The Trumpster Takes More Unquestionable--and Deserved--Hits Today

There is an excellent and true and very fair op/ed piece in today's Sunday New York Times by Nicholas Kristof American voters should see.

America and the Virus: ‘A Colossal Failure of Leadership’

In its destruction of American lives, treasure and well-being, this pandemic marks the greatest failure of U.S. governance since Vietnam.

One of the most lethal leadership failures in modern times unfolded in South Africa in the early 2000s as AIDS spread there under President Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki scorned science, embraced conspiracy theories, dithered as the disease spread and rejected lifesaving treatments. His denialism cost about 330,000 lives, a Harvard study found.

None of us who wrote scathingly about that debacle ever dreamed that something similar might unfold in the United States. But today, health experts regularly cite President Trump as an American Mbeki.

“We’re unfortunately in the same place,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at U.C.L.A. “Mbeki surrounded himself with sycophants and cost his country hundreds of thousands of lives by ignoring science, and we’re suffering the same fate.”

I can't recommend the piece enough.

Not done there, the Times added this.

R.I.P., G.O.P.

The Party of Lincoln had a good run. Then came Mr. Trump.

Of all the things President Trump has destroyed, the Republican Party is among the most dismaying.

“Destroyed” is perhaps too simplistic, though. It would be more precise to say that Mr. Trump accelerated his party’s demise, exposing the rot that has been eating at its core for decades and leaving it a hollowed-out shell devoid of ideas, values or integrity, committed solely to preserving its own power even at the expense of democratic norms, institutions and ideals...

The final op/ed piece I'll mention here today from the Times is this from Maureen Dowd.

King Kong Trump, Losing His Grip

A steaming mad president is running out of steam.

"Biden, the empath;

Trump, the sociopath."

You can only let King Kong, as Don McGahn, Trump’s first White House counsel, dubbed his former boss, smash up the metropolis for so long.

It seems this President, his White House and administration have all given up, too.

White House chief of staff: 'We are not going to control the pandemic'

Meanwhile, this news hit today.

Members of Pence’s Inner Circle Test Positive for Coronavirus

5 people of the Vice President's staff including his Chief of Staff have now tested positive for the coronavirus. Added to that, the Vice President is continuing to campaign across the nation, in spite of this development.

Pence Denounced for 'Grossly Negligent' Decision to Keep Campaigning Despite Exposure to Top Aide With Covid-19

Vote, folks.  In 9 days or sooner, vote.   And vote blue.

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BYEDON

Nicholas Kristof Poses a Great Question---and Indicts Our Own Home State of Missouri and the Nation

Today's op/ed piece in the New York Times from Nicholas Kristof poses a great question.

What if There Were No George Floyd Video?

A great, even important question.

We wouldn't be trying to, at long, long last, heal these racist, racial wounds in the nation.  

George Floyd's death should never have taken place, of course.  At least we are finally, finally addressing these problems, these issues, this issue of race in America.

But by way of asking this question and addressing these issues, Mr. Kristof also makes a great and important point---and indicts our own state of Missouri, too. He states:

There is no video to show that a black boy born today in Washington, D.C., Missouri, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi or a number of other states has a shorter life expectancy than a boy born in Bangladesh or India.

Get that.

To repeat, a black boy born in these states, including our own home state of Missouri, has a shorter life span expectancy than that of a boy born in Bangladesh or India.

That is obscene.

It's also racism. It's one of the many results of racism in our nation.

We have got to do better.

And we've got to do better quickly. 

Now would be good.

Additional links:

Opinion | Nicholas Kristof: When Whites Just Don’t Get It

Aug. 30, 2014

Opinion | Nicholas Kristof: When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 2

Sept. 6, 2014

Opinion | Nicholas Kristof: When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 3

Oct. 11, 2014

Opinion | Nicholas Kristof: When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 4

Nov. 15, 2014

Opinion | Nicholas Kristof: When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 5

Nov. 29, 2014

Opinion | Nicholas Kristof: When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 6

April 2, 2016

Opinion | Nicholas Kristof: When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 7

Oct. 1, 2016

The Complete, Total, Even Outrageous Hypocrisy of This Donald J. Trump

You can't really comprehend the really complete and total, utter hypocrisy and even stupidity of Trump's "Muslim ban"--because that's what it is, let's face it--until you see this very brief (3 minutes, 36 seconds) video from Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times.



