Hormuz

As the world watches the United States once again being drawn into conflict, the word deterrence keep coming up but it has not been defined. When Reagan bombed Gaddafi's house in Libya the dictator went into hiding and this led to his giving up his nuclear weapons. That is deterrence. When Trump killed Qasem Soleimani the General in the Iranian Rvolutionary Guard that was deterrence. When Biden says don't that is not deterrence. If Biden would put in place an oil blockade in the Straits of Hormuz that would get Iran's attention. They could allow all oil ships other than those from Iran through the Straits. This would cut off Iran's primary source of income and would bring their economy down. If Iran responds to this by attacking US ships in Hormuz then the US can attack Iran directly meaning their cities. The US has been more than patient as over the past three months US facilities in Syria and Iraq have been attacked by Iranian more than 160 times culminating in the Jordan attack killing three American soldiers. The president needs to be out in front on this and let the American people know why he is putting up the oil embargo and what it could lead to.

EV's

There is a $7,500 tax credit on the purchase of an electric car but it is non refundable which means you only get the deduction if you owe $7,500 in taxes. A family of four must earn $125,000 to qualify for the $7,500 deduction. This is not for middle and low income people but that is okay since they couldn't afford and EV anyway.

Truth

Having more free time on my hands, I have been checking out various ways of getting information and it occurred to me that things have turned up side down over the past 30 years or so. It used to be that the big newspapers had the staff and the money to investigate stories and then they would publish the results. In time the main stream TV news shows would just read the New York Times and then regurgitate what they read. As the Internet came to life and people started turning away from the newspapers and TV, many independent news sites sprung up on the Net. In now appears that some of the old style news outlets are getting stories from independents. Many of these independents started out as one man shows but they started making some good money by selling subscriptions. Once you get 5,000 viewers paying $5 per month you can afford to hire some help to research stories and now you get a bigger audience. In time the whole thing switched around. The big news organizations were slowly going broke and had to cut back on their investigations while the independents were gaining customers and doing the best research. This is a good thing because there are many independents and their number is growing daily. Anyone who has the time to read 50 different opinions on some subject has a good chance of getting to the truth or least they will be informed about all the different interpretations of the truth. In the end it will still come down to individual decisions as to what is true but having lots of options is helpful.

New ideas

With the recent scrutiny of universities regard challenges to free speech it appears that the problem is most severe in the humanities and liberal arts and less severe in the science and medicine. One reason for this is called peer review. When a scientist comes up with a new idea it is published in one or more journals and others in the field critique the idea. After some period of back and forth the new idea is either proven false and dropped or it becomes part of the curriculum. This requires a forum where the free ideas are exchanged. In the humanities ideas are not so easily described and thus less likely to achieve a clear cut explanation. Sometimes it comes down to who has the time to investigate subjective ideas. A simple example can be seen in high school. In English class or perhaps social studies the teacher will have the time to discuss gender identity but in calculus class there is no free time. Its nose to the grindstone for the whole period because what is covered tomorrow is based on what was learned today. The safe way for all groups is to allow freedom of all ideas to be discussed and they will live or die depending how well the argument is presented.

Boat people

The mystery of the Boat People. These are the one million refugees from Southeast Asia who came to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War. Why did these youngsters most of whom could not speak English with little more than the clothes on their backs do so well in school. The families came from ordinary backgrounds. Many of the parents had had little education. Many of the families had spent months or years in Asian refugee camps before reaching the U.S., so their children`s education had been disrupted. Most could not speak English and knew little or nothing about American life. If American schools are so inadequate, so far behind those in other industrialized nations, how come they are doing such a great job of educating the Indochinese refugee children? Is it possible that the answer is not in the schools but the family culture. The schools these Indochinese refugee children attended were in low-income, urban areas and were not noted for academic achievement. Homework was the focus of Asian refugee family life on weeknights. The whole family gathered around a table working together. Teachers who were interviewed agreed that the achievement was not a matter of luck but of hard work. This leads to the obvious conclusion that schools can be most effective when the requisite familial and social supports are provided outside the school. As American education experts keep trying new approaches to teaching they will only succeed when they look toward the homes.

The best

Meritocracy is the antithesis of equity. The first means striving for excellence and the second striving for equal results. It is the old joke from Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon where all the kids are above average. America is a success story for many reasons, one of which, is the idea of trying to be the best. Competition brings out the best in people be it business, sports or education. Capitalism produces winners and anyone who competes can be a winner. The nice thing is that there doesn't always have to be losers but second place and third place winners. In sports there are not many superstars but there are many stars. Life in a free society is about trying and failing and trying again. The old story says if you get knocked off your horse the first thing to do is get back on the horse. Your team doesn't have to end up with the most points if everyone tried their best. The famous sports writer Grantland Rice said when the Great Scorekeeper in the sky comes to write behind your name, He'll not ask whether you won or lost but how you played the game. Concepts like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) relegates merit to second place and promotes mediocrity. To compete on the world market American needs the best.

Slots

Slot machines are everywhere. I live about 8 miles from an Indian casino and go there once in a great while when I have company. I don't care to gamble so I spend the time watching other people. One interesting group are those playing the slots. They are mesmerized by the rhythmic beat of the music, the flashing lights and winning just enough to keep them going. It is very much like Pavlov's dogs. They are sucked into the vortex as bits of dopamine hits their brain at just the right time in the right amount. If you look around the world today you can witness the same behavior but instead of slots you have the I phone. There was a Star Trek show years ago where the crew landed on a planet for R&R and while there discovered a game. They would put on these eye and ear phones and once started they couldn't stop. Those on the planet brought back games for the others and in short order everyone was playing and no one was running the ship. It was a plot by some aliens to take over and it would have worked but for the robot Data who was not affected by the game and he saved the day. What the world needs today is another Data. On a serious note these phones are harmful to young people as any teacher can tell you.