More Evidence of Base Motives from Oligarchs Running for High Office

Why must they aim for the top jobs without trying for  lower
level experience first? Chris Kennedy, J B Pritzker, Donald
Trump and IL Governor Rauner all feel they need not pursue
a proper learning curve, gain experience/expertise before
becoming governors and presidents. The record clearly shows
how hubris produces ignorant, dangerous decisions and
candidates; our current president is but one glaring example.

The U.S. House and Senate have office holders of various
ages, so "starting young" is not a requirement. Trusting
one's advisers inevitably is, but without the proper
foundation, how can one know which policy  prescription/
recommendation to follow?

Meanwhile, many well qualified individuals don't even
attempt to join the game, as it is so based on money.
"Money answereth all things", says my King James Bible
in one spot...interestingly, though, nothing follows that
cryptic sentence describing or explaining what sort of
"answers", good, bad or indifferent.Where is the value??

Beware those nobly-canted TV ads proclaiming the
caring character of the super rich candidate--he or
she rarely achieved  great wealth without resorting to
LLPs, LLCs, hedge funds and other mechanisms
absolving officers and owners of legal responsibility
when things go seriously awry.

Base, self-serving hubris drives such people.

The USA: Every Day Violence in Speech

--"Pull the trigger", "It was a shooting match," "Take your best
shot", ad infinitum, ad nauseam. These and many other similar
expressions are frequently found on police procedurals
AND in everyday life, used by various talking head media
mavens. Because we are copy cats, the average Joe and Joanna
spout such phrases when they are spicing up various calls to
action having nothing to do with guns and/or violence...need
to make a decision? "Pull the trigger". Achieved mastery or
success? "I killed it". (You can now see the toothpaste test
ad where a young woman "crushed it" after her whiter
tooth win).

Our whole society is inextricably intertwined with violence--
from the news, political reaction, TV and movie fiction, in
the home, the school, everywhere. This phenomenon runs
deep indeed, no one can "drill down" to find its bottom
so as to extirpate it. Realizing what this means to stopping
tragic outrages like the latest school murders in Florida,
my mood is grim indeed. No wonder Congress won't
pass stricter gun laws--the NRA's moneyed tentacles
are not the only stumbling blocks to fewer murders
here at home.

It could happen--most adults in their millions could
rise, unite, and demand better laws, better entertainment,
better behavior from one another. But how likely, in the
immediate future, is it?

Skepticism is a Scientific Method Requirement --Time to Apply Some to So-Called Viral Experts

---BOY!! During this H3N2 flu season (the worst strain currently
floating about), it was only natural to consult whatever authorities
one could find  to determine how long the virus lasts on surfaces.
Since most people constantly touch their faces, especially near their
nostrils, often after touching some infected doorknob or other
commonly-accessed object, this could be highly helpful, relevant indeed...

until you come across these numbers: 15 minutes, a few days, weeks,
six months, etc. These widely inconsistent figures for various virus
lifespans does not inspire confidence in the scientific rigor of these
"studies" conducted at major universities and institutions of repute.
Even allowing for disclaimers such as "...many complicating factors
..." etc. these discrepancies can only point to one conclusion:
the research was badly done, it is immaterial and irrelevant where
done, prestige and tradition notwithstanding.

********************************************************

To defeat this flu cycle, stay away from crowds and sick people,
stay home from work or school if infected, if possible; don't touch
your face UNTIL after you've washed your hands and wash them
often: clean off doorknobs, taps, pc keyboards, etc. If you have to
go to the store, wear a mask, carry a lot of tissue, etc. These methods
should cut down on the 49 U.S. states now being hammered  by
H3N2, which can develop into pneumonia and a death sentence for
those immunocompromised.

I see a few phone calls to those enjoying a career in science as
to what they are playing at--admit to the lack of funding/manpower/
expertise, and say, "It depends: some viruses last for a short time,
others far longer, we really don't know."

At least THAT would be more honest, therefore, scientifically
skeptical.

Back to 2011, Spring: The Donald Trumped by his Own Tool

This overdramatic diatribe experienced a glitch which
I can't rectify, so it appears here in 2018 rather than 2011
where it belongs.

                            ****************

Donald Trump, he of the most ridiculous "hairdo"
for a "hair's done" male in America, has himself
been forced back to the drawing board. Not a natty
draftsman, but a batty one, his "forcing Obama
to reveal his long form birth certificate" has
in turn forced The Donald back to the political
drafting table for a new tool. (He really should
have taken up Physics, where he would have learned
about action/reaction pairs.)

