The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948 in Paris. The U.S. State Department has something new: a Commission on Unalienable Rights to provide “fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation’s founding principles of natural law and natural rights.” The Secretary in a recent WSJ op-ed complained that human rights advocates have created “new categories of rights” that “blur the distinction between unalienable rights and . . .
Category: Politics
2020
The “Make America Great Again” experiment has issues. What should we look for in 2020? Character Needed? Honesty Yes Effort Yes Experience Yes Intelligence Yes Maturity Yes What about a combination of honesty, effort, intelligence and maturity? Despite being a “stable genius” and “very rich” the current “Commander” does poorly with the requirements above. Maybe we allow partial credit for thirty months and no new direct “kill chain” wars? The other aspirants offer an array of experience (Vice President, Governors, . . .
New Tariff on Baseball Stars
Tariff Man Hits Cuban Ball Players! MLB and Cuban Federation Agreement The agreement reached between MLB and the Cuban Federation after three years of negotiation provided Cuban players a safe and legal path to playing professionally in the U.S. In the past some Cuban stars have risked life and limb making their way illegally to U.S. shores Agreement Cancelled The current administration has cancelled the deal because it was based on an “erroneous ruling” by the former Obama administration that . . .
The Mueller Report
“There’s nothing wrong with taking information from the Russians.” Quoting from the Report: “…the Special Counsel’s investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified . . .
Basket of Redeemables?
How did these constituencies get cobbled together? EvangelicalsGun EnthusiastsRural CitizensPollutersWhite Nationalists The commander has demonstrated weak strategic thinking, antagonistic diplomacy and thin negotiating skills. Instead, we have a feral focus on short term targets: a Moslem ban, zero tolerance at the border, canceled aid to the Palestinians and the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), murderous dictator embraces, and public mistreatment of friends. Evangelicals? There are two main ploys in play: Judicial Politization: Along with the manipulations of the . . .
World Affairs
Name calling, Tariffs and Sanctions seem to come from the same lizard brain region: lazy, blunt and harsh. Tariffs and Sanctions indicate a lack of effort and a failure to grasp the risks and opportunities. Drop Outs: in the past two years we have reneged on the following without better ideas – no plan B proposed! “Iran Nuclear Deal” (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.) The agreement was announced July 14, 2015 and withdrawn from on May 8, 2018. Under . . .
Lazy Decisions
A useful if not foolproof principle for problem solving is “Occam’s Razor“: “simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones.” Decision making doesn’t have to be rational. Sometimes emotions are OK: Should I call my rivals names? Should I play golf today? Should I pursue pornstars? Should I tell lies and brag about myself? (Unintended consequences?) Should I bluff with all my cards face up? (Not recommended) Serious Decisions: Involve Work! Some decisions require serious consideration using . . .
Because It Is Difficult!
I moved to Houston, Texas in my youth. I went to an Astros game about three weeks after arriving. The Astrodome was amazing and as I was watching the game in air cooled comfort, I understood: these people think big. Who else would build an indoor domed stadium? Sometimes big is required. The “Green New Deal” is an example of thinking BIG. With any big idea there will be arm-chair pundits sending out critical tweets. That’s what they do, rather than . . .
Lose The Labels
Political labels help us sort ourselves, but get in the way of progress. Labels encourage us to combine our positions on issues to satisfy our perception of order. This muddles efforts to fix or improve anything. It would be better to tackle each issue on its merits: gun control, climate change, health care, access to education, immigration policies, trickle down tax laws and global alliances. The measure for any law or regulation should be based on what it is supposed . . .
History Lessons
Troika of Tyranny? Cuba Nicaragua Venezuela Our perpetually angry National Security Advisor introduced us to this catchy new phrase “Troika of Tyranny” in a speech November 1, 2018 in Miami with the clever Russian reference and reminiscent of the “Axis of Evil” from the good old days. Lessons learned and forgotten Cuba: As Nicholas Kristof put it in the NYT: “… is neither the demonic tyranny conjured by some conservatives nor the heroic worker paradise romanticized by some on the . . .