Wednesday walkabout

There are a lot of things to ponder this Wednesday, so let’s go for a walkabout. A young sixteen year old from Sweden has twice spoken candidly with members of the US Congress. Two take aways from Greta Thunberg’s comments:

– do something
– listen to the scientists

Yet, while she has been here, the US president’s head of the EPA, a former coal lobbyist, has rolled back an Obama regulation on clean water and overruled California’s ability to have tougher emissions standards for autos sold there. Call me crazy, but this 60 year old man sides with the 16 year old and the climate scientists.

The US president should thank Boris for taking some of the spotlight away from his inane antics. The UK is headed toward a cliff and Boris is saying follow me as he hits the gas. Brexit will be challenging enough, but a no deal Brexit would be a disaster. The British public should listen to the business community who is sharing its concern. An inability to govern this issue has been evident from the outset.

Somebody blew up oil refineries in Saudi Arabia. Iran is the most likely culprit. It is my guess someone is testing the waters with hawk John Bolton gone. Sadly, we are in this mess because of Trump’s decision to back out of a deal all other parties begged him not to, including US military and intelligence leaders. So, Trump’s building a coalition will be harder with our not listening to allies in the first place.

Finally, I am in the middle of Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, “Talking to Strangers.” The thesis is we are horrible judges of when strangers are lying to us. Meeting the person actually is detrimental to the effort. A comment I just read is belief is not the absence of doubt; it’s the absence of a sufficient number of reasons to doubt. Fascinating read.

Have a great rest of the week.

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Tantrums, vapes, and hurricanes

The week that was had serious issues that threatened the lives of people mixed in with self-inflicted issues that caused temper-tantrums. In no particular order:

The Bahamas was truly devastated by Hurricane Dorian. The aftermath pictures are sobering. Okracoke, one of the southernmost Outer Banks islands in North Carolina, was hit hard, but the US mainland was spared the brunt of the storm, although damage occurred and lives were lost. That is the big story.

Yet, way too much time and effort has been spent trying to save face for the US president after ham-handed and unneeded efforts to play weatherman. Rather than admit he over accentuated the threat on Alabama, he had his staff spending valuable time coming up with a story that does not let the president’s little feelings to be hurt. What he fails to realize, it is the “rationalization” efforts that paint him in a bad light. It is akin to dressing up the “dog ate my homework” excuse.

Since we are talking about blowing smoke, the dangers of vaping are raising their ugly head. More kids are entering the hospital with breathing concerns traceable to some form of vaping. What has always concerned me is the amount of smoke the vapers exhale from their lungs. It far exceeds the amount of smoke a cigarette smoker would exhale. Call me crazy, but that cannot be good for one’s health.

Still on the subject of blowing smoke, ex-president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe died yesterday at the age of 95. After being initially praised for liberating and founding Zimbabwe, he proceeded to kill any opposition and become an autocrat. While so doing, he blew smoke at the world to mask his efforts.

Our British friends are realizing that having Boris as prime minister is not necessarily a good thing. Even pro-Brexit folks are likely lamenting this ego-centric choice. When time is of the essence, shortening the time to discuss a complex topic is not good stewardship. But, all of Parliament needs a “get out of the pool” order to allow them to check their egos, decide what they want and get their fannies to Brussels. A no-deal Brexit would be disastrous and would be felt immediately.

Finally, the US president acted on another temper-tantrum when the Department of Justice sued the State of California and four automakers for an agreement to comply with a higher mph standard than the Federal government wants. These automakers feel being good stewards will help sell cars and help them compete with other automakers. It is sad that Attorney General William Barr has stained his career being the president’s personal attorney and attacking people that disagree with him – that is autocratic behavior.

Have a great weekend all.