Two approaches to Virtual Learning Cited for Doing Well in Educating

 Success academies is an all-virtual approach as an alternative to all-teacher classroom learning.  So too, Uncommon Schools, a learning network.  (See the Economist 11/21/20 issue.)

One of the ideas brought up in a recent Brookings discussion on education during the pandemic is having teachers specializing in their educative training to act as coach to the students during their learning online time.  I think there's need for this, having had experience in offering courses over mass media.  Human motivating is a vital part of the learning experience, in my opinion; and should be incorporated. 

Whack-O Joke: Mo:` "Where's President Trump going this weekend?"

Jo:  "He's taken a page from the Emperor Nero's life story...Nero fiddled from the top of one of the 7 hills--while Rome burned."

Mo: "How's that?"

Jo: "Translation to today:  Trump's playing golf at Key Largo--all the while the nation is being consumed by a raging pandemic, COVID-19.  Cheerio!"

Commentator Hannity: "This is just a hoax, folks. Imagine clear lungs, for everybody; and you'll do just fine."

Professional need: Everyday availability of a computer for me!

This is the second time I've experienced a loss in capability to use a computer; and if it weren't that I finally was able to contact someone about the blocking problem I was having in getting through with information, I still would be in my room upstairs watching TV!

It is to my mind a shame: through the United Nations, I have become acquainted with the Ethiopian strife under Prime Minister Abiy.  I feel I could have at least tried to help out to get the two sides talking with one another.  I would have pointed out that Canada has had the phenomenon of the French rule of Quebec, its province, for lo these many years; and still the country remains one, e.g., under a central government.

Indeed, I applaud the Ethiopians for adopting such a forward-looking constitution as in play now. 

But to return to the problem I was having, I hope something can be done so that I might be able to get through.  Cordially, John O.

Populist Advocates want to return to the past; Progressives want to stand ready for change

These past 4 years of President Trump in the White House have been instructive.  While the President fondly remembers the good old days in planning for our future, the Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party and the Lincoln organization in the Republican Party both have outlined their commitment to respond to ever-present signs of serious change confronting mankind in the offing.

Specifically, Progressives have argued the US should not have abandoned Europe's desire to make country-by-country commitment to end large-scale use of fossil fuels; and opened an invitation to the US to join with them.  

While political populists turn to the past as justification of the right of corporations to pollute as always-- should they want to do so, it is the auto industry itself that has come forth with their several earnest declarations of intent to manufacture electric cars--transportation not dependent on the popular fuel of cars in the past.  Indeed, in general, the business world has taken a lead in responding to the dangers to the environment of naive reliance upon past ways, when government has become immune to legal injunctions against big-time corporation polluters.

Another point: Republican response to the pandemic was initially to give money to corporations--mostly, the very large corporations, only lesser amounts to mid-size companies--and to the citizenry who have directly been hit by its effects in their pocket; and to the local and state governments for use to increase the medical apparatus and personnel necessary in tackling the virus, they are impervious to the crying need for continued monetary support at the level to maintain maintenance of the wherewithal involved.  "Let them do what they can with what the federal government has supplied them all," the Congress has seemed to say through their inaction to pass any more in relief.         

Georgia hand recount ordered by Trump people in line with Democrats' push for 2 Senate Seats

 

Gee, I couldn't believe it.  The Georgia recount for President is to be done by laborious hand labor.

You may know that there's a Democratic team appointed to live in Georgia till the run-off in January for the two Senate seats from Georgia.  I think this is a golden opportunity for the Democrats to learn first-hand what's on the minds of voters in Georgia right now.  The meticulous procedures to be followed in the hand recount should let analysts know the Georgian psyche pretty well, i.e., what the voter is wanting at this moment in history!

And, with that insider information, the Democrats should be able to put together the two campaigns for the January elections designed just to meet Georgian requirements for motivating to vote Democratic!

That the Democrats have gotten this far as to force a run-off for both Senate seats from Georgia indicates the Black caucus in Georgia is doing a phenomenal job to date.

My WHACK-O Theory!. 

         

gee, 

A health aide? Those over 80's best friend!

 I've had a health aide program in the DC area for under 3 months, but I can already verify positive results!

After talking with one of my doctors, who's on the medical faculty of George Washington University, I will paraphrase her words to me as a summary of my enthusiastic endorsement of this program:  "It's ended the isolation for you that older people feel once no longer in the thick of life's busy things to achieve." 

God bless!  

P.S.  I also find that I've returned to habits I developed during the more productive time in my life--with the addition of a health aide to keep me in active fit.

 

President Trump pushing for a fight with Iran?

Surely, this is a hoax and not an ounce of truth to it!

But I hear through friends in the military that there were even planes in the air on their way to where Iran is located, when a brave general insisted the fighter planes turn around and come back!  This can't be true. 

It's just a rumor--HUSH, HUSH, WINK--Trump would never want to pick a fight with Iran or any other country he admittedly hates! 

It's WHACK-O!

What was President Trump's Reason for the Trade War?

After following the Administration's rationale for not joining the TPP, I can only conclude that Trump had in mind to establish a competitive trade organization in Asia of his own founding.

That China had done the legwork among Asian countries during years of trading in the region added weight to my surmise.

But the key to verifying this theory is when the Secretary of the Army claimed at a Brookings Institution meeting recently (as I understood him to say) that he would be visiting Asian countries to encourage them to establish trading relations with the US on some on-going basis--a sort of TPP thing.

But this only underscores the basic problem the US has been having in dealing in trade among world leaders the past four years of Trump's Presidency:  he doesn't work with other countries, but tells them his proposals, if they are to work with him, instead.  The relationship of the US to our Asian friends he has set as leader to follower, not the US as one of trading partners among Asian traders--no matter through WTO or TPP or any organization that Trump may want to form with Asian countries who are willing to accept his offer of becoming a 'partner.'

Indeed, I think he is trying to make his administration an obstacle to trade with China, preferring not to iron out a trade agreement (except in agriculture where our farmers are hurting), so as to strengthen an argument that US companies should stay at home.  Yet, just because China has an already thriving trade with other Asian countries, many large American companies are still working with the Chinese government so as take advantage of  China's connections for establishing a sound footing in Asia and retaining their Chinese manufacturing operations.

 

      

UN Meeting on Current Crisis of food shortages in Africa

 For the next 3 days, I understand, Nigeria is the host to a conference on the current crisis across Africa because of starvation and malnutrition.  This crisis is the direct result of climate change's affect on agriculture: an invasion of locusts destroying crops in the east, draught overtaking lands used for farming, as well as flooding of crops occurring in the lower plains.  Add to these woes is the incursion of the pandemic the whole world is suffering from.  

I listened to a BBC newscast last night which claimed the African Union is not doing a good enough job in distributing food relief.  At least, maybe some good ideas for locating and distributing food quickly will emerge from this Nigerian conference.

The US Worker's Fight for his own self-respect: a step forward

 CNN's Jake Tapper threw out the possibility that Senator Sanders may take the job of Secretary of Labor should Biden win.  It's a great idea!

For lo these many years--70 years just about--the American worker has been neglected, robbed of his own self-respect for doing an excellent job!  Reason?  Make way for the computer to work alongside him or her.  And now, AI technology is making its mark in American industry, too.  Oh, yes, the worker was told here and in Japan and elsewhere that the computer has taken hold, that as a result of his patience, the goods he buys--mostly from China--he now buys for less; and American companies must have to eat the fact that goods sold in America became cheaper due to competition from abroad.

Well, Trump is engaged in a trade war with China to make prices more competitive for the consumer.  His war is hurting both American and Chinese corporations, while upping the coffers of the government, I contend.  Specifically, no benefit to the worker in his wages or K401 savings.

What is needed--the new Secretary of Labor find and make use of a labor union model from abroad that clearly demonstrates that the worker is receiving the respect he rightfully deserves there; yet has been denied him in the US corporate world here where he works.  I suggest the German labor unions as a model; I've seen them fight for labor rights and win big!  The labor unions in the US government do pretty well, too.

Bernie, I hope you sound off big--should you decide to take it.

  

    

What could be the use of a tilt-rotor go-up-and-down-and-sideways helicopter?

Let your imagination ponder the scene.  I did after the Brookings Institution discussion of the Bell version

on last Thursday.

The helicopter takes off from an aircraft carrier 1500 miles away--practically, noiseless in flight.  Nearing the intending target area, it zooms in a spurt to nearly 500 miles per hour then switches to down-up power and lands without a peep from anybody around it.

The door opens and out into the night go 20 Navy Seals, surround a farmhouse, then 2 enter to do their business before the local police rouse themselves to their vehicles.  One man from within was taken them back into the helicopter.  But before returning from whence they come, they leave a calling card for the police by bombing the place.

Mission accomplished:  just another obliteration of a Fascist cell operating from the woodlands in southern Germany--a relic of Nazism, now no more.

Whole itinerary: in 120 minutes performed by a NATO team!         

