More of the Same

 

The president had the opportunity to make believers out of millions of Americans yesterday, but all that he did was to deliver more of the same.

The contrast between the two administrations, the outgoing one led by Trump and the incoming one led by Biden is stark.

The personal vilification and vile attacks upon others coupled with falsehoods and factual inaccuracies with laser focus on his grievances and almost no empathy for the millions of Americans suffering the effects of COVID-19--either medically, financially, or psychologically will become a sad exclamation point on the past four years and likely erase any good that the Trump administration did.

His legacy is also in ignoring and underestimating the veracity of the coronavirus. In watching his speech yesterday, I did not see many facial coverings in the crowd. I fear for the people who attended the rally. The speech is available on YouTube, which is where I watched it. 

During the rally yesterday, the president read off a long list of facts which he professes indicate that he did not lose the election, but he missed the analysis of all of the individual facts when they are aggregated--it was personal. The republicans down-ticket did well and Biden did not have coattails because the American electorate focused, in a manner never seen before, upon the singular job that he was doing as president. And resoundingly, by more than 7 million votes, voted to remove the president from office and go in a new direction. It was personal--that is what the statistics show. Had there been fraud, the republicans would not have done so well down-ballot--that they did well is a sure sign that the election was not rigged as he continues to profess. 

Holding super-spreader events, as happened yesterday, fanning the flames of unrest with fake facts, and under-estimating the impact of the coronavirus is his legacy, sadly. 

By contrast, the hopeful, unifying tones of the incoming Biden administration are reassuring. Instead of ignoring the "elephant in the room" and staying that it is not his problem, the president-elect and his team are already planning to attack the coronavirus head-on. There is work to do in the country and the incoming teams seems well postured to tackle these problems. And let's look at the stock market--it set a new all-time high in the days after it was clear the Biden was the president-elect and had managed to remain close to those levels. The new administration is engendering something ewe haven to seen in a while--hope!

There is hope that in 45 days we no longer will have to suffer with more of the same.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Seasonal Finances

 

Mysteries of money and finance during the holiday season--

If I buy something that I hadn't planned to buy because it was on sale, how much money did I save?

But, if I buy something on sale, that I needed and was preparing to buy, but would not buy it at the regular price because it was too high--did I save anything? 

Similarly, if I wait to buy something that I need and want until it goes on sale and I would not have bought it at the regular price, did I save anything? 

How much is something worth? 

I have a complicated answer for that question.

Something is worth what it will cost to replace it. The amount that someone will pay to buy something only reduces the the amount that it will take to replace the item, but that is not its true value. We need to remember the total value of an item when buying new items. 

For instance--cell phones have gotten to be incredibly expensive. If I have an iPhone 7 and want an iPhone 12--how much is my iPhone 7 worth? Easy, it is worth the cost of the iPhone 12--which for the sake of argument is $1000. If I can sell my iPhone 7 for $100, then its cash value is $100, but it's worth remains $1000 and I have to find an additional $900 to replace the iPhone 7.  

Happy Christmas--don't go broke saving money.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

An Alarming Start to the Day

 

Sometimes I think the alarm system in my home is more trouble than it is worth. As an example, for two of the past three nights one of the sensors has thrown a code when the outside temperature fell too low and set off the alarm waking the entire house.

The siren is loud. 

It requires me to get out of bed and reset the system and of course check and confirm that it is a false alarm.

This particular sensor has been having periodic issues like this for over a year--but only during the winter season. I thought I had fixed it, but not. It woke us us again this morning, although only 30 minutes before my normal alarm. 

I am going to order a new sensor. 

It is going to be a long day.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Thursday Thoughts - December 3, 2020

 

It is an amazing time of year. 

Christmas is the next holiday up--and we are still fighting the COVID pandemic. So much for holiday parties. That will keep many of us a bit more sober and able to enjoy the season. 

This will be a good year to evaluate traditions and determine if they enhance the holiday or have become stressors that might best be forgotten next year when I believe things will return to something more normal. This will also be a good year, with so many things canceled, to discover what we individually need to make the season joyful--if we can even find joy amid the pandemic and suffering. It may be in giving of ourselves that we find true peace and joy.

There is a Kenny Chesney song that reminds me to find the joy in life and I sing along every time I hear it. It is called Get Along. And the refrain is as follows:

Get along, on down the road
We've got a long long way to go
Scared to live, scared to die
We ain't perfect but we try
Get along while we can
Always give love the upper hand
Paint a wall, learn to dance
Call your mom, buy a boat
Drink a beer, sing a song
Make a friend, can't we all get along

This song contains some good advice.

Can't we all get along? 

I hope you are blessed this Christmas season. Yes, it is different from Christmases before, but blessings sometimes are wrapped differently.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

He Really Said That

 

If I said something like what I heard yesterday as part of my official duties, I would be removed and likely prosecuted. There s a toxic environment in The White House right now that the electorate has addressed.

I do not understand why is it OK for and why do Americans approve of people working for the president to say: "he should drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot?"

Trump Lawyer Calls for Ousted Cybersecurity Chief to Be 'Taken Out at Dawn and Shot'

As quoted from Newsweek:

On Monday afternoon, Joe diGenova, a lawyer for the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump said that Chris Krebs, the now-former director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) who was in charge of maintaining election security, "should be drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot."

We DO NOT LIVE IN AN AUTHORITARIAN state!

Statements like the one that diGenova made are not OK. It sounds like something that a despot like Kim Jung Un would say and then do. Yet, our president, my president, allows people with these anti-Constitutional views to advise him and work for him. I wonder if The White House will try to "walk back" this statement today?

A statement like that made against a private citizen, which Chris Krebs now is, are illegal! It is a threat! And given the history of the current administration we know that there are dangerous forces out there, like the ones that planned the kidnapping, trial, and execution of the Michigan governor (for background see NPR); who might take action on an utterance such as the one diGenova made. In my view, diGenova should be disbarred and prosecuted.

Sadly, he really said that. 

And we wonder why the divisions in America are becoming so concrete and difficult to bridge?

I am encouraged by the speech and tone of the incoming administration.  Maybe things can and will change and we will become a nation united again.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Beware the Beginnings

 

The campaign to confuse and confound Americans by instilling doubt in the security and honesty of the election system continues unabated by President Trump despite repeated failures in the courts where evidence and not allegations are required to support claims.

Yesterday, one of my favorite morning email reads, Wake up to Politics reports:

• Trump told reporters for the first time last week that he would leave the White House if Biden’s win is finalized by the Electoral College next month. However, he has continued to falsely claim that the election was “rigged” and that he was the true winner. “What kind of a court system is this?” he asked in a Fox News interview on Sunday, bemoaning his repeated legal failures. 

I have an answer for that question! It is a court system that requires proof. Proof is the one thing lacking from the fraud allegations espoused by the president's legal team. They say they have signed statements and documents and depositions, but in fact they have nothing but here-say and anecdotes.

I read a thought provoking Opinion piece in the New York Times yesterday which drew similarities between the the Trump "Stop the Steal" strategy with one used by the Germans after the end of World War 1 which convinced the populace that Germany did not lose the war. It was written by Jochen Bittner and is titled

1918 Germany Has a Warning for America

I am going to quote the last two paragraphs from the opinion piece in hopes that they will encourage you to click on the link and read the entire historical perspective. 

In such a landscape of social fragmentation, Mr. Trump’s baseless accusations about electoral fraud could do serious harm. A staggering 88 percent of Trump voters believe that the election result is illegitimate, according to a YouGov poll. A myth of betrayal and injustice is well underway.

It took another war and decades of reappraisal for the Dolchstosslegende to be exposed as a disastrous, fatal fallacy. If it has any worth today, it is in the lessons it can teach other nations. First among them: Beware the beginnings.

Beware the beginnings! Food for thought. What may be underway here is not aimed at 2020, but at 2024 and beyond. The fate of our Republic hangs in the balance.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

 

Monday Musings - November 30, 2020

 

1. Welcome to the last Monday and also the last day of November 2020. The year has but one month remaining. There are 25 days until Christmas.

2. Well, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is over and it is back to work for me. I must admit, I think I'd rather be home for some more time. 

3. Family NFL results

   Football Team (4-7) defeat Cowboys (3-8), 41-16

   Steelers (10-0) vs Ravens (6-4) Tuesday, hopefully

4. The Polar Express is up and running. Christmas trees need trains to run around the base. It is just the way that it is and I am lucky enough to have the Polar Express. I think Riordin, my cat, wanted to go for a ride. 

5. The weekend weather was fantastic for accomplishing outside activities. I think I only left the house three times during the five-day mini-vacation that I had. Sadly, however, I could not find time to play golf. 

6. When the NFL teams that I cheer for are not playing, it is almost boring to watch football on TV. The commercials and the breaks in the action make it difficult to keep my attention focused. 

7. Get ready for Christmas--it will be here faster than you think.

8. Today in History. November 30, 1886. Once a hall for operettas, pantomime, political meetings, and vaudeville, the Folies Bergère in Paris introduces an elaborate revue featuring women in sensational costumes. The highly popular “Place aux Jeunes” established the Folies as the premier nightlife spot in Paris. In the 1890s, the Folies followed the Parisian taste for striptease and quickly gained a reputation for its spectacular nude shows. The theater spared no expense, staging revues that featured as many as 40 sets, 1,000 costumes, and an off-stage crew of some 200 people.

Iran’s Nuclear Efforts Pose Growing Threat to Its Foes - The Wall Street Journal

Black Friday Was a Bust for Many Stores, Better for Online - The Wall Street Journal

1918 Germany Has a Warning for America - The New York Times

Thanksgiving Travel Could Seed a Surge on Top of a Surge - The New York Times

Inside a hospital as the coronavirus surges: Where will all the patients go? - The Washington Post

The coronavirus has turned the NFL into a joke, and nobody should be laughing - The Washington Post

OPEC+ to discuss extending oil cuts or gradually raising output, sources say - Reuters

EU starts debate on how best to improve post-Trump U.S. relations, officials say - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

It Didn't Disappear

 

I remember the President and many Republicans asserting that COVID-19 would disappear right after the election on November 3rd. Their assertion was that the pandemic was the creation of the Democrats and it was a hoax.

How I wish they would have been right, but wishful thinking and professing an alternate reality does not work. Reality is, after all, real and as a country we are fully suffering unchecked pandemic. Americans are getting infected at ever increasing rates and people are dying. 

As much as we have been trying to cover up the facts and hope that they will get better, the inaction of the current, and fortunately outgoing, administration has only let the virus run roughshod over the American public. Instead of disputing the election results in the courts the administration should be focusing its efforts upon fighting the coronavirus in the streets.

And now the reality of the pandemic is hitting the NFL squarely. A headline in USAToday reports:

The NFL has officially reached its COVID tipping point

The article in USA Today begins:

It was bound to happen, as the last vestiges of the Trump administration continued to ignore a pandemic that moves unabated among us.

It was bound to happen, as various state governors ignored and dismissed mask mandates that would have helped.

It was bound to happen, as the NFL tried to balance a responsible position on COVID while keeping the games going on a no-matter-what basis.

Football is succumbing to the virus at an incredible rate. As teams begins to play their 11th game of the season, it is becoming difficult to field a complete roster for some teams. 

The Ravens and the Steelers, who are scheduled to meet Tuesday night after having their Thursday game rescheduled twice, now have 25 players on the reserve/COVID roster. There is a good chance this game may never be played.

But wait, there's more:

The Broncos do not have an NFL experienced quarterback for today's game. all four of their quarterbacks were placed on the reserve/COVIS roster.

The 49ers may no be able to play their next two home games due to COVID-19 restrictions regarding their stadium.

COVID-19 is real. 

Act like it!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Ride on into Christmas--Full Speed Ahead

 

After surviving Black Friday with my finances intact, it is now time to charge into Small Business Saturday and then onto Cyber-Monday! These days both provide opportunities to separate consumers from their money during this "Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

There always seems to be more shopping to accomplish to get through the season. 

Well, it is time to get into the spirit of the season. The economy is depending upon us to rescue it from recession! Tis the season!

Christmas 2020
Elkridge, MD
November 27, 2020

And then there is the decorating. We are still getting the interior of the house decorated, or Christmasfied. The exterior lights were on for the first time last evening. The house is outlined and we are thinking that we need a bit more color. But, it is the season. I dearly with there was a palm tree in the front yard with lights wrapped around the trunk. That is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. 

Happy Christmas! I hope to hear a lot of that greeting this season and I hope that the arrival of the Christmas season will life the spirits of everyone and help us to refocus upon getting through into the new year healthy and safe. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Black Friday 2020

 

It was different: our Thanksgiving celebration. And not in an entirely enjoyable way. 

There were some lonely periods as Chris and I sat at the eerily empty table first praying and then enjoying our over-stuffed plates which have become the tradition of the day. But the chairs around the table were empty and the house was quiet. Even the bottle of wine, vintage 2005, that I had saved for the day could not erase the feeling that we were missing something even as we were celebrating a great bounty. 

Zoom for Thanksgiving
Elkridge, MD
November 26, 2020

Our family strictly followed the advice of the doctors and the governor because we have been touched by COVID-19 and realize that the threat is real and ubiquitous. We did not congregate and we did not gather to celebrate the day or the meal. It was much like the Ravens football team--we just didn't show up. We did travel to the houses of our family to safely exchange portions of the meal: pies, wine, sweet potatoes, and dressing--but we did not tarry or linger. We enjoyed each other through Zoom, upon which we connected right after the meal. It is too hard to Zoom, talk, and eat simultaneously.

I was disappointed by the choices some of my extended family made regarding the holiday. They apparently do not take the the pandemic seriously and needlessly placed their families at risk by hosting gatherings. And the gatherings were larger than those allowed.  

But today is Black Friday. It is a day devoted to playing Axis and Allies--wait, we are not playing this year due to the pandemic. Resolving the 1942 world geopolitical situation and eating copious quantities of leftovers will have to wait another year. 

But today is Black Friday. It is a day devoted to shopping and malls and getting out with the crowds to ring in the official start of the Holiday Season--wait, no one is going out and there will be no crowds. We will ring in the holiday shopping season from the warmth of our sofa. 

But today is Black Friday. It is a day devoted to decorating the house for Christmas. Now this is something that we WILL definitely do to enjoy and celebrate Black Friday.  

Enjoy the day, if you have it off from work. Be safe and make new memories and traditions. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD