RECYCLING MUST BE DONE -- BY OUR GOVERNMENT


One day in 1970, picking through a wrecked-car lot looking for a tail-light fixture for my Volvo,  I had an idea then that so many things, nearly everything we use ought to be recycled or repurposed somehow.....and that if everyone did it we could save money and create less waste and more jobs.

Of course, it took decades before people smarter than I figured out how to do that,  and make it economically feasible. The CRV tax on cans and bottles was born, glass got collected, re-purchased and reprocessed. Soon after, it was paper & cardboard.  At first people resented the CRV because it was a tax , and they knew they'd probably not redeem the plastic and cans anyway.

But then things began to change, and the awareness of pollution and waste piling up helped change people's outlook and habits. Meanwhile, just about every industry has added packaging on top of packaging - mainly with non-CRV plastics - to the point where we are all inundated with useless pieces of plastic on everything we buy. There is no end to this in sight .

Meanwhile,  Planet Earth is facing another crisis. We have been recycling so well over the last decade that there is nowhere to put it all,  and it's become more costly to recycle it than to throw it in the landfills. Turns out, we consumers are separating our trash from our bottles and papers but then they are all going into the landfills anyway. Recent articles in the LA Times and carried on Spectrum TV News have alerted us to the fact that the U.S.  Recycling Industry has reached critical mass - literally. It no longer pays for them to keep collecting, sorting , bundling and transporting the recycled waste of plastics, paper goods and glass; and there are not enough ways to re-purpose it once it gets to where it's supposed to go; and if there were it has become too costly to re-purpose everything . Additionally, China has just stopped taking our plastic waste, meaning 50% of it has nowhere to go now,  except to the dump.

Furthermore, our Planet has a gigantic problem with plastic floating in the Ocean in alarming quantities. It's not just whales and dolphins consuming floating plastics that is a problem, but plastics have actually formed floating plastic islands, one of which is as large as the State of Rhode Island .  Experts warn us that the equivalent of 2 two dump-trucks per minute of plastic is going into the Ocean. This is unsustainable. Our Eco-system is already threatened by Climate Change, and now this. Like Mercury, the fish are eating the micro-plastic in the Oceans and we are eating the fish .

These problems are Society's problems. The human race created these waste products and only we as a whole can solve them. Individuals can reduce their own footprint a bit, but the footprint of a Nation is much harder to reduce. This problem is too big, and too disastrous to allow it to go unresolved because of economics of business. Saving the Planet should not be an economic decision.

Recycling to save the Planet for future generations, should not have to turn a profit. But today, the Re-Planet corporation (under contract with the Cities)  has decided to close most of its retail collection stations in California,  making it impossible for consumers to do anything but throw their recyclable plastics ( #1 & #2 ), cans and glass into the trash again. At the same time , the # 5, 6 , and unnumbered plastics were  not being recycled, but tossed into the landfills where they will take up to 1,000 years to breakdown.  Now, with nowhere to send them and no-profit in recycling them , even #1 and # 2 bottles are going in the trash. This cannot be good for Mother Earth. Meanwhile, we are still paying our 5-cent  CRV tax per bottle, but not able to redeem them. Thus, the Recycling we pay for is no longer being done.  So where are those CRV monies going now?

So - my idea now is that the State of California needs to establish a new Agency: A Recycling Department. To help pay for it we put a CRV tax on all single-purpose plastics not currently recyclable, all styrofoam cups & boxes and packing peanuts; as well as the plastics used in packing and over-packaging consumer goods. Tax the bad stuff more than 5 cents, or make the manufacturer pay the tax on things that don't break down, ever.


This new Recycling Department needs to set up local recycling centers around the State, probably apportioned by population and by County. Let the local municipalities create Recycling Depots like the ones that Waste Management is closing, but that also take batteries & styrofoam, as well as glass, metal, wood & paper. These centers should not only collect and refund consumers for their CRV tax, but also deliver the recycled goods to manufacturers that will scientifically re-purpose it all. If there's not enough profit to sell the recyclables, let companies have it for free, as long as they re-purpose it.

If there is no profit in it, so be it. If there's a loss, so be it. Saving the our rivers and oceans, the land, clean water and air do not have to turn a profit. What cannot be recycled, ought to be safely deposited by the States into remote landfills that do not needlessly impact water supplies or wildlife.


To those who say we already have enough Government, I say this: Sometimes we need Government to serve us, and take care of what individuals and businesses alone cannot do. Like the Post Office, the Police & Fire Departments, our roads and bridges, the Coast Guard and the military - we pay them to do all that work for the common good. It is not Government's job to make a profit.

It is our job to make Government work for us, and for Mother Earth. .

We need to look at worldwide pollution problems the same way, starting here in our State, and elsewhere around the Nation. Furthermore, recycling by the States will create steady, good paying jobs in a growth Industry. These jobs will start at minimum wage but scale up like any growing Industry employing thousands in new and important jobs.


Save the Planet, create jobs, re-purpose our waste, reduce our footprint. It's a Win, Win, Win !!

The ART of the DEAL  - Istanbul

ERDOGAN : Hello Mr. President. You are still President , yes ?

TRUMP : Oh yes . I am more than President, you must know. I am all-powerful NOW. With unmatched wisdom!!!

ERDOGAN : That's Good, because I want to talk to you about corruption in my Country.  You have two very nice Towers in my Country.

TRUMP : The biggest, yes. The best in the world.

ERDOGAN : Well, it would be a shame then if anything should happen to them.

TRUMP : Yes, that would be terrible for me. You wouldn't let anything like that happen, would you....Your excellency ?

ERDOGAN : But there is much corruption in my Country, and it's because of the Kurds.

So there could be a terrible accident,  of course, or maybe even an attack by the PKK. You know ?

TRUMP : You won't let that happen, will you ?

ERDOGAN : Well, I need a favor, though.

TRUMP :  A favor? What do you mean ?

ERDOGAN: I'd like you to pull your American troops out of Northern Syria where they are protecting the terrorist Kurds. Pull them out tomorrow.  

TRUMP: But then you will invade and take-over the Kurds and their cities there ?

ERDOGAN : Yes. But I won't hurt them. You have my word on that. 

TRUMP : And what about my Trump Towers in Istanbul ?

ERDOGAN :   Yes, very nice Towers you have there .........

Impeachment Did Not Die

No, Virginia. Impeachment Did Not die on July 24th .

 No it did not. The hope that Robert Mueller would be the kind of hero our Nation needed him to be - the kind of hero he was as a Marine - that did die on July 24,2019; and with it the Democrats strategy of letting his live testimony move the needle with the Public. That did not happen.

Instead, the removal of Donald Trump now needs a new strategy. One more nuanced, and also one more fitting the ruthless dishonesty of the Republican opposition. It's time now to start the Impeachment, not end it.

Many say there is a danger that it could backfire on Democrats the way the Clinton Impeachment backfired on Newt's Republicans.  But I disagree vehemently and I have a strategy that will prevent that. I'll outline it in a moment.

But first, think back to Bill Clinton and his disgraceful handling of a disgraceful affair with Monica Lewinsky.  Like today, the economy was thriving. But Clinton continued to govern while he co-operated with the nastiest of  Republican Prosecutors, Kenneth Starr. Most men and women in 1999 agreed that it was not an Impeachable offense. It was sordid, sad, unethical, immoral, but not High Crimes & Misdemeanors. Not Impeachable. What he lied about was having sex with his intern - something most adult men in this Country knew they would also lie about if caught in that situation. Starr's sordid past since that time, notwithstanding, I believe most of the country was as disgusted with Ken Starr's behavior as they were with Bill Clinton's. 

And consequently the Republicans paid the price for hounding him like a dog with a bone, then  Impeaching him; and generally being as bad and as obsessive as he was. Republicans lost big in the next election.  But Clinton's Impeachment was not over his conspiracy with a Foreign adversary; or lying 10,000 times in Office; or leading a band of thieves, spies and grifters into the White House; nor money-laundering, nor bribery.  It was because he was a bad liar about a blow-job in the Oval. Trump gave away State secrets to the Russians in the Oval, for christsake. Clinton's approval rating also soared because of all the hypocrisy of the holier than thou Republicans led by Newt Gingrich,  who had recently humiliated his own wife while she was in the hospital with cancer.

Donald Trump, with his stupid remarks and stupid smirk, cuts a much less sympathetic figure to middle America than even an embarrassed Bill Clinton did. They love Trump inside the Fox News bubble, but his grip is tenuous on the moderates of both parties. Trump's vulnerabilities are off the charts.

Furthermore, when Bill Clinton was President and the Republicans Impeached him, the Nation had been at Peace for years, and few knew anything about the Jihads to come. It was Peace & Prosperity and they Impeached him for lying about a blow-job. That is far, far from the situation we find ourselves in today, Madame Speaker.

Yes, the economy is doing well , but what else is similar?

In 2019 we have a President guilty of High Crimes & Misdemeanors, of an abject failure to perform the duties of the Presidency or to defend the Nation against all enemies foreign & domestic. We have a man clearly unfit for the office he holds because he is morally and psychologically bankrupt. Yes, and once we see his taxes we may learn how close he was to being financially bankrupt again when he started his campaign in 2015 & 2016.  He never expected to win the Presidency, but he did expect to enrich himself and his family in the process. There's ample evidence of that, enough to constitute at least two of the Articles of Impeachment.  Since then,  he has indeed enriched himself mightily at the Public trough, so I'll wager his balance sheet looks way better in 2017 & 2018. 

Pelosi need not worry that Trump would be a sympathetic character that middle America wants to look up to, and to have their children see & hear everyday on their Televisions. Will they want to vote for 4 More Years as they listen to the House getting the Impeachment process started,  exposing him on LIVE TV everyday?   Oooh, that's a bad mental picture !

No - on the contrary. Here is how to do it without ever running that risk of a backlash. 

The House begins an Impeachment Inquiry now, thus strengthening and speeding the process of getting (silenced) witnesses to testify and tell the truth -  or be confined & fined until they do.

Remember Susan MacDougal?  Republicans were not afraid to do it !!  They never are.
Put down the cake-knife, Democrats, and try fighting this knife-fight with a stilleto. Our Democracy depends on you.  Call McGahn, Hicks, Donaldson, Don Jr., Flynn, Sessions, Christie, Bannon, Pruitt, et.al.

Order them arrested by the Sargent at Arms if they refuse to testify.  Fill the airwaves and the Nation's Newspapers with headlines every day from now until October 2020, but ....
slow walk this thing right up to the eve of Election Day 2020, and Vote your Impeachment Articles in great detail, right before the Election.

Call the Vote to Impeach him the night before the Election.
All Pelosi has to do is stall the Impeachment Hearings by scheduling the up or down Vote on November 2 at 11pm. Let the Senate wait, unable to convene for even one Vote, because they will not have anything to Vote on. 

Don't give McConnell and his traitors a chance to even open debate on it. Not one day. Not half a day. Dirty politics, you say? Unfair?  No, it's Mitch McConnell's style of politics, that's all. Kill your enemy, don't just defeat him. Kill Health Care. Kill election security. Kill campaign finance law. Kill sensible gun laws. Kill Obama's rightful Supreme Court appointee.
 
Do it this way, Madame Speaker, and they cannot get the Win by finding him innocent. Instead, the stench of Donald Trump's Crimes & Misdemeanors will still be floating in the air as we all go to the Polls. Let the people Vote on November 3, 2020 with the cloud of Impeachable offenses all over his orange face.

  

Baseball & Tradition

I heard on the Dodgers v Red Sox broadcast tonight on ESPN, that there was a minor League in the MLB system - the Atlantic League maybe -  that is experimenting this year with a big controversial rule change . The change is to facilitate scoring to break a stalemate in the late extra innings . We all remember with glee, the intensely long World Series game in 2018 that Max Muncy won with a Home Run in the 18th ? Well, if that were a regular Season game it would have been terribly long and boring. Only because it was a Dodgers / Red Sox World Series did anyone still care after 14-15 Innings of a tied baseball game. 

Well, in the interest of shorter games and less marathon games anyway, the proposed rule change goes like this :

 Beginning in the top of Inning 12, and any inning thereafter, each team starts the Inning with men on first and second and no outs .  They are gifted two FREE runners, (one in scoring position) , at the beginning each half-Inning. In the Home half of the Inning, the Home Team also gets to start with two runners on. The rest of the game is then played as usual .
 
