Trump should give $$$ to Kasich

Yeah, Trump lost in Wisconsin, with 37% of the vote.
This is about the same percentage he's WON with previously.
Makes me think 37% is what he's got.

His campaign has been working to get Kasich out.
I think this is a mistake.
When GOP folks drop out, their supporters go to Cruz.

Trump oughta fund Kashich.

I'm back! ... but with nothing to say

We journeyed to the scenic northeast - Boston & Maine.
Boston - well, Cambridge - to see Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players' production of H.M.S. Pinafore.
(I got to deliver my talk on "Pinafore in America".)
Maine to meet the woman who makes my suspenders.
She fixed us a delicious seafood chowder, and we now have two new friends!

This is SO much better than following politics!

Janesville, Wisconsin

Donald Trump Is Bringing Message of Jobs and Trade to Paul Ryan’s Hometown

JANESVILLE, Wis. — Donald J. Trump, who has risen to front-runner status in part by channeling anti-establishment rage against Republicans, is kicking off his quest for the support of Wisconsin voters at a rally on Tuesday afternoon in Janesville, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s hometown.

Here's what I know about Janesville, Wisconsin:

Not that anyone will notice, but...

... posting for the next week or so will be pretty close to non-existent.
I will be pursuing other priorities.

A disturbing article: "Trump Will Become President"

Trump Will Become President, Says Extremely Accurate Statistician
His statistical model has only ever been wrong once in 104 years.

Helmut Norpoth, a professor of political science at Stony Brook University, has developed a statistical model that predicts a 97 percent to 99 percent chance that Trump will win the 2016 presidential election if he wins the Republican nomination...

Norpoth's model has correctly predicted the outcome of every single presidential election since 1912 – save one, the election of 1960, which some believe was rigged. It uses a candidate’s performance in their party’s primary coupled with electoral cycle patterns to determine the likely outcome of the general election.

I doubt that the model takes into account just how loathsome Trump is, and hope that this loathsomeness will upset purely statistical considerations.

"Religious freedom"

Once-upon-a-time, the Bible was cited to justify racial discrimination & segregation.
Christian anti-Semitism is based on the Gospel of Matthew.

Now good GOP "Christians" pretend that "Christian" values demand that the LGBT community be excluded from public life... well, 'cuz G-d said so!

"Existential threat"?

Okay - to be honest, I don't recall ANY candidate saying that IS/ISIL/ISIS poses an "existential threat" to the U.S. ... but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that some GOP candidate has.
[If you've got the citation, please forward it to me!]

But - I'm betting that if any one of the GOP contenders were asked point-blank, "Is ISIS an existential threat to the U.S.?", that candidate would reply affirmatively.

How ought we respond to an "existential threat"?
Seems to me total mobilization is in order!
Deploying at least 1,000,000 troops.
Imposing severe restrictions on consumer consumption so's resources can be allocated to the WAR EFFORT.
Re-instituting the draft.
Committing the U.S. to a full-fledged military response... not just bombing or a few thousand extra troops, but a REAL war effort!

If IS/ISIL/ISIS is truly an existential threat, maybe we oughta treat it as such.

Killing more bad guys...

Pentagon: Senior ISIS Leaders Likely Killed In U.S. Operation
Ash Carter said on Friday that the group’s top finance officer and several other top figures were likely killed.

WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - Islamic State’s second in command and other senior leaders were likely killed this week in a major offensive targeting financial operations, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday, the latest in a series of setbacks for the militant group.

We keep killing senior bad guys.
More senior bad guys replace 'em.
This "strategy" is NOT WORKING!

115 years ago today

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Manhattan, New York City on March 25, 1911 was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in US history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – 123 women and 23 men – who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged 16 to 23; of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was Providenza Panno at 43, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and "Sara" Rosaria Maltese.
...
Because the owners had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits – a then-common practice to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft – many of the workers could not escape and jumped from the high windows. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

Whenever the current GOP rails against intrusive government regulation of the "free market", this is the example I cite.

I WANT my government to protect me from rapacious, predatory capitalism!

On the bright side...

... I'm not being paid to post...
So if I miss a few days - 'cuz the news is just horribly depressing - it doesn't really matter to me.

... and the news HAS been horribly depressing - both globally and more provincial (American politics).

So, for my loyal readers: if you note my absence, well...

... know yourself...

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
[The Art of War]

We ought know ourselves!

Who WE are is well-documented:

We the people of the United States, in order to

form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
[Preamble to the United States Constitution]

Seems to me many of the GOP candidates are ignorant of this simple creed.

If you know your enemy and know yourself...

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
[The Art of War]

We do NOT know our enemy!

I assume that ISIS has a strategic purpose for seemingly random bombings in European capitals.
What is it?

Simply asserting that ISIS is nihilistic, anarchical, jihadist... well, pick your favorite adjective - this isn't meaningful.
What is it that ISIS is looking to accomplish?

I don't know the answer to this question, but unless someone figures it out we are unlikely to succeed in this war.

This, that, and t'other

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.

... then there's

The Rumsfeld Doctrine
Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times has referred to the Rumsfeld Doctrine as one of "just enough troops to lose".
[The Rumsfeld Doctrine]

... and I'm a fan of

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
[The Art of War]

We "won" in Afghanistan.
We "won" in Iraq.

Both these "victories" now look hollow.

In both cases we adhered to the "Rumsfeld Doctrine", which comes down to using high-tech weapons systems to avoid the use of "boots on the ground".
It doesn't really work to win the peace.

Are we, as a nation, willing to commit hundreds of thousands of troops to the Mideast to win the peace?

Does anyone have any better suggestions?

What is the correct response?

Brussels attack: ISIS says it's behind terror that killed 30

... to which Ted Cruz responds:

Ted Cruz Wants Police To ‘Patrol And Secure’ U.S. Muslim Communities After Brussels

... also stating that,

“We should use overwhelming force, kill the enemy and then we should get the heck out,” he said.

... and The Donald:

Trump on Brussels: Told you so

... and advocating for torture.

Disclaimer: I don't have a clue how to attack/defeat ISIS.
("Defeat" is the better verb.)
BUT: using overwhelming force (what Cruz has previously called "carpet bombing") to "destroy the enemy" and then get out is almost certainly NOT the way to go.

A reminder of what it takes:

On V-E Day, Eisenhower had sixty-one U.S. divisions, 1,622,000 men, in Germany, and a total force in Europe numbering 3,077,000.1 When the shooting ended, the divisions in the field became the occupation troops, charged with maintaining law and order and establishing the Allied military presence in the defeated nation. This was the army-type occupation. A counterpart of the military government carpet, its object was to control the population and stifle resistance by putting troops into every nook and cranny.

[THE U.S. ARMY IN THE OCCUPATION OF GERMANY 1944-1946, by Earl F. Ziemke, CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY, WASHINGTON, D. C., 1990]

1.6 MILLION troops in the country, to maintain law and order.

As I've said repeatedly, the object of war is to win the peace.
Winning the peace means holding territory and controlling populations.
Simply getting the heck out after demolishing every building, road, rail-line, power-plant, and oil well in sight will NOT win the peace!

Again: I don't know what we ought do, but the GOP candidates's proposals don't sound all that great to me.

An aside: I'm also not too fond of the idea to "Patrol and Secure" U.S. Muslim communities.
... sounds like a first step to rounding up all the Muslims and shipping them to camps.
We've seen where that leads.

... and one more

... just a stranger on a bus, trying to make his way home.

... more of the same

... as promised

... this post and the next few - just how i'm feelin'

Just for fun: me being a "job creator"!

The preceding two (2) posts - featuring a local barbershop quartet employed by me for our 3rd wedding anniversary - are yet more examples of me being a local "job creator".
Yep - I spend $$$ in the local economy!

... and I don't get any tax breaks for my good service.

3rd wedding annivesary - "If I Only Had a Brain"

3rd wedding anniversary - just another barbershop quartet

"Winnow"

winnow
Simple Definition of winnow

: to remove (people or things that are less important, desirable, etc.) from a larger group or list : to make (a list of possible choices) smaller by removing the less desirable choices

Here's a brief reminder:

THESE were the great GOP candidates a few months ago.

The primaries have "winnowed" these down to the best-of-the-best: Trump, Cruz, and Kasich!

Sigh.

Living in NM - politically we barely count

NM has 5 electoral votes.
Our Presidential primary elections are 7 June.

We won't see many of the candidates... ever.
Sigh.

I'm honest

Just FYI: In a few months the GOP nominating process will have ended.
The Republicans will have a Presidential Candidate for 2016.

As many previous posts have suggested, I'm betting that the GOP candidate will be Mr. Donald Trump.

Unlike many other political commentators & pundits - many of whom get paid for their opinions - I WILL revisit my predictions in July.
If I've been right - HOORAY!
If I've been wrong - oh well, sigh.

Either way, I'll 'fess up.

You're kidding, right?

Maybe The GOP Establishment Should Have Embraced John Kasich Sooner

First Rubio.
Now Kasich?

One of these days the GOP 'establishment' will sober up & come to the realization that Mr. Donald Trump is their nominee.

Good luck with that.

The GOP 'establishment' are delusional

I keep reading about a brokered convention.
... about 'convention chaos'.
... about the "Stop Trump" movement gaining momentum.

All this punditry references the Republican Convention in Cleveland this summer.
The GOP wizards - those clearly in control, the Republican 'establishment' and the wise men - seem to take it for granted that Trump WON'T be the nominee.

I don't know what the rules are, but I assume that if a candidate shows up with the requisite majority of delegates - 1237 is the magic number - then that candidate WILL be the GOP's 2016 Presidential nominee.

I've seen nothing to suggest that Mr. Trump will not arrive at the Convention with at least that total.

Am I delusional, or are the GOP 'establishment' wizards those with the really good drugs?
(... and could they maybe give me the names of their dealers?)

Note: it's NEWS when someone other than Trump wins! - most recently Kasich in Ohio.
"Dog bites man" is not news; "Man bites dog" IS news.
When it's newsworthy that ANYONE other than Trump wins a primary, my inference is that Mr. Trump is the odds-on favorite to win the nomination.

What a nice pink rug!

No, Donald Trump Won’t Win
David Brooks, NYT Op-Ed, 4 Dec 2015

A little while ago I went rug shopping. Four rugs were laid out on the floor and among them was one with a pink motif that was dazzlingly beautiful. It was complex and sophisticated. If you had asked me at that moment which rug I wanted, I would have said the pink one. This conviction lasted about five minutes. But then my mentality flipped and I started asking some questions. Would the furniture go with this rug? Would this rug clash with the wall hangings? Would I get tired of its electric vibrancy?

Suddenly a subtler and more prosaic blue rug grabbed center stage. The rugs had not changed, but suddenly I wanted the blue rug. The pink rug had done an excellent job of being eye-popping on its own. The blue rug was doing an excellent job of being a rug I could enjoy living with.

Yeah, so now I'm thinkin' - Hey, that pink rug don't look so bad!

Ya know, well, maybe in a coupla months I'll be tired of it, but right now it looks pretty darn good!

Okay - nah, it don't look too good with the rest of the décor, but it's only for a coupla months - I can live with it... and it looks REALLY COOL!
I can't wait to show it off!!!

The blue rug? - toss it!
I might like it now, but it's BORING!

It's only for a coupla months, right?
I mean, I can go back to the rug store later... that is, IF the pink rug was really a mistake.
... But maybe it's not a mistake - maybe I really WANT the pink rug!

... if I rearranged the furniture just a bit, maybe brought the armoire into the study, moved the desk to the living room,... and replaced those hideous wall-hangings my wife is so darn attached to... YEAH - that'd work!

Go away!
I LIKE the pink rug!!!
I'm gonna keep it!

I DO hope SOMEONE is paying attention!

"All I know is what’s on the Internet," Trump said.

Only 12?

Top 12 Reasons This Is The Most Depressing Election Ever

Somehow this quotation seems appropriate:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.

Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.

It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

[Macbeth, Act V, scene 5]

Symmetry

Our 3rd anniversary was Saturday, 12 March.
According to Wikipedia, we're still newlyweds.
This pic was taken a coupla days before, at the ABQ zoo:

Let's hope not

This Election Is 1968 All Over Again, And That's Not A Good Thing

Me?

I REALLY don't want to re-live 1968.

MLK assassinated. (4 April)
Robert Kennedy assassinated. (4/5 June)
Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, ending the Prague Spring. (20 August)
Nixon elected. (5 November)

It was the year I became politically aware, but I don't miss it.
I'd prefer to witness no assassinations this year.
The mess in the Middle East is bad enough already - please: no surprise escalations!
... and PLEASE: could we possibly NOT elect The Donald!

He used to be our Governor!

Meet The Third Party
If you're a Republican who can't stand to vote for Donald Trump, Gary Johnson might be your guy.

Does Donald Trump even lift, bro?

That was the implied question behind Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's address to the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, as the former two-term New Mexico governor rattled off his various athletic accomplishments -- a lousy strategy if you're crafting a Tinder profile, but it certainly made for an attention-grabbing stump speech.

Yeah - two-term Governor of NM, now an "extreme" athlete.
If you're looking for a Libertarian alternative... why not?

A quick quiz

Which of the following is found in the United States Constitution?:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

... government of the people, by the people, for the people...

In God we trust.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

One nation, under God.

America, God shed his grace on thee.

... the land of the free and the home of the brave.

A brief reminder

The following is the poem, "The New Colossus", on our Statue of Liberty:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

... and then there's the Declaration of Independence, which is a weird document.

It has no legal standing.
It is a list of complaints against George III, trying to justify the Colonies's assertion of independence.
Among the many complaints:

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither

Yep - George III endeavored to prevent immigration!...
... sounds sorta familiar... a LOT like the current crop of GOP contenders!

Recall - the GOP contenders just LOVE the Declaration of Independence...
... mainly 'cuz it cites

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

It's that Creator bit that gets folks all excited.

The Founders were up against a wall.
Historically... like FOREVER... "rights" had been things granted to vassals by lieges.
Magna Carta is based on this political framework - the King grants certain RIGHTS owed the barons.

If you demand "rights", those "rights" must be granted by SOMEONE.

The Founders pretty much gave up.
Who gives us rights, if we are not bound to our King, George III?
Must be our "Creator"!

'Twas a novel solution to a sticky problem...
... but now it's allowed the GOP to assert that the United States was founded on Christianity.

