Policing the Capitol City

In the assessment of Zachary Schrag, the professor who wrote the book Great Society Subway, John F. Kennedy was the first American President to care about Washington, DC and the future of its people. Unlike later congressmen-turned-presidents, such as Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, JFK lived for decades in the City of Washington, DC, rather than its suburbs. Donald Trump, paradoxically both the lifelong city dweller and the aloof man, is the second President to care about Washington, DC. To be sure, Mr. Trump continues in the traditional heavy-handed approach towards city affairs (rule by decree), rather than the collaborative approach that city residents have come to expect over the last 60 years. The use of federal power in Washington, DC has generally been for the good of society. Early in his Presidency, Dwight Eisenhower ended the practice of racial segregation in the once-Southern city. In the 1990’s, Newt Gingrich’s Congress took over Washington, DC’s broken finances through the Fiscal Control Board: Under the long leadership of Mayor Marion Barry, the city offered too many patronage jobs, and offered middle-class taxpayers nothing in return for their large tax bills- schools were failing and crime was record-high. In the end, suburbanites (residents of Maryland, Virginia, and even West Virginia) were allowed to hold jobs in the beleaguered police and fire departments, and a strong system of charter schools and school vouchers were implemented. Suburbanites are becoming reaccustomed to Washington, DC after a 5-year absence. The lightly-enforced return-to-office policies under President Biden ameliorated a crash in commercial real estate valuations (and therefore, city tax collections). It was the stronger approach under President Trump that increased commuter rail ridership, and brought back the after-work culture in central Washington, DC. It's irresponsible to explain away the crime. Washington, DC had become a lawless place during the pandemic, and bringing back public order was important to bringing back the tourist and businessperson. Too many interns and taxpayers have been victimized to turn a blind eye. Yet I had faith that the Mayor was taking a proactive approach to restoring public safety and quality of life. She was willing to take the contentious step of removing tent encampments from public spaces. Donald Trump’s personal involvement is adding friction- and fomenting resistance- which would be counterproductive to the gains in public safety made so far. If I were the President, I would focus federal resources- and the deployment of federal law enforcement officers- to the aptly-named Federal District of government buildings in Downtown DC. The L’Enfant City, which also was until 2008 the flat-rate Central Zone for taxi rides, would be the widest perimeter of federal law enforcement deployment. Beyond that line, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) would have full and solo jurisdiction. In return, resources dedicated to the downtown area by the MPD could be moved to other parts of the city, such as the troubled Columbia Heights retail district. This was where a federal cop was infamously hit by a sandwich last week

Tariff Talk

Tariffs; it's this year's inflation talk. I'm open to the idea of tariffs, particularly from imports on countries with lower labor protections and standards of living. I supported tariffs when Donald Trump was still a Democrat, reminiscing how import tariffs and excise taxes covered the full federal budget prior to 1913. Our import tariffs were, and still are, lower than those of most other countries; we were a total mercantile nation of shopkeepers, or more accurately, patrons of big-box stores. We were told as Americans that it was okay to import "low cost" goods, like plastic toys, kitchenware, and appliances; since we exported high-tech equipment like industrial engines and aircraft. Corporate greed, or the desire for greater profits, mean that imported goods aren't very cheap anymore, when it comes to big box retail. Bargains can still be found in marketplaces like eBay, where items are shipped factory direct to consumer. American manufacturers, in contrast to importers, carry the economic risk of capital equipment, and must expand their domestic market share, even at lower cost and profit margin. In leading export nations like South Korea and Japan, foreign goods are expensive. In Korea, M&M Candies, for example, are three times the price of the local Lotte brand, at similar quality. When we talk about reciprocal tariffs in the United States, and impose them, we're increasing the price of imports by fractions, rather than multiples- as we see in the retail shelves of other countries. I, being on a ship with room and board provided, may be protected from the direct costs of tariffs. I wonder, who is buying all those imports? It must be those Amazon Prime subscribers, the elite consumers, the upper-middle class bourgeoise who receive parcels of "stuff" every day to their doorstep. I eat American, my t-shirts and socks are made in America, so are my toiletries. Why worry about tariffs, I'll be fine! "Well, have you thought about people who shop at the dollar store? Prices are going to go up from $1.25 to $2.00, or something". This man at the dinner table was right, abrupt changes would hurt the economically vulnerable. Store shelves could be empty of moderate-priced goods; the Port of Seattle's containership terminal is eerily quiet. American capital must wait and see if this change in policy will be lasting. American manufacturing has been propped up by government purchases of cars, military equipment, and other items under Buy American clauses. There is less conviction, including among the Wall Street Journal set, that the protectionist policies will last beyond Trump's administration. Thus, no new factories at this time.

