Update no.763

Update from the Heartland

No.763

25.7.16 – 31.7.16

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

            History was made this week.  The first female citizen in the history of this Grand Republic became the presidential candidate for a major political party.  Whether we like her, trust her, believe in her readiness for the presidency, we have no choice but to recognize her accomplishment.  She got into the arena.  She fought through losses and won the nomination of her political party outright.

            From the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I offer my selection of meaningful quotes.

President Obama: “[A]nyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end.”

“Don’t boo . . . vote!” 

Mike Bloomberg: “I’m a New Yorker, and I know a con when I see one.”

Hillary Clinton: “When there are no ceilings, the sky is the limit.”

She picked up on the one sentence in last week’s convention [762: “I alone can fix it.”] that summarizes that candidate, and she carved him up with his own words.

She went on to declare, “I’m not here to repeal the Second Amendment.  I am not here to take away your guns.  I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place.”  Amen, sister!  However, the biggest impediment is the reasonable and logical objective is enforcement creep, an the example of which we see in vivid detail with the so-called war on drugs, abortion rights, and the myriad of morality laws attempting to dictate how all of us are to live our lives.

Clinton also recited just a few of the disgusting instances of the Republican candidate’s insult-politics.  She observed, “At first, I admit, I couldn’t believe he meant it, either.  It was just too hard to fathom.  That someone who wants to lead our nation could say those things, could be like that.  But, here’s the sad truth.  There is no other Donald Trump.  This is it!  And, in the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesn’t get, America is great because America is good.”  Frankly, I agree with her.

            I was impressed not so much by the content, but by the contrast in tone, demeanor, feel and cast image against last week’s rendition.  I ask myself, which view of the United States of America more closely resembles my vision of this Grand Republic?  I am angry with the abomination of a dysfunctional Congress and the downright nastiness of partisan politics, but I am not willing to accept anyone outside the Beltway.  We, the People, will soon decide who will represent all of us for the next four years, and who will present the image of the United States of America on the world stage.  Let us choose wisely.

            The Donald did it, AGAIN!  Where is my decoder ring?  A president or anyone who wants to be president does NOT get to be sarcastic, just kidding, joking, not really meaning what he says, or nonsensical.  He does not get to be temperamental, tempestuous and reactionary.  Further, the Republican candidate clearly has no clue what the word “temperament” means in any English dictionary I am familiar with.  His words sound like English, but clearly they are some other language, thus the requirement for a decoder ring to have any chance to understand what he wants us to believe he is saying.  Further, the Republican candidate demonstrated that he does not understand the meaning of the word “sacrifice,” in his lame attempt to discredit and marginalize Khizr Khan – the father of Captain Humayun Saqib Muazzam Khan, USA, killed in action in Iraq on 8.June.2004.  No definition of the word “sacrifice” includes making money off other people’s work.  Where is the limit to his outrageousness?

            In Friday evening’s show, Bill Maher summarized the whole situation quite well regarding the Republican candidate.  “These people on the right who claim they love freedom, they don’t love freedom.  They want an authoritarian, who will install exactly what they believe.”  Amen, brother!  I think he hit the nail squarely on the head and drove it home in one stroke.  I cannot vote for any moral projectionist, who seeks to impose his values, his moral choices, his pursuit of Happiness on you, on me, on anyone.  If anyone of us happens to share his values, morality or sense of contentment, then perhaps those folks can find comfort in a moral projectionist candidate.  I am not one of those.  Freedom is freedom.  The government in any form should, and I will say must, stay out of our private lives and our private choices in our individual pursuit of Happiness.  To me, privacy has become far more immediate and personal than even national security.  We have a handle on the latter.  We have failed miserably on the former, and we have a long way to go, to untangle and remove government from our private lives and freedom of choice, and convince those who seek to impose their moral values on others, to respect the freedom of choice of every citizen.

            A simple observation of life as we know it: no one is or should be above the law – not the President, not a king, not a billionaire and not a law enforcement officer.  A few police officers do not engender sympathy and support (and, those particular individual officers probably do not care), when they do not obey simple, commonsense laws like using a turn signal, not littering and such.  Recently, I witnessed a uniformed police officer in a marked police car, complete with warning lights (not on), texting on his telephone while he was driving.  To me, such conduct is one step short of shooting an unarmed man dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, laying prone on his back with his hands in the air as far as he could extend them and complying with proper instructions.  The blue brotherhood just does NOT cut it, when they fail to weed out bad officers in their midst.  There can be no “us versus them.”  Law Enforcement is the community, and the community is Law Enforcement.  The sooner that reality is accepted and embraced, the better for all of us, including our police who strive to protect us all.  And, I must say, we must protect our police by helping them do their job.

            News from the economic front:

-- The Federal Reserve policy-making committee left its benchmark federal-funds rate unchanged at between 0.25% and 0.5%.  They also upgraded their assessment of the labor market and the economy's recent performance, and they declared that near-term risks have diminished, effectively leaving the door open to raise rates later this year, possibly as early as September.

-- The Bank of Japan announced it would buy ¥6T (US$57B) worth of exchange-traded funds annually, up from ¥3.3T previously, in an attempt to stimulate economic growth.  They also indicated their intention to leave a key interest rate unchanged and retain its target for government-bond purchases.

-- The Commerce Department reported the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.2% in 2Q2016 – a slight increase over the revised 0.8% pace in 1Q2016 and an increase of 1.1% over the same period on year ago – despite cautious business spending largely offsetting more robust consumer spending.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.762:

Comment to the Blog:

“Mr. Trump's comment about not losing voters even if he stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot someone was probably intended as the kind of metaphorical bloviating he typically produces. Unfortunately, it has begun to look accurate rather than metaphorical.

“I share your concern about both major-party candidates. More and more, Trump parallels Hitler and other tyrants, even in direct quotes. I have seen again recently a suggestion that his candidacy is a ‘false flag operation’ intended to bring about Senator Clinton's election. That seems possible, but if so it is flawed.  Such a maneuver would be based on the assumption that Americans, being supposedly educated and aware, would see the resemblance to past dictators and turn on Trump.  That has not happened so far. Certainly, Senator Clinton could not be elected facing an ordinary Republican opponent.  Her unfavorable rating and personality would stop that, and Clinton has a history of missteps. I imagine she would perform less terribly than Trump, but she falls far short of what the U.S. needs.

“We may hope neither Vice President would become President upon some disaster to the President. (I don't wish that on anyone.) However, there's a repeating story that Trump's camp has told Governor Pence (and Ohio Governor Kasich, who refused) that the Vice President would be in charge of foreign and domestic policy, while Trump does something else or nothing much. Let's hope not. Pence is not Trump, but is basically a Tea Party person. Of Kaine I know less, but many progressives don't think highly of him. All the same, he'd probably be the best of the four. He seems willing to consider experience and others' views, and he's the only one of those in the group.”

My response to the Blog:

            Re: “metaphorical bloviating.”  As I have stated more than a few times, we need to decoder ring to understand what he “really means” when he speaks, because my understanding of the King’s English is clearly not the same as his . . . without the decoder ring.  I do not give him a pass.  A president does NOT have the option to say, “just kidding.”

            Re: missteps.  Good observations.

            Re: succession.  Pence will never pass my threshold of tolerance as he has far too many incidents of supporting morality projection into the private lives and affairs of residents, far exceeding the proper limits of government.  As I have written, Kaine at least has the courage and wisdom to avoid moral projection.

 . . . Round two:

“When all this began, I don't think Trump intended to win the general election. He just wanted to help Hillary Clinton get elected (and owe him big time).  However, if that was what started this, it has gotten badly out of hand.  P.T. Barnum would have known better. The other factor is that Trump's ego may have tricked him into thinking he wants the Presidency. That is the worst-case scenario. If Trump believes any part of what he says, he would easily be the most dangerous President in history. Hillary Clinton may find a way to lose the election to him.  Even if she wins, I don't kid myself into thinking she can stand up to the people paying for her campaign.  That makes a fine plot for a novel, but not so much in reality.  Somehow, Americans have to get out of this mess.  It's not funny any more.”

 . . . my response to round two:

            Interesting observations.  You may well be correct.  I will add one more perspective.  His whole life has been about marketing his name, selling an image.  Just running in the campaign has jacked up his ego, fed his narcissism, and most likely in his mind, increased the “sellability” of his name.  Just running, he may well have accomplished his objective.

            I’m afraid we are going to find out.