Perhaps if Jefferson had had more foresight, he'd have come up with some other formulation that allowed us to assert our rights!

"Our" roadrunner

... He visits us about once every 2 weeks - apparently attracted by our snails.
This is the first time he's posed for us! - on our front walkway:

RIP George Martin

George Martin, Legendary Music Producer Who Worked With The Beatles, Dead At 90
George Martin, the music industry legend who worked on nearly every Beatles recording, died on Tuesday night. He was 90.

Poor Marco...

Alternative title: Kickin' Him When He's Down.

I doubt Rubio will adopt this as his campaign song, but at this point... well, why not?

The Hydra

Lernaean Hydra
... for every head chopped off, the Hydra would regrow one or multiple heads

I mention this in response to...

'Omar The Chechen,' ISIS' Minister Of War, Likely Killed In U.S. Airstrike
An Islamic State commander described by the Pentagon as the group's "minister of war" was likely killed in a U.S. air strike in Syria, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, in what would be a major victory in the United States' efforts to strike the militant group's leadership.

We keep killing "leaders" of IS and al-Qaeda.

Somehow the organizations survive.
For every "head" we kill, MANY grow back.

At some point we need to recognize that waging war means winning the peace.
It's not enough to kill bad guys.
There really is a "hold territory & control populations" aspect to this.

Air power? Great for blowing stuff - and people - up.
Not so good at holding territory & controlling populations.

ISIS & al-Qaeda are pretty good at the "controlling populations" bit.
They terrorize the locals, making resistance difficult.

... T.E. Lawrence was right:

This is from a fellow blogger:

T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) figured it out and wrote it down in his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Wonderfully available on the web free of charge. (Public domain is soooo nice.)

Then I figured out how many men they (Turks) would need to sit on all this ground, to save it from our attack-in-depth, sedition putting up her head in every unoccupied one off those hundred thousand square miles. I knew the Turkish Army exactly, and even allowing for their recent extension of faculty by aeroplanes and guns and armoured trains (which made the earth a smaller battlefield) still it seemed they would have need of a fortified post every four square miles, and post could not be less than twenty men. If so they would need six hundred thousand men to meet the ill-wills of all the Arab peoples, combined with all the active hostility of a few zealots.

My friend Pat then quotes me:

FYI: using the "20 men every 4 square miles" rule equates to a force in Afghanistan of about 1.25Mn! Given modern communication systems, improved war-making technology, etc., suppose Lawrence's estimate could be halved: that's still more than 600K troops. ... and this seems close to the troop/area ratio Shinseki had in mind for Iraq when he proposed a force of "several hundred thousand" needed to pacify the country following the invasion (taking "several" to mean 3-5... middle = 400K).

Bottom line:
Simply killing the bad guys is NOT going to win this war!

How do we win the peace?

If only...

GOP folks invoke Reagan at every turn.
Best President EVER!!!

Based on evidence, Clinton was a much BETTER President...
... BUT:
Dear Old Bill couldn't keep his fly closed!

If Bill Clinton had somehow managed to keep his fly closed, maybe the Dem candidates could cite HIM as the BEST PRESIDENT EVER!

After all, when Clinton left office we had a budget SURPLUS!
The middle-class had in fact experienced economic GROWTH!
We weren't at war with ANYONE!

The Clinton Presidency was in fact a HUGE success...
... BUT - he couldn't keep his fly zipped.

When JFK was my age...

... he'd been dead for 17 years.

... more Golden Age for Linguistics

Embedded Narratives and Cognitive Linguistics Explain Trump's Followers

A Golden Age for Linguistics

... well, at least a Golden Couple of Months!

What Language Experts Find So Strange About Donald Trump
Politicians use big words. Trump does not.
When ThinkProgress asked University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Yoffe Liberman about Trump’s speech, he decided to do a rough comparison to another presidential candidate: Jeb Bush. We sent him the transcripts of both Trump and Bush’s announcement speeches, plus some press conferences and one-on-one interviews.

What he found was that Bush talks, predictably, like most politicians. His most-used words are rather big and policy-like — “strategy,” “government,” “president,” and “American” all placed in his list of top 13 words. Six out of those 13 are one syllable, like “growth” and “state.” His favorite word is “the.”

Trump, on the other hand, leaned away from multiple-syllable words and stuck with low-brow, simple vocabulary. His first most-used word was “I,” and his fourth favorite was “Trump.” The report found that eight of his top 13 words were monosyllabic, and the words that had two syllables were the words “very” and “China.”

You may have seen this already...

George Takei, as Trump answering the question, "What is 2+2".

Donald Trump answers the question: What is 2+2? (Credit: Steven Edwards)"I have to say a lot of people have been...

Posted by George Takei on Sunday, March 6, 2016

Just in case you don't feel like linking to FaceBook to read the full post:

George Takei's New Post About Donald Trump Is Going Viral
"I have to say a lot of people have been asking this question. No, really. A lot of people come up to me, and they ask me. They say, 'What's 2+2'? And I tell them, look, we know what 2+2 is. We've had almost eight years of the worst kind of math you can imagine. Oh, my God, I can't believe it. Addition and subtraction of the 1s the 2s and the 3s. It's terrible. It's just terrible. Look, if you want to know what 2+2 is, do you want to know what 2+2 is? I'll tell you. First of all the number 2, by the way, I love the number 2. It's probably my favorite number, no it is my favorite number. You know what, it's probably more like the number two but with a lot of zeros behind it. A lot. If I'm being honest, I mean, if I'm being honest. I like a lot of zeros. Except for Marco Rubio, now he's a zero that I don't like. Though, I probably shouldn't say that. He's a nice guy, but he's like, '10101000101,' on and on, like that. He's like a computer! You know what I mean? He's like a computer. I don't know. I mean, you know. So, we have all these numbers, and we can add them and subtract them and add them. TIMES them even. Did you know that? We can times them OR divide them, they don't tell you that, and I'll tell you, no one is better at the order of operations than me. You wouldn't believe it. So, we're gonna be the best on 2+2, believe me."

I'm REALLY TIRED...

... of Hitler/Nazi comparisons.

Donald Trump Asks Supporters To Raise Right Hand In A Scene Straight Out Of Nazi Germany

As odious as Trump may be - and he IS loathsome! - He is NOT Hitler.

For that matter, neither is Cruz, or Rubio, or any of the other GOP contenders.

Their proposed policies truly suck, they appeal to the baser instincts of our nature, ... BUT - not a one of 'em is Hitler!...
... and WE are NOT Weimar Germany.

When we "right-thinking" folks on the left ridicule the hate-mongering on the right, let US try to keep the discourse civil.

Brawl? ... or KO ... or TKO???

From HuffPost:

GOP Activists Increasingly Concerned The Republican Convention Will Be A Brawl
With Donald Trump as the front-runner, a fractured party is barreling toward a clash later this summer.

The article then goes on to say that, nope, this'll be straight-forward - the "nomination will be neatly wrapped up before the party's convention later this summer".

That's the way I'm leaning right now.

No brawl - a simple KO.
Trump - small hands and all - will KO the competition.

Bye-bye Ben...

... or perhaps "night-night" would be more appropriate:

Ben Carson Formally Suspends Presidential Campaign
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is officially suspending his presidential campaign, he announced during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

Somnambulant is NOT a good way to conduct a presidential campaign.

