Monthly Archives: December 2023

#500: Periodic Sense Check.

31 Sunday Dec 2023

Posted by in Sense Check, Uncategorized

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Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, click “About the Author” tab.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. The previous “sense check” was Entry #476.

BEGIN ENTRY #500: For a long time, I thought Entry #500 would be ideal for more analysis about the current status of US Revolution V. However, as we all experience occasionally in life, the best laid plans sometimes go astray.

Midmorning Christmas Eve I was walking back from Starbucks.  All ok until the son of one of our neighbors decided to go driveway bowling. He used his BMW as the bowling ball and used me as the 10 pin. The only serious injury was to my right wrist which I used to break the fall from being hit.  X-rays showed the wrist either fractured or broken in four spots. 

Of course, the wrist is on my dominant hand, which makes typing slow and trying to write longhand laughable — at least for now.  Oh well, dictation works so here are some thoughts about the Revenge Revolution.

  1. US Revolution V, aka the Revenge Revolution, looks as though it’s already in progress. We’ve talked about how widespread in several different entries, but I think Trump‘s campaign effort for reelection and the promises made associated with that campaign are downright scary. Whether you are Republican or Democrat, you don’t need a presidential candidate out advocating elimination of the justice system, revising the constitution to allow the person to hold office for life and immunity from prosecution among other promises.
  2. The Supreme Court continues to show no integrity, either as a court or by several justices on the court. The court has no enforcement other than through the Department of Justice and the various states justice systems. Without respect for SCOTUS from the public, the whole idea of a unified democracy goes away. The court does have an opportunity with the upcoming cases — (i) the 01/06 insurrection; (ii) Trump’s claim of absolute immunity; (iii) providing guidance for interpretation of the 14th Amendment and application to state election laws – to begin at least stabilizing the decline in public opinion, and maybe begin rebuilding it.
  3. A large percentage of the public seems to not understand consequences of their potential behavior. For example, a percentage of black voters, and I don’t know exactly what percentage, is frustrated with Biden, and to express that frustration, have decided to support Trump. Why would anybody who is black want to support Trump given all of his racist comments and actions against blacks?  Also, some highly educated people whom I know seem completely brainwashed about what has happened, particularly around events leading up to and including January 6. A portion of this group asks, “why are all the prosecutors piling on Trump? He’s the right guy.“  Come on folks, he’s not the right guy. It doesn’t matter if he’s a Democrat or Republican, he’s a crook and has been a crook for a long, long time. Anybody who’s lived or worked in New York for any period of time knows that.  Wake up!

Where does this lead us in 2024 and beyond?  It’s going to get worse before it gets better. The discussions in earlier entries about the possibility of armed conflict seem more realistic today than ever before. Not a pretty forecast but I don’t know any way out of this quagmire without some sort of armed revolt and then the military putting down that revolt.

Talking and logic don’t seem to have any impact on people, particularly MAGAts. Republicans seem enamored with a bizarre interpretation of the 2nd amendment, which encourages mass ownership of assault weapons. Let’s save the gory details for later and try to enter 2024 with some degree of optimism. END ENTRY #500

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/

#499. Critical Thinking. Uh, What’s That?

23 Saturday Dec 2023

Posted by in Causes of the Revolution, Education Issues, Possible Solutions, Uncategorized

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Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, click “About the Author” tab.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US Entry #476 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN ENTRY #499: For many people, critical thinking is whether I like or agree with how the other person talks, acts or their political views. For this group of people, the world is binary – you either believe what I believe or you’re wrong.

A memorable example of binary thinking was after 09/11 when then President George Bush declared that the US needed to invade Iraq to capture the people responsible for the attack on the Trade Towers and the Pentagon.  In those remarks, Bush proclaimed, “you’re either with us or for the terrorists.” According to Bush, there was no alternative. 

Over the past two decades, such binary thinking – I’m right and if you don’t agree, you are the enemy – has become pervasive in the US. While the binary attitude is most noticeable in politics, especially among Trump MAGAts, such thinking seems to apply to simple everyday situations.

The current polarized environment has made it difficult to try and have a meaningful discussion about concerns over global warming.  If the discussion includes expression of any concerns, then the next challenge is trying to develop and/or to agree on practical solutions.

Interestingly, the amount of formal education of participants does not seem to be a critical factor in whether a person thinks critically.  The differentiator seems to be whether an individual understands their environment and whether he or she can solve problems influencing that environment.

Many people without formal education are astute at solving problems in their environment. People who are considered “street smart“ often have limited formal education. Indigenous peoples often have very limited formal education but have remarkable skills at surviving in often-harsh environments.

We all know people who are “book smart” but have no “street smarts.”  Some of the book-smart people are also quite dogmatic about solutions to whatever problem is at hand, whether they are truly knowledgeable about the subject.  Further, if they do not have a solution, they are good at blaming someone else, or claiming that the problem doesn’t exist.

Two recent examples. When I asked a business colleague if he had any concerns about the effects of global warming, he responded, “no.”  His rationale was he didn’t feel any major impact in his daily life and, besides, the doomsday forecast about the effects of  global warming made by Al Gore earlier in this century had not come true. Therefore, global warming was not real. Well, well, hello Fox News, which for this group has replaced MIT as the new science center.

The second example occurred in a different discussion about possible solutions to global warming. (The primary cause of global warming is a combination of CO2 emissions and leakage of methane, the primary component of natural gas.) One participant in the conversation never addressed the primary sources of global warming but instead was emphatic that any solution to global warming must exclude nuclear power.  Even though nuclear power has no CO2 emissions and operates 24×7 for decades, nuclear must be excluded from any possible solution. 

For him, nuclear was off the table and solar was on the table.  Solar was not just part of the solution, but the only solution. To paraphrase Tarzan, “solar good, nuclear bad.”  As with many non-critical thinkers, which seem to include a substantial portion of zealots, he failed to address all the downsides and extra costs associated with solar.  Whereas neither solar nor nuclear is without some downside, but both are zero CO2 and can help reduce the causes of global warming – but only if one thinks critically.

What has been the cause of the decline the critical thinking? I’ve not studied the issue in detail and my educational background and experience are far afield.  However, I have observed behavior that might provide some guidance.  The behavior could be heavily influenced by an education system that is putting too much emphasis on digital thinking and less on subjects that stimulate critical thinking.

As much as I love STEM courses, these courses reinforce digital thinking – most answers are binary, either right or wrong. Worse, the tools used for teaching entry-level STEM-type courses have become increasingly digitized. When was the last time you saw a cashier make change without having to use the register to calculate the amount? Or the last time you saw someone do division by hand? Or use a slide rule to make a calculation?  You mean, you don’t need a calculator to complete these tasks? 

Another example of the decline in critical thinking, which only occurred to me recently, had been a key part of 7th or 8th grade English classes – diagramming sentences.  While the topic might seem arcane to today’s students, diagramming sentences teaches one how to deconstruct, or pull apart a problem – that is a sentence.  Once apart then the sentence can be reconstructed or revised to achieve its intended purpose. By diagramming sentences, one learns there are multiple ways of conveying thoughts, even if some rules of grammar are rigid.

As far as the topic of the blog, how does the decline in critical thinking affect the effort to avoid US Revolution V, aka the Revenge Revolution?  The Revenge Revolution has already started and will intensify over the next couple of years, especially in late 2024/early 2025.  Any effort to initiate programs to try and teach the US adult population how to think critically will have little, if any, near-term effect on US Revolution V.

However, what we, i.e., societal we, can do is update the curriculum for primary, secondary and post-secondary education to include courses that teach people to think critically.  Learning the basics of how to think critically can start in kindergarten and certainly early grammar school.  The earlier the better that children get exposed to the approach.  The teaching does not have to be complicated and can be geared to everyday situations students face.

For adults, we, again societal we, need to quit voting for candidates for the House, Senate and particularly president, who do not demonstrate an ability to think critically. Otherwise, we will end up without a democracy even more quickly than the track we are on. END ENTRY #499

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/

#498. “Have You Stopped Beating Your Wife Yet?” Republican Hypocracy re Antisemitism.

11 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in Post Trump Presidency, Societal Issues, Uncategorized

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Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, click “About the Author” tab.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US Entry #476 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN #498: Ah, December, the time of good cheer and merriment and a key month leading up to political caucuses and primaries. ‘Tis also the season of grandstanding and so-called fact-finding by the vaulted elected members of Congress. 

While the Senate is not immune from occasional silliness, the House of Representatives under the leadership of KevIn McCarthy and now Mike Johnson has set a new standard for meaningless hearings.  Topics of the hearings in the House may sound legitimate but more often than not the “Freedom Caucus” forces topics to be those most important to their hard-right political base. 

Witnesses for these Republican clown shows, err hearings, are selected to emphasize what’s wrong with the other party. Questions are often irrelevant, misleading and/or phrased to be a “gotcha” much like the proverbial unanswerable question, “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?“  The phraseology demands a “yes” or “no” answer, which can be used in campaign ads or by the talking heads on Fox News.  

The most recent example was a House hearing 12/05/2023 supposedly  addressing antisemitic behavior on college campuses. Witnesses just happen to be three women presidents from so-called elite universities. – Harvard, Penn and MIT.  

Sidebar: Why certain academic institutions are called “elite” is unclear.  They’re certainly not elite because of any athletic programs.  I guess they are elite because of a very high application rate, and a low acceptance rate.  Gee, the high application rate just might indicate these schools offer an excellent education.  Nah, must be some other reason.

At the 12/05/2023 hearing the formal testimony of all three presidents included the importance of addressing antisemitic behavior on campus. Where the fiasco started was with questioning by representative Elise Stefanik, who represents a district in upstate New York.

Stefanik asked the president of the University of Pennsylvania and then presidents of Harvard and MIT whether students who publicly supported genocide for Jews and/or made other antisemitic remarks would be punished.  All three presidents gave answers based on existing law and ensuring the 1st First Amendment rights of the students. All three noted that words without action would not be punishable.

Well, do you think a proper legal answer satisfied the Republicans? Of course, not!  The response by Republicans was to first take the answers out of context.  Doing so allowed the Republicans to claim by not emphatically stating that students should be punished regardless of circumstances, each of the presidents must be antisemitic, and therefore anti-Israel and therefore pro Muslim.

Even some what I call Israel-whether-right-or-wrong Jews jumped on the bandwagon, condemning the presidents, especially Penn’s president McGill.  The Penn chairman of the board of trustees called for her immediate resignation.  A Wharton alum who supposedly planned to donate $100 million also jumped on the bandwagon and demanded her resignation.  The list grew longer over the next couple of days and eventually included Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress.  (Mm Ron.  Be careful.  If you lie down with pigs, you get up smelling like a pig.  And that’s not kosher.)

Saturday, 12/09/2023, the Board at Penn effectively forced President McGill to resign.  The chairman of the Board also resigned. 

Simple ending.  Case closed, right?  The more you dig into the story, the more it appears the hearings were a greater sham than imagined by all but the most cynical.  Key donors to Penn and especially donors to the Wharton Business School, whose list of distinguished graduates includes Donald Trump, have been frustrated with McGill since she was hired less than 2 years ago.  The most recent incident was an event on campus that included speakers discussing Palestinian-related issues.  Shame on you McGill for protecting free speech rights.  You must be fired. 

What should come out eventually is all the behind-the-scenes maneuvering in the House to set up the hearing.  It appears the hearing was set up on very short notice, possibly a day or two after the Palestinian session at Penn.  President McGill was the primary target.  Harvard is always fodder for Republicans and it would be harder to find a better target to humiliate than the new president of Harvard, who happens to be black.  Selecting MIT remains a mystery, but we know the president received very short notice of the hearing.    

The response from the Harvard trustees was more muted than Penn’s, but still a bit reactionary. President Gay apologized over the weekend.  But, of course, an apology from a non-Republican is never enough.  The Board of Harvard Corporation was meeting Monday to discuss the issue.  The president received strong support from faculty.  Outcome TBD. 

The response from the MIT Executive Committee was straightforward. Strong support for President Sally Kornbluth. (For those unfamiliar with the culture MIT, it is a great example of a combination of meritocracy and apolitical, science-based thinking. The straightforward response supporting the president was not unexpected.)

The resignation of Penn’s president was more fodder for Republicans.  The hypocrisy of the Republican response, especially from Stefanik – “One down and two to go!” – while frustrating, is not puzzling. Stefanik sold her soul and became a “hatchet man” for Trump.  I guess she forgot about graduating from Harvard.  Wonder if she returned her diploma?

So, where’s the hypocrisy?  Republicans denounced the university presidents for not punishing students from making statements even though students were within their 1st Amendment rights.  In the next breath the same Republicans claimed any restrictions on Trump‘s remarks, no matter how extreme and/or dangerous violate his First Amendment rights.

In Trump world, Trump can say anything and be protected. Forget his antisemitic remarks directed at the Jewish law clerk in the state of New York fraud case. Forget his racist remarks directed at the New York Attorney General, who has already won a fraud conviction against Trump’s companies in NY and may win additional convictions.  Forget the racist remarks directed the Fulton County Georgia District Attorney, who has charged Trump under a RICO statute for trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.  And forget the racist remarks against the Federal judge in the DC insurrection case.

Even though Trump’s remarks have resulted in continuing death threats to all those listed and  other remarks have led to death threats for two black election workers in Detroit, that’s OK by Republican standards. But any antisemitic comments by students, even though no action was taken after the remark, must be punished.

Republicans also do not acknowledge that anyone under criminal indictment, and that includes Trump, has restrictions placed on their 1st Amendment rights.  But don’t tell the Republican base the truth. That would just ruin your argument.

One final note about the Republicans’ supposed support for Jews and Israel that never seems to get discussed, at least publicly. The religious right, which claims to have unequivocal support for Israel, continues to discriminate against Jews at home.  So why do Republicans support Israel, while discriminating against Jews in the US?

For the far right, Israel is not a Jewish state, but the “Holy Land” – the home of Christianity.  To preserve access for visiting the holy land, Christians must have the right manager in Israel. The dilemma for Christian is which manager option do they choose?  Keeping Jews in charge of managing Israel will likely ensure Christians can continue to visit. If Jews are not in charge of managing Israel, Muslims would likely control the holy land and lock out Christians from visiting.

Cutting to the chase, the claim by Republicans that colleges and universities must punish students for antisemitic remarks, even if the students take no action to harm Jews, is pure BS. The grandstanding is designed to keep Jews as the manager of the Christian holy land. END ENTRY #498

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/

#497. Global Warming: The Frog in the Kettle of Water?

04 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in Societal Issues, Uncategorized

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Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, click “About the Author” tab.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US Entry #476 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN ENTRY #497: An often-told allegory is about the actions of a frog placed in a kettle of water. The story goes that if you put the frog in cool water and then turn up the heat on the stove the frog stays in the water.  Apparently, the frog does not notice the incremental change in water temperature and stays in the kettle and ends up being cooked to death.

The story also claims that if you toss a frog into a pot of hot water, not even boiling, the frog at once recognizes the problem and jumps out. 

What does the frog in the water story have to do with global warming?  Entry #496 outlined an idea to possibly jar the public into thinking more seriously about the consequences of global warming. The entry included a quote from Everett Dirksen, longtime Senator from Illinois, about how to change minds of the public.  “The mind is no match for the heart in persuasion.”  

To get a sense of the public’s concerns about global warming, I sent an email to a group of family members, friends, and a few business colleagues. The note asked the recipient to list 3-4 concerns, if any, about global warming. The note emphasized there were no “right” or “wrong” answers, just their individual answers.

Not everyone responded – welcome to the world of market research – but a number of people did. Respondents noted concerns about rising seas, more extreme weather, how animals will be affected and longer-term negative impact on food production.  Several of those surveyed had grandchildren and expressed concern about the effects on their grandchildren over time.

A couple of people, and I suspect a few more who didn’t respond, indicated they had no concerns about global warming. One colleague in a business venture claimed that since the earth’s ecosystem is a closed-loop system, any disruption to the ecosystem will cure itself over time. Therefore, he had no concerns about the consequences of global warming.

What was most notable, however, was no one in the group viewed global warming as a hair-on-fire problem. Maybe I’m too close to understanding the potential consequences of global warming, but you’d think someone would be screaming, “we’ve got to start seriously addressing the problem now!”

The lack of hair-on-fire concern was even more puzzling given the makeup of the survey group.  The recipients of the survey were heavily weighted toward those with at least a four-year college degree. Politically the group was more liberal than conservative. Ages ranged from 21 to 95.

The lack of concern about the need to immediately ratchet up efforts to address causes of global warming reminded me of the frog in the kettle of water.  Incremental change – the water gradually getting warmer – did not create a sense of urgency to take action.  Only when there was a sense of crisis – jumping into hot water – was action taken. 

Society seems to be behaving similarly to the frog.  Without some sense of crisis – for example, you’re all going to die soon or something like that – will we, societal we, likely agree to take action.  But just like for the frog, waiting results in catastrophe. END ENTRY #497

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/