Hillary’s “tough bitch” problem

Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Campaigns In Las Vegas
Hillary Rodham Clinton had some big wins during yesterday’s Super Tuesday primary elections, including North Carolina. Last night, a female Clinton supporter had this today about her on a Facebook thread of a mutual friend:

[A friend] asked me today if I thought HRC could take on Putin. I told him “Oh yeah, she’s one tough bitch. No problem!”

This is precisely my problem with Hillary Clinton, that this would even be a consideration. Clinton’s desire to be “caught trying” often means she skips right over the “speak softly” part to the “carry a big stick” part. The last thing our country needs is a leader far too eager to look tough.

I wore the uniform in the early 1990s and served during Desert Storm. Since then I have cast a jaundiced eye towards unnecessary military adventures with dubious goals and shadowy benefactors. I’ve also become a parent of two kids. Maybe that makes me little more sensitive than others to the possibility of dropping bombs on somebody else’s kids, usually for the benefit of the arms industry, the oil industry, or some other big-bucks special interest group that sees nothing but dollars in destroying foreign people and places.
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Trump Rally No Joking Matter

Trump_Rally_No_Joking_Matter

Scary first hand account of the meanness inside a Trump rally.

I almost missed it. I saw this photo of 2 young men holding a Trump sign at a Trump rally in my Facebook feed, which disappointed me, and I was ready to move on to better things, when I saw that the fella posting the photo (Jordan Ray Correll) had written: “DO NOT JUST SCROLL PAST THIS PICTURE WITHOUT READING THIS POST FIRST. THANK YOU.”

As a result of his comment I decided to take the time to read what he had posted about his experience, and I realized that my initial assumptions about the photo had been incorrect.

Source: Trump Rally No Joking Matter

Al Franken to GOP, ‘Scientists tell us there are 10 and a half months left in this president’s term’

Man, I love Al Franken. Here are his comments on YouTube.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) sat through all of the statements made by all of the Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s “debate” Thursday, and he had a lot to say to set the record straight.He started out responding to Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) who railed about “activist judges” and making sure that the court kept its ideological balance and that President Obama wouldn’t nominate another justice who would “legislate from the bench.” That definitely set the good senator from Minnesota off:

“This idea of nine unelected justices making law from the bench, that is what we have seen with the Roberts court. […] We had 100 votes in the Voting Rights Act. Unanimous vote by the United States senate. And what did Justice Scalia say? He said that, well, the senators voting for it because it was named to the Voting Rights Act. Remember that? […] I mean, this is insulting. To hear that. It is just insulting.”

Source: Al Franken to GOP, ‘Scientists tell us there are 10 and a half months left in this president’s term’

How I built a hoverboard company and then blew it up | TechCrunch

This story has captivated me since I read it a few days ago. It has inspired me to maybe actually do something with those little side projects I’m always dreaming up.

I was first introduced to Hoverboards while watching Casey Neistat’s daily vlogs on YouTube. I thought, “Wow. That’s pretty cool!” and started searching online to purchase one myself. When I looked at the cost of an IOHawk at $1,800 or the Phunkeeduck at $1,500, I thought there had to be a cheaper way. That’s when I found out how cheap they would be if you bought them online in bulk straight from the manufacturer.

That was an intriguing idea, so I decided it wouldn’t hurt to order straight from China. I thought I would keep one and sell one, and if I could sell one, then maybe I could sell more. So I began the process.

Source: How I built a hoverboard company and then blew it up | TechCrunch

Does Raleigh make room for innovation?

Now that I’ve lived half of my life in Raleigh I’ve been thinking more about how Raleigh grows. There seem to be two fundamental camps, one that welcomes innovation and the trying of new things, and the other that is very cautious about new things.

I’ve always been the kind who prefers when people play by the rules. But what if the rules aren’t really necessary? What if the rules make a situation worse?

My wife and I recently spent a delightful weekend alone in the City of Savannah. Savannah has long recognized the value of tourism (being a sea town. Duh.) and allows people to carry their open containers of alcohol anywhere they please. Savannah apparently does not have restrictions on outdoor seating at restaurants. Now, I was only there for one weekend but it seemed to me that chaos had not broken out. No souls were apparently lost. In fact, people seemed to be getting along just fine. On the other hand, Savannah does have strict laws against panhandling, which seemed to be respected. Overall, though, Savannah seems pretty laissez-faire about rules and restrictions and it looks like it works for them.

I couldn’t help but think of Raleigh while we walked the streets of Savannah, and how “loosening the reins” and seeing what happens doesn’t really come naturally to Raleigh. It’s like we have to be against something before we can be for it. This does not help to spur the innovation that we need to attract and grow world-changing businesses here. We are more reactive rather than proactive.

I imagine what Raleigh could accomplish if, rather than asking “why?”, instead asking “why not?”

Highlights of 2015: Aunts Linda and Mary

Unfortunately, 2015 had its share of sorrow. In May, my Aunt Linda passed away after a long battle with cancer. I took bereavement leave from my job, hopped the southbound Amtrak, and went to the funeral in Winter Park, Florida. While the occasion could have been better, it was good to pay my respects and nice to see my cousins again. My Aunt Mary was married to my dad’s brother, Donald, and was quite active in her church.

In August, my Aunt Mary also passed away. Aunt Mary was married to my mom’s brother, Bub, and lived in Panama City. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend her funeral.

Both of my aunts were the sweetest women. It’s still hard accepting that they’re gone.

Highlights of 2015: Family time

At Hanging Rock State Park

At Hanging Rock State Park

We had a lot of good family time in 2015. The biggest family time item was our trip to Alaska, which will be discussed in a future blog post. But we also didn’t have to go far to have a fun time together.

Thumbs up for Thunder Road

Thumbs up for Thunder Road

In May, we took a family trip over to Charlotte for a day at Carowinds. Hallie’s friend Suzanna joined us for a day of roller coasters and water flumes. It was fun showing the kids around the park where I once worked, though it’s changing rapidly. Many of the attractions have been removed to make room for others. Also, we discovered after we left that the park’s premier wooden roller coaster, Thunder Road, would be dismantled later that summer. I’m so glad the kids got a chance to ride it while it was still around. For the record, they really enjoyed it, proclaiming it their favorite. The apples don’t fall from the tree, do they? Continue reading →

Highlights of 2015: Health investment

Back to my Highlights of 2015 (it’s March, right?).

I made a lot of investments in my health in 2015. Working on Centennial Campus, I began to take regular walks around campus during lunchtime, often clocking 20 minutes or more of walking that way. When I took my new job in October, my office was within easy walking distance of my home. I began walking to work on a regular basis. Add this to a morning dog walk most weekday mornings and an occasional evening dog walk and I routinely clock over an hour of walking each day.

I also got on board with the Veterans Administration healthcare. This was spurred on by my ususal health issues that I suspect are related to my Gulf War service. As I mentioned recently, the VA has taken pretty good care of me. I am also now in the middle of a drug trial for prednisone for treating Gulf War illness, but that started in February and not 2015!
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The Case for Bernie: 5 Reasons the Vermont Socialist Deserves Your Vote | News | Indy Week

Bob Geary on Bernie Sanders. I wholeheartedly agree.

Decimated. I’m watching Bernie Sanders following the South Carolina primary, and he’s not putting any gloss on the rout he suffered. Decimated is the word he uses.

So here’s where we are, Bernie fans. We had a tie and a close loss in the first two caucus states. We won big in the New Hampshire primary. We lost twice as big in South Carolina. This is all-too-familiar territory for those of us in Wolfpack Nation. Some early-season successes. Blown out by our first tough opponent. What did legendary N.C. State basketball coach Jimmy Valvano advise in such circumstances? “Too bad,” I think he said. “We’re hosed. We can’t win. We should drop out and root for Carolina.

”No! He didn’t say that! He said never give up! Never, ever give up! You know, like Hillary Clinton said this country will never, ever figure out how to ditch the insurance companies and save everybody money with Medicare for All—Bernie’s plan.

Well, Hillary has her never, ever, and Bernie supporters should have ours. We should vote for our guy if we want to, knowing he’s unlikely to win, but so was the ’83 Wolfpack—until they reeled off nine upsets in a row to take the national championship.

Notice, I am not trying to persuade Hillary’s fans to vote for Bernie. That would be like asking people in light blue shirts to put their thumb and middle fingers together while holding up the other two. Can’t happen.

Hillary’s voters have a right to their belief that the way the country’s going is the best we can hope for—and so what if we’re moving steadily to the right, ceding more and more power to corporations and the wealthy few? Because if the Republicans take the White House, we’d be worse off, and besides, Hillary has experience.

But for those not sold on Hillary, I offer these five reasons to vote for Bernie in the March 15 Democratic presidential primary.

Source: The Case for Bernie: 5 Reasons the Vermont Socialist Deserves Your Vote | News | Indy Week

Hallie to the rescue

During a recent school event, one of Hallie’s classmates suffered a medical emergency. While her other classmates stood around and watched, gripped with panic, Hallie leaped into action and performed first aid (the amusing thing is that up until now she considered the first aid class she took to be a waste of time). Once her friend had recovered, Hallie continued with the event as if nothing happened, and didn’t even mention it to us afterward. We were clueless when the child’s parent passed on her praise Hallie for her reaction, not knowing anything about our daughter’s quick thinking (and acting). It was only last night that we managed to pry the details out of her. To Hallie it was no big deal.
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