A Few Thoughts on Election Integrity

 Having worked at the polls as a sworn Inspector for the past 15 or so years, I can attest to the fact that everyone I've worked with at the polls takes election integrity very seriously.   We are committed to a fair process that allows every registered voter to have their vote counted.  

Recently, a certain president has made an effort to discredit elections that he might not win. (Don't forget in 2016, he lost several GOP state primary contests and immediately labeled them "rigged." )  

While I'm aware of historical efforts to "buy" election, and rare cases of ballot tampering, elections in this country and this state (Mass.) are reliably managed  by individuals who take the vow of neutrality seriously. 

The effort to discredit mail-in voting has been ramping-up.  The first issue is the registered voter database.  Critics have cited cases where the rolls still contain thousands of names of people who have died or moved away.  They say these are possible means of voter fraud.  They worry that someone could send mail-in ballots for these dead and gone people.  Except that's not what happens in real life.  Some states actually compare signatures on mailed-in ballots against registration signatures. Most of the horror stories that are shared on social media involve some conspiracy theory, easily believed by gullible partisans.  Very few actual cases have been proven. 

The penalties for tampering in an election are severe.  This dissuades most potential tamperer. 

I believe Trump has been tampering with the election process since he was nominated and even more so since he was inaugurated.   I will not be surprised when, after being soundly defeated in the coming the November election, Trump and some of his appointees are indicted for election tampering.    This time he will not have a claque of enabling senators to save him. 

Secret ballot.  Some have raised the question of mail-in ballots not being secret.  Again, in my experience poll workers are sworn to maintain secrecy.  Typically, absentee ballots were aggregated as received, and not opened until voting day, when the Warden would feed the ballots into the voting machine, only examining a ballot if there was a malfunction (e.g. mis-marking of the ballot, causing it to be rejected).  Sometimes a voter will have their ballot rejected by the machine.  The Warden will always ask for permission to look at the ballot to determine the problem.  If the voter says "No," the problem ballot is destroyed and a new blank ballot is issued.  I am not sure how they do this in places where there is not a paper ballot.

Provisional ballots.  These are ballots that are given to people who show-up to vote but are not on the rolls.  At the discretion of the Warden, a ballot may be issued but is not tabulated until the claim of the voter can be reviewed/cross checked.  (In practice, there are only  handful of provisional ballots and are counted only if they could affect the outcome, say, in a recount situation)

Ballot Harvesting.  I think this is a recent concern stemming from the recent changes to allow large numbers of mail-in (versus "absentee") ballots.  Ballot Harvesting is when a third party (other than a relative or postal worker) collects ballots to deliver to a polling place.  Massachusetts does not address the legality of this practice, but it does seem open to possible abuse, and I would support making ballot collecting or harvesting illegal. 

Due to the pandemic, I will  not be working the in-person polls this November, but I feel confident that the results will not be "rigged."

Pop Quiz

"Thin-skinned, self-obsessed, small-minded, intellectually lazy, and ill-disciplined" Who is the first person to pop into your head?

Plague Notes June 2020

 

During normal times, a few of us regulars would routinely gather our favorite Irish pub on Monday afternoons.  We would sit elbow-to-elbow at the bar to trade stories or chat about world events while quaffing a few pints.   Someone got the bright idea to call it "Book Club." 

Instead of telling our wives "I'm going to have a few beers with the guys," and getting The Look, we would say. "Off to Book Club." Now, who could scowl at such a noble endeavor?  Ironically, we are all active book readers, so in fact, the conversation often does turn to books that we've recently read.  No in-depth analysis of themes or symbolism; just a few words to describe how we liked it.  Thumbs up or thumbs down -- end of discussion.  Back to the news.

This is one of the routines I have missed most during the lockdown.  So we have decided to convene Book Club in the safety of my back yard, weather permitting.  This is our new normal:  Bring your favorite drink and sit at a safe social distance.   Sorry, I don’t provide chicken wings. The rest room is over there -- behind the shed.

new Uncle Dinny

Solitary - another experiment

A few thoughts about Conservatives vs Progressives

Conservatives vs Progressives

CONS: 

Penchant for name calling.

Likes simple explanations.

Easily swayed by lies & right wing memes.

Mis-informed and doesn't care, devoid of empathy for others.

Afraid of camels noses and slippery slopes

Watches Fox for information and MSNBC to find out what the evil left is thinking.

Believes abortion is murder when strangers do it.

Thinks of the 2nd amendment as a gun permit

Never sacrificed anyone or anything.  Wants others to fight for American eminence.

Justifies cheating because "everyone is cheating"

Refuses to believe in "Global warming"

PROGS:

Respects other views, except Conservatives who are evil.

Able to see complex causes for current crises, questions absolutes.

Is skeptical about biased sources, but believes NYT

Often the smartest person in the room. Empathetic but intolerant of idiots who disagree.

Likes skiing and camel riding

Watches you tube reruns of Daily Show and SNL

Values the sanctity of all sentient life. Believes life starts with a breath.

Wants to limit access to people-killing devices by nutjobs.

Served in Military when country needed him. Hates war.

Believes that all cheating is wrong, feels guilty about underpayment of taxes.

Doesn't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowin'

Why Rooms are Important - an anti open space screed

Inner Spaces

I don't like the open space concept for living spaces.
I like rooms, with doors.
The living area should not smell like fried onions
I need a place to nap, to read, to write, to fart
without being watched and heard.

We have doors on bathrooms and bedrooms
for good reasons.


I might as well live in a studio apartment
where I would never lose my keys.

We See What we Want to See

Since my famous departure from social media last year, I have been doing more reading than writing.  I had to confront the unpleasant truth that virtually no one was reading my blog, and Facebook was becoming little more than an enormous waste of time.   No one else was writing anything but shrill partisan politics, bad haiku, or cute pet pics.

After being off Facebook for almost a year - I deleted my account  March 2018 -  I have lost the  need/will to connect with others by constant updates.   Now when I want to talk to others, I send an email, or rarely, call them on the telephone. (I don't use my mobile device for phone calls except when I am in the car where Bluetooth handles calls via verbal commands.)

So, today, I return to the fold to a new beginning.  I am hopeful that I will be soon reporting the ongoing end of the Trump presidency, and the foolishness his election in 2016 mean't for this country.

Watched the Cohen hearing last week.  The hearing was not about Russia collusion. Cohen stated early on that he had "no direct evidence" of collusion with Russia. But he suspected that there was indeed some questionable contact beyond the hush money payoff that may have affected the outcome of the election. 

He was as credible as an inveterate liar and crook can be.
He is guilty of serious crimes and so his motives are suspect.  Is he making stuff up to get a more lenient sentence?  Is he seeking revenge for not getting a white house office?  We don't know for sure whether his claim to seek redemption is sincere or just another pack of lies.

Whatever his motive, Cohen's testimony sure seems aimed at taking Trump down.  There were several allusions to the ongoing grand jury investigations in the Southern District of NY.   Apparently they are looking into pre-election goings-on.

I don't think those investigations are relevant to any future impeachment efforts -- at least in my opinion.  Stuff that happened before the election should not be considered grounds for impeachment.  I always felt that way about Al Franken.  No one ever accused him of acting inappropriately as a Senator, and I was mystified that he resigned over some comparatively minor  #metoo infractions which occurred during his career when he was an entertainer.  (My spidey sense thinks that there were may have been a threat of more embarrassing revelations that he wished to squelch.  Perhaps we'll never know...)

Back to the Cohen House Committee hearing, each Republican member seemed solely interested in discrediting the witness. (The Repubicans behaved just as crassly partisan as the Democrats did at the Kavanaugh hearings. A pox on both!)  Not one of them was interested in the allegations against Trump and his cadre.  No one tried to defended Trump either,  except one white dude who said he had never heard the President use the "N- word."

