After fifty years the Democrats are starting to wake up

 

I am including a link to an article that says everything I have been saying for decades, maybe not in the same words, but generally speaking.

The democrats have been clueless for a long time. This article is couched that the Democrats have sucked up to Wall Street and more, yet overall it says the Democrats quit being Democrats and to me that is basically why I have been calling them clueless elitists. 

I am including the article for reference. Since I am a conservative I tend to fear too much government spending especially with the enormous debt we are carrying so I cannot jump on the policies in the article. Yet it is the Democrats actually trying to do something again and some of the ideas are workable if managed well.

Republicans whether Reagan, RINO or MAGA will immediately denounce these ideas because they are now incompetent when it comes to governing. That is the one talking point Democrats have had for years that is correct. Otherwise and this article calls it out indirectly neither party has cared for the vast majority of Americans for an extremely long time. The article even references how Trump won in 2016 by appealing to the working class in the rust belt. Of course that is well known history, yet people especially Democrats have glossed over that for years.

So have some people in the elite DC circles and elite press circles starting to wake up to what has been obvious for decades. We need new parties. On occasion I have said if either the Republicans or Democrats get it together and change then that would work too.

Apparently or maybe that may be happening if you read this article. I need to see more. Again as a conservative I would rework some of their ideas, but at least they are doing more than lip service and whining. They are putting some work into change.

We will see what happens. Maybe we can claw something together from the ashes of the Republican party that Trump is burning down. And finally go forward putting the people of this country first.

Whether liberal or conservative we need to get money out of politics which includes as the article mentions getting rid of super PACS and even more, stricter rules on lobbyists, (if you try to eliminate them you will get too many lawsuits around freedom of speech) and stop gerrymandering all together. That has done more to prop up the duopoly and stifled true representation of the people. Make the candidates earn their seat and we will get better governance and policy.

Here is the link:

This phony Democrat got blown out of the water — and that's terrifying for Trump | Opinion

Cheers

Trump is not a new problem

 

Trump is a new version of an old problem.

Basically I consider myself an average college educated person and I have no idea what that means. I say that though because I have a point later on to make.

First I still read and am working on one project that in actuality is a very intense study. Much more than I am sure I wanted to undertake, yet as I get older I do not want my brain to rot so I am making the effort. You can find it on Substack along with this blog. In working on that project I am reading quite a bit beyond the book I am studying. I mainly comment as a journal what I learn from the reading about the book.  Occasionally I take side trips just to discuss related thoughts and topics in general.

As part of the reading I bought the book “the Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine”. I am not going to discuss St. Augustine’s ideas in this post.

Reading through the introduction there were two paragraphs that hopefully shed some light on my frustration with trying to get people to understand why we need change in our country. Or actually may be helping me understand why no one wants to listen.

Here is part of one paragraph from the introduction to the book mentioned above written by Herbert A. Deane:

“…In quiet times men tend to take for granted the state and the order and security that it provides. After a period of stable government and security for life and property, they are tempted. To regard peace and order as “natural” and “given” and to forget that, to a great extent, they are results of elaborate, delicate contrivance.”  This is footnoted and references Thomas Hobbes “Leviathan”

Why it matters to me is that we have been in quiet times so maybe what I have been saying for the last forty years had no interest in the academic world or academia. And I say we have been in quiet times for decades probably starting with the 1950’s. Yes I know we had Vietnam, the protests, the Nixon administration and resignation, the cold war, the post cold war and more. Yet for all that happened most Americans including the working class had a sense of security of life and property. People were able to obtain a decent life for themselves. There was nothing that truly shattered their world view.

 

So let’s go to the next paragraph in the introduction:

“When, however, men face serious difficulties which the traditional political and social  system seems unable to solve, when conflicts between groups, classes, regions, or religious sects within the society become so intense that consensus evaporates, and above all, when a crisis of the most fundamental kind undermines the body politic because traditional beliefs, attitudes, and values no longer command virtually automatic assent from most members of the society, thoughtful men are once more driven to the effort to examine the bases of social and political order and to suggest new answers to the questions of politics.”

Are we at this point? Obviously you know I am going to say we are at some juncture here or I wouldn’t be writing on this topic.

And there are two situations where the body politic is no long receiving assent from most members of society or we are ascending to that point.

One of the two is the AI problem which I am not going to address in this post. It is a problem that will definitely cause us to examen where we are in our society and it is rushing at us faster than we can cope.

The other problem is the more traditional problem of economic and political endeavors. And the Trump problem is not new. He is just the updated version of this problem and that is elitism is taking over the country and the body politic. Trump himself is more the catalyst to the problem than the actual problem. Elitism has been building in this country for a few decades, but not until recently with Trump’s false promises for the working class has it been thrust into our faces with what is really going on with his grift and corruption.

The other way elitism has taken over is how our Congress is controlled by lobbyists and large donors.

Elitism that causes the elitists to try and control all aspects of our lives only for their benefit eventually creates dynamic social change. I think most people are beginning to see we are well into this dynamic playing out.

My anger rests in the fact I saw this coming.  And this goes back to me confessing the I am an average college educated person. All the academia stood in their ivory towers and few professed nothing but ignorance about what was happening starting in the 1980’s until now with the slow gradual shift to elitist self-serving policy.

I was not educated enough to ridicule the academic elitists to cut through their need to sound superior to us in what they said was wrong with our country. Their ignorance led to a social revolt of the working class buying into Trump’s nonsense. I just saw that the two parties had created a duopoly that was becoming self-serving for their own power and becoming beholden to an elite class.

And yes I know I was not the only one who saw this coming, but now that we are sitting on the cusp  of possible major social change I am mad because I screamed at people there was an easier solution twenty years ago.

I screamed we needed new parties without being able to cut through the morass of people not affected by what was coming. Again it goes back to the “quiet time” when men took for granted the social order.

We see now the hate being played out by the very people losing to the elitists that is directed by the elitist mentality of pitting democrats and republicans as two sides and each side must win. All the while the two sides are actually the same side, the American people. And again this has been pointed out for decades by more capable people. And again this fell on deaf ears by large chunks of academia and politicians because they existed in that quiet time where some semblance of prosperity existed.

And to me, I get angrier because this can be fixed. Our country can regain the quiet time (well except for the AI problem developing) by going back to educating the people what I have been saying. Lose the partisanship in our politics, take money out of our elections, either force the duopoly into developing new leadership and ideas or create new parties to do such. We are still at a point where drastic social upheaval change is not needed. This isn’t going to last much longer though.

And the irony is that the elitists upending our society would still benefit from us reclaiming our (the people’s) interests in our government, economy and society.

As long as we have a market economy there will be rich people/elitists. That isn’t the problem, it is their control of our lives that is the problem. We created a government that can hold that in check. We let the “quiet times” blind us to the need for constant vigilance.

So now I ask you do we let this wonderful country slip into moral decay due to the powerful thinking they are above us? Or do we do our diligence and reclaim the basic and fundamental aspects of our government, society and economy and continue this wonderful experiment called the United States of America?

And yes I am reading St. Augustine’s City of God, yet that did not cause this sudden understanding of our moral decay. I saw this coming in the 1980’s and have been screaming in the woods ever since. My current readings including City of God only make my anger stronger since I am seeing how easy it is to reclaim our lives and it falls on the ignorant ears of our so called intellectuals that are blindly stupid.

I hope we can reclaim it all before the elitists destroy the fabric of us as people and then have AI destroy them.

How bad is it or how bad it is (or how bad am I)

 

Yes, contradictory title on purpose.

I am stuck. I want to believe the best so much so that I was traveling home from a bookstore with a copy of “The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine: Whether that has anything to do with my mind set, well it doesn’t. I haven’t read the book yet.

I bring it up because as a good Christian we are taught, yes even required to help the poor. So it was coincidental that I had this book when I saw what I saw.

As I was driving there was a long line of cars and then I saw the sign. It was a volunteer group, looked like it was at a church giving away food. Yes big sign free food bank, they even had one of those large blow up figurines dancing in the wind. This line was off to one side on a side road of sorts. I drove by the line of cars.

What I noticed is what bothered me. Almost every car in that line was better than mine, some even much better. I have a mid size SUV a few years old. It is nothing fancy, but it is paid off so we keep it. What I saw was some pretty nice cars in this line. And sure poor people or working class people can by chance have a nice car, but not in droves.

