Blog: If I understand this

Violence is down overall but not on the road:  Road rage incidents increased most in states that have enacted laws that allow people to carry concealed handguns without a permit, meaning they don’t have to go through the application for a license to carry a weapon.  — Gee, when it is easier to get a gun, there are more shootings . . . is that really a surprise to anyone? 

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Approximately 63% of youth suicides in the U.S. are kids who live in a home without a father. — FactRetriever.com

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This was on MSNBC:  Cowboy coding is a method of computer programming in which a person works by themself, often in long shifts.  “Themself”?  Does someone get paid to write this?

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I saw this in an article on HuffPost: “Hiring for diversity is not about giving unqualified people jobs; it’s about recognizing talent that has historically been ignored or undervalued,” . . . that seems to sum it up nicely.  Willie Mays said he was a better football player than baseball . . . but he was a QB and at the time there were no black QBs in the NFL, so he played baseball, which had broken the color barrier.  And I did meet him once!  He was the best player I ever saw.

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More from MSNBC:  “Take Trump seriously but not literally” is the most comfortable refuge for Trump’s useful apologists. This was always a cowardly position. Now, after Trump has already been in power and attempted to stay in office after losing the 2020 election, it is willfully delusional. 

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This quote from a QB who might be the No. 1 draft pick, about training with another QB:  “It’s cool that we’re close because, if we wasn’t, they would try to pin us against each other,” Sanders said.”  Maybe athletes who are very good should have to major in public speaking.

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 A lot of the things that Trumpy and Musk are doing are illegal and I think they know that.  What scares me is that they can appeal all the way to the Supremes and then they expect “pay back,” like with that Judge Cannon in Florida.

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As much as I like history, I never knew this:  As artillery quickly became the war’s (WW1) deadliest weapon — around 60% of battlefield casualties were caused by exploding artillery shells — the depth and complexity of trench systems grew to match this horrific aerial threat.  I think that included injuries from concussions and poison gas, not just the explosions.  60%!

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In line with what I have written about school vouchers:

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Russell Vought, the newly installed acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), sent an email Saturday night ordering all employees at the consumer watchdog to stop virtually all work — including fighting financial abuse. In practice, this means that the nation’s top consumer financial watchdog has effectively been pulled off the street.

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In honor of the Superbowl, this:

A national study conducted by researchers at UCLA and the University of Southern California found that overall consumer financial health is beginning to deteriorate in states that have legalized sports gambling, with lower credit scores and growing signs of excessive debt, including a substantial increase in bankruptcy rates.

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This might be a repeat:

USAID Costs $40 Billion A Year. GOP Tax Cuts Could Total $11 Trillion Over A Decade. — Huffpost

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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump now claims that the domestic terrorists he pardoned who violently attacked police officers during his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt were actually the victims of that day.

“I pardoned people who were assaulted themselves. They were assaulted by our government,” he said . . .

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From Huffpost:  President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to sign an executive order that could start the process of dismantling the Department of Education.

Abolishing the department, or even just kneecapping its capabilities and cutting funding, would gut resources for low-income students and children with disabilities, decimate the teacher workforce, and remove civil rights protections for students of color and transgender kids.

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This is still happening:  Scores of unexploded bombs dating back to World War II were recovered from a children’s playground in England. Bomb disposal experts were called in, and more than 170 devices have been found so far. – I had an experience with an unexploded floating mine.  I was second mate on a Sea Land ship headed to the Mediterranean.  One fine day near the Azores, I spotted something floating in the water dead ahead of us.  The captain happened to be on the bridge and saw it too.  We used binoculars.  I asked him if he wanted me to go around it.  “No,” he said.  “It’s probably just an oil drum and our wake will push it aside.”  So, we held course.  We passed it close on the port side.  Cap and I went out to the wing of the bridge and looked down on it.  It was a floating mine, green with barnacles, and having spikes sticking out of it, likely one of thousands of WWII mines that floated around for years.  It did not explode!  Nervously, I told Cap that I would get our position and file a report on it.  Later, I looked back on the Notice to Mariners warnings for the last few months, and sure enough, another ship had reported it in about the same position months before!  I then determined that it paid to read the Notices . . .

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I think getting rid of the penny is an overall good idea.  But Trump is not the one to decide, as in per MSNBC:  A New York magazine report added, “Like so many other things Trump has said or tried to do since retaking office, it’s not clear if he can legally [order the Treasury to stop making pennies]. It would probably require an act of Congress to fully discontinue the coin, since Congress dictates America’s currency specifications. But as with so many other things, Trump may just try to do it anyway.” 

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I didn’t realize how petty and stupid Trump could be, but here’s more proof (and at first, I thought this was a joke):

Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at rolling back the federal push for the use of paper straws over plastic ones.

“We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump said when signing the order, claiming that paper straws simply “don’t work.”

In my car, I have a sack with two reusable metal straws and we will use them when on the road.  Or often not use the plastic straws we are given.

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And this:  Trump on Monday pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose 14-year sentence for political corruption charges he commuted during his first term.  – Blagojevich is a total crook.  He is the one who tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat when he got elected prez.

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And of course, if you grew up understanding bribes (i.e., in New York real estate):

Trump is expected to issue an executive order Monday directing the Department of Justice to cease enforcement of the nearly 50-year-old Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans American companies from bribing foreign government officials.

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In an article about dog toys: “Simply sprinkle in dry food bits or little treats and watch your dog use their nose to find it all.”  Their.  Again.  I give up . . . for now!

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All take care!