Halloween

Again this year, we will not go to any trouble to decorate since the neighborhood kids already think of our place as "The Haunted House."  
Reportedly, the previous owners were slain in their beds by an escaped homicidal lunatic with a hook for a hand.  Parents and kids, hooked to death.   The crime scene was so gory that the county coroner resigned the next day.  

Sometimes at night when I get up to go to the bathroom I see dead people - the ghosts of the kids with bloody hook marks... well, you don't really want to know the details.  

But the ghosts really spook the cats sometimes.  Cats have a special connection with the spirit world.  Come to think of it, the tragedy happened around Halloween back in 1995.  The murderer was never caught and some people think it might have been a vampire.

Hey what's that?   Something seems to be scratching at the door... Oh no.  Its a daemon or something.  Smells like rotting flesh.  Big teeth.  Wants to drink my blood.  I know, silver bullets in gun.  Load.  Cock.  Fire.  Bang, Bang ..Eek,   Argh,  (silence).

Hi.  this is the vampire, the poor pale shmuck is lying, drained and lifeless, on the rug.  Just for the record, silver bullets only kill werewolves.   Hahahahahahahahaahahaha! 

Carpe Autumn

There is nothing as magic as an early morning stroll under a bright New England sky in October. The crisp, moist air hangs like golden wisps of smoke, whispering ripe apples and pumpkins.

Emily Dickinson found the slant of light on winter afternoons to be oppressive, but for me the hue and angle of the light in autumn is a tonic for the soul.

Yes, you can feel the promise of frost in the damp air and the dew glistening on the grass. One night, very soon, the tomato vines and marigold leaves will turn black. We will pull them up and toss them on the compost pile.

Though we will sorely miss the freshly picked tomatoes for our salads and homemade salsa, and we will long for the luxury of golden pungent marigolds in vases, we will not mourn their passing.   We are already thinking of the spring planting and renewal.

Perhaps it is the knowledge that we only have a few precious weeks to savor the fruits of our cultivation makes us appreciate them more. And we dare to look ahead with hope to the inevitable Spring

We who love the change of seasons welcome Autumn, and in turn, Winter. We do not carp about weather. We celebrate the changes in the skies.  We carpe the diem.

You will not hear us complaining about the rain or the heat or even the hurricane. We take what comes, knowing that, if there is a God, then it is His will.  Despite our prayers or wishes or puny technology we have no power over weather – we can only try to endure.

You may hear us remark that the lawn is brown or the snow is too deep to go to work.  These are not complaints they are merely observations.  We are Buddhists.  We cannot make the weather happen.  We can only sit and hunker down when the winds blow, and wait for the lovely days.

This is life.  Because the earth is off-kilter, we have seasons.  They say the earth has a constant temperature at the depth six feet.  Lord knows we will have plenty of time for that.

Labor Day 2018

 Although I am no longer a member of the paid workforce, I welcome the long Labor Day holiday as the unofficial end of summer.   The mere act of flipping the page in my calendar to September evokes the hope of fall harvest, football, apples, vibrant colors.

The nights are already getting cooler.  Acorns hang in fat clusters on my neighbor's oak trees.  In my side yard, a red-tailed hawk  can't get off the ground with the fat carcass of the rabbit it just killed.  As the hawk sullenly pecks at the carcass.  I silently cheer -- one less rabbit gnawing on the hostas.  I hope the hawk returns to feast on other fat rabbits, tasty squirrels and chunky chipmunks that have menaced my garden all summer.  

It has been a long hot, dry summer.    

Repost of a remembrance - 11 years later

Remembering Woodstock 1969

Note This was previously posted 8/14/2009

Man, who could forget that moment in history, forty years ago, when we gathered, half a million strong, for those few days of Peace, Love and Music? 