Trump Came to Town

Virginia Beach and Chesapeake went all out for President Trump upon his arrival, completely shutting down 15 miles of busy suburban freeway so that his entourage had a completely private thoroughfare from the airport to a berry farm near the North Carolina line. Such accommodations inconvenienced some of his followers, who had to work on a Friday and did not have the luxury of spending the day perusing merchandise and food stands at the berry farm. A caravan thus formed on the backroads, arriving at the duck fields to find that there was no more room to hear the once-disgraced president speak. Cars lined the side of the road, new cars, no beaters. Their occupants had nice clothes, good hair, and smooth hands, untaxed by grueling work or hard living. Nearest to the berry farm were mansions with many cars in their front yards. One must wonder how much each automobilist paid for the privilege. Chesapeake used to vote for the Democratic Party, between the family farm Dixiecrats and the urban industrial neighborhoods of South Norfolk. But Chesapeake is now a suburban wonderland filled with economically secure members of the military industrial complex. Donald Trump was welcome here. A cul de sac served as promontory for those who could not enter the venue. For ninety minutes, Trump’s voice rehashed talking points soothing to the audience’s ears. From here, you could not see Trump, but his voice boomed invisibly over the fields like a FDR fireside chat, or how God talks to people in movies. Studies show that Trump’s biggest fans are unchurched. Trumpism is their religion. I’m no stranger to political speeches, which seasoned politicians always keep to 10 minutes or less. Trump’s hour and a half oratory was different. One woman told me that Trump “could speak so long, because he knows so much”. After Trump left the stage, cars started to fill up the Wawa fuel station. There were Teslas and big pickup trucks, and a few MAGA hats, t-shirts, and #FJB stickers. But it was remarkable how these hardcore Trump supporters blended in as the regular American citizens you would see at the strip mall or county park. Experts will say that Virginia is fool’s gold for the Republican Party, having gone 20 years voting for the Democrats. But Trump’s handlers knew what they were doing. Many of the cars came from rural North Carolina , the quintessential swing state audience, and the Chesapeake suburbanites added visual reinforcement to the rally, so important to Trump’s image as the American hero.

Heads Up: John Warner; Exxon

The Virginia Senator

John Warner’s career in the US Senate bookended the Republican Party’s short era of dominance in Virginia. He was narrowly elected in 1978, in a state which favored conservative Democrats; and retired from the US Senate in 2009. He was certainly part of the Defense establishment, which once held economic and political power in Virginia; the submarine USS John Warner (SSN-785) is named in his honor. He drew support from across the political spectrum, running unopposed in 2002. Before his retirement, the nascent Tea Party movement branded this popular moderate as a RINO (Republican in Name Only). John Warner was indeed a RINO: “Reasonable, Intelligent, Nice and Open-minded”.

Warner's death comes at an inflection point as the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) attempts to rebuilt from a lost decade of nominating Tea Party and Trumpist candidates, who failed to win any statewide election since 2009. If proof is found in pudding, these rural hardliners typically lost their November elections by 10 points or more; while mainstream candidates in 2013 and 2014 fell just one point short of victory. The RPV is optimistic for this year’s races, as the nominees are both diverse and chosen by suburban voters, who have marched towards the Democrats in the past decade. John Warner was richly eulogized by the nominees, showing that the late Senator is a model to be followed. 

 

Exxon Going Green?

This one is personal to me, as I dumped this laggard of a stock last year. Shareholders put Jeffrey Ubben of Value Act Capital onto Exxon's Board of Directors, in hopes of bringing the large corporation up to par in the future of energy. Ubben's unique thinking is that an "oil company" can be part of a "Responsible Investing" (ESG-focused) portfolio.  For other petroleum companies, the transition to green energy is nothing new. BP (British Petroleum) had long styled itself as "beyond petroleum", embracing a green sunflower as its logo.

Nuances of Law and Order

This year, urban protests and general unrest in society created a mixed reaction in the electorate. In some parts of the country, Trump’s rhetoric of liberal politicians “destroying the suburbs” fell on deaf ears. Elsewhere, it was a resounding success. I have a theory why: as we near the middle of the Suburban Century (summed up by Mark Clapson in 1992), what happens in the inner-city does not physically or vicariously affect the lives of citizens in diverse, self-contained and far-flung suburbs.

Virginia Beach, VA

The Virginia Beach Oceanfront serves as the quintessential, walkable downtown for a military-heavy suburb. This spring and summer, tensions were high as protestors called attention to longstanding law-and-order policing on the beach. Over the Labor Day weekend, local group BLM 757 held its “Shut Down the Oceanfront 3.0” protest. True to form, the police gave citations to protestors who drifted from the sidewalk into the street. As a result of afternoon and night-time activity, families chose alternative locations for rest and relaxation; combined with COVID, this proved harmful to the ecosystem of local beachfront businesses.

