Aircraft carriers are big & cost lots of money. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should teach several lessons (e.g., the whole good vs evil thing). We should realize that large pieces of military gear are vulnerable & obsolete. Small missiles take out tanks. Several yrs ago China developed...1/3

a thousand-missile anti-capital ship system. U.S. Navy carriers will be among the first targets in any major (i.e., w/Russia or China) conflict we might have. We’ve done a lot to starve…

As Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine, if trump followers were confused, trump soon called the invasion ‘genius” & “savvy.” (2/23/22). MAGA ppl parroted trump. Then news of Russian war crimes emerged & trump denied he made his prior stmts. (03/30/22) GOP trumpers R in a ...1/4

cult of personality corner. Tucker Carlson talks tanned testicles to divert attention fr his Moscow cheerleading. Even trump sometimes is booed by MAGA, but he’s their 1st out-front leader since D.C.…

Republican Party of Hamilton County holds “Lincoln Day” dinner tonight w/Sen Mike Braun as keynote speaker. Roots of GOP connect w/resistance 2 slavery & struggles 4 econ justice. This iteration of GOP has no legitimate claim 2 B Republican. Sen Braun, cpl of wks ago... 1/5

sd States have rt to determine whether ppl whose skin varies in concentration of melanin should be allowed to marry. Lovings v Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) held that white or Black (or red or yellow or mixtures…

Someone asked how I could be a republican (they used the lower-case “r”), yet re-post a meme to the effect that Pres Biden is a decent man. To be clear: the GOP was not founded as, & is not yet, a cult of personality. It started as party of progressive ideas: abolition & economic reforms. 1/4

After the 1964 election, some in the GOP saw opportunity to persuade racists in what, since the Civil War, had been the Democratic Party’s “solid South.” Yet even as late as the 2008…

Two main factors in burglars’ choice of homes to target. 1) Not getting caught. 2) Stuff worth stealing. On first one, burglars generally don’t break into homes when people are home & that’s the only way your ownership of a handgun would work to protect your home. And on...1/4

the 2nd one, handguns R amongst the items most easily fenced. After all, if a burglar grabs a bag of jewels, s/he can’t walk into some place and buys things. The burglar has to find a place to pay for the…

Elon Musk wants 2 buy Twitter: “I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. I now realize [Twitter] will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.” Yesterday, in a TED 2022 conference he said: “Having a public platform...1/5

that is maximally trusted & broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.” Because I agree w/this last bit I say Mr Musk should leave Twitter alone. His goal isn’t…

Land of the Free: 5% of World’s population but 25% of prison inmates. Free market works: #37 in health care & #1 in price & NEARLY ALL the 36 ahead of us have some form of “socialized medicine.” Land of opportunity: gap between richest & poorest growing > other nations...1/3

And no advanced county mires its non-rich youth in debt for seeking higher education. We have the largest military yet are most insecure. Advanced countries have solar & wind but we still burn…

Ppl don’t get excited about primary elections. Indiana’s is May 3. Early voting has begun in Indy at City-County Bldg. Other sites will open April 23. You might believe you’re registered to vote, but this iteration of the GOP doesn’t like “adverse” voters. We need to test the system...1/4

(1) Voter rolls get purged. Your registration might have crossed the wrong GOP algorithm. It’s better to be turned away at the primary than to be turned away in November. (2) You can check…

Last evening on “Civil Discourse Now,” an individual posted comments & reflected her/his view that lax school discipline causes crime, & kids should be taught job skills & not critical thinking. Her/his comments reflect amorality that poses as a superior morality. The capacity...1/5

to question is an important quality to be taught in schools in a free society. To teach only job skills in schools (1) itself teaches a form of morality: obey those in authority & do not…

“Show me a prison/Show me a jail/Show me a prison man whose face is growing pale...there but for fortune/go you or I.” Our nation stills lacks empathy Phil Ochs expressed in this 1960s song & regressed. Judges & prosecutors don’t win elections on promises of protecting rights... 1/4

of the accused. “Hanging judges” win elections in the “land of the free” w/25% of the World’s prison. If prisons are meant to reform ppl & deter crime, our system is a failure. IN’s recidivism…

