This just in: Please make it stop!

Yesterday, the Republican Leader in the House has said publicly that the Republican Party will not forget those companies that comply with a Congressional subpoena with regards to the January 6th insurrection. In other words, if these companies don’t help Republicans obstruct Congress, they will be punished. He said this publicly!

Yesterday, a 27-year old junior Republican Congressman seemed to promote violence as a response to the falsehood of Trump’s election loss being stolen. His spokesman said he was joking. I watched and didn’t see it that way.

Anti-maskers are taking school board meetings by storm. Threatening, shouting and bullying. Why? Because they want their children to have the freedom to spread COVID to other students. It’s really that simple.

Biden got us out of a forever war. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz, who fled Texas when the weather got bad, blames Biden for leaving people behind. Keep in mind that the Biden Administration started telling Americans that they would need to get out of Afghanistan LAST MARCH!!

As an ex-wrestler, I find Gym Jordan discusting.

Is there any difference between (1) believing that horse de-wormer will protect you from COVID and (2) believing that a multi-millionaire preaching on television knows the will of the creator of the universe?

Texas just passed a law that makes an abortion after 6 weeks a crime that is equivalent to terrorism. Doctors report that 90% of women are unaware that they are pregnant at 6 weeks.

At my hotel this morning, I had an egg, potato, ham, bacon and cheese thing for breakfast that was so good I think I may have experienced time travel.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: It occurs to me that we, as a society, make a lot of choices without even being aware of it. Or, and even worse, we are aware of it but refuse to consider alternatives to what we want to believe to be true.

Here are some choices that are currently available to everyone living in the United States:

1. Do you choose to fight in wars in the Middle East for a variety of reasons or do you choose to address those issues through other means; possibly economically or diplomatically?
2. Do you choose Popeye’s Chicken or KFC?
3. Do you choose fear or love?
4. Do you choose the vastness of our current military or do you choose healthcare and post-high school education for all?
5. Do you choose Taco Bell or a normal Mexican restaurant?
6. Do you choose Fox News or do you choose a variety of news sources specifically known to be unbiased?
7. Do you choose white supremacy or do you embrace diversity?
8. Do you choose being right or being happy?
9. Do you choose what you want to be true or do you choose what is actually true?
10. Do you choose oil or electricity?
11. Do you choose big money in politics or not?
12. Do you choose horse de-worming medicine or a vaccine?
13. Do you choose to stretch your 8-iron or a softly hit 7-iron?
14. Do you choose a healthy planet or a dying one?
15. Do you choose salty chocolate and caramel candy or do you choose communism?
16. Do you choose today’s Republican Party or do you choose governance and Democracy?
17. Do you choose a Labradoodle or a plain Labrador?
18. Do you choose sound economic theory or do you choose Trickle-Down economics?
19. Do you choose a cool bedroom at night or a warm one?
20. Dog or Cat?
21. Do you choose to overthrow the election results or to accept them?
22. Do you choose unfettered gun ownership or regulated gun ownership?
23. Chicken or beef?
24. Do you choose, “America, love it or leave it” or do you choose to work to make American better?
25. Bewitched early Daren or latter?
26. Do you choose to close the southern border or to improve/streamline our immigration system?

Just something to think about.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Republican economic policies are about as legitimate as using horse de-wormer medicine for COVID.

This has been the case for decades. Republican economic policies are not based in any rational economic thought and amount to essentially a con game. Don’t take my word for it. Look at the following link: Democrat VS Republican

Let’s briefly look back at the economy under Trump. Their proclaimed major accomplishment was a tax break for the rich and any company that would contribute to their party. The promises:(1) Bring back manufacturing to the United States, (2) More money for the rich that would “trickle-down” to the poor, (3) 3 to 6% economic growth and (4) A tax return you could file on a post card. All of these failed. All of these. However, they did manage to drive up the national debt by 8.3 trillion dollars with nothing to show for it.

Now that Democrats are in charge, it looks like the government doesn’t want to simply give money to the rich. Instead, it is rightly being talked about as an investment. The price tag over 10 years is around $4 trillion. This is a staggering amount of money unless you consider that the return is likely to be several times bigger.

Let’s take a look at the Republican plan under Trump: “We will take $1,000 from you and give it to the rich and magically, you will become rich. Trust us when we say they won’t spend it on themselves or hide it off shore.”

Now let’s look at the Democrat plan under Biden: “We will take $1,000 from you and invest it in you. Green Energy, Transportation, Education, Infrastructure Modernization, Technology etc.”

I bet you can guess where my sentiments lie.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Voter suppression laws are measures taken to weaken democracy. End of Story.

First of all, let’s look at what voter suppression is. It is basically taking steps to make people not vote and is specifically targeted against those that would vote against your party or candidate.

It works because we are lazy. Getting an identification to vote is not super hard for most of us. Getting a ride to the polls is not super hard for most of us. Thus, most of us are not affected by suppression efforts. But for some of us, getting an ID means going to the DVM and waiting hours and then paying money and then waiting on the mail in order to get an ID. Some of us don’t live near polling places and maybe we can’t get a ride.

All of these can be overcome if we just vote by mail. But this too takes an effort. You have to find out how to do it and then you have to actually sign up for it and then you have to cast your vote by mail. All of this is doable…unless something else comes up.

Something always comes up.

To illustrate how easy it is to decide “I have more important things to than jump through several very easy hoops in order to vote,” I’d like to tell you about Organ Donations and the Scandinavian countries.

There are two counties right next to each other way, way up north. In country A, you are automatically an organ donor unless you take a very easy step to not be an organ donor. This is called “opting out”. It could be as easy as a simple phone call. Over 95% of the people in country A don’t take this step and thus nearly everyone is an organ donor.

In country B, you need to “opt in” if you want to be an organ donor. A simple call and you are in. Over 95% of the people in country B are NOT organ donors.

Simple opt-in/opt-out steps decides for people in advance that they will or will not be donors. This seems like an important issue; one that most of us would have opinions about and yet, we are too lazy to make that call or go online and check that little box.

Now, back to voting. I got busy and didn’t register to vote by mail. Now it’s election day and my dog is trying to throw up a tri-tip it stole from the grill an hour ago. Oh well, my vote won’t count much anyway. Next election I will vote for sure.

That is how it works. Reduce polling times and locations where the opposing party is likely to get the most votes and you will change the outcome of the election.

This is a purely Republican tool. Republicans don’t want you to vote unless you are going to vote for them.

This is why The Big Lie regarding Trump having the election stolen is embrace by Republicans. They don’t believe it is true but saying so justifies their efforts to restrict voting. This is the ONLY reason that Republicans keep repeating the obvious Trump lie.

All voter suppression can be overcome by making an effort. Becoming unlazy.

But wait! There’s more!

Republicans are preparing for you to “become unlazy.” They are now passing laws that will allow a state’s Republican legislature to overturn the public vote in that state and instead, cast all of the state’s electoral votes for a Republican. This means that if your state votes for a Democrat, the Republicans can ignore the will of the people entirely.

Currently, Democrats are trying to pass legislation that makes voting free, fair and easy in all states. Republican are claiming that states have rights to ignore the will of the people in their state. This “state’s rights” arguement is identical to that which the South used to succeed from the United States starting the Civil war. It was a state’s right to have slaves just like today, it’s a state’s right to void the elective will of the people in that state if they don’t vote for a Republican.

It is my view that if states don’t want to be part of our democracy, let them go. Financially, they are a drain on the rest of the country anyway. Let Texas and Mississippi and Alabama and Kentucky go their own way. There is no economy there that we need. Residents that don’t want to succeed will be welcomed into other states. In the same way that other states can let their residents leave for the New South if that is what they want.