At election time, Virginia Beach voted for Joe Biden and Representative Elaine Luria, a Democrat. On the same ticket, incumbent mayor Bobby Dyer, a Republican, was re-elected with 57% of the vote; and “RK” Kowalewitch, a conservative whose campaign signs read: “Law and Order”, won another 5% of the electorate.     

 

Suburban Richmond, VA

The Virginia State Capitol and Supreme Court building in Richmond were targeted by protestors as symbols of conservative political leadership. With much of downtown boarded up, the city provided a backdrop for political advertising. The jarring images did not ‘tip the needle’ in nearby Henrico and Chesterfield counties, who chose Biden and Representative Abigail Spanberger (D) by large margins. Both counties are home to a mix of employment options; heavy industry, light industry, service and some professional work. Freeways criss-cross these suburbs, linking towards northern and southern markets, and the international airport and deep-sea port of Hampton roads. Richmond, home to state government, several universities, and museums, is somewhat irrelevant to new suburbanites. Overall, there was no partisan change in Virginia’s congressional representation this year.    

 

Suburban Atlanta, GA

The land that served as a springboard for one-time House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and other conservative Republicans, helped to tip Georgia for Joe Biden. For 20 years, the Greater Atlanta area has been the nexus of a New Great Migration of African-Americans from the North to the South; the impact in politics, seen by the flipping of congressional seats, is very recent. Atlanta is a city of the New South; sprawling development centers on its record-breaking international airport and its freeways. The firewall between city and suburbs may be crumbling: while decades ago, suburban Gwinnett County blocked subway construction, a referendum for a transit tax may have passed, pending recount.

 

Los Angeles, CA

California is no friend of Donald Trump. But recent years of excessive solicitude given to drug pushers, car thieves and vandals struck a nerve in working and middle-class communities across racial lines. Since the Rodney King riots of 1992, Asian-American small business owners have been concerned about inadequate police protection offered to their communities. Legislation to “defund the police” dug up old pain. Voters in the state narrowly reaffirmed limits on affirmative action in the state, which were first put into effect in 1996; and sent new Republican representatives to Congress.  

 

Long Island, NY

During the George W. Bush years, as war deaths mounted, these traditionalist, conservative-of-the-gut counties questioned its allegiance to the GOP. But this year, as in 2016, their hometown son, Donald J. Trump of Queens, NY, did not produce the electoral revulsion seen in other suburbs of similar educational and demographic profiles.

While it appears that North Shore Rep. Tom Suozzi (D) will retain his long-time seat, his Republican opponent led in early counting. On the blue-collared South Shore, Andrew Garbarino (R) is expected to succeed retiring Rep. Peter King. Lee Zeldin (R) holds his seat in affluent Suffolk County. Nichole Malliotakis (R) has unseated Max Rose (D) in representing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. These latter three seats were considered toss-ups going into the election. The Long Island suburbs are home to well-paid public servants and tradespeople of a vibrant New York City; COVID shutdowns and Bill de Blasio’s social permissiveness cast a malaise across white-ethnic New York. Upward mobility of strivers, from immigrant grandparents to civil service to Wall Street, created an unwavering patriotism and belief in the institutions of America. This legacy was challenged in 2020 by politicians on the left, who maintain that this upward mobility was not fueled by grit, but by systemic racism and unchecked privilege.     

Good riddance, Mr. Cuomo?

Television personality Sean Hannity moved out of New York in 2014; President Donald Trump , a lifelong New Yorker who grew up straphanging on the city’s subway, moved out this year. Between these two poles, Governor Andrew Cuomo has presided over an exodus of residents. This is an exodus of talent, treasure and potential.

This struck a chord with me, because I watched my peers, born and raised on New York’s Long Island, Staten Island, and in Westchester County leave the Empire State by the handful. They graduated college and set out for the South, particularly Florida. With home purchases and families started, they aren’t coming back soon.  Weather was not the issue. It was housing costs, traffic delays, career prospects, and taxes; overall cost and quality of living.

Immigration from around the world masks the effect of this exodus; it is the difference between New York’s resilient dynamism and Rust Belt decay. But New York has made large investments in its youth; to include college tuition in recent years. Why is the Governor so willing to see the future disappear? I would point to entrenched constituencies who believe that things are “good enough” under current leadership. The critical mass demanding better, the citizen voters who put Andrew Cuomo’s father out of office in 1994, have decamped for other states, taking their New York educations, pensions and real estate proceeds with them.

