All posts by Jim Daniel

Seven Days and counting

General

It is now seven days till we will be voting and one week since my last post. An “Boy Howdy” have things moved on. We have had better than siz days of fear generated by someone who tried to at  least, to terrorize us, if not outright blow people he hated up.  We had someone who could not get into a “black” church go elsewhere and shoot two people just for being black. An finally we have someone who did get into a place of worship and kill eleven and wound may more on Saturday, just because he was told the Jews were taking over the world.

While the extreme conservatives right does not have a monopoly on this kind of terrorist acts, in this country they do have seem to have a lock on the market.  Ever since the mid 1960’s when I became aware of these kinds of acts I’ve made a small study of the subject.  I recognize that on the extreme left we have had the SLA and the Weathermen all in all the extreme left have been pikers when compared to the extreme right.  Both in numbers killed or wounded and in number of events the Right totally overwhelms the left.  If you think I’m wrong, when please, I really do want your input, post here all the events you think the extreme left did that are on the same order as what was done this past week.  Please, also post every left group you think should be classified as a hate group.  Do limit yourself to the same standards you want applied to the right.

Finally if you haven’t voted yet know this, everyone who does not vote is actually voting for things to stay the same.  Know that if you don’t vote you are doing exactly what those who have created the people who commit theses terrorist acts want.  An yes I do think there are people out there who are creating the  hatred, fear, and loathing that motivated these people to act.  These are people who benefit from the electorate being afraid, be they on the political left or right.  It Does Not Mater!  They aren’t really politically motivated.  They are motivated by POWER.  They have it, they want it, and they will do what ever they need to to keep it.

So Vote and don’t vote in fear, for your fear of the dreaded “Other” is what they want.  Vote for the person who actually has acted and done what you wanted your political representatives to do.  Not what they say they have done, or will do, but what they have actually done.  It is in the public record.  You can find out. Don’t just except what you are told.

 

Remember!

 Just because you’ve been told to drink the Koolaid

doesn’t mean you have to.

14 day’s and counting

General, Politics

It is exactly 14 days till Election Day 2018!  That is November 6th.  In many states you can already be voting.  If fact the early voting turnout is record breaking is many places.  I urge everyone reading this to get out and vote.

50 years ago, 1968, I could not yet vote but that election was vitally important to me.  The war in Vet Nam was raging and already I had lost people to it.  Most people did not understand why we were fighting in that far off land.  Many of the reason given by our leaders made no since to those who had to fight it.  Most of the people being drafted were much too young to vote (yes the voting age was 21 way back then).

This was also a time of great unrest in the south and in all of the Black communities thru out the land.  For over a hundred years they had the “Vote” only to have it suppressed with literacy tests, threats and other shenanigans.  Finally they had had enough and started marching to end the  charades of the “Colored Vote”.

This was also the time, once again, that women, once more began to be restive.  Yes, they had the Vote but still, in many places, like California, they could not be a legal ‘person’ if they married.  Believe it or not they were, in the eyes of the law, their husband.

There was great unrest in the land, and the people VOTED.  Maybe we didn’t get exactly what we wanted but we VOTED and we excepted the vote.  Some voted with their heart, some with their heads, some voted their self interest, some voted  oppress and others to free.  But they VOTED.

Make no mistake about it, this Mid-Term election of 2018 is going to make the history books.  The times are achangin’ for good or ill.  Your voice maybe small but when joined with others it can be a mighty host.

So get out and Vote.  

Blame it on Obama

Philosophy, Politics

Earlier this week I was talking with a friend of mine who also happens to be a Republican and he said something I found both fascinating and frightening.  Just how we got onto the subject I don’t remember, and it is not really important.  What is important is what he said.  “It’s the Democrats fault that we have Trump as President now.  If they hadn’t nominated Obama a second time Trump wouldn’t be President.”

Now just think about what he said for a minute.  What he is saying is that it is Trump got the Republican nomination and was elected President because the Democrats nominated Obama for a 2nd term, and he one.  That Trump’s election is a reaction to electing Obama.  Not Hillary Clinton being nominated, but Obama four years before! What we have here is a great example of ‘Gaslighting’ and blaming the victim.

I will tak on ‘Blaming the Victim’ first.  Just to be totally clear this is what the local bully says, when you were a little kid, says “If you’d just do what I say, I wouldn’t need to bound on you” an you have no idea what he want’s you to do/say.  It is what many a wife beater says and what many of the beaten wives too often think.  And it is so untrue it is unbeleaveable anyone would except it.

