Donald John Trump...

...is a chump-- enough said.

Obviously, I won't stop there because I also think Hilary is the wrong choice.  Yes, she is the wrong choice but she is a known quantity-- not a wild card.  And before we move on-- I apologize for the name calling, but my fear of the damage Donald Trump's already wrought upon our country's standing in the world is upsetting to say the least considering that he hasn't even taken office yet. 

I say to you Republicans-- you have just over one week to mount a final, true offensive against Trump.  I implore you to throw everything you've got at him and split this party asunder if need be.  Use whatever tactics available to prevent him from getting the nomination (Minus violent ones of course.  I just don't want anyone to mistake my language to be interpreted as something else.)  All of these tactics will probably fail to prevent the nomination at this late stage, but the damage will be done and then once Trump is ruined maybe the healing and rebuilding can begin.  This will most likely guarantee a Republican failure to win the White House this election, but this is about playing a long game and winning the larger engagement not just this one battle.

Cop Violence in a Post-Racial(?) Society

What is it at the root cause of all these police shootings and why can't we stop the insanity?? We'll get to that but first-- I'm sure you've already noticed that I posted a picture saying "all lives matter". This isn't met to minimize the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, but I feel that the statement "Black Lives Matter" already triggers people on different sides of the matter to have very specific reactions. Yes, saying "all lives matter" may do the same to some degree, but we cannot live in a post racial society as long as we continue to fight the same battles of the 60's and use statements meant to elicit very strong, often negative feelings in different groups for different reasons. Here's a decent video discussion posted by New Gingrich and Van Jones which was a good dialogue but doesn't really offer much in the way of advancing the conversation in my opinion, but it does explain what I said above pretty well. There are still residual consequences from the old days, but we must do what we can to finally separate ourselves from the past. The problem with doing so lies in the fact that people still hold on to the past and their feelings about it. This is keeping our country from being able to truly progress. Yes, feelings are important but uncontrolled feelings lead to more anger, frustration, and ultimately violence NOT meaningful change. Facts, backed up by strong but rational feelings are what will foster real, lasting change. I challenge everyone to comb through these statistics before making more judgements about the situation at hand or how to mitigate it moving forward. A few facts-- In 2015 there were 990 police shootings, nearly 75% of those shootings (730) were police being shot at or trying to protect citizens being shot at, 26% of the shootings (258) were perpetrated against non-hispanic blacks who make up between 12-14% of the population-- a delta of +12-14%, 50% of the shootings (494) were were perpetrated against whites who make up around 77% of the population-- a delta of -27%, and 9% of the shootings were against unarmed citizens. Is there a disparity? 

2015 Republican Debate # 3

Unfortunately, I have to finish getting ready for my awesome trip to South Africa tomorrow so I don't have much time to respond on tonight's debate. One thing I will say is that tonight's debate was the Republican candidate's most substantive debate yet.  The debate focused on the economy and monetary issues- areas where the Republicans are obviously generally stronger.  I believe (read: hope) that after tonight Ben Carson and Donald Trump are going to start losing some team.  John Kasich accused pretty much all of the candidates of living in fairy-tale lands and I liked it, but overall he had a pretty weak performance.  Personally, I love Carly Fiorina, but I don't see much more for her.  I really hope the eventual candidate picks her as a VP because I think with a little political experience she will be a very formidable politician in the future.  Marco Rubio did a great job of finally connecting with middle America and unfortunately Bush was a bit lackluster.  Rand Paul had some great points, but doesn't seem to be gaining much traction.  Chris Christie had some great points about Social Security and the federal government needing to be honest about how it's lied to U.S. citizens regarding it's "entitlements".  Overall, I'm most hopeful about Christie's and Rubio's future prospects.  To me Ted Cruz had some very strong moments,. but he had some overly confrontational moments with the debate moderators which I think are telling regarding his inability to be a compromiser.  A few lower rung candidates need to finally drop out of the race and shake things up a bit so the remaining candidates can really flesh each other out.  All the talk about flattening and simplifying taxes has me excited but only time will tell how far this "talk" goes.  Overall, a pretty darn good debate.  I just wish the previous Republican debates could have been this substantive and they wouldn't be on the weakened footing against Democrats that they've set up for themselves before this point.

