You Knew It All Along

The Trump administration is going down and you know it. He's been a scammer all along and you knew it the whole time. They preyed on your fears and stoked a dangerous kind of blind nationalism. They made you afraid of so many things that just aren't worth fearing. Immigrants aren't committing violent crimes en masse. Athletes aren't protesting the flag or the military. You probably never heard of MS-13 until you heard it from the Trump administration. It's because they're not that big of a deal. Yes, they're dangerous, but they're one-third the size of the really big gangs and you probably don't know anyone who's been affected by them. But you're afraid of them. It's a talking point.

ALL they have going for them is a healthy economy. That's all. And it's not spreading to most of us, and you know it. The biggest benefactors are your employers. But it's not getting to you, or your bosses, or their bosses. It's sitting at the top, just like we knew it would. There's this saying that goes "The love of money is the root of all evil." I'd have to agree.

The only defense of Trump is that the economy is doing well, but at what cost? We've given up decency. We've given up being trustworthy to our allies around the world. We've given up giving this administration the benefit of the doubt. They lie. All the time. And you know it. And they have no shame about it. And you know it.

The Mueller investigation isn't a capricious witch hunt. It's turning up actual crimes by bad actors. Criminals that have their own interests in mind. Not yours. These are not your people. They are not defending you, protecting you, making your life better. And they're getting caught because they're guilty, and stupid, and they deserve it. You're not hearing anything from Mueller's team because they know what they hell they're doing. You're seeing wild tweets from Trump because he knows they're all in trouble. No distractions can stop what's about to happen. America is going to be Made Great Again, if I may rip-off a slogan so insulting I can't believe it ever caught-on. 

Gender Inequality - It's a Thing

We just got home from a pinning ceremony for the Collegiate Academy at our son's high school.  It's a program where students take advanced courses, complete additional projects, and perform community service. In exchange, the students can take dual enrollment courses (get college credit in high school FOR FREE ***HOLLA!!***) and have access to our local university's resources (MTSU).  

My wife and I noticed that the student population being pinned were overwhelmingly female - 112 to 53 to be precise.  And we thought back to awards ceremonies at the kids' middle school and noticing that the award winners were mostly female.  So why is it that females seem to achieve more in school?  And why do they get to the workplace and be paid less than their male counterparts?

Dude be like, "psst, what's the answer to #7?"

An article in The Economist suggests a few possible reasons for the disparity in school performance. 

1. Girls read more than boys, and reading and comprehension are key to everything educational.
2. Girls spend more time on their homework.  They simply care more about school, while the "too cool for school" attitude is still pervasive in boys.
3. Boys spend much of their spare time in front of a screen, watching TV or playing video games. No mom, it turns out those games aren't educational...and your hand eye coordination from playing video games means jack in the real world.

I put a lot of credence in the "too cool for school" reasoning.  It seems like it always has been and always will be.  I remember being called "school boy" in elementary school just for making good grades, like it's a bad thing.

It's funny though, and sad I guess, that the stuff above makes me want to be encouraging to boys to work hard and care more...but then I think about what happens in the workplace and take a step back.

I work for a large computer company and from what I know we have a good reputation for being inclusive and for promoting equality.  But facts are facts, and the facts are that women are paid less than men for equal work.  I'm wracking my brain about what to do about this and one answer keeps popping into my head - JUST FIX IT! 

Obviously, there's more to fixing it than what my man Keenan is saying, but the disparity is something that everyone knows about and no one seems to have a handle on. 

Really, all I wanted to do here was point out how many more girls than boys are killing it at school.  Good for them!  Their work ethic and perseverance will serve them well later in life, and hopefully one day soon they'll get paid dollar for dollar for the same work as their male counterparts.

Don't do it Alan...Don't...

As I've gotten older I've developed more of an interest in politics.  I guess that's pretty normal, right?  I still don't like or trust most politicians - and I generally think they don't work to enact the changes they said they'd make.  On top of that the amount of money spent and ultimately wasted by losing candidates is sickening. 

I DON'T want to steer folks toward a candidate.  That's your decision.  We're still super early in this process and a lot will change between now and NEXT November.  Yeah, a candidate has peaked my interest and I did some binge posting about said candidate a little while back. Maybe I'll stick with him, maybe not.

But here's what I want to say....

In my view, the political world would be a better place if folks would pay more attention to the individual candidates and not their parties.  Maybe you're a lifelong Democrat - but you don't HAVE to choose between Hillary or Bernie...or random other guy no one has ever heard of.  Maybe you've always voted Republican. You don't HAVE to choose among anyone in the plethora of candidates running.

Personally, there are 3 candidates I feel I could vote for with a clean conscience.  I don't agree with everything they say, including on some moral issues - but for me, they're the few in the pack that seem qualified to lead the country, which is a pretty big job, right?

OK - one last thing, and this is directed at Christians. Some of the candidates touting their faith publicly are the same ones advocating for Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (torture), consider war before diplomacy, claim Pro-Life, but won't fund programs to help the poor, etc.  

Christians - let's seriously see how our candidates stand up to our Lord's command to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.

A Word on Politics

BLECH!!!

Now, here's what I really meant to say.

I have a pretty serious disdain for politics and elections and all the waste and dishonesty that are present in the process/system. However I am starting to pay attention to candidates and trying to sort out what they're really like (as if that's even possible). There are a million ways to criticize politicians, but there's one that I think is unfair: 

Flip-flopper

Politicians are criticized and written off because they changed their minds about something. 

Really? (said Seth and Amy)

Granted, there are folks that will change their position to one that's more in line with what the electorate wants, but what about the folks that change their position because they legitimately learned something and had a real change of thinking? I know I've done it. We all have. No one is the same as they were a few years ago - at least I hope not.  We're all learning, and growing, and changing, and hopefully getting better.  

I'd think the last thing we'd want in leadership is the person who is so solidly entrenched in their positions and opinions that they're not open to change. Liiiike maybe the folks still denying climate change, for instance.

In the last presidential election Mitt Romney wasn't my guy, but it wasn't because he was branded a "flip-flopper." I just didn't trust him. But I think he would have stood a much better shot at winning if people took a change of mind as a potential postitive instead of a negative.

All of this is just to implore folks to be open to a candidate's changed positions...and probably have to overlook some skeletons in closets too. It's hard to believe people put themselves through major elections. I watched the "Mitt" documentary about the last election cycle and it really drags the candidates and their families through hell. 

Oh, and #AnyoneButTrump. For real.