December 29, 2019

Yes. Each year, my family has a tradition of watching the movie

Schindler's List. That because we must never forget the Holocaust.

Last night was the night we watched Spielberg's masterpiece. My daughter asked how many Jewish people there were in Poland in 1940. The answer was three million.

Do you know how many Jews are in Poland now? Around 15,000.

So, no surprise at all that Jews are going underground and are taking Antisemitism very seriously. I'm sorry they are going underground. I'm sorry that Muslims also must worship in fear, as must African Americans.

I am sorry for the for-profit concentration camps all over this country that are charging taxpayers $750 per day per head to house brown-skinned people in filthy cages with inadequate blankets, medical supplies, toiletries and food.

And I'm angry about it. Very angry.

Furious at Donald Trump and his racist supporters.

Mark my words, there will be an accounting for these crimes against humanity, this genocide. Indictments of everyone responsible, from Trump down to the lowliest guard, trials in international tribunal and then the meting out of justice. I don't want to hear Democratic politicians giving these criminals a pass, saying things like, "Democracies don't charge past presidents with crimes."

No. We gave Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice passes for war crimes back in '08, but I'm DAMNED if we're gonna give Trump and his henchmen passes. Not for what they've done.

December 28, 2019

My wife texted me this. Video from CNN the number of Trump's lies well worth watching.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/12/28/victor-blackwell-president-trump-claims-gumballs-2019-sot-ndwknd-vpx.cnn

Here's the title: Blackwell uses gumballs to portray Trump's false claims


CNN's Victor Blackwell used jars of gumballs to represent President Donald Trump's 15,413 false or misleading claims since taking office, according to a count by the Washington Post.

December 28, 2019

Well, THIS is my 9800th post!

I want to dedicate it to the wish that 2020 is a GREAT year for all of us.

Not just getting Trump out and painting this nation deep blue. Yeah I do hope that, for sure.

But I also hope that for each and every one of you, and for your families, that 2020 is a much better year than 2019.

December 26, 2019

Colorado day care owner charged after allegedly hiding toddlers behind a false wall

Source: CNN

(CNN)The owner of a Colorado day care that allegedly used a "false wall" to hide 26 toddlers in a basement has been arrested and charged, court documents show.

Carla M. Faith, 58, was arrested Monday and faces charges related to child abuse and attempting to influence a public servant, according to the documents. Her bond was set at $3,000.

The charges stem from November, when officers went to Play Mountain Place in Colorado Springs after complaints about overcrowding. There, they found 26 children younger than 3 with two adults behind the false wall.

The day care had a licensed capacity of six children, according to May 2019 data on the Colorado Department of Human Services website.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/25/us/colorado-day-care-false-wall-trnd/index.html

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OK, so let's talk about child day care and early childhood education.

First of all, not excusing Faith, there is a serious policy issue here. We must ask if it was ONLY her greed that caused her to over fill her daycare home? or was it pressure from market demand?

Consider these four facts:
A. There are not enough childcare centers. There are not enough licensed daycare homes.
B. Childcare workers are paid minimum wage, generally, and owners of child care licensed homes are capped so income is capped.
C. It costs literally an arm and a leg to put your kids in a childcare home and if you're middle class there's NO subsidy.
D. Colorado Springs is an urban area, and there are problems; there literally isn't any childcare in most rural areas. None.

So, while we recoil in horror at Trump and his disgusting antics, and hear the Republicans positively CROW about how GREAT the economy is, be mindful that because of the structure of our child care system and the fact that it doesn't seem to matter much to policy makers, the REALLY IMPORTANT people who provide this care for our pre-school age kids earn driddle squat and struggle to make ends meet every month.

Early childhood education (pre-school) again because of no subsidies, is stratospherically priced - only about 6% of kids even go because it is so expensive.

And we all know teachers in K-12 don't make nearly enough.

But, hey, sports stars earn kazillions of bucks and we have a brand new shiny space force!

December 22, 2019

Internet shutdowns used to be rare. They're increasingly becoming the norm in much of the world

This is scary, because many of us depend on the internet. For many things - communication, cloud computing, news, and research. So now, besides the Arjit Pai ruling that allows ISPs to slow or speed streaming based on how much you pay, we have countries jamming access as well.

Here's an excerpt: