The Other Fake News - Intentional Omission

We all know what actual fake news looks like. There is a picture of a fish with two heads. There is one showing three people abducted by aliens who spoke fluent French. 

But there is another kind of news - one that we are seeing more of - biased reporting containing omissions of facts or of thoughtful follow up questioning.

Ever since Donald Trump became the likely candidate, the mainstream media has been against him, wishing him to lose the general election and once elected, our dedicated journalists did everything to ensure a failed presidency, even if it hurts the country.  
They should have worn t-shirts that read "We hate Trump and want him to fail." Maybe they didn't have to.

The media jumps on any report that could hurt the presidency even if it includes taking comments out of context, relying on unnamed sources or leaving out part of the story. Here are some recent examples.

When the Congress voted to end individual insurance mandate, so those who did not want to pay for the insurance and its premiums would not have to. There might be 1.5 million people who want out having felt forced to sign on. It is constantly reported that it would cost the loss for 15 million people because that's over a 10 year period - 1.5 million people opting out each year times 10, something that gets left out. 

Then there are the complaints that if healthy people can opt out, it will raise premiums for everyone else. They fail to mention that premiums have been going up for years now and private insurers have dropped out leaving one in three people with only one company to choose from. That company knew it had a captive audience and raised its prices.

The media has not challenged the assumption that the system needs healthy people to pay for services they will never need, like men getting coverage for maternity care or female birth control. They have not come up with a solution for this issue, here's one: After making signups voluntary, let the private insurers reject any applicant for medical reasons. These people, as well as those in 19 states that refused to expand medicaid, would be eligible to the "public option." It would be a federal program and would have a share of cost depending on income. Let private and public insurers offer scaled down coverage including just the basics like hospital stays, office visits including outpatient clinics, medical supplies like prescription drugs or medical equipment, and lab tests. Private insurers would return to the market and compete for the healthy applicants, who would come back voluntarily if the price is right. Insurers might be motivated to eliminate deductibles. Then every American who wants affordable health coverage will have it. 

The new tax plan while flawed is getting unfair, dishonest treatment in the media. The media forgets to mention that 47% of American households pay no taxes with many receiving money rather than sending it. Two out of three taxpayers already use the standardized deduction. They don't stress that the standard deduction has been doubled as has the dependent child credit. So instead of showing that family of four would get $28,000 off their taxable income - 
24,000 standard deduction plus a $4,000 refundable tax credit. -they lament that those using the standard deduction and tax credit would lose some benefit that is worth much less. The taxpayer using the standard deduction will pay less in taxes.

They hypothesize that charitable donations will be hurt because people who used to itemize now would use the standard deduction. They again fail to mention that families with less income and a lower standard deduction pay most of the $600 billion spent on charities and almost that much in free volunteer efforts, like helping flood victims or handing out food for the homeless. The huge family donations are from people who itemize, the top 10%. The reporting also fails to remind us what happened when developed countries dropped deductions for charities - the level of donations dropped slightly but returned to its former level after a year.  Most people donate to help those in need, not to cut their taxes a little.

The media stresses that the apparent tax cuts for those who standardize would be for only 10 years while the corporate tax breaks are permanent. They forgot to remind us that "temporary" means that it needs to be renewed or even increased in 2028. "Permanent" means that the law will be in effect until the Congress  changes it.      

We are told that this a tax code that favors the rich by showing that the corporate tax rate was lowered from 35% to 21%. We are not told that corporations don't really pay taxes, the stockholders and customers do. I also did not hear that the rich will lose some of their big deductions like state and local taxes and mortgage interest deductions on interest that had been $1,000,000 for mortgages  down to $750,000. These are two big former deductions for the well-to-do. The media emphasizes instead that the top marginal tax rate has gone from 39.6% to 37% but with the loss of two of their biggest deductions, they will probably end up paying more. 

We have heard the the President has backed out of the climate accord signed by up to by 190 countries to reduce pollution causing a change in climate. What we are never told is that countries who continue to pollute above the agreed upon levels would pay billions for the extra to an international body that would redistribute the money to poorer nations. This could cost American taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

When there was a riot in Charlottesville, the President said that all sides were to blame. Everyone made believe they were shocked. He should have condemned the White Supremacists and no one else. We're not reminded that those protesting this group were involved and sometimes instigated the battle. We are not also reminded that the police were not ordered to step in for an hour. So all three groups had a hand in this. Months later there was another march in Phoenix. The police were there and set up barricades to keep protesters from getting near the marchers. There was no incident there.

A few years ago a young high school player was killed by a a man who was working as a volunteer for neighborhood watch. From the first day the police and the media knew it was self defense, that the young man was trying to kill the volunteer but we were not told. We were shown a picture of this "victim" that looked like it was taken when the 16 year old was 13 and they showed a picture of the volunteer which looked nothing like him making him look like a Mexican drug dealer in prison garb. The media later acknowledged their mistake but kept using the pictures. The jury and the U.S. Attorney General also found that it was self defense. We were never reminded of this. The same in Ferguson where a young, 6'5" former high school football player was killed by police. Local residents rioted for four months not realizing that this also self defense. A three monthlong Grand Jury investigation proved that was self defense as did the U.S. Attorney General.   

These are just a few of the media's misinformation reports done to keep being sensationalist, superficial and subjective. It is clear or should be that the mainstream media misreports or omits information that would make the news less sensationalist, superficial and subjective (read biased).  Maybe that's why few Americans trust the mainstream media and why bloggers exist to correct the poor reporting.

What’s Right and Wrong with Our Two Parties

I am neither a Republican or a Democrat and I am neither a Conservative or a Liberal. I am a moderate Independent. I don’t judge things as either. I have friends who are very liberal and some who are very Conservative. So I can disgree with one’s party position and agree on another. I think that the country is getting more liberal and that makes the Conservatives more extreme. I voted twice for Barack Obama and thought he was a great president, one of the greatest in almost 100  years.  For his first six years I think was a centrist until extreme liberals pushed him left when it came to stopping illegal immigration, about taking in 100,000 refugees a year and for not stopping  the protests turned riots in places like Ferguson where the riots lasted four months long because of the misguided ideas of what went on there. A grand jury and the U.S Attorney General concluded the officer killed the 6’5’ recent high school football player in self defense as he was trying to do great bodily harm to police officer. The president should have announced this misperception of the rioters. 

When Trump ran against HRC it seemed that he was the only one with real ideas and plans to make America great again. He was going to reverse illegal immigration both at the border and with those already in the country while commiting crimes or disregarding their deportation orders. No  one in his right mind could truly believe that illegal immigration is good.

He also wanted to limit the number of legal immigration by making merit the first criterion and then to close relatives of the sponsoring American to parents, spouses and their children. Again does anyone believe that we should invite distant relatives come in?

He wanted to change our foreign policy by insisting that other countries and cultures be just like ours. He was against nation building. To this end he wanted us to stop intervening in the internal asffairs of other countries as we did in Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya. 

He wanted to reduce the amout of aid we give to other NATO countries wanting those with American bases to pay for the cost of these troops. 

But I don’t agree with some of his other plans.

He wanted to expand the coal mining even though it was inefficient and did harm to the environment.

He wants to build the pipeline from Canada.

He denies climate change.

He sends texting some of which is devisive or inflamitory.

He openly  criticizes his own cabinet members instead of doing it privately, if at all.

The healthcare reforms that he was willing to sign off on were terrible.

His income tax “reform” is mainly disastrous. I do like the idea of getting rid of tax deductions and credits, replacing them with a standard deduction and making the top tax bracket at 35%.

So what does make me? Am I too conservative or too liberal? Could I be neither?

Nowadays free speech is silenced if it disagrees with our liberals who will immediately label the speaker to encourage the public to ignore him.

If you say you against Israel building housing in the West Bank, currently occupied by the Israelies, you are an anti-Semite never mind the fact that Jews and Arabs are Semitic. 

If you say that you are against gay marriage, you are labeled homophobic. 

If you are against illegal immigration and a part of our legal immigrant population, you are considered a racist and a xenophobe.

If you express conservative positions and are invited to speak at college campuses, liberals do whatever they can to stop it even rioting which they justify by saying that these people are hateful, so being hateful toward them is somehow acceptable.

If you are against the destruction of 100 year old monuments because they honor those who fought for the losing side in the Civil War and are not against honoring American leaders by having them on currency because they had slaves and naming states, cities and streets after them, you are called insensitve and racist.

If you say that the disrepect shown by football players who make than $1 million a year for playing their favorite sport for three or four months and who got free college education in schools to which they would have otherwize been ineligible, is somehow acceptable you are too liberal. If you remind us that about four blacks were improperly killed by police officers in the past six years and that blacks have killed as many as 40 thousand fellow blacks during the same period, you are also considered racist and insensitive to their suffering.

If you made some stupid and adolescent comments about your desire for women, you are a misogynist.

Labeling dissenters is the new scarlet letter.

We are terrified of being considered anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist, xenophobic, and/or insensitive. So if we have these feelings we must keep them to ourselves for fear of being ostracized.  

When Did Americans Stop Thinking?

Each day I see more evidence that we no longer think but instead memorize, copy and feel. I blame the problems not only on unthinking parents but also on our education system and our media. The examples abound.

Years ago someone decided that adjectives should be used as nouns and visa versa. So female officers were called women officers. But male officers were not called man officers. The same happened with doctors , lawyers etc. We all disregarded grammar and changed it.

Some people decided that a football team must change its name after 81 years because it was a negative term for American Indians. A poll of the affected group was conducted and 90% of those polled said that they didn't care.

Then some people decided that Americans of African descent who traced their American roots back hundreds of years must be called African-Americans. No one called Americans of European parents  European-Americans. This hyphenated name is reminiscent of what Jews were called. If they were of German birth and descent, they were called German-Hebrews or simply Jews. This was not meant as a compliment. Hyphonating a nationality diminishes the affected group. Then some people decided that American Indians were to be called Native Americans not realizing that everyone born in America is called a native American. The thought must have been that by changing these names the groups would be more likely to prosper. They were wrong.

Then after a crazy man killed nine churchgoers in South Carolina it was found that he had a picture of himself with a confederate flag, and it was decided that all such flags must be taken down. This led to some objecting to 100 year old statues of Southern Civil War leaders thinking that was hurtful to black Americans who were not getting over what happened 150 years ago. The Jews got over the Nazis and their genocide which happened 70 years ago, and still buy German cars like VW which was created by Hitler. Then it was decided that the statues must be torn down. This led to the notion that every American hero should no longer be honored if they had slaves or mistreated Indians. So George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson should no longer be honored with statues or places named after them. They wanted New York to have a name change because his namesake did thing we would not do today. All our currency should be changed removing these Americans who did things we no longer do. Some students at Princeton wanted President Wilson's name be removed because even though he was a liberal U.S. President and the father of what became the U.N. as well as having been president of Princeton. Some students wanted the name "dorm master" because it was a reminders of slaver owners. They did want the master's degree name changed nor the adjective denoting excellence altered.

Recently at the birthplace of free speech, U.C. Berkeley, students rioted to keep people from speaking because they disagreed with them. Berkeley administrators did nothing to stop the vandalism and rioting. The protestors were not ordered to actually hear the speeches, but they didn't want anyone else to.

The liberals rioted  protesting against fascist goups as well as the President. There signs said that love conquers hate and that we all must be tolerant. Then they showed hatred towards the labeled haters and were intolerant of those they thought were intolerant. Apparently they never saw or were shown the irony and hypocrisy of their actions. 

A group called Antifa because they were against fascism were themselves faschistic and only one politician, Nancy Pelosi pointed this out. The others were afraid to.

Recently the disabled came to protest a disgraceful attempt to change the Affordable Care Act which did need changes but not those in the new legislation. They shared with us their terrible health conditions saying they could die if these draconian changes went into effect. No one pointed out that those who were disabled were covered either by Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) if they worked long enough to qualify or the Supplemental Security Insurance if they didn't

or got too low an SSDI benefit. Those having the former, SSDI,  automatically got Medicare while those on SSI got Medicaid. This legislation would not change that. But still it was impressive seeing them there and hearing their sad stories. No one pointed this out to us.

In the past few years some black Americans were killed by police. In the most prominent ones grand juries or juries found the officers not guilty by reason of self defense. The first was in Ferguson where a 6 feet 5 inch recent high school football players was shot and killed as he advanced to kill the officer who was arresting him for strong arm robbery. The grand jury called all the witnesses and found that there were no hands up.  The U.S. Attorney General investigated and came up with the same finding. We began seeing athletes and liberal politicians putting their hands up not mindful that it never happened.

In Baltimore a young drug dealer resisted his 20th arrest of the year and in the process accidentally hit his head in the police van. He died several days later. Jury after jury found the officers not guilty. But we still had riots in the streets. In the next six weeks 56 people were murdered in Baltimore with 55 of them being black as were their assailants. The media never told us.

In Staten Island a morbidly obese 6 feet 5 inch man resisted his 30th arrest. He died of a heart attack. Some courageous basketball players came out with shirts saying "I can't breathe." when having a heart attack the feeling is that you can't get air.

But there were unlawful murders by police of black Americans. It happened in Chicago, Dallas, Buffalo and South Carolina. These officers lost their jobs and were prosecuted.

Recently a football player who had been benched for two seasons and realized his career and paychecks were over, would not stand for the flag or National Anthem. Soon other misguided souls joined him in civil disobedience. No one pointed out that nowhere in the world were blacks doing better. We have Americans of African descent who are billionaires, multimillionairs and millionaires including professional athletes than every other country combined. We elected a black president, the first one outside Africa. 

I blame our education system at least through high school that stresses memorization and sympathy instead of thinking after reviewing all the evidence. I blame our media for not pointing out these erroneous beliefs.

I blame parents who do not teach their children to think clearly, respect the law, and work hard to accomplish their goals.

It's not too late to change,but are we smart enough to realize that a change is needed? I hope so.

What do you think?

Where Socialism and Capitalism Co-Exist

Many in this country want socialism. The main proponent is Bernie Sanders. He proposed having a single payer system so that the government controls much of our economy. He also wants all state universities to be free. This seems appealing to some, especially those who do not have coverage now, don’t want to accrue college debt or aren’t seeing the inherent problems.

The pro-socialists point to the problems with capitalism. Capitalisam caused the crash of 2008, the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, the bottom 40% of our socio-economic Americans who can’t pay taxes and live in substandard conditions. Our black and Hispanic populations are disproportionally in this group. 

The socialist backers cite the Declaration of Independence which says “all men are created equal” something that the founding fathers never believed. They didn’t believe that blacks, American Indians and women were equal to white, Christian landowners. What they might have meant is all people are equally human. Still this group clings to this falsehood maintaining that if we were all equal, shouldn’t we all have equal living conditions. They oppose the theory of evolution which says that evolution relies on the survival of the fittest.

