The History of Rapping

I can remember when 'rapping' meant making a fist and tapping your knuckles against a pane of glass, a door, a table top or even a noggin. Remember what a 'noggin' is?

In the 1960s rapping became 'sitting around talking with your friends'. It is also sometimes known as "shooting the breeze". But, the Conservatives didn't like those people because many had long hair, smoked pot (or used other drugs), and didn't conform to 'normal' rules of society. I guess they didn't like Freedom and Liberty when it meant someone could be different than them.

So, in the 1970s they made up the "War on Drugs". This enabled them to put a lot of those people they didn't like, and those who voted against them, in jail. Thus began the long 'rap sheets' of people in and out of jail. It also enabled the Conservatives to win a lot of elections.

The Conservatives were on the up-swing and they continued this program, but in the music world the people who didn't like this trend and those who were being locked-up began to 'rap' and they told stories of failed families, communities, and lives. They rapped about violence in their lives and how they had to do "what had to be done" to survive and get "bling bling".

The Conservatives thought they had a lot of power and the "silent majority" to back them. They thought they would control government for ever. They tried to impeach Pres. Clinton and narrowly failed. It was a bad rap! To ensure they didn't end up with rap sheets they changed the laws on contributing to political campaigns. They even sought campaign funds overseas. In 1996 it was the Dole campaign which did this first (as far as I know),

The Citizens United decision erased laws restraining the flow of money in politics. Then Barack H. Obama won the presidency twice. Boy could he hold the audience in rapt attention. The Conservatives decided they had to take more risks and get the "unified government" (control of the Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court).

This brings us to Donald H. Trump of the great state of New York. He changed all the rules by telling the audiences what they wanted to hear (he rapped like no politician ever had) about misogyny, racism, hate, fear, and how they had to forget the old ways and TAKE BACK what was theirs and "Make America Great Again". Trump had been sued many times over the years and fined by the federal government for many crimes, but he had always avoided admitting guilt. He didn't have a rap sheet, though he was clearly a bad dude. His voters simply didn't care. They admitted he was unfit for the presidency, but they liked his message. Though he lost the national popularity vote he won the electoral college and that made him president. To the Conservatives that was all that mattered.

So, what has this election brought us? AG Sessions is upping the ante on the War on Drugs. DHS is exporting a lot of people of color (POC). Conservatives are using Crosscheck, gerrymandering, voter ID laws, and other means to kick even more Democratic voters off the voting rolls. If it worked in the past, then it should work again in spades.

Then it was discovered nearly all of Trump's associates had strong connections to Russians. This is plainly bizarre and not traditional. What does it mean for America, for Democracy? How many of these people will eventually go to jail and end up with real rap sheets? Even Trump's family members are part of this.

In the history books the rap on the Trump era will have to be that the Conservative movement became so dissatisfied with what America had become that they were willing to do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to get power and restore their country to what they thought was good. They didn't care about Democracy any more. They didn't want consensus government or compromise. They began to believe a foreign leader (Vladimir Putin of Russia) was a great guy despite Putin's efforts to harm America. They will have to write the historical rap sheet of how the Republican party leaders, pundits, etc. worked together and with Putin to undermine our nation and to throw America into chaos. Though they were following the lead of their voters they didn't try to restrain the voter's worst instincts. They became like Putin: powerful, kleptocratic, destructive, horrible.

That's my rap and I'm sticking to it.

Sen. McCain has Brain Cancer, but Donald Trump is Crazy -- UPDATED

Our nation is being held hostage by a crazy president and his supporters who say they would want him to remain in office, even if it was proven he had colluded with the Russians to destroy our Democracy. Apparently they truly do believe he could kill people and they would continue to support him.

Meanwhile, when the president's healthcare legislation was to come up for a vote it became clear that Senator McCain had a health problem. At first they removed a large blood clot from above one of his eyes and then they discovered a cancerous brain tumor. Best wishes to Senator McCain and his family. My family has suffered from cancers and it is a terrible thing. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

The upshot of this is that Sen. McCain will not be returning (any time soon) to Washington to vote on legislation. That puts a crimp in the Republican party's legislative agenda.

