by heart. Reread it until you understand what it means. Reread it until you accept it as the truth, because it IS the truth.
You could put 100 Democrats (or 100 Republicans) in the Senate and 435 Democrats (or 435 Republicans) in the House, and we'd STILL have Liberals and Conservatives within a month. Why? Because Big Business and Special Interest Groups (hereafter referred to as BB and SIG or SIGs) WANT both. Some SIGs want Liberal stances. Example: the farm corporations that hire migrant workers --- they don't want the illegal immigrants kicked out; who would work those jobs at less than minimum wage?. Other SIGs want Conservative stances (like the gun sellers --- gun control laws mean fewer guns sold). Those are two simple examples, but there are thousands upon thousands, because there are thousands and thousands of SIGs, and sometimes a SIG will want both Liberal and Conservative stances for different purposes.
Hereafter, I will refer to Special Interest Groups as SIG for one or SIGs for more than one.
Now in the meantime, SOME (not all) Congress and Executive folks try to squeeze in a little time to help the people who elected them --- you know, the people who they're supposed to serve: the ones in their state or district. And that opens a whole new can of worms, because much of the time what the people want goes against what one or more SIGs want. Example: The environmentalists want better pollution control. Big Business doesn't want better pollution control because it costs money. And that brings about one of the great mind-manipulations of the past 200 years: convincing people that global warming is a hoax --- I assure you that it is not, but that's the subject of another column.
And that creates a whole new problem for the politician, because she can't always satisfy BB SIGs if it means she'll be out of office next January 3rd. What most politicians have found out is that they can please the BB SIGs about 80% of the time and throw a few crumbs to the people the rest of the time (mostly near Election Day) and stay in office.
Do you like being treated that way? Neither do I.
While both parties are all about their SIGs, the party that has more time to help the people who elect them are the Democrats. That's been true for at least the past 60 years. Think differently? What kind of people belong to unions? The working class. Which party do almost all unions support? Democrats. What party do environmentalists --- you know, the ones who want our children to have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, animal rights, etc. --- belong to? Democrats. Which party looks out for the common Joe's and Julie's? Democrats. The Republicans have so many BB SIGs in their ears wanting this or that done that they don't have much time for the common people.
So while all politicians are on the take, the ones who have more time to help YOU --- and I don't care if you're a factory worker in Akron Ohio or if you own your own business in Cheyenne Wyoming --- are the Democrats.
If you don't understand that, and you want to cling desperately to what Daddy Rush Limbaugh, Uncle Sean Hannity and Fox News tell you, then go rant on Yahoo News like the rest of the puppets do, and save yourself the time of reading this blog any longer. Because with very few exceptions, I do not like Republicans or what they stand for. I'm not really fond of a lot of the Democrats either but ---- and this is important --- I know that I have a better chance of getting what's important to me done with a Democrat than I ever will have with a Republican.
In the next column, I'll tell you all about the greatest huckster of all time. P.T. Barnum had nothing on this guy. He redefined the art of the confidence game --- and managed to con nearly 50 million people in the process. You know who I'm talking about.
The purpose of this blog
I've restarted this blog.
I was doing it the wrong way. I was trying to be fair and impartial.
Politics isn't fair or impartial Never has been. Never will be.
So we'll play on their grounds by their rules. And win.
I was doing it the wrong way. I was trying to be fair and impartial.
Politics isn't fair or impartial Never has been. Never will be.
So we'll play on their grounds by their rules. And win.
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