Governor Northam: Wolf in Doctor's Clothes

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On the heels of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation, another 1980's yearbook claims its prey. Ralph Northam, one week ago the quiet Virginia Governor, made an embarrassing, shameful splash onto the national stage. We wonder why Ed Gillespie, the Republican who lost to Ralph Northam in 2017, didn't find that yearbook. Simply put by another campaign manager:"opposition research 101". To further this point, Mr. Gillespie spent part of his working career as a political operative. I also wonder why no Eastern Virginia Medical School alumnus broke the Code of Silence, and independently brought forth the revelation during the 2017 campaign.

Gauging the public outrage over the EVMS Blackface-Klansman photo, Black Virginians were the most outraged. Institutional racism died slowly, with Dixiecrats holding control of the Virginia legislature into the 1990's. That nightmare, fueled by the current President's "good people on both sides" comment, flared up recently in Charlottesville. In 2017, Northam claimed moral high ground in a brutal, race-baiting campaign season: a law-and-order Gillespie ad focused on real crimes committed in the Washington, DC area by the MS-13 gang, but was taken by some as a loud dog whistle on immigration. A Latino Victory Fund ad in response, run on behalf of Northam, portrayed a Gillespie supporter in a pickup truck, waiving the Confederate flag. He proceeded to mow down minority children. The Washington Post condemned this ad, which was pulled after an ISIS-inspired Uzbek man plowed through, and killed eight New Yorkers with a rented truck on Halloween.

In 2006, former Senator George Allen narrowly lost reelection after using a questionable term, "macaca", to describe an Indian-American. It was caught on camera, and soon there were allegations from high school classmates of "N-words and nooses". As this concerned merely the "coalition of the ascendant", the total shift in support amounted to a few critical percentage points. Black-White relations, however, have permeated Virginia politics for 400 years. Many white moderates, the target audience for expensive, televised campaign ads, now felt duped by Northam's hypocritical (self projecting?) campaign on racial issues. A photo shouts a thousand words.  In this context, despite his perceived dog-whistle on immigration, Gillespie was the better man. This was buttressed by his commitment to criminal justice reform, an aspect of Virginia policy which has roots dating to the Dixiecrat era.

White liberals (the latte set) were more likely to consider the pros-and-cons of keeping Ralph Northam in office, as a so-called "progressive leader". That is the art of marketing at work, if you can virtue-signal your way into office, with pink hats and appearances with minority community leaders. In contrast to previous liberal governor Terry McAuliffe's frequent impasse with the GOP-controlled legislature, Ralph Northam is one of the "good old boys" who works with Republicans. 

Ralph Northam's views on social issues is within line of the mainstream medical community. Here is my take. On guns: Did you hear the recent story about the four-year-old who got hold of, and shot a loaded handgun?  On the prosecution of abortion doctors as a slippery slope: Read Miller's 'King of Hearts' and see how allegations of murder followed high-risk heart surgery, including future Governor Doug Wilder's civil suit following a 1968 heart transplant in Virginia. On capital punishment: Even I felt bad that Tojo was hung for his war crimes in WWII, after American doctors worked hard to save him after a suicide attempt. On expansion of healthcare access: Why are politicians interfering with my ability to provide better care?

While conservatives joined the cries to unseat Governor Northam, the reality is nuanced for Virginia Republicans. With racial provocateur Corey Stewart retiring from politics this year, the local GOP now has the ability to regain status in minority communities. Behind closed doors, Ralph Northam is a "good old boy", a Virginia Military Institute alumnus connected to bipartisan power-brokering in Virginia. His would-be replacement, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, is an African-American progressive who would put the brakes on Republican plans for new pipelines; and expose the tight, bipartisan connections between state-regulated utility Dominion Energy and the legislature. This year, all seats are up for election in the evenly-divided legislature (51/49 and 21/19, GOP in narrow control). There are many competitive districts, where minority turnout counts. A damaged governor who can't make appearances with the Black community will only help Republicans hold the legislature.

Seven Pound Anchor Babies

Our President is certainly redefining government and questioning the old traditions. The latest was his proposal to end birthright citizenship, which has been on the books since Reconstruction after the Civil War. The 14th amendment expanded the constitutional definition of citizenship to include all persons born on US soil and subject to federal jurisdiction. Free White Men, freed slaves, and children of immigrants were now citizens; Native Americans later gained right to citizenship
at a time when Eastern Europeans and Asians were generally excluded from immigrantion.