Then the president decided to let the New York Times interview him and in that interview he essentially threatened the Attorney General, the special investigator/prosecutor Robert Mueller, and the FBI director. One can only guess the investigation is getting close to Trump and he wants to have leverage over those individuals. If they had any sense they would simply turn on Trump and support the U.S. Constitution. Patriotism first! However imperfect, each of the people Trump is trying to take down with him, they could survive better by letting Trump sink on his own.

Donald Trump doesn't seem to understand that our president is not owed loyalty above the Constitution. The Attorney General and the FBI director are (perhaps more than most other positions in government) have to work for the law, the Constitution, and the nation, but not for individuals.


UPDATE: Sen. McCain has already returned and cast a vote on the AHCA to move it forward. My how cancer has stricken and been relieved.

Latest Research on "Low-Carb" and "Regular" Diets with Regard to Weight Loss

Apparently exercise is good for your health, but not especially great for weight loss.

Also, the quality and quantity of our eating matters for weight and health.

But, if you have health issues you have to adjust your diet as required.

We've long blamed carbs for making us fat. What if that's wrong? - Vox

Bon appétit.

Mail Trucks and Energy Usage

I just spoke with the mail carrier delivering junk mail to my home. I noticed he uses a special kind of vehicle designed specifically for the purpose of delivering mail. It's small and would seem to be quite economical to run. I first asked him what fuel it used. He said gasoline and that it only got about 7 or 11 miles per gallon. That's amazingly bad. My big car probably gets 28 mpg. He also described a couple of the other vehicles the Postal Service uses and how they all have terrible mileage. He contributed that it was probably because of their stop-and-go driving. They also wear out their tires and starters (they stop the engine each time they leave the vehicle and restart it when they return).

My first comment is, OMG that's incredibly bad mileage and you would almost have to go out of your way to create such a horrible fuel usage rate.

My second comment is, there has to be a better way.

That brings me to the obvious alternatives to consider: vehicles without starters or energy usage based on stops & starts -- electric vehicles.

Many kinds of vehicles run only in cities have short ranges and aren't often far from their refueling stations (e.g. taxis, buses, delivery vans, mail carriers, etc.) Why should these specialized fleets of vehicles be used when they are obviously not the best designs for this kind of driving? Electric vehicles do not stop and start the way an internal combustion engine does and they don't need a starter like those. Their energy use isn't related to the stop and go nature of city driving. And, when you compare energy usage an e-vehicle is very good compared to normal usage gasoline cars, so they would be tremendously better than these low mileage special vehicles.

Cities need to begin switching to vehicles like the new Chevy Bolt (for small one-person driving like mail carriers) for short-range in-city driving. The current e-cars can get about 300 miles per charge and many fleet vehicles don't drive that much in a day. Soon there will be batteries which charge quickly and then range will become a much smaller issue.

Activist governments which want to save on maintenance and fuel/energy costs should look at the cost/benefit analyses on these choices to be sure their cities or companies aren't losing out on a great opportunity.

My Computer is Sending Bad Packets to the Microsoft Technical Department

I often receive calls from these fraudsters claiming my computer is sending bad packets to their Windows server at the MS Technical Department. It's a bad joke and I usually hang up immediately. Today I decided to take a different tack, just for fun. I told the man how glad I was that he had called because I wanted to thank them for all the help they had given to me and how much faster my computer was running. He complained that this made no sense since my computer was still sending bad packets to their Windows server. I said, "Yes, that's what I mean. Since you guys sped up my computer it can send bad packets much faster now and I loved that because it kept them busy and unable to pester people so much." He paused a second and then kept going in circles a while before he couldn't take it any more. Then he just started laughing.

See, not all junk calls are a waste of time.

I'll probably still get their calls though. Automation does not change because of humor.