And besides his grandfather, think, too, of Mr. Trump's wife.

Besides being a nearly unimaginable hypocrite, the man doesn't know America's own history.

"Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free..."

The value of great teachers

There was an article I nearly covered a few days ago--Sunday--in The New York Times that told of the high value of good teachers on children and the great effects they can have. I thought it so self-evident that I didn't write about it. Now comes a column from The Times' own Nicholas Kristof, expanding on it: The Value of Teachers "...a landmark new research paper underscores that the difference between a strong teacher and a weak teacher lasts a lifetime. Having a good fourth-grade teacher makes a student 1.25 percent more likely to go to college, the research suggests, and 1.25 percent less likely to get pregnant as a teenager. Each of the students will go on as an adult to earn, on average, $25,000 more over a lifetime — or about $700,000 in gains for an average size class — all attributable to that ace teacher back in the fourth grade. That’s right: A great teacher is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to each year’s students, just in the extra income they will earn. The study, by economists at Harvard and Columbia universities, finds that if a great teacher is leaving, parents should hold bake sales or pass the hat around in hopes of collectively offering the teacher as much as a $100,000 bonus to stay for an extra year. Sure, that’s implausible — but their children would gain a benefit that far exceeds even that sum." That is, if the parent is involved. And if the parent cares about their child. And their child's success. Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/opinion/kristof-the-value-of-teachers.html; http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/value_added.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/education/big-study-links-good-teachers-to-lasting-gain.html?scp=2&sq=teachers&st=cse;

America: the untrustworthy "world leader"

Columnist/writer Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times asked the following question today on his Facebook page: "...what are some...points to make that connect the dots about the crisis in governance around the world?" For what it's worth, my response: America isn't trustworthy as a leader in world politics because far too much of our politics and far too many of our decisions are made based on what's good for the wealthy and corporations only, due to our election and political system. Unless and until we get the money out of our system, we don't have true statemen who make decisions based on what's good for the nation--and the world. They make decisions based on what's good for those same corporations and the wealthy instead. This infects decisions like those on climate change, sure, but also on simple business and banking issues as well. Sadly, we are not trustworthy partners in world leadership, because of this. Agree? Disagree? Comments? Link: https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/424904139998

In the face of all this negativity

It seems as though everyone is focusing on all the bad things that are happening either to or in the US--or both--or in the world and everyone assumes we're all going "to heck in a handbasket", as it were. So kudos and salutations to Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times to point out the things going right and well in the world: Are We Getting Nicer? 'It’s pretty easy to conclude that the world is spinning down the toilet.' So let me be contrary and offer a reason to be grateful this Thanksgiving. Despite the gloomy mood, the historical backdrop is stunning progress in human decency over recent centuries. War is declining, and humanity is becoming less violent, less racist and less sexist — and this moral progress has accelerated in recent decades. To put it bluntly, we humans seem to be getting nicer. That’s the central theme of an astonishingly good book just published by Steven Pinker, a psychology professor at Harvard. It’s called 'The Better Angels of Our Nature,' and it’s my bet to win the next Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. 'Today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species’ existence,' Pinker writes, and he describes this decline in violence as possibly “the most important thing that has ever happened in human history.'” So, this Thanksgiving, before you or your brother-in-law or whomever starts lamenting that we're going down the tubes, forward him to this fact-filled, history-drawn column. Maybe it will shut him up. Maybe it will give us all pause. And hope. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/opinion/kristof-are-we-getting-nicer.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share&pagewanted=print

Hard data showing we need to cut the defense budget mightily

4 very telling statistics from Nicholas Kristof, columnist at The New York Times:

• The United States spends nearly as much on military power as every other country in the world combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It says that we spend more than six times as much as the country with the next highest budget, China.

• The United States maintains troops at more than 560 bases and other sites abroad, many of them a legacy of a world war that ended 65 years ago. Do we fear that if we pull our bases from Germany, Russia might invade?

• The intelligence community is so vast that more people have “top secret” clearance than live in Washington, D.C.

• The U.S. will spend more on the war in Afghanistan this year, adjusting for inflation, than we spent on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War combined.

My own "statistic"/hard data?  We are weakened a great deal by spending all we do on defense and the military and their contractors, instead of strengthened.  It weakens us by running up further huge debt, first, and secondly, by not spending instead on infrastructure on and for the country and on health care for our citizens as well as education.

Keep in mind, too, this is only 4 statistics--four points, telling of our situation.  There are many more points to be made about this, actually. 

At this point, we're not on a dangerous, I think, path and one that is not sustainable by a long shot.  We're draining our resources and country because of it.

Link to original post:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26kristof.html?_r=4
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=us+defense+spending+statistics&aq=0v&aqi=g-v1g-o1&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=10ed5043a6013aa8

Quote of the day--does this make sense?

"The U.S. will spend more on the war in Afghanistan this year, adjusting for inflation, than we spent on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War combined."    --Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times 




Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26kristof.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a212

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26sun1.html?

On US' defense spending

Statistics, hard data (from Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, today) :

• The United States spends nearly as much on military power as every other country in the world combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It says that we spend more than six times as much as the country with the next highest budget, China.

• The United States maintains troops at more than 560 bases and other sites abroad, many of them a legacy of a world war that ended 65 years ago. Do we fear that if we pull our bases from Germany, Russia might invade?

• The intelligence community is so vast that more people have “top secret” clearance than live in Washington, D.C.

• The U.S. will spend more on the war in Afghanistan this year, adjusting for inflation, than we spent on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War combined.

It's obscene, what we spend on defense and the military.  In fact, let me go a step further--it's insane.  It truly is crazy.  It has no base in reality. (Absolutely no pun intended).

It makes no sense to spend this much on the military and on bases and weapons and weapons programs, not when nearly 10% of us are unemployed;  Not when so many of us can't afford our own health care;  Not when so many can't afford college educations.  Not when our infrastructure needs so much investment;  Not when we need to spend, far more wisely, on technology and research and development, instead, on computers and technology and that same health care I mentioned earlier and on our children's and grandchildren's futures;  And it makes no sense at all, considering the budget deficits we have.  The "military-industrial complex" is doing fantastically, thank you very much, while the rest of the country is going to hell in a handbasket.  Well, except for the bankers, but that's another story.  (There is even an editorial in the NY Times today, too, pointing out how short--in the billions--states are with their budgets and debts, yet we have military bases in Germany and Italy.  It is lunacy).

Even people from the military are saying the same things, too, so don't think this is coming from "the Left", trying to make us "weak on defense":

“Republicans think banging the war drums wins them votes, and Democrats think if they don’t chime in, they’ll lose votes,” said Andrew Bacevich, an ex-military officer who now is a historian at Boston University. He is author of a thoughtful recent book, “Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War.”

More:  Let me be clear: I’m a believer in a robust military, which is essential for backing up diplomacy. But the implication is that we need a balanced tool chest of diplomatic and military tools alike. Instead, we have a billionaire military and a pauper diplomacy. The U.S. military now has more people in its marching bands than the State Department has in its foreign service — and that’s preposterous.

Now-former President Dwight D. Eisenhower  had it right--and warned us--when he said "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." 

We need to get off this merry-go-round.  

Only it's not a merry-go-round, actually.

It's a nearly-endless escalator.

And we aren't even having the conversation yet.

Links:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26kristof.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a212
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26sun1.html?src=un&feedurl=http://json8.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.jsonp

Quote of the day--on our banana republic

"You no longer need to travel to distant and dangerous countries to observe such rapacious inequality. We now have it right here at home — and in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, it may get worse.
The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana."  --Nicholas Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times




Link to original post:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/opinion/07kristof.html?_r=1&WT.mc_id=OP-SM-E-FB-SM-LIN-OBR-110810-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click

Men: On shifting sand?

"The yang of America’s labor force is this: over a 40-year career, a man earns $431,000 more than a woman on average, according to the Center for American Progress. The yin of America’s labor force is this: in this decade, for the first time in American history, men no longer inevitably dominate the labor force. Women were actually the majority of payroll employees for the five months that ended in March, according to one measure from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s mostly because about three-quarters of Americans who lost their jobs in the Great Recession were men." --Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times (see link below) When you add this kind of data to the fact that the former minorities are becoming the majority and that we have our first Black president, etc., etc., it's not a complete surprise that white, conservative, reactionary men resort to at least confusion, if not insecurity and, unfortunately, some ugliness (e.g., racism, etc.). That doesn't make it okay but it certainly helps explain a lot of their actions and reactions to our world of late. And I have news for ya'll on it---it's not going to get better. We're not going back to the way things were--or the way we think they were. Link to original post: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/opinion/22kristof.html?_r=1&hp