a few thoughts
I am reading a book, "Spain in our Hearts" by Adam Hochschild. It relates a history of the Spanish Civil War, by recounting experiences told mostly from the viewpoint of journalists from the US, and England, soldiers who fought in the International Brigade, Lincoln and Washington Battalions, and others. For those not familiar, It was a proxy war for Hitler, supporting Francisco Franco and the Nationalists, and Stalin, supporting the Republic. Most Americans that fought in the war fought for the Republic. It reinforces the horrors of war. The Republic lost, and Spain lost thousands on both sides, and all were changed.
I regret not having learned more about that history while in Spain. I had a landlord that had spent years in prison having fought for the Republic. Many people were still very bitter about the war, with Franco having died only 10 years prior. I was a fool for not understanding that then.
I have some concerns about Gary Johnson. He is bragging about how he sides with Bernie Sanders 73% of the time according to the website:
http://www.isidewith.com/
It is a good comprehensive quiz. The issue that I have? It started in the debate with Penn Jillette as the moderator. Governor Johnson gave an answer that I am frankly surprised that he wasn't booed off the stage. He essentially said that it was absolutely appropriate for a government to force private citizens to not discriminate. He is still leaps and bounds above either Trump or Hillary, but concerns abound.
How can someone like Johnson win today? It really isn't a question of him winning, so much as it is denying victory to the two major parties. This is actually easier done than you might think. First, a tutorial on the Electoral College:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByiogRyb6Ds
Schoolhouse Rock, those were the days. If, a third party candidate were to snag a couple of states, say a Libertarian grabbing a traditional Blue state (NM) of which he was a very popular two time governor, and maybe a traditionally purple leaning red, such as a MT, or NV. That would be sufficient, making some assumptions for the rest of the nation, of course, to deny a majority to either. If that were to happen, the election is thrown to the House of Representatives, and each state gets one vote. While that would tend to favor Republicans. if it had been a nasty election, where Trump had hurt the party down line, then who knows? It would cause significant disruption. The Vice Presidency would be determined by the Senate. It could be possible in that not completely impossible scenario to have a President of one party, and a VP from another.
Kudos to Senator Rand Paul, who has resumed his role as the Constitutionalist of the Senate. trying to force Congress into its proper role to declare war.
I wanted to talk about transparency in government. The current administration has been slow to appoint Inspector Generals for the various departments, and the ones that have made it have uncovered mountains of corruption. In the EPA, which has assumed so much power over everyone, it was discovered that they have employees spending six hours a day at work watching porn, a sexual predator that they tried to fire, but their case was so weak that the Merit Services Protection Board overturned the termination, and they ultimately got him to retire, with a $55,000 bonus. The IRS has had similar events: $16 billion in overpayments on Earned Income Tax Credit, the VA, where thousands have died while waiting to be seen for treatment, all while officials were getting bonuses for hiding this information. This list can go on, but the bottom line is that they are slow to chase down corruption, and when it is discovered, excuses are made as to why nothing can be done about it.
I do want to touch on in the near future, the Spanish Civil War. There are a lot of serious things that I have learned, (not just from that book, but studying other sources as well), and I am afraid that we as a nation, haven't learned that lesson.
I regret not having learned more about that history while in Spain. I had a landlord that had spent years in prison having fought for the Republic. Many people were still very bitter about the war, with Franco having died only 10 years prior. I was a fool for not understanding that then.
I have some concerns about Gary Johnson. He is bragging about how he sides with Bernie Sanders 73% of the time according to the website:
http://www.isidewith.com/
It is a good comprehensive quiz. The issue that I have? It started in the debate with Penn Jillette as the moderator. Governor Johnson gave an answer that I am frankly surprised that he wasn't booed off the stage. He essentially said that it was absolutely appropriate for a government to force private citizens to not discriminate. He is still leaps and bounds above either Trump or Hillary, but concerns abound.
How can someone like Johnson win today? It really isn't a question of him winning, so much as it is denying victory to the two major parties. This is actually easier done than you might think. First, a tutorial on the Electoral College:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByiogRyb6Ds
Schoolhouse Rock, those were the days. If, a third party candidate were to snag a couple of states, say a Libertarian grabbing a traditional Blue state (NM) of which he was a very popular two time governor, and maybe a traditionally purple leaning red, such as a MT, or NV. That would be sufficient, making some assumptions for the rest of the nation, of course, to deny a majority to either. If that were to happen, the election is thrown to the House of Representatives, and each state gets one vote. While that would tend to favor Republicans. if it had been a nasty election, where Trump had hurt the party down line, then who knows? It would cause significant disruption. The Vice Presidency would be determined by the Senate. It could be possible in that not completely impossible scenario to have a President of one party, and a VP from another.
Kudos to Senator Rand Paul, who has resumed his role as the Constitutionalist of the Senate. trying to force Congress into its proper role to declare war.
I wanted to talk about transparency in government. The current administration has been slow to appoint Inspector Generals for the various departments, and the ones that have made it have uncovered mountains of corruption. In the EPA, which has assumed so much power over everyone, it was discovered that they have employees spending six hours a day at work watching porn, a sexual predator that they tried to fire, but their case was so weak that the Merit Services Protection Board overturned the termination, and they ultimately got him to retire, with a $55,000 bonus. The IRS has had similar events: $16 billion in overpayments on Earned Income Tax Credit, the VA, where thousands have died while waiting to be seen for treatment, all while officials were getting bonuses for hiding this information. This list can go on, but the bottom line is that they are slow to chase down corruption, and when it is discovered, excuses are made as to why nothing can be done about it.
I do want to touch on in the near future, the Spanish Civil War. There are a lot of serious things that I have learned, (not just from that book, but studying other sources as well), and I am afraid that we as a nation, haven't learned that lesson.
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