Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
I don’t think I read anything by Harlan Coben before but I was looking for a good mystery/thriller and this was available on Netgalley. I knew Harlan Coben was a best selling author of this type of book so I thought I’d give Win a try. I’m glad I did. I highly recommend this book and thank Netgalley for the chance to read it before publication.
Continue reading “Win by Harlan Coben”
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 also known as H.R.1319 passed the House of Representatives with only Democratic support. All 210 Republican who voted cast their vote against this bill. One Republican did not vote (Bost of Illinois). The final vote was 219-212. For those interested, HR 1319 and actions on this are summarized at congress.gov.
Continue reading “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021”
The vast majority of Senate Republicans voted to prevent the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Their position was that a trial is unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. Many voted to acquit for that reason despite the Senate voting it was constitutional.
If this view stood is that any future President (and others) could do something that is clearly wrong, be impeached by the House, and then never face trial or be convicted by simply resigning before the Senate starts the trial.
Continue reading “What part of all do you not understand?”
There is no question than this country and our congress face a huge divide. It is important to try to bring them together. Here is one issue I hope they can agree on.
When the pandemic hit, there was a huge shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the US and we were dependent on foreign sources who gave us only a limited supply since they needed the PPE for their domestic use. American manufacturers tried to increase the domestic supply.
A recent article discusses several small manufacturers who invested to increase the national supply of N95 masks.
Surely we can agree than since we should increase our national stockpile of PPE, we can Buy American in order to do so.
A few days ago I wrote about Republicans who believe the 2021 impeachment of Donald Trump is unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. Impeachment has been done before under these circumstances, but never for a president. Yesterday his lawyers did their best to present their case that this is unconstitutional.
Unfortunately for the ex-president, they did not do a very good job. Continue reading “2021 impeachment may have consequences”
The vast majority of Senate Republicans voted to prevent the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Their position was than a trial is unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office.
The problem is if this view stood is that any future President (and perhaps others) could do something that is clearly wrong, be impeached by the House, and then never face trial or be convicted by simply resigning before the Senate starts the trial. Do Senate Republicans favor no consequences for any act against the United States if the person is smart enough to resign before going to trial? Is this any way to run a country?
I’ve tried different cell phones. In the old days (the 1990s), I had a several different phones. But when I moved from my old flip phone to a smartphone I picked an iPhone. I think it was an iPhone 4 and then I moved up to a 5 after a few years I had the iPhone 5 for several years but was a bit curious about the Android world. So my next phone was a Samsung Galaxy. I liked that but next time I was ready to move I picked a Pixel.
I liked my Pixel but wanted to try the Apple watch. I was mainly interested in the ability to monitor some health issues and keeping track of some exercise things was probably a good idea too. Afterall, I do call this blog RetiredGuy and I am getting a bit older. So I got the new iPhone 12 and the Apple watch 6. The watch just came a few days ago so it it really to soon to comment on that. But I’ve had the phone for a week or so.
The main thing I miss about the Pixel is call screening. If I got a call from an unfamiliar number and did not know if I wanted to answer, I could let Google answer. Google would say they were screening the call and a transcript would appear on the phone. When they asked who the caller was and what the caller wanted, I would get a transcript of the answer. Of course spammers usually hung up at that point. But if there was an answer, I could decide whether on not to answer the call. I haven’t found something similar to the Iphone 12 yet.
Does anyone understand most Republicans in Congress? I don’t but perhaps their actions make sense to some.
Continue reading “I cannot understand most Republicans in Congress”
The Scorpion’s Tail is another great mystery by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I reviewed the first in this series about 18 months back. At the time I remarked “Preston and Child are about all you need to hear to know it is going to be a good, and likely great, mystery novel. Their collaboration is simply amazing.”
Continue reading “The Scorpion’s Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child”
Republicans in Congress have a choice. They can choose to continue opposing the majority in everything or they can choose to exert their power as a minority. This is an important point so let me repeat it another way. Simply put, Republican power is a choice.
The Democrats have a small majority is the House of Representatives. They can pass bills with a party line vote, although a bipartisan votes is preferred. One reason is President Biden’s desire for bipartisanship. Another would be that it just looks better to the American people.
Continue reading “Republicans can choose power”
It turned out that all the election challenges did not work. Joe Biden was inaugurated as President of the United States yesterday. And the hypocrisy of some Republicans serving in the House of Representatives and the Senate was on display at the inauguration.
Continue reading “Hypocrisy of some Republicans”
The Republican party used to be highly principled and an important part of our democracy. But now they seem to oppose the very idea of democracy. I liked them better when the were opposing “big D” Democrats, not “little d” democracy. The party now seems to be about retaining power at all costs. See my previous post Are Republicans the enemy of democracy? for more.
Continue reading “Republicans oppose democracy”
The FBI Way is about integrity of an organization. The full title is The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau’s Code of Excellence by Frank Figliuzzi. It is specifically about the FBI and how they maintain high standards which is interesting in itself but the lessons can be applied to other organizations.
Continue reading “The FBI Way by Frank Figliuzzi”
The number of arrests related to the recent terrorist attack on our nation’s Capitol continues to rise and may amount to hundreds.
The obvious question for those who participated in the attack and have not be arrested to date is: Are you worried yet ?
Another good question would be: Is President Trump worried ?
I thought I would not like this book after I read a little bit. But I was wrong and am glad I continued. Despite our very different opinions about the handling of the Covid-19 crisis, I think this book teaches a valuable lesson.
The full title is The New Great Depression: Winners and Losers in a Post-Pandemic World by James Rickards. The differing opinions do not matter here. We agree as to the economic problem. I come at this from a public health background. The author from the world of finance.
Continue reading “The New Great Depression by James Rickards”