The Interstate Highway System

Wow! - What an EXCITING topic!

When I was a kid we - well, my folks - drove us from Casper, Wyoming to Chicago every summer.
The trip was "scenic" - on state and U.S. highways, passing through every little town (e.g., Chugwater, Wyoming).
As the young passenger, I loved it!
Among other joys were the Burma Shave jingles on fence-posts at the side of the road:

Drowsy?
Just remember, pard
That marble slab
Is doggone
Hard
Burma Shave

"Scenic"? Yes!
Quick? No.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, Interstate Freeway System, Interstate System, or simply the Interstate) is a network of controlled-access highways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower who championed its formation. Construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and the original portion was completed 35 years later...
[Interstate Highway System]

This was back in the glorious days when the Federal Government BUILT stuff, and the top marginal tax rate exceeded 90%! - under that Commie-pinko fellow-traveler Eisenhower!

Seldom a day goes by that I don't take advantage of the Interstate Highway System - just here in Albuquerque: I-40 and I-25!
(FYI: New Mexico is the ONLY state in which there's just ONE intersection of Interstate Highways.
It's called the Big-I locally. ... about two miles from my house.)

Anyway ... TODAY?
Bridges collapse.
Roads are in disrepair.
We seem to have the lost the national will to BUILD stuff!

How'd that happen?

A repost

NOW the GOP is anti-Trump?
PUH-LEEZE: don't go flipping out about Mr. Trump.
He is YOUR creature!

Just for fun: an open letter to the GOP

The Donald embodies everything the GOP has been for the past 35+ years!
Racist? - Yep.
Xenophobic? - Yep.
Untruthful (lying)? - Yep.
Rich? - YEP!
Authoritarian? - Yep.

How 'bout compassionate, concerned about the middle-class, Constitutional?
Well... not so much.

Mr. Trump is the epitome of the Grand Old Party.
Be honest with yourselves: EMBRACE him!

11th GOP debate...

... Darn! I missed it.

Billionaires attack!!!

At a time when the median household income hasn't strayed from $50K/year in... forever, we have THESE guys attacking each other:

Mitt Romney Lambasts Donald Trump As A 'Phony' And 'Fraud' In Blistering Speech

Donald Trump responds to Mitt Romney's speech
Trump calls Romney "a lightweight."

Why does this seem ... strange to me?

Today I'm optimistic

Previously:

When I'm optimistic, I hope Trump is the GOP nominee.

When I'm pessimistic, I fear Trump is the GOP nominee.

Today I'm optimistic.

In addition to the previous post's suggestions for a pre-fab ad campaign, there's also:

This man thinks $1M is a SMALL loan!

... and his always quick denials - "I never said that," when confronted with things he really DID say.
What happened to Truman's "The buck stops here"?

... well, okay, invoking Truman may not be the best tactic, but the basic ideas are fine:

This man has NO CLUE what it means to be a middle class American.

and

This man will say ANYTHING to get elected, and DENY anything he's said before! - can you trust him?

... so, at the moment, I'm hoping the "Never Trump" movement in the GOP fails!

Pre-fab ad campaign

... alternative title: "I hope someone is paying attention."

Supposing - not unrealistically - that Mr. Trump is the GOP nominee, the Dem nominee - whether Sanders or Clinton - has a ready-made anti-Trump ad campaign at hand.
All that's needed is to compile quotations around three related themes:

1. The GOP hates Trump.

Today REPUBLICAN foreign-policy gurus published a condemnation of Trump... AND Mr. Romney begged voters to reject Mr. Trump as a phony and a fraud.

This is what his fellow Republicans think of him!

2. Trump has frequently expressed what some might call hateful - others perhaps simply "disrespectful" - language regarding immigrants, Hispanics, Muslims, his fellow candidates, and just about everyone else who has at one time or another snubbed him.
Collect these clips: "The candidate speaks!"

3. As suggested previously, collect clips of Trump joyfully proclaiming his willful ignorance:

"I just don't know..."
"I don't know about... "

There oughta be a LOT to choose from.
Do we really want a President who knows so little about so much?

I'll assume that both Sanders & Clinton have already directed their staffs to start working on these... and that the various PACs supporting each candidate are doing the same.

Why?

GOP strategist Castellanos: Time to rally around Trump, ‘too late to ask mommy to step in and rewrite rules’
By Tom Hamburger and Matea Gold
March 2
"If Trump is going to be our nominee, as I believe he is, it is our mission to support Trump and make him the best nominee and president possible."

Lindsey Graham: "We're gonna lose to Hillary Clinton" with Donald Trump
By Rebecca Kaplan
CBS News
March 2, 2016
"Ted Cruz is not my favorite by any means and I don't wish him ill,...but we may be in a position where we have to rally around Ted Cruz as the only way to stop Donald Trump and I'm not so sure that would work," he [Graham] said.

It's not clear from "establishment" GOP critics whether they fear Trump because...

They think he'll lose to Hillary...
... or he'll shred the GOP...
... or he'll make a horrible President.

... or perhaps some combination of these three.

With the exception of the now-clearly-delusional Rubio supporters, the "establishment" folks seem to have come to the realization that their Hobson's choice is between Trump and the equally loathsome Cruz.

Why can't they be honest (AND patriotic) and simply say, "We messed up. A loyal Republican American ought to stay home come November."

Heck - it may even be strategically wise:

1. Avoids the possibility of a DISASTROUS GOP Presidency.
(... from which Dems would benefit in 2020.)

2. Offers the possibility of a DISASTROUS Democratic Presidency from which GOP can benefit come 2020!

No one likes Trump (well, no one except his extremely energized supporters - currently less than 50% of the GOP!).
No one likes Cruz.
Why is it necessary to support either of 'em?

Just askin'.

The Ass and his Purchaser

A fable of Aesop:

A man who wanted to buy an Ass went to market, and, coming across a likely-looking beast, arranged with the owner that he should be allowed to take him home on trial to see what he was like.

When he reached home, he put him into his stable along with the other asses.
The newcomer took a look round, and immediately went and chose a place next to the laziest and greediest beast in the stable.

When the master saw this he put a halter on him at once, and led him off and handed him over to his owner again.
The latter was a good deal surprised to see him back so soon, and said,
"Why, do you mean to say you have tested him already?"
"I don't want to put him through any more tests," replied the other.
"I could see what sort of beast he is from the companion he chose for himself."

Moral:

"A man is known by the company he keeps."

Mr. Trump is loved by David Duke, Vladimir Putin, and Jean-Marie Le Pen.

The Pirates of Penzance

Pirate King:
For some ridiculous reason, to which, however,
I've no desire to be disloyal,

Some person in authority,
I don't know who, very likely the Astronomer Royal,

Has decided that,
although for such a beastly month as February,
twenty-eight days as a rule are plenty,

One year in every four his days shall be reckoned as nine and twenty.

Through some singular coincidence,
I shouldn't be surprised if it were owing to the agency of an ill-natured fairy

You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement,
having been born in leap-year,
on the twenty-ninth of February;

And so, by a simple arithmetical process,
you'll easily discover,

That though you've lived twenty-one years,
yet, if we go by birthdays,
you're only five and a little bit over!