They don’t look at the failure of socialist countries. There is Cuba, North Korea, China , the USSR, East Germany, Venezuela as examples of the effect of socialism. They disregard the contrast between North Korea and South Korea or of East Germany versus West Germany or of Venezuela and Brazil.

Those who favor capitalism point to the need for competition to produce the best product for the lowest price. They believe that their system motivates people to do their best in order to succeed. They remind us that capitalism made our country the richest and most prosperus in the world. They believe in survival of the fittest. They overlook the dishonesty of our banks, the attempts at monopoly, and the massive gap between the richest and the poorest leading to violent crime. They disregard the difference in pay between men and women doing the same work. They do not shed a tear for those who are not successful and turn to crime and substance abuse.

So who’s right? What should we be, socialist or capitalist? I suggest a balance of both. The government can motivate companies to hire Americans by imposing taxes or tarrifs on products made by American companies overseas.

The country could make community colleges free so everyone desiring more that a high school education could get one for the first two years. Then those who cannot afford a four year college could get their remaining 60 units by using on-line education for less than $4,000 to get their college degree. 

The government can change the tax code eliminating all itemized deductions which overwhelmingly favor the rich. They could offer a standard deduction instead. They could tax those making more than one million a straight 35% , those making more than $5 million an extra 5% and those making more than $10 million an extra 10% or a total of 45%.

The government could take action on companies that pay women less than men for the same work. Government agencies already have this parity. 

Currently about three million Americans have healthcare coverage through their employers or from Medicare, Medicaid or VA. About 30 million lack this coverage. Some who have coverage have high deductibles or premiums. 

So there can be a balance between socialism and capitalism. Almost half of get their coverage because of capitalism and half from socialism.  But what about those who don’t have coverage or are paying too much or too high premiums? Should we all have socialised medicine? The Affordable Care Act tried to answer that question and failed. It failed because it tried to force Americans to sign up for the ACA or face penalties. It failed because it insisted that plans include everything, even if the applicant didn’t want or need some of the mandatory options. It failed because it didn’t realize that one unhealthy applicant could cost as much as hundreds of healthy ones. Five percent of the population spends 50% of the country’s health care costs. One prescription drug can cost $60,000 a year meaning just for the drug costs ten healthy people must pay for it. I have a health problerm for which I was billed more than $1.5 million this year. My health insuance paid all but a few hundred dollars that I was charged. How many healthy people paying $6,000  a year are needed just to pay for me, 250? What if there are 20 like me or 200? The other unforseen problem was that insurers dropped out because of huge losses even with billions in government subsidies. This left one in five people with only one company to select from, charging its captive audience more. A total of 19 states refused to expand Medicaid coverage leaving many of our neediest without coverage.

So how do we correct the problems created by capitalism without abandoning it?

The government can control the excesses of the bankiung system by enacting laws like the Glass-Seigal. It would make retail banks separate from investment ones. It could and does control monopolies. 

But what about health coverage? Should that be socialized so that everyone can have coverage? The top 60% would see their taxes increase dramatically and get no benefit from the plan, only the bottom 40% who pay no taxes now might see an improvement.

So how can health care coverage be both socialized and capitalistic?

Let companies and government agencies continue to offer their employees private health care coverage but with no deductibles. Make signing up for ACA voluntary and therefore without penalties which some call taxes. Let private insurers deny coverage to people with expensive medical problems. Those denied coverage would immediately be eligible to the “public option.” And let those whose states refused to offer expanded Medicaid elibility also get this option. It would be a federal program like Medicare not dependent on states to agree to it and it would have a shsare of cost depending on income. Let private and public insurers offer a less expensive plan that only covers needed hospitalization, presciption drugs, lab tests and doctors’ visits. 

Private ACA insurers would come back to the market and compete for the millions of healthy applicants. They would not have deductibles and would have a share of cost depending on incomes.

Therefore there would be both a socialist and capitalist solution. There would be maybe five million more people on the government program and few million more getting private insurance coverage.

Then everyone who wants healthcare coverage could get it at affordable prices.

But where the extra money come from under this arrangement?

The govenment would stop paying billions of dollars in subsidies to private insurers. Waste and fraud in health care amounting to more than $100 billion could be much more tightly controlled. Also money could come from the changes in the tax code mentioned above and by looking at other areas of wasted government  money. We could close many of our 800 foreign military bases or have host countries pay our costs to remain. We could cut foreign aid to Pakistan, Egypt, Palestine and maybe even to Israel, which uses our money to build unlawful settements in the West Bank.  

All these cited problems can be solved with a coexistence of capitalism and socialism.

Have We All Gone Crazy?

I’ve been noticing significant signs of our insanity. 

We have been told how diversity made this country. We are to forget that the founding fathers and the 43 presidents of our country were all white Christians. This ended only when Barack Obama was elected being neither. He was a great president, but the only diverse one. 

We are told that all colleges need diversity to succeed and that diversity is more important than talent, hard work or excellence. Since the 60s we have been lowering our educational standards to accommodate diverse populations.

I now see more people in various vocations making countless mistakes while being exempt from criticism.