Putting aside any aversion to major rule changes in Major League Baseball, (like the Designated Hitter rule used only in the AL) , my first questions are these:

Are the two base-runners that start each Inning the same next two batters who would have come up in that Inning naturally?  Or can the Manager select Designated Runners to occupy the bases without having to alter his lineup; or perhaps having to skip his two best hitters in a tie ballgame?

Can the Manager use any players to occupy first and second base each Inning , or will he have the freedom to draw runners from his pitching staff ? What about using players that were pulled from the game earlier and now become Designated Runners?  Why can't they also be used as the FREE runners on base and then have to exit the game after running, or scoring ? 

Next question is: Do those runners get credited for a base on balls, an AtBat, or what?  If they score are they credited with a Run Scored in the record books? If they get picked off are they then considered "caught stealing ?"

If the Game still drags on another few Innings, can those same runners take their bases again in the 13th, 14th , etc.; or do the Managers have to keep skipping and passing hitters in the line-up ready to bat in a crucial situation? 

And what about the pitchers? If either of the FREE runners score, are they considered earned runs when they score? Which pitcher gets charged for the Run scored? The pitcher on the mound or the pitcher that preceeded him ?  Are they considered unearned runs? And what about a "Save?"
 Do the two FREE runners on base automatically put the pitcher in a "Save" situation ?

These are only a few of the questions that come to mind. If I think on it longer, there will be more.

This Cannot Be My Country

No matter how many times I look at these photos I cannot wrap my head around the fact that these are not Myanmar or North Korea,  nor ISIS prisons. No, these "Detention Camps" are here in America. This is being done by the United States of America.

We are holding these migrant families - still separating children & infants from their Mothers and Fathers - in overcrowded, unhealthy cages . They are not given proper nutrition, water, medications, diapers, clean blankets and mattresses, showers, exercise or the basic necessities of hygiene. These children are not able to see a Doctor, nor being given schooling or counseling. But, they will be forever traumatized by this cruelty. 

If these were dogs we would already have a Court release them, wash and feed them, and give them better care then we are giving these poor frightened people who just risked their lives to escape to America. So where are the Courts? Is there no Judge in America that sees this injustice being done in our name.

 Don't tell me this is the best we can do, because it's far from it. This is a moral imperative, and a National disgrace that History will long remember.

Put little toe-haired white children in these cages and see how long it takes to process them and get them into the system. Norway, c'mon, send us your best people. Even if only "some of them are good people." 


Where is our humanity?  Where is the humanity in Donald Trump's Party? Not one of these cowards stands up and says, "let's investigate this." Not one Republican goes to the border to see the tragedies unfolding there, the suffering and the deaths.

If this were happening in Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Hungary or even Trump's ancestral Germany we would be screaming condemnation at them and demanding UN forces go in and save these women & children before it's too late. 

As in Russia, our elected Officers, Congressman and relief organizations are not being allowed to see what's going on. The situation has gotten so bad that the Guards are afraid a riot will break out any minute and they will be trampled to death .

What can we do to STOP THIS ?  There is no easy solutuion to a mass migration at our border like this, but surely these Concentration Camps are NOT the answer. Not even temporarily .
But, if we can spend millions on a military Show for our Dear Leader, then we can just as easily find funds immediately to set up cleaner, safer, healthy & humane housing for these people to wait in -- WITH THEIR CHILDREN and family members together. We can send Judges and Pro-Tems to the scene and start processing these people like the emergency it is;  or place them with their relatives  here in the USA until a hearing can be scheduled for them.

Kids in Cages should never have happened in America; and it must end now ! 

20 Candidates ? Democrats Need To Choose

Twenty candidates?
Are you kidding me?  This race is to save the Country, to save our Democracy from an authoritarian President bent on consolidating more and more power to himself and his co-conspirators, grifters and racists. Democrats must stop fucking around and get serious. We must defeat Trump in 2020.

With so many left and left center Democrats in the field , no one can stand out with anything but name recognition. The American public has no patience for 20 platforms and dozens of new ideas. Well, maybe Mayor Pete, but who else?

