They are gonna have yet another presidential debate tonight. I'm not gonna bother to watch it. All they talk about is how bad the competition is. I've heard all I need to hear on that subject. Plus I don't believe most of the trash talk.
They never make campaign promises, you know glowing prophesies of the bright new future should they be elected. Not that I believe in campaign promises all that much, but at least they are an attempt to give the voters a reason to vote for them. Nowadays they don't seem to bother.
I want to hear what each candidate would do to create American jobs. And get the economy to grow at 3.5% per year rather than Obama's 0.7% last quarter. What taxes would they lower, and by how much? What burdensome Washington red tape would they slash? What projects (roadbuilding, canal building, NASA trips to Mars, high speed choo-choo trains, more drug treatment beds, etc) would they push?
How will they counter Putin's aggression in Ukraine? Economic aid to Ukraine? Stinger anti aircraft missiles? A USAF enforced no fly zone? US Army troops in divisional strength? Same question about Syria, what exactly would they do in Syria?
How green are they? Spend money on wind and solar green? Or lease federal land for fracking? Or lease Arctic National Wildlife Reservation (ANWR) to conventional oil drilling? The greenies used to complain about leasing in ANWR nightly, I haven't heard that lately. Me, I like gasoline and furnace oil for under $2 a gallon.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
We put them in Gitmo to prevent judges from turning 'em loose
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Thirteenth Amendment, passed in 1865 as part of the conclusion of the Civil War.
The inmates of Gitmo are not criminals, they are enemy soldiers, captured upon the battlefields of Afghanistan. They have not been duly convicted of anything. An overpaid army of lawyers, working their cases since 2001, has been unable to convince an American court or court-martial to convict them. Under American law bearing arms against the United States is not a crime.
And under the 13th Amendment, if they ain't convicted, we cannot hold them in jail.
The Bush Administration understood this, and decided to put these people in Gitmo, in the hopes that being off shore, US judges would be less likely to order the prisoners released.
And today, Obama engaging in some favorite magical thinking, wants to close Gitmo and transfer the remaining inmates to somewhere inside the US.
He is gonna encounter a good deal of resistance.
Thirteenth Amendment, passed in 1865 as part of the conclusion of the Civil War.
The inmates of Gitmo are not criminals, they are enemy soldiers, captured upon the battlefields of Afghanistan. They have not been duly convicted of anything. An overpaid army of lawyers, working their cases since 2001, has been unable to convince an American court or court-martial to convict them. Under American law bearing arms against the United States is not a crime.
And under the 13th Amendment, if they ain't convicted, we cannot hold them in jail.
The Bush Administration understood this, and decided to put these people in Gitmo, in the hopes that being off shore, US judges would be less likely to order the prisoners released.
And today, Obama engaging in some favorite magical thinking, wants to close Gitmo and transfer the remaining inmates to somewhere inside the US.
He is gonna encounter a good deal of resistance.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
" The US Economy is in Good Shape"?
Oh Really? Thus sayeth a Wall St Journal Op-Ed. By Martin Feldstein. I've heard of him, although I cannot place him just sitting there. The WSJ calls him Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan. That sounds good, he has been around for a good long while and he worked in a rational Republican administration. It goes on to call him a professor at Harvard University. Uh-oh, downcheck, he hangs out with Harvard lefties.
Martin starts off by cherry picking the good economic stats, and doesn't say anything about GNP growth of a measly 0.7% last quarter. He gives a glass half full summary.
If this economy is in such good shape why did youngest son have to go all the way to North Dakota to find work?
Martin starts off by cherry picking the good economic stats, and doesn't say anything about GNP growth of a measly 0.7% last quarter. He gives a glass half full summary.
If this economy is in such good shape why did youngest son have to go all the way to North Dakota to find work?
Monday, February 22, 2016
TV newsies calling Trump the nominee
I'll grant that The Donald is looking strong. But he only has 67 delegates, out of 1200 and change needed to clinch the nomination. I think we have a few more primaries to go before we declare a winner.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Another favorite store goes down hill
The Good Will Store on old US Rte 1 used to have a lot of decent used clothes. I used to hit the place every month or so and score some nice shirts and slacks. You could go down the row of men's shirts and just feel them, the one with a good feel you took out of the rack and inspected. I'd find a first class maker's tag, L.L. Bean or Hathaway, or suchlike, on a nice shirt.