U.S. approached greatness. Russia’s invasion of/atrocities in Ukraine sounded like the latter days in Vietnam & U.S. soldiers, bitter & cynical, committing war crimes similar to what we hear of Russia. The difference? We stopped the war in Vietnam. Russia carries on. MAGA ppl... 1/4

seem embittered by the notion the U.S. hasn’t bullied the World. When we dug in our heels & said “no” to Vietnam, we (enough to stop the fiasco) had self-awareness & said no more war. That…

Amongst ways that Indiana can save (LOTS OF) money, expand liberty and reverse the wrongs done to hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers is to legalize all drugs. Stores would be licensed, the items there taxed, and a big money-maker for organized crime would be gone. 1/6

Marijuana, for medical & rec’l use, now is legal in many States. Indiana, as usual, lags. Harms result from pot being illegal, not from use of the plant. 1: There are no cases of fatal cannabis poisoning in the human…

Every election, even a primary, is important. This iteration of the GOP seems to want to limit the ability to vote. That makes Indiana’s primary election a chance to flip the bird at those who seek to bastardize the Hoosier election system. When & where to vote? 1/4

Website vote.indy.gov/early-voting/ gives early voting info in Marion County: Indy, Speedway, Beech Grove & Lawrence). Website says ppl can vote at City-County Building, April 5 to May 2. Times vary. April 23-May 1…

I won’t own a pair of sweat pants. By the 2nd day in hospital in 1994 I was paralyzed, waist down. Sweat pants beat a gown but, along w/other things, remind me of 1994 & mis-diagnosis of MS. I undergo knee surgery soon. Another reminder is a shower bench, like I bought yesterday... 1/3

& consists of metal frame, suction cups on the feet & a seat of thick plastic. In ‘94 the bench was necessary because standing was a challenge. Once I didn’t need it, I donated it to…

Indiana has no crime of “statutory rape.” Instead: A person who, w/a child under 14 yrs of age, knowingly/intentionally performs or submits to sex’l intercourse/other sex’l misconduct commits child molesting, a Level 3 felony. I.C.§ 35-42-4-3. Compared to TN, IN protects kids. 1/3

We can’t belabor this matter. Leaders of this iteration of the GOP project their own perversions to blame others (see: Pizzagate) yet rip away statutes that protect women, kids & everybody but white male…

Media are silent about waves of violent crime at polling sites in the 2020 elections. A candidate for Michigan state Senate said ppl should “Show up armed” on election day to stop a recurrence of 2020. (Detroit Free Press, 1/31/22.) What happened in 2022? The GOP lost. 1/6

No credible evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 elections, in Indiana or anywhere, exists. If fraud occurred, people at polling sites w/guns wearing MAGA caps are meant only to intimidate voters likely to vote…

Russia’s Putin is a dictator. Dictators kill people to grab & to maintain power. Putin now kills in Ukraine to advance Putin’s vision: the U.S.S.R. reborn. Putin hates the USA/has compared USA to der 3rd Reich. Putin issued bounties for U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan, 2019. 1/5

“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” U.S. Const. Art. III, sec. 3. 7/18/18: Rep. McCaul…

One should not try to “fix” something that is not broken. This is a less-colloquial form of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” In some States (e.g., Michigan) ppl are advocating showing up at polling sites for elections w/firearms. There is no valid reason for guns at the polls. 1/4

1st Amendment rights R ltd in polling sites: no electioneering allowed. I.C. §3-14-3-16. Guns R not allowed under IN’s new laws on School Property (I.C. §35-47-9), in Airports & Aircraft (I.C.…

Laws over Not-for-profit corporations (NFPs) that are pol parties shouldn’t let a party be above control of voters. Indiana GOP (INGOP) rules allow as few as two people to control the GOP & thus the State. INGOP is a dba of the State Committee. (Comm) which “shall have no... 1/4

members except the members of the Board of Directors.” (Art. 4) Board: of 3-23 members. (Art. 12.) The “Committee is the supreme party authority” (State Rule 1-1.) Quorum is a majority of Comm. (SR 1-3.)…