Proud to be an American

Just a short note today.

I am really proud to be an American.  In spite of the incessantly negative reports on the news, whether it be COVID19 or politics, or whatever, our fellow citizens are (in the main) behaving with dignity and courtesy.

Folks politely and quietly line up at the grocery store, maintaining their social distance.  We see far more people out walking in our neighborhood, nodding and waving at others.  We are seeing more walkers in one day than we we used to see in a month.  And no one is behaving like a flaming dumb ass.

As see throughout the history of this great nation, American citizens stand up when the need is the greatest. 

So, don't let all the reports about the flaming dumb asses convince you the country has gone to hell in a hand basket.  Don't listen to the so-called celebrities and worthless politicians.  Sure, these are challenging times and more sacrifice will be called for from all of us.  But we can and will persevere.

Wave at your neighbors as they walk by.  Appreciate the courtesy seen at the grocery store.  

And be thankful you are an American.

Shining a Light

The media, once the lighthouses of truth, have sunk to being biased arms of the political parties.

The manner in which they are responding and reacting to COVID19 shines a crystal clear, bright light on many Americans. As the majority stoically go about doing the best they can to protect themselves and their loved ones, endure stringent policies, and adapt to new daily routines, others distinguish themselves for good or bad.

One category that seems to fall into the latter category are so-called celebrities addicted to an overblown sense of self-importance. They crave attention like a drug addict craves the next fix. One of the most notorious examples is Ellen DeGeneres, who shamelessly and infamously declared sheltering in place in her multi-million dollar home was like "being in jail." Others in this category have made near equal idiotic and insensitive comments, while some have taken to posting pictures of themselves clearly revealing their crass nature. Beware so-called self-absorbed celebrities, the shining light of reality lets us see you for what you really are - shallow, rude, selfish, and uncaring. Those in this category are not alone.

Take politicians for example. DeBlasio of New York City encouraging citizens to "snitch" on folks violating "stay at home" policy. Representative Heather Scott of Idaho declaring sheltering in place is like a Nazi Concentration Camp. Pelosi, who also suffers from overblown sense of self-importance addiction, posing with exceptionally high end kitchen appliances, one filled with ice cream that costs more than $11 per pint. And Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan prohibiting people from visiting family members. Beware politicians! Your words and actions are drawing a bright, shining light onto your judgment.

The so-called celebrities and politicians make up an exceptionally small, minuscule portion of our country. Unfortunately the media enables their addictions.

Fortunately, there are vastly more reports and stories of average folks stepping up in ways not even imagined by so-call celebrities and politicians. ER nurses for example; on the front lines, often without the PPE needed to safely perform their essential jobs. Over the road truck drivers, making sure essential goods are delivered. Some teachers, using virtual instruction to keep educating our kids. American small businesses, stepping up to make face masks and ventilators. Neighbors doing the grocery shopping for elderly friends. Police and fire departments conducting roll by parades to recognize healthcare workers. And on and on. They are the real Americans; not so-called celebrities and politicians.

Sheltering in place will end, though some elected Democrats will surely seek to maintain some of the tightest controls. COVID19 will be defeated, with some so-called celebrities bursting out seeking their attention addiction fixes ("look at me, look at me").

The bright shining lights will focus on their current behavior, which we will remember.

PPP

It is incomprehensible that petty political posturing (PPP) dominates.

Policy differences aside, elected officials continue the disgusting PPP practice.  Rather than putting aside infantile personal animosity for the good of the American people, these folks would rather pursue Internet clicks and on air video minutes for their PPP.  Rather than work together to produce single purpose legislation unencumbered by pet projects, they snipe at one another incessantly.

Absolutely tone deaf, they posture in pursuit of wealth, power, and prestige.  So much for facetious concern for the American people.

And when called out for their outlandish behavior, they attempt to blame their political opponents, using absolute terms in a far-from-absolute world.  Or they issue clearly contradictory statements days, if not hours, apart. 

PPP.

Without due regard for the impacts of their their PPP, Pelosi and Trump head a list of elected officials who should be summarily and rounded condemned and forced from office at the earliest opportunity.

Not a perfect solution by any means, but removing all federally elected officials and starting anew would be a good start in reclaiming the power of the people.   

May we remember this in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Tis certainly a worrisome time, but all is not lost.

In spite of what the media portrays as apocalyptic, the end is not near.  Certainly, COVID19 presents serious challenges.  However, the death knell is not sounding.  Our great nation will recover.

Disappointing, but not surprising, are the actions by politicians, opinion spewers, activists, and media types to first create near panic and then attempt to use it as leverage to get their pet rock project funded, limit American freedoms, change the national cultural landscape, and inject fraud inducements into the election process.  Not only disappointing, it is also repugnant.


We are also seeing the publicity hungry, media porn addicted individuals for who they really are.  Whether it is AOC and her incessant radical pronouncements, actors/actresses struggling to be seen as relevant, speaking heads from various so-called-news outlets, "professional" athletes, the "influencers" pushing out totally unimportant selfies, or the plethora of activists demanding this and that.  These worthless folks contribute nothing but noise.  They aren't working for betterment of the nation, but seek screen time for their names and faces.

Most reprehensible are the elected officials, overwhelmingly Democrats, using this crisis to force big government on the people.  Regrettably, most disaster legislation empowers a single individual (governor or mayor) with extraordinary powers.  Many times unchecked power.  Ostensibly this is so the government, state or municipal, can be more agile and responsive in addressing the underlying crisis.  Sadly, tragically some overstep their mandates.  Of course, prudence and judgment must carry the day to protect their citizens.  But too many examples of the unreasonable are surfacing.  Overreactions, whether due to exceptionally poor judgment or naked pursuit of power in order to pursue their own agendas.  Hopefully the voters will have long memories.

Another comment about the elected exceeding their proper limitations.  Governor Newsom of California was at least honest about it, declaring he saw the COVID19 as providing the opportunity for him to enact his progressive agenda.  More infamously, Nancy Pelosi incoherrently demands a progressive wish list, a wish list that could never be passed through routine legislation.  These two and many others are attempting to ride a crisis on the backs of Americans in order to increase their political power and personal fortunes.  Shameful, disgusting, and reprehensible.

Nonetheless, the vast majority of the nation is adapting, as it always does when faced with real threats, not the manufactured ones MSNBC and Democrat politicians proclaim.  Even though the mainstream media attempts to suppress positive reports, they make their way into the national dialogue.  Reports of average citizens (note...CITIZENS) helping one another abound.  Reports of recognizing our front line heroes, those indisputably essential to our way of life, uplift us. 

May we remember this in the weeks, months, and years to come.    

Shameful

It is shameful that...

• Our great nation can't seem to find decent, capable,  ethical people of integrity and patriotism to run for the highest office in the land.
• The Washington Posts calls one of the most violent terrorist of our time an "austere religious scholar."
• State legislatures and city councils seek to nullify federal laws.
• Chicago teachers reject a 16% pay raise, while active duty military will receive 3.1%, the largest in decades.
• School boards are "convinced" by teacher union money to eliminate or curtail their competition: charter schools.
• Candidates for elected office pander in the worst possible ways.
• The NFL and NBA, once stalwart examples of American culture and competitive spirit, are now bastions of PC and foreign influence.
• People with no military experience presume to dictate to the men and women in uniform.
• Politicians appropriate cultures of which they do not belong.
• So-called social justice warriors believe that race, ethnicity, and gender identification provide shields of immunity for their illegal, unethical, and prejudiced actions.
• Candidates for public office who lost elections persist in proclaiming they actually won.
• Rich politicians take more and more from hard working American citizens.
• Illegal aliens are treated better than veterans.
• Colleges and universities deny legal rights to anyone merely accused of sexual assault, rather than refer the allegations to law enforcement.
• The media, once the lighthouses of truth, have sunk to being biased arms of the political parties.
• The American flag is scorned by some of her people.
• Colleges and universities no longer educate; they indoctrinate.
• Members of Congress amass fortunes while elected.
• California works at breakneck speed to irreparably damage the worlds 5th largest economy. 
• Hypocritical politicians dare to dictate to free American citizens.
• Government issued photo identification is required to buy beer, but not to vote.
• People will take out their smartphones to record someone in life threatening danger, rather than running to their aid.
• California raises taxes on gasoline and spends the money on everything but roads.
• The predominant answers from progressives is to dictate behavior and attempt to remove the rights of citizens.
• Congress spends money the nation doesn't have, while exempting themselves from the laws forced on the citizens.
• An elected official says, "a lot of people [are] more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right."
• All too many people accept the tripe filling social media platforms as verified facts.
• Most folks do not understand that the 1st Amendment means the government can not abridge free speech; private entities can.
• Elected individuals refuse to accept responsibility for their words and actions.
• Narcissism, illustrated by social media comments and selfie mania, has gripped the country.
• Federal, state, and local benefits are paid out to non-citizens. 
• Professional (entertainer) athletes are paid obscene amounts of money.
• California passes a law authorizing college student-athletes to be paid...on top of the enormous scholarships they receive.
• A candidate for president says, "...we choose about truth, not facts..." as if they are mutually exclusive.
• Public discourse and debate have been lowered to gutter level profanity.
• There are no term limits for Members of Congress.
• Law enforcement officers are derided by elected individuals.
• Failed candidates for president seek public acclaim long after the election they lost.
• Junior military enlisted are paid so little they qualify for food stamps.
• Free speech is trampled upon and limited by elected individuals.
• Texting and social media posting has replaced person-to-person conversations.
• Obesity is rampant in America.    

