Sometimes...

...there are things we just can't make up.

Last week, the Governor Snyder-appointed Emergency Manager called the Detroit Public School teachers' sick-outs "unethical."  If things weren't so serious, this would be extremely laughable, downright funny.  This is the same guy who was the Emergency Manager in Flint with the water crisis.  "Unethical" indeed!

Speaking of the Detroit schools,.....  What posturing by the elected officials!  I'm supposed to believe that the mayor of Detroit wasn't aware of the conditions in the schools?  I guess there are several answers to that, none at all flattering to the mayor--or governor for that matter.  Photos of rat traps out in the open sure seems to me to indicate there are rat problems.  And the pictures of the black mold?  I can commiserate with the "too cold" and "too hot."  For years my room was always too hot or too cold.  To cool it off to reasonable temperatures in the winter I'd often have to open my window, even in single-digit outdoor temps.  Or, if the room was too hot in the winter (It was as if the room had a mind of its own, choosing alternately too hot or too cold, at its own whims.), I'd have to put a snow-drenched paper towel over the thermostat to get it warm enough to take off the coats and gloves.  And I didn't teach in Detroit.  Note, too, the frequently reported assaults on students and teachers at school and going to and coming from school; imagine how many don't get reported!  Yet, the mayor didn't know.  Doesn't he read the newspapers?  And these Emergency Managers have driven up the DPS deficits to their highest levels ever.  But that's OK, maybe.  The Flint water crisis began because the EMs wanted to save a few bucks......

I had a discussion on my run this AM about Obama.  My buddy thinks he's been "a good President."  I am just befuddled how anyone can think that.  Outside of those getting freebies (individuals and corporations and other such groups), I just don't understand.  That W Bush was also bad (in my view) doesn't save Obama from well-deserved criticism.  Foreign policy.  Domestic policy.  Brazen violation of checks/balances and separation of powers.  (That Congress and the Courts have allowed this to happen doesn't make them any less egregious and, in fact, speaks volumes about them--again not in flattering terms.)  ObamaCare is an abomination (Obama-nation?).  That "Well, the Republicans don't have an alternative plan" is not only untrue, but irrelevant.  To do something, something abominable, for the sake of doing something is not good.  (Again, if the doo-gooders--and I mean "doo"--are so concerned about health insurance for who they consider the poor who can't or won't afford it, then they can forgo their own vacations, hobbies, personal pursuits and purchase basic health care policies for the downtrodden.  But they won't.  They want others to pay for what they want to happen.)

I have a couple of thoughts on politics.  One regards "social media."  Boy, I dislike that term; it grates on me a great deal.  (Heh Heh)  Are "social media" good or bad for politics?  I suppose that includes blogs.  Usually, people (like me?) post only when they are angry and frustrated.  Often, the posts and tweets (Is that what they are called?) that get the most attention are those that are most extreme.  Of course, in a sense that's good.  Issues that the Establishment, be it politicians or the LameStream media, won't discuss or reveal.  Social media opens up these issues.  They have led to greater chances of actually discovering the truth or at least exposing the lies.  Yet, at the same time, does this, airing of the most extreme positions, make more reasoned, moderate behavior less likely?  I hope that all came out the right way, the way I intended.  (I did have it pretty straight in my head while on my run this AM, but......)

Perhaps related, have we become distrustful of people with whom we don't agree?  For instance, do we trust, say, opponents who have defeated our side in the election(s) to do the right things, to make good decisions?  I'm not sure, but I think I'm leaning on the side of answering that "No."  Obama famously stated, "Elections have consequences." I'm firmly of the opinion that what he and Congress have done over the past 7 years has not been "good."  For that matter, I feel the same way about the 8 years of W. Bush.  I think they both did/have done detrimental things, but for different reason, with different motives.  I don't know if that makes a difference.