So how bad is it that people that appear to be well off are in a food bank line. It can happen. Who knows. The markets could crash dramatically and all sorts of people are hungry. Food inflation could become so rampant that everyone needs help except the very few. I haven’t heard of anything dramatic, yet it was worrisome to see. Do I need to rush out right now?

Or could our society be so shallow that people who don’t need resources still take advantage of this opportunity and the people that need it are left out? I don’t know. The visual didn’t look good. I haven’t heard of a complete market crash. Sure the well off might be able to react quicker than the poor if the economy tanks so they would be first in line, yet even that sounds like people are getting screwed.

I could be completely wrong. There was traffic so I was going slow, but I only saw free food bank signs. Hopefully the people I saw were donating and I am way off base. I didn’t see a sign that said donation line or anything similar. Every car seemed to be in the same line. I won’t say it cannot happen, yet donation lines don’t usually queue up. Usually you see them open and people come and go through out the day. Hopefully I just missed something. Like I mentioned I want the best, but the ten to fifteen seconds I drove by seemed odd. The line was long. It circled back around the building where they were lining up. This was the middle of the day so people are out, but also people are at work and doing other things. You just don’t expect busy people to spend time in line unless something is needed or wanted.

I didn’t circle back, yet for some reason this stuck in my head and caused me some consternation so again I hope I am wrong otherwise it says too much about us right now.  The more I think about it the more I hope I am an ass for these thoughts.

People do not usually comment to these posts, but any thoughts are always appreciated.

Democrats cannot get too presumptuous

 

Sure I am an independent, yet sometimes I give advice, well sort of.

First I am writing this in the city of man blog. If you do not know why I am referencing this there is a second blog on the Substack version of this blog that has that answer. Otherwise this is just some thoughts headed into the midterms which are still much further away than the Democrats would like them to be if they really paid attention.

And yes many Democrats are going what?!?!?!?!?!

And yes Trump is falling faster than a lead weight attached to another lead weight and a couple of feathers, but that isn’t the issue right now.

I wrote previously that the Republicans in general need to have a post Trump plan. I haven’t seen that yet, but they got their advice.

The issue will be the economy and the Democrats cannot come out and say Trump screwed up the economy no matter how horrendous or not it is in November. They need to have a rational economic plan that sounds like it is a unified Democratic plan. And it cannot sound socialist or anything too far leftist. Why?

I have said this too many times, yet Democrats really want this to be false. This country is still closer to the center right than the left or barely the center left. Democrats tell me the country is closer to the left. I listen patiently and quietly as they say these arguments. And then I also hear them say they have no idea why people would vote for Trump other than him conning them.

And then they just do not hear, most people care about the economy and the best answer politically is center right ideas. People want to be rich or at least successful. They do not want their lives defined by “a state”. Sure people will accept the government helping people, it has become part of the political dialogue. Yet to say the state should be in charge of our lives, will send people in this country running.

There may be about 20% of this country and they are a loud 20% who do believe in a stronger socialist agenda, yet even many of them would draw the line at a complete state run economy. So anything that sounds close to that or sounds too much reliance on the government will chase away the majority right now even though tired of Trump.

Sure the Democrats can blame Republicans for some of the country’s current travails, but if they chirp away saying all Republicans are bad and then do not offer a rational alternative they may keep people at home. Which leaves open a strong showing by Trump supporters (and right now they are still supporting him) going to the polls and electing who he wants. It is not probable, but very possible if the Democrats chase people away. And the Democrats have a history of doing just that. Don’t believe me then explain to me why Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2024. He didn’t win an outright majority in 2016, but won because the Democrats shut themselves out of the infamous old blue wall or the three to five states from Michigan to Ohio to Pennsylvania.

The Democrats, the party of the working man was snubbed by the working man and has been ever since more or less. Yes the working class should still want the Democrats in power if the Democrat traditional platform existed. It doesn’t anymore. It moved too far left, created a woke culture, which in of itself isn’t the deal breaker, it was the way it was presented to America. Elite Democrats got on their high horse and told everyone how horrible they were if they didn’t go along with what they were told to believe. This caused enough people to run to Trump. If you keep talking down to people, they stop listening much less supporting you. Simple as that, yet Democrats do not want to hear that because it takes away their supposed leadership role.

It is good some Democrats are coming out against the old guard. This needed to be done 15 years ago. Instead Obama caved too much to the vanguard of the party and let Hillary set the party back at least ten years. Well now they can climb out of this morass if they start singing a whole new song. They can still be a liberal party. They just need to realize they aren’t dragging this country to the left at the moment and rethink their messaging to show they can generate sound economic policy without taking away everything. It is more of a thin rope to walk than the Democrats usually attempt. Yet if they want to win the mid terms then in 2028 they better have a very respectful open the big tent kind of mentality and actually have policy that attracts people to that tent.

They start being partisan or elitist and lecturing, they could flub the midterms spectacularly.  Also like mentioned above November is not next month. Much can happen between now and then to give the Republicans some footing to distance from Trump and keep an economic policy that doesn’t scare people.

Now for my real feelings. Both parties still are failing this country. The partisanship anger and hate needs to go. We need new leaders and new parties. Yet for now the Democrats have a chance of keeping the duopoly alive if they make some major changes to their messaging and hopefully their actual policy.

Cheers

The media is lying to you, yes both liberal and conservative media and they know the truth.

 

I get sick and tired and more when I hear any media complain about the dysfunction in Congress. They helped to create and are part of the problem. Both sides of our partisan madness in the media have ramped up their audiences to fever pitches of hate towards the other side.

Both sides will then point to the other side and blame them for all this and we wouldn’t say what we say if it wasn’t for them. And yes they do this over and over again.

I ask you for the millionth time, get away from media and start parsing stories for the little bits of truth that do filter through. And be careful with so called independent media. They are just as partisan. They will tell you they are independent and in the next breath will tell you all the reasons one side is the problem. They will say things like I am sick of this story because both sides don’t open up to the truth and finish the sentence with and if ________ side wouldn’t do this then we wouldn’t have this problem or this example proves they aren’t serious. Nope that person has just admitted they are on a side.

Congress is dysfunctional and this did not happen overnight. It has been building for decades. I try to tell you we need new parties, yet maybe I do not hark on how bad the partisan media is to help you see the light.

People on both sides will tell you that they are not the problem, yet if you listen to one side you will hear all the problems of the other side. Get up tomorrow and change channels and you will hear all the problems of the first side. And the hate both will spew telling you how much hate is on the other side is just mind boggling maddening.

Don’t be fooled as the Who sorta once said. The song just started playing in the background of my head for some reason.

I would love to see new parties because I cannot trust either the Democrats or the Republicans to actually get something done right now. Yet if these two parties would actually change and start thinking about you then maybe I could listen. I do have to give a small group of elected Democrats some credence because they are starting to demand Schumer and is ilk retire. I do not know what they will do or if it will be the same song different verse, yet for some of the rank and file in the Party acknowledge out loud how the old Democratic guard failed them, well maybe that is a start. I won’t vote Democratic since I am an independent conservative, yet right now I will take any steps in the right direction.

And yes I am partisan since I am conservative, but I am a different breed of conservative than the old big business Republicans or what some call the Reagan Republicans. They were never really conservative. They just wrapped themselves up in conservative language and flag waving to get people to vote for them all the while turning the government over to the one percent.

And then along comes Donnie boy, who knew this yet had a better handle on the anger Fox news had generated towards the Democrats and the rest is sordid history.

Yes he is a racist misogynist and knew how to couch his language just enough to get himself understood without totally giving himself away to the working class. After all the hate of the Democratic elitists telling the working class how bad and unimportant they were, they gave Trump the Presidency in 2016. So yeah, partisan talking points are not going to help you in the long run. Trump’s time is about to run out, yet maybe a bit too late for our country.

Yet if we continue to point fingers, wag tongues, scream at the audience and perpetuate myths things are only going to get worse even when Donnie boy is gone.

We need a functional Congress. And I say that as a conservative knowing we don’t want the government doing too much, but right now we need them to reassert their place in the Constitutional framework of our government to get rid of Donnie boy, hold his administration’s lackeys accountable and pass serious budgets that begin the process of bringing our debt down. And do all this without blowing up our economy and throwing the rest of the Constitution out to the wolves.