Of course, this is a bad idea. Still, we seem to have some unreconcilable differences that I am getting a little tired of. You think the earth is flat, that vaccines cause autism, that trickle down economics works, that whites are supreme and that God hates gays? If you think that, great, just don’t let these thoughts of yours impact this life of mine.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in:  I didn’t do any research.

Why?  Because I’m not qualified to do vaccine research.  Yes, I can read Facebook memes and I could watch Fox News (If I were a sheep).  But I don’t (and I’m not).

Instead, I rely on experts.  When the best medical minds in the world tell me that wearing a mask is helpful, I wear a mask.  I don’t like wearing a mask but you know what I like less?  Laying in a hospital bed for weeks with and air-snorkel shoved down my throat.

A couple of the QANON (aka…The Gullible) rumors include things like deworming medicine for horses.  An anti-vaxxer will say, “I don’t know what’s in the vaccine so I’m not taking it but….I did read about how horse deworming medicine is accomplishing great things.”

Another is, “I don’t think it has been tested enough.  I always wait until more than 5 billion doses have been given successfully before I try anything other than de-worming medicine.”

I fly a lot and when I get to an airport do 2 things: (1) I put on my mask and (2) I start blaming people for my need to wear a mask. 

I’m wearing a mask because people refuse to wear masks. 

I’m wearing a mask because people want my efforts to give them free heard immunity.

I’m wearing a mask because someone read on Facebook that COVID is a hoax so that must be true.

I’m wearing a mask because the same people that want to control a woman’s reproductive rights think that it is an infringement on their freedom to have them not spread their contagion to others.

I’m wearing a mask because an entire political party has told their sheep to “Stay strong.  Stay free.”  Leaving out that part about death of yourself, loved ones or just the anonymous loved ones of others.

I’m wearing  mask because an embarrassingly huge portion of our population is irrational, anti-science, self-serving and fearful.  Fearful being evidenced by their loud pronouncement of “I am not afraid.”

I just saw where one company was raising the medical co-pay of their unvaccinated workers by $200 per month.  I think this is brilliant.

I would like the anti-vaxxers to have to wear a tattoo on their foreheads that reads, “Facebook is my doctor.”  I just can’t seem to get my congressman interested in sponsoring the bill.

I think anti-vaxxers should not be allowed indoors in ANY public place.  They should not be allowed outdoors in any crowded place. 

When I was a kid, I watched Ben Hurr, or maybe Moses (Charlton Heston playing basically the same role) goes to a lepper colony.  We need Anti-vaxxer colonies.  They would be just as scary.  We would look at them through binoculars as a recorded tour guided message babbles on about the high death rates and how you could support them by buying an air-snorkel for only $5 and it would be tax deductible.  Life in the colony wouldn’t be all doom and gloom.  They could have flat-earther meetings and protests about Trump’s election loss.  They could even form into any number of hate groups and then attack each other in the name of God and Patriotism.

I would name this colony “Darwin’s Prophesy”.

So, anyway…Banana Cream Pie falls into a category that I call, “Too good to eat.”

I call it this because if I allow myself to eat it at will, I’ll never stop eating it.  So, I keep it out of my house.  Out of sight, out of mind…right?

Sort of. 

I had a client call me the other day and say, “Jim, we need you to go to our plant in North Carolina this November.”

I don’t remember anything of the call after that.  The reason:  I know a place in North Caroline where it is all you can eat and every night they have a giant tub of Banana cream pie.  For some reason, they put small bowls next to this as if to say, “You really don’t need to eat more than this.”  I take a dinner plate and just pile on a much as I can fit.  Plus…a dinner roll in case someone is looking at me thinking I don’t know how to eat a balance meal.

So , for the next three months, I’ll be thinking about this place.  Too good to eat means I don’t keep it in my house.  But hey…it’s not my fault if the restaurant has it.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I have been offline, blog-wise, for several months; resisting the urge to respond to the ludicrousness of daily events. Starting with this post, I may be about to change that.

Let’s start with this – I am never going to change anyone’s mind if they don’t want their mind to be changed. For example, a person stood up at a recent school board meeting and announced “There is zero evidence that COVID exists!”

Since I typically use my blogs to talk to myself, I think I’ll recap a bit.

COVID has only affected my lifestyle…not my life. I got my shot as soon as I could. I don’t know anyone that go seriously sick from COVID. However, like everyone else, my lifestyle was impacted. Not going out to eat for over a year. I went from flying 120,000 miles a year to zero. Stuff like that. Not big deals compared to what others have been through.

I have some TV viewing recommendations. I bring these up because, this has been my major source of entertainment for the last year and a half.

1. The Blacklist
2. Fargo (the series)
3. Schlitz Creek
4. Taboo
5. Killing Eve
6. Rick and Morty
7. Modern Love
8. Several documentaries about bands from the 70’s
9. My Octopus Teacher
10. Anything on Thegreatcourses.com (buy the streaming version about $10/month)

I’ve also been doing quite a bit of reading. The latest book is a Hugo Award Winner written by an author from China called The Three Body Problem. Even if you don’t like SciFi, this is a really interesting book.

On the Staying Home page: Over the last 18 months we have replaced all of our floors and painted all of the walls. We initially did this because we wanted to be in a position to sell our house and move out of the state if PG&E continued to shut down our power to stop potential fires that makes the air unbreathable for weeks at a time. We also ordered a sofa back in 1980. When we call for a status, the answer is always, “Any day now.” In the end, we love the look of our house and have decided to “love it” instead of “list it.”

I’m back on the road now; have been for the last few months. I love my job but flying all day with a mask on is a pain in the ass. I’m not against masks. I trust the experts. But, that doesn’t mean I like wearing them.

BTW…some of you may be wondering why I am no longer on Facebook. A few months back, someone hacked my account and I got locked out. When I contacted Facebook they said, “Log into your account and change your password,” completely ignoring my complaint that “I can’t log into my account.” So, I gave up and haven’t missed it a bit. I strongly recommend this to everyone.

Future hot topics that will interest you: What I ate for breakfast, Economics. Foreign Policy. The Big Lie. Why I love Banana Cream Pie.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I’ve decided to compare how three entities feel about various issues that affect all of us. These entities are (1) The American public in general, (2) The Democrat Party and (3) The Republican Party. To get the American public response, I’m typing in the question in my Google browser.

Issue #1: How do you feel about money in politics?

American Public: 65% to 77% want money out of politics

Democrats: Routinely vote to try to get money out of politics

Republicans: Routinely vote to maximize money in politics

Issue #2: Should there be more gun control legislation?

American Public: 70% say yes.

Democrats: Yes

Republican: No

Issue #3: Do you support the latest pandemic relief spending bill?

American Public: 70% say yes

Democrats: Yes

Republicans: No

Issue #4: Do you support the Biden $2 trillion infrastructure bill?

American Public: 66% to 79% support the various major parts of the bill. Americans that identify as “republican” suddenly drop their support to 45% when they hear that it is Biden’s bill.

Democrats: Support

Republicans: Against

Issue #5: Do you support DACA (immigration issue regarding kids brought in)

American Public: 74% support it

Democrats: Support it

Republicans: Against it

Issue #6: Do you support raising the taxes on the very, very rich to pay for stuff?

American Public: 54% said yes

Democrats: Yes

Republicans: No

Issue #7: Did you support the Republican tax cuts in 2017

American Public: 34% said yes

Democrats: No

Republicans: Yes

Issue #8: Do you support the current voting rights bill in the senate?

American Public: 67% say yes

Democrats: Yes

Republicans: No

I know there are many, many more issues that I could go over but you get my drift. The Republican party supports money and the power that money brings to them. They do not represent democracy nor the people that vote to put them into office.

Just sayin…vote for whomever you want to.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: Whenever I see a gun’s rights advocate on TV, I can help but think, “That is the last person in the world who should have a gun.” The same seems to be true with White Supremacist’s. When I see one of these “haters” on TV claiming to be a member of the superior race, I think, “If there were 2 people left alive on the entire planet and that white supremacist was one of them, he wouldn’t be my first choice for picking someone to be superior at anything.”

There was a time in my life when I felt comfortable in my “non-racist” shoes simply because I had some black friends or I treated blacks and whites the same. I could see racism but so long as I turned my back on it, I was in the clear. No guilt.

I remember going to my cousin’s house once a year. They lived up in the hills here in California. The “N-word” was common at their house. At a very young age, probably 6 or 7, I understood that the cousins I loved were basically uneducated and had been taught to be racist by their parents. Kids know these things.

As I grew up, my keen sense of right and wrong got dulled. Friendships, puberty, sports….they all vied for center stage in my life and I never once noticed that among those friends I held most dear, were racists.

Facebook changed that. Now separated by decades, I see kids that I grew up with posting the nastiest, racist things I could imagine. One kid, Sean R., posted that Obama was, “a sand nigger.” I blocked him immediately. That was a few years ago. Since then I have blocked dozens of people for similar instances.

“Blocking” racists on Facebook is not enough. Not any more. I need to actively speak out as well as to actively listen. My position today is that racism must be confronted. It is not okay with me and I will let you know that is how I feel.

If you post a complaint on Facebook about “Poor me, I have to select from two languages at the ATM because illegals won’t learn English.” I’ll tell you that is racist.

And…I will not change a single mind.

There are several reasons that I will be ineffective. One is that racists don’t think they are racist. They think they are right. This is why I mentioned “actively listen” above. If someone calls me out, I will not knee-jerk some justification for what I may have said or done. I want to really look at my actions; especially if they were enough to have someone else call me out. I’m not perfect. I guarantee I’ll make a mistake. I’ll judge someone wrongly and only by self-reflection will I be able to fix that about me.

Another reason I will be ineffective at stopping racism is that it is taught to us by our parents. We learned that it was not only justified, but they racism was expected. Parents never say, “Okay son, time for your racist lesson.” No, they’ll teach by showing. They’ll use derogatory words. They’ll blame their failures on others. Kids see this. Kids learn.

I think 2 things need to happen for us to start ridding ourselves of racism. First, we need to elect leaders that will constantly promote tolerance of races, religions, countries of origin and sexual orientation. Secondly, we need to actively show harsh intolerance of leaders that don’t.

Let’s take a quick quiz…

Which political party is against LGBTQ rights?

Which political party told us that Mexicans are rapists?

Which political party told us that people from Muslim countries are terrorists?

Which political party is slow to denounce acts of white supremacy?

Which political party blames China and Chinese for United States’ poor response to Covid?

Which political party thinks that it is okay to make it more difficult for black people to vote?

Which political party thinks non-white countries are “shit-hole” countries?

The answer to all of these is, of course, the Republican Party.

This political party reigns supreme where I grew up; down near Bakersfield. I still have a lot of friends there and, by far, they are not racist. But some are and I miss them, knowing that they will never become something different. It hurts me to write this but as I said earlier, I can no longer just turn my back on this issue and act like I have done enough.

I grew up Republican. But things changed for me. The Republican Party of today is as racist as a crowded KKK rally. Forget, for the moment, that the GOP is all about QAnon, lack of science, fake news, climate change denial, corruption, anti-vaxxer and anti-masker. Forget all of that. Knowing that they are undeniably racist should be enough.

It is for me.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I recently watched 1984 (I do this every few years). There are so many things in this story that ring true. In the story, there are big TV screens everywhere. Big Brother watches you through the TV’s. Every so often, it’s time for the “2 minutes of hate.” Everyone stops what they are doing and yells at the TV while an announcer talks about the various “enemies of the state”. Everyone gets worked up by the propaganda on the screen.

I think FOX news is a lot like this.

For example, yesterday, Fox Host Tucker Carlson said things like, “Why should we trust this vaccine? Why doesn’t anyone tell us how effective it is? Why is it such a big secret?” This type of rant went on and on.