OK, so maybe I was not there, but I heard about it on the radio. Hey, my wife and I had jobs in those days; responsibilities - rent, careers, and a baby on-the-way.

It was actually a memorable summer for us - but, not because of any music concert. In July we had taken a cruise to Bermuda as a sort of delayed honeymoon. We were young, clean cut, and had never heard of Jimmi Hendrix or Janis Joplin. We were still under the musical influence of Bobby Darren and The Kingston Trio. 

The gathering at Woodstock would never have appeared on our radar. We were trying to break-in, not drop-out. We did not even know anyone that did drugs or practiced free love.

One of my musical memories of that summer was driving through the Sumner Tunnel in Boston and hearing an unfamiliar but haunting song that was playing loudly on someone's 8-track tape. (In those days there was no radio reception in the tunnels). The vocal harmony was magnetic and thrilling to me, but I did not recognize the artists. 

It was only when the Woodstock movie came out, I was able to identify the group and the song - "Judy Blue Eyes" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Ok, I know what you are thinking, I was out of touch. So sue me.

When the story came out about Woodstock - 3 days of sharing close proximity with masses of drugged out hippies who had not bathed recently, dancing in the mud and blocking other people's view of the stage, standing in line for the few porta-potties with 399,000 other bursting bladders, I was secretly glad that I was not there. 

I say 'secretly', because as I later discovered everyone thought you were cool if you could claim to have been there. Only a clueless dolt would admit that a) he didn't go and b) did not regret missing it.

Most of the performers at Woodstock are probably dead by now, if not forgotten. And, most of the attendees who survived the drugs and free love would be at the age where they are in or close to retirement. For me, it is hard to believe that forty years have passed like an express train in the night.

Let's Talk About Free Speech

If I was the Emperor, I would prohibit demonstrations that inconvenience innocent people.

The right of Free speech does not mean freedom to impede the movement of others.  People who protest by blocking traffic are wrong-headed.  They may get attention, but I submit that most of the attention is anger, not support for their cause.

Sit-ins may galvanize the choir but I don't believe such actions will change anyone's mind.  My personal research indicates that just the opposite effect occurs.  People who are inconvenienced harden their opposition to the cause and the group that created the inconvenience.

I see blocking traffic as a form of terrorism.  Just like when a bomb explodes in a pizza joint or speeding truck intentionally running into holiday shoppers in a crowded square, the ones who are most harmed are innocent of the injuries that are supposed by the terrorist group..   Instead of having the guts to confront the real object of the anguish, the protester takes his anger out on anyone who happens to be in the wrong place. These "soft targets" are attractive to cowards who lack the guts to face their real oppressors.

Darwin tells us that a person whose calculus is to inconvenience others to get attention for his cause will likely pass these traits along to subsequent offspring.  In a few generations we will have nothing but chaos. 

Thus we need to nip the problem in the bud. Therefore, a modest proposal:  Shoot the protesters in the groin, arrest the survivors and remove their reproductive organs..


What do you Think?

Peevish

I'm feeling a bit peevish this morning.

#1  In Massachusetts, the law states that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way, and autos must stop to let the walkers finish crossing.  I do not have any problem with this law.

The right of way does not apply to people standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross.  And it does not empower idiots to step into a crosswalk when there is a car approaching at 35 miles per hour, forcing the driver of said car to jam on the brakes.  

#2 Breakdown Lane Travel.  On many roads in this state, travel is allowed in the breakdown lane during certain periods.  I'm not sure what the poor souls who actually have broken-down are supposed to do, but there have been cases where they have been killed by motorists tearing down the breakdown lane at 60 or 70 mph.

  I have a simple solution to this problem.  Amend the law to limit the speed in the breakdown lane to not exceed 30 mph.  That would alleviate the bottleneck situation, would keep cars from speeding past you in the right-most lane, not to mention that it would diminish the likelihood of a crash with a disabled vehicle legitimately occupying the breakdown lane.