Congress rejects the idea: Birth tourism is a healthy industry, flourishing in places like California, Florida, and New York. Anchor babies are welcome, as long as their mothers are from families of means. Furthermore, birth certificate tend to be issued without asking the parents’ nationalities. I believe that anti-discrimination laws discourage hospital staff from asking excess questions. In the DC area, children of diplomats do obtain regular birth certificates, and thus can claim citizenship. Asides from one article, I have not heard any concern about diplomats taking more than their fair share.

Other issues: Ending birthright citizenship admits a certain defeat on law-and-order issues. Not long ago, a Mexican national, unlawfully present in the Texas, was executed for murder over the objection of the Mexican government. Would conservative really want to declare that children of illegal immigrant parents are not subject to US law, but entitled to reprieve at foreign consulates of Mexico and Ireland? Because even under the most zealous government, maternity wards won’t be booking outbound airfare for newborns. Mass deportation is unlikely. Some scholars look to early 20th century court precedent (conservative judicial activism- see previous blog post). But that was a different era, and not representative of a world where airplanes connect any two cities in less than 24 hours; of visa-free access and lower trade tariffs.

What Makes it a Trophy Building?

Like how up-marketed luxury apartments replaced comfortable dwellings, everybody advertises their office space as Class A today. No strict definition exists, but Class A denotes new or newly-renovated, spacious lobbies, the works. Owners, who own both upscale and modest office space, are allowed to have Class B space for rent. With it, they get to upsell the business owner’s pride: after all, a fancy office announces that you’ve made your corner-office fantasies come true.

Engineering and service firms, and credit unions, led by practical people, settle into Class B space such as aging suburban office parks. Intellectually honest leaders know that free snacks are more valuable to the employees than the goldfish pond in a Class A lobby.

Class C for “creative”. Not techie creatives, but artists and struggling non-profits. It is the low-rent and cramped spaces above downtown stores; or obsolete, like how 40 Wall Street and the Singer Buildings in New York were perceived. The Singer Building was demolished in 1968, and Donald Trump claimed to have bought 40 Wall Street for $1 million in the 1990’s.  

Above all this is the Trophy office. Not long ago, “Trophy” offices meant monumental architecture. The Sears Tower in Chicago, the Empire State Building in New York are two examples. Today, grade inflation creates a lot more Trophies. In downtown DC, an office building, designed in any other shape than a space-maximizing cube, is a Trophy Building with eye appeal. Several include the replacement Washington Post buildings, with windows reminiscent of newsprint leaves fluttering through the automated printing press; and City Center- it has a pedestrian alley and balconies.   

Another Trophy project in DC is a squat five-story building just north of the White House. During renovation, the owners downgraded from a marble siding to red limestone. How does it deserve the distinction of a Trophy? You see, Corporate America captured the AFL-CIO building, jackhammering to pieces any marble engraving that reeked of “solidarity” and “brotherhood”. The interior was gutted down to bare concrete: no Union Label stuck on a door or refrigerator would survive the purge. A building once owned, in practical terms, by representatives of working men and women, has now been cleansed and reoriented towards the full service of capitalism. Now that’s a Trophy.

Judicial Activism not on Supreme Court Agenda

It’s Déjà vu; another Supreme Court Nominee battleWith the prospect of a conservative Supreme Court, you may wonder, How far can they go?

If you watch TV during campaign season, you should be familiar with liberal activist judges, who create rights (such as privacy and dignity) and supporting affirmative action; and interpret the Constitution. Looking at 20^th century history, conservatives can also be judicial activists:

Child Labor Shall Not Be Infringed

In the 1910’s, Congress passed Federal child labor laws applying to products and services sold across state lines (sounds constitutionally sound). But, according to the Lochner-era Supreme Court, those laws violated the due process rights of corporations.

Creating the Asian Race

Why were Asians not included in the 13-15^th amendments as suitable for citizenship? Three possible answers:

Willful action to let Africans become citizens, but keep out the Orientals?

An oversight or ignorance on the part of President Lincoln and his fellow abolitionists?

The Founding Fathers meant Free White Men as a contrast to the enslaved population of Sub-Saharan African-Americans?

Conservative activists of the day believed that the abolitionists really didn’t like Asians. The Supreme Court had to create the Asian race as a legal entity. Otherwise, those Asians would have the Right to attend white schools and live in white neighborhoods. A right, and not a privilege, at that. During the Jim Crow era, white privilege was worth suing for. In cases involving Indian, Japanese and Chinese plaintiffs, the Supreme Court conceded that, on a scientific basis, the fair-skinned Asians had claims to the White Race. Socially, they were distinct. The racist mob, not impartial intellectuals, gets final say in Whiteness. As European Ethnics established their whiteness, a boundary “had” to be drawn at the Caucasus Mountains, creating the Yellow Other.  

Isn’t it better that modern-day conservative judiciaries are constitutionalists rather than activists?

When a Vacation Gets Busy

While I was at work, it was easy to say "I don't have enough time" to be worried about activism and protesting. Now on vacation, 'not having enough time' is my own problem, not one I could attribute to my boss or shortened days caused by time advances. At the same time, while at work I could shout as loud as I could off the gunwale of the ship, and no one would hear me. It was an eye-opening experience to trade a weak satellite connection for wifi and broadband; to use internet configured for me rather than one optimized for sending simple text emails. Yes, I did some of my recent blog posts through a satellite connection. I'd write ahead of time, and then wait for early morning to access blogger.com, when the absence of "higher priority" traffic allowed me a connection to the host website. I will be the first to tell you MSNBC clickbait, used as my ship's internet homepage, does not an informed citizen make.

When I was traveling for work, I sectioned attention to friends and family into a 20-minute phone call or a paragraph email, and a twice-weekly Facebook check. Otherwise, my afterhours were my own to plan and divvy. So when I got home at the beginning of the four-day Independence Day weekend, I was surprised by how much time went to 'family time'. A devotee to an art would tell his or her associated to "leave me alone". A dilettante like myself seeks to appease, placing others' desire for attention above attention to the craft.

For me, the 'staycation' does not work. I created, and am working through a punchlist of items that I couldn't readily complete overseas like tax adjustments, ordering books and videos, and making appointments, visiting Mr. Liedman, my coin dealer. Things I guess people do over lunch break, or late afternoon at work, for the lucky ones. So to get away, I take a 'real' vacation, like my week tramping around the old Austro-Hungarian empire of Central Europe (material for another blog post). I left the US on Inauguration Day (faster than a talking head celebrity), and arrived back after five months away. I was quickly reintroduced to American culture: upon arrival in the US, it appeared that half the border control agents took Friday afternoon off! This was only unusual to me since six full days of work a week is the norm on my ship, and seven days is normal too. Instead of "getting ready for the weekend" on Fridays, the anticipation was "getting ready for the overtime".

I feel like a have just a handgrip keeping me from obsolescence. Tinder, where women sort through virtual binders of men, and men do likewise, was the butt of jokes when I was in college just three years ago. Now I've read that online dating had replaced the 'bar scene' as a matchup forum. I landed at the airport alone in one's own city: In Washington, DC, the summer social calendar is light; and none more so than the week of July 4th. As the weeks away from the US turned to months, I needed to take the time reconnecting with friends. They said Mitt Romney was stuck in the 1950's; he missed the 1960's and ensuing cultural changes as a husband and a Mormon missionary. If I wanted to, I could become a virtual hermit on the ships, with a W2 wage statement and a portfolio ledger as my sole concerns in life. That is not the life for me.  To know that I will go out again, I vow to have all matters better organized for my next vacation!

Farewell and Hello on Inauguration Day

Today in Washington, despite publicized plans to the contrary, I expect a peaceful transition of power. Actually, "power" should be the wrong word, but it symbolizes the increase of executive power in the US, vice what our founders intended. Thus, "elections have consequences". And what a strange election, with incriminating email leaks, post-truth, fake news, and the alt-right. I've been disconnected and busy, so unlike the proverbial millenials with the faded Obama poster, I haven't taken part in the new, posssible dangerous world of information, although I am at high-risk of echo-chamber mentality. In my workplace, there is a spirit of working hard, earning more and paying less in taxes, with an objective of financial freedom.The validity of the election, as in 2000, is called into question. Thankfully our incoming President, Mr. Trump, won decisively in the Electoral College, albeit through narrow victories in the big midwestern states. I also suspect that adding conservative third-party votes to Trump's total helps close the popular vote gap. It was a bit disingenuous for Mitch McConnell in the Senate to "let the people choose" the next Supreme Court nominee, although it highlights the lukewarm Civics education that Americans have- that elections have consequences.

