Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
I think Joe Biden is the best choice. There are quite a few reasons but for now I’ll focus on the most immediate problem. About 230,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 in recent months. Biden is better for your health.
Continue reading “Biden is better for your health”
I noted earlier this morning that President Trump’s America First policy is working in COVID-19 area. In the past 24 hours we led the world in new COVID-19 cases and deaths. We are also a leader in cumulative death from the coronavirus.
Continue reading “Accelerating death rate from COVID-19”
Congratulations President Trump.
You have led the United States to a number 1 position. Setting a world record for the number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours.
It was hard but you did it. Continue reading “America First”
I used to subscribe to The Economist and I am thinking of re-subscribing. I still get their email newsletters. It is a great magazine. I found it sensible and centrist with a bit of humor.
They cover the world and are based in the UK so naturally their perspective on US events is a bit different from the American media. There was so much to read and all of it was well-written that I constantly found myself running a few issues behind. So I was very interested in their take on the upcoming presidential election.
Continue reading “Biden is Better”
I lived in Georgia for 30 years while at the CDC in Atlanta. When I moved to Atlanta in 1978, the state was pretty solidly Democratic. I remember elections where the choice was in the Democratic primary. Republicans sometimes put up no opposition in the actual election. When I retired in 2008 Republicans dominated.
I do remember the House candidate in my district being criticized by the Republican candidate for not being a good Christian. He was Jewish. I thought he was a good Representative. His Republican opponent won but later went to jail for perjury related to a money laundering scheme for a drug trafficking operation.
Continue reading “Jon Ossoff for Senate in Georgia”
In 2016 Donald Trump said he did not know who David Duke is. He was asked because David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who ran for the Senate, supported him in the election for President.
I knew about David Duke since I was living in Georgia in 1990 when he ran for the Senate from Louisiana and almost won. It seemed kind of a big deal and I assume it was national news. Somehow Mr. Trump missed it. Or maybe he just forgot or was just untruthful.
Continue reading “Is Donald Trump the David Duke of this decade ?”
Be careful about robocalls and texts spreading misinformation about voting to make you less likely to vote. The message could be that you polling place has changed, your mail-in ballot could be tampered with, one of the candidates has quit the race, voting will expose private information, voting will give information to the police or debt collectors, or voting will subject you to various undesirable consequences.
If you do hear something that will change your voting behavior, always try to confirm it.
Continue reading “Misinformation about voting”
I am reading Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum on my Kindle. I have been alarmed by the rise in anti-democratic beliefs in the United States including various types of authoritarianism. I decided to read this book because I had read several articles by Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic. More about this later.
Continue reading “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism”
I live in Pennsylvania. Being in a swing state has both advantages and disadvantages.
On the plus side our votes for President are important.
On the minus side, we probably get more political ads than other folks. And this year there is another big negative. President Trump has held several rallies around the state.
Continue reading “I live in Pennsylvania, a swing state”
President Donald Trump calls himself a “wartime president.” Now we know the war is on Americans.
Mark Meadows, the President’s chief of staff, has told us the administration “not going to control” the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump continues to fail us in addressing this pandemic. There are about 225,000 American killed by the virus and President Trump continues to lie and misinform Americans on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue reading “The wartime President’s war is on Americans”
President Trump likes to brag about having the greatest economy in history. As I read it, the Trump economy just allowed the Obama trends of an improving economy to continue, although not quite as well.
These graphs tell part of the story but the full article by Steven Rattner gives you more detail and goes into forecasts for the next 4 years. These graphs are from that article but you should really read the whole thing if you believe we had the greatest economy in history before the pandemic.
Continue reading “Trump’s greatest economy in history? Really!!!!”
A few days ago I mentioned President Trump’s greatest failure could be his response to COVID-19. Americans, especially old Americans, are dying because of that failure. (see President Trump continues to fail and lie so people die).
It is his ignoring of science and public heath that has resulted in many of the deaths. In particular, CDC was until the Trump Presidency one of the greatest public heath agency in world, if not actually the greatest.
President Trump’s constant interference in CDC’s public health role in the United States has been a disaster for Americans. There are now close to 220,00 of us dead and probably half or more of those would be alive if we had a better President.
For some new details on the Trump administration’s attacks on CDC, see Propublica’s Inside the Fall of the CDC.
For more of my writing on CDC see https://www.jackreidy.com/blog/?s=CDC.
President Trump continues to fail us in so many ways that it is hard to pick his greatest failure. A few days ago I mentioned his greatest failure could be his response to COVID-19. Americans, especially old Americans, are dying because of that failure.
Continue reading “President Trump ignores science, tells lies and people die”
I have trouble with Originalists. I had trouble understanding Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Antonin Scalia . Now I have trouble understanding Judge Amy Coney Barrett. I am certainly less than thrilled by the Republican rush to confirm Judge Barrett to the Supreme Court.
For more on my views on Justice Neil Gorsuch see Are women people ? – legally speaking.
Continue reading “The trouble with originalists such as Judge Amy Coney Barrett”
President Trump continues to fail us in so many ways that it is hard to pick his greatest failure. Perhaps his greatest failure is his response to COVID-19. Americans, especially old Americans, are dying because of that failure.
About 220,000 Americans are dead and hundreds are being added to that each day. Somedays it is over a thousand new deaths. In addition many are seriously ill. And sometimes this illness is long term (Long Covid)
Continue reading “President Trump continues to fail and lie so people die”