Yep - Gilbert & Sullivan have something to say about Leap Year!

semi self-promotion... the other half is GOTV

GOTV: "Get Out The Vote!"

Democrats Should Be Very Nervous About Their Terrible Turnout Numbers

YES! - Dems should be concerned.

The ONLY way to avoid "President Trump" come November is for Dems to VOTE!

I'll try a Pay it Forward kinda thing.

(This is the self-promotion bit.)

If you like this blog, recommend it to three (3) friends.
... and ask 'em to do the same.

My main concern is NOT increasing readership... trust me.

My main concern is getting Dems to the polls come November!

If we don't VOTE, we could well be stuck with President Trump.
(This would be BAD!)

I don't get it

The Republican Party’s implosion over Donald Trump’s candidacy has arrived

Divisions within GOP over Trump's candidacy are growing

I don't get it.

Here's my (entirely self-promoting) previous post:

Just for fun: an open letter to the GOP

Trump is the CREATION of the "Establishment" GOP!

Why are they now so surprised?

Hosea8:7
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind...

... a possible anti-Trump meme

Donald Trump stumbles on David Duke, KKK
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Sun February 28, 2016

"Just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, OK?" Trump said.
...
"I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists," he said. "So I don't know. I don't know -- did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists."

No, I'm not talking about Trump's appeal to white sumpremacists, or their endorsement of him.

I'm talking about his willful, fully acknowledged ignorance about ANYTHING!

"I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don't know about. I just don't know about."

I'm not going to dig through any of Trump's past rants to verify this, but I'd bet that he has stated, "I don't know...!" frequently...
... most likely in response to uncomfortable and discomfiting questions like the one above.

Maybe someone with more stomach than I could dig through published interviews & videos and put together a nice 30-second TV spot:

"I don't know... "

"I know nothing about..."

"I don't know... "

"I know nothing about..."

"I don't know... "

You get the idea.

This headline scared me... till I read the explanation

Former CIA Head Explains Why Armed Forces Can't Legally Obey Trump
"If he were to order that once in government, the American armed forces would refuse to act."

This had a frightening Seven Days in May sound to it... till I read General Hayden's explanation:

Michael Hayden, the former head of the NSA and CIA, thinks some of presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign promises are so unlawful that the U.S. Armed Forces could not follow them as orders.

These include Trump's claim that people deserve to be waterboarded even if it doesn't work and that he would target the families of terrorists. The internationally recognized Geneva Conventions bars such action.

"If he were to order that once in government, the American armed forces would refuse to act," Hayden said Friday during an appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher." "You are required not to follow an unlawful order that would be in violation of all the international laws of armed conflict."

I was in Army Basic Training some seven (7) years post-My Lai.
Two full days of classroom instruction were devoted to the distinction between "lawful" and "unlawful" orders, and our duty to obey the first and REFUSE to obey the second.
'Twas a lot for young recruits to wrap our heads around.

Yep - waterboarding is TORTURE under international law... heck, we prosecuted Japanese officers as war-criminals for this act in WWII.
Yep - deliberately targeting non-combatants - even if the families of bad guys - is ILLEGAL under international law!

For what it's worth: the Federal Government working for ME!

For the past few days I've been publishing graphs reflecting various economic trends.
These graphs have been based on data collected, compiled, and conveniently distributed by the Federal Government!

The Bureau of Economic Analysis has been the source of GDP numbers.
The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey has provided data on household income and home prices.

With these readily available data, ANYONE can pretend to be an economist!
The data are empowering!
... and they're provided more-or-less FREE!
("more-or-less": one does need internet connectivity to access the data... and, yes, my taxes do support these Federal agencies.)

If you don't like the way I slice & dice the data, or perhaps object to my choices (e.g., using "household income" as my preferred metric), YOU can access the raw data YOURSELF and do your very own analysis!
I've used only a few of the myriad tables available on these websites! - Go for it!!!

I AM a Socialist!

We the people of the United States, in order to

form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Which of these do the GOP hopefuls NOT want to pay for?

Okay - everyone is for "common defense".
Spend zillions of dollars on the military.

But other than that?

"A more perfect union"? - all I hear is Mexicans and Muslims are BAD! REALLY BAD!!!

"Justice"? - ... I'd love to say they've all said, "Lock 'em all up!"... but in fact, no one has said ANYTHING about JUSTICE.

"Domestic tranquility"?... again, no word about this.
Just build a wall.

"General welfare"? - Obamacare is BAD! ... but we've not a clue how to fix or replace it.

"Blessings of liberty"?
Torture good.

... and again: no clue how we're gonna pay for any of this.
... oh, yeah - I forgot: CUT TAXES!

(I'm not quite sure how this is supposed to work.)

"The rich get richer"? - is this a Law a Nature?

... alternative title:

Yes! - Let's TALK about the redistribution of wealth!

Below is a graph depicting another ratio:

Household income:

(Upper 5%)/median

I went to the trouble of drawing a line through the points - it's pretty darn linear!

If this were hard science one would be tempted to say, "Hey, we've discovered a Law of Nature!"
I doubt Galileo's data for his Law of Falling Bodies fit a curve quite so well.

In 1975 - the earliest year for which I have complete data, the top 5% of households earned about 2.7x the median household.
In 2014 - the latest year for which I have complete data, the top 5% of households earned just over 3.8x the median household.

Note:
I'm talking about the upper 5% of households, not the infamous 1%.
These aren't the super-rich, just the "pretty-darn-well-off" folks.
The median? - Well, those are the folks smack-dab in the middle - the truly MIDDLE class.

Every year, year after year...
... the top 5% of households gain about 2.8% on the rest of us!
What's going on here?
IS this a Law of Nature?

Just another graph

... this one presents a ratio:

(median home price)/(median household income)

For most of the period covered - 1975 - 2014 - this was reasonably stable at just over 3:

The "typical" house was priced just about 3x the "typical" household income.

Then we hit the housing bubble, when the ratio climbs to about 5:

The "typical" house was priced 5x the "typical" household income.

This should have been a clue that housing prices were NOT properly aligned with the over-all economy!

Then the ratio heads down, till 2012, when it starts to head up again.

The up-tick?
Housing prices are recovering.
Median household income is NOT.

The "recovery" from the Great Recession has NOT been visible to the truly MIDDLE class!

Hillary or Bernie?

I don't care.
Either one of 'em is preferable to ANY of the GOP hopefuls!

I've probably said this before:

When I'm optimistic I hope that Trump will be the GOP nominee.

When I'm pessimistic I fear that Trump will be the GOP nominee.

... 20% of my fellow citizens

... live on no more than $21,500/year.
This is HOUSEHOLD income.

I just checked - a really CHEAP 2-bedroom apartment in Albuquerque is more than $500/month.
That doesn't include utilities.
Let's figure another $100/month for utilities - that's $600/month.
That's one-third of your monthly income.

This is HOUSEHOLD income - you've got kids.
Kids who need clothes and food.
Kids who have other expenses - daycare, school, transportation...

Pretty soon you have NO extra disposable income - everything you earn has gone to pay for basics.

Yeah - you're not contributing much to GDP, but you're contributing EVERYTHING you have!
Every dollar you make you spend!
Maybe you should get a reward.

