Suspected drug smugglers

Every article I read about the navy destroying a ship, the article refers to them as 'suspected drug smugglers'.   In no instance have I read that an armed boarding party was sent to the ship to inspect the cargo.  I think that falls into the same category as 'he's black, must be a gang banger'.

They may have intelligence leading them to suspect a specific ship is a drug runner, but without actual proof, destroying the ship and killing the crew is an act of piracy and murder.  

Yes, boarding the ship does expose the crew to risk.  It is the same sort of risk every cop is exposed to when they break down a suspected drug dealer's door.  If the police, who don't have cannons backing them up can do it the right way, so can the navy.

The military has rules of engagement. I was in the army, not the navy, but I suspect that "there's a boatload of brown people they must be guilty of something" doesn't meet the criteria. Of course the draft dodger in chief wouldn't know anything about that. 

 Using the navy to interdict drug trafficking is not in and of itself a bad idea.  By all means board suspected ships, and arrest the crew members if they find contraband.  Those ships found to be carrying illegal drugs should be confiscated and sold, not sunk, with the government retaining the proceeds. 

And the drugs?  Those are the evidence to be presented in a US court, after which they can be destroyed.

A reminder of the greatest generation

On my recent trip to Europe, I spent most of a day at the museum and graveyard on the cliffs above Omaha Beach.  I have always enjoyed museums but this experience was something entirely different.

Some was just a recitation of history while much of it told individual stories of people who not only walked into danger but gave their lives to protect their comrades.  That was walking through the museum.  

This is what I saw as I walked out of the museum.  This photograph doesn't come close to capturing of what I saw,

 Before leaving I took this video to capture a little more of the scale of this place.

 

 

I tend to be stoic about a lot of things, but I spent much of that day holding back tears. A lot of these graves hold teenagers.  During World War II, you could enlist at 17 with parents consent, and be drafted at 18.  Somewhere between two and three thousand died on Omaha beach, and many others on the Utah, Sword, Gold and Juno beaches.

 The next time you watch a World War II movie that includes the D Day assault, like the The Longest Day, give a thought to the sacrifices made that day.  

If we really want to conquer space, then start building the technology there, not on the ground.

To go from earth orbit to the moon or Mars or the asteroid belt requires a conceptually different craft than something that lifts you off from earth.   By that I mean there is no consideration in the design of those spacecraft for  taking off or landing because the sole purpose should be going point to point in space carrying a lot.of cargo, passengers or both .   And it should be intended to repeat that over and over rather than being for a single use.

Because such a craft isn't designed to take off or land, it needs to be built in space.  That is where the planned private space stations should be directing their efforts, on manufacturing the spacecrafts that will be the workhorses of space exploration. 

It may take many years before we develop single stage to orbit and back vehicles, but point to point in space is well within our grasp today.  And those spaceships will give us the entire solar system.

They will take colonists and supplies to Mars and prospectors to the asteroid belt.  They will bring back raw materials from the asteroid belt to build more ships in orbit and to supply industries on earth and the moon and the colonists on Mars.

That is how we truly become an interplanetary species, by building the spacecrafts that can become the trucks and busses of space.

Taxes and unemployment

The gospel according to the republican party is, cut taxes on the rich to reduce unemployment.  And the only problem with that idea is that history as shown again and again the opposite is true.  The periods of our greatest prosperity have corresponded to the periods with the highest marginal tax rates.  And not coincidentally, the periods of high unemployment have typically followed lowering the marginal tax rate on the wealthiest Americans.

One explanation I have read is that when tax rates on the high ends of income are lowered, it tends to encourage speculation, leading to bubbles in the economy.  And we know that bubble will eventually burst and there is hell to pay.

Now the correlation between tax rates and unemployment is something you can look up yourself, but I will site a few examples, just to make the point.

In 1980, the top rate for individual taxes was  70% and unemployment was at 6% and it had been falling since 1975.  In 1981 the top tax rate for individuals was cut to 50%.  This began a series of tax cuts for individuals, corporations, and capital gains.  The unemployment rate rose, spiking at over 10% in 1983.

Yes, you can say that's all ancient history,  which is true.  But it is a pattern that has shown some consistency. 

Another day, another murder

Any murder is tragic, be it is the stranger you read about who was raped and murdered, a shopkeeper killed in an armed robbery, or a public figure who preached that murders are just an unfortunate but inevitable consequence of the constitutional right to keep and bare arms.

Still, I suspect that when making those remarks he never imagined that he would be one of those paying that price.  If he had known, would he have felt the same way?  

If you put yourself out there in the public eye then there has to be at least some awareness that the Mark David Chapmans of the world are out there.  I don't think this one of those, simply a deranged individual fixated on a celebrity.  Was it a political statement?  Was it karma?  I don't pretend to know, nor do I know the potential motive of the primary suspect.

What I suspect though, is that we may very well be headed into an era when the current political rhetoric will trigger more actions of this sort targeting both ends of the political spectrum.

Reasons I really like my neighborhood

 I don't get mail where I live.  This is by choice.  I have a PO box over in the next town which is about a twenty minute bicycle ride away.  It is my not so subtle encouragement to exercise six days a week.

A few doors down from where I live is an entrance to a bike/walking trail.  It runs along a seasonal creek bed, crosses a quiet residential street then continues along the creek for a ways before crossing a rather busy road (there is a crosswalk and light for pedestrians and cyclists to cross ) and then it continues through a small park. After the park I have to switch to the bike lane on the parallel street.

Returning from the post office I saw this along the trail.  The bird did not seem concerned when I stopped to take the picture.

 

 

 

After taking the picture I continued on to the residential crossing and detoured onto the street just because the ride is a little bit longer. that way. The more I ride the easier it gets. That's when I rode by this house.  I have driven passed it many times, and seen the sign but being on a bicycle instead of diving a car made it easier to stop and take a picture.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to do that.

 

 This isn't the only sign reflecting pro-immigration sentiment in the neighborhood, but it just struck me at the moment.

So, I like the vibe, I like cycling on the creek side trail, and I like that I can ride my bike, or even walk to the downtown from here.  It is the kind of downtown that existed in a lot of small towns before highway 101 was turned into freeway..  

Unlike many of those towns, this downtown has survived. There is a road parallel to the freeway that goes through the downtown that was highway 101 until the freeway was constructed.  It is still well traveled, I presume mostly by locals. It has restaurants, bars, small stores and a large park all within walking distance.

The vanishing Republican town halls

This probably won't come up, because what I have been reading indicates that during the most recent recess, Republicans have mostly been avoiding their constituents.  I am guessing that facing their constituents is uncomfortable, sort of like waking up in a dirty motel room next to someone you don't recognize.  

But if your representative does dare to show their face and take questions from from you, their employers, then here is a question to ask them..

"When you were voting to take health care away from many of your constituents, were you also voting to take away your own?"