Month: November 2016

Drug War Has Failed

Policy choices have consequences.

Trump made many many promises during his “glorious” campaign but the one failed policy that he seem to overlook was that of the Drug War….after 35+ years of wasted money this war is far from won…..

This whole war thing needs to be reconsidered….we keep wasting billions upon billions of dollars and NO substantial results can be found.

The opiate epidemic has reached an all-time high in the United States, with drug-related deaths now surpassing deaths from vehicle accidents. Statista’s Niall McCarthy wrote, “drug-induced deaths (have) reached 49,714 while road crash deaths fell to 32,675,” in 2014. Opioid- and heroin-related deaths have reached epidemic levels. According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137%, including a 200% increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids (opioid pain relievers and heroin).”

With over 1 million heroin users in the U.S., heroin-related deaths are skyrocketing, made possible in part, as McCarthy says, by the cheap supply of heroin, governmental regulations, and Fentanyl-infused heroin (50 times more potent than heroin).

Source: Drug War Fail: Drugs Now Kill More People Than Car Crashes | Alternet

If Trump wants to impress more people then he needs to attack this policy and do something that will address the problem and save some taxpayer dollars……

Just a thought.

Closing Thought–28Nov16

On “Political Correctness”……………

Let me say in the opening here that I am NOT a fan in the WaPo…..but from time to time they do offer some sage thoughts….

For several years now the Right has been employing a word game with opinions of anyone that does not agree with them….”political correctness”…..

A former Sec of the Treasury has offered up an op-ed on the subject……

I will never again use the term “political correctness.” Whatever rhetorical value the term may have once had is far more than offset by what has been unleashed in the name of resistance to it since the presidential election.

I have made no secret over the years of my conviction that the sensitivities of individuals or members of various group should not be permitted to chill free speech on college campuses. I have the scars to show for speaking out against overdoing the idea of microaggression, the regulation of Halloween costumes and the prosecution of students for taking part in sombrero parties – all of which have struck me as “political correctness” run amok.

Source: Larry Summers: ‘Political correctness’ has become a codeword for hate – The Washington Post

I am sure that my Right readers will say that this is just a way to explain the opinions of those on the Left…..if so then it is a short cut because they have very little to offer as an argument…..

I am sure I will hear from them on this…..

I await the onslaught.

What Do You Know About The Electoral College?

After the Right made a big deal out of the calls for the elimination of the Electoral College I decided to do a series on the subject…..I mean some of us have been fighting to rid society of this dinosaur for decades just the Right was too goddamn busy imposing their religious beliefs on everyone to notice…..

The 2016 election is over….and Mr. Trump has won the big enchilada….he won the electoral college and it appears that Clinton may have won the popular vote….and division has started yet another debate about the electoral college.

Lots of pros and cons…personally the only solution is a popular vote….period!

I have been calling for the elimination of the EC since 2008 on this blog….and that was when Obama was elected…I guess the Leftist thing is just wrong (but of course not one person will admit it)…and I invite anyone that knows how to use the archives to do so to check my statement…..if you doubt what I say……

But let’s look at some historic perspective (you knew that was coming) on the issue……

When U.S. citizens go to the polls to “elect” a president, they are in fact voting for a particular slate of electors. In every state but Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who wins the most votes (that is, a plurality) in the state receives all of the state’s electoral votes. The number of electors in each state is the sum of its U.S. senators and its U.S. representatives. (The District of Columbia has three electoral votes, which is the number of senators and representatives it would have if it were permitted representation in Congress.) The electors meet in their respective states 41 days after the popular election. There, they cast a ballot for president and a second for vice president. A candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes to be elected president.

The reason that the Constitution calls for this extra layer, rather than just providing for the direct election of the president, is that most of the nation’s founders were actually rather afraid of democracy. James Madison worried about what he called “factions,” which he defined as groups of citizens who have a common interest in some proposal that would either violate the rights of other citizens or would harm the nation as a whole. Madison’s fear – which Alexis de Tocqueville later dubbed “the tyranny of the majority” – was that a faction could grow to encompass more than 50 percent of the population, at which point it could “sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.” Madison has a solution for tyranny of the majority: “A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.”

(factcheck.org)

A bit more on the history……

Source: The Troubling Reason the Electoral College Exists | TIME

But could there be more to this issue than a simple pro and con debate?

There always is when it comes to American political system……

To be clear, this critique of the racialized origins of the Electoral College should not be interpreted as the cheap product of disappointment over the most recent election results, but rather as an effort to tap into what will likely be a short-lived public appetite for presidential politics in order to explore how US political institutions are themselves always already racialized. To be sure, race and racism in the US context have long served as some of the most significant guarantors of democratic structures and institutions. In short, US democracy itself is a racial project whose fulcrum hinges on policies of inclusion and exclusion.

