Congressional Democrats, and the Democratic Party overall, needs to poop or get off the pot, to put it not-mildly. Should we impeach, should we not impeach? This single issue is too dominant in our politics right now. If the Dems want to impeach Trump, do it; if not, take it off the table. This is food for Trump's reelection campaign, and he will continue to use it as long as it is still being discussed.
Yes, any person with half a brain understands that Trump is guilty of criminal acts; it's all in the Meuller report, whether the DOJ chose to indict or not. But it is also an election year, and the best political minds need to play out the options - which they have been doing over, and over, and over, and put a strategy in place for 2020 that does or does not include impeachment. And move on!!
In the meantime, I think the House should continue to investigate everything about Trump and the damage his administration is doing to every aspect of American life.
Democrats - be smart, be unified, you need to win in 2020.
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Whatever is on my mind: politics, the news, philosophy, poetry and satire. VISIT MY WEBSITE (click on The Some Times button, below) PRIVACY NOTICE/GDPR: SEE JAN. 4, 2019
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Thursday, July 18, 2019
MAKE AMERICA GREATER
The 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, campaigned on the slogan “Make America Great Again (MAGA).” To the majority of Americans, the country was already great, so it didn’t make sense that we should make it great, again. But it did not take long for most thoughtful Americans to realize that the Trump slogan really means “make America white again.”
Below are some examples of how America can (should) be greater. I encourage readers to go to some of the links to see the source information, as some of it is eye-opening.
Donald Trump and his administration, and the Republicans in Congress are certainly not doing anything that will make America greater. It has to be said that the information below is the result of many years, even decades, of not making America greater by both political parties; so yes, something has to change.
Wow! Doesn't that make you feel that America is great? We're number one!
Poverty, Wealth, Unemployment and Homelessness
The percentage of Americans living below the national poverty line is 12.3%, which puts America at 166th out of 196 countries (i.e. 165 countries have a higher poverty rate; 30 countries have a lower poverty rate).[9] America ranks as the 12th richest country [10], and has the 6th highest income inequality. [11] And America has the 4th highest poverty gap of 35 countries (The poverty gap is the ratio by which the mean income of the poor falls below the poverty line).[12]
The American unemployment rate, at 3.70%, is the 45th lowest (June 2019 numbers) of 182 countries.[13]
America has about 550,000 people considered to be homeless; this is 0.17% of the population. Of 56 countries, America has the 30th highest rate of homelessness, based on percent of population.[14]
Yes, America can be greater.
Women in Politics
America ranks 30th out of 35 countries for the percentage of women in politics, at 16.7%. Only Mexico, Japan, Slavic Republic, Korea and Turkey have lower percentages than America.[15]
America is a great country for a variety of reasons. This fact is incontrovertible. As a nation, America has achieved great things and been a global leader in many respects. America never stopped being great, so making it great again has always been a puzzling idea.
However, in many areas, America can and should be greater!
This is a message I would like the Democratic Party to push, using the term “make America greater.” Many of the current Presidential candidates talk about some of these issues, but I think the message needs to be put into clear context, and it is not.
One aspect of America’s greatness is its economic power. America controls a 24.3% share of the world economy, the largest of any country. China has the next largest share at 14.8% [1]. America's Gross Domestic Product is also the highest in the world at 24.4% followed by China at 16.1%. For both of the above rankings, no other country is above 10%.
American military might is also something that makes America great. America is ranked number 1, followed by Russia and China at 2 and 3. [2]
Donald Trump can tout the greatness of Americas economy and military, and these are true; they do not need to be made great again. Economic and military greatness do not, however, make a country great regarding other metrics that have significant meaning to citizens. In fact, many of the benefits of a strong economy go mostly to the wealthiest Americans, so it is a false metric for most people.
And being the world's leading military is great, but America is also the world's largest arms dealer, and arms sales are increasing worldwide; I don't think that is great!
And being the world's leading military is great, but America is also the world's largest arms dealer, and arms sales are increasing worldwide; I don't think that is great!
 |
| source: https://www.statista.com/chart/17316/share-of-global-arms-exports-by-country/ |
Below are some examples of how America can (should) be greater. I encourage readers to go to some of the links to see the source information, as some of it is eye-opening.