As a conservative, I believe in the root word to conserve. Time to find people to put our values first of equal opportunity, ability to vote, and add to it by realizing billionaires don’t need anymore money, the markets work better when people are trying to be successful not when they are consolidating wealth and just in general a shared sense of a moral framework that champions people doing what is right, not what is in it for me and that goes especially for those in office. You want to screw people? Then you do it in the private sector. The public sector is for service to the whole. Those are just a few values we need to get back to so we can start rebuilding what we had going in the first place. We were never perfect, yet over 250 years we were getting a bit better decade after decade, Unfortunately the last few decades we are slipping into a partisan abyss that is destroying what we had started.

It is not about making this country great again, it is about building on the changes that made us better than the previous decade.

Many times I listed quite a bit of policy initiatives to help us along and I still believe in them. Sure some need work, but with the disaster both parties and their media cohorts have done to this country at some point I hope you realize; it is time for change and it doesn’t have to be drastic, just practical.

And on a side note, I cannot wait to find out why Melania crawled out of her drawing room to regurgitate the Epstein files. Something may be busting out soon. Or maybe she is just tired of Donnie boy and wants out. Who knows?

Happy Easter 2026

 

If you are the type of Catholic who only comes to Mass on Easter or the holidays, maybe you should change your once a year visit to Good Friday. Ironically it is the only day we do not celebrate Mass, yet if you come on that day it may inspire you to come to Mass more often. (just a planning ahead moment for you)

 

And yes Happy Easter to all no matter when or if you come to church or Mass or any celebration. You are still loved.

 

Praying for peace

We are still a country that can be great…

 

However for the time being we are a government subordinate to petty differences not lead by two parties, but by two sides. Each side determined to win.

The DHS funding situation is just the big slap in the face to the American people that our two parties cannot govern anymore because they cannot put the people and needs of this country first, only their side. They have fully judged the other side as the problem, yet won’t admit they are the other half of the problem.

We, as humans, will judge everything in our daily lives. I won’t go down the there is only one who should judge discussion instead focusing on why being judgmental as humans is a recipe for failure.

Both sides are one hundred percent sure they are right and in doing so throw insults and judgmental comments at the other side only inflaming the inability to work together to solve problems. Any rational group of people even with differing priorities could find solutions to funding DHS. We are not rational anymore.

If anyone lives in a closed mind, they will live in a prison of their own making. You cannot see solutions, you only see walls. And that is where we are right now.  Our two parties along with their media and echo chamber “bases” have built a wall between them. The irony is most democrats and republicans in the real world are not part of the wall.  Most Americans just want to get about with their lives and want our government to fix problems. They are stuck in the rut of having chosen a side they blindly follow the “leaders” because they do not perceive an alternative. They can sit in their living rooms or at the dining table and talk about how the other side fails parroting talking points that give them no answer. Yet in reality they know a failure is happening with our government.

These Americans not part of the wall are left to the side suffering the inability of the two parties to represent them. Americans want answers yet they have been conditioned to answers that do not exist, only something that has devolved into ugly rhetoric, insults, finger pointing and are left wondering what can be done better. Yet no better comes along because they are stuck trying to budget shrinking real spending paychecks and higher costs.

Many in our country probably could do a better job with what is in front of us if given the chance, but the cards are stacked against them. The system favors the duopoly because the duopoly spent decades making the system. The system is destroying this country, not the people, not even the individuals that are in the system. They are just caught not being able to give an inch because their echo chamber would castrate them politically. And cannot have that because even though they might have an answer to help the people, their power is more important.

Yes it is hard not to judge people as a person, so I try, but I fail, so I hope my arguments fall into your ear as a judgment of the system not any one individual because all the individuals to varying degrees are part of this system that is failing us.

DHS funding is much easier to resolve if both parties work to listen to the people than listen to themselves. That won’t happen at the moment and so we get headlines that tell us how frustrated Washington DC is because they cannot fix the problem. The DHS funding problem is just an example of how far out of touch DC is with America.

It goes back to the old Pogo cartoon, the problem is us. Too bad there are no metaphorical mirrors in DC right now.

I have said this before and I will say it again because I still believe in who we are, what are our stated values, what we can do as a people and what we have accomplished in our slow walk through history to get better as a people. Somehow we just need to punch through the hate, the closed mindedness, the my side is the right side and get back to who we are as a people, not a side.

The world is so insane the better half is now listening to soft jazz.

 

And that is a big switch for her.

 

And being the better half she is already concerned about if we put boots on the ground, how many of these soldiers are parents. And if so what about their children?

 

This war is so wrong on so many fronts that her concern is genuinely needed to be considered. Why should children lose their parents to satisfy the desperate needs of a failing presidency?

 

There is a very peaceful, practical, legal yet difficult path to change the course of our country and if anyone is interested I will be glad to spell it out. We need change immediately or this desperate man is going to take this whole ship down with him.

One key factor is partisanship needs to be thrown out before him so we can bring about productive change. The hate and finger pointing are part of the problem so that needs to go. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we do have to agree on three or four important pieces of legislation to get us to the midterms once change is made.

Campaign reform with limits to be given and a temporary pause on PACS and Super PACS etc being able to campaign at all. Then true long term campaign reform.

Start talks to end the war without compromising American interests which will be one hell of a tight rope to walk.

End the partial shutdown which may or may not include ICE for the moment.

Pass a budget that basically holds the fort on spending until we get to the midterms and the people can elect representatives that truly represent them.

The process is in the Constitution and Amendments and it begins with we the people.

It’s insane It’s insane It’s insane It’s insane It’s insane……….

 

Why are we still using fossil fuels for just about everything? Why?

Outside of some very specific reasons like lubricants for heavy machinery there is no reason.

Renewable energy shouldn’t be a problem. Too many people fall for the myth that we need fossil fuels.

First of all Oil and it’s byproducts are poison to the human body. It is flat out poison. No matter how you mask it, it will kill you. Yes kill you.

Oil creates geopolitical nightmares. Yes we have one now, but this isn’t the only one or will be the last one if we keep relying on oil.

A few people make billions the rest of the world gets hurt economically every time there is a geopolitical nightmare that causes the price of oil to skyrocket.

Nowadays it is getting more and more expensive to drill for oil and that is why companies don’t create new oil wells until the price of oil reaches a certain point and they feel comfortable it will stay that high. Only the producers benefit, the rest of us suffer pocketbook nightmares just to get to work.

Why do people continue to believe this myth we need fossil fuels? There is no real answer. The oil companies will put out their propaganda, yet if you dig deep enough it flies in the face of common sense.

Nothing is perfect, but renewable energy is much better than fossil fuels.

Also plastics are not doing the human body and the environment any favors. We could go back to glass containers. Sure it would take some investment and we would need to recycle glass, yet it can be done. Remember when we paid five cents for the bottle and got it back when we returned the bottle. Updating this policy will work. And if someone says that takes effort, laugh at them. That small effort will save us a fortune in health care costs for all the poison destroying our bodies from the byproducts of oil. And yes we are paying a price for this madness.

Cardboard or wooden boxes, again something that can be recycled with effort. We are only fooling ourselves that we need plastics. And even if people are inconsiderate and just leave this trash around, eventually it biodegrades unlike plastic.

There are many alternatives to oil. We just need to make the investment in time, money and energy to get us there. There is absolutely no reason to continue to destroy this planet so a few people who already have billions can make billions more.

Another advantage would be the development of new energies will create new wealth to help close the wealth divide or at least create new millionaires etc.

No matter what the oil industry says, there is no benefit to continuing this madness. Sure it won’t happen overnight so the people employed by the oil industry won’t lose employment right away. The transition takes time so the employment picture will not be radically affected if young people head to the new energy development instead of looking for oil field jobs.

And again getting off oil will reduce the number or unnecessary wars such as the one we are in right now.  The only person who truly benefits from the human race being on fossil fuels is the evil one. Everything else is interchangeable, saves lives, produces new industries and jobs, gives us a cleaner environment and allows humanity to grow not self destruct.

Coco December 2012-March 10, 2026

Always in our hearts

 

City of man stuff, and our Senate is ?

