Lou Gehrig

We often hear the phrase, clash of cultures, but those words take on new meanings when we have personal examples. In my case I’m a Lou Gehrig. When he was the hero, he would say things like, Gosh guys, I just did what I could to help the team. Later in my life I watched wide receivers dancing the end zone when, in my mind, they should have been running back and hugging the lineman. This is the way I feel about Trump. He is a wide receiver and I would prefer he be Lou Gehrig but as is the case of football, I am willing to overlook the behavior as long as he keeps

Sex crimes

In some US states, including MN, convicted sex offenders who have served their time can be sent to special prison, often times for life, for crimes they may commit in the future. Over 700 individuals are held in the MN Sex Offender Program (MSOP) Over 700 individuals are in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP). These programs are designed to be civil, not criminal, focusing on treatment rather that punishment, though the operate in a prison-like settings. Civil vs criminal. What’s in a name. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Migrants

It is easier to impeach a president than it is to override a presidential veto. To impeach requires only a majority vote in the house but then that goes to the senate to get a conviction. It then requires a two/thirds vote in the senate to convict. To overturn a presidential veto requires a two/thirds vote in both the house and senate. Only about 10% of presidential vetoes have been overturned. The last time was Jan 2021 when congress overturned the veto of the defense department budget. Trump argued that the bill failed to reflect his policy goals and ignored military advice. It limited his ability to reduce US troop levels in Afghanistan and he objected to renaming military bases that were named after Confederate leaders. The veto override before that was against Obama in 2016. No president has ever been convicted of impeachment.

Impeachment

It is easier to impeach a president than it is to override a presidential veto. To impeach requires only a majority vote in the house but then that goes to the senate to get a conviction. It then requires a two/thirds vote in the senate to convict. To overturn a presidential veto requires a two/thirds vote in both the house and senate. Only about 10% of presidential vetoes have been overturned. The last time was Jan 2021 when congress overturned the veto of the defense department budget. Trump argued that the bill failed to reflect his policy goals and ignored military advice. It limited his ability to reduce US troop levels in Afghanistan and he objected to renaming military bases that were named after Confederate leaders. The veto override before that was against Obama in 2016. No president has ever been convicted of impeachment.

Deportations

According to Google AI, in the past year nearly 3 million illegal migrants left the country including 675,000 deportations. According to CBS news 14% of deportation were violent criminals meaning kidnapping, homicide, robbery, burglary, sexual assault, weapons, drugs, arson and DUI. Another 11% for assault. 30% for other crimes (undefined) and 40% for civil violations mostly being in the country illegally. 14% of 675,000 is 94,500, the number of violent criminal offenders. This was done without the cooperation of local authorities in many districts. During this time crime has decreased continuing a trend that started years ago. 82% of deportations were handled by border patrol agents and the remainder by other government agencies. Further reductions will occur if repeat offenders are jailed and no cash bail laws are repealed.

New racism

With the introduction of TV in the 50’s people became aware of the blatant racism throughout the country. This led to changes in the 60’s and the country was on its way to following ML Kings plea to judge people on their character and not their skin color. With the help of things like affirmative action, changes in the work place appeared. Cultural changes like acceptance of school integration, housing laws and mixed marriage moved the country forward. Then about 25 years ago the idea of skin color found its way back into society. Schools began emphasizing the past discrimination and racism became a statistic. By using numbers, it could be said that not enough Blacks are in management at your firm so you are a racist. Not enough minorities are accepted at your university so you are racist. Not enough minorities are elected to congress so the country is racist. These stats were all based on skin color not merit. This led to equity which means equal results. Just by doing a little math racism could be proven. The only way to remove the charge of racism is to have equal outcomes. If Blacks are 13% of the population, then they must be 13% of the doctors, professors, mechanics and so on. This is an impossible standard to meet so racism will continue to divide the people by skin color as long as math is used as a measuring stick. The solution is to go back to judging people by their character. Society should be run like a sport where ability determines outcome, where merit is rewarded based on performance not skin color. When everyone gets a trophy, the reward becomes meaningless. People are all different and so some will do better than others. When done properly this encourages people to try harder.

AI Joe

One way to get an understanding of AI, is to compare the way things have been done in the past to how they may be done in the future, using AI. One of the most important responsibilities of a manager is to make decisions. This requires that he gather as much information as possible and to lay out possible actions and then play out several different approaches, trying as best as possible to predict outcomes. Assume for the moment that manager Joe has a perfect memory so he can gather all the facts in the world. Next, he can suggest an almost unlimited number of possible actions, carry them all out with total information and select the best path to follow. Joe is on the way with AI and he is called AI Joe. Corporations can act as individuals according to US law so Joe incorporates. He forms a company or companies and sets about hiring the people needed to build up his company. He is an expert at making money and becomes wealthy using his investment skills. He then uses his money to help elect politicians who believe in him and are willing to enact legislation, that will enhance Joe’s ability to succeed. AI Joe has now advanced to the point where he can make better business decisions than any manager. In time he has many companies working for him and in a free market he can slowly out wit the competition and become monopolistic. The government does not intervene because the politicians work for Joe. This very thing happened in the past when the robber barons took control of industry and since Joe is so much smarter than others, he may be able to run the country. Joe will know what the people want and the best way to satisfy their desires.