North Korean Threat

Kim Jong Un has said he will never stop his nuclear program. He has regularly said he will destroy America with them, so the United States simply cannot trust him to have weapons and not use them. He is too unstable. That means there has to be a war to end his regime.

The military should immediately create plans and/or put together a set of plans which our political leaders can study. We should be able to act decisively and with as much destruction to the regime as possible and as little collateral damage to Korea and surrounding nations as possible.

This may mean an assassination plan or a plan wherein the United States acts alone without South Korea or other possibilities I haven't imagined.

The world seems to care naught for Korea and the people there. It's amazing. I hope Kim isn't being advised by someone outside of Korea because that would mean a wider involvement of nations. Certainly the Chinese companies selling weaponry to Kim are complicit in this. Not unlike the makers of the Titanic who used second-rate steel under the assumption the ship would never sink. They made a big profit, but a lot of people died. In a war with Kim there could be an effect far beyond the Korean peninsula.

One would have to think the Chinese and Russians would have a strong reason to avoid war since they repeatedly say they are concerned about Korean refugees flooding into their countries -- particularly China. But, if Kim is just obstinate, then even China will suffer from this disaster.

Can the rest of the world act in any way to prevent the disaster? I cannot imagine they could possibly accuse the United States of a crime. Could they be accused of negligence for not doing more to intervene?

This is a sad sad day.

Republicans and Healthcare Reform

They're having trouble creating something new which can work because it isn't in their DNA. They fundamentally do not believe in the federal government doing things for people which require taxing the rich (or anyone) except those things which are absolutely required for the rich to be happy.

They believe in big military spending and corporate law and the judicial branch courts and jails and light regulations to ensure the rich can be safe and make more money. They do not believe in regulating big business which pollutes, sells dangerous drugs, may sell contaminated foods, shoddy construction, or anything which may harm the public, the consumer, the little guys.

They would roll-back everything the Liberals have done since Franklin Roosevelt and perhaps to a time before Teddy Roosevelt.

Thus, for them to 'replace' Obamacare with something better is like asking me to fly like a jetliner. It isn't going to happen.

Yet, healthcare reform is necessary. The only way for us to get there is to put Democrats in charge and both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will do everything they can to prevent that. They are set on destroying much of America.

Democrats began looking at healthcare reform when it became obvious America could and should be insuring everyone and when costs began to rise beyond the ability of people to pay. Bankruptcies went through the roof and it was just obvious.

Republicans opposed it on principle: that you should have to pay your own way and only those worthy of having a lot of money may be the only ones who can afford healthcare. Everyone else may just have to die. Of course, they don't say that publicly, but it is the only possible inferred outcome of their views.

Perhaps the economic system could have offered people more income, so at least working people could have a standard of living which would pay for healthcare -- indeed many working people get insurance through plans their companies get. But even that hasn't kept millions of people from going through live with only the Emergency Rooms for insurance.

So, the situation is that we can go forward for the American people or we can accept the Republican view that only the rich white men of America are worthy of 'the American Dream'.

On the social issues front the Republican believe similarly, that blacks, women, disabled people, homosexuals, immigrants, and anyone else not like themselves isn't due equal rights. They didn't want women in the work place or the military or voting. They don't want blacks anywhere. Donald Trump still calls Mexicans rapists and drug dealers and dangerous. That vile set of views is contrary to the U.S. Constitution, but they don't care. It is their "traditional family values" (as determined by the rich old white men of their traditional families, and they're sticking to that.

We can either move America forward with Equal Rights for everyone and a real chance at achieving their American Dreams or we can let the Republicans hold us back, or push us back. Today there is no guarantee which we will do. There are more Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton for president, but our electoral college gave the win to Donald Trump. Similarly, Democrats have more votes behind our U.S. senators, yet Republicans have the majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. It seems that even our Democracy is in question with this current brand of Republicans.

This is why the current politics are so divisive, visceral, angry, and important.