 

First it is sad how weak is our Senate. The are like abused wives, afraid to speak up because they don’t want to be hit again. When in reality they are grown adults with very definite responsibilities. Why are they so afraid to do their job? Sure the Iranian regime are monsters to their own people and a danger to the world, but how are we better if our own government cannot do their job. There are three branches of government and each has to follow the law to make sure our government works. When certain members are so scared of their shadow they cannot even require some basic information from one branch, why are they in office?

Yes we can cheer the demise of an autocratic government or cheer regime change if it happens, but this should not come at the cost of who we are as a people and for our government.

I don’t want to talk about Mike Johnson in the House, because he is every bit the abused wife going along to get along. Does he not hear himself?

Real adults can upset the apple cart when needed and Trump’s applecart needs some upsetting or how are we to tell other countries that we support their efforts to do what is right. When our soldiers are put in harm’s way, it should not be done on a whim or at the behest of another government. The President should and must come to the people and let us know what is going on, so the Senate has every right and responsibility to put a hold or limit what is done until the people have the full and CORRECT story. I am tired of the lies and sycophants. Wake up America or is it we just cannot afford coffee anymore?

 

Okay some of you may have paid attention to know I started a very specific second blog where I only update to a second Substack blog. Well I ran into a roadblock today, not a large one and definitely can crawl over it, but it was frustrating.

I had a hunch the Dallas Public Library is not Catholic friendly and it was somewhat reinforced today. There are suggested readings in the front of the copy of City of God I am reading and I went to check some of those books out. I searched for 4 based on titles etc. The library had none of them, not in any branch. The wonderful guy at the counter offered to try an inter library transfer from Dallas Theological Seminar. They only had one ebook. When he first said Dallas Theological Seminar I was impressed since they are more an evangelical institution, yet no real luck there either.

Maybe I should go enroll in a class at University of Dallas just to use their library for this journey. Yet I do not think I want to go that crazy. This is supposed to be a relaxed journey where I hopefully walk through the City of God learning as I go. I do not think I am ready to create new discoveries in the City of God.

There are hundreds of thousands of Catholics in Dallas proper, yet the library doesn’t seem to think we are that important. If they want to call me out, they can reach out.

I am tired of people saying they believe in God when the whole world relishes what the evil one wants from us more than what God is wanting to give us. Anyway I will continue my journey on that blog and if you read this on the other platforms come on over and check it out. I am in way over my head, lol.

Time to solve the biggest controversary in America right now…..NBA tanking

 

Mr. Adam Silver is making every effort before the end of humanity and the rise of AI taking over to give us humans some type of value for our sports dollars by trying to figure out how to make the long NBA season competitive for everyone’s enjoyment. Unfortunately the reality is some teams each year will not be good and getting the first round pick is the goal.

And I apologize if someone else has thought of this idea. I do not read too much NBA press or even Mark Cuban’s madness and I am a Mavericks fan. The reason I bring up Mr. Cuban is because to me this sounds like something he would cook up. Anyway if this in some shape form or fashion has been proffered before, then take this as I second that motion.

First step is the season will need to be shortened to 76 or 78 games.

Second step is the teams with the two worst records, go into a drawing or coin flip for the first spot in the draft. The team that loses gets the sixth spot. Teams 3-10 are now playing a tournament for spots 2-5.

Third step is there is a quarterfinal tournament for the last 8 teams. The winner gets the second spot, the team that loses the third. The two teams that lost the semi final type games go into a drawing for picks 3 and 4. The teams that lose the original quarterfinal type games are in a drawing for spots 7-10.

And these tournament games are not played on a neutral court. The teams with the best records get home court advantage and the highest ranking team or the ten spot gets to play the team with the third worst record ie 10 versus 3 9 versus 4 and so on to begin. This means it would be hove a team close to the play in tournament or playoffs depending if the play in tournament is kept to try and win some games at the end to give themselves home court advantage throughout the tournament. This may take some scheduling work since arenas are usually scheduled for quite some time in advance, yet arenas make do with teams making the playoffs so I think this can be done.

10 v 3                                                                                                                                                                                                        

            winner

7 v 6

                                    Winner = second spot in draft

9v4

              winner

8 v 5

And this is just a proposal so any adjustments are open to discussion.

Why not? First by shortening the season a few games it allows for this tournament to take place over about five days where the current season would end. Playoff teams get a week of rest to heal and prepare. It doesn’t add more games to the regular season and this draft pick tournament that players are not already use to playing.

Now TV revenue probably won’t be high because fans won’t be too excited about these games since they are closer to a novelty than the playoffs. What it gives us is the players having a stake in the future of the team. It might mean some coaches won’t play players going into free agency too much unless they felt like they were going to resign them. All this creates some competitiveness for the last few games of the season as teams should play for better positioning in this secondary tournament.  The last two teams have an interesting conundrum since they are in a drawing for 1^st and 6^th. Do they play for the 50/50 chance of first? Or do they think they can do better in a tournament to get 2^nd through 5^th?

Again we need viable entertainment these last few years before the rise of AI.

 

Cheers

Three mini posts for the price of one, partisanship, mental illness and driving

 

First I want to make a side note. I do not plan to make this a subtitle to this blog, yet you may read me reference this blog is a city of man blog. I hope this is the only time I intentionally reference this phrase. I am doing something else and it is attached to this blog, but only on Substack. I will be posting my normal madness on all the platforms I use, but my secondary project is only on Substack. If I mention city of man it is an unintentional comment probably based on I have finally gone shoulder deep on my other project and it just slips out here.

I am on a new kick about partisanship. I post quite a bit about it on the social media notes etc about it. I really want people to pay more attention to what is going on. I mentioned before the book “Hate, Inc.” and it is written much better than anything I can do so as always I suggest reading it. The book dives deeper into the media aspect of partisanship. I want to rant and rave about the failed political aspect of it.  For today though, I ask you, why do we, as a society, fall into this trap. Our political world has fallen into our side must win so horrendously that both sides are failing us. I know I say this often, yet how do I break through this locked in mindset destroying out country. NO side is supposed to win. Both sides should be more focused on doing better. And by doing better, they win. And this is not just any election, but win for our country. Until we break this dead end cycle of pointing fingers, my side or the highway mentality our country will continue to deteriorate. I wish I could find the right words to break through this duopoly’s hold on our country. So for now stop and think, what are the two parties really doing and if your first answer is trying to keep the other side from winning because they are the bad guys or something similar. You need to get out of your echo chamber and do one of two things; reread history and what made us great even with the flaws or get completely away from the world for quite awhile and just think about what is it we truly need.

And on that note, time for the second mini post. This is not going to be a lecture about the needs for better mental healthcare in America. We desperately need it and not anything to do with the political monsters going on right now. This is about true better care for people with mental health issues. We need to do more. For now thought this post is for you. Too many people still cannot break out of their routine, their rut, social media, electronics, working too much or whatever to give your brain a rest. A pure unadulterated rest is needed for you right now. Don’t believe me, I don’t care, just do it. Go somewhere away from your life and sit down and stare at landscape. Do something with no noise, no background distractions, no partying, no anything, just go for a walk. Find a hiking trail even if right around the block. Get on it, walk and then turn into the woods and then just stand. Wait for a few moments. Your body and brain are going to go stir crazy instantly. It will take strong will power to stay. And stay you must. If you plan just a little bit, your work will be fine, your family will be fine, your pocketbook will be fine, your life will be fine. Let your brain rest. Listen to the sounds, smell what is around, see what is there in front of you. Do not think, just relax and the harder it is to do that means you need it more. Bring a timer, set it for a half hour and do nothing. And your brain will fight you. Your worries will come flying at you. Ignore them. Just breathe. And the harder you work at your job, the more you do for others, the running around you do because no one else is going to do it means you are struggling to come to grips with yourself. Do this to get comfortable in your own shoes again. Think about who you are as a person. And don’t just do it once. Ironically this will take actual effort for it to help you. You need it more than you realize. Billionaire or working class, all need to rest your brain.

