Politics in the USA

When I first got to grad school in the US, I was amazed at the diversity.  Men and women from all over the US: Georgia, Alabama, West Virginia, California, Illinois, Ohio; people from abroad: Canada, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Colombia, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Italy, Germany, mainland China, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangla Desh.  There were people studying many subjects; undergraduates and grad students; blacks, certainly whites, Latinos; singles of both sexes, and married students, with and without children. 

I also met junior faculty, who had just been hired; and secretarial staff, clerical staff, bookstore staff; athletes, cheerleaders, coaches, and spouses. 

It was an election year, and when November rolled round, I saw electioneering on TV.

Back then I learned to recognize a$$#oles, in real life, and on the screen.   Soon I came to realize that Reagan was one of these AH's, albeit a very stylish one. 

I decided, at that time, that this was American politics, about which I didn't know a lot; if they wanted to elect an AH, that was their business.  I watched all the fallout from US politics, and groaned inside, but affected a nonchalance, mainly to feel better about the chaos. 

Soon I got a job, and found that my colleagues-to-be were incredibly welcoming people, who appreciated the various things I could do, and quickly arranged for me to get immigration.  It involved a great deal of effort on their part, for which I am truly grateful. 

Many years later, I was returning from a visit home, and going through immigration; it was an African-American officer at the turnstile, and he was studying my visa, and my passport, which was still issued by the land of my birth. 

"Mr. X?"  He used my real name. ('Archimedes' is just a Net Name I invented when my students and I first began interacting with the Internet.)

"Yes?"

"Man, you've been an immigrant longer than I've been alive!"  I looked suitably embarrassed.  "What are you waiting for?  Most people would have applied for citizenship long ago!"

Well, needless to say, I didn't apply for citizenship as soon as I got home to Williamsport, because the foolishness of the Republican administration was easier to tolerate when I was outwardly an immigrant.

Then Trump became president, and I decided: enough with the games.  Various other incidents helped push me over the line, and I applied to be a citizen. 

One day, I found myself being sworn in as a citizen.  I got to vote that November, and, as luck would have it, helped Joe Biden to be elected president. 

My point for this blogpost is: US diversity has not lessened; it has increased.  There are stunning variations in attitude among the Republicans, as well as the Democrats.  The Republicans have such a great diversity of attitudes that it's mind boggling.

Not all of them hate the Left - leaning ideas of some of the Dem leadership, but most of them do. 

Not all of them are believing Christians, but some of them are. 

Not all of them want to prevent women from getting abortions on demand, but lots of them do. 

Many of them want to get rid of government waste.  But so do a huge number of Dems!  We're not stupid; we know a lot of the Washington bureaucracy is the legacy of ancient pork-barrel deals that have outlived their usefulness. 

Not all the Republicans support Trump, but they're convinced that the Trump/Musk team has a better chance to 'clean up' Washington than any others.  But not all of them are persuaded that it's being conducted the best way. 

What about Social Welfare programs?  I suspect that a lot of Republicans know, privately, that they're necessary, and depended upon.  But they can't admit it, for fear of getting into trouble with the GOP secret police. 

What about women, minorities, immigrants, and children?  Generally speaking, they care a lot less about these demographics, and won't go anywhere near expressing support for them, for fear of being labeled 'Woke'.  They have to show each other that they're the meanest, nastiest, controlling-est, testosterone- infused monsters, to establish their cred with the boys.  They sneer at their compatriots who have cars with mufflers that actually work. 

Biden appealed to the most moderate guys in the GOP, and women.  But Trump skillfully whined about being bullied by the courts, and they sympathized.  The GOP has sympathy for Trump—I just can't see why; he's obviously a fake—unlike the Dems, who're likely to shoot him on sight.  Someday I might understand the pleasure the MAGA crowd takes in Trump, but that day is not today.  More than likely, many of them can't stand him either, and they definitely can't stand Must!

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Golf, while in the White House

Trump declared a national emergency, which gave him extra powers.  It's those powers that he invoked to put immigrants in jail, shut down departments, etc.  Some he's out somewhere in the South, playing golf (badly).

He'd better finish all his nonsense before his term expires, because we're going to have to make very carefull legislation to make sure that future presidents will not be able to do all the extra-legal things that Trump did.  Future presidents will be put in a straight jacket.  At least the Republican ones.

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One Big Problem with NonReaders

People are declaring that the US system of education is broken.  All right, people; you get a star sticker.  And You get a Star, and You get a star!  (Just kidding!)

These days I worry about how to sequence my thoughts, to take into account reader fatigue.  Can you believe this?  But a diatribe on US Exceptionalism was not what I wanted to draw your attention to. 

One thing that I thought was good was the idea of referendums.  You put these questions on ballots, and people get to express their opinions on the matter.  But the questions, depending on how subtle they are, need to be phrased carefully.  But it's my belief that citizens are gradually losing the ability to understand tricky language.  Think about that. 

Those who formulate questions for referendums are going to increasingly be able to phrase them in such ways as to confuse voters into voting exactly the way they do not feel.  Some young people are only comfortable communicating in emojis.  I mean, consider that they feel the need to have even secret meetings in a meeting app.

But seriously, though in certain quarters, reading at a high level is taken for granted, in other quarters, reading too much gets a child condemned by its peers as elitist, and blackballed by the parents of kids who are "emoji learners," to coin a phrase, and many school boards aren't happy about making demands of their darling children!

I think Henry Ford is indirectly to blame for the failure of US education.  It works fine in the Third World, where kids can be brow-beaten into learning tough material in their large classes.  In the US, though, education doesn't lend itself to economies of scale.  US kids know their rights.

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The Chat Group

By now, most people watching the Trump Administration closely would have heard about the chat group set up by the Hegseth Defense Department, which accidentally included a journalist. That really doesn't look like carelessness to me; it was intentional, possibly sabotage.  Or one of them wants to claim sabotage on a future date. 

AOC and Bernie Sanders were in Arizona, at a rally in Tucson.  This is heartening news.  The important thing for young people to remember—those who are too young to remember the Vietnam War (pushed misguidedly and deceitfully by various members of the government), and the enormous efforts it took to get out of Vietnam, and the Civil Rights movement, and what it took to get equitable laws passed, will be amazed at how much determination and patience it takes to oppose a stubborn enemy, such as the Maga movement.  States will have to take over the safeguards that the federal government was responsible for before Trump/Musk.  Some states might pass laws for this purpose, but the so- called Red States won't, and they'll be great fodder for opportunists. 

At least a few of the consequences of the 'cost savings' that Musk has instituted will affect the poorer citizens who voted for Trump, but perhaps there aren't very many such people.  A lot of rich maga business owners will be happy.  I don't know about farmers.  (Trump's people will claim that it was Biden's quick response to the Avian Flu threat that ruined the poultry business.)

I'm angry about the destruction of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) which the Administration gleefully destroyed.  It was a promising way of fighting against unfair business practices.  For that alone, I think Musk should be beheaded. 

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Sex, Gender, and Dis-Something

There is a word to describe the condition of being uncomfortable with the gender assigned at birth: dysphoria? something like that; and I just realized that trans women—that's former guys who have undergone some sort of gender conversion to become women—and who get sent to prison for some law they have broken, are put in women's prison.  This seems uncomfortable for the natural women in those prisons, who may be required to do things alongside Trans women at certain times of the day. 

I have generally considered that, well, who really cares what happens in jail?  Those inmates deserve what happens to them.  But these days, all sorts of people I consider innocent are often sent to prison, and it could be months or years before they're released. 

Why this issue has come up is because Trump has issued an order saying that trans women sent to prison should be put in a men's prison.  Many people are apparently against this. 

Actually, I can see how many people could be against putting these former guys in women's prison, too.  Getting a gender transition causes so much trouble, that I think—and I'm no legal expert, so my attitude towards this issue could be considered based on prejudice, but nevertheless a strongly held opinion—I think these 'women' should be given 20 lashes, and then sent home.  It's a bit much that they can disrupt the prison system, ɓy first getting gender transition, and then breaking the law.  Their punishment should be twice as severe as it would normally be. 

I really wonder how many of these women exist; trans jailbirds.

This is one of the few 'edicts' from Trumpie that I'm in favor of. 

Well.  Just on Saturday, my wife and I participated in a protest against the Tesla dealership in the town where I was visiting family in Arizona.  Along with many others, we rejoice when Musk loses money in the stock market, the more money the better, because we do, too, and unlike him, being retired, we depend on our stocks for our income.  (He uses his stocks to acquire more companies, such as Twitter.  Which he then mismanages.)

However, though we are happy to apply pressure on the Tesla dealerships, we're not hostile to Tesla owners.  They must have acquired their cars with the most enlightened motives (while the rest of us made do with buying hybrids), and we can't fault them.  There are dealerships in Britain, whose employees have displayed placards reading 'WE HATE HIM TOO!'  The highly excitable Wall Street types might see the protests taking place at the dealerships, and sell their Tesla stocks.  That would be fabulous.  Meanwhile, the Dow is on a downward plunge, not because of anything we do, but because of the Musk-Trump foolishness.  One set of Trumpadvisers want to sabotage government, generally.  Another set of them want the stock market to do well, as an endorsement of Trump's (mythical) financial ability.  Well, they can't have both.  Wall Street wants stability.  The Stable Genius only knows to generate instability. 

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Permanent Damage

Some things that Musk and Trump are doing can be reversed: Laws; Social Security; Education Department, and so on.  Immunization rules, trade deals.

But some damage is permanent: selling off National Parks to lumber companies; preservation of monuments; it's too demoralizing to list the possible damage.

Democrats and Liberals are non-violent people; like Quakers, Mennonites, people of strong principles, they prefer to make peaceful, non-violent protests; sit-ins, occupations.  Burning in effigy.

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Glued to their Phones

Something I have said often:  one benefit of going to college is to learn ways of keeping yourself amused in your free time. 

Why do kids these days have their faces glued to their phones?  They're bored.  Their interests are few.  Some have no interests, and just need to check in with their classmates. 

I didn't have a cellphone when I was 12, and my parents were around 40 at that time, and probably would not have given me one (even if available).  I just went home after school, and read the book I was in the middle of reading: Hardy Boys, probably.  They were really too short!

Kids are difficult to keep amused.  But adults, too, are all too easily bored.  The smartest people are less likely to get bored.  On the other hand, smart 'kids' get bored, too.  The important thing is to have a ton of ideas in your head, so that any idea that happens to cross your mind connects up with related ideas that are already there, waiting for it. 

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Fresh Viewpoint: Guest Post

I was thinking it's time for a guest blogger, when what to my wondering eye should appear but a suitable essay!

 

Well, now we know that Trump isn't very smart. Understatement is the way to go here, because ranting just turns people off. But I want to bring up some interesting coincidences I have noticed.

Remember how fixated Trump was about the size of Arnold Palmer's junk? and how he kept saying that Hilary Clinton "got shlonged"? He knew very well that "shlong" is penis in Yiddish, he's not that dumb (really). I think that in a way, Trump and Putin are exact opposites, because Putin is a small man with a big dick, and Trump is a big man with a small - well, Marco Rubio said it first, whatever he meant.  See how this works?  All very dick sensitive.

Okay, we're going to have to do something drastic here. Invoke the 25^th amendment because the

T is clearly off his rocker, or the 2^nd because we could get people to aim at his other ear or (if they

are really accurate) whatever he has in his crotch. It would be great if someone could hack into the

Justice Department system (which should be quite easy now because all the systems are blown wide open by Nylon's little boys) and get a pardon for the joker who trimmed DJT's ear.

The Democrats really, really need a kick up their ass. They're still crawling about moaning about the

last election. I watched Hakeem Jefferies talk dithering bullshit to avoid having to admit that the

Old Guard are the lead weights sinking the ship. The leaders of the next generation are already here, but they are getting zero dollars from the party coffers. 

 

I'm ambivalent about John Fetterman, although Bill Maher seems to think that he's the future of the party. Just think, if the dems could recruit a Hollywood star like Dwayne Johnson (awesome talent in dozens of disciplines) or a basketball star like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (genius IQ, has written novels) or Lady Gaga (staggeringly

competent and a genius)? I'd vote for a ticket with Gavin Newsome and Pete Buttigieg; Newsome for the great smile, and Buttigieg for the great brain.

Now, if Tiny Dick stops the arms shipments to Ukraine (which will seriously piss off the arms manufacturers who pay big bucks to senators), then Ukraine doesn't have to worry about keeping to the limits originally placed on them. Like, they could take all their HIMARS guns, put on Russian uniforms (good thing most Ukrainians speak Russian) and merrily drive right up to the Kremlin and blast it at short range. That would really annoy the cleaning staff. And the KGB/GRU/whatever guys probably won't have a clue. The Ukrainians could even draft North Koreans to help them, since those guys are just waiting for orders and don't know who's supposed to give them.

Somebody, do something.

Some Things Wrong With Life in the USA

I know: everybody knows some things. 

I don't have simple solutions (In the face of this Trump-type disaster, all these things pale into insignificance.   But it's still useful to keep an eye on these smallish problems, on the off chance that we can surmount this Maga disaster).

I was just reading a post about a programme in the Netherlands, where they show kids how to repair broken toys.  An adult volunteer fixes their toy equipment while they watch.   Someone had made a comment: It will never work in the US; they'll have to first pry their phones out of their hands!

At first I was sadly agreeing with that attitude; a large proportion of the families we know find it easier to succumb to the kids demand for phones, than to resist them.  Honestly, I don't know how to deal with that problem; cell phones weren't invented when my daughter was a kid. 

Then I thought: the diversity of family cultures in the US is really vast.  We see little kids with their eyes glued to their cellphones all around us, and we assume that it's a universal thing, but I'm willing to bet that in some homes, giving kids cellphones is not a thing taken for granted.  

Part of the problem—at least in families where both parents work—is that both parents are really exhausted when they come home after work.  I'm convinced this is an American thing; in some countries, workplaces do not extract every bit of productivity from every worker, so that parents can come home with some energy left over to give their kids. 

There is, evidently, a place in Tucson, AZ, where kids can repair their toys or equipment in a sort of workshop environment.

Unfortunately, we're only too quick to speak out on behalf our employers, that the slave labor conditions at work are right and proper, and ordained by God. 

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Some Immigrants are More Equal than Others

Everybody seems agreed that we should put the brakes on the volume of illegal immigrants coming across the southern border.   I don't want to imply that all illegal immigrants come across the southern border, but—the public generally wants to slow down their numbers, or stop them entirely. 

Then, many voters don't want the total volume of immigrants to remain this high.  There was a feeling that recent administrations were lax about immigrants in general. 

A third class of immigrants is skilled immigrants, who present their special qualifications or training as part of their case for being granted immigrant status. 

Well, a lot Trump's helpers in the administration seem to be of this description, and chief among them is, of course, Musk.  As Musk stretches the limits of the tolerance for skilled immigrants among the population, might xenophobic Republicans begin to view all women and minorities in the Trump camp with disfavor and dislike?  Tulsa Gabbard, Vivek Kumaraswamy, Kash Patel are all among Trump Administration members who might be viewed as targets of the recent conservative hostility: women, birthright citizenship, skilled immigrants, etc. 

One group that has escaped particular notice is the group that shows large capital resources, which qualified them to be citizens because of their capital resources.  Musk seems to be one of those. 

But of course, Trump has prided himself on being inconsistent.  'Keep 'em guessing,' has been his motto.  But his supporters are far more consistent, at least on some matters.  This might spell problems for the Republicans in future elections. 

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Post-game Excitement

So, some excited Eagles fans have indulged in vandalism in Philly.  I hope they're satisfied.  They probably played up to impress their women, but it's quite possible those women are quite unimpressed. 

Some guys like to pretend that, after a couple of beers they lose control.  Probably just pretense; they're probably fine. 

I wonder whether the police report any incidents of DUI after the game. 

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Tariffs, Lions and Tigers (Oh My)

Well, our dear brand-new President sort of won this most recent election by promising to stir up the international trade pot with, of course, tariffs, the favorite word of certain people.

Well, so far there has been so much push back against tariffs that he's yet to find tarrifs that he can use, for fun and profit. 

Musk, meanwhile, is muscleing-in into high security areas, such as the Treasury, and IRS databases, and this will cause no end of trouble for the anti-maga crowd, because of the potential for retaliatory actions.  Unfortunately, the sensible people in Congress are too old, and too tired, to put up much resistance.  The younger elements of the Democrats have been strongly discredited as 'ultra left', etc, (sometimes by the moderate Dems themselves,) and aren't really knowledgeable enough to fight the technological battles that will soon be taking place. 

Unless people in the Trump camp keep a leash on Musk and his teams, there might be nothing left in the US treasury for Trump to pillage after the genie gets his hands on it.  (And if all the gold is converted into Bitcoin, we won't know what to do with it, anyway!)

It's possible, because of how dangerous Trump's cronies are, magaboy might be headed—ultimately—to the poorhouse.  But it's sad that he'll take a lot of the vulnerable rural, uneducated, unvaccinated poor with him. 

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Renaissance People

This category of persons were called 'Rennaisance Men', but it seems going against modern sensibilities to use that term.  It means people who are interested and involved in everything, and can, ideally, speak knowledgeably on every area of human interest and activity.  Benjamin Franklin, a national treasure, was such a person; he was interested in history, politics, and science, we know, as well as literature and journalism.  But I think I remember that he was widely read, and wrote about a variety of subjects.  Thomas Jefferson was another founding father who was revered for how wide his interests were, and his knowledge was.

It's important to be a Renaissance person.  There seem to be people who are slightly acquainted with every subject, but whose opinion can't be relied on on any matter.  There are also people who have focused on just one thing, to the exclusion of everything else, and their opinion, too, is distorted by being too close to that one subject.  This is why I urge everyone to keep an interest in a variety of things.

Oh well; that covers what I wanted to say. 

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Great Explainers

I thought I'd write a post about these well-known personalities who have taken on the responsibility of speaking to the public on behalf of their colleagues or their avocation.

Leonard Bernstein.  This post was triggered by my feeling that Bernstein did so much to explain some really useful approaches to appreciating music; and I wondered whether there were other disciplines that had their own spokesperson.

Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke.  Of course, Albert Einstein did his part, by speaking to the Press about advances in science.  But Sagan and Clarke were greatly influential by addressing laymen.

Richard Feynman, Neil de Grasse Tyson.  Everybody knows who Neil deGrasse Tyson is—his name is just a little too short for true fame—but few people today would have heard of Richard Feynman.  Physics students even today, however, revere Feynman for making Quantum Mechanics a little more understandable. 

David Attenborough should be recognized for bringing us the sights and sounds of some of the hidden worlds of nature.

Richard Leakey was probably one of the most visible—and audible—members of the Leakey family, many of whom were deeply involved with physical anthropology, and the origin of man.  There were many others, including Donald Johansson, who is associated with the discovery of the fossil Lucy, and related fossils.

Noam Chomsky.  This man is well known among those who have an interest in politics, as well as culture and morals.  He has generally been critical of Republicans, but often not as critical as others tend to be; and he is also critical of Democrats.  A very insightful commentator. 

In the realm of mathematics, physics andastronomy, a fabulous explainer is Roger Penrose.  He and Ezra (Ted) Newman were mainly responsible for the complexification of spacetime, a crazy plan that uses complex variables to solve Einstein's equations for General Relativity, which gives unexpected insight into some of the things we've been getting from the JWST telescope.  Also, my doctorate research focused on—an essentially trivial—result that fell out of this project.

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MBAs Looking for Work

I don't have a lot of sympathy for MBA- holders, at the best of times.  Their training is all about maximizing profits for businesses at the cost of quality for consumers.  So many of our complaints about modern life can be laid at the feet (can be blamed, that is, in case you were wondering what laying at the feet meant) on some MBA: "Shrinkflation", the proliferation of commercials on pay-TV, the pestilence of junk-mail—and direct- mail advertising, the weird billing practices of supposedly not-for-profit organizations; MBAs are the engines driving all of these.

Musk may as well be an MBA; I don't think he has any applicable knowledge of any commodity, except investment.  The Real Estate driven market crash of 2007-2008  was a result of MBAs gambling on mortgage insurance. 

The rash of corporate takeovers, sophisticated cheating on taxes; in fact any screwy business practices are all blameable on MBAs.  It's my belief that what MBAs learn in MBA School is nothing but screwy business practices. 

Why the business world has stopped hiring MBAs is difficult to see, but an obvious reason could be that they've priced themselves out of being hireable.  They've been well known for commanding huge salaries; now business executives are leery of making that kind of ongoing salary commitment, when a $15 an hour minimum wage is impending.  At least the minimum wage folks are flipping essential burgers, while the MBAs would look like parasites most of the time, even if they're brilliant at ripping off senior citizens online!

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Basic Knowledge

I'm just responding to a question that is puzzling people: can Robert Kennedy III (or whatever) handle the Department of Health (or whatever)?  

Why would anyone refuse to accept vaccinations as a helpful prophylactic (disease preventative), and give credence to stories about the dangers of vaccine—for instance—and advocate not using them?  The eradication (disappearing) of Polio, and Malaria, and Smallpox, and the careful control of childhood diseases (Chickenpox, Whooping Cough, Measles, etc.) are evidence of the success of vaccinations, but the suspicions persist. 

Autism.  Belief that the Moon Landing was staged.  The Earth is flat, etc, etc.  Some things are obviously taken at face value, e.g. smart phones. 

One componentof this deep-rooted suspicion is, I believe, the belief—or the desireto believe, or the desire to show support for those who believe—that the Government is not to be trusted.  This is clearly expected and reasonable for those in opposition to the present government; the rejection of vaccination is theatre, as the Republicans have so often accused the Democrats of.

But after  decades of theatre, old Bob probably can't distinguish between his beliefs, and the rôle that he's playing.  He needs to know the basics of microbiology, and public health, and pharmacology, just in order to understand how the FDA works.

There's a famous quote that there are none so blind as those who will not see, so that it is far easier to convince ordinary people who don't believe in the efficacy of vaccinations, than it is to explain to someone like Robert Kennedy, whose disbelief was initially pretended for demogogical reasons.