Two peas in pod

Shifting gears, it occurred to me the other day that there are two folks on the national stage that share much.  They both spew out unsubstantiated drivel on Twitter, avoiding facts in pursuit of increasing the number of their followers.  Unconcerned with truth, inane tweets one after the other are sent into the social media sphere.  Then the media jump on their tweets, which is find with them, because it feeds their overwhelming narcissism.  Yet their followers and believers swear by them, seeing their pronouncements as absolute.   

When did our nation become so gullible as to accept the missives of these two?

In case you wonder, I refer to Trump and AOC.  Two peas in a pod. 

From where I stand

Narcissism: inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.

Yep, from where I stand, the narcissism pandemic explains a great deal, indeed maybe all of what ails the nation.

Sports figures demanding obscene pay, then acting out in front of the cameras, while demanding special treatment from law enforcement and the media when caught breaking the law.

Erstwhile entertainers, similarly paid obscene amounts, seeking media and social media attention for their views on politics, "social justice," and other matters unrelated to entertainment.

Members of the media, politicians, educators, Instantgram "influencers," vloggers, the wealthy, the poor, organized labor "leaders," "social justice warriors," activists (of all sorts), teenagers (who can almost be forgiven), hell, just about everyone.

The symptoms are clear and all too prevalent: profane incivility for some imagined slight, social media attacks, road rage (how dare you take up my space!), finding offense in EVERYTHING, perpetual electioneering, selfies, Facebook, Twitter.  Manifestations of the narcissism pandemic. 

If people were not so engrossed with themselves, the pandemic would wither away.

California Public Education

"Analysts says that high schools send the CSU thousands of students who aren’t prepared to succeed academically. In fall 2017, almost 40 percent of the system’s new freshmen had to take remedial English or math."

Were it not so incredibly serious, this quote from an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune might be shrugged off as not being possibly true.  Most probably, however, the result will be teacher unions attempting to discredit the information, blaming the lack of money for student poor performance, and otherwise working to shift attention from an indisputable fact: California public education fails families.

Consider for a moment the information cited in the quote.  40 percent of those admitted to the California State University (CSU) system required remediation.  That is forty percent of those admitted, meaning the students had grades, scores, and other achievements to be accepted to one of the CSU universities.  What about the countless students suffering through in California public education whose grades and scores were insufficient to earn university admission?

Continuing, a compelling data point would be the university graduation rate for students falling within that forty percent requiring remediation.  How many actually earn a college degree, whether it takes four or six or twenty years?  If requiring remediation, it is reasonable to predict their overall academic preparedness is highly suspect.

Maybe the remediation, drop out, and failure rates among students who are products of the California public education system contribute to the increases in admissions to the CSU and UC systems for out of state and foreign students.  Admission increases in those demographics probably help shore up the university graduation rates, which otherwise would be held down by California students.

At this point it is essential to not blame the students.  They are products of failed education policies.  Placed in the right school environments, with strong academic programs, students (including those from low income and ethnic/racial minorities) can and do succeed.  The Preuss School UCSD is a perfect example.

Mentioning the Preuss School highlights the growth of charter schools in California.  When public education fails their children, families look for alternatives.  Those who can pay for private schools.  Those who can't look to charters.  Yet charters are under attack in California, as illustrated by demands made by teacher unions in Los Angeles and Oakland.  Though the unions may scream and shout; attempt to obfuscate; and limit the number of charter schools (their educational competition), it is irrefutable that if public education worked, families would not be seeking out alternatives.

The bottom line is horrible.  When the California public education system produces high school graduates unprepared for academic success in its universities, even after 40 percent of freshmen receive remediation, the only possible conclusion is that this taxpayer funded education system is a failure.     

Eliminating the competition

Recent teacher strikes in Los Angeles and Oakland, California were resolved, in part by increased pay and limiting charter schools.  The exceptional power of teacher unions, which fear and loathe charter schools, directly contributed to the decisions made by school boards beholding to the unions for their election campaign funding.  

These recent school board decisions were nothing more than teacher unions coercing them to eliminate the competition.

Stipulating there are poor-to-unsatisfactory charter schools, just as there are poor-to-unsatisfactory conventional public schools; outstanding public school teachers, just as there are exceptionally poor ones (protected by onerous teachers bargaining union agreements); a closer examination of the problems with public education reveals one simple fact.

Charter schools would not be an attractive option for parents if traditional public schools did a better job creating a positive environment and educating students.  It comes as no surprise that policies governing public schools in mainly liberal areas of the country are abysmal, making charters more attractive.  For example, soft on suspension policies, such as in New York City, create chaotic campuses and classrooms, in which learning takes a distant second place to safety concerns.  Disruptive students, uncontrolled and unpunished by parents, dominate classrooms, up to and including assaulting teachers and staff.  And fewer and fewer are suspended.  Why?  Because of a false flag of racial disparity in suspensions.  It matters not the race or ethnic group of the student who tells the teacher to F*** Off, maybe throwing a chair for good measure.  Such behavior warrants immediate consequence, including removal from the classroom and school for three-to-five days.  This absence of basic classroom discipline ensures poor-to-unsatisfactory educational environment, leading parents to look for better options.

Across the nation, those with the resources pay for private schooling, including parochial schools.  This option is not available to the majority of parents, so they must either accept the unacceptable or pursue something else.  That something else led to the birth and growth of the charter school movement across the U.S.  It costs the family nothing more for their children to attend charter schools than it does to attend the public schools, into which more and more dollars have been dumped, without a corresponding improvement in education.

California was recently ranked 47 of 50 in public education, proving its approach to throwing more and more money at it does not work.  Parents are wise consumers, seeing that it is not working, so they seek out charter schools.  Competition at its best.

When students move from a traditional public school, state provided funding goes with them to the charter school.  This means, in districts like Oakland and Los Angeles, the public school have fewer butts in seats, meaning fewer teachers are needed.  Fewer teachers means less union dues (Note:  in the wake of the JANUS decision public sector union membership is declining, even as teacher unions manipulate the process by which members can resign, concurrently strong arming those desiring to resign.)  Now the real crux of the matter presents itself.  Money.

Fewer teachers are required in union dominant traditional public schools due to declining enrollment as families move their children to non-union dominant charter schools.  Combined with the JANUS Supreme Court decision, this means significantly fewer potential dues paying members in teacher unions.  Fewer dues paying members means less money into the union coffers.  Less money in union coffers means less money for supporting elections, so the unions created leverage by means of the strikes.

During the Oakland and Los Angels strikes, one major union objective was to curtail or eliminate the competing charter schools.  Be assured, this objective had nothing to do with improving education, because if the traditional Oakland and Los Angeles public schools were seen by families to be doing a good job teaching their children, there would not be a desire to go to a charter.  Parents are consumers of a product: public education.  They pay for the product by their tax dollars, allocated by what California calls Average Daily Attendance funding from the state based on per student funds calculated by attendance.  When an inferior product (poor-to-unsatisfactory public education) is foisted upon them, parents take their tax dollars to buy a superior product: charter school education.  So in their minds, teacher unions had to tamp down or eliminate the competition that is wooing away families by providing a better product. 