 

And finally this is about driving. Yes people cannot drive. I don’t care what you say about not being in a wreck you still cannot drive. And mainly because people are so stressed they are not paying attention. Personal example, my daughter needed to go somewhere, but I needed to drive her. I worry what would have happened, because she was only navigating and we still almost missed our exit and then took a turn too soon. If she was relying on looking at her phone for directions while driving who knows what would have happened. Second at stoplight the light turns green and nowadays you know you have to wait two or three seconds because people are running the red light and sometimes it gets really bad. So at the stop light, the light turns green and as always three to four cars pass in front of us after it turns green for us. Then everyone goes, and after people have not just entered the intersection some have already gone through it when another car for whatever reason comes speeding into the intersection I guess trying to beat the red light that had been red for easily ten seconds now. By the grace of God there was no accident, yet that car had to merge into moving traffic to get through the intersection. It was quite scary to watch. This happens way too often.  Driving a car is a responsibility and a privilege, it should not be taken for granted. Yes I am old so it sounds like I am lecturing. No this is a flat out scream at you to pay attention.

 

Cheers

Capping off Valentine’s weekend with a movie and some other thoughts

 

So just saw Solo Mio and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was simple, beautiful, predictable, and definitely worth seeing. Sure part of the beauty was because it had the Rome sightseeing moments, the countryside of Tuscany, and also beautiful because it wasn’t pretentious or tried to force something on you. It flowed comfortably. You can relax and just watch it.

Nowadays something joyful with love seems so rare. Or maybe it is me that I am caught up in all the drama of our political world. No one enjoys life, food, wine, good company well actually the better half and I do have these moments, but as soon as you pick up your phone and look at it, the monsters of insanity permeate your brain. So an hour and a half of simple pleasure in a movie for something different is more than refreshing.

And having Andrea Bocelli make an appearance and sing a couple of songs just adds to the beauty of the movie. I won’t spoil one of the songs.

I have more madness I want to add to this blog and make all my opinions about everything, yet for the moment I just want to offer the opinion that for a little love and joy go see the movie. It will not blow you away. There is no pyrotechnics, no action scenes filmed a 100mph, just a simple story with simple plot and a simple ending. Yet for escapism from the harshness of planet Earth right now, it is worth the time.

 

Cheers

 

And on a side note, after watching the movie I could sure go for some more Italian wine and a long tour of Tuscany.

 

Double cheers

Bondi vs. Noem vs. Vance

 

Who needs to go first?  This is just a fun quick quiz question for your Valentine’s dinner debate.  Why not?

There are other people who need to go in the Trump Administration, yet the three listed at the top are the three who most tried to ride Trump’s coattails for their own ambitions. Or maybe they are the most pathetic of the coattail riders. I think there are even some in the MAGA universe who are possibly debating this question.

Yes, Patel, Miller, Blanche and more all need to go. Yet, who can question how blatantly pathetic these three people are in this Administration. Sure Vance may be trying to lay low, or is getting away with laying low for the moment, yet he is just as bad as Bondi and Noem.

It is hilarious to watch three human beings create the most cringe worthy political lives to further their careers, yet with every step it is apparent this is going to be their last hurrah. I will nominate Mike Johnson as the less than honorable nominee for fourth.

So let’s do the country a favor and pick one to go first so we can get back to enjoying a nice dinner with the person we love. Feel free to leave your choice in the comments and if so inclined with your rationale.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

 

And oh yeah, Happy President’s Day, a day that should be honored more, yet right now, maybe not.

A continuation of the sad part about MAGA, partisanship, clueless elitists, what next and adding a touch on the voting of the lesser of two evils

 

I usually am a spit shit talk trash kind of opinion writer. I like spewing my thoughts and letting the reader determine if they care.

Then earlier this morning I tweeted or “Xed” a post about the lesser of two evils. Since it was “X” there is limited space I use. I do not feel the need to give any of my money to Musk. He doesn’t need it.

And then I got to thinking. I already knew there is substantial literature about voting the lesser of two evils. So I researched it a small amount this morning and it goes back further than I realized. To spare you a dissertation I will ask that you do some research on your own.

I do want to mention though I will pitch my tent on the side that you should still vote principles, not succumb to I don’t feel anything will get done if I don’t fight what I can by compromising my principles to vote for the lesser of two evils. In the long run, we don’t get better until we don’t give up our principles.

One argument from some of what I read this morning is an article from the publication Pysche by Robert Simpson an associate professor written about the 2020 election. And his points are specific to that election, yet you can apply them broadly or over all elections. He also references a philosopher Bernard Williams. Honestly I didn’t go back and read all of Mr. Williams’s books this morning so I may be going down a rabbit hole I don’t want to. Yet, 

Professor Simpson’s comments struck a chord with me. Here is a paragraph that outlines the dilemma a bit:

“A more familiar context in which this problem presents itself is at the ballot box. Suppose you believe the state should look after the wellbeing of the poor and combat the structural forces that enrich the wealthy. Suppose you’re in a two-party electoral system, and that the party notionally aligned with your ideals made a Faustian pact with business elites to shore up the policies that perpetuate poverty – low minimum wages, tax incentives for rent-seekers, privatisation of public services, etc. What kind of ballot should you cast? You can’t vote for the party pushing things further to the Right. And if you don’t vote, or you vote for someone who’s almost certain not to win, you’re helping that same regressive party get elected. Yet lending your support to the ‘lesser of two evils’ candidate, whose platform you don’t really support, feels like an unacceptable compromise to your ideals.”

Here is some of the set up of the point I ask you to consider. These are sections of early paragraphs in the argument:

“Bernard Williams argued that you should care about maintaining integrity in your personal ideals – not necessarily at all costs, but at least a bit. That’s because you have a special proprietary responsibility for acts you perform. Those choices and acts are, in some special sense, yours, distinct from outcomes that result from combining your choices and acts with everyone else’s.”

“Don’t vote for the front runner. You are responsible for the acts you do, not for everything that they lead to. If you quit and those animals suffer more, you aren’t responsible for this; your boss is. If a demagogic president remains in power, that’s not your fault.”

“But perhaps you find this way of thinking a bit spineless, or even a bit lawyerly. ‘The outcome wasn’t fundamentally my fault’ seems like a feeble excuse for something you could have helped to prevent, if you had just suspended your scruples for a moment. It sounds like the special pleading of a moral narcissist – someone who cares more about preserving an unblemished moral record than about making the world a better place.”

“Williams acknowledges this concern, and he agrees that integrity matters little when you’re just trying to maintain the warm, fuzzy feeling of being a flawless do-gooder.”

Now I am going to brag a bit, Yes I know as a Christian we are to remain humble, but I am still closer to the sinner side of the saint to sinner sliding scale anyway so here goes. Or at least I live out this idea of being more than writing or maintaining a fuzzy feeling of being a flawless do-gooder. I honestly feel not just in in mad ravings on this blog, but overall I try to not compromise and do things just to make me feel better. I have stated repeatedly I don’t vote for the duopoly. I don’t. Yet it did take years to find a party that truly came close to my values. Luckily I found them and vote for them wherever they are on a ballot. They are a small party so it is not often, but I do. It is a small act, yet to me it is the my part in fighting the good fight.

And here is the paragraph I want you to think about:

            “Williams’s ideas about integrity suggest that someone who’s reluctant to follow a lesser-of-two-evils strategy needs to at least interrogate that instinct. If you’re genuinely trying make the world a better place, Williams says, it isn’t enough to simply promote the good within the limited range of choices you’re being offered. You need to try to become someone who actively builds those choices, shaping which outcomes result from which actions. And that means taking on projects and principles that you mean to live by – even if this might produce undesirable outcomes in the short term.”

Yes I know I cherry picked a couple of sentences from the article to have you circle back to the above paragraph so go read the whole article. There are more indepth examples of what leads to the points.

And again any simple search on the internet for the phrase voting for the lesser of two evils is going to give you that inordinate amount of literature to read. I quickly read through a few, hence how I learned this argument goes back to the 16^th century. Also there are interesting takes on what Pope Francis meant when he said we should vote for the lesser of two evils. One touches on the literal aspect of the verbiage and another touches on you have to listen to his explanation that it is not the lesser of two evils, but that finding the good is the lesser of two evils. Knowing a bit of Pope Francis’s work I feel the latter better represents what he says.

And using one article to make a point is  never enough, yet I hope you at least do some self contemplate on on the sentence:

“Williams’s ideas about integrity suggest that someone who’s reluctant to follow a lesser-of-two-evils strategy needs to at least interrogate that instinct.”