Somepeople think/accept this because they have been systematically Gaslighted by someone.  They have drunk The “Koolaid”.  This is just the thing this blog is about fighting.  My friend who send this, say he did not support Trump.  I belieave him.  But then he says something like this and I have to wonder.  Is he just casting about looking for someway to  assuage his conscience for what his political party has inflicted on this country, or what.  Fortunately for both of us, I did not, accept quietly the ‘Koolaid’ being offered.

I asked him several question about just how he got to the point that our having Trump as President was Obama’s fault, or the Democrats fault For nominating him.  After much obviscation we finally got around to the point that it was because Obama was such a bad President.  I was good and did not ask if this meant that the Republicans elected Trump just to show they could do worse.  I did point out that it could just be that, yes Trump is a response to Obama being elected.  Because many people were quite upset that their was “An uppity niger” (Yes I know it is the  offensive ‘N’ word.  It is meant to be offensive).  He, of course took exception as ‘he’ can’t possibly be ‘racist’.  I’m sorry.  I have known many racist in my life, and most of the Americans who were denied it  vehemently. They don’t get that if you act/talk/support racist people/actions/speach you just maybe racist.  I also have learned that direct confrontation is more often than not, the correct way to deal with it.  It is better just to ask a question, my favorite is “Just think about what you sound like right now?”

I have hope for my friend, he has reached the third stage of recovery, denial.  Next is acknowledgement and then change.  Hopefully it will happen before 2020.

Remember November 2016

Politics, Rants

 As it is exactly 28 days to the mid-term elections I thought it appropriate to point out some things I’ve been thinking about.  First and foremost this time two years ago ‘everyone’ knew that Hillary was going to win the election and be our next President.  Didn’t happen.  It is not my place to say why, others with more expreance,   Insight, and information have written mountains of things on the subject.  I dare say even more will be written in the future.  After all Donald Trumps win was stunning in more ways than one and is truly one for the history books.  No here I want to talk about something my folks thought me…..”Hope for the best, prepare for the worst”.

What I’m doing now is doing everything I can, as little as it is, to get the vote out. But living in California, an a liberal part for that mater, there is very little I can do.  So what I’m concentrating on is preparing myself mentally and spiritually for the GOP keeping control of the House and picking up some seats in the Senate.  Liberals and progressives have to be ready for all those people who have “left” the GOP to find it next to impossible to vote for a Democrat. They will either stay home or vote the same old way they have always done.  To have a true Blue Wave we need every vote we can get.  Most particularly in all of the Red States and Districts if this is going to work.

Finally all of the Blue bastions, States, Counties and districts need to get ready for a TON of retaliation to come down on our heads.  The Trumpkins belieave in taking  vengeance on EVERYONE they think just may have been anything less than totally loyal and dutifull.  We must be ready for some very long hard times in the next two years as Trump and his supports do everything they can to drive the Not Trump Vote into the ground.  An to all those conservatives out there, this mean you too, if you haven’t been loudly, publicly, unthinking supporter of TRUMP,  THE GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER.

 

See you at the poles in four weeks and if you don’t vote just remember “It is just as much your fault as all those who vote for the GOP/Trump”.

The times and our own Kaiser Don Part 1

General, Politics

Ever since his election as President Donald Trump has reminded me of the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II.  An Strangly enough, after almost a full two years of the Trump and Administration I feel the connection even more strongly.  Mostly because of the new Bob Woodward’s book “Fear”.  This is because I see a great many simulaities between the Kaiser’s pre-war Administration and our current Sdministration.  This is mostly because both Administrations are functioning in simular manners for simular reasons.

Let me be clear from the start, I am not saying that Pres. Trump is going to take us into a nation destroying world war.  Ever since 2016 making predictions of political outcomes is not a game I want to play.  No, what I am doing here is comparing how the Second Rich government and the current Administration have/are acting. So lets start with the root cause of the actions, the fundamental personalities of Kaiser Wilhelm and Pres. Trump.  Both Very charismatic personalities, both born to privilege and power.  Both  psychologically damaged, one do to a withered left arm and the other to a withered family life.  Both murcurical in temperament and both  fixated on being right.  Both fixated in being the center of attention and being the Bigest, best, ever.  Both totally incapable of picking the right people for the right job and both demanding of loyalty and equally incapable of giving loyalty.

Before I go on, be warned, their is a dearth of material in English on the political history of the Second Reich (aka Wilhelmina Germany).  Most of what I learned about Wilhelm II I have got form political studies of the years leading up to the Great War (WWI) and so it can be suspect to a greater or lesser degree.  That said I feel that I can draw some valid observations on Wilhelm II actions and the reasons for those actions.  It is most unfortunate that I can neither read nor speak German, either as it is spoken now or how it was spoken in the Edwardian era.  These means I can not bring the leavel of understanding I can bring to how Pres. Trump speaks and just what it tells me about his personality and thought processes.