I go to a top hospital which bills me for my share of payment. They first billed the wrong insurance company, then they used the wrong billing code, then they used the incorrect group number and then they billed me incorrectly. This all took place in less than two months.

I live in one of the most crowded cities with a 1.5 million daytime population within 47 square miles, not counting the Presidio. Some need to park their cars.  But two agencies charged with posting no parking signs for moving or construction have ridiculous practices. S.F. DPW responsible for posting signs three days before the effective date, don’t. While construction workers rarely work past 4 p.m. or on Saturdays, they are issued signs going from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The parking control department charges the same for one space or five. Some opt for five when only two are needed. Almost no one objects and when these departments are asked to review their policies, they ignore the complaints knowing that they are immune from any consquences. Many residents affected by these failed policies say nothing or perhaps don’t notice them.

Probably the best invention of the 21st century has been the smart phone. It not only can make phone calls, it can also send text messages, show emails and allow for response. They also are timepieces, alarms, stop watches, cameras, video taping devices, games, and access to countless applications. They even can provide lighting. They are amazing, too amazing. Now we cannot get off our smart phones. We look at them while talking in person with others, at restaurants leaving food to grow cold, while walking and while driving. The obsession affects Americans of every age and background.

We have seen a rise in fascism on the right and the left. While those on the far right carry dispicable banners through the streets, the left extremists limit all speech with which they disagree, sometimes violently. They destroy monuments depicting civil war heroes, object to names of football teams, names different groups are called, and want all tributes to our countrie’s leaders ended because they had the attitude toward people in protected classes. They want us forget Columbus, Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and even Woodrow Wilson. They want New York to be renamed because the namesake also did some things that we today find objectionable. And most do not object to the left wing extremism because at least they are not right wingers. We hate the haters and have no tolerance for the those we label intolerant without ever seeing the irony and hypocricy.

We lambast a predential candidate for making senseless, juvenile remarks about his fantasies about women. We call him a misogynist, but we forget about a past president who continuaslly cheated on his wife, even with a teenager, just out of high school and working as a White House intern. We forget about a more recent president who finally had admit a long extramarital affair, charges of making unwanted sexual advances and having oral sex with a 22 year old intern in the oval office. These two presidents are never called misogynists, because we liked them.

Large groups of Americans are involved in countless protests without realizing that they no effect on policy, but feel proud of their courage.

We want all those who enter our country illegally to be allowed to stay and then become citizens disregarding the tremendous cost of those who ignore our laws and cost us billions. We don’t care that they take jobs away from our least educated who need jobs the most. We are told that these are jobs Americans don’t want but the majority of workers in these fields are Americans

We have the Affordable Care Act, doomed to failure from the start, making signups mandatory, forcing every possible medical situation to be covered and not allowing insurers to reject anyone regardless of their severe, costly medical condition, when a much better option is available which would ernsure that every Ametrican who wants coveraqge can get it and for a reduced cost.

Try to contact your local, state and federal representatives. They will not respond feeling they don’t have to because they are not accountable to voters.

Call your cell phone company and try to get them to increase the volume for incoming calls or to active a free service. They will ask for a PIN number that you can’t possibly know and should not need. Would anyone else request these services for you? We are terrified of identity thieves but go too far to keep everything secret. Try to get your medical test results and you will asked to sign a letter of consent allowing your medical facility to honor your request. Next you will probably be asked to sign a form allowing them to honor your request to have the request honored.

It seems that no one is accountable anymore and they know it.

Have we all gone crazy?

What Has Happened to Cars Sold in America?

I started noticing cars around 1953. The first one that struck me was the 1953 Buick Skylark. It is still the most beautiful Buick ever made and the most valuable. My parents bought only Buicks and Chevrolets. After Wold War II most Jews refused to buy Fords or German-made cars like Mercedes. The cars of choice were General Motors cars like Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevys. Chrysler came out with the Imperial and the 300 series. Most cars were available in convertible, hartop sedans, and while many featured station wagons.  

From the mid 50s, Ford produced the Thunderbird , which was a great success. Then Chervrolet came out with the Corvette which were particulary good from the late 50s to 1967 with its gorgeous Stingray.

In those days Pontiacs and Oldmobiles were beautiful and popular. In 1964, Pontiac came out the Lemans and GTO, after growing the Lemans and providing a suped version called the GTO. Later it came out with the Firebird which was also well received. Still most Americans were buying American cars. Oldsmobile came out with the 442 which had horspower and speed. 

American cars seemed to get less appealing in the 70’s and 80’s. While Cadillacs, Buicks and Oldmobiles were still attractive, many other brands lost their appeal. Plymouth and Dodge were never really popular, but the Desoto did well.

In the 70s a Germen car company named Volkwagon became the rage. It was well made, cute and inexpensive. Most people disregarded the fact Hitler ordered Mr. Porsche to make a Volks (Folks) Wagon (car). The best years were the late 60’s and the late 70’s. VW also came out with the Karman Ghia, a beautifully designed and inexpensive Porsche-like car. I had a 67 and loved it, though it wasn’t very fast. Porsche came out with the A, B, and C series with the 1965 SC one of the wolrld’s most beautiful and best selling sports cars. I had a 64 Porsche consvertible. 

During this this time the Swedes entered the market with the 122s and the sports car by Volvo, and P1800. I had a 122s and loved it. Saab came out with the first front wheel drive car.

Meanwhile the British came out with some great sports cars. The TR3 and TR4 were very popular while the successors the TR250 and the TR6 were less successful. Then they came out the TR7, which claimed to be the future. It was adverticed going into a wedge shaped garage emphasizing its wedge shaped design. Unfortunately, it was the shape of the future and also the end for Triumph.

The British came out with the gorgeous but troublesome XK120, XK140, then the XK150, which had roll up windows, and finally the XKE, considered by some to be the beautiful car ever made.They also made some stunning sedans which also were not very reliable.

The British also produced the MG and Austin Healey. When I was in college, in the 60s two friends had MGBs. MG  also came out the Midget. Austin Healy came out the 3000, a sight to behold, and the Sprite, Midget’s cousin. I had an Autin Healey Bugeye Sprite which served me well. Austin Healey also made the Spitfire, a car between the Sprite and the 3000.    

Then, suddenly in the late 60s the MG, Austin Healey and Triuph disappeared. The Brits were left with the Jaguar XKE and the sedan. 

Meanwhile in the late 70’s 80’s and 90’s GM cars were in a steady decline. The companies lost their motivation to keep up their high standards. The Dodge, except for the Charger and Challenger which appealed to fans of the "Dukes of Hazard", Plymouth were never good but they just got worse and had to discontinued as was the Desoto, the best of the three. The Oldsmobile was finally discontinued as was the Pontiac. This left General Motors with just the Cadillac, Buick and Chevy. Ford also had produced nothing noteworthy except for the Thuderbird which became bigger and bigger and was no longer a sportscar. It too died.

While the Bitish were losing most of their car lines including the Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Bentley, with the latter two now owned by VW and BMW resapectively. Their Land Rover is now owned by a company in India.

Then the Japanese and Germans invaded our car market. The Honda was also doing quite well in America. I had a ’79 Honda sedan, which I still think was one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Honda added a luxury car line called Acura which is still a wonderful car. Mazda has also become the up and coming car line.

Toyota became the most popular car in America and it created a luxury line called Lexus, a car that was much admired.

The Germans created luxury lines called BMW, and the longtime Mercedes became much more popular. VW produced several cars and eventually added the Audi to their line and then bought Porsche and Rolls Royce. VW is now the number one carmaker in the world. It used to be General Motors.

Now it seems the American car companies have given up trying to compete with German and Japanese car companies with their family passenger cars. Our two former luxury lines Cadillac and Lincoln, which out with Continentel in the mid 50s that was stunning, both seeing their best days in the mid 50s and 60s. Cadillacs once considered the ultimate in luxury now look commonplace. Ford, GM and Chrysler now depend on selling trucks and SUVs.

No American car company produces station wagons or hard top sedans and sell very few cars with convertible tops,  just Corvette and Camaro. Both lines have degenated since their heyday in the 60’s replacing beauty with horsepower.

So now we can choose between a Chevy and a Buick or buy Japanese and German alternatives like Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Accura and Mazda or the VW line, with the Audi, and the BMW, and Mercedes.

That’s what has happened to cars sold in America. It’s sad. 

The Evolution of American Fascism

The Evolution of America's Liberal Fascism

It started small. The liberals wanted to change the names used for black Americans and for American Indians. They insisted that we call the former African-Americans even though many can trace their roots here for centuries. The argument for changing the name for American Indians was that by so doing their conditions would improve not realizing their problems were not their name but their poverty, not being paid billions by the federal government it owes them for oil rights. The namers perhaps didn't realize that every person born in America is a native American.

This tendency then focused on the name of the Washington football team who had their name for 81 years without objection. Liberals did everything they could to force a change but the team resisted. In a poll taken of the affected group showed that 90% did not care. 

Then in July of 2015 a disturbed person named Dylan Roof, killed nine church goers in South Carolina. When his Facebook picture had him carrying a Confederate flag, it was decided that the flag was the problem and liberals insisted that all of these flags must be taken down in public places. The government officials complied fearing the backlash.

Next there were protesters on college campuses over Halloween costumes, administrators' email comments and Princeton University having buildings named after Woodrow Wilson, who had been President of the United States and president of Princeton. They went on to object to the title Dorm Master, because it reminded them of slavery. They did not object to master's degrees though or titles using the word to connote excellence.

Then liberal  protesters at UC Berkeley, the birthplace of the free speech movement, decided that they would not allow Conservative speakers like Ann Coulter and Milo's speech on campus because they did not agree to their right to free speech. Students were not ordered to hear the speech but didn't

want anyone to speak, if the students disagreed with their views. They hated these speakers because they were labeled haters, without realizing their hypocrisy. They rioted, destroying U.C. property and threatening the speakers' lives.