The latest attempt to "legally" discredit the sitting
president involves highly dubious ruminations regarding
Mr. Obama's college transcripts. What a weak tool Trump
now employs! He must have forgotten/not known what
a drunken, poor student Bush II was, that he got into
Yale on a "legacy" provision, that other U.S. presidents
such as Lincoln and Truman couldn't boast of formal, stellar
scholarship....which didn't make them poor presidents any
more than his Princeton background made Wilson a great one.

President Obama, of course, didn't help himself either,
earlier on. Back in the heady days of Campaign 2008, he
should have released the long form. To have delayed on
such a serious constitutional challenge was not politically
sound; every scurrilous aspersion/attack need not be
answered, but the important ones MUST be.

Meanwhile, Trump should trash his current, crude attack
on the president. Pursuant to his First Amendment privileges,
The Donald can critique away. The best tool of all
would be a relevant fact; finding one is just too hard
for the Trumpster.

02/2018: PBS/Frontline Focus on Latino Gangs Left Out Telling Facts and Questions

...such as why the authorities in that NY high school (Huntington
High) did not photograph the supposed MS13 gang name on the
ejected student's arm. I presume they didn't or that would have
been shown--merely verbal insistence that it was seen. The 18
year old, Jesus, insisted it was his girlfriend's first name, but again,
no pix validated his claims.

The memo erroneously referring to this supposed miscreant as
"Polaco", an egregious error by ICE/Suffolk County, at least
proves in print that there is haste, rush to judgment, etc. Inane
profiling criteria such as T shirts sporting the Chicago Bulls
horned logo and wearing the color Blue seems to indicate a
stunning lack of accurate intel, i.e., precious little true intelligence
in the sad and horrifying mix. Officials in Suffolk and Nassau
Counties declaring an assault on New York's violent gangs relied
on sketchy info from two high schools (Huntington and
Brentwood). Despite regulation haircuts and suits, some sounded
embarrassingly inarticulate and uninformed when interviewed by
PBS/Frontline.

Yes, undocumented young illegals are part of a messy and
complicated immigration dilemma dogging/dodging order and
economics in our larger states, New York, California, Illinois,
Colorado, Florida. Agribusiness, janitorial services and the retail
food industry love paying paltry wages to those fearful of ICE and
the INS.  All young illegals are not gang members; most are trying
to fit in to our hypocritical culture that proclaims a welcome
embodied in the Statue of Liberty and the famous Emma Lazarus
poem--a welcome that has actually never existed here, not without
order, qualifications and legal system documentation. The automatic
assault weapons used in violence around the planet and here at
home are provided for profit by the American armaments industry,
so someday, maybe,  Congress can defy the NRA and the gun
manufacturers to severely limit this disgrace underlying so much
death, destruction and disruption.

                                    **************
No one apparently dares to ask a few hard questions about why
natural born adult citizens of these violent crime infested countries
such as Mexico and El Salvador don't unite, rise up and fight for
a more just and rational society. Yes, that would necessitate bravery
and understanding the real risk to life and limb, but isn't it a
worthwhile proposition? El Chapo IS incarcerated, despite many
clever and outlandish escapes, countries around the world have
shucked off dictators and colonialists, so it has been done,
although not easily or commonly.

The Latino cultures (full disclosure, I'm Hispanic), like Asian
societies, prize the sons over the daughters. Hispanics even value
vaunting "Machismo", their special term. Mothers often go along
with this, defending criminal sons, saying "he's done nothing wrong".
(If I hear that tired, loyal/loving denial once more I'm going to write
a diatribe castigating that very phrase!) The Chinese put their newly
born daughters in beautiful ceremonial garb out in forests to die of
exposure, to comply with the "one child" policy which has now
relaxed, allowing two per couple. All other societies subtly
demonstrate preference of male over female, sadly, but
overvaluing testosterone leads to crime and violence, world
history proves, so:

Adults of the planet must become more responsible, must think more
deeply about consequences of their acts to themselves and others,
stop worshipping their tribe/ethnicity/race, society, etc. If humanity
does not mature (evolve), forever repeating the mass murders of
going to war either domestically or internationally, we will continue
to mimic the group behavior of ants, just as Dr. Wilson, Harvard
Emeritus, Entomology, discusses on PBS documentaries and in his
controversial book, Sociobiology.

Life on Earth can't wait for another thousand years to achieve
"civilization", a much abused word humans wrongly apply
to themselves.