The Cost of Trump to GOP?

 Senate Republicans scramble to put Trump at arm's length

Many GOP politicians and voters have allowed Trump to lie blatantly, self deal /squander, verbally attack and in general act like an authoritarian dictator in some third world country.  Thankfully we live in a democracy where hopefully the majority will not tolerate this kind of behavior by an elected civil servant.

I still do not understand why so many people love and support Trump, and probably never will.  However I am pretty sure the GOP is going to pay big time for their foolish cult following, and it seems that the GOP politicians are beginning to understand this.

Voting: Security or Suppression?

Jerry has been trying to convince us that the system is deeply flawed and that voter fraud is rampant.  Of course he has no evidence, and claims that the MN SOS sending absentee ballot applications out to all registered voters is proof of this terrible state of affairs.  I mean some of voters may have moved, may have died, etc.

Then a bunch of DEM operatives may collect them or dumpster dive to get them so that they can commit felony fraud and obtain extra ballots.  Of course the argument seemed kind of stupid after I received the same document from the MN GOP party.  And of course it really gets terribly foolish when you remember that people can print out as many of them as they want at the web site. 

Now we have GOP law suits all over the country that are aimed at making it harder for legal citizens to vote. 

• We have the suit in Pennsylvania to make sure that all "naked ballots" get disqualified.  Sorry Granny... You forgot to put the ballot in an envelope before putting it in an envelope...  Your vote goes in the trash.
• Then there is the suit in TX to limit ballot collection boxes to one per county. Even though some of the counties are huge and have 4 million citizens in them.
• And there are hundreds more apparently.  With DEMs trying to give citizens more time and options to legally vote, and the GOP trying to shorten voting times, options and generally make it harder for qualified legal citizens to vote.

I personally think it is one of the most terrible things about the Republican Party.  Samuel L Jackson did a wonderful PSA discussing the evil history of voter suppression.

Now I did ask what the GOP was doing to promote legal voting, make it safer, increase voter turn out, etc.  Unfortunately that apparently is not important to them. :-(   

Electoral Map Update

 Shows Biden Lead Growing?

Trump Scared of Virtual Debate

 And says he will not attend.  I suppose I understand his fear...  He may actually have to say something of value and he would not be allowed to continually interrupt Biden and the Moderator. 

Well hopefully they give the whole time period to Biden then... :-)

Pence Almost as Rude as Trump

 And definitely avoided answering questions. It was sad again to see the GOP debater refusing to follow the debate rules that they had agreed to.  Pence's primary violation was that he would keep talking over his time limit and over the Moderators repeated request to stop. :-(

On top of this he absolutely refused to answer many of the questions that were asked.  Mostly he just took his time to preach to the Conservatives.

Overall, Harris seemed professional and answered most questions somewhat directly.  Though like all politicians she also avoided and wandered some.

Fact Check 1

Fact Check 2

Fact Check 3

Fact Check 4

Why Voters Like Trump

 This piece tries to explain it.

As discussed before, I am totally befuddled over why people are willing to over look Trump's poor behavior and lies.  Here is another explanation.

Finally a Election PSA Worth Watching

 Get Your Booty to the Polls... :-)  

You go Girls !!!! 

Biden has Double Digit Lead?

 According to VOX.  Where as other polls indicate a ~7 point lead.

The 7 point number makes more sense to me since ~52% of citizens disapprove of Trump and ~45% approve of Trump.  Now if the 52% will only get out and vote...

I had an interesting exchange with a FB Friend who said he loves and respects Trump. So I asked him if he thought Trump's lying was acceptable from a politician and providing a good role model for the children in our society.  Needless to say he has not answered. :-(

Now this individual seems very ProLife, so I can understand appreciating Trump loading the courts with Conservative Christian Judges and Justices.  However is this really enough to respect a man who cheated on his third wife, lies to American citizens daily, etc?  Apparently ~45% of Americans think so?

Personally I can not understand it. Here are some of his recent mistruths.

Trump is Now a Nobody

 And China is Loving it... :-)  Now I wish I was a kinder soul, but I hope he gets to spend some time on a ventilator like Boris Johnson did.   And just think of his older stupid supporters.  I guess that is what happens when you trust Trump and FOX News. :-)

Which Expert?

 So one of my FB Friends sees himself as an expert in science and education, which makes sense since he is a high school science teacher.  With this in mind he is often condescending and insulting regarding my differing thoughts regarding education improvement, helping poor kids learn and climate change.

Which of course makes sense since I certainly am not a Teacher or a Scientist. Here is a sampling his latest lecturing...

"Your callous “know it all” opinion is typical of the lazy Republicans I have dealt with who value their ideology over anything else even at the expense of the environment. You have no idea what I believe about supporting public schools, nor do you know what issues I am talking about. You have never valued by expertise in that field . And I’m not going to get into it with you because the issues do not match with your perceptions and you are unwilling to listen to anyone that may know more than you about it." 

"I always seek out, listen to and discuss a topic from people in a particular field who have spent their lives working in that field. I value their input before making assumptions about a particular topic in that field."

Now I am not angry or offended, I do throw a lot of ideas out there but hopefully with adequate sources, data, etc to pretty much back them up. However I understand how folks can think that I am not listening / learning.

Well there is the lead up to this post which is labelled Which Expert? for a reason...  Here are a couple of our favorite topics:

1. How to ensure all mentally capable children are academically capable when they graduate from High School? 
2. What should be done regarding man made climate change?
3. Other...

Just to explain my expertise for folks who are not familiar, I am a Professional Engineer with an MBA and significant experience as a 6 Sigma Black Belt.  I have spent ~30 years leading cross functional teams to solve problems, fix things / processes, develop new products or execute projects of different types.  Some a week long and some several years.

In summary I have some general experience in many things, however my true strength is in listening to and working through others who are much more capable than I am in the areas of study / experience.  I probe, prod, promote collaboration, organize, challenge group think, track, analyze, brain storm, track, nag, time keep, etc.

SO given this problem statement: "How to ensure all mentally capable children are academically capable when they graduate from High School?"  Which experts should be involved in solving the challenge?  I mean imparting knowledge in the classroom (ie teaching) is a part of the issue certainly, so I am happy to listen to teachers about how discipline, teaching, technologies, etc can be improved.  They are the experts.

However I would argue that the performance management, staffing, compensation, termination policies and other issues are key to ensure that the Teachers are performing at a high standard. Which leaves me wondering who are the experts in performance management maintenance and improvement?  I certainly do not think it is the employees (ie Teachers), though they should be communicated with regularly.

And we have not even gotten into where children spend most of their youth and how that impacts their academic performance.

And when given this problem statement: "What should be done regarding man made climate change?" I have no doubt that a Science Teacher may be up to speed with the latest scientific releases.  However does that make them more capable of understanding and balancing the massive financial trade offs that we are looking at?  Where does the role of "science" end and the role of public and private policy begin? 

Well that is the question on my mind...  Personally I think many of us may be experts in small areas, and yet some like to think that makes them an expert in the whole topic.  So when I disagree with you and request sources / proof...  That is why... :-) 

And I promise to continue explaining the rationale for my beliefs and providing sources, so you can see how I got to my belief.  Then please feel to question the rationale or point me to better sources.  Thanks John

Trump Wins Alt Right Vote

 Proud Boys Celebrate Trump's Support

While FBI says they are bigger concern than Antifa

That was very painful to watch

 And I assume pretty pointless, the Trump True Believers will say that he did well and all the rest of will say what an ASS...  The rules seemed pretty simple and yet again Trump ignored them and the Moderator. FOX News summary

Fact Check 1

Fact Check 2

Fact Check 3

Overall I would say that Biden "won" the debate.  Definitely no dementia, and though he was obviously frustrated to no end...  He kept it together and remembered to focus on the viewers / voters and not Trump most of the time.... 

Trump's Tax Returns Found

 Somebody leaked them them !!!!  God Bless America, Leakers and the Free Press !!!! :-)

"Mr. Trump may be the wealthiest U.S. president in history. Yet he has often paid less in taxes than other recent presidents. Barack Obama and George W. Bush each regularly paid more than $100,000 a year — and sometimes much more — in federal income taxes while in office.

Mr. Trump, by contrast, is running a federal government to which he has contributed almost no income tax revenue in many years."

I hope this guy gets tossed in jail after he loses his Presidential protections.

Apparently he is such a bad businessman that he has been losing money, thus low or no federal taxes.

He is an excellent con man though... Keeping up the perception that he is a good businessman while showing no profit.

Or maybe Trump True Believers think that people who can avoid paying taxes on their gains are people to be worshipped?  I have to wonder how they think our military is funded with free loaders like Trump around...

Now for the big question... Will spineless Trump release his returns to prove the NYT wrong?  Or will he continue fighting tooth and nail from fulfilling his promise to release them?

Interesting Fact Checking

 Truth is first victim in politics? :-)

Gains for veterans?

Automobile Plants?

Now the big question...  Who is willing to learn the truth?

Who Would Vote For

 A candidate who strives to undermine confidence in our election system?  

Thankfully at least some GOP members are willing to defend the US system.

And the FBI is down playing any risk of fraud.

And remember that this is the same liar who claimed millions of people voted illegally in 2016 with ZERO proof.

If you support the USA, democracy, honesty, etc.  Throw this lying bum out.