What does that mean for you and how can you apply what I ask you to do is give up on the duopoly and help us find more common pragmatic solutions to the issues facing our country?

Cheers

The sad part about MAGA, the clueless elitists, partisanship is now a four letter word and what next.

 

Well the title just wore me out. Let’s start with the easy part, partisanship is effing this country good.

Second how do you address people, identify where you see the problem without name calling. Well I just blew it in the title, but I feel stuck saying clueless elitist because that is exactly the problem with a good chunk of the leadership on the left.

Which leads to the sad part of MAGA. There is only a minority of MAGA that is racist and misogynist and unfortunately that is the loudest part on social media. There are some MAGA that get involved, yet they are overshadowed by the worst of their movement. Why do I say this is sad because unbeknownst to the left many of these people are the hard working Americans they talked down to for decades. Hence the cluelessness.

I have talked about it before yet without the emphasis on partisanship making it worse. In fact extremely worse therefore the effing it up problem. And partisanship is effing the country not just the two sides.

Put good hard working Americans who just wanted to have someone stick it to the people who  ignored them politically and generally economically, add in FOX News creating a demonization narrative that began to hypnotize them, a one sided partisan argument that acted like they were on the hard working American’s side when actually their political actions added to the struggles of these same hard working Americans and you have the recipe for the greatest grifter in our country to succeed. Trump knew the words of the anger. He doesn’t give a spit about his voters, but he knew how to spit out the words. He knew well what they wanted to hear. And now he has taken partisanship to a whole new level. The clueless left can’t match it though.

They do have sort of a base, yet nothing as intense as the wave of hate Trump jumped on and is surfing through every turmoil he can or did create to continue to hold in line scared Republicans who care more about their little island of power than the people they represent.

And this is why it is sad for MAGA. The one person they felt understood and appreciated them stashed them on his surfboard and created a tsunami that is destroying this country. And they are all on board screaming with joy as their lives are about to be thrown against the rocks when the wave crashes. Unfortunately this is all about to crash down on the whole country so yeah even us “who didn’t vote for this” will be wiped out. So is this the end?

It never is, it is just a matter of how fast we can figure out what to do when the wave hits the rocks and the subsequent undertow pulls us all under. How do we swim back to shore?

We can’t rely on the cold water waking MAGA up immediately. It may or may not take a generation. And my fear is those waiting in the surf as the water clears will be the clueless elitists with a damning I told you so attitude. And the kind that ain’t good for healing. Yeah, the same mindset that ignored the real problems facing this country as they told us everything we did especially MAGA that was wrong with us. Complete and utter elitism with no understanding their partisanship is part of the problem.

So instead of the waters clearing, the murkiness will continue unless we who understand both sides of the current left/right partisan madness then realize we can’t let either side take charge. And it is okay if there is a left/right or true conservative/liberal divide in the country. I stated before I believe in that let’s say minor dichotomy. Why, because times change and you need policies that reflect the times. And sometimes we need to move forward and sometimes we need to pull back. It works when we understand we are not partisan sides trying to win, but offer solutions that work best for the times.

We were already headed for a my side must win long before Trump joined the partisanship battle in American politics. He was just the catalyst the created the current I would say gridlock, but it much more than that politically.

So going back a couple of paragraphs, I do believe in the left/right see saw or whatever other metaphor floats your boat, but what I do not like is saying compromise is a solution. Or the system needs compromise. No, it doesn’t. Compromise only dilutes what you are trying to do to appease people and can create gridlock. And as mentioned we are nowhere near any political gridlock, we are two hard headed rams butting each other and getting nowhere. And we are about to fall off the cliff of sanity.

So right now and going forward in the immediate future people not caught up in the effing partisan rams falling off the cliff need to find a few very specific issues that affects the vast majority of this country. And I mean just a few issues and where liberal or conservative is more about what is the best solution. We need to work on those for a few election cycles, really sit down and hammer out solutions so we can start clearing the water and give something concrete people can see in the water.

And there are a few issues people can prioritize pretty easily in my limited sight. Social security, balancing the budget, leveling the tax code and finally new election finance and campaign laws. The first three can be worked on together in some of the policy. The campaign laws need vigorous overall so people can be represented, not the select few. Money should not be the driving force behind choosing people to represent us. Somehow we need to make this change now.

There are other major issues that need immediate attention also, such as new immigration policy, and a rebuild of what education means to us as a country. For now the immediate needs are paramount. The direction must change and spending two or three election cycles working on settling the dynamics down and fix our immediate financial situation gives us the biggest bang for the immediate buck now worth 28 cents.

You can argue what might be more important and if you have a good case I will listen. I chose my three based on some general concerns. Social security was our first program to help the average person and we need it to survive so people can survive. The budget is a disaster. Yes we need to reign in spending, it is imperative, you just can’t spend all the time. Cuts will need to be made. Not the DOGE cuts for political theatre, but real well thought out cuts, so this is why I say two or three election cycles. Our government can still do in the background much of what it already does, but we need to reduce the bureaucracy, not dramatically, but practically. There are things we need from out government like roads or law enforcement. Those will need work now and in the future, yet for us to move forward we need to identify the most important issues facing us. I have laid out the campaign issue and then the trilogy of tax code renovation/leveling, social security and the budget. And you can tie some of the solutions up in one package if done right.

Then by the grace of God if you can not compromise, yet actually write real solutions we, the people get victory at so many levels that by then the waters will have cleared. Once we see our feet again standing in the surf, we can start working on the next highest priorities to continue this great experiment of what our country truly can become. And yes then the right/left or liberal/conservative pendulum can swing as needed not based on partisanship, but who has the best ideas for the moment.

That was the framework our Founding Fathers worked to try and give us. Let’s celebrate 250 years and start finishing the job.

If the dominos start falling…….

 

Honestly I am not sure if we are there yet, but if Greg Bovino’s ouster is the first domino, it might get crazy fast.

And many of the dominos will need to be knocked down. So where do we start?

Kristy Noem looks like the next domino and whether she fights it or resigns won’t matter. She is probably gone and soon. The better half just said there is some Senate Hearing she is scheduled to attend in March. If she makes it that far I will be surprised.

So let’s look at some other potential dominos.

First though you see some people still running cover for President Trump hoping to give him some wiggle room to stay on. There is a secondary issue involved with Trump and I will get to that in a minute.

And let’s look at the some of Trump’s cover provided by the lovely Laura Loomer. Apparently she is laying this at the feet of Vance in some sort of new(?) conspiracy rant. I question the new because she may have brought up this conspiracy before in some shape form or fashion. I don’t follow her so going by second hand knowledge.

I am of the opinion that Vance always thought Trump was circumspect so let himself get on the train hoping for either getting ahead post Trump or being the rational one if Trump’s world collapses.  So I don’t think he is forcing this madness as per Loomer, but hoping for it.

So let’s go look at some potential other dominos. I think if Stephen Miller gets put in the domino line he will fight it big time. He has much riding on the success of Trump’s immigration policy so he will try and find ways to convince Trump that what they are doing is still the right path, just need to ride out this current hiccup.

In general Pete Hegseth will stay on as Defense Secretary until forced out in some way. And it may or may not have anything to do with the ICE situation.

Marco Rubio may be the first one to jump ship and find some facing saving way to resign.

Pam Bondi is an interesting situation. Even though the Epstein files are not in the headlines right now, sooner or later people can pick that back up and make it front page news again. Once that happens Trump may tire of her. And I won’t put them on paper just yet, but my brain’s imagination just went crazy and there are some crazy outs for her. And most don’t do Trump any favors. So let’s leave the conspiracies to the conspiracy theorists for now. And she may also be impacted by the current ICE and general immigration fall out specifically the voter rolls threat.

Kash Patel may just wake up and ask himself why did I sign up for all this. He may resign also. I don’t think he can successfully come up with a face saving way, but who knows. Or he is completely hopeless and ends up going down with the ship.

I think Scott Bessent and maybe Howard Lutnick jump ship. They have/had careers in the financial world they may want to salvage and if things start to really sour they may run for cover.

Tulsi Gabbard is so far out of the spotlight now that she may be able to quietly walk away. Who knows?

There are a few other Cabinet members such as Labor Lori Chavez-Deremer and Education Linda McMahon that have their own issues or embroglios they may go down on their own as the ship falters.