That said, Mr. Obama stands alone after 8 years of presidency. As I said in a recent blog post, I hold nothing back to say that the DNC, which Obama is a part of, is bumbling, geriatric in leadership, and out of touch. Thus I've been downplaying Obama's accomplishments. But taking a step back, I can see that Mr Obama did try to do a good job. Americans like the idea of affordable healthcare, and like myself, find practices insurance companies used to get away with, like plan cancellation, to be outright immoral. I'm not sure if our healthcare system is teetering on the edge of financial ruin, as Paul Ryan claims; but Obamacare today favors big insurance companies who can comply with thousands of pages of regulations. This favoritism should disappear in favor of fairer competition. Some parts of Obama's legacy won't be repealed this afternoon, and holding insurers accountable is one of those items. So also  the populist movement for minimum wage increases will stay. I also believe that Mr. Obama's urban revitalization efforts will continue, as this is Mr. Trump's raison-d'etre. I look forward to Mr. Trump's business experience, with the hope that the role of small business will be revitalized. Family bakers, florists, and the Catholic Church will be held in good regard again.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas season started for me on December 21^st, almost a month after Black Friday and weeks after many already maxed out their credit cards. I went to a big box store. It was late and I already had a long day that started before 4am. The ship and I had been at sea, almost continuously, for a month, and  we quietly pulled into port.   As I made my last Christmas purchases- mostly premeditated with a few impulse decisions, I was bumped into by other weary shoppers hustling like Olympic sprinters. 

They used to say that once the crowd talks about the stock market, it’s time to sell. But the post-election stock market surge kept good times rolling. So much so that one guy told me that his stock market gains were larger than his paycheck. I congratulated him on behalf of Uncle Sam, who appreciates the hard work of passive income by giving a lower tax rate. 

Conspicuous consumption is back, with new products to “solve” the problems of the rich and “mass affluent”. You can see a stream of “Happy Holiday” ads that make you forget the reasons for the season (the Temple in Jerusalem for Jews or Christ’s Birth for Christians), not to mention songs about bigger and better presents. 

The millennials have more enlightened  spending habits; they prefer to spend on priceless and timeless experiences. Plane tickets to visit faraway family?  It’s important. I whipped out a credit card, rented a car, loaded it with my Christmas trinkets, and drove home.  I spent two wonderful days with my family; now it was time to plan for an unforgettable New Year’s. Should I bring the nice secondhand Italian suit; or is that overkill for Norfolk, I thought? As I was driving back to work for a shift on Christmas Day, I heard a song that I haven’t heard before. Amazing, since it played the year I was born. The song was called “The Gift”, by Garth Brooks, and its protagonist is a poor orphan girl named Maria:

“There were diamonds and incense and perfumes in packages fit for a king;

but for one ragged bird in a small cage Maria had nothing to bring...

Just then the midnight bells rang out and the little bird started to sing
A song that no words could recapture, whose beauty was fit for a king”.

Merry, Joyous, Christmas to all.

Creative and Creating Classes Working Together

“On August 18, for the first time since 1999, the three stock market indices set record highs on the same day. If your retirement account is growing, elect Hillary to continue Obama’s legacy”

“For many people, America has never been better”, says Hillary Clinton. Society has never been more racially integrated. The Old Boy’s Club is losing power. More women than ever are in traditionally-male professions and occupations. Inner cities have never been cleaner or more prosperous. For those left out, it’s because you turned your back on higher education. It’s not Darwinism! Cheering on big business is a winner with the New Yorker-reading set (last check, the cover price is $8.99. Hardly radical). For fair-weather liberals seeking social approval with click-bait, big companies’ public relation moves on social issues is true progress. The nefarious element of overseas sweatshops and domestic stagnant wages, a centuries-old mainstay of big business, has fallen off the public consciousness. In any case, they’re making progress on social issues, so it’s okay. And what happened to the “Shop Local” campaign? Well, there are a few bigoted photographers and bakers out there who claim first-amendment protection for their bigotry. Better not risk supporting one.

   

“On August 18, for the first time since 1999, the three stock market indices set record highs on the same day. If your retirement account is growing, elect Hillary to continue Obama’s legacy”.

What difference does it make? My country is being humiliated overseas, and my income is declining. “Make America great again”. Restoring working-class prosperity is Donald Trump’s announced intention; Bernie Sanders hinted at this as well when he called for in-sourcing jobs from overseas. Trump’s America is a dark world of shortening life expectancy and increasing suicides. The working-class man, driven out to exurban and rural ghettos, is ashamed that he cannot provide for his family without community assistance. Bernie’s America is college educated and well-versed in the language of multiculturalism. They live at home, or receive parental subsistence for rent. There may be a faded Obama poster in the bedroom. They’re in dead-end jobs not related to their college major or career of choice. They’re living the nightmare of soul-crushing jobs the Port Huron Accords predicted half a century ago.  They wonder when they can move on into the post-collegiate life they’ve seen on TV; the lifestyle their teachers promised. 

Big business seems to be a force for social justice; and drive profits as scientifically-driven organizations with streamlined procedures and efficient logistics. But I don’t like the idea of treating people like numbers on a spreadsheet. I’m uncomfortable with companies that protect the bottom-line by using their staff as an on-call labor force with unpredictable schedules. I’m suspect of the intelligence of companies disposing their most senior employees, who happen to be the greatest repositories of knowledge, because they’re paid “too much”. They’ve scorched too much earth. In the last recession, forward-thinking employees who were laid off decided to go it alone- or work it out together. After the parent company of the Washington Blade paper collapsed, one employee reported in a news article, along the lines that “we were only unemployed a few hours that day, from the time we got the news until we realized that we’d continue the paper ourselves”.  Others adapted to the new economy by embracing the You Economy. 

Nearing retirement, one of my professors said that the Future of Work, the You Economy, is a big deal. He sent us an article by email and asked us about it in class.  The topic passed over our heads as we were headed into a domestic maritime industry of strong unions, protected trade, and significant regulatory barriers to entry for both labor and owners. Many would also get good union-sponsored pensions and health benefits strong enough that Richard Trumka, leader of the AFL-CIO, came out against the “Cadillac” Health Plan tax. “Sail Union, get married, retire at 50” appeared more than once in USMMA yearbooks- a middle-class dream right there.  

But what if the You Economy could resurrect the middle class? Entrepreneurs are building from the scrap heap of big business; use their techniques, such as outsourcing tasks to contractors, on a smaller scale to create new products and services. Just-in-time production allows innovators to order prototypes, using their own modest bank accounts as seed money without calling on angel investors. With hipster intrigue into the Maker movement, more leaders than ever are discovering the capabilities of American craftsmanship and manufacturing; knowledge and technical talent working tirelessly in nondescript companies with names like Ball Bearing and Rubber Products. The multigenerational creative class would likely not know that people other than gardeners and elevator mechanics still work with their hands. A few colleges, though, are known for their interface with industry. Stanford University, for example, is the brain of Silicon Valley. It caters to the tech industry, which is hip; and is nearby San Francisco, which is totally hip. I knew someone who won a Gates Scholarship and chose to attend Stanford instead of Harvard. But isn’t Harvard better ranked? Lehigh and Harvey Mudd, longtime interfaces of industrial-collegiate collaboration, aren’t located in the hippest cities; steel and oil are so old-school.  Ideas are created on paper- hence, creative class, and rendered into products by machinists, technicians, and operators utilizing workshops and factories in as much as the tech sector has coders. The same talent that creates the products can engineer their processes based on a living wage for workers. “For many people, America has never been better” for the creative class, those who’ve mastered the You Economy. “Make America great again” for the working class is an achievable goal.

Tales of the Rich and Famous

Gordon Peterson (?-) is living life out as usual with his wife in Georgetown. He is still a TV star on DC Channel 7, WJLA, with his show, Inside Washington.

Barack Obama (1961-) is not home much on Capitol Hill nowadays. He is eying to move from his townhouse on The Hill to a large, white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., aka The White House, in 2009.

4:04

4:04 was the time I got home today, a new record for a 3:20 pm departure. Since nearly everyone was out at some sports activity, there were plenty of open seats on the second shuttle. As I may have said before, I needed to diversify my assets by adding a (voluntary) sport to my list. That would at least make me a High School athlete. Good. I "joined" the lacrosse team last night, but unless Jeremy talks to me and I have to bring equipment, it'll feel too shallow of a sport. I have to confer on a few things this evening to make sure I'm doing a sport for spring.

The latest Priory Press came out today, with my article in it, "Praise for Changes." I haven't had the time to analyze the published work, because I was real busy with the National French Exam as well as "the brain thing" at second lunch.

Update on DT: It's complicated. DT has had fruitful relationships with three different women. Did anyone ever expect him to stay married for long? Anyway, DTJ, the oldest Trumplet (graduated 1996), as well as Eric, the 2nd oldest guy Trumplet (graduated 2002) went to the Hill. I haven't been able to find out if the fourth Trumplet, Tiffany (born 1993) , is at the school (product of DT's second honeymoon)
Source: Wikipedia

Little Brother's main appearance

again.

This time, his next four years came in the mail today. There is a likely chance that he will go to th Hill School in Pottstown, PA. This little town is about 30 miles from Philadelphia, and 15 miles from one of the world's largest shopping malls! King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia PA. A little more about this elitist private school: the Donald Trumplets go there. Therefore, my parents become fellow school parents with DT. He even probably goes to the school at least once a year.

PS- He got a significant scholarship to go there. Little Brother will also have an appearance on the White House Ellipse when we go there Easter Monday for our yearly ritual breakfast. Will blog.
There are two major events in town that day: that and a zoo event. The history goes back 100 years, but there are 3 types of people who go to these events- the people who call the White House their gent (like me), those who call the zoo their gent, and those who go to both- start at the White House and bus up to the zoo after all-you-can-grab.
More on that later.

>No one's fired yet.