The Obesity Epidemic

Yes it's an epidemic and it's getting worse.

The CDC has a new report out from December 2018 which discusses average height and weight in the US by race and sex.
The heaviest group is white males averaging a whopping 202.2 pounds with an average height of 5' 9.8" for an average BMI of 29.2.
On the distaff side the heaviest group is black females averaging 186.1 pounds with an average height of 5' 4" for an average BMI of 31.9. That means the average black female is obese.
To put this in perspective I'm male, 6' 0" (apparently I've shrunk an inch in my old age) and weigh around 180 pounds so the average black female in this country outweighs me. Asians are doing something right with men averaging 5' 6.8" and weighing 161.1 pounds for a BMI of 25.4 and females averaging 5' 1.5" and weighing 132.4 pounds for a BMI of 24.6.

The 2005 Bankruptcy Law

Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren are old adversaries. In 2005 Biden sponsored a bill to update bankruptcy law and Warren, an expert in bankruptcy law, wanted nothing to do with it.

The major criticisms revolved around the claim that the law made things better for the credit card companies at the expense of the consumer. Considering the credit card companies apparently spent around $100 million pushing the bill that sounds like it's pretty accurate.

Bankruptcy law is complicated especially when you combine it with credit card companies and their often barely ethical practices.

The 2005 Bankruptcy law was based upon the erroneous claim that fraud and abuse of the bankruptcy system were widespread. Like the claim that voter fraud is widespread no one ever found any evidence to support that claim. It turned out that unexpected medical expenses were the most likely cause of bankruptcy. There’s no real surprise there.

In the meantime, remember that Delaware is the credit card capital of the country because of two things.

1. Marquette National Bank v. First of Omaha Corp. in 1978 where the SCOTUS held that credit card companies could export interest rates from the states where they were located to other states.

2. Delaware’s 1980 Financial Center Development Act which, according to Forbes, provided the following incentives, with commentary in parentheses, to credit card companies.

• Invitations: It gave out-of-state banks permission to enter Delaware, provided that they met certain conditions — for example, employing at least 100 people in the state
• Interest rate flexibility: It largely eliminated usury ceilings (so 24% interest became OK)
• Option to charge fees: It allowed banks to impose several types of fees on revolving and closed-ended credit, if they were disclosed (disclosed usually on pg 178 in teeny print)
• Tax breaks: It implemented an inverted tax rate for banks making more than $20 million, taxing big banks at a lower rate than smaller banks (I’d like to meet the guy that came up with this one)

In 1980 there were hopes that the act would add 1,000 jobs. As of 2017 some 47,000 people are employed in Delaware’s financial sector.

So, I wonders why a senator from Delaware would be friendly to credit card companies. It’s hard to figure out but MAYBE if I try REAL hard I might be able to work it out.

Are you kidding me?

Dave Gettleman, with not one, not two, but FOUR outstanding defensive prospects, the consensus best offensive lineman in the draft AND Dwayne Haskins, QB from Ohio State, on the board chooses, with the #6 pick in the 2019 NFL draft...ta-da...wait for it...here it comes...

Daniel Jones, QB from Duke

This has the earmarks of being the worst draft pick ever made by the New York Giants. If they give him #17, the number he wore at Duke, he can replace Dave Brown who also wore that number and who, arguably, currently holds the honor of being the worst draft pick ever made by the Giants.

If John Mara and Steve Tisch haven't already fired Gettleman's sorry rear end, they should and let him take Head Clown Pat Shurmur with him because Shurmur didn't hog tie Gettleman to prevent this disaster.

What were they thinking?

If nothing else the level of competition that Jones has faced disqualifies him as a top 10 pick. At pick #17 I wouldn't have been so upset. I would have still been upset but at #6?

What a bonehead move.

I've been going to Giants games since 1958 and this is the most disappointing move I've seen the team make since they cut WR Buddy Dial and kept WR Joe Biscaha instead.

To Impeach or Not to Impeach

There are two ways to look at this.

One way is theoretical. Are there grounds for impeachment? Mueller and company apparently felt there was something there that only the congress could take action on.

But it's unclear exactly what is the crime, beyond self centered narcissism and incompetence, that we're dealing with here. The most you can say is he misused the power of his office in an attempt to obstruct justice.

To be honest I see a better case for impeaching Barr since he clearly lied his ass off in his "summary" of the Mueller Report.

The other way is practical. Is there any realistic chance of getting a conviction in the Senate?

I figure, given the current Senate, the chances of getting the two-thirds majority for conviction is zero without enough additional evidence of wrong doing to cause an upheaval of popular demand for removal from office.

I figure the chances of finding that additional evidence are about zero as well. So the only thing going down the road of impeachment would accomplish is making Trump look like a martyr.

I don't think it would be a good idea.

The Mueller Report

After reading the report I'm left with this feeling that what we have is a president saved from committing several felonies by his own incompetence.

Clearly there was cooperation (I'll avoid the other C word) between the Trump campaign and the Russians but the Trump organization was in such a state of chaos that the left hand didn't know what the left finger was doing.

That leaves us with the question of obstruction of justice. Trump, given his narcissistic personality, was clearly furious that he, the royal he, was being investigated and struck out on numerous occasions.

Luckily, for him, subordinates simply ignored him and, again, the administration was in such chaos that often they got away with it. I love the final sentence of Mueller's own summary.

"Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

Which, as far as I can tell means absolutely nothing. The inability to prove a negative does mean a whole hell of a lot.

More on "Some People did Something."

Trump and the Post certainly went off the rails over this and while Ilhan Omar's words may not be sinister, they're not all that admirable either.

Let's simply look at an extended quote which, despite claims to the contrary, is not woefully out of context. In fact it's in keeping with the entire gist of the speech.

"Here’s the truth: far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen. And frankly I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognized that some people did something and then all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."

First of all she's speaking to CAIR, an organization of questionable antecedents that has been declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and had an admitted association with the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) charged by the US government with funneling money to Hamas.

When the 1st trial of the HLF ended in a mistrial CAIR defended the organization claiming the charges were "built on fear not fact." All HLF defendants were convicted in the retrial and CAIR was identified as an "unindicted co-conspirator" which caused the FBI to stop working with CAIR.

Second, what civil liberties were Muslims losing? Perhaps they should compare the civil liberties they lost to those lost by the Japanese internees during WW II or blacks in the south that were kept from voting by the Jim Crow culture? More people disliking you, whether justified or not, is not a loss of civil liberties. Even Islamophobic assholes enjoy freedom of speech.

Third, let's cut the bullshit, "some people did something" is no way to refer to the events of 9/11. If we can just agree this was a bad choice of words them I'm all for calling out those distorting what she said. BUT WE CAN'T EVEN DO THAT APPARENTLY. Instead heels have to be dug into the ground and the indefensible must be defended.

Fourth, just as a minor nit, CAIR was founded in 1994 and not after 9/11. She couldn't even get the founding date of the organization she was speaking to right.

Then we can add the "allegiance to a foreign country" crack while criticizing AIPAC a while back into the mix.

But the thing that really stuck in my craw was her comparing her "some people did something" phrase to George W, Bush's "I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon" phrase spoken on 9/14/2001, right in front of the rubble of the twin towers, claiming because he used the word "people" it amounted to the same thing she said or at least it was equally respectful or disrespectful.

No, not really, not even close.

Trump and the Post were being unethical but they were scoring lots of political points by going overboard. Trump understands the game. You have to know when to fold a losing hand and I have this bad feeling that this lady is a losing hand and always will be a losing hand.

The Anticipated Netanyahu Coalition

The details of the Likud coalition appear to be taking shape as follows.

Likud - 36 Seats

The Ultra-Orthodox Shas (8) and UTJ (7) - 15 Seats

Small Right Wing Parties Kulanu (4), Yisrael Beiteinu (5), and the Union of Right Wing Parties (5) - 14 Seats

That's a total of 65 seats out of the 120 seat Knesset. The extreme right wing are most likely to press for annexation of West Bank settlements.

In any event the negotiations aren't going to be easy and might take a while.

Some People Did Something!?

The full quote by Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar in a speech to CAIR was

"CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."

The part of this that has everyone bent out of shape is the description of the terrorist act as "some people did something."

The New York Post went completely off the rails.