And now to get back to Trump. Trump is 79 years old and stress eats up healthy human beings. The stress he must be feeling or is about to hit him may be too much. I wrote a previous post talking about some of these people need to figure out what to do in a post Trump world. I don’t wish bad on anyone, just want accountability, yet Trump’s health may take a huge hit if he for one second realizes how bad his world is about to implode. There is much potential for high stress health events to happen and everyone near him and his supporters in general cannot be surprised if something does happen. He is just not a man in excellent health no matter what he tells himself and the American people.

There is going to be a fall out even if Trump stays healthy. And things will get worse before they get better. Unfortunately the Democrats are still clueless and maybe only a couple can cobble together enough of a plan to get us to 2028.

Secondarily Mike Johnson needs to resign as Speaker so we can move forward faster. I am not sure who should be Speaker, yet if the Republicans do hold the majority for the rest of the year, someone from the centrist group should be elected as Speaker. Hakeem Jeffries would be a disaster. Yes I know all the Democrats think they are ready to be the heroes, yet the amount of fall out from the collapse of this administration is going to take some real leadership and some real ingenuity to get us to 2028 and beyond.

And why do I say 2028 and not the upcoming midterms? If Trump falls, then Vance is rightfully the President and he has managed to stay away enough from the immigration and Epstein disaster it would be hard pressed for the Democrats to try and impeach him. They might try, but no one will have the stomach to convict him or at least not enough so he offers I won’t say stability, but a placeholder until 2028. And then hopefully someone can come through and chart us a new path forward.

And once we get to 2028 and hopefully a new path forward, let’s hope it is someone who truly understands the gravity of the moment and knows if he or she does it right they probably won’t be elected in 2032. Too much real painful work will need to be done to right this ship.

Anyway there is sparkling wine (we are Americans) on ice so to speak, but not even close to being open. We will see what happens.

The Dallas Mavericks conundrum

 

The discussion is permeating the Dallas Mavericks ecosphere. Should the Mavericks tank or continue to try and make the playoffs?

There is quite a bit of people on both sides of the coin. And there are pros and cons to each side. So what should they do?

As a believer in using pros and cons to help you make decisions maybe we should explore those. Or maybe we should let the proponents of each side make their own arguments.

Okay they can on their own platforms. lol

Obviously tanking is to get better draft picks. Keep Kyrie and AD sidelined, let them rest up for next year along with a more experienced Cooper Flagg and hopefully a high draft pick and that does look promising.

Unfortunately there is no guarantee with draft picks. And I don’t think you can rest Anthony Davis enough to ever completely see a healthy AD for a full season. And I am not picking on him specifically. It just seems big men in general struggle with injuries. Not all of course, yet quite a few. AD just seems to have more than his fair share. His latest hand injury is just strange.

Anyway do we rest him up so his hand is good for next year? And do we rest Kyrie so he can truly be one hundred percent? Yet this adds another year of age to both of them. How rusty is Kyrie with being out for well over a year?  So are there more cons to tanking than pros?

Or what if we try this year? Cooper Flagg gets even more experience in a playoff push that last month of the year with AD and Kyrie. And who knows? Like I mentioned and I am not a fan of rooting for injuries, but like AD, Chet for OKC and Victor for the Spurs are big men that might face injuries themselves. Look at Giannis this past week. He will be out for 6 weeks more or less. Should the Bucks rest him? So what does the West look like end of March. A healthy Kyrie and a functional AD make the Mavericks an interesting possibility. The LA Clippers are on a major run. If the playoffs started right now, they would be the team no one would want to face. Maybe at the beginning of April the Mavs could be that team.

Yet if we bring back Kyrie to early or push him too hard what happens? And will AD’s hand be healed or will he be playing hampered? Is it worth chancing these two again?

And what about the other players involved? I am not sure what happened, but what happened with Dlo? I actually had hope he might be at least a contributor throughout the year and definitely not what is going on with him now. I cannot figure out why he dropped off like on a cliff on this team. Maybe his couple of good years were just the perfect storm for him and he just isn’t a player that can adapt to his surroundings. Who knows, but definitely disappointing.

Klay Thompson quite frankly is where we need him to be. I hope he gets the opportunity for us to stay competitive and he has a good rest of the year. He would definitely fit as a successful 6^th man scoring threat in a playoff run.  Trade deadline talk is irking me since I would like to see him stay.

I am not sure what is going on with Daniel Gafford, but would definitely like to see him healthy and involved.

And for me the reason I hope we do not tank though is I think it would be an insult to Naji Marshall, Max Christie and PJ Washington Jr for us to tank. I mean a serious insult. These three players are not role players. They are players on a competitive team that make a difference in winning and losing. All of them are valuable and I don’t want them to lose their attitude and grit in a tanking season and affect their attitudes next year. We need to keep them long term because they are the types of players that shape teams and make the impactful difference. 

Also Dwight Powell is much more than a stopgap these past few games. He is always overmatched, yet over matches in attitude and effort. He also deserves to play competitive basketball even if he is sitting on a bench for most of the game. He epitomizes what it means to have a winning attitude.

Could Caleb Martin actually come around like the past few games?

Of course the heartbreak is Dereck Lively II being out for the year

And then there is Brandon Williams, Ryan Nembhard and Moussa Cisse. Why waste what they are doing?

We have the players to compete so I am of the opinion we should. 

Go Mavs

Let’s talk Trump’s affordability economy

 

Or more specifically two proposals he made. The first being the ten percent cap on credit card interest and the second the limitations that large companies cannot own homes just to rent.

At first glance these are a populists dream: affordable credit and bringing houses back to the market so Americans can own a piece of the American dream.

What does it really mean?

First there is some legitimacy for populists in this thinking. The blowback from the supporters of credit cards and the companies is pretty strong. This is a surface reason to believe these policies might have merit. If the rich are against it, then the rest of us should be for it. Too often when the rich complain they know they might lose something or it won’t benefit them. So how plausible are these proposals?

Let’s pretend we aren’t dealing with the Donald Trump we all know and love. If a Democrat had proposed these, they would be dead on arrival. Republicans backed by all the business interests would shoot this down faster than whatever metaphor floats your boat at the moment.

I think there was some Democrats in Congress trying to garner some interest for this type of proposal before Trump offered it.

In normal times Republican Presidents aren’t offering these proposals. Currently many Republicans are trying to figure out how to not support these so they get campaign contributions from the banks, but not come out against the President. The wonderful tight rope many muster especially one Speaker named Johnson.

The reality for these Republicans would be worse, but our loveable President has squandered quite a bit of political capital of late. It is a bit easier not to have to jump on this bandwagon of policy proposals and still act like they are in support of the President by focusing on other wonderful acts by his administration.

Now let’s break it down under Trump. Trump doesn’t have much capital with people outside his supporters. His supporters love hearing him propose these two policies. This is what they voted for. It all sounds good. Unfortunately, these proposals are full of Trump bluster. How much does he truly believe in these two proposals? My guess and probably yours is not much. Is this more campaign talk? Does he get to come out later closer to the election and say I am working for you so vote for my people when in reality he knows this is smoke without fire.

Or worse the businesses find ways to appease him and the two proposals die on the vine. Or the Democrats jump on it, but Johnson finds a way to squash their proposals without interfering with Trump’s rhetoric? That is probably going to happen. Johnson can stand in front of the cameras with his little smirk and say we are working hard to bring affordability back all the while acting like the Democrats are crazy for bringing up the same proposals Trump just did.

Yes Trump is loving the word affordability right now, but what will truly come of it. He is a showman and affordability has become the center stage word. He can definitely run with it. That is his strength.

Yet my feelings are it is all talk for now until he can find something else to entertain people to distract them from his real disasters. The businesses these two proposals affect will find a way to change Trump’s direction. And we all know what that will be. And once this quiets down, he will find another proposal to feed to his supporters so he can continue his charade of saying what they want while getting what he wants behind his supporters back.

Reality though is we need some real action on credit card interest rates. I don’t know if there is a magic number that caps interest that benefits us and doesn’t frighten the banks into drastic action. The ten percent number will frighten them the more it is bantered about. And some of their complaints that ten percent is so low it will prevent people from getting ready credit are valid, mainly to them, but valid overall. The banks base credit on risk factors and how many people really aren’t a risk at ten percent. That number probably does drop significantly. There would be some people who could take on more credit and afford it at ten percent versus the thirty percent they are paying now and would benefit. Unfortunately we as people of the United States aren’t good with credit. Better education to young people would help, but at the moment the current population is struggling with debt and lower interest rates aren’t going to put too much of a dent in habits.

