Lady Justice

As the impeachment proceedings unfold the concept of law and order is being eviscerated. The republicans say there is no evidence of a crime and the whole case would be tossed out of court. Jerry Nadler said today that it would take a jury 3 minutes to convict Trump. No republicans will vote for and no democrats will for against impeachment. There is got to be reasonable doubt somewhere in that mess and lady justice is crying in her beer.

KSA

An old adage says that politics makes strange bedfellows and the same can be said of war. In WW2 the allies sided with Communist Russia to defeat Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The same dilemma now faces the US regarding Saudi Arabia (KSA). The Saudi's are the supply line for the Madrassa around the world that produce terrorist. While the US no longer depends on KSA for oil they have become bedfellows because the are opposed to Iran. KSA even sends out signals that they may be willing to line up with Israel to oppose Iran. While this cold war between the Saudi's and Iran is an ongoing power struggle it is also strongly influenced by religious beliefs since Iran is most Shia and KSA is mostly Sunni.

Algebra

There are many things wrong with our high schools but one important area could be improved without adding any financial burden to the budget. Required courses like algebra 2 and chemistry should be changed from required to elective just like physics and calculus. Student who are interested in careers in science or engineering could continue to take these courses but others would have a choice. They could instead concentrate on reading and writing and take two years of what would be called reading comprehension. This does not mean reading the words, it means being able to write down in a summarized form what was read. This is hard work and develops the mental discipline to read, recall and understand what was read. These students would be required to read articles of ten or twenty pages on subjects that interest them and then write up a one page summaries. If they graduate with this skill they will do well at any career they choose. It is painful to sit in chemistry class and see students who are unable to comprehend and the same is true for algebra 2 and it is no less painful to the teacher.

Conspiracy

The march toward impeachment opens the door to some conspiracy theories. If it is a forgone conclusion, that unless some new information is discovered, that the senate will not vote to impeach, what is the reason for going ahead. One side believes that the damage to Trump will be enough to prevent his reelection but others feel it will cement his victory. The most popular conspiracy revolves around Joe Biden. It was after the republicans said they welcome a trial in the senate where they will call Biden and his son as witnesses that the impeachment phase seemed to get a boost. This led to the idea that democrats wanted to spoil Biden's bid for the presidency. With Senator Warren fading fast after announcing the cost of medicare for all, doubts about Bernie's health after his heart attack and Mayor Pete's less than stellar record being exposed, the party is looking for a savior. Will they turn to Bloomberg the old white guy billionaire? Will some new face come out of nowhere as some who look to Michele Obama dream? If the whole purpose is to beat Trump will any warm body with that possibility be the nominee. The next conspiracy is the super delegate count. These votes only count if there is a brokered convention and then they could determine the nominee if they stick together and once again the insiders will win.

Persona

According to psychologist Karl Jung, we all have a face that we show to the public which he called our persona and it is exaggerated with most politicians. Yesterday a video was released of several high ranking people at the NATO conference making disparaging comments about Trump. They did not know they were being recorded. Trump on the other hand is accused of having too little persona in that he just comes right out with it. A great example was Nancy Pelosi saying yesterday that impeachment is not about politics while the votes will be overwhelmingly one sided. This is the same thing the republicans said when they impeached Clinton. The question is, do most people believe these politicians when they make statements like that or are they so used to it that people just ignore it. It is so common it is referred to as Washington speak.

Import tax

Trumps recent moves have added credence to the contention that he prefers to use economic power in lieu of military power. He will place import taxes on steel from Argentina and Brazil while threatening to tax French wines. When other countries place import taxes on US goods he counters by placing import tax on their goods.

Birthday

My son would be 52 today and next month marks 12 years since he passed. I stay in touch with music and here is my favorite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0XFiYDJBXQ