Omar has a knack for putting her foot in her mouth. This is the same lady who in criticizing AIPAC implied they were pushing for "Allegiance to foreign country" with is an accusation often made against Jews in anti-Semitic attacks.

Then she implied a GOP representative was being anti-Semitic when he criticized Democratic policies by reading Hitler's quote from Mein Kampf on the "big lie" and accusing them of engaging in that tactic.

While Mein Kampf is one of the most anti-Semitic documents ever produced, there's nothing particularly anti-Semitic about Hitler's tangent explaining the concept of the "big lie."

I can't decide if Omar is just that stupid or whether she's purposely pushing the outside of the envelope to see what she can get away with.

Israeli Election Results

Despite some optimism that Benjamin Netanyahu would be displaced his Likud Party managed 36 seats to Blue and White's 35.

Israel's president will ask Netanyahu to try and form a government for the fourth consecutive time and the fifth time overall.

As usual the Likud Party leader will have to negotiate with the religious and other right wing parties in order to manage the 61 plus votes required.

The issue is what will Netanyahu have to offer those parties in order to get them to sign on? One concern is some may ask him to follow through on his promise in the waning days of the election to begin annexing West Bank territory around Jerusalem that is occupied by Israeli settlements.

It wouldn't be the first time Bibi didn't follow on a campaign promise so I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

I think annexing parts of the West Bank unilaterally without some sort of agreement with the Palestinians is a big mistake and is just going to make things a lot more tense.

The Final Four - Virginia vs Auburn

I don't usually watch basketball and I'm certainly not anything close to an expert but I did play and I do have a basic feel for the rules of the game.

I was bored last night and found a live stream of the Virginia-Auburn game and I figured I'd give it a look.

My immediate reaction was I didn't remember the game being so rough. I mean these guys were banging into each other and engaging in general mayhem while the referees smiled in benign neglect. I like that approach. Let the players play but just keep things from getting out of hand.

Now let's talk about the final couple of seconds.

With about 3 seconds left Virginia had squandered a 10 point lead and was trailing Auburn 62-60. Virginia's Ty Jerome was dribbling up court when the ball hit his heel and he lost control. Jerome then picked up the ball and started dribbling again.

The thought immediately popped into my head "isn't that a double-dribble?" I ignored my thought because I figured the refs knew better than I did.

Then Auburn fouled Jerome well beyond the key because they had a foul to give but, with under 2 seconds left, that seemed like giving Virginia a chance to catch their breath.

Then came the in-bounds pass to Kyle Guy and the 3-point shot. When it bounced off the rim, like just about everyone else, I figured the game was over and Auburn had won 62-60.

Well, not quite, because during the shot Auburn's Samir Doughty bumped into Guy and a three shot foul was called. I didn't see it in real time but the ref was right there and the foul was clear in the replay.

So, with the entire season on the line, and 0.6 seconds left, Kyle Guy goes to the free throw line for three shots.

Now, you would think he might be a tad nervous. Hell, if it were me my knees would be knocking together and my hands shaking. Not this kid. With no hesitation he put the ball up and got nothing but net, Auburn 62, Virginia 61.

They gave him the ball back and, again, with no hesitation he put it up and, again, nothing but net. Auburn 62, Virginia 62.

At that point Auburn called its last time out to discuss its options if Guy made or missed the shot. I suppose they also wanted Guy to think about that final shot.

The resumed the gane and, what think about? Again, with no hesitation he put the ball up and got, you guessed it, nothing but net.

Final score, Virginia 63, Auburn 62. This was one for the ages.

The Israeli Elections

Israelis go to the polls on April 9.

According to the last poll Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party is expected to manage 26 seats in the 120 seat Knesset while Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party is expected to win 30 seats.

So no party, as usual, will be even close to a majority and the coalition negotiations will commence.

Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, will decide which party leader has the best chance of putting together a majority coalition and that party will have a little over a month to form a government.

The same poll indicates that Netanyahu's right wing block would manage a razor thin majority of 63 seats. If that's the case, Rivlin will probably ask Netanyahu to form a government for the fifth time.

What makes this all so interesting is Netanyahu, apparently concerned by the recent polls, is promising to begin the process of annexing parts of the occupied West Bank.

It's hard to believe Israel would do that without first insuring support from the Trump administration.

