We are all Socialists

   We hear the cry from conservatives over the election of Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as we heard from them when Bernie Sanders was running for President a couple of years ago.  Conservatives like to think that such ideas as universal health care and universal public college are things that the United States cannot afford .  This argument runs into the reality that other Western Democracies with smaller economies all have found a way to afford these services for their citizens.  It comes down to priorities on the use of the dollars generated by your economy.  It is just as socialist to spend over $700 billion on defense as it is to spend it on health care.  It is just a matter of priorities for your country.  Our Country has made the political decision to be the World cop rather than use its wealth for the improvement of the health care for its citizens.  When we hear Trump berating other members of NATO to follow the  US in increasing their military budgets we should remember where these dollars would come from.  We should remember that both "promote the general welfare" and "provide for the common defense" were both mentioned in the preamble to the Constitution as the role of government.  It always comes down to where you put your priorities.  Maybe it is time we call defending our military spending levels (or building a wall on our Southern border) as "Socialism we can't afford."  That argument holds as much water as when the argument is made over proposed progressive programs.

He Doth Protest Too Much

I am not a crook

I did not have sexual relations with that woman

No collusion

Preserving Howard County

  Here is an important event to attend.

Saving Howard County – Ned Tillman will talk about many of the steps we have taken in the past in our attempt to manage and preserve much of Howard County. He will also discuss what we need to do today to prevent and prepare for what’s to come as our population continues to grow and our climate changes. Ned will bring and sign copies of his books: The Chesapeake Watershed, Saving The Places We Love, and The Big Melt (Amazon.com).

Be sure to visit the Conservancy’s webpage and RSVP at  https://www.hcconservancy.org/events/.

#hocoblogs

Says it all

P.S.
    Want to see what defeat looked like yesterday during Trump's Rose Garden address? #winning



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     Nice to see we give our allies a great way to make fun of us.

Oh now I get it!

 


    As we approach the 2 year anniversary of the Trump Administration I just realized that the "we" when Trump said "We will get so sick of winning" meant him and the Russians.  Silly me (and his voters) thought he meant Americans!  The joke is on us.

P.S.
    If you don't think that Trump acts like a Mafia Don here is something we saw this week.  In a tweet he mentioned to Michael Cohen that if he wanted to "rat" on him to a Congressional committee his father in law may want to watch out.  Maybe not the same thing as his friend Putin in killing an opponent but it certainly is intimidating by threat to a former employee.

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     Trump seems to use taking hostages to get his way.  First he used separating children to try and stop families from seeking asylum and now he wants to use "dreamers" and federal employees to get his wall.  Maybe Mexico should pay for ladders to help asylum seekers over Trump's stupid wall.

Howard County High School graffiti a sign of deeper issues

   Apparently underlining our liberal well educated community are individuals who are feeling the need to show that racism and hatred exist in all communities--even ours.  For every action there is a reaction.  For all the social progress we have made in racial relations (i.e. electing our first African American President) and the acceptance of the validity of different sexual orientation there will be those insecure persons that feel threatened by those changes.  Make no mistake it is insecurity that causes people to have prejudice against groups to which they don't belong.  When you add a person like Trump (and many Republicans i.e. Steve King) who uses coded language that appeals to a person's prejudices it is no surprise that this type of behavior is on the increase.

#hocoblogs

Weekend funny

P.S.
   I guess it shouldn't be surprising that one of the business practices that Trump brought to Washington was not paying people for work done for him.

Steele dossier now even more relevant

 


      With the recent news stories about Trump seeming to do the bidding of Putin against the interest of the United States now might be a good time to re-read the Steele Dossier to see what Putin has to compromise Trump.  Here is the link to that dossier.

P.S.
Understanding Trump supporters blind faith link

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Lake Elkhorn circles mystery solved

  It took a little internet research to finally solve the frozen circle mystery.  Here is what I found.

"Methane emissions from decaying plants can create a rising mass of warm water that begins swirling in a circular pattern.   Once the water mass reaches the underside of the ice on the surface of the lake, the warm water melts the ice in a ring shape," 

Alien circles on Lake Elkhorn???

    I have had a couple of readers of yesterday's blog post ask what caused the unusual circles on the ice photo at Lake Elkhorn.  I wondered that when I took the photo.  Anyone have a guess?

Snowy Lake Elkhorn

#hocoblogs

County looking for community comment on improvements to Oakland Mills Road

 

       Howard County Transportation Office will be spending the next year at making Oakland Mills Road more friendly for cars, bikes and pedestrians.   Here is a link to a survey for community input.

#hocoblogs

Faux emergencies and real emergencies

    So 121 Americans were murdered by illegal immigrants from 2010 to 2014 and that is used to declare a national emergency.  In the same period of time it is estimated that 160,000 Americans have died from not being able to get health care--- which Republicans want to make worse.  During this same period of time 140,000 Americans die from guns.  Only in a Trumpian clown world is this rational policy making.

Columbia is the 2nd best place to find a job in the United States

 Jim Rouse's vision for a city scores big again. 

Happiest Countries in the World

  What makes a country happy?  Given the following list of happiness in countries I would say that having a strong safety net, less social inequality, less religion and having strong unions.   That maybe why our Country ranks below 17 other countries.  With with our neighbor Canada at number 7 we should be looking more at our northern border than our southern border.  It says something about the United States that our paranoia about immigrants and foreign enemies causes us to devote so much our economic resources to military overkill.  Guns apparently don't buy us happiness.



P.S.
      Pharrell Williams Happy.

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     I have heard a more logical train of thought from someone who is drunk than this.

2019 predictions

      I can see two possible scenarios where 2019 could be the end of the Trump Administration.  Call me a hopeless liberal idealist!   The first one is that the Justice Department and the Special Counsel's office negotiate a deal with Trump that they will not indict his kids if he agrees to resign.  He might take that deal to keep his kids from having to go to trail.  Of course that type of deal might have to include a pardon for himself from Pence.  Not sure what Pence would think of that but at least he gets to be President for over a year.  Might be the only way for him to ever become President.  To have this deal work it might also have to involve some deals with the New York State prosecutors.   Kind of complicated but who knows.
     The second scenario is that the Mueller report is devastating with Trump criminal behavior, the economy goes into recession because of Trumps trade wars and those combined with Trump pulling troops out of South Korea and limiting the US role in NATO scaring enough Republican Senators that conviction on the articles of impeachment is possible.  You already have some Republican Senator push back on his pulling troops out of Syria and Afghanistan.  This pulling back of US influence in the World and giving more influence to our enemies might just be the straw that breaks the Republican backs.  Had it once on thinner grounds and we might see it again.
     Here's to hoping for a light at the end of the 2019 tunnel.