It is going to be much easier to show similarities between the two administrations as we have a great deal the records of the Wilhelmina government and while we do not, as yet, have that much on the Trump Administration, the way it leaks and the way former members talk it is not too hard to see what is going on.

Coming Next in Part 2: The actions of two erratic people.

 

The GOP and the Deplorables

General, Politics
President Donald Trump crosses his arms after speaking with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the phone about a trade agreement between the United States and Mexico, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, in Washington. Trump has bowed to widespread pressure from veterans groups and others to do more to honor John McCain’s death.

To start out let me say this; a person or Group are not constantly deplorable.  Everyone can and does  occasionally act deplorablely.  If we are wise and caring we realize what we do or say is deplorable and we feel guilt and try to make amends some how.  Most importantly do not try to justify our words or deeds and we decently try to never do the deplorable act again.

The problem I currently have with the people currently controlling and leading the GOP is that they don’t admit that what they are saying and/or doing is deplorable.  As an example the actions and words of Pres. Trump in regards to the death of Sen. John McCain.  Maybe it is deferent in New York City but I was raised to never speak ill of the dead.  Even your worst enemy.  You did the ‘right thing’ and ‘what is expected of you’.  This Pres. Trump did not do.  Their are excepted social norms that the President is expected to follow when a Senator dies.  Most of these social norms are not written down as a Law or Regulation, but they are important none the less.  To violate these norms is ‘diplorable’.  At lest that is what my mother thought me.

Pres. Trump had to be dragged kicking and screaming, like a petulant two year old to publish a formal note, not a tweet, and the to keep the flags at the White House at half mast till the internment of Sen. McCain at the Navel Academy later this week (Saturday?).  This is just plain deplorable actions not worthy of a grown man.  An defending his actions are just as deplorable as the actions themselves.  I shan’t go on to list all of the actions and words I belieave are deplorable, they are much to numerous.  I will end just saying this, currently a major defernace between the Democrats and the GOP is that when a Democrat says or does something deplorablemany of the leaders and leading lights of the party are ashamed and not only do not defend that person(s) they denounce them.  For much to long now this is not what happens with the GOP.

Trump & the California Wildfire

Rants, , , ,

Rant alert!

I can not believe just how ignorant President Tweets about the wildfires in California are.  I usually give the people who live east of the Mississippi a little slack in not understanding the water situation here in the west…But Really!  What Pres. Trump says goes beyond stupid into the realms of total asininty.  First off, all the water west of the High Serras will either flow into the sea or end up evaporated into the air.

I have to assume that here is complaining about the laws and rules that  insist that enough water flows into the Sacramento River to keep the sea water of the San Francisco Bay from flowing up river and killing off the fish and other life of the river delta.  Even if we used all the water diverted from the North to the south, letting the southern  San Joaquin Valley, and everything south of the   Tehachapi‘s dry up and blow away it still would not have prevented or put out the wildfires.  California doe not get even half of the rain fall New York gets.

We do use fire brakes in our forests.  Also we do have clear cutting in a lot of our commercially logged woodlands, clear cut does not mean that their is no trees left to burn,  saplings bun to you idiot city boy.  If you ever got out of the city and you resorts into the real world you’d see that.

Inclosing these wildfires are the result of several factors, some natural some not.  This is already a long hot summer after several years of one of the worst droughts in the history of California.  There are a lot of dead trees in our forest that are even dryer do to the higher heat.  Finally it was you, and your Administration that has cut back funding to the federal fire fighting effort.  It is your Department of Land Management that has not adequately funded fire  preparedness and prevention.  So why don’t you get off your fat ass and fly away from your golfing vacation and come out To California to see what is happening here?  Could it be you only care about States that voeted for you?  Or are you just afraid of the reception you’d get here in California, even in the red counties of the north?

Another element in our continuing Seldon Crisis

Politics, Science

Foundation

I start this post on Tuesday, July 31st because of the announcement by FaceBook of coordinated effort to influence the coming  election by  unknown parties.  What they do say is that they have blocked over 30 pages so far and the way these pages were made and used are simular to how the Russians acted in the 2016 election.  As I have been deeply involved in computers and software since 1972 I take these activities quite serous.  Not only for the sanctity of our elections but for the safety of our people.

We saw on 9/11/01 just what a few determined people can do with just airplanes.  Just think of what a few determined barkers could do.  Granted most would not be as flashy as flying two planes into a skyscraper but it could end up kill a great many more people.  As an Angeleno I can think of something that would be both spectacular and deadly, attack the controls for the California Aqueduct.  Or just attack the computers that control the flow of water by the LADWP.  The list is as endless as it is frightening.

Calfifornia Aqueduct

Just crashing the system for a few hours would be bad enough but many of these computer controlled systems can be seriously damaged if you just do the right, or wrong, things with them.  In this hot summer, just imagine what would happen if all of the water in the greater LA area stoped flowing?  For a day, For a week, for a month.

Now think about the power distribution system, that could be even worse.  Or how about the computer systems that control our harbors.  What would happen if the Port of New York suddenly crashed or started doing all the wrong things?   An for those who don’t worry about anything but money, what would happen if all the banks suddenly discovered that the interbank interchange was down do to hacking?  How long would it take, how much effort would it take, to reestablish trust in the system.  What effect would it have on the economy.

Just what would happen if the New York, or Tokyo, or London stock market(s) were suddenly flooded with sell orders?  What would happen to the market if we had to go back to the way we did stock trades in the 1960 because we could not trust the Buy & Sell orders over the computer system?  Just stop and think about it.

Our cyberspace, that we all depend on is in jeopardy and we are not paying attention.  President Trump is ignoring it, House Speaker Ryan is ignoring it, and majority leader McConnel is ignoring it.  I fear they are ignoring it because they see it as just a partisan issue, it is not.  Do we have to wait until we have a cyber 911 or Pear Harbor before we act?  We need to start now.  We need to have a nonpartisan commission soonest.  It must be tasked with several things.  First define just what is our cyberspace.  Then we must define just what constitutes an unlawful act in cyberspace, what is just a crime, what is an act of terrorism, and what is an act of war.  Next we must find out just who in the government is responsible for protecting the security of our cyberspace.  We must then ensure that that all will work togeather, as a team, to protect our cyberspace from all attacks, both foreign and domestic.  Finally we must state clearly and susectly just what our rights, both as people and as citizens, we have in cyberspace.

The time is now!  We, the American people must stand up and say to the President and Congress “Act Now!”

 

President and Autocrat of all the States

Politics, Socioeconomic, ,

For as long as I’ve been studying politics, just about 50 years now, I have heard the mime “Elect a Businessman and run the country like a business and things will be better.” From conservatives.  Well, now we have elected a Businessman, so how our things going?  If you grow and sell soybeans or make things with steel/aluminum, not so well. If you’ve come to this country with your family seeking asylum things are even worse.  An don’t get me started on the people who live downstream from a coal mine. So why is the facts so out of kilter with the mime?  I once tried a little though experiment that I’d like to share with you:

Imagine you have a business that you run.  You have a small but powerful and independent board of directors (they hold their seats totally independent of anything you can do).  Now ad in that every one of you customers is also a shareholder and each shareholder as exactly the same number of votes as anyone else.  Finally each of your customers and directors are also you employees.  Now run this using classic business practices. Now add in the business is responsible for the general welfare of all of the stockholders/employees.  Have fun.

The GOP and the Matryoshka Doll

Politics, , ,

Continuing my posts on the coming Seldon Crisis you maybe wondering why I have a picture of a Matryoshka Doll.

Well it is simple, when dealing with Russian activities in the The Great Game it is best to look for plots nested in plots, and nested in plots.  Just as a matryoshka doll is nested.  I use the phase “The Great Game” because it dates back to 19th Russian Empire and to reminded us that this nesting of plots is a Russian thing, not just a Communist tactic. Even as I write this an accused Russian Agent has had her request for bail denied.

Even if we find that Donald Trump is comprised by Putin.  Or even if it is just his business that are in tangled and he ‘knew nothing’ about it.  Even if NRA didn’t ‘know’ where the large bundles of money came from that the then passed on to campaigns, we need to keep in mind that it may go deeper.  We must always remember that Russians are past masters of indirection and we must ask what don’t they want us to see.

So, once we cleanup the problems of the 2016 election.  Once we take steps to end the penetration of our elections by foreign nationals.  Once we deal with the problem of ‘dark money’ we must remember we haven’t found everything.  We must continue  to be vigilant for new and inventive ways people who do not have the best interests of the USA at hard will continue to take control of OUR elections.

Finally, once we have identified those people who are responsible for these malignant attacks and the people who pulled their strings we must make sure they know it is not acceptable and the pice they have to pay is unacceptable to them.  We must show ourselves and the world just what it means to tamper, in anyway, our elections.  We hold our elections inviolable.  We have payed too high a price in blood and tears to ever let anyone corrupt or control them.

In this we are not Democrats, or Republicans, or any political party.  This goes beyond partisan politics, this goes to just what it means to be Americans.

So I ask you now:

“Who here is an American?”