Next they decided the statues of Confederate heroes must be taken down because they fought for slavery, not knowing that they fought for states' sovereignty. Public officials rushed to exceed to their demand, but it wasn't soon enough, so left wing protesters tore down statues themselves.

Lately, they decided to protest right wing protesters because they were fascist. They attacked the group but their attack was blamed on the white supremacists and not the protesters or the police who waited one hour to intercede. When the President said that all three groups were to blame, politicians lined up to reprimand him for telling the truth but one that they did not accept. The far left group Antifa became much more violent to counter the right wing fascists not realizing that they themselves were fascists and much more violent than the supremacists. Meanwhile our brave politicians failed to blame the left wing fascists until Nancy Pelosi had the courage to call them out.

Then the alt left decided the former presidents who had slaves should not be honored. This list included George Washington. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson even though they were the founders of our country. Teddie Roosevelt felt that blacks are inferior so he too will be honored. What next? Should Mount Rushmore be destroyed? Should we no longer use currency that bear their images?

The President has been blamed for the apparent rise of right wing extremists and he was in part to blame. He spoke against illegal immigrants, mainly Mexicans, threatening to build a wall at our southern border and getting Mexico, a poor country, to pay for it. During his campaign he promised to keep all Muslims out of the country and later reduced the threat to immigrants from six violent, Middle Eastern countries. The white supremacists loved it and were emboldened by is non P.C. comments. 

So who are these alt right members? They are not professionals like doctors, lawyers, psychologists, social workers, college professors, teachers, or journalists who are not negatively impacted by illegal immigration. None will compete with them for jobs or housing. They like the fact that illegals cost less for businesses and homeowners and feel compassion for the immigrants who have left their beloved countries because they not stand living there. The alt right is made up of uneducated, low income people who must compete with illegals for jobs and housing. Those against the illegals, blacks and Jews have low self- esteem caused by their lack of education and their low salaries. The alt right are at the bottom of the socioeconomic totem pole and want to have people lower than them, like blacks, Jews and immigrants. They are a sad lot with no real hope for the future

The left hate them for being hateful and are intolerant and hate and are intolerant of them without seeing the irony of their position.

Now is high time for journalists and politicians to come out and blame the alt left as well the those on the far right. They need to have the courage to proclaim the obvious. They need integrity and courage.

The Proper Response to Bigotry

The Proper Response to Bigotry

Almost every American is against bigotry be it against Jews, blacks or Latinos. At least 99% of us are against it believing in the power and importance of love and tolerance. 

Those who marched for bigotry in Charlottesville represented of minute number of Americans. Most are uneducated and of low income. They seek some cause to make them feel less inadequate.

What should our response be? We are against hatred but hate the haters. We believe in tolerance and compassion but show none to those we label as intolerant or lacking in compassion.

After the ACLU sued to allow right wing fascists to parade in Charlottesville, the group was met with angry crowds who confronted them. Since then many of us have shown our outrage toward the parade. Fights broke out and a woman was killed after a car crashed into the protesting crowd.

I suggest that coming out strongly against them and actually in other instances turning to violence and destruction as we saw at U.C. Berkeley when told the Ann Coulter was speaking or that Milo was going to be on campus and on several college campuses, took no courage because they were doing something with which 99% disagree. Lately several members of President's council working on job creation resigned, protesting the President's statement about the melee. They showed no courage knowing that almost all of us are against bigotry, nor do T.V. hosts or newspaper columnists show intelligence or bravery be speaking out against it. 

When Milo or Ann Coulter came to speak exercising their right to free speech and taking a different position from the majority, especially on campus, no one was forced to hear them. What would have happened if no students showed up to hear them? Their free speech would not be impeded but would fall on deaf ears. What if the parade in Charlottesville got no attention from those against it or the media?

What if we who denounce hatred and intolerance refrained from exhibiting hatred and intolerance of the haters and intolerant, but just ignored their totally disagreeable opinion?

Just a thought.

What Has Happened to America?

What Has Happened to America?

In 1960 we produced 90% of our products and services, we now we produce only 2%. We helped Europe win the first and second world wars, now we have been in Afghanistan for training and supporting their troops for 17 years and costing American lives and billions of tax payer dollars and are still not winning. We were seen as the world's saviors now we are feared and disliked by many of the world's nations. In the 50s and sixties we built great cars, especially in the mid 50s. Cadillacs and Lincolns were the ultimate luxury cars, now neither is valued. We now buy German and Japanese cars. Who wants to buy an American car? We helped our WWll enemies Germany and Japan recover from the war, now we depend on them. And now we have moved so far to the left that we all of sudden wanted the Washington Redskins to change the name they had for 81 years. When polled 90% American's Indians said it didn't bother them. When one sick racist killed 15 people in a church in South Carolina and we saw pictures of him carrying the old Southern flag, we all of a sudden wanted all those flags taken down Then we decided recently that statues of Confederate generals and leaders, to tear down these monuments which had been up for 100 years. Now we want leaders who had slaves or thought blacks to be inferior to lose their states and names at universities. This would include George Washington, our founding fathers, Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt. Next we will want the state of Washington and our nation's capital to change their names. Soon we will want Mt Rushmore to be destroyed. We decry the alt right but ignore what the alt left is doing. We weren't that upset when U.C. Berkeley students denied conservatives like Milo and Coulter the right to exercise their free speech when these anti-free speech students rioted at Berkeley destroying property while the campus police were ordered to let it happen. Free speech is good as long as we don't disagree with it. Now like a herd of sheep or lemmings we follow these radical leftist views without much thought and are proud of our righteous indignation. We demonstrate against the elected president who has expressed some unfortunate opinions like getting Mexico to pay for the wall, that he would not allow transgender people to serve in the military or that he would not allow any Muslims from entering the country. He modified that to refugees from six Muslim countries. He has proven to be narcissistic and dishonest so we have decided that we hate him and use four-letter words in our placards and even say that he should be killed. This from our peace-loving fellow citizens. 

