May 10, 2019

12 Year Old Tells What The Shooter Said to Him, 1:18 seconds. CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2019/05/09/colorado-school-shooting-highlands-ranch-student-vivaan-kalura-brooke-nr-vpx.cnn

The student tells a short story. In the beginning he says that the shooter said, "Shut up, or I will shoot all of you. At the very end, he is asked what should become of this. He said something like, "Our school doesn't have metal detectors."

Observation and opinion. About 10 years ago, I was asked to help out in a high school in Chicago. I was asked to help judge an event like a "Science Fair" but instead it was a "History Fair." I recall going into the school, it was a Chicago Public High School, and seeing all students entering through one door. All students had to go through security and a metal detector That was maybe 8 to 10 years ago. Putting in metal detectors in a large public school system is I thought, " a ...no brainer".
... Something every school had accomplished since the horror of Columbine, I thought. But in Colorado a few days ago, a school, K - 12 had no metal detectors. I was not there, but that student was there. In comes a man with a gun, and kills someone, and wounds others. And says, "Shut up or, I'll shoot all of you."

..I am upset. If the Chicago Public Schools can have metal detectors, and make everyone go through them, to protect the staff and students, then why can't the state of Colorado help fund the metal detectors?

..Where I went to judge was not one of those "fancy schools" It was an average high school in a middle class community with a large mix of students from all over. 9 - 12 . So, what is going on in this country?
.. If you need metal detectors to make a school safe, then you install them and make everyone go through them. At doors where there are no metal detectors, you put some kind of security to prevent people from entering the school without going through the metal detectors. As a former high school teacher, I have seen a lot. More stories than you have space.
..If there is a fire or emergency, then the doors where the security is, are opened and everyone gets out through all doors as quickly as possible. Is this too difficult to work out for all our students and schools? Well, there is thinking that, "It won't happen here because we don't have this problem"
..It has been proven that thinking is wrong. It can happen anywhere there is a school, lots of students and staff, and widespread availability of guns.
..This has happened before, it happened a few days ago, and will probably happen again.


..sorry for earlier typo errors, they have been corrected..

May 9, 2019

Elizabeth Warren: Americans don't need cliche financial advice. They just need to be paid more. CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/09/perspectives/elizabeth-warren-workers-wages/index.html
________________________________________________________________________________
By Elizabeth Warren for CNN Business Perspectives
Updated 10:28 AM ET, Thu May 9, 2019

Chase Bank fired off a tweet last week staging a hypothetical conversation between one of its customers and her bank account. The customer asks why her account balance is low, and the bank tells her not to go out for food or coffee when she can make it at home instead, or to spend money on a cab when she can just walk. The customer pretends not to listen. "I guess we'll never know," she says, brushing off her low balance and the bank's "advice" on how to manage her money.

When I read that tweet, it hit me like a punch in the gut — but not for the reason Chase intended.

Chase asks:

YOU .....Why is my balance so low?
Bank Account: Make coffee at home.
Bank Account: Eat the food that is already in the fridge
.Bank Account: You don't need a cab, it is only 3 blocks
......YOU:....... I guess we will never know
..Bank Account: "Seriously

Elizabeth Warren
✔ @SenWarren

@Chase: why aren’t customers saving money?
Taxpayers: we lost our jobs/homes/savings but gave you a $25b bailout
Workers: employers don’t pay living wages
Economists: rising costs + stagnant wages = 0 savings
Chase: guess we’ll never know
Everyone: seriously?

Here's the thing — I grew up on the ragged edge of the middle class in a family with a tight budget and no room for error. My parents worked hard and did the best they could, but when I was 12 years old, my Daddy had a heart attack. Everyone thought he was going to die. He came back home, but he couldn't work. There was no net to catch my family. We lost our station wagon and would have lost our house if my mother hadn't saved our family by going out and getting her very first job outside the home — a minimum wage job answering phones at Sears.

It wasn't until later in life that I realized how lucky my family was. After I became a law professor, I started studying what drives families into bankruptcy. I poured through records in courthouse after courthouse, and found that most of the families who ended up in front of a bankruptcy judge were just like mine. They worked hard and did everything right, scraping by until an unexpected medical bill or a divorce pushed them over the edge.

In the years since I started immersing myself in this topic, things have only gotten worse for working families. For 50 years, the price of housing, education and child care has skyrocketed while wages for most workers have barely budged. The economy has grown and workers' productivity has increased, but their share of corporate profits has fallen. The gap between incomes and costs is so gaping that 40% of Americans can't come up with $400 in an emergency. Hard-working families have become adept at stretching their paychecks to the breaking point, skimping on necessities just to make ends meet.

That's not an accident. Over that same period, the wealthy and well-connected have rigged the rules in Washington so that it invests in massive tax giveaways for those at the top and tells working families to pound sand. And as Wall Street billionaires spend their government handouts, their lobbyists and other special interest groups work hard to convince politicians that programs that help families and grow the economy are wasteful.

May 7, 2019

A short comment about the 60 -70s "Space Program" and "Race to the Moon"

...Was it worth it all? What did we get out of that endeavor? What was the point in spending hundreds of millions on that? Can there be one positive result from that? YES, YES, and YES.

This opinion has been verified by many. The so called "Space Program" and "Landing on the Moon" encouraged and gave lots of money to an industry that was in its infancy at the time. An industry that has changed all of our lives. (Hang on one more sentence) Picture if you can a 60s and 70s room of...(are you ready?) computers. Large heavy things with all kinds of huge...huge insides etc.

..The space program forced the computer industry to miniaturize the instruments and computers so the things would fit into the space capsules. That miniaturization continues today. I recall a class I took in the late 70s or early 80s where the professor said that one day computers would be so cheap and so small that people would walk around with them. That is what he said. And at the time, I thought he was totally nuts. (that was even though I was and am and was a science fiction fan of "Star Trek" and "Star Wars"

..Recently, in the last few weeks, I was a restaurant, and what appeared to be a family of 4 people, (two adults and 2 teenagers) sitting, waiting for the food to come, not talking to each other, but all four holding up their computers in their hands and looking at them. They must have been texting or looking at something very important. Hell, I don't know. But all four had computers in their hands and were using them.

Well, I was wrong again.

May 7, 2019

The Secret of Why Trump Will Not Release His Taxes. CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/07/politics/donald-trump-tax-returns-steve-mnuchin-richard-neal/index.html

This article discusses 4 reasons why Trump will not release his taxes. Easy to read and easy to understand.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 2:09 PM ET, Tue May 7, 2019

CNN) — On Monday night, as expected, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin informed House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, that he would not be handing over President Donald Trump's tax returns.

That move will occasion a response from Neal -- in the form of a subpoena, a contempt vote or a lawsuit. No matter what Neal chooses, this fight is headed into the legal arena sooner rather than later.

And it's likely that it winds up, at some point, in front of the Supreme Court.

Which is, if you stop and think about it, remarkable. We are now using the Supreme Court to litigate something that, prior to Trump, was seen as de rigeur for people running for president. Sure, some candidates released more years of their tax returns. And some released less. Some did so with little prompting while others -- Bernie Sanders in 2016 -- had to be dragged kicking and screaming to transparency.

But, the point remains: Donald Trump was (and is) the only major party presidential nominee since Watergate to never release any past tax returns. He is also the only president to refuse to release even a year of past returns.

May 6, 2019

Question about 2 vulnerable Republican Senate seats..

Susan Collins, Joni Ernst ...can these two be defeated? What is your opinion about us taking over these seats next year?..Just asking.

May 6, 2019

Boeing relied on single sensor for 737 Max that had been flagged 216 times to FAA

Source: CNN

CNN) -- A new statement from Boeing indicates that the aerospace manufacturer knew about a problem with the 737 Max aircraft well before the deadly October 2018 Lion Air crash, but decided not to do anything about it.

Boeing previously acknowledged that an alert system that was supposed to be a standard feature in the fleet "was not operable on all airplanes."

But a statement released Sunday describes a troubling timeline that shows how long some at the company were aware of the problem before finally deciding to act.

Former Boeing engineers and aviation analysts interviewed by CNN have criticized Boeing's original software design for relying on data from a single AOA sensor, claiming that those devices are vulnerable to defects.

FAA data analyzed by CNN supports that assessment

he FAA has received at least 216 reports of AOA sensors failing or having to be repaired, replaced or adjusted since 2004, according to data from the FAA's Service Difficulty Reporting website.

FAA data analyzed by CNN supports that assessment

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/30/politics/boeing-sensor-737-max-faa/index.html

May 5, 2019

The real problem with Trump is he knows he broke the law and did something wrong.

pointed out by underpants in post number 2. direct quote.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142312027#post2

"The obvious observation/question - if the report and the person in charge of it exonerates you
Why would you be worried about releasing the report and having him talk about it? "

Donald Trump knows he did something illegal. He has done some things before he became President, and it cost him money, but got out in one piece. (whatever that means)..Now, he has done crooked things and he will not come out "clean." He is caught and he cannot get away with it. He can say these famous words, "I am not a crook" but it looks like Donald Trump did some crooked things and will be caught by Mr. Mueller. Mr. Mueller has spent a lifetime going after all kinds of crooks, and he knows what crooks do and say.

...Mr. Trump has spent a lifetime avoiding the crooked and illegal things he has done, but he has never been in this particular position while avoiding. Trump has had some outstanding lawyers, and lots of money to defend himself, but this time is different. If Trump did crooked things this time, he will get caught. It is clear that some of the people that worked for him have been caught and convicted. So, at some point it will be Donald Trumps turn. I believe that Mr. Mueller likes to get the "top crook." And I also believe that Mr. Trump is the "top crook." We will all see if Mr. Trump is caught and becomes an official "top crook"

May 2, 2019

Sara Sanders is taking orders from Trump. (attack, attack and more attack)

Instead of dealing with the fact that Barr lied, and lied and lied. Sanders is attacking Nadler for his way of running the committee. Never answering about lying, but more attacks. Attack the chairman for not following rules that we set down..etc. etc. etc. etc.
..It is Trump who uses the attack, attack, and attack strategy. Never explaining but more attacks. That is where Sanders is getting her orders. That is what Sanders is doing by saying Nadler cannot run the committee. That is were she gets the idea that the Democrats on the committee are not smart enough to understand and evaluate Trump's taxes. It is not saying why Trump will not turn the information over, instead it is attack the person asking for the information.
...Oh she says, that person is .."too stupid" to understand Mr. Trump's taxes. ..........

...It is clear that she is taking orders from Trump on what to say. Make no mistake, it is Trump talking through Sara Sanders. She is the puppet on the string from Trump. It is always: attack, attack, and more attacks. .....
(absolutely never and apology for making a mistake)

May 1, 2019

Trump Goes Retweet Crazy against Biden and Firefighters Union. NY Post:

https://nypost.com/2019/05/01/trump-goes-retweet-crazy-against-biden-firefighters-union/

President Trump retweeted about 60 tweets in less than 20 minutes Wednesday, including one from a “F–k Donald Trump” account, almost all in response to Joe Biden’s endorsement by the firefighters union.

The president has railed at the International Association of Fire Fighters this week, claiming it will unfairly “always support Democrats.”

“The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me,” he tweeted Monday. “Some things never change!”

His broadside came hours after the IAFF endorsed the former vice president in his quest for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

On Wednesday, he went on a retweeting tear in which he shared messages of supporters lashing out at the union.


________________________________________________________________________________________

Comment: 60 tweets in less than 20 minutes? Is that all Trump has to do? Doesn't he have an important job? People need proof that Trump is not qualified to do that job, and this is it. 60 tweets in an hour? Wednesday morning? There is the proof that Trump needs to be impeached and removed as soon as possible.

May 1, 2019

For those who watched and or understand the Watergate Scandal, I offer these similarities:

The one thing that is most similar is: Nixon was a crook, and Trump is/was a crook.

Nixon orchestrated the show because of his attitude toward the law...and...
Trump is orchestrating this show...because...of ..Trump's attitude toward the law. ..

Nixon's attitude was this: as President, I can do anything, and get away with it.
Trump's attitude is this: as President, I can do anything. and get away with it.

I believe that is it, and that is all of it. Nixon lied too. His people lied.
..............................and glues what. Trump has lied is lying and his people are lying and have lied.

Some proof that Nixon erased the tapes..(just some) that would be against the law.
Some proof that Trump brokered illegal help from Russia (as did his staff)..that is also against the law....
Some of Nixon's staff, pleaded guilty and went to jail.....
...........(Atty General John Mitchel, and legal council John Dean & many others)
(some Trump's staff has already pleaded "guilty" and have gone to jail, or will go to jail)
....Trump's lawyer, and others too.
...As always, it goes to the top, to the "gang leader." ..The good guys got Nixon.
...........................................and I think that...........The good guys will get Trump.

Yes, It may take time, a lot more time. But that is what I hope and think. We see.