How the Constitution came to be

 

The most unlikely thing happened right after the revolutionary war.  Each of the thirteen colonies, only we can call them states now, had all the things they needed to be independent countries.  They had armies, navies, courts, governors, legislatures, universities, newspapers, churches, and establishments who ran the place.  The armies and navies all had combat experience gained from winning the revolution.  Each state could have stayed independent.  The establishment of each state liked that idea; it meant their position in society would be retained. 

   The only fly in that ointment was Great Britain.  It was obvious to everyone that the British would like to reverse the revolution and return the American states back to being colonies, with the crown running each one of them.  And it was clear that no one American state could hold off the redcoats, we only won the revolution when every one banded together.  “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” said Franklin.  Most Americans thought Franklin had that right. 

   And so, the thirteen states agreed to the Constitution.  In doing so each of the thirteen states gave up a lot of sovereignty to the new federal government.  States could no longer have their own armies and navies.  They could no longer establish diplomatic relations with European countries. They gave up the right to levy tariffs against each other.  They gave up control of the vast western lands to the feds.  And the establishment in each state feared that the federal government would replace them. 

   But a small miracle occurred.  They created an amazing new government, the first democracy in the world, and the Constitution they created is still in use today 230 years later. 

Why should I care who gets vaccinated??

 Me, I got my two shots, Moderna.  Published figures on the internet show that out of 100+ million vaccinations, only a few thousand vaccinated people came down with Corona virus.  That gives the vaccine a 99.99% effectiveness.  You can't get better than that.  So I am protected.  If other citizens choose not to get vaccinated, I don't really care.  I won't catch it from them.

  Speaking as an idealist, I think everyone should get vaccinated.  The vaccine works and won't hurt them.  It can save their lives. But it is a free country, people can do what they want to do.  Other people going unvaccinated does not hurt me.  

So I am luke warm to the idea of government people going door to door advocating the vaccine.  Surely there has been enough coverage on TV to get the word out.  I am against "vaccine passports" which you would have to show to get into baseball games or even restaurants. 

Wild life moves in

The wild life is all around up here.  This nice yearling bear strolled by my front lawn yesterday.  He looks hungry and not well fed.  The bears don't usually wander thru Mittersill unless they can't find food back in the woods.  Or for this young bear maybe he doesn't know how to forage for his lunch.  Anyhow I am glad I never stack my trash out on my deck. 
 

You never tell the enemy when you are pulling out

 It just tells them how long they have to lay low.  Biden just announced we want to be out of Afghanistan by the end of August this year.  The Taliban must be overjoyed to hear that.  Low low for a couple more months and then the country is theirs.  Last time that happened they allowed Osama Bin Laden to set up the 9-11 attack on New York from Afghan soil.  Good thinking Joe Biden. 

US District Judge dismisses anti trust suit against Facebook

 The FTC and 46 states filed an anti trust suit.  The judge dismissed it on vague reasoning including that the plaintiffs had not shown that Facebook was a monopoly.  Duh.  Anybody knows that.  I only picked up on this extraordinary fact by reading a piece in Wired, a less than reliable source.  I did a search with Duck Duck Go and found supporting pieces in CNET and the Manchester Guardian.  Funny, I never saw a single mention of this in the Wall St Journal, a paper to which I subscribe, and which you would think would be interested in this sort of thing.  It might have been there and I missed it, but it probably was not there.  

   I have posted before that we ought to use the Sherman Anti Trust Act to break Facebook up into two of three pieces.  Divide the assets, readers, posters, advertisers, shareholders, buildings, computers, cash evenly.  Dunno what to do about Zuckerburg, we cannot cut him in half.  This way the pieces have to compete with each other and if one piece does things the public or the advertisers  do not like, they can move over to the piece that is more satisfactory.  This ought to work better than any kind of regulation. 

What is with US voters?

 They keep electing really terrible people to high office.  De Blasio in NYC, Cuomo in NY state, Biden, Lightfoot, and many more.  We gripe about lawlessness, but the lawlessness is aided and abetted by elected officials who defund the police, call off prosecution, allow shop lifting of anything less than $950 a misdemeanor and get out of jail free.  If US voters were on the job they would vote these bums out.  Until the US voters shape up, the country is in for a bad time.    

How to loose your shirt USAF.

Or loose the next war.  In 2011 USAF let a $35 billion contract to Boeing for 179 KC 46 tankers.  In 2021 USAF finally decides that they can fly the KC 46 for "limited operations".  That is ten years pissed away on a job that should not have taken more than 2 years.  The job was simple, take an existing, well proven airliner, take out the seats and install fuel tanks and a refueling boom.  A lot of this time was sucked up with USAF paperwork.  More was consumed by gold plating the design.  Every year the program runs it sucks up more money without getting us more tankers.  

Back in WWII we could go from a paper specification to mass production in a year.

Way to go USAF.  Note: I am a USAF veteran.