Source: Slavery, Democracy and the Racialized Roots of the Electoral College

This debate is a debate that has been had before and has accomplished nothing….I will be covering this a bit more in the days and weeks to come….please if there are any opinions we would love to hear them…..

How Important Is Education?

To me the answer is…..an absolute necessity.

When I left the service of my country I asked for one thing and one thing only…..an education….and I was fortune enough to get my request.  So education in my book should be free and public from K-12….it should NOT be a money making industry….period.

Pres. trump has made his selection for Sec of Education…..and what do we know about her…yes he chose a woman…..

Education will be set back a 100 years…..once again it will be the wealthy and privileged that get the good education…..

But her best statement….was this……

Now that we know President-elect Donald Trump has tapped right-wing megadonor Betsy DeVos as his pick to lead the Department of Education, now is a good time to examine some of the many shady organizations she’s funded.

One such organization is the Acton Institute, a think tank on whose board DeVos has served, and whose self-described goal is “to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.”

And one way to promote a virtuous society, it seems, is to bring back child labor.

Source: Think Tank Funded by Trump’s Education Secretary Pick Advocated Bringing Back Child Labor | Alternet

I do not see the GOP in Congress growing a set of nuts and challenging Trump on much at all….

I was giving Trump some time to make his picks…..but so far I have little confidence that this will be an admin for ALL Americans.

Trump’s Tulsi Gabbard Factor

Yipee!  Today is “cyber-Monday” so internet will slow to a snails pace….so I will be posting a small amount today…hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I admit I was a Bernie supporter basically because he was an non-interventionist….when he sold out to the Dems I switched to the Green Party……during Bernie’s run up to the nomination a Rep named Tulsi Gabbard was one of his best surrogates….and she was asked to meet with Trump by his camp (say what?)

I have been concerned with Trump’s possible climbing into bed with the M-IC….but on a bright note he has had a face to face with Gabbard…

Could this be a vision of the future form a Trump foreign policy?

By inviting in Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat hostile to “regime change” wars, President-elect Trump may be signaling a major break with Republican neocon orthodoxy and a big shake-up of the U.S. foreign policy establishment, writes Robert Parry.

Two weeks after Donald Trump’s shocking upset of Hillary Clinton, the imperious and imperial neoconservatives and their liberal-interventionist understudies may finally be losing their tight grip on U.S. foreign policy.

The latest sign was Trump’s invitation for a meeting with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, on Monday. The mainstream media commentary has almost completely missed the potential significance of this start-of-the-work-week meeting by suggesting that Trump is attracted to Gabbard’s tough words on “radical Islamic terrorism.”

Source: Trump’s Tulsi Gabbard Factor – Consortiumnews

Now the question is…is this a positive sign or just window dressing?

Trumpism Meets Neoliberalism

The election has me wondering where this country is heading……do we talk Trump at his word during the campaign or will he become more pragmatic in his approach to governing?

This is the same thing I did when Obama was elected…..I dissected his appointees to try and see just what to expect from his administration….why should I not do the same for Pres. Trump?

Will the neoliberals keep their stranglehold on our foreign policy?  Will Trump have his own version of foreign policy?

As Donald Trump builds his cabinet and staff, it’s already clear that the White House will host both neoliberal Republican elites and advocates of the racist ideology on which Trump ran his campaign. The merger of their two ideologies — each of them dangerous on its own — will not only result in horrific policies but could also prompt a dangerous transformation of the ideology that governs the center of power in Washington.

Source: The Cabinet From Hell: Trumpism Meets Neoliberalism

It is still early in his admin…..his decisions on the cabinet will go a long way to determine if there is a changer brewing or more of the same…..

In Space, Does Sh*t Run Downhill?

It is the weekend and my readers know that I try to cover subjects that I overlook during the week….call it a break in routine if you will…..

Last weekend I covered this guy that has the world’s largest collection of poop…..and that got to thinking that there is a lot of concern these days with our bums….we have TP that makes it feel amazing….there are special concoctions that will maintain a regular BM…… we worry about our regularity and there is where I pick up this day’s post…..

Pooping in space “isn’t glamorous, but it is necessary for survival,” an astronaut explains—yet it’s presenting quite a challenge for NASA. See, while the International Space Station has a pretty fancy toilet, an astronaut must wear a diaper during launch and landing activities or while spacewalking. But as NASA looks toward future missions in deep space, it’s also looking for a way for astronauts to relieve themselves while remaining in their space suits for up to six days, reports Time. That’s where you come in. The agency is offering a $30,000 prize in a “space poop challenge” if someone can create “a system inside a space suit that collects human waste for up to 144 hours and routes it away from the body, without the use of hands.”