Rather than improve the traditional pubic school education, effectively removing the aforementioned motivation, unbelievably some boards of education kowtowed to the unions and effectively agreed to eliminating the competition.  In Oakland and Los Angeles, they could not legally eliminate the charters, so they did the next best thing, worked on capping new charters.  (As an aside, the lousy state of public education in the two named school districts drives the demand for new charters.)  It will not come as a surprise that unions are pressuring approving school districts and school boards to withhold renewing of charters.   

It is really fairly basic.  Rather than seriously undertake substantive improvements with staying power, consequently removing the parent/education consumer motivation to depart traditional public education, school districts, boards, and unions are focused upon eliminating any competition/alternative.  In this manner, the unions seek to preserve their source of funding: membership dues.  Of course, they will cloak it all in propaganda about it all being "for the students."

Obscenity defined

In the century's second decade, here are some contemporary definitions of obscenity (in no particular order).

Paying someone $330 million to play baseball. 

Driver with five DUI convictions kills someone.

Teacher convicted of molesting disabled student.

Retired U. S. Navy admiral only censured for his role in the "Fat Leonard" scandal.

Boys claiming to be girls winning female athletic events.

Horrible military family housing.

Vietnam claiming they treated POWs humanely.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's net worth.

Continued employment in a public university by an instructor calling for the killing of police officers.

No prison for Bowe Bergdahl.

Taxes on gasoline in California.

"Sanctuary" states.

The national debt.

Individuals serving in Congress for five or more decades.
  
California's rules for voting in primary elections.

Investor owned utilities.

No jail time for rapist.

Fiddling with school ASB funds. 

Take your choice

Take your choice.  Is it rank hypocrisy?  Blind political avarice?  Lack of intellectual capability?  Uncontrolled emotion?  Absence of integrity?  Greed?  Hysteria?  Rabid partisanship?  Ethical void?  Amorality?  Simple ignorance?  Rampant initiative unfettered by a scintilla of judgment?

On all sides of the political, media, social, educational, labor, cultural, ethnic, and paradigms the loudest members appear predisposed to offer immediate judgment, criticism, commentary about anything, anywhere, by anybody on the "other" side.

In doing so, what was acceptable a day, week, month, year, or decade ago for "their" side must now be condemned.  Likewise, what was deplorable a day, week, month, year, or decade ago for the "other" side can now be fully embraced by their side.

If so-and-so's grandfather uttered something decades ago, so he/she from the "other" side must be tarred by that sentiment.  Yet, if so-and-so from "their" side has a relative who expressed the wrong view, no responsibility should be visited upon the current day individual.  Can't be both ways folks.  One standard that cuts both ways is needed.

Particularly troublesome is when an individual clearly and unequivocally states one view or position, then changes to the exact opposite with the flowing winds of perceived public views.  "I've evolved," the miscreant exclaims when called out.  Yet if an individual from the "other" side acts identically, out come the brash, intense, no holds barred criticism.  Can't be both ways folks.  One standard that cuts both ways is needed.

Amazingly, as the political, media, social, educational, labor, cultural, and ethnic personalities act rashly, they simultaneously demand to be accepted as genuine in the moment.  Heaven forbid, however, if someone from the "other" side exhort the same from the public.

Is it rank hypocrisy?  Blind political avarice?  Lack of intellectual capability?  Uncontrolled emotion?  Absence of integrity?  Greed?  Hysteria?  Rabid partisanship?  Ethical void?  Amorality?  Simple ignorance?  Rampant initiative unfettered by a scintilla of judgment? 

Take your choice.           

Something must change

Arguably, our law makers and the courts have not found the right combination of approaches to tackle driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence, and just plain drunk driving. 

For example, in San Diego a 19 year faces trial for an accident in which multiple innocent people were killed.  He was reportedly involved in three previous accidents in a short period and was driving on a revoked license.  The revocation was totally ineffective, as witnessed by the deaths in this accident.  Why did he have access to an automobile?  Where is the hue and cry to confiscate his car, similar to hue and cry to confiscate firearms?

In another mind boggling example, "Democrats on the Charlotte, North Carolina City Council have asked the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) to 'cut back' on enforcement of drunk-driving laws in neighborhoods with large illegal immigrant populations, because illegal immigrants apparently are 'nervous to see the cops.'”  Are these local officials not aware of the very real and present danger drunk drivers pose in the community?