(By contrast, every dollar that Trump makes is pretty much sequestered - it is out of the economy.
In relative terms, HE contributes almost NOTHING to GDP!)

... and still more "Tale of Two Dollars"

Here's a graphical representation of GDP components:

The GOP candidates favor...
1. cutting Gov't spending (defense, infrastructure, education, social safety nets, etc.)
2. cutting taxes on private investment
3. maintaining a strong dollar.

The effects of these policy proposals?
1. cutting Gov't spending really does cut employment and overall economic health. Yeah - all that defense, infrastructure, education, and social safety net spending really DOES create JOBS.
At least two of the leading GOP contenders are U.S. Senators - they currently make THEIR livings from Gov't spending!!!

2. Private investment is a relatively SMALL component of GDP: about 17%. (LESS than Gov't spending!)
... and the tax breaks you give to Quote "Job-Creating" Unquote investors? - they really are NOT creating jobs with the extra $$$.

3. A strong dollar? - mitigates AGAINST balance-of-trade. A strong dollar means NOBODY is buying our stuff! - we're spending $$$ buying every one else's stuff!

... and not ONE of the GOP hopefuls suggests anything that'll help the middle class - all us folks making $110,000/year - if we're REALLY lucky!

I've said it before & I'll say it again:
CONSUMER SPENDING drives the economy.
NOT business investment.

If consumers aren't spending there's no reason for businesses to invest!

... more "Tale of Two Dollars"

... one of the GOP candidates - Marco Rubio, the darling of the "GOP establishment" - proposes cutting the capital gains tax to 0%!!!
He REALLY hates labor!

A Tale of Two Dollars (a dramatization)

Here's that last story, "A Tale of Two Dollars" in a dramatic presentation:
">
... yeah, I've posted this before... but I'm really proud of it!

A Tale of Two Dollars

At the top we see a construction foreman. He works hard, and earns about $70,000/year. His wife also works, as an elementary school teacher, and earns about $40,000/year. They have one child. Together they earn about $110,000/year - at the 80%-ile of household incomes, which makes them upper middle class.
That dollar? It's taxed at 25%.

Below this fellow is his twin brother, who plays the stock market. He earns about $210,000/year. His wife doesn't work - she's a stay-at-home mom. They also have one kid. Their household income is that $210,000 - 95%-ile of household incomes: upper-upper middle class.
His dollar?
As "capital gains", it's taxed at 15%.

This is NOT an income tax.
It's a tax on labor!

Here's a graphical representation.
The lower dollar is the one earned.
The middle dollar is the one taken home by the player in the stock market.
The upper dollar is the one taken home by the construction foreman.

David Brooks and the pink rug

I'll start with a repost, from 4 Dec:

No, Donald Trump Won’t Win
David Brooks DEC. 4, 2015

Somewhat bizarrely, he starts by talking about buying a rug. The pink one really stood out, and he liked it a lot on first glance... ... but then he decided the blue one would be easier to live with.

He then suggested that Donald Trump is the current "pink rug" of the GOP "likely primary voter".

This may have been a nice homey analogy... IF he'd been able to suggest a plausible "blue rug" alternative.
But - no.
In fact, Brooks doesn't even TRY to suggest a plausible alternative.
The best he can do is to suggest that

When campaigns enter that final month, voters tend to gravitate toward the person who seems most orderly. As the primary season advances, voters’ tolerance for risk declines. They focus on the potential downsides of each contender and wonder, Could this person make things even worse?

When this mental shift happens, I suspect Trump will slide.

Really?

Where's the blue rug?

Hmmm... Mr. Brooks has been a big fan of Marco Rubio, believing he will end up being the "blue rug".

I wonder now if Mr. Brooks might be willing to consider one of the DEMOCRATIC candidates.

He could even invoke his hero, Ronald Reagan:

“I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic Party left me.”

... of course, Mr. Brooks would have to paraphrase this:

I didn't leave the Republican party; the Republican Party left me!

Weather

For the past week it's been in the 70s here in Albuquerque.
Yesterday it cooled off a bit - it was only in the mid-60s.

Today it's snowing.

What's wrong with these people?

Senate GOP: No hearings for Supreme Court nominee

Perhaps a 28th Amendment is needed:

No President during the 4th year of his term, whether his first or second term, shall be allowed to exercise any of his duties or fulfill any of his obligations under Article II of this Constitution.
No Democratic President during his term in office shall be allowed to exercise any of his duties or fulfill any of his obligations under Article II of this Constitution.

Just sayin'.

This my nephew-in-law!

L.A., as in Laboratory

By Jim Tranquada

Two years ago, Jeremiah “Jem” Axelrod—an adjunct professor of history, American studies, art history, and urban and environmental policy at Oxy—was inspired by his colleagues and students’ enthusiasm for ­research on Los Angeles to design and propose a new institute dedicated to teaching and research about the city.

This fall, just before Thanksgiving, Axelrod had the pleasure of formally announcing the launch of Occidental’s new Institute for the Study of Los Angeles. Rooted in the College’s strategic vision of an academic program intertwined with all that metropolitan Los Angeles has to offer, the institute and its interdisciplinary mission are the product of a collaboration between dozens of faculty from 11 departments, a long list of community partners, and President Jonathan Veitch, who secured a major grant from Howard Ahmanson ’72’s Charitable Community Trust.

Just for fun

"A rising tide..."

"... lifts all boats."
Well, yeah - but ya gotta have a boat!

The Reagan & Clinton years were pretty good for some of us.
Not so much the Bush I or W years.

... and for MOST of us, we've been pretty stagnant!

Just for fun (I used to do this a lot)

Here's a graph of household income in quintiles (+ 95%-ile).

[source: Historical Income Tables: Households, Table H-1. Income Limits for Each Fifth and Top 5 Percent, All Races]

Stanford news

... (I'm a grad school alumnus, so news is semi-relevant to me.):

Stanford Is Now Tuition-Free For All Students From Low Income Families
By James DeVinne
Posted on February 21, 2016

Even as presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ plan to provide free public education draws increasing support and attention, many elite private schools have quietly begun providing a tuition-free college education to many students. Stanford led the charge last year in announcing that students whose families make less than $125,000 per year and have assets of less than $300,000 won’t have to pay for tuition, which typically runs to about $46,000 annually. Additionally, students whose families make less than $65,000 per year won’t have to pay for room and board either, which typically runs to another $14,100. The costs will instead be covered by scholarships and grants, while students will still be required to contribute about $5,000 annually from part-time work or savings.

I particularly LIKE the income cut-offs: $125,000 and $65,000.

These numbers more-or-less accurately reflect "middle class"... unlike the $250,000 being suggested by some candidates in their tax policies!

Jeb: another poor decision

... nope, I'm not talking about his decision to "suspend" his campaign.
(... tho' why don't candidates just say they're quitting?)

I'm talking about Jeb's decision to NOT use the speech I wrote for him, and sent him!

Bernie bashers

Many of the folks in the Bernie Bashers crowd point out - correctly - that's there's little chance any of his policies could be implemented.
So what?

Maybe it's better to stake out extreme positions and accept moderate compromises when the time comes.

I recall that Obama came into office promising bipartisanship, and ALWAYS proposed sane, moderate positions as his starting points.
It didn't work.
The Republicans saw his willingness to be reasonable as weakness.

