And then there were just two

Another reality in the "Age of Trump"

     Just another Sunday listening to commentators debating whether the latest Trump actions can be explained as Trump either being stupid or treasonist.  It doesn't really matter, does it?

MPT show on Columbia

    Something to put on your calendar.   A new Maryland Public TV documentary on COLUMBIA will be broadcast on April 28th 2019 at 7 pm just before the new series of “Meet the Midwife."   Ken Day the Executive Producer said “We have rare footage from before COLUMBIA was built and interviews with all the main players that made COLUMBIA possible”! 

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What a difference a year makes

 

     This week marks the first anniversary of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.   Last year at the "March for Our Lives" I had a chance to talk with some of the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School before they started to march to the stage.  I often take a small note pad with me to write down information that I might use in this blog. I have recently gone totally digital and now do it on my phone.  I had just taken the note pad out of my pocket when a student walked up to me and started taking.  I am sure she thought I was with the media of some sort but she never asked.   I asked her how many students from her school were at the March and she estimated 150.  In just a short time 3 or 4 other students had moved into the discussion so I decided to probe a little more on how the shooting had impacted their lives.  I can't imagine having an experience as a teenager where you feared for your life.   One student talked about how many of her fellow students still had nightmares and the absentee rate at their school showed that many students were still having trouble dealing with the trauma.  It is remarkable to remember how quickly this March came together only a little over a month after the shooting.  At this point the students started to march toward the stage and I can still hear their chant of "we are students of MSD."
       I have mentioned to many people back here in Howard County how much these students reminded me of the young people of that age in Howard County.  I did a little research on Parkland Florida and then I saw why I had that feeling.  Parkland is demographically very similar to Howard County in many ways.  It is an educated, high-income community.  It doesn't have the racial diversity of Howard County which I could clearly see from the students at the March.
      I clearly heard that day how these students were turned into activists that day.  I only felt sorry that it took a traumatic event to bring this about.  I have heard many commentators express the feeling that the actions of these students will not impact the gun debate in our Country.  To that, I would mention that the social media savvy of these students shouldn't be underestimated.  The NRA has a different kind of opponent in these students.

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So much for tax cuts paying for themselves

 

   How many times will Republican voters let their elected officials promise that their tax cuts will be revenue neutral?  Guess how much the tax cuts increased the federal deficit? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice I should have voted for a Democrat.

P.S.
     I have pointed out before but I will remind everyone that the Republican's tax cuts are never about reducing the deficit but giving them the pretense to push forward their desire to cut social programs. 

P.S. 1
    Social Security and Medicare are usually the first areas Republicans attack to deal with the budget deficits.  The problem with both programs is that there is a cap on the amount of income that is taxed. Removing that cap makes both programs fiscally solvent for the foreseeable future.

So our diversity is not Countywide?

   I have written before about the De facto redlining of housing in Howard County by school districts.  We have a diverse population but it is becoming more racially and economically segregated.  The policies of the Board of Education to draw school district lines have been largely influenced by parents not wanting to have their children redistricted into schools that have lower test scores.  While some schools with higher test scores are overpopulated, other schools with lower test scores are underpopulated.  It may seem harsh to say but many parents liberalism stops when it comes to their children's school.  The situation has been moving in this direction for the last 20-25 years as the majority of subsidized housing is only found in Columbia.  Separate is never equal. The reality for our County, as any other place, is that any Board of Education member who would stand up for more diversity in our school system would probably be voted out of office.  Here is a good blog on this situation. 

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Diversity in Howard County fulfills the Rouse dream for Columbia

    

     I remember a time when we moved to Columbia in the 1970's and there were two Howard Counties.  One was Columbia with a new urban population that was diverse and politically liberal and one was rural, white and politically conservative.  There were two Democrat clubs- the Ellicott City Democrat Club was conservative and the Columbia Democrat Club was liberal.  A recent article in the Baltimore Sun has shown that what was once true in Columbia is now true in Howard County.  The diversity that once only existed in Columbia is now reflective of most of Howard County.

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One way to reduce political scandal

   With what is going on in Virginia "the Ol' Confederate Capitol State" it seems they maybe down to having the Capitol janitor elevated to the top office in the state.  Virginia has to change its slogan from "Virginia is for lovers" to "I got through college without doing blackface."  With the political scandals going on with Virginia and DC it seems that we would be better off electing even more women.  The Republicans seem not to have gotten that message when you look at their side of the House shown below.



They seem to have left it up to the Democrats to make this change.  Just wait till 2020 to see this tide wash over DC.



P.S
      I am trying to remember the last political scandal involving a woman.  I am coming up dry.

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      You have probably seen this by now if you are a liberal on Facebook but here it is for the rest of you.

Run to where the action is moving

      This weekend Ed Reed of the Baltimore Ravens was selected for induction into the Football Hall of Fame.  For non sports readers this may have gone unnoticed but I wanted to point out something that made Ed the best player that relates to non sport activities.  The truly great sports players don't react to where the action is but through athletic ability and practice develop the ability to know where the action is going and begin to move to the position they need to be in quickly enough to meet the play.  Wayne Gretzky in hockey did the same thing.  He moved to where the puck was going to go and not where it was.  That was the ability that made Gretzky and Reed the best at what they did.
      So how does not moving to where the action is moving apply to non sports areas?  We see it all the time in the business world.  Do you know which company had the patent on digital photography?  Kodak but they were too invested in film technology to make the switch that other companies made that didn't have an investment in film.  Know who had the first computer technology? Xerox.
   We see it being played out everyday.  People proposing solutions to yesterday's problems.  Kind of like moving to where the puck was.  Bringing back blue collar jobs when robots will replace most of these jobs.  Saying you will bring back coal jobs when solar and wind is already creating the most jobs in the energy sector.  Colleges putting millions of dollars into sports facilities and other buildings when online education is growing rapidly.
    Success is all about "moving to where the ball is going" to take advantage of opportunities.

P.S.
     Where is the fastest growing sports?  It is not baseball and football.  One is Lacrosse and this other sport.     

Best Super Bowl commercial

The best by far.

This weekend funny