And here is a report from Idaho of a drunk driving man convicted of killing a young mother, but receiving no prison time.  Is not the judge aware of the propensity for recidivism by drunk drivers, like told in this story of a woman causing the death of three, including herself, while driving drunk...after four previous DUI convictions?  (Of course, no one will know how many times she drove drunk and did not get apprehended or hit someone.) 

From inadequate laws; to complacent, inept judges; to utterly stupid local officials, the entire system is not aggressively attacking this wholly preventable loss of life.

Something must change. 

Non Football Lecturing (NFL) (UPDATED)

Sunday morning, a neighbor and I stood on the sidewalk, chatting about this and that, smiling at and acknowledging those walking by.  It is a good neighborhood for these polite exchanges.  

He asked if we were going to watch the "big game," referencing the Super Bowl.  In response, I explained we would not.  

 

Left unsaid was the primary reason: the National Football League and this particularly game are no longer solely about athletic competition.  A mix mash of political and "social justice" commentary overshadow the game.

A review of the print and on-line pieces leading up to the game and the Monday morning headlines on a variety of so-called news sites reveals the overwhelming number of articles were about either political or "social justice" issues, rather than the game itself.  Politically inspired commercials, the performer boycott of the half-time show, Kaepernick, the National Anthem, male cheerleaders, and even POTUS comments about the game received more print and on-line presence than the competition itself.  It was totally predictable.

And that is why I chose not to watch the game.  Setting aside the obscene amounts paid to the uniformed entertainers referred to as players, athletic competition should be about the sport, not everything or anything else.  

Certainly folks can use any platform they choose to peacefully protest or advocate.  Just as I can choose not to be subjected to their protests or commentary.  Unfortunately for the NFL, it has been captured as the primary sports based platform for such protests and commentary.  And the players, teams, and NFL management have done a very poor job controlling it.  So it was an easy decision not to watch either the NFL or the Super Bowl.

One might even quip that NFL now stands for Non Football Lecturing.  

Thank you, no!  I watch sports to be entertained by the athletic competition, not be lectured to.  

Update: Looks like I wasn't the only one. Check this report.  

2019

Based on today's prevailing and profound negativity, guess one is supposed to see nothing good, either in daily life or on the horizon.  Most certainly all forms of mainstream media relish in "reporting" the negative, particularly since journalism has yielded to blatant opinion mongering.  It has reached a point that many a friend, from both sides of the political spectrum, report no longer reading newspapers and online "news" or watching the broadcast news.  Who in their right mind wants to be inundated with the negative?

Pundits, commentators, opinion mongers, and politicians spent the end of the year bemoaning 2018 and predicting nothing but horrible for all of 2019.  OK.  If desiring to wallow in the negative, 2018 can provide plenty of ingredients for a pity party stew.  Choose your poison: politics, economics, social, legal, national, international, and on and on.  Wallow if you want, but doing so misses the uplifting.  The positive.

In my life, strong faith and family love begin every single day on a positive note.  Contact with friends, near and far, is reinforcing.  Blessed with great health and fitness, the energy derived from a rigorous physical morning workout is uplifting.  As a military veteran, having served our nation is a constant source of pride.  And giving back to the community is so very, very satisfying.

The most enjoyable times are those spent with family.  From the very simple act of sharing coffee with my bride in the morning, to a full on family get together, and everything in between, these times produce that unique form of happiness that fills and warms the heart.

Close to the joy of family time is that spent with close friends.  At an age now that includes individuals with decades of friendship, it really is wonderful to share times, simple laughs, and memories.

In the broader community, I deliberately chose to participate with the Patriot Guard Riders.  The missions provide three crucial functions: supporting the family of a fellow veteran or active duty service member who is being laid to rest; standing with the like minded to honor someone's military service; and reinforcing the brotherhood and camaraderie that were so important during those days in uniform.  And we do it all under flag of our great nation.  (That I get to ride the Harley-Davidson motorcycle at the missions is a side benefit.) 

If you want to wallow in negativity, go for it.  More's the pity, however.

Choose instead to enjoy the positives in 2019.