Donald Trump and his administration, and the Republicans in Congress are certainly not doing anything that will make America greater. It has to be said that the information below is the result of many years, even decades, of not making America greater by both political parties; so yes, something has to change.
Health Care:
As shown in the table, America ranks last (11th) in overall health care rankings of 11 developed nations, and also is last in access to health care, health care equity and health care outcomes. America is next to last in administrative efficiency. The health care process ranks 5th of 11.[3] In a ranking of 190 countries, American health care ranked 37th.[4] Certainly American health care can be greater than it is now.
Education:
America ranked 14th in a study that looked at math, science and reading [5], and 20th in a ranking of the best education systems worldwide. [6]. Not so great, needs to be greater.
Incarceration:
America ranks 1st in the world on the number of people in prison per capita at 655 per 100,000 population.[7] Even worse than this ranking is the racist aspect of America’s justice system, as shown below.[8]
Poverty, Wealth, Unemployment and Homelessness
The percentage of Americans living below the national poverty line is 12.3%, which puts America at 166th out of 196 countries (i.e. 165 countries have a higher poverty rate; 30 countries have a lower poverty rate).[9] America ranks as the 12th richest country [10], and has the 6th highest income inequality. [11] And America has the 4th highest poverty gap of 35 countries (The poverty gap is the ratio by which the mean income of the poor falls below the poverty line).[12]
The American unemployment rate, at 3.70%, is the 45th lowest (June 2019 numbers) of 182 countries.[13]
America has about 550,000 people considered to be homeless; this is 0.17% of the population. Of 56 countries, America has the 30th highest rate of homelessness, based on percent of population.[14]
Yes, America can be greater.
Women in Politics
America ranks 30th out of 35 countries for the percentage of women in politics, at 16.7%. Only Mexico, Japan, Slavic Republic, Korea and Turkey have lower percentages than America.[15]
Infrastructure
America ranks 23rd for quality of infrastructure (2011 data).[16]
Freedom of the Press
America is rated 48th out of 140 countries for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders (2019).[17]
Safety and Gun Deaths
America ranks 65th least safe, using an index that combines war and peace, crime, and natural disasters.[18]
America is rated 2nd highest for total gun deaths at 37,200 (2016) a year. America is rated 20th highest in gun death rate at 10.6 per 100,000 population according to one source;[19] and 11th at 10.54 per 100,000 by another source.[20]
The firearm homicide rate for 23 high-income nations places America 1st (highest) at 3.6 per 100,000 and 2nd for non-firearm homicide rate. America has the highest total homicide rate at 5.3 per 100,000 population, and the highest suicide by firearm rate at 6.3 per 100,000 population, and the 7th highest total suicide rate at 12.4 per 100,000 population. The total firearm death rate for America is the highest at 10.2 per 100,000; the next highest is Finland at 3.6 per 100,000 (2016 data).[21]
I'll stop here, because you get the point. Do I hate America? Should I go back where I came from? Ha! I am simply pointing out the fallacy of the basic premise of Donald Trump, that America needs to be great again. America should be greater in so many areas of our society. We know what they are, and we need to work on them.
---
[5]. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading
[7]. https://www.statista.com/statistics/262962/countries-with-the-most-prisoners-per-100-000-inhabitants/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate
[8] https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_percentage_of_population_living_in_poverty[10] https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/worlds-richest-and-poorest-countries
[11] https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm#indicator-chart
[8] https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_percentage_of_population_living_in_poverty[10] https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/worlds-richest-and-poorest-countries
[11] https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm#indicator-chart
[20] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-highest-rates-of-firearm-related-deaths.html
Monday, July 15, 2019
GOODBYE TWITTER
I decided yesterday to leave Twitter. I’ve been a user for a few years, and I’ve struggled with whether to stay or leave for a long time. Here is what happened yesterday that sealed my decision to leave:
I opened Twitter to look at the tweet storm by Donald Trump concerning the four Congresswomen (all people of color) who were in a spat with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump’s insulting, bigoted tweets are disturbing, to put it mildly. And I also found that some of the tweets by some of the four targets, and their staff, of Trumps bigotry were also disturbing. I started to scroll through the Twitter feed, and my disgust continued to grow. Yes, Twitter has some value, but it has become mostly partisan bickering, political rants, hateful comments, and lots and lots of advertisements. I realized that I was truly wasting my time scrolling through mostly bile, while being the target of data harvesting by which the online tech companies advance surveillance capitalism. I don’t really get anything from Twitter, and I doubt that many other people do, either.