Not anymore. I stopped in yesterday, and huge row of men's shirts were all plain white or plain blue uniform shirts, the sort of thing McDonald's issues to their help. And I wouldn't wear anyplace. And the small kitchen appliances are gone and the stereo components are gone. My home stereo, speakers and all, cam from that store in years past.
I probably won't stop there again.
Not anymore. I stopped in yesterday, and huge row of men's shirts were all plain white or plain blue uniform shirts, the sort of thing McDonald's issues to their help. And I wouldn't wear anyplace. And the small kitchen appliances are gone and the stereo components are gone. My home stereo, speakers and all, cam from that store in years past.
I probably won't stop there again.
Marketing fail: Testor's DullCote
DullCote is a clear matte spray finish. Testors has been selling the stuff to model makers, like me, since forever, at least 50 years that I can think of. Well known brand name. I stopped at the biggest hobby shop in Boston, Charles Ro, and bought a can of it. Surprise. The new labels that someone in marketing dreamed up, no longer have the DullCote name, instead the label calls itself Clear Lacquer in both English and Spanish. I wasn't sure if I had the right stuff. Only after turning the can over and over and upside down did I find a small sticky label that said " DullCote".
Probably the same marketeers who have decided not to put the maker's name onto new automobiles.
Probably the same marketeers who have decided not to put the maker's name onto new automobiles.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
So does anyone have the right to keep secrets?
Uncle is leaning on Apple to crack a smartphone used by the San Bernardino killers. Apple is refusing, saying that once they do, it will crack encryption on all Apple smart phones.
The Apply phone is probably crackable. Like Windows, Apple must need to patch the code in the phones. Once you allow the phone to patch itself, change the code inside it, all bets are off, you can load code to do anything you want. But, Apple is probably the only one who can pull this off. They have the programmers who wrote the code, they have the source code, they have development stations that allow a programmer to single step thru the code and watch what it is doing. Without this information and equipment, nobody outside of Apple has a snowball's chance in Hell of pulling it off.
Apple clearly fears that if they crack this phone, they will be on the hook to crack any phone in the future, and their customers, knowing that Uncle can snoop their Apple smart phone, will go to a more secure smart phone. Samsung for example.
I like the idea of being able to keep secrets. Fourth Amendment, unreasonable search and seizure. Fifth Amendment, protection against self incrimination. Uncle has so many ways of snooping that I like the idea of some limitations. In this case, appalling as it is, I kinda doubt that the cell phone in question will tell investigators much, if anything, if it gets cracked. NSA already has all the phone numbers that the San Bernadino killers called with thqt phone, and they can jolly well get agents out to interview every one of 'em.
The Apply phone is probably crackable. Like Windows, Apple must need to patch the code in the phones. Once you allow the phone to patch itself, change the code inside it, all bets are off, you can load code to do anything you want. But, Apple is probably the only one who can pull this off. They have the programmers who wrote the code, they have the source code, they have development stations that allow a programmer to single step thru the code and watch what it is doing. Without this information and equipment, nobody outside of Apple has a snowball's chance in Hell of pulling it off.
Apple clearly fears that if they crack this phone, they will be on the hook to crack any phone in the future, and their customers, knowing that Uncle can snoop their Apple smart phone, will go to a more secure smart phone. Samsung for example.
I like the idea of being able to keep secrets. Fourth Amendment, unreasonable search and seizure. Fifth Amendment, protection against self incrimination. Uncle has so many ways of snooping that I like the idea of some limitations. In this case, appalling as it is, I kinda doubt that the cell phone in question will tell investigators much, if anything, if it gets cracked. NSA already has all the phone numbers that the San Bernadino killers called with thqt phone, and they can jolly well get agents out to interview every one of 'em.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Einstein and gravity waves.
Gravity waves are not new, Einstein predicted their existance a hundred years ago. My sophmore physics course (50 years ago) covered them.
Gravity is a very weak force compared to the electromagnetic force or the strong nuclear force. Which makes gravitational waves hard to detect. Indeed, the detectors only managed to detect the most violent event imaginable, the collision of two black holes.
The unscientific newsies have failed to report on a bunch of interesting questions. Such as how do you figure the distance of the gravity wave source? It's been reported that the two colliding black holes are billions of light years away. I wonder how they figure that?
What is the signal to noise ratio from the detectors? Detectors of anything, including gravity wave detectors, tend to output low level random noise all the time. Signals have to be stronger than the noise to be detected. How much stronger than the noise was this event? What causes the noise and could it be reduced in an advanced detector somehow?
Do gravity waves propagate at the speed of light? We all kind of assume that they do, but it would be nice to have some measurements to confirm our ideas.
Gravity is a very weak force compared to the electromagnetic force or the strong nuclear force. Which makes gravitational waves hard to detect. Indeed, the detectors only managed to detect the most violent event imaginable, the collision of two black holes.
The unscientific newsies have failed to report on a bunch of interesting questions. Such as how do you figure the distance of the gravity wave source? It's been reported that the two colliding black holes are billions of light years away. I wonder how they figure that?
What is the signal to noise ratio from the detectors? Detectors of anything, including gravity wave detectors, tend to output low level random noise all the time. Signals have to be stronger than the noise to be detected. How much stronger than the noise was this event? What causes the noise and could it be reduced in an advanced detector somehow?
Do gravity waves propagate at the speed of light? We all kind of assume that they do, but it would be nice to have some measurements to confirm our ideas.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Living Constitution, fancy words for judicial tyranny
Advocates for a "living Constitution" say that things have changed since the Constitution was adopted way back in 1789 and that judges [usually the Supremes] should change the way the Constitution works "in order to bring things up to date". The appeal to the courts is a way of side stepping the democratic requirement that laws are only made or changed by the duly elected legislature. It's easier to sell your changes to 5 out of 4 unelected lawyers possessed of lifetime tenure than it is to sell them to the much larger legislature all of whom needs to stand for reelection in the near future.
The proper way to change the law in a democracy is to have the votes to pass your changes into law in the elected legislature. Many will complain that this is just too difficult, which is another way of saying that they don't have the votes for their pet programs. The Constitution allows for amendments. We have made twenty seven amendments since 1789, the most recent in 1992. It can be done, but the Constitution calls for super majorities in both houses of Congress and among all the states. Amendments only happen with widespread political support.
The late Justice Scalia was opposed to the notion of a "living Constitution". He preferred to call it the enduring Constitution. I'm with Justice Scalia in this.
Obama wants a "living Constitution" person to replace Justice Scalia.
The proper way to change the law in a democracy is to have the votes to pass your changes into law in the elected legislature. Many will complain that this is just too difficult, which is another way of saying that they don't have the votes for their pet programs. The Constitution allows for amendments. We have made twenty seven amendments since 1789, the most recent in 1992. It can be done, but the Constitution calls for super majorities in both houses of Congress and among all the states. Amendments only happen with widespread political support.
The late Justice Scalia was opposed to the notion of a "living Constitution". He preferred to call it the enduring Constitution. I'm with Justice Scalia in this.
Obama wants a "living Constitution" person to replace Justice Scalia.
Stuart Weitzman: Wonder what he is selling?
Saturday was heavy WSJ day. They pack a 184 page 10 by 12 inch slick paper fashion magazine inside the paper. Makes for very solid feeling newspaper.
Not that I am deeply into woman's fashions, but I like to look a pictures of pretty girls as much as anyone. So I'm thumbing thru it and come to an arresting full page ad by Stuart Weitzman. Three very slender, pretty models standing in front of the camera, completely naked except for high heeled shoes, the kind with big clunky heels, hugging each other. If it had been in color it would have been porn, but a nicely lit black and white is arty.
It did get my attention. On the other hand, I am still wondering what Stuart Weitzman is selling. Normal fashion ads have the models wearing the product they are selling. These models weren't wearing anything except clunky shoes, and somehow I didn't think that was the product. Two following full page spreads with the same models only one of which was wearing an outfit that a girl might appear in public wearing. The rest of them were in underwear. Perhaps Stuart Weitzman is a modeling agency?