The People need to be focused on One Message. We have great women running, with great policy ideas,  but they are way behind in the Polls. Early Polls yes, but we would think differently if Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren were polling  20% in these early polls, wouldn't we now ? They are not. It's VP Biden and Sen. Bernie out in front, and one of them isn't even a Democrat. I like Bernie,  and he has made a huge difference in exposing important issues, but why the Democratic Party lets him run for their Party's nomination is beyond me. Shouldn't he have to be a Democrat to be their nominee? At least join the Party if you want to run as a Democrat.

So now what? 

Without disparagement, if you are not in the first round of debates, please drop out and let the stronger candidates get strong enough to beat Trump.

If you are Gov. Hickenlooper run for the Senate and beat Cory Gardner-Trump.

If you are Beto O'Roarke run against Sen. John Cornyn-Trump.

Help us beat Mitch McConnell and take away his obstructionist gavel.

 If you are Stacey Abrams run against Sen. Perdue-Trump.

There are also vulnerable Senate races in Montana, Kentucky and elsewhere. Let's take back the Senate, or taking the White House will be insufficient to get change through both Houses of Congress. McConnell will stonewall us to death and win again.

To STOP TRUMP we need Republicans

The GOP of yesteryear has many outspoken, intelligent Never-Trumpers that want this lawless POTUS and his disgraceful band of liars and grifters out of the White House as much as Democrats, and most of us Independents do. I'm going to list some of them here, but no doubt will leave out someone with a strong voice and a following:
 
Joe Scarborough, Nicolle Wallace, Michael Steele, George Will, Jennifer Rubin, Bill Kristol, Anna Navarro, George Conway, Susan del Percio, SE Cupp, Matthew Dowd, David Jolly, Amanda Carpenter, David Brooks, Elise Jordan, Colin Powell, Max Boot, Charlie Sykes, David Frum, Rick Wilson, Mike Murphy, Rick Tyler, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Weld!

These people all want Trump out of Office before he destroys more of our sacred institutions and the very Rule of Law this country was founded on.  These strong Conservative voices see what's happening and how dangerously close we are to Trump becoming an authoritarian ruler by flaunting the Congress; stacking the Courts; closing off the White House to Press core he doesn't like while labeling our Free Press the "Enemy of the People"; leaving key appointments, even Cabinet positions, vacant as he consolidates power in an ever shrinking circle of friends and relatives.

Trump needs to be removed before he stacks the Courts with more sycophants and enablers. He could soon add one or two more 50 year old Kavanaugh types, if something should happen to RBG (86) or Stephen Breyer (80).

These are the first steps all Dictators use to take over. I've said it before but he will soon have his Military Parade, and is probably already fitted for his uniform full of medals and epaulets.
I never thought it could happen here, but it is happening. Trump's unhinged rallies, his racism, his xenophobia are the stuff  all fascist dictatorships are made of. However, there is still time to save our Democracy, our America.


Trump and his Republican co-conspirators have already shredded the Constitution, put our foreign relations in great peril, cozied up to dictators and imprisoned separated children ( even infants) away from their Mothers & Fathers for months. What worse horrors are Stephen Miller, Mike Pompeo or John Bolton planning in a second term?  Imprison political opponents?  Repeal Roe v Wade? How do we make sure this does not happen?
 
It's really quite simple: I am talking to all you people in the highlighted paragraph above. 

Form a new political Party. Run a bright attractive true Republican Conservative as a Third Party candidate. Run against Trump in 2020.

There are many young Republicans who want to protect the EPA, believe in climate change and fear we are losing that battle. They are also Pro-Choice, want universal background checks for guns, and affordable health care for themselves. Reach them and there's your 3% right there. Bill Weld is a great guy,  but he won't garner enough votes to matter, and he is too old for this. Pick a younger, bright attractive candidate, somebody like Rep. David Jolly.

The Real Republican Party should form its own PAC, raise money from real Republicans. Gather a few million $$$ and run - not to win - but with the sole purpose of siphoning 2-3% of the real Republicans who want to make a statement but cannot bring themselves to vote for a Democrat. Staying home is not good enough in 2020. Give them an attractive choice. A voice of reason.

So- Conservative pundits and writers, I am talking to you. It's up to YOU !

Democrats will do all they can , but only you can do this. Get off your soapboxes and get in the game. Pick a candidate and get behind him or her to help defeat Trump.  Do it now, please. Your Country is at stake .