1st 2015 Democratic Presidential Debate

12:03 - Finished work obligations and sped through the last few minutes of the debate.  My thoughts- still don't like or trust Hillary.  Have more respect for Bernie Sanders despite his avowed socialist views.  Found him to be the most moderate on things like gun control and foreign policy.  Didn't like some of the candidates calling out the NRA as their favorite enemy.  I am pro-guns, but sometimes think the NRA takes it to far.  Nevertheless, I think talking about meaningful change is all empty words when you call large organizations like this out as your "enemy".  I like Jim Webb, but he's gotta practice a bit more and not get so whiney when they don't give him time.  I also think Anderson Cooper was going after some candidates much harder than others, particularly the less established ones.

21:48 - Aaand a work call- oh great no more watching the debate for me:-/

21:42 - Stuck it to Republicans by saying how they're anti-big government until it comes to abortion.  That's kind of an unfair criticism as they see it as a moral issue.  Why is it ok for climate change to be a "moral issue" but not something as serious as abortion?  I'm not arguing against it here, but merely posing the question.  Maybe we shouldn't be debating the morality of this issues- rather we should focus on better solutions to mitigate problems related to both.  

21:37 - Webb is more for the world dealing with climate change together as a world (particularly China and India)- not just the U.S. absorbing the entire responsibility.  Is not for quickly pushing the U.S. out of fossil fuels.

21:36 - O'Malley wants to order that we are on a 100% green electric grid by 2050.  I like how smooth this guy is, but he is very pie in the sky which most of his ideas so far.

21:25 - Jim Webb states that he'd be more for working through the congressional process rather than overusing executive privilege the way the Obama administration has.

21:22 - Candidates seem to be fairly uniform on Edward Snowden needing to face justice but differ on whether he should be ruled a criminal or face stiff consequences.

21:13 - Sanders will tax the wealthy so much that Social Security will be solvent through 2061- big whoop.  What's the point of a fix that still doesn't fix the problem for a decent length of time?  Social Security is not sustainable and needs a much bigger overhaul than just taxing the heck out of rich people.  Taxes probably do need to be raised, but more needs to be done to make the system solvent and sustainable for at least the next 150 years.  A lot could happen between now and then, but politicians are almost as short sighted as most business executives are these days.

21:12 - Clinton wants to "enhance" the benefits for the lowest income, most in need individuals in the Social Security system.  Deftly avoided using the word "expand" as mentioned by the CNN anchor.  She wants to expand it- no question.

More after the break...

Disarmament Part III: Centrism

One might think Father's day an odd day to create another post in my series that hasn't been commented on since last year.  I saw it as an opportune day as thinking about Father's Day made me realize how grateful I am for both my Step dad and Dad.  Not only that, it also made me think of my Mom and how thankful I am for parents in general.  That being said, my mind made a jump to connecting this to politics.  I was raised most of my life by my Step dad and Mom and while I love them both, they fulfilled very different roles in the parenting relationship.  

Disarmament Part II: Taxes

Mention Grover Norquist and you're likely to start a heated debated with me.  As with many of the Republican Party's current tactics their current stance on taxes makes them look petulant at best, and completely ineffectual at worse.  Fortunately, this is a problem exhibited by both parties, albeit for very different reasons.

A call to disarm

Again we are coming into another important election season, and everyone is trying to figure out which party is going to pick up the most seats and ultimately control Congress.  It may be too late to have much effect on how things will play out in the coming weeks, but as we begin to gear up for another election for our highest office it's time to start discussing the future of the conservative movement in this country...

As evidenced in this this Bloomberg article the fact that there is a rift in the Republican party is nothing new.  Both U.S. parties have and will continue to have their factions, but it is when they can't learn to bridge their own differences that they are in true peril of destroying each other.  They even risk losing the chance to really move forward the debates with the left.  These different factions really need to focus on bridging their differences, moderating their overall platform (while maintaining their own views and agendas of course), and learning how to actually compromise with the other side.  As I've mentioned before, compromise is not a sign of weakness it is a sign of statesmanship and, frankly, adulthood (or should be at least). 

Is the science behind global warming real?  Who cares!!  Let's argue about the rate at which we should cut carbon emissions, increase fuel efficiency standards, and phase out fossil fuels.  Conservatives shouldn't feel guilty about taking a pro-environmental stance so long as they are within the confines of a fiscally conservative framework that isn't about us sacrificing our entire American way of life.  Are carbon or any other chemical emissions causing long term climate damage?  Again it matters, but that's not what the argument should be about.  The point is that we're still emitting tons of materials into the atmosphere that aren't natural.  Things like cancer, emphysema, and smoggy air are seen and experienced by people from all walks of life daily.  These things can be tied to these sources of pollutants just as much as they can be to our hormone-laden foods, sun tanning, and dealing with ridiculous stress levels at our jobs.

On immigration- why must the conservative stance so often sound like a KKK rallying cry?  Many immigrants are hard working members of our society and do take jobs that our people don't have the skill sets for.  Should we allow every single person to stay?  No, but nor should we try rounding them up like the Gestapo and busing them all to the other side of the border.  Not only will this process be expensive, but it will be counter productive.  As long as they are employed, don't have a criminal background, and are willing to take the path to citizenship let them do it.  Turn them into hard-working, tax paying Americans.  Speaking of our own citizens who don't have jobs, part of this process should be shortening unemployment benefits and using some of that money for job re-training programs.  Schools for skilled tradesman are either non-existent or a joke in this country. 

This is just part one of a series that will focus on moderating the Republican platform while maintaining pretty darn conservative values.  The party that can shift the conversation, is the one that will control the message.  So long as you allow yourself to be painted into a corner by your opponent it doesn't matter how ineffective they are or how much they don't do so long as they continue the assault on you..

The worst 4-letter word of them all...compromise

Perhaps it as a few letters more than four, but you'd never know it given the last several years of how the U.S. government has functioned.  To me it's refreshing to see some of our lawmakers finding a way to reach some bit of common ground even if it is a very small step in the grand scheme of things.  I'm torn on my feelings to many of the ultra-conservative groups that have sprung up over the last couple of years.  While I do agree with many of their core principles, I generally don't agree with their tactics of using anger, gridlock, and fear mongering to get their points across.  Conservatives would be much better served if they focused more on finding a way to bring liberals to the table by allowing bipartisan groups more latitude in finding ways to compromise.  What the polarized public generally doesn't understand and lawmakers should understand, is that true negotiations should end with neither party being truly happy.  That's one of the basic principles in negotiations because what that means is that both sides got some of what they wanted, and both of them got some what they didn't want. 

Rotten Apple??

(Justin Sullivan, Getty Images /October 22, 2013)

Despite continuing to use an iPhone, I must admit that' I'm still an old-school Apple hater.  So today Apple released information on their latest refresh of the iPad and touting it as being 2 millimeters thinner and two thirds as heavy.  For that to be one of the main selling points is just plain ridiculous.  Nevertheless, they'll probably sell like crazy because that's what Apple products do whether they're worth it or not.  And then of course the typical Apple fanboy article extols the "wonderful" features of the Mac OSX while criticizing Microsoft.  Yes Apple charges much less for it's OS upgrades, but they've had nearly 10 OS updates in about as many years.  At least Microsoft releases service packs for it's operating system's instead of releasing brand new versions every year or two.  Make no mistake Apple does make quality products, but they're not an innovator so much as a perfector of other's ideas.

Pokedon't do it!!

Another day and another new Pokemon game(s) that I probably shouldn't buy, but probably will.  I know that this is a long running game series that has evolved at a glacial pace over the years and yet that is what makes this series so great.  It never totally forgets its roots, but each iteration seems to be able to advance a better story, add tons of new Pokemon, and does improve upon it's predecessor's graphics.  Again, these changes take place very slowly, but you don't have the issues you currently due with some series like Final Fantasy where the solution seems to be making each game radically different from the last and at the same time making multiple sequels to each new entry in the series.  What you end up with is a series that fans don't even recognize anymore with an increasingly watered down, convoluted story and no real connection to the other games.  I don't want to hate on Square Enix too much as I'm currently engrossed in FFXIV, but I'd say it's a fluke compared to the last couple of main entries into the series.  Back to Pokemon though- I still haven't beat Pokemon Black 2, but as soon as I do Pokemon X/Y is on my radar:)