Credit card debt is out of control. Lowering interest could help, but people would have to cut up cards so they could pay off or down their current debt for ten percent to make a meaningful impact. And that is not what the banks would want. Nope they need people to continue to spend/borrow at an interest rate that pays off all the credit cards that go into default. We have painted ourselves into a corner, both the consumers and the banks. Cutting rates to ten percent in theory is great, but right now we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if we had access to more money. It has become a very dangerous nature for us. There might be a number that is low enough to help a good amount of people lower their debt a bit; spend enough so the economy keeps going and allows the banks to manage some of the risk. Yet this also means they would have to accept less profits. And yep we are all laughing on the floor with that wild thought. Lower profits would be a true beginning, but Wall Street is addicted to greed so that ain’t happening.

And the same thinking applies to companies who are making an enormous fortune renting houses and all the while building up a very strong balance sheet of value. They aren’t selling to make Trump happy.

So again Trump sounds great to his supporters, yet the reality is more complicated and the real solutions take too much away, no matter how small, for people who don’t give a flying fart what the people need.

So, what is there to talk about this wonderful new year?

 We could talk about the stock market. Some people think it will go up this year, some think it won’t. There are a couple of sky is falling people out there. And this is pretty normal in any given year. No one really knows, yet people get paid to act like they do. You cannot predict the future, but you can plan based on data. That would be something wonderful to discuss, doesn’t feel like the world is ending since those are normal discussions.

Or we could talk about the NFL playoffs. It is always fun when a team makes an extraordinary comeback like the Bears. Since the Cowboys weren’t whiffing the playoffs I pretty much tuned out the NFL, yet by happenstance got to see the second half of the Bears game. That was fun to watch. Since I am a Cowboys fan, I am not a fan of San Francisco or Philadelphia. Love the cities, not a fan of the teams. Anyway they played each other so now one of those teams (Philly) are now out of the playoffs. NFL playoff talk is always a pretty normal discussion point.

Or college football playoffs. I am rooting for Indiana just because. Texas was out a long time ago, so why not support Indiana. It would be nice to see them win.

The NHL and the NBA are coming up on the halfway points of their seasons. Mavericks are struggling so fighting to stay supportive for them. The Stars always confuse me so will maintain my infamously non bandwagon, but casual support.

Weather is always a safe topic. Us old folks always love talking about the weather, even when the weather is boring. A possible snow storm for the Northeast this weekend. And here in North Texas finally touching on normal winter temperatures around here. Still a bit warm, but closer to normal than Christmas week.

Did you make any new year promises or goals? How is that going since we are just about halfway through the month? No promises to lose weight or anything here, just going to focus on three words: trust, discipline and fun. Let’s hope those three thoughts stay true.

Speaking of fun, have you thought about summer vacation yet?

What about any home improvements? Or are you thinking of a new home? A bit difficult right now, but we can always dream. We have a family member headed in that direction.

How is your health? Your kids? Anyone receive a scholastic honor in the fall semester? Or did they miss it by “that much” Any plays, sports, music success for anyone in the family?

Remember when all this was the norm? There is a plethora of topics we can enjoy. So why don’t we talk to our neighbors about all these things for awhile.

The madness isn’t going away so let’s rest our brains and attitudes for a bit and hopefully refresh our perspectives. Much to the media and our politicians’ chagrin, we actually all are on the same team.

 

Doesn’t it annoy the heck out of you when I get trite like the last few posts?

 

Laugh people laugh

Cheers

Why they divide us and why it is so easy

 

Most people that read already know most of the answer to the two questions, yet we need to start pushing the answer forward and hard to start undoing the damage. How?

They divide us because they can and it benefits them. Who are they? It is basically two groups, media interests and ingrained politicians. People hear me scream we need new parties and new leadership. And that is mainly to break up the duopoly’s hold on the American people that only serve themselves. And the duopoly is supported by the opposing media groups that reap financial benefits and solidifies its’ audiences.

There is a book called “Hate, Inc.” that takes a very deep dive into the media and the history that led us to the current state of affairs. That should be required reading for all Americans, but no one really reads the news anymore in depth or with an open mind so that book wouldn’t help most people at this point.

As long as the ingrained parties and politicians can use their media allies it will be very difficult to change the status quo. Yet breaking that up isn’t the first step. It is breaking up how they divide us so it is a much deeper challenge.

One of our problems is that the ingrained politicians and media use social issues to tug at our emotions to inflame our passions so we don’t listen to the other side. It is the social issues that cannot be solved by public policy that allow this divide to continue. Sane minds do not have to give up their beliefs on social issues, but they need to address them in a different manner than public policy and politics.

At this moment in time we need to concentrate our political efforts on the basics of governing. We need to protect our border while still respecting the dignity of human life and that really is the closest to a social issue we should get to for now. Everything else is just better public policy like improving education, improving social security, creating a more equitable tax code, balancing the budget, prioritizing what is needed for the poor so they have opportunity, protecting our country, using our secondary functions like the Fed to battle inflation or recessions, working on better campaign laws that allow for better participation by all instead of favoring money interests and quite a bit more.

Outside of our politicians demonstrating respect and dignity for each other, we need to become a better educated society to tackle our social issues. For example right now the abortion groups and the pro life groups are at each other’s throats because the two groups use our emotions to separate us, create camps and one sided arguments so much so that we forget that this is a very deep and emotional issue that shouldn’t be left to partisan politics to decide.

We need long and deep conversations. We need to listen so people aren’t screaming, yet as a society we are not ready to go there. We aren’t close. And that isn’t because both sides have intense feelings and thoughts about the matter. It is because people use those and manipulate us to benefit a small minority of our country. And that minority is the established and entrenched power structure in D.C. Trump was supposed to cure us of this according to MAGA, yet in practice he only exasperated it. He inflames his base to a whole new level of hate.

And he knew that was possible. He may not be a stable genius, but he is a capable manipulator. And that manipulation works because for the last thirty to forty years the Republicans and Democrats set it up. Both sides began the long march of splitting this country socially so they could get re-elected time and time again. If people really paid attention to what their politicians were doing we wouldn’t have 80 year olds entrenched in D. C. Instead they pay attention to the need to get rid of the other guy, the evolution of gerrymandering to benefit the entrenched. The media went along because if they picked and backed a side they got a guaranteed audience for their profits.

All this is well documented, yet no one comes along and splits up this madness. Even today you watch all these “independent” podcasts or nascent news organizations and they are on one side or the other. There is no independence. They joined a side to steal an audience not to liberate an audience.

So I try to break this up by screaming for new parties, yet even then sides will be drawn. My hope is that sides are drawn solely on the political issues to get started. Our country gets back to the push me pull me of liberal versus conservative political policy. When the economy is doing well push forward, when it is in recession, pull back and the politicians that better serve the need of the moment are elected. When things change and the pendulum swings the other way, hopefully districts are broken up more evenly so the people can elect politicians that support the next change needed. And what is scary too many people will say that is a dream when in actuality it should be the norm.

Breaking away from social issues dominating our political rhetoric will help us focus on the immediate needs like inflation, affordability, social security, healthcare and more. Politicians to get elected will have to offer solutions the majority of our country wants instead of creating a feeding frenzy of hate.

Social issues are important and eventually we need to work through them. And the possibility of certain people continued to be marginalized is a problem so the rhetoric needs respect not hate until we know enough as a society to actually decide what if any public policy is needed. If we learn to respect each other we may never need to force social change. I am a conservative, yet I truly understand you cannot legislate morality. It is something people have to understand in their heart, but what morality is correct can even be a dangerous topic to discuss. So at this point the infamous render under Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and render to God what is God might be something we need to think about before we spout off who is right and wrong.

There are many things I would like to see change. I would hope the golden rule of love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself would be first in all our hearts, but right now we just need to stop talking, start reading, start listening and start reflecting on the few things all of us need so the hate stops and the much needed switch to the norm can begin.

So yeah, we need new parties 😊 and a whole bunch more.