Not that I am deeply into woman's fashions, but I like to look a pictures of pretty girls as much as anyone. So I'm thumbing thru it and come to an arresting full page ad by Stuart Weitzman. Three very slender, pretty models standing in front of the camera, completely naked except for high heeled shoes, the kind with big clunky heels, hugging each other. If it had been in color it would have been porn, but a nicely lit black and white is arty.
It did get my attention. On the other hand, I am still wondering what Stuart Weitzman is selling. Normal fashion ads have the models wearing the product they are selling. These models weren't wearing anything except clunky shoes, and somehow I didn't think that was the product. Two following full page spreads with the same models only one of which was wearing an outfit that a girl might appear in public wearing. The rest of them were in underwear. Perhaps Stuart Weitzman is a modeling agency?
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Mclaughlin Shouting Hour debates drafting women
They spent 15 minutes of the 30 minute show discussing this one. To be technical about it, they were discussing requiring women to register for the draft, the way men are required to do. All the obvious arguments pro and con were advanced.
Actually, Nixon ended the draft back some 40 odd years ago. Because the government can never shut anything down, they left the requirement for men to register, just to give Selective Service something to do and avoid massive layoffs of bureaucrats.
Nobody really expects to start up the draft again. The all volunteer army seems to attract enough recruits to fight things like the Iraq war. Nobody expects to do a World War III with 10 million men under arms. So to my way of thinking we might as well drop the requirement for men to register for the draft and then we have full sexual equality about the draft.
I remember going back to my old high school for alumni day many years ago. I ran into a few students all hot and bothered about the requirement to register for the draft. This might have been sometime in the 1980's. I laughed at them. I told them when I was a senior there we had a real draft and we wound up carrying M-16's thru the rice paddies of south east Asia. I went and my two brothers went. All these kids had to do was fill out some paperwork.
Actually, Nixon ended the draft back some 40 odd years ago. Because the government can never shut anything down, they left the requirement for men to register, just to give Selective Service something to do and avoid massive layoffs of bureaucrats.
Nobody really expects to start up the draft again. The all volunteer army seems to attract enough recruits to fight things like the Iraq war. Nobody expects to do a World War III with 10 million men under arms. So to my way of thinking we might as well drop the requirement for men to register for the draft and then we have full sexual equality about the draft.
I remember going back to my old high school for alumni day many years ago. I ran into a few students all hot and bothered about the requirement to register for the draft. This might have been sometime in the 1980's. I laughed at them. I told them when I was a senior there we had a real draft and we wound up carrying M-16's thru the rice paddies of south east Asia. I went and my two brothers went. All these kids had to do was fill out some paperwork.
Maggie Hassan on the Sunday Pundits show
Maggie Hassan, incumbent NH governor, and candidate for US Senate. WMUR's "Closeup" show with Josh McElvane gave her 15 minutes of pretty much un interrupted air time. This is fairly important coverage in NH, WMUR being the only real New Hampshire TV channel.
And, in fifteen minutes of happy talk, Maggie managed to say exactly nothing. Pols must go to school somewhere to learn all the happy talk words that mean nothing, don't commit them to anything, but sound good. Maggie used them all, and gave no hint as to what she might do in the future, what she wants to accomplish either as out going governor or newly elected senator.
And, in fifteen minutes of happy talk, Maggie managed to say exactly nothing. Pols must go to school somewhere to learn all the happy talk words that mean nothing, don't commit them to anything, but sound good. Maggie used them all, and gave no hint as to what she might do in the future, what she wants to accomplish either as out going governor or newly elected senator.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Where is George Orwell when we need him?
Actually Orwell has been dead since 1950, but we need him back. In Orwell's time Communism was a virulent ideology spreading world wide and fast. Communism was so compelling as to cause people to risk their lives spying for the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs were caught passing secrets of the Manhattan project to the Soviets and were executed for it.
Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 did more to kill off Communism as any other event during the Cold War. The two novels spelled out the evil at the heart of communism in simple terms clear to the average reader. Anyone who read either book could never be a true believer in Communism ever again.
Today we are afflicted with two dangerous ideologies. Communism, which I had thought really dead since 1989, is making a come back in the US. The Bern is preaching communism. He calls it "democratic socialism" but it's Communism. And ISIS and company is preaching a horrible fanaticism that leads people to massacre innocent bystanders, Christians, Kurds, Yazidi's, anyone not a Shia Muslim.
We need another Orwell to point out the evil at the heart of both these dangerous and horrible ideologies.
Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 did more to kill off Communism as any other event during the Cold War. The two novels spelled out the evil at the heart of communism in simple terms clear to the average reader. Anyone who read either book could never be a true believer in Communism ever again.
Today we are afflicted with two dangerous ideologies. Communism, which I had thought really dead since 1989, is making a come back in the US. The Bern is preaching communism. He calls it "democratic socialism" but it's Communism. And ISIS and company is preaching a horrible fanaticism that leads people to massacre innocent bystanders, Christians, Kurds, Yazidi's, anyone not a Shia Muslim.
We need another Orwell to point out the evil at the heart of both these dangerous and horrible ideologies.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Who should vote in the NH Primary?
Howzabout limiting participation to real New Hampshire citizens? Let's not allow busloads of out of staters showing up on election day to vote. Out of state college students should not get to vote in New Hampshire, they can jolly well vote by absentee ballot in their home states.
And for that matter, the primary is how the parties choose who the party will support with money, publicity, and workers. Primary voters should be party members. If a voter cannot bring him/her self to simply declare their party affiliation when they register to vote, then they should not get to vote in party primaries. It's not like the parties ask members to do anything, like contribute money, attend party meetings, post yard signs. They just ask the voter to express an interest in the party, verbally. I'm thinking that voters who cannot say "I am a Republican" or " I am a Democrat" are so turned off by American party politics that they should mot be allowed to mess up candidate selection by voting in the primary.
Speaking of which, NH voters should be required to register, in person, at town hall BEFORE election day. Voters so unmotivated as to not get down to town hall and register at least a week before election day, are too lackadaisical to cast intelligent votes. And requiring registration in advance will make it harder for out of state shills to vote, they will have to come up twice, once to register and once to vote. To register the voter needs to show a NH driver's license, out of state licenses make him an out of stater. And they need to show a real NH address, an apartment or a house, college dorms are temporary and don't count.
And for that matter, the primary is how the parties choose who the party will support with money, publicity, and workers. Primary voters should be party members. If a voter cannot bring him/her self to simply declare their party affiliation when they register to vote, then they should not get to vote in party primaries. It's not like the parties ask members to do anything, like contribute money, attend party meetings, post yard signs. They just ask the voter to express an interest in the party, verbally. I'm thinking that voters who cannot say "I am a Republican" or " I am a Democrat" are so turned off by American party politics that they should mot be allowed to mess up candidate selection by voting in the primary.
Speaking of which, NH voters should be required to register, in person, at town hall BEFORE election day. Voters so unmotivated as to not get down to town hall and register at least a week before election day, are too lackadaisical to cast intelligent votes. And requiring registration in advance will make it harder for out of state shills to vote, they will have to come up twice, once to register and once to vote. To register the voter needs to show a NH driver's license, out of state licenses make him an out of stater. And they need to show a real NH address, an apartment or a house, college dorms are temporary and don't count.
The Bern and Hillary debate
I turned it on at 9 PM. First question was to The Bern. "The Federal government takes up 21% of GNP right now. How much will it take under a Sanders administration?" Not a bad question. The Bern refused to answer it, instead he went off on has rant about income inequality and a rigged economy. I went to bed.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Cannon Mountain Ski Weather
We got two inches of snow this morning. Better than nothing, but still pretty measly. It's cold, 20 F.
Cyber Security for ordinary businesses
In this day and age, every thing your company does is on the company computers somewhere. Email is forever. First off, you need to identify the things that you need to keep secret from hackers and competitors. Start with personnel records. Those must be secret to keep competitors from pirating your best people. Pay and salary is particularly sensitive because when that gets out, everyone in your company gets bad feelings about everyone who make more than they do. And it points headhunters toward your less well paid people. Production information; mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, parts lists, software source code, test procedures, recipes and formulas. With this stuff someone can set up to make your product and compete with you. That's legal in places like China. At the very least they can make a good guess at your cost of production. Sales and marketing; your customer lists and customer contact information. If the competition gets to your customers and wins them over, you are hurting. Email; there is bound to be damaging information in someone's email.
To keep the hackers out, first consider keeping stuff OFF the hard drives. Back it up to CD-ROM and keep the CD's in a locked room. There is a lot of old stuff on hard drive that you don't use today, but could do a lot of damage in the wrong hands. If the stuff is really valuable, now is the time to establish an off site backup location.
Set up a secure network. This is a small number of computers, kept in locked rooms, and NOT connected to the general company network or the public internet, or the public phone network. By not connected we means NO wires or wireless connections to anywhere. Don't rely on "firewalls", some of them have caught fire in the past. Snip off the wires going to the USB sockets to prevent Flash drive virus invasion. Remove all floppy drives to prevent invasion by merely inserting a boot floppy in the "A:" drive. Keep all your sensitive stuff on the secure network. When you do Engineering Change Orders, pull the master drawing off the secure network, give it to the engineer, and have him return the updated version to the secure network.
Now we come to training your personnel. Start with email. Make sure everyone understands that email lasts forever, and will be used against you in court, and by hackers. Tell them to never put anything in email that they would not post on the bulletin board at the local super market. If the matter is sensitive, handle it face to face or over the phone. And delete old emails after 30 days.
You want to run an anti virus scan once a week on every computer in the company. Virii can do the damnedest things, just ask the Iranians about Stuxnet. Commercial virus scan programs are pretty good, and they get better every week. Keep your anti virus updated. Even if you have a deal that permits IT to run the virus scans remotely, you still want everyone to understand how important they are.
All your creative people want to keep their stuff on their machines, just in case. Encourage them to encrypt it, and/or back it up to CD and keep it in a locked drawer. And make sure the latest version is stored on the secure network as well as on their private hard drives.
Consider getting rid of Windows company wide. It can be done. Linux works, and isn't too difficult for your people to learn. Windows is totally, but totally, insecure. Anything stored on a Windows computer is vulnerable to small children, let alone adult hackers.
To keep the hackers out, first consider keeping stuff OFF the hard drives. Back it up to CD-ROM and keep the CD's in a locked room. There is a lot of old stuff on hard drive that you don't use today, but could do a lot of damage in the wrong hands. If the stuff is really valuable, now is the time to establish an off site backup location.
Set up a secure network. This is a small number of computers, kept in locked rooms, and NOT connected to the general company network or the public internet, or the public phone network. By not connected we means NO wires or wireless connections to anywhere. Don't rely on "firewalls", some of them have caught fire in the past. Snip off the wires going to the USB sockets to prevent Flash drive virus invasion. Remove all floppy drives to prevent invasion by merely inserting a boot floppy in the "A:" drive. Keep all your sensitive stuff on the secure network. When you do Engineering Change Orders, pull the master drawing off the secure network, give it to the engineer, and have him return the updated version to the secure network.
Now we come to training your personnel. Start with email. Make sure everyone understands that email lasts forever, and will be used against you in court, and by hackers. Tell them to never put anything in email that they would not post on the bulletin board at the local super market. If the matter is sensitive, handle it face to face or over the phone. And delete old emails after 30 days.
You want to run an anti virus scan once a week on every computer in the company. Virii can do the damnedest things, just ask the Iranians about Stuxnet. Commercial virus scan programs are pretty good, and they get better every week. Keep your anti virus updated. Even if you have a deal that permits IT to run the virus scans remotely, you still want everyone to understand how important they are.
All your creative people want to keep their stuff on their machines, just in case. Encourage them to encrypt it, and/or back it up to CD and keep it in a locked drawer. And make sure the latest version is stored on the secure network as well as on their private hard drives.
Consider getting rid of Windows company wide. It can be done. Linux works, and isn't too difficult for your people to learn. Windows is totally, but totally, insecure. Anything stored on a Windows computer is vulnerable to small children, let alone adult hackers.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Words of the Weasel : Establishment
We have a Republican establishment, and a Democratic establishment. Up until very lately, the establishment was the parties elected officials, and appointed office holders, people whose day jobs were politics or politicking.
Lately, fringe groups in either party have been using "establishment" as an epithet for people who don't share their politics. This may be true, the establishment is concerned with getting re-elected, making deals, and as a rule is much less ideological than the fringe groups.
But we are always going to have an establishment, meaning the office holding political professionals. Get used to it, someone has to do it. And most of these people are trying to get something done, and they all learn that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Lately, fringe groups in either party have been using "establishment" as an epithet for people who don't share their politics. This may be true, the establishment is concerned with getting re-elected, making deals, and as a rule is much less ideological than the fringe groups.
But we are always going to have an establishment, meaning the office holding political professionals. Get used to it, someone has to do it. And most of these people are trying to get something done, and they all learn that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Could The Donald beat The Bern?
Who knows right now? And New Hampshire doesn't decide the nominations, but a smashing win in New Hampshire certainly makes a good start to winning the nomination. It surely gains you lots of media attention. I haven't seen any polls on a Trump-Sanders matchup. The few I have seen of a Trump Hillary matchup were not good, the polls had Hillary beating the Donald by a slim margin. Not that polls mean all that much this early.
This ought to be a Republican year. Obama has been wreaking the US economy for 7 years now, and he has thrown a bunch a people out of work, lowered everyone's earnings. If the US voters have any sense left, they will vote for a Republican this time. If the Republicans can nominate a decent candidate. Trouble with Trump is his very high negatives. Gallup says 60% of voters don't like Trump. That's scary.
Will the Bern's free stuff be enough to win over The Donald?
Could the #2 finisher, Kasich, be a better candidate for the GOP?
This ought to be a Republican year. Obama has been wreaking the US economy for 7 years now, and he has thrown a bunch a people out of work, lowered everyone's earnings. If the US voters have any sense left, they will vote for a Republican this time. If the Republicans can nominate a decent candidate. Trouble with Trump is his very high negatives. Gallup says 60% of voters don't like Trump. That's scary.
Will the Bern's free stuff be enough to win over The Donald?
Could the #2 finisher, Kasich, be a better candidate for the GOP?
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Obama does an Op-Ed in the WSJ
Nice big half a page with am illustration Op Ed piece. "Protecting US Innovation From Cyberthreats". Sound great. Only trouble is, the Op-Ed contains zilch about protecting anything. Lotta nice empty words, typical Obama speak, but nothing of substance. He does promise to spend money, $19 billion on the "Cyber Security National Action Plan" what ever that might be. And another $3 billion on federal IT. And a new bureaucrat, the Chief Information Security Officer, salary unspecified. And another unfunded effort to "build a corps of cyber professionals" to "push best practices at every level". And a new "cyber security Center of Excellence". And a new "bipartisan Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity".
Does anyone really think adding more bureaucrats, more funding, and more bureaucracy is gonna keep the hackers out?
The real situation is this. Any computer connected to the public internet or the public phone system is vulnerable to invasion and plundering. Windows computers are ten time more vulnerable than any other sort of computer. We must never store valuable information on computers connected to the public internet. And we should never store valuable information on any sort of Windows computer. They are like Swiss cheese, full of holes. If we made this nation wide policy we would be a helova lot more secure than we are now.
Obama doesn't understand any of this. In fact I doubt that Obama knows how to boot up his laptop.
Does anyone really think adding more bureaucrats, more funding, and more bureaucracy is gonna keep the hackers out?
The real situation is this. Any computer connected to the public internet or the public phone system is vulnerable to invasion and plundering. Windows computers are ten time more vulnerable than any other sort of computer. We must never store valuable information on computers connected to the public internet. And we should never store valuable information on any sort of Windows computer. They are like Swiss cheese, full of holes. If we made this nation wide policy we would be a helova lot more secure than we are now.
Obama doesn't understand any of this. In fact I doubt that Obama knows how to boot up his laptop.
I just voted in the NH primary
Turnout is heavy. Down at Franconia town hall, the parking lot is full. I've been doing elections at town hall for quite a few years and that's as busy as I have ever seen things. I voted at mid morning, in between the vote-on-the-way-to-work rush and the vote-over-lunch-hour rush. Secretary of State's office is predicting a heavy turnout, and I think they have it right.
The Republican ballot had 30 names on it. Half of 'em I've never heard of.
The Republican ballot had 30 names on it. Half of 'em I've never heard of.
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