There are plenty of stipulations. For example, the system “needs to take no more than five minutes [to set up]” as an astronaut might be forced to jump into their suit quickly in an emergency, per Space.com. While such a challenge might seem humorous, a solution “could be the difference between life and death,” notes the contest website. “You don’t want any of these solids and fluids stuck to your body for six days,” NASA adds in a release. “Given enough time, infection, and even sepsis can set in,” says astronaut Rick Mastracchio in a video. Inventors have until Dec. 20 to submit their entries. NASA plans to test the top entries next year, with a solution executed within three years.

I truly hope this it the last time I need to report on poop in some fashion…..

Enough of this sh*t (pun intended)……Everyone go out and enjoy your weekend…..have some fun while you can.

Is The Revolution Dead?

Sunday and I open with some news….breaking news……

I awoke yesterday with the news of the death of Fidel Castro……(Do I need to explain who he is?)

Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism, and defied the power of 10 US presidents during his half-century rule, has died at age 90. With a shaking voice, his younger brother, Raul Castro, announced on state television that his brother died at 10:29pm on Friday night, reports AP. Castro’s reign over the island-nation 90 miles from Florida was marked by the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The bearded revolutionary, who survived a crippling US trade embargo as well as dozens, possibly hundreds, of assassination plots, died eight years after ill health forced him to formally hand power over to Raul.

The BBC sums up the life of Castro thusly: “His supporters praised him as a man who had given Cuba back to the people. But his opponents accused him of brutally suppressing opposition.” Castro overcame imprisonment at the hands of dictator Fulgencio Batista, exile in Mexico, and a disastrous start to his rebellion before triumphantly riding into Havana in January 1959 to become, at age 32, the youngest leader in Latin America. For decades, he served as an inspiration and source of support to revolutionaries from Latin America to Africa. “Socialism or death” remained Castro’s rallying cry even as Western-style democracy swept the globe and other communist regimes in China and Vietnam embraced capitalism, leaving this island of 11 million people an economically crippled Marxist curiosity.

Typical of the MSM they immediately went to Little Havana to get the reaction to the news….and guess what?  The people were celebrating the death of Fidel and then the media ask what it meant to Cuba…..

What the Hell do they know?

Most have been Americanized after 50+ years of living the American dream.  Maybe a better source for those questions would be to ask them of the people that stay in Cuba during the days of Fidel.

Most Americans have negative impression of Fidel’s Cuba….basically because the media told you what to think.  Fidel may have well been a prick but that is for the Cuban people to say not the American media.

If you truly want to know what the death means to the Cuban people then ask the people of Cuba….not some Cuban-American, that has NEVER set foot on Cuban soil, hanging on South Beach eating black beans and watching thongs go by.

Mars In A Month?

There is a plan to send humans to Mars…the problem is that the trip will take up to a year or more and the concern is how will the astronauts handled such ling periods of confinement.

But what if it only would take a month?

– A century ago, the first transatlantic flight took about 23 days. Soon, we could reach Mars in about as long. The key: perfecting laser technology. NASA scientist Philip Lubin says that by swapping out the current fuel-based rocket propulsion system with one relying on photons would significantly boost our space travel speeds, reports Reuters. Science Alert explains it like this: Particles of light from lasers in Earth’s orbit would reflect off a “large, reflective sail” on a spacecraft and produce a thrust capable of sending it toward a destination at insane speeds. Lubin estimates a 220-pound probe could reach Mars in as little as 72 hours, reports Wired. A bigger, manned spacecraft would take about a month; experts believe the Space Launch System currently in development could take humans to Mars in about five months.

If all that isn’t intriguing enough, Lubin says “photonic propulsion” opens up the possibility of travel outside our solar system, per Space.com. “The human factor of exploring the nearest stars and exoplanets would be a profound voyage for humanity, one whose non-scientific implications would be enormous,” Lubin writes in a study. “There are recent advances that take this from science fiction to science reality,” he adds in a YouTube video. “There is no known reason why we cannot do this.”

Furthermore…..there will be humans on Mars by the 2030’s…..NASA says there will be humans on Mars by the 2030s.

That is it for the space stuff….have a great day my friends…..

A Thanksgiving Ode to John Horse and the Black Seminoles

It is two days past T’giving and I always post something historical…I apologize that missed this for the day……

I know I try to force feed history to my readers….but with good reason…..we should never forget our heritage and culture……whether good or bad…..

An engraving of John Horse, leader of the Black Seminoles. (Image: N. Orr)

John Horse and the Black Seminoles secured the first Emancipation Proclamation years before Lincoln’s by forcing the white establishment in Florida to compromise. Their story is unfortunately overlooked, but important for the future of Black and Brown people across the Americas.

The two races, the Negro and the Indian, are rapidly approximating; they are identified in interests and feelings….Should the Indians remain in this territory, the Negroes among them will form a rallying point for runaway Negroes from the adjacent states; and should they remove, the fastnesses of the country would be immediately occupied by negroes. — US General Thomas S. Jesup 

Source: A Thanksgiving Ode to John Horse and the Black Seminoles

Now with your history lesson complete…..go have some fun and smile…..