Whether annexation talk is just political bull to insure right wing votes or something Netanyahu actually intends to follow though on is not clear.

I'm betting it's all hand waving for votes but you never know. Any such annexation would be clearly illegal according to international law but that hasn't stopped Israel from annexing East Jerusalem and parts of the Golan Heights.

The Green New Deal

My concern with the Green New Deal is it mushes together two things which not only don't necessarily go together but which may be incompatible.

I think attacking climate change is an absolute necessity. I think investing in green technology will have not only climate but economic benefits which MAY or MAY NOT alleviate the economic and social justice issues identified in the bill.

People who are currently flipping burgers aren't going to suddenly be designing state of the art green technology. There's nothing about green technology manufacturing that would reverse the trend of automated rather than labor intensive factories; those same people flipping burgers are unlikely to either design the robots or maintain them.

I suspect a green technology revolution would, like all other economic revolutions, benefit some people, hurt other people and make the richest even richer. There's nothing wrong with this as long as the main goal of getting climate change under control is met.

White supremacists committed the largest # of extremist killings in 2017?

A tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted that:

White supremacists committed the largest # of extremist killings in 2017.

According to Statista in 2017 there were 8,584 terrorist attacks worldwide resulting in 18,753 deaths and 19,461 injuries. Many were in the Middle east with 1,951 in Iraq, 1,171 in Afghanistan. There were also 860 in India and 574 in Pakistan. I doubt any of these were perpetrated by white supremacists so I’m going to assume Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is referring to the US only.

Her source is probably articles based upon the ADL’s Annual Report on Extremism such as an article in Quartz whose headline read:

The far-right was responsible for the majority of America’s extremist killings in 2017

According to the report, this is true. The ADL report listed 19 incidents. One possible problem with this report is that it includes criminal incidents perpetrated by people with extremist leanings even if the actions had nothing to do with their extremist politics. But let’s not quibble.

Lafayette, Indiana, January 16, 2017 — Self proclaimed white supremacist murdered a man during a home invasion. 1-0

San Antonio, Texas, January 29, 2017 — A member of the Aryan Brotherhood shoots to death a man over a dispute. 2-0

Denver, Colorado, February 1, 2017 — Convert to Islam who had pledged his allegiance to ISIS kills a security guard. 2-1

Leadwood, Missouri, February 9, 2017 — KKK leader murdered by his wife and son. 3-1

North Judson, Indiana, March 3, 2017 — Aryan Circle member shot and killed man who was dating his ex-girlfriend. 4-1

New York City, New York, March 30, 2017 — White supremacist who wanted to stop white women from engaging in interracial relationships stabs and kills homeless man. 5-1

Fresno, California, April 18, 2017 — Black Nationalist kills a security guard and then kills three more people over several days. 5-5

Dallas, Texas, May 1, 2017 — Black Nationalist kills his godfather. 5-6
Broadwater County, Montana, May 16, 2017 — Anti-government extremists kill a sheriff. 6-6
Tampa, Florida, May 19, 2017 — White supremacist kills two of his roommates for making fun of his conversion to Islam (!?). 8-6
Portland, Oregon, May 26, 2017 — White supremacist stabs to death two men who tried to help an African-American girl and a girl wearing a hijab being harassed by the guy. 10-6
Putnam County Georgia, June 13, 2017 — Member of a white supremacist prison gang and another inmate killed two guards while trying to escape. 12-6
Century Correctional Institution, Florida, June 19, 2017 — White supremacist inmate stabs African-American inmate to death. 13-6
Samish Island, Washington, July 14, 2017 — Alt right theorist murders his father in argument over his beliefs. 14-6
Charlottesville, Virginia, August 12, 2017 — White supremacist drives car into crown killing 1 and injuring 19. 15-6
Greeley, Colorado, August 16, 2017 — White supremacist gang member, along with his wife and sister, murdered his uncle. 16-6
New York City, October 31, 2017 — Islamic extremist drives a rental truck down a bike path killing 8. 16-14
Aztec, New Mexico, December 14, 2017 — White supremacist disguises himself and kills two students. 18-14.
Reston, Virginia, December 22, 2017 — An accused white supremacist teenager kills his girlfriend’s parents because they wanted to her to stop seeing him because of his beliefs. 20-14.

So, we have 19 incidents resulting in 34 deaths and white supremacists were responsible for 20 of them. I’m sure these weren’t the only homicides involving extremists because there were 17,284 homicides in the US in 2017. There were 650 homicides in Chicago alone. There were also 135,755 rapes.

But these were the 19 incidents the ADL chose to highlight for whatever reason. The 2018 report was worse with 50 deaths documented. It also updated the 2017 total to 37 but didn’t identify the additional 3 victims.

You'll excuse me if I'm not about to panic over 34 extremist related homicides out of 17,284.

Who Kills Who?

Despite all the gnashing of teeth over police killing young black men and the whole Black Lives Matter thing, blacks apparently kill more blacks every year than whites and police combined.

According to the FBI crime statistics in 2016 blacks killed 2,570 other blacks. Whites killed 243 blacks. It works the other way as well. In 2016 Whites killed 2,854 whites while blacks killed 533 whites.

So it’s far more likely for someone to be killed by someone of the same race than by someone of a different race or by the police.

According to the Washington Post police killed a total of 963 persons in 2016.

So even if all 963 people killed by police were black, and they weren’t, the total number of blacks killed by police and whites combined is less than half the total number killed by other blacks.

Of course crime is not related to race but to economic deprivation and desperation. It’s made worse by easy access to firearms which makes it necessary for police to be armed.

If every two bit hood wasn’t armed to the teeth police might be a lot less trigger happy.

Some Input from Jerusalem

As the Israeli elections come closer, some notes from the Jerusalem Post.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s regular allowing of Qatari funds to be transferred into Gaza, saying it is part of a broader strategy to keep Hamas and the Palestinian Authority separate, a source in Monday’s Likud faction meeting said.

Netanyahu explained that, in the past, the PA transferred the millions of dollars to Hamas in Gaza. He argued that it was better for Israel to serve as the pipeline to ensure the funds don’t go to terrorism.

“Now that we are supervising, we know it’s going to humanitarian causes,” the source said, paraphrasing Netanyahu.

The money comes from the Qatar Fund for Development established in 2002 to help the economic development of Arab countries and developing countries. Netanyahu’s response was to opposition by the Blue and White Party who wanted to block the funds altogether calling them mafia style protection payments.

The prime minister also said that, “whoever is against a Palestinian state should be for” transferring the funds to Gaza, because maintaining a separation between the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The implication being that Blue and White is strongly opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian State at least in the foreseeable future.

The bottom line is that the Israelis don’t trust the Palestinians including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority. It’s hard to have a partnership when there’s no trust.

The Blue and White Party is an alliance looking to topple the Likud party as the party with the most seats in the upcoming elections but have slid lightly in the most recent polls. The last poll showed Blue and White with 33 seats and Likud with 29 out of a total of 120 Knesset seats.

Even if they manage to gain the most seats the government will still be created based upon which party leader the President of Israel (Reuvin Rivlin) believes has the best chance of putting together a majority coalition. So Blue and White could win the most seats but Netanyahu could still form the government.

Blue and White appear to have a strategy aimed at solidifying Israeli occupation in the West bank settlements, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley. Three of its four senior leaders are former IDF chiefs of staff so I’m not expecting a lot of peace making efforts.

Let’s put it this way, neither “Two-State Solution” nor “Palestinian State” appears in the party’s charter. Here’s a direct quote from the charter.

"We will initiate a regional conference with the Arab countries that seek stability, and deepen the process of separation from the Palestinians while maintaining the uncompromising security interests of the State of Israel and the IDF's freedom of action everywhere.”

This is a very divide and conquer military like approach. I’m also reading a soldier’s mentality regarding Hamas in Gaza.

"Hamas, whose capabilities are minuscule in relation to the IDF, is provocative and is embittering the lives of the residents of the south.”

One last quote form the Blue and White Charter.

"We will heal the wounds created by the current government in relations with world Jewry, especially in the United States."

One more time, Israel doesn’t trust the Palestinians and they feel they’re justified in not trusting them. This is the fundamental problem. To be honest I don’t blame them; I wouldn’t trust them either.

The Emergence of the State of Israel

Given all the flap over anti-Semitic tropes being thrown around by Muslim members of the Hpuse of Representatives and the general ignorance being expressed by lots of folks, I think a bit of history is in order.

The establishment of the state of Israel began with the establishment of the Mandate for Palestine in 1923 by the League of Nations. That document ratified the Balfour Declaration of 1917 but also established safeguards for the non-Jewish population.

Britain was placed in charge of the mandate and allowed to establish the boundaries of Trans-Jordan, today the state of Jordan, and Palestine.

Between 1923 and 1947 there was a bloody three way pissing contest in Palestine between Jews, Arabs and the British. Finally Britain gave up and dumped the whole mess in the lap of the United Nations which had recognized existing international documents including the Mandate for Palestine.

The UN established a special committee to recommend actions related to Palestine. The committee came back with the following:

(1) approved the termination of the British mandate,

(2) a majority proposal for the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state with international control over Jerusalem and an economic union,

(3) a minority proposal for a federal union with Jerusalem as the capital.

The Zionist factions accepted the majority proposal. The Arab factions rejected both proposals.

The Jews were allocated more land than the Arabs (53% to 46%) despite Arabs being in the majority (1,270,000 to 610,000) because large scale Jewish emigration from Europe was anticipated.

On November 29, 1947, the UN adopted Resolution 181 which partitioned Palestine based upon the majority proposal.

The shooting started the next day with the ambush of two buses carrying Jewish settlers.

Jewish settlements were attacked by Arab forces including troops from Jordan, Syria and Egypt. Arab villages were attacked by Jewish forces. The Jewish committee told Jewish settlers to hold their ground while many Arabs either evacuated or were forced out by Jewish forces.

Both sides ignored the boundaries of the partition plan and probably committed atrocities. When the smoke had cleared Israel controlled all of Palestine except for the West Bank, which was controlled by Jordan, and the Gaza Strip which was controlled by Egypt. About 750,000 Palestinian Arabs out of an original 1948 population of 1.2 million had become refugees.

Israel took the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt in the 1967 war. Israel withdrew from Gaza and dismantled Jewish settlements there in 2005.

Going to the West Bank

Freshman Representative Rashida Tlaib wants to lead a delegation to the West Bank. Basically she says it's only right since congressional delegations go to Israel all the time.

I think one group should go to both Israel and the West Bank.

While they’re in Israel they can:

1. Ask Bibi if the Israeli government continues to magically convert illegal West Bank outposts into legal ones?

2. Get a briefing on current Israeli security concerns and, if they still feel an IDF presence is  required in Area A, then ask them why?

3. Ask if Palestinian requests for permits to develop the undeveloped parts of Area C are still being overwhelmingly refused?

4. Talk to Jews and Druze in the streets and ask about how they would feel being absorbed into a Palestinian Arab majority single state?

5. Ask if anyone has any idea how to solve this mess?

While they’re in the West Bank they can:

1. Tour some of the settlements near Jerusalem so they understand these aren’t frontier outposts but built up suburban neighborhoods.

2. Tour the illegal outposts so they understand that these are frontier outposts.

3. Ask the PA for a response to the Israeli security concerns and about having an IDF presence in Area A?

4. Talk to the Palestinian in the street about how they feel about the continued existence of a Jewish/Zionist state?

5. Ask if anyone has any idea how to solve this mess?

Now, let’s talk about the claim that “Ordinary Americans’ views on Israel/Palestine are changing.”

Actually, they’re apparently not. The poll referenced is on one aspect of the problem. From Pew Research:

”When asked about the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, 46% of Americans say they sympathize more with the Israelis, 16% say they sympathize more with the Palestinians and about four-in-ten (38%) either volunteer that their sympathies are with both (5%), neither (14%) or that they do not know (19%). The overall balance of opinion has fluctuated only modestly since 1978, when 45% said they sympathized more with Israel, 14% with the Palestinians and 42% could not decide.”

What has changed is that the two parties have become more polarized. You can find the details at the link below but basically Republicans heavily favor Israel and Democrats are split 27%-25% in favor of Israel, 23% say neither and 25% say they don’t know. What Pew calls Liberal Democrats favor the Palestinians by 35%-19%, 22% say neither and 24% say they don’t know.

www.people-press.org/...

Why do People Vote for Trump?

I've been trying to come to grips with the reasons many people voted for him in the first place and will probably vote for him again in 2020.

I’m not really 100% sure about those reasons but over the past two years I’ve heard the following: (Three points to remember: (1) take it for what it’s worth, (2) obviously not everything listed applies to every Trump voter, (3) perception, and not reality, is what matters)

1. Many are tired of hearing how racist the country is when it may not really be that racist. (www.washingtonpost.com/...)

2. Many don’t want people with strange customs and strange ideas entering the country and changing it from what they’re used to. This goes double for Muslims who they look upon as an enemy.

3. Many are adamantly opposed to abortion on demand and won’t vote for a pro-choice candidate.

4. Many look at the LGBT movement and see a constant stream of what to them is weirdness. First it was gays, then transexuals and now something called “gender fluid.” Most of them don’t even know what “gender fluid” means.

5. Many think 4th wave feminists are nuts.

6. Many have had it with Affirmative Action.

7. Many are concerned with what they view as high crime rates among Blacks and Latinos that they believe endangers them and their families. (ucr.fbi.gov/...)

8. Many have had it with what they view as high welfare rates among Blacks and Latinos that they believe they’re paying for while having a hard time making ends meet themselves.(www.census.gov/...)

9. Many are disgusted with what they view as the identity politics adopted by the Democratic Party.

10. Many are fed up with what they view as Political Correctness run amok.

Of course Right Wing radio, fundamentalist preachers, FOX News and the GOP focus on terrifying these people by exaggerating the possible effects of these things to the nth degree well aware that Conservatives are highly susceptible to fear and anxiety. (www.psychologytoday.com/...)

Yes, Trump is a lying, incompetent, son of a bitch but he’s THEIR lying, incompetent, son of a bitch, because he agrees with them (or at least he pretends to agree with them) on the things they view as important.

The 2018 Midterms

OK, I'm not dead yet. The 2018 Midterms felt like kissing your sister at first. It was essentially a tie. But after thinking about it, taking the House was a much bigger deal than the GOP extending its control of the Senate.

So, a couple of thoughts after last night in no particular order.

Kim Davis was booted out of office in Kentucky. That has restored my faith in humanity.

Kris Kobach lost, to a woman, in Kansas.

The Republicans keep talking about turning New Jersey Red. Well, they have a long way to go. Democrats won 10 of 12 house seats, with one still up in the air. They also returned a flawed Bob Menendez to Washington over Bob Hugin with a good old fashion behind the barn butt whipping. Menendez won by almost 10 points. Imagine if the Democrats had put up a good candidate?

Staten Island elected a democrat to the House.

One last thing about Bob Hugin in Jersey just in case anyone had any doubts about the racism of even self proclaimed “moderate Republicans.”

Almost the first thing he did in his concession speech was blame his loss on Essex and Hudson Counties. Essex has a large Black population and Hudson has a large Hispanic population.

Well Bob, you also lost Bergen, Passaic, Union, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer, Burlington and Camden counties. As a matter of fact, if you don’t count Essex and Hudson at all, you still lost by about 75,000 votes so kiss my...

Brett Kavanaugh

OK, I thought I had retired from this but I can't let this one go by.

Let's start with a simple admission that I'm not at all thrilled with Kavanaugh's legal outlook and I'm desperately trying not to let that color my judgement one way or the other.

We now have three accusations against BK from three different women.

1) That he, with another boy as witness, jumped on top of a girl in high school and essentially sexually assaulted her.

2) That he, at Yale, engaged in exposing himself to a girl at a party and forced his genitals on her.

3) Also I believe at Yale, he engaged with others to get girls inebriated and essentially organize gang rape sessions at house parties.

I believe accusation #1; I believe accusation #2; but I'm having serious problems accepting accusation #3. That strikes me as just way over the top and I find it difficult to believe that sort of action could be kept quiet.

Now when I say "I believe" what I mean is these sound like a reasonable scenario for a drunken rich boy. The third accusation just sounds too extreme.

I think the FBI should thoroughly investigate the accusations, make a report to the Senate and then the Senate should act as it sees fit.

However what I'm seeing is an attempt to railroad the nomination through and that leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Here's hoping the Senate is above that.