#3 Why am I paying for a land line?   20 times a day the phone rings and caller id says "Unavailable" or some other label that does not identify the caller.  If I don't recognize the name, I do not pick up. but it is still annoying.  Many are robocalls that leave a message on the answering machine, and I have to delete them.  Verizon should offer an option to block calls from going to the answering machine, also I am the do-not-call list, which seems to be a joke as I am getting calls from known scammers and spammers.  Verizon is not looking out for me, and I resent it.

#4  I have a big screen TV.  Why do Netflix disks insist on showing movies in letterbox format ( the previews are full-screen, so don't tell me that it's the TV's fault.  I hate when I see the message that "That option is not available" when I want to skip ahead so I don't need to view the anti piracy messages in six languages.

Notes from God's Diary

Creating a universe is pretty easy if you know what you’re doing.

Despite what they say, I am not going to raise dead bodies; (what would be the point of that?)

I do not like burnt offerings.

People are like ants; they have a spirit but do not possess a soul.

The main reason I created humans is to watch them fight.

There is no heaven, but Hell is real.

All evangelists are going to hell. 

Monday Morning Quarterback

More than a year has now passed since the unfortunate election of Donald Trump.  I was a Bernie fan, and not enamored with Hillary. I believe the outcome of the November 2016 election would have been different if Bernie had been The Democratic candidate.   I, along with most pundits, was expecting someone other than Trump to be the Republican nominee. 

I think I could have voted for someone like Ohio Governor John Kasich instead of Hillary. But, as it turned-out, I was stuck with a choice between two candidates, neither of whom had my trust or admiration.  One was a self-promoting reality show producer with a checkered history.  The other was a political insider with a considerable albatross factor. 

I voted for the second worst candidate. But the worst one won. 

In hindsight, I think Trump got nominated and elected for the simple reason that he was the least boring of the presidential hopefuls. And, he has not been boring in office.   He has been the most un-presidential of presidents.  (I don't think I need to expand on this point.)

And here we are March 2018 – more divided than ever.  

Somehow, the major political parties have convinced the public -- and especially the media -- that we are concerned with the same tired topics:  Abortion, Gun rights, Immigration.

In fact, most of us are not lying awake at night worrying about access to abortion, or whether we have the right to shoot at the squirrels in our back yards, or whether every fruit picker is a citizen.

We are more worried about corrupt politicians, crime, id theft and illness. We are afraid that if we (god forbid) have to go to the hospital we might end up sicker than when we went in.  We hate the traffic that clogs our highways and the inhuman conditions of air travel.  

We are awakened at ungodly hours by honking horns, barking dogs, gas-powered leaf-blowers and idling diesel truck engines.  Our quality of life is assailed by commercial interests and thoughtless neighbors.

We are saddened that so many of our elected officials are bought-and-paid-for by special interests, that they remain in office mainly to enrich themselves, leaving our most needy of our citizens to live in squalor.

Our food is prepared by the least-educated, least-hygienic people the restaurant can hire.  We can’t buy cigarettes, but Wendy’s can sell a two-pound hamburger.

Everything that we want to have or do is taxed.  Companies can lie about the price of their product with an asterisk (because that is the “base” price that does not include fees, taxes, usage charges, royalties, and all manner of additional add-ons that can double the cost of the thing.)

President Trump still acts like he is running a reality show. America is not greater, and we are annoyed.

Yes I quit Facebook and Twitter

Am I a Trend setter?

Not to brag, but I have always been a stalwart defender of truth, justice and the American way. No wait., that was Superman.  Not me.  

Well, it's been said that I march to the beat of my own drum, but I'll have to admit that this is not necessarily a choice, but more likely because I am rhythmically retarded.  I am fated to be out of step with my fellow marchers. I can't help it.  At least I can sing on key.

My decision to shut-off Facebook and Twitter has been percolating for some time.  Most intelligent folks would agree that Social Media is in general a huge, but benevolent, waste of time.  But, most regular users concede that it is also a convenient medium for exchanging photos and items of interest among family members and real friends.  The really smart users probably limit their exposure to a few chosen individuals.  

But most of us, seeking 'free' entertainment are seduced into expanding our 'friends' circle to include friends-of-friends and even the dreaded 'public' (ie, anyone).   As time goes by, we are drawn into seemingly innocent exchanges of information - fun surveys, tests, startling videos, cute pet photos, petition drives, affinity groups, you name it.  What we haven't really given much thought to is how much information we are giving away through seemingly harmless participation.

Recent revelations have made it clear that Social Media is far from a benevolent waste of time.  Rather it has become an industry that crawls up your ass and into your brain and shares all the information it learned about you along the way -- with total strangers, and without your knowledge.  (You consented by agreeing to the fine print in their terms and conditions of use).   So, when you were answering the questions to determine your Leprechaun name, or answering the Mensa quiz or clicking on the discount K-Y Jelly ad, they were gathering information about your preferences, your education level, your political ideology, etc.

We are not just talking about Facebook.  There are many other sites that do the same thing.  And the big search engines (Google, Microsoft, AOL) collude to sell data about what you have searched for -- refrigerators, hats, male enhancement products, medicines, cat litter...  

I have been feeling a growing discontent with the silliness of much of the content that was being presented to me. Frankly, I don't care about where you went for lunch or what it looked like, or 10 photos of you standing in front of a cathedral in France (which you posted to make me jealous).  I don't care about your cute cat, and even less about your precocious grand kid, and I especially don't care about the squirrel that is raiding your bird feeder, but thanks for sharing.

So, after learning about the thousands of fake Facebook accounts set up by Russian operatives to influence the 2016 election, and then more recently hearing about the data breach by Cambridge Analytics, I decided that I could live without Facebook --which for me was a colossal waste of time invested for the amount of entertainment enjoyed.  I also deleted my Twitter account.   A big problem with these platforms is that there is no editor.

Anyone can say anything in the name of free speech regardless of how inane or wrong they are.   If you like that type of chaos, you are welcome to it.  I'll  pass.

I have not missed it.  I'm even thinking of updating my blog on a regular basis. 

Don't laugh, it could happen..

Getting Older

Well, I have passed another milestone.  

I arrived at age 75 the other day.  Achieved didn't seem to be the right word, since achievement is commonly defined as "a goal being reached by effort, skill or courage."  In my case, I kind of snuck-up on it, by merely surviving.  

I did not plan to live this long.  Life expectancy for my cohort --males born in 1942 -- was age 68.  My dad died at age 64, and none of his three brothers lived past age 65.  So I went through middle-age believing that Noonan men could count themselves lucky to enjoy a year or two of retirement.

That's why I took early retirement (ie started collecting Social Security) at age 62.

But here is the thing about life expectancy: From birth, the actuaries have to factor-in the average rate of demise for those who will succumb to accidents, war, disaster, infectious disease and other threats to life.  Assuming you don't wrap the family car around  a tree on prom night or drown in the lake, there is a raft of fatal diseases that strike during young adulthood and middle age years.  But if you survive until age 65, there is a new calculation. Suddenly, you get a reprieve of another 18 years.  Now, the new life expectancy age for my cohort is 83.

Eighty-three seems old to me.   My new goal is trying to achieve that age.  This time, it will be a deliberate objective; I will not sneak-up on it, I will arrive on a band wagon drawn by a team of six Clydesdale.   Well, you get the idea -- I will apply effort, skill and courage to get there.

I think it will take a lot of effort to stay upright, to keep moving and be as flexible as possible.  Gravity is an enemy of age, it keeps trying to pull us down.  I plan to reduce my body mass significantly to lessen gravity's effects on knees and joints.  

It will take skill as well; the brain wants to shrink, to erase memories, to shut down -- just when we need it the most.  We can't let that happen.  We must encourage our own curiosity, caring,  and social interaction just when it is easier to sit in front of the TV like zombies watching  Jeopardy, The Kardashians or NCIS.    We need to keep reading, doing crosswords, challenging mental acuity by debating those who disagree with us.  

It will take courage -  I like the definition: "Strength in the face of pain or grief."   We need to keep a perspective on ourselves and the world, recognize those emotional triggers and fears which are the meat of media "news".  We need to stay positive,  and to stay funny.  A sense of humor is indispensable.   

Frankly, I have given-up on questions like "Why are we here?"  "Is there an afterlife?"  I  can accept that my life may have no more meaning than a crow's. 
Just the same, both the crow and I want to stay alive as long as possible.

No More Trolling

Sometimes I get tired of trolling my friend George's blog.  You should click that link if you haven't heard enough about how Barack Obama personally ruined the country.  

I know what you are thinking:  I'm too lazy to write in my own blog.  OK, maybe a little.  I admit that it is a lot easier to troll someone else's cockeyed view of things than to come up with readable factual statements about the state of affairs.  Besides that, I am frankly too cynical to believe that anyone in public office is looking out for the citizens.

Besides no more that two or three people are likely to read this blog, so why bother to write and edit a piece that no one reads?

  Or if they do click on it they just scan for tidbits so they can write snarky comments.

One of my more progressive friends recently asked "How you can stay  friends with someone who thinks Trump is (despite acknowledged flaws) is the right man to Commander in Chief?"

  I answer, isn't that what friends are for? Standing by someone, even when you think they are wrong?

Our values are not so different

We agree that America is great, especially if you were born lucky: good looking, smart parents, etc.
We agree that people ought to work for a living.
We are wary of our fellow men many of whom are selfish, dishonest and ignorant.
We are kind to animals and respectful of our elders (of which there are fewer every year)
We don't cheat, steal or take advantage of our fellow citizens.
We distrust any advertisement that has fine print or and asterisk after the word free.
We are suspicious of strangers.  We tend to like individuals, but not mobs.

I could go on for hundreds more points of agreement, but you get the idea.  My point is that political disagreements are really temporal, emotional, and, in most cases, theoretical.  Why these differences of opinion have become so divisive is a mystery to me. 

Most people I know on both ends of the spectrum have a lot in common: they are not going to have an abortion, they do not walk around with loaded semi-automatic weapons and large capacity ammunition clips.  They don't burn flags in protest.  People should use toilets that are appropriate to their plumbing.   They think that immigrants should come here legally and pay taxes.  They think vicious criminals should be punished commensurate to the crimes they commit.   

So, why are we so polarized on these issues, when it is clear that neither political party really cares about the citizenry, but is only incented by the donations of lobbyists and rich partisans?

Who is Looking Out For US?

Yesterday,  President Trump announced his plan to reverse the recent thawing of US relations with Cuba that began under the Obama administration. And that strategy seemed to be working for both sides.    

Trump justifies his new sanctions as being in the interests of Cuban citizens who are still oppressed by the Castro regime.   It's nice to know that our dear leader is looking out for the interests of the oppressed Cubans.  But, reversing the relaxed access and trade that has been benefiting small businessmen in both Cuba and US does not seem be a promising strategy.  Let's remember, sanctions didn't accomplish anything during the past 50 years.  The Castros are perfectly willing to stonewall these sanctions to maintain dictatorial control.

Most Americans now believe that improved access to Cuba is in the interests of both country's citizens, helping the economy of both trading partners.    

My wife opined that Trump is a "Manchurian Candidate."   He is taking steps to stifle any investigation of Russian influence while at the same time applying policies that will create a vacuum in Cuba that will be readily occupied by the Russians.  90 Miles form Florida.

Scary thought.  Now with Bill Riley gone, who is looking out for us?