I just saw a story about Melinda Gates pledging to spend $1 billion toward gender equity in the next 10 years. That’s a lot of money. Think of what could be done with that money. Of course, it’s her money, and she’s welcome to do with it as she pleases. But the problem is that you never know who’s going to end up a billionaire, and what they’ll do with their money if they get there. The ability to pledge one billion dollars toward anything you want is a very powerful thing. You can definitely affect real change with…
You just took 3 minutes off my life… and that’s a good thing
I just gave a good friend of mine a brownie. It was a good brownie. And after eating it, he said, “well, that probably took about three minutes off of my life.” I couldn’t help but think, “what if that’s a good thing?” What if, at the two minute and thirty second mark of that three minutes, he would have accidentally walked into a helicopter blade and had his head severed? It may have been a good thing to die three minutes earlier – especially by brownie. It was a good brownie.
Gender and science: who’s anti-science?
Professional Democrats label Republicans anti-science every chance they get. This is usually in the context of climate change, where “the debate is over,” but it bleeds into other policy areas, as well. They say that a stubborn faith in God gets in their way of understanding, valuing, or even believing what science tells us. Naturally, for marketing purposes, it’s an oversimplified attack, creating the impression that Republicans don’t believe the sun revolves around the earth because, well, God. (Democrats are, and have proven to be, superior marketers to Republicans in every way, shape and form. And it helps that…
Trump & Ukraine: Same set of facts, two totally different interpretations
President Trump had one call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Things were discussed. There’s a transcript. And here we are, months later, with two wildly different interpretations of what happened. [Background: In case you missed it, a “whistleblower” came forward to say that Trump offered a quid pro quo to President Zelensky: that the U.S. would provide aide if Zelensky looked into an investigation of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, to see if he was really receiving money from a Ukraine company because Joe Biden was holding up aide if they didn’t. (This is a simplified summary, but essentially…
Adversity is temporary
During the recession of 2008, millions of people across America were losing their jobs. We weren’t all losing our jobs, but listening to the media sure made you feel like you could be next. I’ve been fired once and laid off twice, so I know that losing your job is uncomfortable, scary and demoralizing. It makes you question yourself and your circumstances. It causes tension in your family and tests your strength. So, people were losing their jobs. Did this mean they would all be hungry and homeless tomorrow? Probably not, in normal circumstances, and if they’d been responsible…
At least Adam Schiff is a consistent fool
Adam Schiff, known for his deft handling of the constant pursuit of President Trump, is not just a one-trick pony. He’s quite formidable in other areas, as well. I just came across this tweet of his from Sept 3rd: Not surprisingly, he points out the flaw in his own plan, and then ignores it. What he basically pointed out is that the background checks worked, so the shooter had to go underground to get a gun. So more background checks would accomplish what? Drive these people further underground? The fact is that reducing the way for upstanding and responsible…
The unintended consequences of public policy
There’s an on-ramp to the Seattle I-5 express lanes on the South end of the City. For many workers in that area, it would take them only a few minutes to get their cars from their parking spots to the highway, if I were allowed to use it. Unfortunately, the City of Seattle decided that the express lane on-ramp on 5th and Columbia is only for HOVs (high occupancy vehicles), or car pool cars. On the surface, I understand the rationale. They want to incentivize people to ride together. They want to cut down on traffic in the downtown…
If they’re gonna remove car lanes for bike lanes, they should go all in
Yesterday, I wrote about local governments thwarting the will of their own people to add bike lanes everywhere at the expense of growing automobile traffic. I heard a great idea from a local mayor who was talking about Seattle’s penchant for removing vehicle lanes to replace bike lanes. His suggestion was that if bikers get in an accident in their bike lanes, their only emergency assistance option should be bike ambulances. Someone on a bike, pulling a stretcher attachment, should ride up, help you out, throw you on the back (if needed), and bike you off to the local…
Government for the people? or vs the people…
Over in Bellevue, the city just east, and across Lake Washington, from Seattle, they get to watch all the mistakes the Seattle City Council makes. If you ever visit Seattle for a day, and then head over to Bellevue, you’ll see a tale of two very different cities. If Seattle represents the extremes of liberalism, Bellevue is its conservative half-brother. Over the past ten years, Seattle bowed down to the pressure of fools and determined that while Seattle’s population is growing at a nearly 3% annual clip (Seattle added 134,000 residents to it’s small 610,000 resident frame in the…
The curse of courtesy
Last night, a car service arrived at 2:30 am to pick up my neighbor from his house across the street. The driver pulled up, honked, then backed into his driveway so his brights were facing my house and lighting up the entire bedroom. Not satisfied with this level of thoughtlessness, he was able to improve on it by opening and slamming every door on the car and having as loud of a conversation as he could with my neighbor. When you’ve always got one eye on being thoughtful and considerate to others, this sort of thing will drive you…