Have we all gone mad?

A Call For Moderation

A Call for Moderation

I am not a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative. I am an independent moderate. I have recommended changes to the Affordable Care Act that should satisfy members of both parties and ensure that everyone who wants healthcare coverage can get it. I have recommended changes in the tax code which should satisfy both party members. My recommendations have fallen on deaf ears. Our senators and representatives are too busy to represent us. 

Now I see that both sides have a growing number of radicals - the alt right and the alt left. The alt right has been more open about their White Supremisist positions while the alt-left will not allow free speech unless they agree with it. Some factions are even openly against the police and historical figures thinking that it all right to destroy historical landmarks as does ISIS in the Middle East. 

While those the Right decry the radicals, the Left feels afraid to confront their radicals. 

It never used to be this way. Both parties were mainly moderate. President Obama was a moderate until he got pressure from the minority community to reduce his deportations of people here illegally and to champion the black cause after a young, high school football player was killed while he was trying to kill the shooter. The president sided with the football player even though a jury consisting of six mothers found it to be self-defense as did the U.S Attorney General. President Clinton was also a centrist moderate as were both Bushes, though the younger started turning to the Right. JFK and Nixon were also moderate.

I think that it is high time for our people to come out against the radicals in both parties. The vast majority of us are against bigotry and we are against those who violently clash to suppress free speech with which they disagree . It takes no intelligence or courage to be against bigotry just as it is not brave to come out against cancer, forrest fires or heart disease. The Conservatives have come out against this small minority of right wing fascists but have not stopped the attempts by the Left to destroy history as well as free expression.

Those on Left hate haters and have no tolerance for those labeled intolerant not realizing their hypocrisy.

What does take courage and intelligence is fighting for a middle ground-moderation. Our leaders and representatives have to stand up in favor of compromise in their legislation, and we the people must come together to find common - sense solutions to our nation's issues emphasizing our shared interests, finding our common ground. 

Our country needs us to come together. Please.

Some Ideas for the Congress on Healthcare Reform and A new Tax Policy

The Congress cannot seem able to come up with a cure for the Affordable Care Act or for tax reform. Here is how I would deal with these problems.

I have recommended in a recent blog a way to fix the ACA. It is so obvious but no one seems to figure it out. Briefly, it would make enrollment voluntary, and allow insurers to reject applicants for medical reasons. Those rejected would immediately be eligible to the public option which would be a federal program so the states could not deny the expansion as 19 states are doing now. There would be a share of cost depending on the applicant's income. It would raise the number of people getting public assistance by maybe five to ten million. Private insurers would then have to compete for their share of healthy applicants by ending deductibles and offering a scaled down version of coverage. The extra cost incurred by the option could be offset by getting drug makers to reduce their charges and by not having to pay insurers billion to cover their costs. This way every American who want coverage will have it.

I have had a mutual friend hand deliver my suggestion directly to Nancy Pelosi, the actual creator of this failed system. I can only hope that she follows up on it.

There is also a pretty easy solution to making the federal tax code both simple and fair. 

First eliminate all itemized deductions and credits. The rich benefit most from these. I would replace them with a $40,000 standard deduction for families and $20,000 one for individuals. I would have five or six tax brackets ranging from 10% to 35%, which would apply to those earning $1 million or more. There could be a surtax of 5% for those earning more than $5 million and a 10% surtax for those earning more than $10 million. Those earning more than $1 million would have a straight tax with no other brackets. So a family earning $2 million would pay a straight 35% or $700,000.

This would make calculating one's taxes easy. They would pay on all their W2 and 1099s. Earned income workers would be allowed to deduct their FICA withholding. All sources of income would be equally taxable be they Social Security benefits which are now only taxable at 85% and dividends, now taxed at 15% or 28%. The tax system would so simple that the IRS could send the taxpayer the bill or the people could compute it themselves in a matter of minutes.

The IRS which is understaffed could then focus on self-employed income which would have itemized deductions, and corporate taxes which would also have itemized deductions with the net income taxed at 15%. Corporations don't really pay taxes, the cost is paid for by consumers and the shareholders.

Depending on how the brackets are defined, we would gain billions on these changes.

The only ones hurt by this plan would be the tax preparing services who would focus on helping the self employed and smaller companies.