Nurses

I recently read an article that confirmed my belief that nurses are among the most well- intentioned, hardworking people in any profession.  (Teachers, too, are well-intentioned; so are social workers, and those in lots of jobs that are service-oriented.  But burnout can happen to anyone, and a large part of management of these jobs is burnout prevention.)

One of my aunts was a nurse, and so was my step-daughter.  These two were among the brightest people I have known.  Nurses, I have found, are generally intelligent, and perhaps that is a factor in their choice of occupation.  One of the first things nurses have to do is to learn how to suffer fools patiently and diplomatically.  Most of them succeed at this task.

Birthright Citizenship

This issue: Should birthright citizenship be removed from the Constitution?  is a difficult one.

I think I should recuse myself, because (1) it does not apply to me, and (2) it looks as though the  proposed change in the constitution has not been made sufficiently clear for the public to have a clear opinion on it.

My understanding of the statement as it is in the constitution is that any child born on US soil is a US citizen.

What the administration wants to clarify is whether the mother is in the USA legally.  (Up to now, any woman giving birth in the US gives birth to a citizen—though one wonders how it can be proved that the birth took place in the US at all.)  In fact, they want both parents to have been present in the US legally.

Arch

A New Style of President

In the US, in the 20th Century and after, the presidents have been focused on getting re-elected, and improving the country, and the lives of the people.

Trump has a different view of the presidency.  It is something he can do with essentially no training, no preparation at all, with just what people are accustomed to calling Bullshit.  It's just spouting, based on prejudice, and the inexperienced advice of business friends and other opportunists. 

Unfortunately, in the upper echelons—I mean financial echelons—of the US population, there are plenty of people who are adept at BS; that's what usually gets thrown around in corporate boardrooms, I believe.  Now that it appears that the people, however poor, still seem to revere corporate managers (Pritzker is one of them, but he has chosen the anti-Trump camp, as anyone should), we're going to get rich businessmen running for President from now on, and the usual scandals that follow presidents are going to be 10 times worse; and now that Trump has stretched the limits of how far presidents can take what is lawlessness to our minds, they're going to go even further.  That's the disgusting thing about Trump's presidency. 

Lame duck presidents can go as far down the self-serving road as their party will allow them, because they aren't going to run again.  This explains Trump's feeble attempts at pretending that he's going to run for a third term.  No, he's a lame duck, looking to squeeze every miserable dollar out of the presidency.  Now that the honor of the presidency has been trashed, only crooks and scoundrels will aspire to be president.  Accepting a plane from Qatar.  Sheesh.  We don't have to imagine George Washington turning in his grave; I'm rolling in mine, and I'm not even dead yet.