The Trump Card

With over 500 days to election 2016, Donald Trump leads the pack in the Republican camp. Well, why not. He’s rich; he’s a celebrity; he’s rich; he’s entertaining; he’s rich; he’s outspoken; he’s rich; he gets a lot of free air-time; and oh, by the way, he’s rich… very rich.

He also has the ire of the Republican Party, which only tends to elevate him in the eyes of Republican voters.  Make no mistake about it, though; Donald Trump is a loose cannon.

Can he win the Party nomination? Maybe. Can he win the White House? Well, the odds are probably somewhere like those of me being struck by lightning – twice – then winning the Power Ball Lottery and California’s Mega Millions on the same day. It could happen!

Let's take a look at this 69-year-old billionaire. He lives in Queens, New York, was married three times, has five children, holds a Bachelors Degree from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania after transferring there from Fordham University in the Bronx. Trump finished High School at the New York Military Academy (NYMA), after being dismissed from the Kew-Forest School in Forest Hills, Queens for having “behavior problems.”

Trump’s fortune got its start when his father brought him into the family real estate business that focused on middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. It wasn’t long before he changed the company name from Elizabeth Trump and Son to The Trump Organization.

Lest anyone might think Trump was handed his fortune, they would be wrong. The man works hard for the money he has made and takes some very big risks. “The Donald” has created a great number of very successful enterprises, from the Trump Towers to the Taj Mahal Casino (which nearly brought him to bankruptcy), with a number of high-rise developments having the name Trump in them along the way. His net worth, depending on the source, might be from 1.8 billion to 10 billion dollars. The guy is rich… filthy rich!

Trump’s party history runs the range of Republican (Before 1999; 2009–11; 2012–present), Reform Party (1999–2001), Democratic (2001–09), and Independent (2011–12).

There can be no doubt that Donald Trump is a narcissist with an ego bigger than Texas and a very bad haircut. On the other hand, he is probably one of the most recognizable people in America, if not the world. He is also one of the most outspoken. His tirade on Mexican illegal immigrants and denunciation of heroism of Senator John McCain has given him great traction among voters. Why, because he is not just another mealy-mouthed politician. In fact, he has proven that he has not a drop of politician blood in his veins.

Is he dangerous? Very! In 1992, another billionaire businessman with strong libertarian tendencies, Ross Perot, cost a very good Republican candidate, President George H.W. Bush reelection and essentially bought Bill Clinton the office. Trump has already hinted that he might run an independent campaign if he doesn’t get the Republican nomination. If this happens it will be a Clinton redux.

Like Perot, Trump is telling many conservatives what they long to hear – and what the other candidates are too timid to voice. His schoolyard invectives against other candidates are entertaining, and seem to hit a chord with many voters simply because Trump is calling the politicians out in violation of the Republican 11^th commandment (thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans).

If you scan back to Trump’s political history, you will find he was registered in the Reform Party from 1999 to 2001 – the same Reform Party created by Ross Perot. Coincidence?

Is Donald Trump merely a celebrity buffoon? If so, he is a very cagy buffoon, one that might just trump the Republicans with an undeserving loss.

The Stars and Bars

On June 24^th,, a Sunday, a young White man walked into the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina during a bible study session. He was welcomed and sat through the class for an hour before declaring he was there "to kill black people" and then opening fire, killing nine parishioners. I won’t dignify the killer by mentioning his name, but I’m sure everyone knows whom I am referring to.

God lord, we are not even safe in church anymore! Why would a person do such a low, despicable thing?

It’s too easy to blame it on racism and white hate groups. Since the end of the Civil Rights movement in the ‘60s, I can’t remember sensational reports of blatantly racist hate crimes of this sort. There may have been a few, but nothing like the September 15, 1963 bombing before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama—a church with a predominantly black congregation that served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured in that bombing. You don’t hear of cross-burnings and lynchings much anymore either. These hate groups don’t seem to be doing much besides wallowing in their own misery and paranoia.

These days, however, terrorists are being increasingly recruited on-line through the “social” media. (Although, I don’t see much social about it. Maybe there needs to be a special web section for an anti-social media.) This killer posted pictures sitting with a Confederate battle flag, and spouted racial hatred and an affinity for White hate groups. Other terrorists have black flags of the Islamic State and spout hatred of anyone not of their particular pseudo-religious bent.

Whoa, back the train up! This guy had a Confederate battle flag?

That’s right. The flag was what everyone seemed to focus on. Suddenly this inanimate piece of cloth was reviled more than even the despised handguns and assault rifles or even the maniac that did the shooting.

Ah, but there is a Confederate battle flag flying over a Confederate Soldiers Memorial on the South Carolina statehouse grounds. From a single picture, you get the feeling that the Confederate battle flag somehow managed to climb down from that flagpole and murdered all nine people in that church. Well, it simply had to go.

Scant mention was made of the vile young man with the twisted mind, or surprisingly, not even much mention of the weapon he used. Although, a few weeks after the shooting it was reported that the background checks to purchase the handgun were faulty.

After much ballyhoo and protestation, the Confederate flag was lowered and relegated to the Confederate Museum.

Suddenly, though, the people who cry over any perceived slight were protesting just about everything containing the name of a Confederate soldier, street names and names of buildings were now to be changed. And it wasn’t limited to Confederates. Now any name anyone deemed offensive was to be changed – Washington, Lee, and Jackson Streets along with Squaw Bread and Redskins football team are now racist. The carving of three Confederate Generals at Stone Mountain State Park in Georgia that had stood since completion in 1924 by Gutzon Borglum – the same Gutzon Borglum that carved Mount Rushmore – must be blasted from the face of the mountain, was the battle cry. Political correctness is running amok!

People need to get a grip. Slavery is dead. President Lincoln ended that abomination in 1863. The 13^th amendment put the nail in that coffin. The Civil War has been over for 151 years!

The flag that people seem to think depicts slavery and racism is not even the flag of the Confederacy. The flag of the Confederate States of America was entirely different – not the “stars and bars.” This flag was one carried into battle by brave men who fought for the rights of their states and their homes. Most of these men never even owned a slave. That flag is no different than the pennant Colonel George Custer’s 7^th Cavalry carried into battle for the North.

Any racist connotation ascribed to the “Stars and Bars” is merely a product of those who have hijacked the flag for their own vile purposes and is a disgrace to the men who fought valiantly under those colors. We should be condemning those people, not the flag they happen to have with them. If that flag reminds you of slavery, it is your problem, not the flag’s. Cotton reminds some of slavery too, but they have no problem wearing cotton products. If those hate groups displayed the American flag, would the reaction be the same?

The Confederate battle flag is a relic of our nation’s history, and should be treated as such. It should be revered and honored as with any other relic of men who fought and died for their country.

Leave Stone Mountain and the paint job on Beau Duke’s car alone!

Solar For Everyone!

Okay, let’s just imagine for a minute that you are a business owner. Your business is to generate electricity for millions of homes and other businesses. Along comes the supreme regulator who dictates that you can’t use the fuel most of your generators run on. You’re devastated! You simply can’t afford to replace the generators or upgrade to a different fuel. In a benevolent moment, the dictator allows you to buy credits from others that have extra credits and keep your generators cranking. Well, that’s not much of a solution. You will still have to raise the rates you charge your customers.

Bummer! But wait! Here is a nifty solution. Have your customers give you electricity that you can sell back to them. If they give you enough power, you will even be able to sell your credits. But how do you convince your customers to go along with this scheme? Common sense would dictate that they would want to be paid for providing you an infrastructure that will keep you from needing capital expenditure.

Aha! Let’s call it GREEN! Everybody loves the green ideas. Let’s get the customers to all install “Green Energy” solar systems at their own expense and have them provide you with power. You then sell power back at a reduced rate. Everybody wins, right?

In the old days of a many-tiered rate structure this propaganda worked. A lot of homeowners bought (literally and figuratively) into this scheme. What with rebates, zero down and free installation, who could pass up a deal like that?

Okay, but how much does your solar installation really cost you? You are paying for it! You may even have a lean against your home for the cost of the solar unit. How much are you saving in the cost of electricity? Does it offset the cost of the solar unit?

Now, mull this over. The Public Utilities Commission just voted to reduce the tier structure from four or five to just two tiers. And they are giving the big users a whopping break on charges. Well, of course, the power companies aren’t exactly benevolent, so they are going to raise the rates for small users … the ones on solar.

No, I’m not against solar energy. In fact, I believe it would be a great investment … if you could get off the grid.

I know people who are self-sufficient with power. Some have solar, and some have wind turbine power; some have both. None are connected to the power grid. Mother Nature provides all the electricity they need, and Mother Nature is not controlled by the PUC and won’t raise the rates.

There are people who, without fail, point out what they see as drawbacks to self-contained power generation. Yes, there are cloudy and windless days, and yes, the amount of power generated can and does fluctuate. That is what batteries are for. Ah, but batteries are dangerous and messy. Wrong! Gel cells have no mess and properly contained they are no more dangerous than the battery in your car. When things really go south and you just can’t get enough power from your units, there is always a backup generator powered by natural gas or diesel.

Of course, all this equipment costs money … and it ain’t cheap. But again, what are you paying for that solar unit that gives the power company free capital improvements plus free power – not to mention the ability to sell pollution credits on the cap-and-trade market?

 Solar for everyone? Well, as P.T. Barnum once said, there’s one born every minute.

It’s a Heavy Badge

Visit any jail or prison and you will find the worst of society housed there to protect the rest of society from harm. The list of crimes is long and at times horrifying. Their crimes can range from assault and battery to drug use, drug sales, robbery, burglary, car theft, and a host of murder and attempted murders, or worse. These aren’t choirboys and girls. They are for the most part asocial and amoral criminals.

All right, now that you have that picture in your mind, imagine what it must be like to deal with the likes of these people every day. Sure, the guards are systematically disrespected and abused, but what about the police who have to be able to tell the good guys from the bad in the general public. Imagine having to take verbal abuse and threats from total strangers. Imagine responding to a traffic accident call only to see an entire family smashed and shredded to an unrecognizable piece of blood and gore.

But these are trained police officers. They are conditioned to accept these things and respond like programmed unemotional automatons. Their training allows them to turn all emotion off.

Wrong! Our men and women in blue are as human as you and me. Sure, they learn to handle these things without emotion, but even the best of them can reach a breaking point. When that happens, often the unpolished human emotions take over.

Contrary to the claims of some people with their own agenda, we are not living in a police state, and police are not an organized group of oppressors of the poor or the Black communities. As a rule, if you haven’t committed a crime and are cooperating with the police you have nothing to fear.

On the other hand, if you have committed a crime, the police are there to arrest you. If you resist, they will take whatever action is necessary to affect that arrest. Then too, if you haven’t committed a crime but give the police a hard time and verbally or physically abuse them, well… ‘you in a heap o’ trouble.’ The degree of trouble you bring on yourself usually depends on how abusive you are.

If it is merely verbal abuse, most police will do the right thing and just walk away leaving the abuser to look like a total fool. Physical abuse – the worst of which is trying to take an officer’s weapon – will illicit a response, and very likely you will be arrested for assault on a police officer. If you try resisting arrest… well you know the drill.

Are there exceptions to this well-defined action-reaction scenario? Sure. Cops are human. Whether they show it or not, their emotions are like any other person’s. If an officer’s day has been an emotional rollercoaster ride, a simple confrontation may be just one too many and he overreacts.

Put yourself in an officer’s shoes and imagine what you might have done in the same situation. Okay, imagine having started your day responding to not one but two serious traffic accidents, three domestic disturbances – one where the wife was beaten to a pulp – then progressing to a walk through a neighborhood with people calling you names and taunting you, breaking up a drunken bar fight and finally being called to a disturbance at a drug buy. You have to chase the suspect for three blocks before taking him down to put the cuffs on. Now you realize you have a drug-crazed individual – maybe even larger than you – who wants to wrestle your weapon from you, and he is feeling no pain.

Life seldom resembles a TV show. If that person gets your weapon, he is not going to stop and admire how well you have maintained it. He is also not going to take the gun and run. Now you are the one in trouble and you should rightly fear for your life.

Ah, but somewhere during this event, your emotions may have hit overload, and just maybe you will take out your stick and wail on the perpetrator a bit… maybe more than a bit. He is high on drugs and can’t feel it, so he doesn’t stop struggling. You wail some more. Finally backup arrives and they get him subdued and in the patrol car.

The perpetrator lives, but sues the department. Your career is officially over. You won’t even find employment as an unarmed mall cop.

The perpetrator? Well, he’s a little sore, but he now has millions of taxpayer dollars to buy more drugs… and he still hates you.

Why bother? You show up for work at the PD every day because you know the animals behind bars would be roaming the streets accosting and terrorizing your community if you didn’t. If you are lucky, you will come home after your shift in one piece and live to protect and serve tomorrow. If not, your picture will hang in the station, and everyone will get to go around with a black band over his or her badge.

A Not So Happy Meal

How much are you willing to pay for a McDonalds Happy Meal? Today it costs about two-and-a-half bucks to fill your kids’ mouths with junk food just to get a toy. I don’t know how much the actual food costs but I’m willing to bet it is less than the packaging. It is also a safe bet that the employee costs are considerably more than either the meal or packaging.

The City of Los Angeles recently raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Although that figure won’t be reached for five years, it will mean at least a 66% increase in the cost of anything requiring human intervention. That would make that $2.50 Happy Meal you buy today cost over $4 by 2020.

President JFK would often say, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” So, does that mean everyone in Los Angeles can look forward to a 66% increase in pay by 2020? Dream on!

Even if everyone’s pay did increase correspondingly, as water seeks its own level so do prices – net gain: zero. But everyone’s income (notice I didn’t say pay) doesn’t necessarily increase with the minimum wage.

Employers now paying workers $15 or more per hour have little incentive to raise those wages – certainly not by 66%. Those on fixed incomes who are unable to supplement it may see a slight cost-of-living increase as inflation due to the minimum wage increase drives it up. It would be delusional to think it would even come close to 66% increase, though.

Will welfare payments increase too? That just means we all are going to pay more taxes.

Far be it from me to deny anyone a living wage. But why would anyone even want to make a career out of flipping burgers? Jobs like these should be for those entering the job market – kids in high-school or part-timers – not people planning to raise a family and retire on that job.

I am no economist, but it shouldn’t take one to see that boosting the minimum wage beyond all reason will only add to the suffering of the poor and drive those barely making ends meet now on fixed incomes into the ranks of the poor.

Fast-food workers and convenience store clerks may be elated at the new size of their paycheck. The giddiness will soon pass when they find they still can’t make ends meet by the next pay period because everything now costs more.

So, what is triggering this drive to increase the minimum wage? There may be some compassionate lawmakers that actually believe they are doing the poor and middle class a favor. If so, they need to rethink the plan and take a long hard look at the broader consequences of raising the minimum wage.

On the other hand, my analytical – and perhaps cynical – mind sees that with every raise in wages there is a subsequent rise in the taxes paid on that income. There is little more precious to politicians than taxes.

To those young minimum wage workers, I would give a bit of advice. If you haven’t planned for a career beyond what you are now doing, the boosted minimum wage is still not going to be able to support in anything but the minimum lifestyle. If you want more, prepare yourself for more. Get an education for a better paying career. Make yourself valuable, and an employer will pay you for that value.

With a 66% price increase, that Happy Meal won’t seem so happy anymore, and the check for a steak at a nice restaurant won’t leave much for a tip.

A Greater Power

The sky is falling! Well… not really. According to environmentalists, some scientists, a few politicians, and Al Gore, the sky is actually filling up… with “greenhouse gas.” It might as well be falling, though, with all of the panicky dire warnings, hand wringing, and finger pointing going on.

Why does this invisible gas garner such alarm? Groups of scientists and a lot of politicians tell us that greenhouse gases are responsible for a host of terrible acts of nature, from global warming, severe weather patterns, droughts, to dead coral and acidic ocean waters. A whole host of direct and indirect aberrations are also attributed to “Global Warming”. Or as it is now called “Global Climate Change.”

Well, maybe. There are other groups of scientists that claim it ain’t so. The big problem with scientific opinions on the matter is that the problem cannot be studied in the usual scientific methods. Scientists would normally set up an experiment, analyze the results, then repeat the experiment enough times to determine results beyond a doubt. The same method used to find the “god particle” with the Large Hadron Collider. That is not easily done dealing with this planet’s atmosphere and the vagaries of weather.

So, what is this nasty stuff called greenhouse gas? The general scientific consensus is that there are six components to the gas: Water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). In the composition of this gas, water vapor and clouds make up from 26 to 72 percent. Carbon dioxide comes in a distant second with only 9 to 26 percent. Methane and ozone are at the bottom of the list, and CFCs barely make a mention.

The name comes from the gas’ ability to keep the planet from becoming one big snowball. The sunlight that heats us is reflected from the earth into the atmosphere containing greenhouse gases where the heat is then contained on the earth. Without this gas, all of the earth’s heat gained from the sun would be reflected into space making this a very cold place to live – if we even could.

As you can see from the above percentages the amounts of the components fluctuate. Greenhouse gas is the earth’s “thermostat.” Increases heat the planet and decreases cool it.

Does this cause the recent severe weather? Maybe, maybe not. Some scientists say it does, others say it doesn’t have a direct effect. Even the “fact” that the earth is warming is a matter of debate.

If we turn our attention from the scientists that can’t even agree among themselves and look at history, we find that the earth has undergone many climate fluctuations resulting in drastic changes in the planet’s landscape. As our earth evolves, things change.

Before humans crawled out of their caves, the earth went through some very drastic changes. The lush, steamy environment where dinosaurs roamed turned cold enough to freeze everything on the planet and wipe out these cold-blooded creatures. It also produced glaciers that re-shaped the landscape.

Before mankind even invented fire, there were lush, verdant fields in what is now the Sahara desert. Recorded history shows many ups and down in earth’s temperature. It’s hard to argue that population is causing global warming when nature has a much stronger hand in it than anything humans could ever do.

So why all the anxiety? I have to think it is all due to the efficiency of the propaganda mills. Then too, it is has become the mantra of the left. From California Governor Jerry Brown to President Obama, and the strong left-leaning United Nations, the politicians in charge of policies are adamant about humans causing global warming. Yes, these are the people making policies that affect us all! They have led the sheep at the mainstream media to indoctrinate the public with their pet theory – and it is working.

What can be done about this pending doom in the air? Not much! Nature, not mankind controls the weather. We can no more change global weather than we can control tornadoes and hurricanes. In this country, our leaders are intent on making us sacrifice just to show their power.

How can I say that? Easy. When our national leaders meet those of other countries to discuss this matter, we always come out on the losing end. China and India are huge producers of CO2 and Methane. They are also developing nations. Whatever they create today will only grow in the future. They have all acknowledged the situation but are dragging their feet when it comes to sacrifices. Maybe they know something we don’t.

Then too, take another look at the makeup of greenhouse gasses. The biggest component of this gas is water vapor. The very clouds that give us life-giving rain are the same ones that retain the earth’s heat. I haven’t heard anyone talk about reducing cloud cover!

Believe what you want, but consider this: We can spend decades cutting the generation of CO2 – our “carbon footprint” – but a single big volcano eruption can add it all back in an afternoon. Politicians do not control the weather. Only nature has that much power.

It’s The Water Stupid!

At this point, it’s probably not news that we have a drought situation in California. But the drought doesn’t end at the California state line. The entire western United States is suffering through a drought. Snow packs, nature’s own water reservoirs, in the Sierra and Rocky mountains have been far below normal even for dry years. According to one California State web site, this is “the worst drought in memory.”

As a rule, for every problem, there is both a cause and a solution. The cause is obvious, not enough precipitation. And there is no shortage of critics ready to blame that on the “usual suspect”, Global Warming. Without getting into the politically charged debate on global warming, it would suffice to say that, yes, the earth may be warming up, and yes, weather patterns can be expected to change due to the warming. Of course, to place full blame on Global Warming would be to ignore the fact that much of the California land mass is rated as desert and that the state has undergone many periodic droughts throughout recorded history.

So, what makes this drought different? First, there is the obvious population difference. According to United States Census Bureau in the 51-month period from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014, California population grew at a rate of 4.16 percent while the total US population grew by 3.28 percent. The total population for California at that time was 38,802,500 people. While the California water deficit in 2014 was reported to be 11 trillion gallons. The situation is that we have a sharp increase on population concurrent with a severe shortage of water. Common sense would dictate we discourage more growth until we get the water situation in hand. Unfortunately, common sense is a sparse commodity in Sacramento.

A second difference is water diversion. From the US House Committee on Natural Resources:
In May 2007, a Federal District Court Judge ruled that increased amounts of water had to be re-allocated towards protecting the Delta smelt – a three-inch fish on the Endangered Species List.

Because of this ruling, in 2009 and 2010 more than 300 billion gallons (or 1 million acre-feet) of water were diverted away from farmers in the Central Valley and into the San Francisco Bay – eventually going out into the Pacific Ocean.

While 300 billion gallons may seem, well… like a drop in the bucket compared to an 11 trillion gallon deficit, at this point every little bit helps… or hurts.

This drought is far more serious than people’s lawns turning brown and cars not being washed. The California Central Valley is the vegetable capital of the US. We may not be running out of broccoli or beans, but you can bet it will cost a whole lot more to import from other countries. Look in your refrigerator and imagine all of those vegetables costing far more than what they cost now. The next time you are in a restaurant and look at the menu prices, you could get sticker shock due to the increase of food costs that have to be passed on by the restaurant. Even junk food will cost more, much more.

So, what is the solution? California Governor Jerry Brown thinks he can throw a few billion dollars at the problem and it will go away. Money can’t make water instantly appear where there is none. At best, any construction funded by this emergency fund will only provide additional water sometime in the future.

The other facet in Brown’s solution is conservation. No argument there. Conservation is a great idea any time; in a drought, it is paramount. We have just struggled through a long and brutal recession, and many people have already taken measures to stem the rising cost of water usage. How much further will they be able to reduce their use?

The average household uses about 100 gallons per person. The water districts set the initial tier at 60 gallons per-person, and the rate increases dramatically for every tier thereafter. Rate induced conservation can only hurt the poor and those on fixed incomes who have already cut their consumption to the quick.

Then we have desalinization. California has the longest coastline of any state in the nation. No one owns the Ocean water; no one will charge us to take what we need. All we need do is convert it to freshwater. In 2013 there were over 17,000 desalinization plants producing 21.1 billion gallons of fresh water on a daily basis to 300 million people in 150 countries. Exact numbers for the US at this date is a little hard to find, but in 2012 the IDA Journal of Desalination and Water Reuse reported there to be 324.

California either has or is in the process of building 17. The largest will be in Carlsbad, which is planned to be able to deliver some 50 million gallons of drinkable water per day. The plant took twelve years of planning and six years to get through the permitting process. It is expected to go on-line this year – if the environmentalists back off. Another plant is slated for Huntington Beach.

There are quite a number of ways to extract minerals and salt from seawater. Expense, power consumption, and environmental concerns currently dominate the anti-desalinization argument and drag out the permitting process. For every negative, though, there are many positives, the main one being drought independence.

It always seems to be the environmental Luddites throwing a monkey wrench into any technological solution to mankind’s problems with nature. I can imagine an environmentalist caveman telling the inventor of fire, “You can’t do that it will burn the world up!”