American exceptionalism

The free market works best when corruption is kept at a minimum. Other than that the big complaint is the fact that capitalism allows for winners to win really big. Sports figures, rappers, other entertainers make millions. Extreme example was Floyd Mayweather who earned $250 million for one fight. Others earn fortunes through innovating new ideas which led to new business. Prime example is Jeff Bezos who started Amazon 22 years ago and now employs 700,000 people and is worth $100 billion. The biggest winner in the free market system is innovation. Most of everything new comes out of the United States and here, one of the best examples, is the polio vaccine but the greatest invention, maybe of all time, was the transistor that was developed by American scientist in 1956. America is not only the greatest country in history, it has made the rest of the world great. The defeat of communism, Nazism and fascism in the last century in just one example of how the world has benefited.

Halloween

Is Halloween dying and if so why. When I was a child, maybe seven or so, I went with my mother to her friends house. She was wealthy by our standards and had on her coffee table a small bowl with cubed shaped light blue mints. I was gazing intently at them and she offered me one and I thought is was the greatest thing ever. Another time a second grader named Leo came to school and he had two pieces of bubble gum and we all envied him. When my wife was growing up on the farm at Christmas her dad would bring how a chunk of hard candies and they would break it apart and each one got a piece. The point is that a piece of candy those 70 plus years ago was a big deal. Today all households have candy on hand year around and getting a treat on Halloween is not the thrill it used to be.

Jews today and past

Attacks against Jewish people  accounted for 58.1 percent of crimes motivated by anti-religious bias last year, a 4-percent increase from 2016, while anti-Muslim crimes were down. Anti-Muslim offenses accounted for 24.8 percent of anti-religious hate crimes in 2016 compared with 18.7 percent in 2017. Anti-Islamic crimes continue to remain at historic levels. There are 3.6 million Muslims and 4.2 million Jews in the United States. While these acts against Muslims are relatively new, the Jews have had to contend with this for 4,000 years.

Baghdadi

On Morning Joe today the second story was about the killing of Baghdadi. Saying it was a good thing but the President revealed too much information about the attack. It is a bit odd when press people complain about too much info. Then they discussed the fact that the President did not inform the democrats in advance of the raid. Trump got a lot of positive press from the successful completion of this event but if it had gone bad like the situation that President Carter faced, in his failed attempt to free the embassy hostages, the story would have been quite different. All it would have taken is a leak to the enemy and they could have turned the whole thing into a disaster. There have been so many examples of placing party ahead of country by both sides, would someone have been tempted to leak these plans. Some are surprised that it was not leak anyway.

Safe space

With the onset of safe spaces on college campuses, some say it is an attack on free speech. In 1977 a Nazi organization decided to march in a Skokie, IL neighborhood where a large number of Holocaust survivors lived. Many protested but conservative and liberal groups agreed that this group had the right to protest. The case went to court and the first amendment was upheld and the group was allowed to march. The purpose of the free speech part of the first amendment is to protect speech that is deemed unacceptable. Today some want to outlaw what they consider to be hate speech. While the use of a word like nigger is considered crude, hurtful and wrong, it is protected speech. Many campuses have refused speakers using the excuse that their speech may lead to violence. Using that excuse will allow the censoring of any speech the college deems unacceptable.

Revenue tax

A former head of the student loan program is concerned about the $1.6 trillion in student loan debt and has proposed a tax on corporation revenues. In the past corporations have been taxed like individuals on earnings but a tax on revenue is much like Senator Warrens wealth tax. A corporation would pay this revenue tax even if they lost money. He proposed a one percent revenue tax and for a company like Apple whose revenue is $220 billion that would be a tax of $2.2 billion.

America is wrong

There is a large group of Americans, perhaps numbering in the millions, who are disappointed with the country. They feel that the country is headed in the wrong directions. These people will not stand for the national anthem and will not salute the flag and it extends to students. Many do not trust the police and this has spilled over into the military, where defense spending is seen as taking money from social programs. They see other citizens as polluters and companies as putting profits ahead of climate change and this leads to anti capitalism and a desire for more government control of business. Free speech is under attack, as many words and phrases are deemed unacceptable and this leads to a distrust of religion in general. Phrases like under God and in God we trust are suspect. The income gap, which is best seen in minorities, fans the flames of racism and pushes the idea of equal out come vs equal opportunity. This then blurs the line between legal and illegal immigrants. The concept of the redistribution of wealth is the answer to their prayers.