Maybe, just maybe, it's better to start out with WHAT YOU REALLY WANT!... then give a little in negotiations.

(This seems to be how Rubio is positioning himself as the "sane" alternative to Trump or Cruz! - "Hey, compared to THOSE guys, I'm not all that bat-shit crazy!")

This and that...

Baby-sitting grandson Hunter last night, so no blogging.
This was particularly stressful as I was otherwise ALONE!
Melissa was in Dulce, NM, for the birthday of one her colleagues - a Jicarilla Apache woman with whom she's worked for many years.

... and it didn't help that my efforts to clean up my computer failed completely - in fact, resulting in my having no internet access.
Fortunately I was able to get a tech guy out to fix things!

In other news...
... a friend stopped by today.
We chatted about pets, the weather, our physical ailments... the usual.
Then HE brought up politics.
I was shocked to learn that he supports Bernie!

Why shocked, you ask?
The friend continued: "I used to think I was a Republican."

Yes, I was pretty sure this fellow was a Republican.
No more.
He even said nasty things about George W!

Meanwhile, there's a caucus in Nevada and a primary in South Carolina.
I'll likely watch the coverage of these later.

(Main reason for this post: I felt guilty about posting nothing yesterday!)

Trump on waterboarding...

Donald Trump on waterboarding: ‘Torture works’

Back in the dark W years I maintained a blog called al Qaeda in Albuquerque.

Here are a couple of reposts from that blog:

"Quaestiones sunt fallaces et inefficaces"

"Quaestiones sunt fallaces et inefficaces"
["Torture is deceptive and ineffectual."]

Nicholas Eymerich, inquisitor general of the Inquisition of the Crown of Aragon; 1357-1360, 1366(?)-1381(?)]

Note: This guy was NOT a humanist! In fact, "[h]e was the first inquisitor to get around the Church's prohibition against torturing a subject twice by interpreting [the] directive very liberally, permitting a separate instance of torture for a separate charge of heresy."
[Wikipedia entry, Nicholas Eymerich]

Presumably after several years of trying to extract confessions under torture, he arrived at the now well-known conclusion:

"Torture is deceptive and ineffectual."

But wait! - There's more!

I can't believe my country is having this debate!
Here's another fun quotation:

She said "If I knew what to say I would say it. Oh Señor, I don't know what I have to say-- Oh! Oh! they are killing me--if they would tell me what--Oh, Señores! Oh, my heart!" Then she asked why they wished her to tell what she could not tell and cried repeatedly "O, miserable me" Then she said "Lord bear witness that they are killing me without my being able to confess." She was told that if she wished to tell the truth before the water was poured she should do so and discharge her conscience. She said that she could not speak and that she was a sinner. Then the linen toca was placed [in her throat] and she said "Take it away, I am strangling and am sick in the stomach." A jar of water was then poured down, after which she was told to tell the truth. She clamored for confession, saying that she was dying. She was told that the torture would be continued till she told the truth and was admonished to tell it, but though she was questioned repeatedly she remained silent. Then the inquisitor, seeing her exhausted by the torture, ordered it to be suspended.

('...a very moderate case of water-torture, carried only to a single jarra, administered in 1568 by the tribunal of Toledo to Elvira del Campo, accused of not eating pork and of putting on "clean linen on Saturdays. She admitted the acts but denied heretical intent and was tortured on intention." ')
[A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume 3, Henry Charles Lea, 1906/7]

"Insert flap 'A' and throw away"

I have recently been assembling baby paraphernalia for grandson Hunter.
"Baby Bouncer", "Play Seat", Stroller... well, you get the idea.

I am not sure how many configurations were theoretically possible to attach seat of "Baby Bouncer" to the frame, but it took me three tries to get it right.

This has reminded me of an S.J. Perelman essay I read in high school: "Insert flap 'A' and throw away".
Below is the opening paragraph. (It gets better!... I just don't want to include the full essay - I've provided a link!):

One stifling summer afternoon last August, in the attic of a tiny stone house in Pennsylvania, I made a most interesting discovery: the shortest, cheapest method of inducing a nervous breakdown ever perfected. In this technique (eventually adopted by the psychology depart- ment of Duke University, which will adopt anything) , the subject is placed in a sharply sloping attic heated to 340 °F. and given a mothproof closet known as the Jiffy-Cloz to assemble. The Jiffy-Cloz, procurable at any department store or neighborhood insane asylum, consists of half a dozen gigantic sheets of red cardboard, two plywood doors, a clothes rack, and a packet of staples. With these is in- cluded a set of instructions mimeographed in pale-violet ink, fruity with phrases like "Pass Section F through Slot AA, taking care not to fold tabs behind washers (see Fig. 9)." The cardboard is so processed that as the subject struggles convulsively to force the staple through, it sud- denly buckles, plunging the staple deep into his thumb. He thereupon springs up with a dolorous cry and smites his knob (Section K) on the rafters (RR). As a final de- monic touch, the Jiffy-Cloz people cunningly omit four of the staples necessary to finish the job, so that after in- describable purgatory, the best the subject can possibly achieve is a sleazy, capricious structure which would re- duce any self-respecting moth to helpless laughter. The cumulative frustration, the tropical heat, and the soft, ghostly chuckling of the moths are calculated to unseat the strongest mentality.

This was found at:

The Best of S.J. Perelman
... I think I managed to get the link directly to the first page of the essay.
(... if not, it starts on page 285. It's worth it!)

Thomas Piketty on Bernie Sanders

It's a good read, reminding us that we used to be even more progressive than Europe... and still thrived!

Thomas Piketty on the rise of Bernie Sanders: the US enters a new political era

LOL!

The Big Lie

A big lie is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously."
(Big lie)

Yep - this is the propaganda technique being used by the GOP for the past... how many years?... 20?... 30?... 40?

The "southern strategy" - fear "the Black"!
Fear Big Government!
Fear Iraq!
Fear Iran!
... fear, Fear, FEAR!

... when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it...” (Joseph Goebbels)

"It's a great day in South Carolina!"

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley To Endorse Marco Rubio

Title of post references:

South Carolina Governor Forces State Employees to Greet Callers Cheerfully

It’s a great day in South Carolina. Even if it’s not.

South Carolina’s Republican governor Nikki Haley is ordering state employees to cheerfully answer phones with the phrase:

“It’s a great day in South Carolina.
How can I help you?”

the presumed looming "Constitutional Crisis"

Constitutional scholar, Russ Sype, here!

United States Constitution
Article VI
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

[aside: I highlight that bit about "no religious test" just to remind folks... ]

The oath to be taken by Senators is not specified by the Constitution.
But the following has been adopted:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Just a reminder to our esteemed Senators:

United States Constitution
Article II
Section 2
... he [the President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law...

Being just a wee bit pretentious

Melissa & I honeymooned in British Columbia, spending a few days in Vancouver and about week in Victoria.
In Victoria, we stayed at Fairholme Manor.

Since then we've stayed at a few "named" places while on vacation.
The most recent was Eshott Hall in Morpeth (northern England).

Anyway, giving a house a name seemed like a good idea...
... so we named our house:

"Los Ciruelos" - it means, "The Plum Trees", honoring our 4 plum trees (all different varieties!)

What about Harriet Meiers?

Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination

... and I've always wanted to ask Samuel Alito,

"So, how does it feel to be W's SECOND choice, after Harriet Meiers?"

Trying to maintain cognitive function

Grandparents Who Babysit Are Less Likely to Develop Alzheimer’s

A few weeks ago we hosted a going-away party for one of Melissa's students.
He has embarked on extended trip to Columbia, of which he is a native, to work on an indigenous language.
(This is what Melissa and her students do - work on documentation & revitalization of indigenous languages.)

Anyway, when we offered to host the going-away party, both the student & his wife were concerned:

You know there will be LOTS of children attending?
Are you SURE you want to do this???

Well, "YES", we replied.
... and there were LOTS of children attending - aged about 18 months to 12 years.
'Twas a delight!

We do our best to encourage son & daughter-in-law to let us sit for grandson, Hunter.
We've accumulated a LOT of baby stuff!
So far we've been quite happy with this arrangement... BUT wish we could do it more!
(We mention this at every opportunity!)

How NOT to win votes

Why will I never be elected to any office?

'Cuz I say things like this:

YOU ARE STUPID!
"Keep the Government's hands off my Medicare!"
You're kidding, right?

No - you're not!
You're too stupid to know that Medicare is a GOVERNMENT PROGRAM!

But still you are allowed to vote!!!

Yes - THIS is what I want to say to folks who support Trump & Cruz & Rubio... and just about ALL of the current GOP candidates.

You are too ignorant to vote!

... of course, no legitimate candidate can say this.

So I'm doing a public service.
I'm saying it for 'em.

My extended family - a riff on "politics, religion, & life are not coextensive"...

... tho' this'll be mostly on the 'religion' bit.

One of my sisters - who was raised in the Catholic tradition, attending Catholic schools - married a Jewish man... hmmm... more than 40 years ago.
They're still married.

One of my nephews, nominally Christian, married a Jewish woman. 'Twas a fun wedding!
They're still married.

A nephew-by-marriage is Jewish. His wife? Nominally Catholic.
They have delightful twin daughters... and they're still married.

My in-laws?
All Jewish!
Somehow we get along.

Me - nominally Catholic. At least the Church claims me - I was baptized!

... and, oh yeah, I almost forgot: my wife is Jewish.

On the "politics" side... well... most of these folks are pretty liberal.
... tho' there is one "militia man" bro-in-law lurking, and a niece-in-law who seems to support Trump!

Still - family gatherings aren't too hostile.

A recent commenter - and loyal reader - noted:

Last night I had dinner with a couple in which the husband is a businessman/Republican/Creationist/Baptist and the wife is a science professor/Democrat/evolutionist/Jew. They are a lovely couple and very happy together.

Nope - religion, politics, and life are NOT coextensive!
That's a good thing.

Religion, politics and life are NOT coextensive

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg mourns loss of her ‘best buddy’ Antonin Scalia
Posted 9:21 am, February 14, 2016, by CNN Wire Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Polar opposites on the bench, Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a long, deep, an unexpected friendship.

“Why don’t you call us the odd couple?” Scalia said last winter during a joint appearance with the woman he has called his “best buddy” on the bench.

“What’s not to like?” Scalia joked at the event hosted by the Smithsonian Associates. “Except her views on the law, of course.”

The two justices and their families vacationed together. There was a trip to Europe where Ginsburg went parasailing, leaving Scalia on the ground to admire her courage but at the same time worry she might just float away.

In her chambers, she has a picture of them riding an elephant in India. Ginsburg — the pioneer of gender equality– has said that she was only sitting behind Scalia to distribute weight more evenly on the elephant.

Me? One of my best friends is a USMC reservist.
He served in Desert Storm & Iraqi Freedom.
He's done MANY tours in Afghanistan.
He's a statistician - one of my former colleagues.

Other than our chosen profession we have NOTHING in common.
He's the most politically conservative person I know - he votes Republican.
He attends a conservative Lutheran church - one of the Lutheran synods that would NEVER consider ordaining a woman pastor.

We get along well, exchange emails & snailmail.
We enjoy each other's company, and feel free to discuss politics & religion without coming to blows.

Religion, politics, and life are NOT coextensive!

Weird weather

First:

Southern California endures record-breaking heat for a third day

Second:

Record-breaking cold sweeps eastern U.S.

... just how i'm feelin'

Political calculus

... alternative title for this post:
"Unless things change, they are likely to remain the same."

Conservatives Quickly Refuse Any Obama Court Replacement After Antonin Scalia's Death
"Senate must simply refuse to appoint anybody."

I would suggest to Majority Leader McConnell that this is a very stupid, short-term strategy.

Does he really believe that Trump or Cruz - the two GOP front-runners - will win the general election in November?

Let's imagine for the moment that his political instincts, which have so far served him well, recognize the likelihood of a Dem victory in November...
... a Dem victory accompanied by loss of GOP control of the Senate.

Does he believe either Clinton or Sanders would nominate a less radical/left-wing/progressive replacement for Scalia than would Obama?
Obama recognizes that the GOP now controls the Senate, and is therefore constrained to nominate at least a MODERATE liberal!

Neither Clinton nor Sanders would be so constrained!

"I knew him, Horatio"

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dies at 79

Justice Scalia and I had many disagreements.
Still, I cannot find it in myself to celebrate his death.

'No Man is an Island'
No man is an island entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were;

any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

[John Donne, MEDITATION XVII, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, 1624]

I learn something every day!

I sometimes use the phrase, "in the best of all possible worlds."
Whenever I type this, I internally reference the character Pangloss in Voltaire's Candide.

Just for fun I decided to look it up.
Turns out Voltaire was satirizing Leibniz!
The following is from Wikipedia article, Best of all possible worlds:

The phrase "the best of all possible worlds" was coined by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz in his 1710 work "Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil". The claim that the actual world is the best of all possible worlds is the central argument in Leibniz's theodicy, or his attempt to solve the problem of evil.

As title of post indicates, I learn something every day!

... in the best of all possible worlds...

... I'd remember this anniversary.
But, given my mental deterioration it's unlikely... so I'll post it now - about a month ahead of the actual anniversary:

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Manhattan, New York City on March 25, 1911 was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in US history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – 123 women and 23 men – who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged 16 to 23; of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was Providenza Panno at 43, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and "Sara" Rosaria Maltese.

Because the owners had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits – a then-common practice to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft – many of the workers could not escape and jumped from the high windows.

This is what unregulated, rapacious, predatory capitalism looks like!

Yeah - I'm a Socialist.
I want MY government to protect me from unregulated, rapacious, predatory Capitalists!
(THESE are the folks the GOP simply LOVE!)

GOP candidates, redux

Yeah, this is old... but I'm proud of it:

Sadly, we've lost many of these folks:

Bobby Jindal: Dropped out 17 Nov 2015.
Lindsey Graham: Dropped out 21 Dec 2015.
George Pataki: dropped out 29 Dec 2015.
Mike Huckabee: dropped out 1 Feb 2016.
Rand Paul: dropped out 3 Feb 2016.
Rick Santorum: dropped out 3 Feb 2016.
Carly Fiorina: dropped out 10 Feb 2016.
Chris Christie: dropped out 10 Feb 2016.
Jim Gilmore: dropped out 12 Feb 2016.

We'll miss 'em.