Sharing Thoughts and Ideas - 2019 and newer

Issues We need to  Be Not Afraid  to tackle the tough issues. Some of the critical issues that need to be addressed, and my positions on them, are listed below. We must address these tough issues, otherwise your and my kids and grandkids will bear the burden. In good conscience, we cannot let that happen! But, first let me set out how I approach issues. I follow the facts, sometimes to where I would rather not go, but go there I do if the facts are compelling. Free Market Economics: Problems and Solutions , May 7, 2019. Capitalism has enabled more people to escape poverty than any other economic system. Socialism and communism have proven to be failures. But capitalism is not perfect and sometimes “market failures” require government action to maximize the public good. Am I a Libertarian? , June 29, 2019. Protecting individual liberties is always a great place to start in considering any government policy. I have pledged to uphold our U.S. Const...

I mentor a young man in another country. We use Facebook Messenger a lot for free communication across borders on the other side of the world. I perceive he has a problem that I suspect might well be also negatively impacting our youth who instant message almost constantly. I have a theory that his using Facebook Messenger so much and communicating with many people, that he loses track of things he needs to do simply due to being distracted. Messenger is very inefficient in terms of time use. It is also very bad for keeping track of things, as messages get lost in the long strings of messages. Messages are usually short and devoid of much information. Also, information is so fragmented that it is hard to see where a complete thought or plan is. That is why I want to move communication between him and me more to e-mail (and to using Google Tasks for a To Do list). There, a more robust explanation can be given or a more complete description written. This is hard to do in any leng...

Facts Matter. How Do You Want to be Judged? Facts matter. In the Impeachment process in Congress, the big question is whether there will be witnesses and additional documents permitted. For the trial in the Senate to be fair, all the relevant evidence needs to be presented, both for and against conviction, so that “the truth, the  whole truth, and nothing but the truth” be known. I want there to be a fair trial in the Senate. And, as a Republican, I want President Trump to put up a vigorous and credible defense. When this is over, the worst thing for Republicans is for the “trial” in the Senate to be viewed by the voters as a pure Republican cover-up. In contrast to much of the secondhand testimony in the House proceeding that Republicans have criticized, Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney both have firsthand direct knowledge of some of the critical events. The Democrats want very badly to see them testify...

Trump ordered the surprise drone strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen.  Qassem Soleimani  while he was in Iraq reportedly planning further terrorists’ acts against American personnel. Soleimani served as commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and was considered one of Iran’s most powerful military figures and a possible successor to Iran’s current lead er. He is  the architect of Iran’s regional security strategy and intelligence chief who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops over the years, I will neither praise Trump nor condemn him for ordering the strike. Surely the U.S. is better off with Soleimani dead. What is not known is what the repercussions of the killing will be. Iran will likely attempt to retaliate. Will it be less or more harmful than if the killing had not occurred? We will never know, as the intelligence community will probably not reveal what they knew about his plans, as doing so w...

We hear in the media of two problems regarding higher education: ·          The costs have gone up dramatically, making college unaffordable for many. ·          Students who have needed college loans to enable them to go to college are saddled by an incredible amount of debt. The following statistics bear these statements out. It truly was easier financially to get my Bachelor’s Degree from Michigan State University from 1967-1970, getting my degree in three years and a summer term, working my way through, and leaving with no debt and a new car. “ Average Cost of College Statistics and Key Findings ·          Average Total Cost of Public Colleges:  $25,290  (in-state)  $40,940  (out-of-state) ·          Average Total Cost of Private Colleges:  $50,900 ·       ...

Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding’s 2019 book, “Stealth War: How China Took Over While America’s Elite Slept” raises very serious concerns about China’s rise and its underlying intentions. But first, we should note Spaulding’s credentials, to see how much credence we should give to his perspective. Spalding was known both inside and outside the Trump administration as a China hawk. From 2014 to 2016 he led the China division at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the chief architect for the National Security Strategy of December 2017 . Before joining the Trump White House, he was the U.S. defense attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Spaulding retired after 26 year in the U.S. Air Force after being forced out of his role in the Trump administration in the National Security Council after a memo he drafted concerning the concept of nationalization of a 5G network was leaked by undisclosed sources. Conclusion: he certainly was in position to have very informed opinions concerning Chin...