Day 1114 The Debate, The Impeachment, The Kurds

Day 1114 The Debate, The Impeachment, The Kurds

Wednesday October 16, 2019

385 Days until the 2020 election and 467 days until the Inauguration

But first – a little bitchin’

Passport Renewal – You file out a form (DS-82), enclose a check for $110 with new passport photo (taken at Wal-Mart, or CVS) and within two weeks you get a new passport. A few days after that you get your old passport back too, with holes punched in it so folks know it’s no longer valid.

If you wish you can request extra pages in the back of your passport. They call it Large Format, but it’s not like the library meaning where the library means big print. All Large Format means to the passport folks is extra pages in the back of your passport for stamping. It doesn’t cost extra. It’s the same $110.

Global Entry – updating your profile with your new passport number. You can’t do it on-line. You have to go to a global entry office so they can scan your passport into their system. There is a list of offices on-line, but do not trust the hours posted, call first to verify.

Okay, the above information will save you several hours or days of rooting around in various government websites.

Here’s a crazy idea or two:

– Why not have the passport web site list the basic information that most people need to know first on their website?

– Why not have the passport database in the State Department linked to the Global Entry website so you wouldn’t have to go somewhere just to have your passport scanned into their system?

– Why not have the Global Security website tell you that you need to go to an office to have your passport scanned in?

– Why not tell folks what to do to get a new passport and what to expect timewise and deliverywise, like I did above?

Okay enough general bitchin’, now to specific bitchin’

The Debate – The Democratic presidential candidates had a debate last night. It was held at a university in Ohio I never heard of. They were all saying roughly the same things, with slight differences, and picking on each other over those differences. We need a Howard Dean like figure to round them all up and summarize their points on various subjects and then move on.

It reminded me of being in tenth grade English class the day after we had a student council debate and our English teacher summarized a big point that was being argued over and said that the obvious elephant in the room thing about whatever it was that had been argued was missing.

We need someone to round them, the candidates, up and write down their points and their differences.

Let me attempt a little of that summarization and elephant in the room stuff:

– Beto was asked about his take AR-15s and AK-47s away proposal. How are you going to do that? He was asked in multiple ways. OMG! How hard is this? Especially, given that it’s been done. We have a blueprint for doing it. 

– Health Care – OMG Again. This is hard, but we have plenty of ways to do it, and lots of examples of how to do it. Why not have the Democratic leadership list each of the ways and who supports what? 

– Foreign Policy – I have no idea what Tulsi Gabbard was talking about when she kept going on about regime change war. Finally, one of the other candidates had had enough and called her out on it. The choices are “keep the peace” or “let ‘em fight it out.” I’m not sure where any of the candidates stand on this. I think, like health care, they are all saying roughly the same thing: back our allies, stand up to thugs, promote democracy.

Details on the Debate:

Beto kept using some weird wording to explain how he would enact what he was talking about. The idea is simple: pass a law saying those weapons are illegal. Have a program to turn them in. If you don’t do that and are caught with one, you face penalties as specified in the law. Want to keep your weapon? There could be a rigorous registration process, like we did with machine guns. This ain’t hard.

For me, I’d go further. I’d make the law say that if you choose to keep your weapon and not register it and it is used in a crime, you have to stand as a defendant and you get the same sentence the person who used your weapon gets. I might be willing to reduce that to “if they get murder, you get accessory to murder.” (See, I’m willing to compromise.) 

I’d also add in a clause that says any weapon used in a mass shooting would go on a list of weapons that need to be restricted. We could argue about what constitutes a mass shooting. (I can be flexible.)

I’d have the law set up an agency to monitor gun violence and give them the power to pass regulations, specifically to

curb gun violence. I might be willing to have a clause that says after a certain period of time the regulation would be written up as a law for Congress to pass. (See, I’m willing to work with others.)

The elephant in the room here is not to come take your guns away but to curb gun violence. If there’s a way the gun nuts can keep their guns and people aren’t being shot with them great. If not, I know that fewer guns, a lot fewer guns, means fewer deaths from guns.

Health Care – OMG! Something has got to be done. We can agree on that. Costs are crazy and the game is rigged. Let’s try something. Anything. We have a basket full of options as presented last night. 

I like Warren’s vision, and Klobuchar’s practicality. Warren says we need to cover everybody so they don’t go bankrupt and we pay for it by taxing the wealth of the rich. Klobuchar says let’s build on Obamacare and do what Barack originally envisioned. Yang says other countries have tried a tax the rich approach and it hasn’t worked; I’d like to hear more on that. Why didn’t it work? And, he mentioned a Value Added Tax (VAT) did work. (More on that further down.) Buttigieg says Warren isn’t telling how she’d pay for her proposal. She tells him how she would pay for it and he says she’s not telling. 

Mayor Pete was disappointing last night. I’ve liked what he has had to say before, but last night I didn’t. His bit on “we can’t wait” on various gun reform ideas, because people are dying right now from guns was odd. Okay, Mayor Pete what would you do? Out of time? Gotta move on? Okay. He seemed platitudinous, much like most of what Kamal has said. Sounds good, but high level.

However, Kamal got in one good one.When asked about impeachment and would she be for it, she said yes and she said it wasn’t a Dem thing but “Just being observant.” She’s right, and this is why I’d like to see her as Attorney General. This “impeachment thing” isn’t hard. As she said, “when someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.” Donald has told us and shown us over and over again who he is.

Corey Booker looked goofy and said general things but I didn’t get the specifics from him. However, I do think that this whole lot of candidates would make a great posse – I mean cabinet. Each has things they are passionate about. I’d love to see them each tackle their thing. Booker and violence really made it clear to me.

Bernie – ah me, he was kind of funny last night. When Biden was pointing his way as he talked about some bad guy, Bernie said something like “I hope you aren’t suggesting I’m that guy” and he smiled! Bernie really smiled. How refreshing. For me, Bernie is kind of one note. I think his time is passed. I understand his flash cut to Medicare for All might be the cheapest way to go, but people would want to see that. By giving folks a choice, they will see that over time. Warren’s point that the insurance companies pull the rug out from under you when you actually use them is a great point. I don’t know how you get around that. I like Klobuchar’s idea of build on Obamacare because it is already enacted. I would dangle the Medicare for all option out there because I think eventually everyone would go over to it. 

Biden – I like Joe. He has a lot of knowledge and experience. I don’t see that he has the vision.

Taxes & Spending – How do you pay for whatever? Well, first let’s be clear, Democrats spend less than Republicans. It’s been true since WWII. Don’t know before then. This point drives my Republican friends crazy, but the facts speak for themselves. If you want to save money, vote Democratic. There are three ways to tax: tax income, tax spending, tax wealth.

We have income taxes. We have sales taxes, which is taxing spending. Europe has a VAT which is a tax on spending. We don’t really tax wealth. Warren has pointed out that most of the wealth in this country is concentrated in the hands of a very few. Economists and political scientists say that an economy (Or country) is better off when the wealth is spread around. Her proposal to tax the wealth is an attempt to do that. Will it be difficult to implement? Maybe, but I’d like to see us try.

The Kurds and foreign policy – I believe in standing by those who stood beside us. I would go in and support the Kurds. Hell, I’d carve out a space for their own country and take it from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. What we are stuck with is the terrible division of the Middle East after WWI, and the struggle of the smoldering of empires long since gone.

I’m a little more hawkish on this stuff. I’d bring us in big time to support the Kurds. I’d also have a bunch of the Ukrainians over to our country so learn how to us Apache helicopters, and our tanks. Then I’d give them enough of them and anything else they needed to drive the Russian forces out of their country, including Crimea.

Thugs understand power, naked raw power. I’d show it to them – big time.

What else? 

Impeachment – I’d move on it like a … legislator. I’d impeach him and throw him out of office. I wouldn’t indict him until after the 2020 election so Pence couldn’t pardon him for his crimes.

I mean if it were me I’d impeach Trump, Pence, Pompeo, Barr, and all the Federal judges that were appointed. I mean, I’m a reasonable guy.

385 Days until the 2020 election and 467 days until the Inauguration

PS Wright Robie House, Chicago, circa 1910