Bed Bugs, Dirty Pools, and Cockroaches in the Kitchen

Bed Bugs Bite Man from the Miami Herald

Doral argues that the man “conducted himself so carelessly and negligently that his conduct was the sole proximate cause or contributing cause”.

Yeah. It's his fault he stayed there. He should have known better.

Dirty Pools from Quartz

Pools at Trump properties are cited for violations far more frequently than at comparable luxury properties.

Health code requires that pools be inspected twice a year. Doral's haven't been inspected in the past 12 months.

Sorry, Our Restaurants Are Closed 

524 health code violations at Trump's Doral property from 2013 to 2018.

Almost seems like there's a pattern...

Can't sleep there, can swim there, can't eat there.

Occupancy rates are down. Revenue is down. Club members leaving in droves are not getting their refunds for 85 years.

So what's the motivation?

He's a fraud trying to save his under-performing business.

A bigly conflict of interest.

And a violation of the emolument clause.

Guns

The same video games are played by the same percentage of people all over the world. The rates of mental illness are the same all over the world. Worship rates are the same or lower in other countries. The same percentages of LGBTQ+ people exist in other countries.

Other first world countries have already figured this out.

This chart shows gun ownership rates plotted against gun-related homicide rates for various countries where GDP >$20K.

As you can see, we are the outlier.

(Data from Mark Reid)

So, how do we solve the problem? First we need to understand that there are two issues: preventing bad guys from getting guns and limiting the damage they can do should they be able to get one. We must address both. Here are some suggestions.

1 - Read and understand the text of the second amendment. The introductory phrase is almost half of the words in the amendment; the founding fathers were spare with their words and included it for a reason. That reason is detailed in the Federalist Papers #29. They feared an all-powerful federal standing army. Their solution was decentralized, state-controlled militia. A citizen army that was regularly trained ("well-regulated") and could be activated by the state government much like, though not precisely, today's National Guard. (Today's National Guard is really just an arm of the federal army…) Remember that the second amendment is about *people*, not weapons.

2 - Repeal the Dickey Amendment, a provision in the 1996 spending bill that restricts the CDC from doing firearms research. Fund the CDC so that it may collect gun death statistics and analyze causal factors. Go where the data leads us.

3 - Repeal the PLCAA, the 2005 law that gives weapons manufacturers and dealers a liability exemption. No other product has such an exemption. Metal tipped lawn darts were banned because one child died. How many children have to die before we fix this problem?

4 - A coherent and cohesive framework for training, licensing/permits, and background checks. Here is a suggested framework, none of which infringes on your right to own a gun if you are a law-abiding person:

• Institute a Firearm License which is required in order to own/possess/use a firearm. In order to obtain a license, one must pass a thorough background check, pass the necessary firearm safety training, and undergo periodic re-certification and re-licensing.
• Institute Firearm Insurance which is required in order to own/posses/use a firearm. One must provide proof of current insurance prior to the purchase of a weapon. We're capitalists, so let the open insurance market price policies accordingly.
• Institute Universal Background Checks prior to each firearm purchased. One must also be licensed and insured in order to purchase a firearm. Background checks apply to all purchases, period.
• Institute a points/red flag system where violations accumulate points which result in penalties up to and including inability to purchase additional weapons and/or losing your license. This may be for a period of time or, if the violations are severe enough, permanent.
• Institute an equivalent to the "Dram Shop" laws. All sellers must do background/insurance checks with each purchase. If a seller fails to do so and the weapon is used in a shooting, the seller is has liability exposure.

5 - Control the types of weapons and accessories that are allowed for civilian use.

• The re-institute the assault weapons ban from the 1990s that was allowed to expire. It reduced guns deaths while it was in effect and gun deaths rose dramatically when it expired.
• Ban automatic weapons and accessories that convert a weapon to full-auto or produce a full-auto effect (for example, but not limited to, bump stocks).
• Ban high capacity magazines. If you can't hit the deer with less than 3 shots, you shouldn't be in the woods at hunting season.
• Ban suppressors. We want to hear when you're firing your weapon. If you're worried about your hearing, then wear hearing protection.
• Ban body armor for civilians. You're not a target.

6 - Rethink the carry laws and make them consistent across the country.

• Rescind open carry of long guns in urban areas. Do you really think it's necessary to walk around a Walmart with an AR-15 slung over your shoulder? If you do then you need to go back to where you came from because you don’t think it's safe here.
• Long guns must be unloaded and in a case inside city limits.

Racism is Enshrined in the Constitution of the United States

A conservative friend of mine recently complained.

Loudly and with great passion.

My friend said that a certain person should just "Get the f%@& out of the country!"

My curiosity was piqued, so naturally I asked why they thought that the person should leave the country. His response was, "They said that racism is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and that's bullsh*t!"

My curiosity was piqued even more, so I decided to actually read the U.S Constitution. In its original form there are two relevant passages in Article 1 and one in Article 4.

Article 1, Section 2: "Representative and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states [...] according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons."

To elaborate, this section says that for purposes of determining how many representatives each state gets in the House of Representatives:

• free people count as a whole person
• indentured servants count as a whole person
• Indians don't count
• slaves count, but only as three fifths of a person

Note that section 2 wasn't modified until the 14th Amendment (1868), at which point 21 year old males were allowed to vote and people (except Indians) count for apportionment. It wasn't until the 19th amendment (1919) that women got the right to vote and the 26th Amendment (1971) that the voting age was changed to 18.

Article 1, Section 9: "The migration or importation of such persons as any states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person."

To elaborate, this section says that congress cannot prevent states from bringing in more slaves until 1808. Until then they may impose an import duty of $10 per slave.

Article 4, Section 2: "No person held to service or labor in one stat, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on a claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due."

In other words, slaves who have escaped to free states must be returned to their owners. This clause wasn't modified until the 13th Amendment (1865) when slavery was abolished.

In summary, racism was and still is enshrined in the constitution (Article 1 Section 9 still stands after all...). Its constitutional vestiges are mostly historical at this point, but its societal impacts are still very real.

This does not mean that as a white man you're to blame for this history, but it does mean you have to understand this history and not perpetuate further racism.

The Flag

It's not about The Flag.

It's not about The Anthem.

It's also not about what our servicewomen and men have sacrificed. They didn't sacrifice for The Flag or The Anthem.

It's about what each of those represent.

What they represent includes, but is not limited to, the right of free speech. To give one example, the freedom for people to express their concern for the way segments of society are treated.

In other words, to dissent.

Expressing one's dissent is not expressing disrespect.

Respect cannot be compelled; it can only be earned.

If one attempts to compel respect, that respect is not genuine. It is a farce and a facade. It is merely a bunch of people doing what they're told, because they are told and not because they believe it.

Rather than living in a country that requires people to respect the flag, I want to live in a country that inspires people to respect the flag.

Conflicts

Golf.com, that great bastion promoting communism and world-renowned for attacking the American Way Of Life, has another nifty article criticizing our president.

"Yet another unseemly conflict of interest that would result in a benefit to Trump properties [...]"

Really.

A golf magazine highlighting politics.

I don't see it as a bad reflection on the magazine, rather a reflection of what a train wreck his administration has become.

Apologies

Anything that contains the word "if" is not an apology.

Here's an example from a Golf.com article (emphasis mine):

Bernhard Langer said President Donald Trump called him last week and apologized for involving him in a bizarre story used to bolster his unverified claims of widespread voter fraud.
“We talked on the phone, and he was very clear ... if there was anything that hurt me, he apologized," Langer told reporters at the Allianz Championship on Thursday.

That's not an apology.

Apologies are not conditional.

You are either sorry you did something or you're not.

You are not sorry if you offended someone.

You're not sorry that someone took offense.

You're sorry you did something that offended someone.

See the difference?

Apologies are about you taking responsibility for your actions.

Who Am I

Like my profile says, I'm a middle aged, middle class, white guy in middle America. I'm pretty much average in every way.

I'm fiercely independent politically and have never been a member of any political party.

Since coming of age as a voter, I've voted for Republicans, Democrats, and candidates from other parties.

As an analytical person, I study the data first and make decisions based on that data. I don't start from a policy stance and look for data that confirms it.