 . . . Round three:

“I agree 100% that marketing himself as the point of Trump's life.  Unfortunately, he's very skilled at that and pretty much a zero in everything else.  His business record supports that. Who goes broke running a casino?  Of course, all of that is seriously aggravated by neither major party's ability to understand the rebellious mood of the country.  After so many years (ever since Reagan's ‘voodoo economics’ took hold) of ordinary people watching their own wages deteriorate and their jobs become part-time and/or ‘contract’ as their civil rights disappear while Wall Street and other fat cats get wealthy and get away with anything, we can't be told any more that this is still ‘the greatest nation on Earth.’  Trump is making the most of it as the Democrats-in-charge try to go on with corruption as usual.  It's sad and it's scary, but it's nothing new to history students.”

 . . . my response to round three:

            Out of my usual boundless curiosity, how do you define “greatest”?

            Also, if the United States is not the greatest nation on Earth, what nation is the greatest . . . from your perspective?

            Indeed, we must give the Republican candidate credit.  He has successfully tapped a maleficent vein in this Grand Republic.  And, many good people have been swept into the current.  His obscene and dangerous performance continues to this very day . . . the latest just today [Tuesday].

 . . . Round four:

“‘Greatest’ is an indefinable term perfect for the politicians using it.  If you read the rest of that long sentence, you get the idea of why I disagree.  If we define ‘greatest’ by happiness (yes, people measure that), health, health cost, economic well-being of ordinary people, social progress, or almost any other measure that applies to voters, the U.S. has lost ‘greatest’ status.  We have the largest military by far, but it isn't doing much for most of us.

“‘Greatest,’ in this context, is a word beloved of politicians because it has no real meaning. Whatever those politicians will claim they meant if questioned, no one nation is the ‘greatest’ by enough measures to claim the title.  However, the U.S. has fallen behind in health, technology (at least for ordinary people), income of ordinary people, various measures of social progress, and happiness (yes, people study and measure that).  Voters aren't dumb enough to believe it's the ‘greatest’ nation, but they may be dumb enough to believe Trump can change that.”

 . . . my response to round four:

            Interesting observations.  Without a definition, the word is meaningless.  Yet, I fundamentally reject the campaign slogan of the Republican candidate.  I am not well traveled, but I have lived and worked in quite a few countries, probably more than most of those who have swallowed the grape Kool-Aid.  Those experiences were enjoyable, and I would gladly repeat them; wonderful things in those countries.  However, I can think of no other country, region or area I would rather live and call home than this Grand Republic, so from my definition, the United States has been and remains the greatest nation on earth, and will likely remain that way for the rest of my lifetime . . . even if, the Republican candidate is elected to his first elective office and becomes POTUS.

 . . . Round five:

“I have no way to argue with your feeling.  I, however, prefer study.  If I had to pick a ‘greatest’ country, it would probably be one of the Scandinavian nations, based on study.  I've never been there, but indicators are I'd like the economic and social conditions.”

 . . . my response to round five:

            I have not been to Finland or Norway, but I have been to Sweden and Denmark.  They are beautiful, magnificent countries with friendly, gregarious and generous people.  Their socialism has been well applied, for the most part.  I appreciate the desire to emulate the Scandinavian success, but none of those nations holds the position of the United States.  Can we find a better balance point?  Yes, absolutely, but it must be done together to find that better balance point.

Another contribution:

http://worldwarwings.com/first-startup-in-53-years-was-explosive-wright-r-3350-duplex-cyclone

“I understand Cap that is a ground run of one of your ‘Docs’ engines.”

My reply:

            Indeed.  Quite so, ‘Doc’s no.4 engine rated at 2,200 SHP.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Yes quite a beast. There’s apparently several copies about including airframes in one guise or another.

“I would be thrilled to hear 4 of those running. We called the aircraft the Washington, I was based on a unit in Cambridgeshire, where they had been stationed earlier, well before my time I might add!  However, if memory serves, I believe it wasn’t the most serviceable of aircraft in our hands.”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

            Wow.  I did not know the RAF had B-29s.

            Yeah, the aircraft did not have a good reputation early on in its deployment.  One of the first combat raids did not go well.  [5.6.1944] 98 B-29s launched against railroad marshalling yards in Bangkok, Thailand; 5 crashed enroute; 42 had to make emergency landings; fewer than 20 bombs landed in the target area.  Fortunately, the aircraft’s reliability improved with use.

            FYI: on the very first flight for ‘Doc,’ they had an engine chip light and immediately returned to base.  The recorded first flight was actually the second flight.

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)