The thing is, Every. Single. Channel. That is not on Fox, routinely answers all of these questions and has been doing so for months. Tucker Carlson is just throwing out something for people to hate; something for them to get mad about.

Last week, out of nowhere, Carlson started complaining about women in the military getting pregnant. He thinks the military needs to be more masculine. Notable that he has ZERO experience serving in the military himself. He just wanted to give Fox viewers something to hate.

In 1984, the main character, Winston Smith, has a job that is basically, rewriting history.

This seems like one of the first chapters in the Republican playbook. The GOP is now claiming that the capital was stormed on January 6th by people that are law abiding who only wanted to get turkey legs from the local food trucks; They certainly would never hurt the police. Apparently the 140 officers that were injured in this attack, one killed by the crowd, either don’t count or…this never happened; at least according to the rewrite.

Some might equate this “rewrite of history” to hypocrisy. I know I do.

The GOP did all they could to stop the recent economic recovery package from passing; this, even though 75% of Americans wanted it. Now that it has passed, Republicans are scrambling to take credit.

Mitch McConnel says getting rid of the filibuster will stop the senate from being productive; completely ignoring the fact that the senate is completely unproductive now and has been for the last 6 years.

The Republican Party is corrupt and racist. This is really not something that people dispute short of rewriting history. “Yes I spoke at the White Supremist rally but I was only there to sell Tupperware” or “Yes, I did sell my stocks to take advantage of the economic collapse caused by the pandemic but I only wanted to make money that I would pass on to the poor; but I just forgot that last step and accidentally bough myself a new house instead.”

Now that this post is up, Republicans can read it and….hate.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

This just in: I have been watching CPAC highlights over the last few days. This is a conference in Florida where Republicans get together and masturbate. The reviews have not been stellar so I thought I’d talk to a few “composite” Republicans to get their take.

Me: I see that you are all about Freedom and the Constitution. At least, I heard a lot of people saying they would “fight” for such things. Does this mean that you now support voting rights?

Republican: Of course we support voting rights; specifically the right to block people from voting against us. We also support the right to lie about election outcomes if we lose the election. It’s really all about freedom baby!!

Me: But when you tell gullible peo….I mean….when you tell Republicans that the election was stolen, even though you know it was not, aren’t you really trying to make the election be overturned in the most un-democratic and anti-constitutional method possible?

Republican: Look, there is tons of evidence that the election was rigged.

Me: They why don’t you share that information?

Republican: We will…in a couple of weeks.

Me: Moving on…why don’t you wear masks at the convention in accordance with the recommendations of the best medical minds on the planet?

Republican: It’s all about freedom. We should have the freedom to infect and kill as many fellow Americans with COVID-19 as we want.

Me: Kind of like your position on guns?

Republican: Exactly!!! You really get me.

Me: Since you brought up the pandemic, tell me about your plan to help the economy recover. You seem to be against the 1.9 Trillion dollar bailout that has the support of the greatest economic minds in the country.

Republican: We have a plan. We will be releasing it in a couple of weeks.

Me: Staying with the pandemic, it looks like it is really putting a strain on healthcare and causing extreme financial distress for many families unable to afford healthcare. What is your plan to help with this?

Republican: A couple of weeks…

Me: Texas looks like they screwed the pooch with their “Freedom Electrical Grid” where they allowed profit-seeking power companies to be in charge. What say you?

Republican: Texans have the freedom to fly to Cancun if they don’t like the weather. Just ask freedom loving Ted Cruz.

Me: Staying with economic issues, why are Republicans against raising the minimum wage? People making starvation wages are a huge financial burden on the rest of the country.

Republican: If people want to make more money…they can move to Cancun.

Me: What?

Republican: In two weeks…

Me: Off the record (fingers secretly crossed), it appears that you have no position on anything. You have no plan to solve anything. Your only hope is to influence people by saying the words, “Constitution” and “Freedom” over and over again while banging your hand into your fist.

Republican: Off the record? You are correct. But…it works! High five!

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim