SAR #16145

The problem with democracy is democracy.

Shame: The US has released an Afghan man who was captured in 2002 and suspected of making bombs. In 2008 he was charged with conspiracy to support terrorism and those charges were dismissed in 2011. So a man who was held without charges for 6 years and denied a trial for 3 more had to wait only 5 more years to be released. And we're the good guys, right?

Got A Match? After we burn all of the fossil fuels that are known to exist in the world, global temperatures will rise by another 20F, warming the arctic by perhaps 35F within 200 years.

If... Then: Hillary claims she is winning the popular vote, and the media elite echo the claim. It is not true. In states where there are primate votes, she has won a plurality. But this ignores the equivalent of the “popular vote” in caucus states, most of which Sanders has won. It is deceitful for Clinton to make this claim and despicable for the media to repeat it. Besides, it's the superdelegates that she and her consiglieres selected who will select her to be the candidate.

Sobering Data: The National Highway Traffic Safety folks say that drivers under the influence of marijuana were “no more likely to crash than who had not used any drugs or alcohol prior to driving.” Those on alcohol continue accumulate DUI/DWI tickets until they kill someone.

It's A SNAP: About all those folks living high on food stamps: A family on food stamps gets $253 a month in benefits, about $127 per month per person. Most food stamp recipients live in Republican controlled states (think on that for a bit). Half of us – those between 20 and 65 will need this sort of help at some time in their lives. The majority of SNAP recipients have jobs (but don't make enough to survive), or are over 65. One in five of the little leeches is a child. Let 'em eat cake.

Growth Spurt: The job news is happy, happy, happy . The economy is growing and everything is great. Except it isn't. The good news – that job openings are back to their 2001 peak is what gets the cheers. But the rate of hires is only back to the average of the previous expansion (2002-2007) and, worse, the higher rate of hires has not led to payroll growth. This is the first time since the 1930s that the working age population has grown faster than jobs. What we're seeing is just faster turnover of jobs. Hourly wages are growing even slower than they did in 2001-2007.

Just Asking: If we charted the rise of globalization, the increase in wealth at the top and the increase in destablization, political repression, refugee flight and conflicts, would we discover somehing?

A Parting Shot: