After I turn off the lights each night, I repeat the basic prayer of my faith followed by a brief, extemporaneous chat with God. It was just after 1 AM Sunday morning when I asked God to do what he can to achieve peace on earth. At that very moment the largest mass shooting in
America imports 91 percent more from China than it exports to China.
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump are all campaigning on a promise to produce jobs – lots of jobs. But none of them have explained how they are going to do it. Maybe we should elect ABC News' David Muir? Unlike all the leading Presidential candidates, he understands that a dynamic economy is a balance of consumption and production!
As a "million mile flyer"– I am skilled at managing my way through airport security with as little hassle as possible. Even when I am "TSA Pre-cleared" I always have my liquids in one regulation size plastic bag, always declare my iPad or PC, and avoid wearing jewelry or high heel shoes that can set off a metal detector. But I was completely unprepared for my experience with the TSA this past week -- when I was stopped by a female TSA agent who told me she had to "pat down my ponytail".
In 1970 a high school diploma implied that the graduate had mastered basic arithmetic, could read and write a coherent paragraph demonstrating comprehension of what they'd read and possessed some knowledge of basic science. Maybe not enough to be admitted to Harvard or UC Berkeley but certainly enough to begin to build a middle class life – an auto mechanic, building trades apprentice, chef, miner, farmer, police officer, fireman, US military member or factory worker. Fast forward to 2016 there are still hundreds of careers that can be built on a 1970s high school education including new careers like network administrator or computer programmer -- jobs that pay +/- $70K or more a year – after only about a year of technical training. The problem is that a high school diploma in 2016 does not require the same mastery of basic math, English, science and civics as it did in 1970.
"A free college education for every student at every public college or university in America" is as likely as being swept up in a tornado, landing on your head still holding your dog, and living to tell about it – i.e. assuming the Wizard of OZ is a true story!
During my early December trip to Washington DC and New York the streets were crowded and restaurants were packed with Holiday Celebrants. San Bernardino dominated the news but none of the travelers or "locals" I met seemed overly concerned. None where concerned enough to change their plans. My random sampling of opinions found no widespread fear -- just a desire for smarter government security rather than just more government security.
Congress should pass legislation to make parents "mandatory reporters" in any situation where an adolescent or adult child is suffering some level of mental instability and has access to guns.
The shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Gifford even elicited a brief debate among her Congressional colleagues over the conflicting priorities of the Constitutional "right to own and bear firearms" and the Declaration of Independence's assertion of the "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". But even then Congress failed to act.
If I had left 5 minutes earlier last Saturday, I still would not know -- and it wouldn't have occurred to me -- the Post Office was holding my mail or considered my mail box somehow illegitimate.