I follow a few journalists on Twitter, but I can more easily go to the online publications of their employers to read their work. Other than a handful of exceptions, Twitter is just a huge echo chamber.
I also object to the fact that Twitter makes an exception for certain people who consistently violate their rules, like Donald Trump (@realdonaldtrump). Trump consistently violates the Twitter Rules for abuse and hateful conduct, as well as threatening violence (see Rules excerpts at the end of this post). Trump uses Twitter to vent his bile almost daily, and his victims then reply, and it is game on. What’s the point? For Trump, the point is that he has trained the media and the online public to focus on his outrageous tweets instead of all the dire things he is doing to our country.
I opened Twitter to look at the tweet storm by Donald Trump concerning the four Congresswomen (all people of color) who were in a spat with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump’s insulting, bigoted tweets are disturbing, to put it mildly. And I also found that some of the tweets by some of the four targets, and their staff, of Trumps bigotry were also disturbing. I started to scroll through the Twitter feed, and my disgust continued to grow. Yes, Twitter has some value, but it has become mostly partisan bickering, political rants, hateful comments, and lots and lots of advertisements. I realized that I was truly wasting my time scrolling through mostly bile, while being the target of data harvesting by which the online tech companies advance surveillance capitalism. I don’t really get anything from Twitter, and I doubt that many other people do, either.
I follow a few journalists on Twitter, but I can more easily go to the online publications of their employers to read their work. Other than a handful of exceptions, Twitter is just a huge echo chamber.
I also object to the fact that Twitter makes an exception for certain people who consistently violate their rules, like Donald Trump (@realdonaldtrump). Trump consistently violates the Twitter Rules for abuse and hateful conduct, as well as threatening violence (see Rules excerpts at the end of this post). Trump uses Twitter to vent his bile almost daily, and his victims then reply, and it is game on. What’s the point? For Trump, the point is that he has trained the media and the online public to focus on his outrageous tweets instead of all the dire things he is doing to our country.
I was an early joiner of Facebook; I left it a couple of years ago out of disgust with the company and it’s executives. I have never been on Instagram, a variation of Facebook. I joined Twitter, but never truly understood it’s purpose or value (with a few exceptions). In my humble opinion, the highly touted “social media” have become very unsocial media. As of this moment I have 71 followers on Twitter. I started this blog that you are reading in 2004, have published 485 posts, written 45 unpublished drafts, it has 14 followers, and has had just under 24,000 “hits.” So yes, I am less than a blip in the online world. I continue to write and post on the blog because I like to write, and it is a good place to put these writings where I can easily find them.
And so I will terminate my Twitter account, and by so doing, I will be totally disconnected from the world of unsocial media. I will continue to post here, and if you choose to visit this site, maybe you will enjoy something once in a while. If you don’t, that’s fine, too.
Goodbye Twitter.
—-
Excerpts from Twitter Rules
We have one set of rules for the hundreds of millions of people who use Twitter and the hundreds of millions of Tweets sent every day.
Abuse
You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone or encourage others to do so. We consider abusive behavior as an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.
Hateful conduct
You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.
We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized. For this reason, we prohibit behavior that targets individuals with abuse based on protected category.
Inciting fear about a protected category
We prohibit targeting individuals with content intended to incite fear or spread fearful stereotypes about a protected category, including asserting that members of a protected category are more likely to take part in dangerous or illegal activities, e.g., “all [religious group] are terrorists”.
Abuse
You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone or encourage others to do so. We consider abusive behavior as an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.
Hateful conduct
You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.
We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized. For this reason, we prohibit behavior that targets individuals with abuse based on protected category.
Inciting fear about a protected category
We prohibit targeting individuals with content intended to incite fear or spread fearful stereotypes about a protected category, including asserting that members of a protected category are more likely to take part in dangerous or illegal activities, e.g., “all [religious group] are terrorists”.
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