 

What territory that is ours is actually of use or value to the United States?

 Currently, the Biden team is expressing interest in taking on a plethora of infrastructure projects.  I think this is a good thing, but in light of the changes anticipated in the territory of the US that can be deemed "usable for...," and because of the increased damages that will be caused here-on due to fires and hurricanes in forest and rural regions, principally, I think the military must engage in making the determination as to what land in the country can be available for private and commercial usage and even for forestry and bridge and roadway construction.   

I am particularly aware that the state of Florida has many islands developed for private and commercial zoning.  And some of these may soon be under water permanently!

There must also be in place a process whereby the homeowner or commercial interest can appeal a decision in a prompt adjudication process, lasting no more than 6 months.

  

A Worldwide Pandemic Crisis and where's the charismatic leader?

When there's a world in crisis, look to the charismatic figure for salvation!  So we are taught.

But where was the modern Joan of Arc; the Billy Graham; the George Washington?

When Trump negated interest in the day-to-day fight against the virus, I thought that man--our savior-- would emerge from among the state governors.  One of them would call all the governors together and tell his plan to enforce emergency measures on us all.  But they--each of them--were too busy trying to get supplies and machines for their several states.  No one would stand tall.  There is a fire consuming the nation; and no one would shout out, "Save yourself and your loved ones!"

And so we stumble around each other, moaning, "Well, if it gets me, then I guess my time is up!"

  

    

Belarus middle class techies want something better than communism!

 I have friends in Ukraine who inform me that they've been helping Belarus's middle class of techies throw off their dictatorship, a brand of government which they've outgrown, so to think for themselves, but unfortunately still dominates Russian politics. (I hope only to 2024!)

It may take more protest.  I am with them in spirit!

Two South American Governments Want to Stay Democratic! Please, help them so to do!

I have resorted to publicizing the institutional group established by Great Britain, the Commonwealth of States as a dedicated, declared organization to promote democracy in the world.  The current Prime Minister of GB, Boris Johnson, headed it before taking on his present duties for his country.

There sits Guyana and Suriname in South America trying to embrace democracy, i.e., display all the features a democracy should possess.  In the August 8th issue of the Economist an article entitled "Oil Futures" raises the skeptical question, "Will they really succeed?  Is there a five-year test, for instance that we can apply to each?  For both these countries are attempting to develop their oil reserves.  Now we know that Nigeria has an abundance of oil, some in production right now.  But oh, how long they have attempted to quell rebellion in the northwest of the country.  Once native energy sources are available for development, that country is prone to internal strife and chaos.  And we know that maintaining democracy is a complicated affair:  look at the questions President Trump is raising about the forthcoming election in the States!

That is why in alluding to the Commonwealth, I have also urged that group find a democracy among its membership that would be willing to steer the avowed democracy around the pitfalls that will mean the doom of any well-intention nation to stand tall for its people (e.g., participating in a free and independent state, where corruption has not permeated its administration).  I have identified such a democratic nation as a mentor to help out a nation willing to become a democracy.

Wasn't that the notion sometime ago of an advanced nation who took on the responsibilities of establishing colonies among budding nations in the Third World?  What has gone wrong?  Nations have turned to autocratic tyrants rather than to their people for determining governmental policies and principles their government proclaims their citizenry are to live by.  These nations have one man or a group of men in charge of their citizenry's well-being; and determine the rules by which a people--no longer free--are to live. Their citizenry must forsake their own independence and their own critical thinking!  For the government who is not their servant!  Indeed, democracy seems on a retreat from the international scene, while so many nations take on one-man rule.

We know that Mali is in the throes of chaos.  Would that some democracy become its mentor for the sake of free peoples the world over, who everyday guide their government, not live in fear lest they fail to comply with the rules laid down by a ruling elite junta. . 

      

     

Ready? Set? BOOM! KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION at the Us worldwide!

 The August 8th issue of the Economist captures the momentous occasion we are witnessing in the university system across the world.  I have theorized what is now in the process of taking place:  because of online instruction proffered by the most innovative minds of our time, college students deemed capable of profiting from the course material appearing in the college catalog can sign up for the instruction by the very best thinkers in the field on the topics in which the professor excels.  

Virtually, the Albert Einsteins of today are teaching via the computer to qualified students who, the University has vouchsafed, should be able to learn from--yet who are the most productive professors in their particular realm of expertise.  We should assume that the mentorship principle holds, viz., the successfully proven ideas of the accomplished doer is the fodder for the creative genius of his or her follower and mimic, who is likely to pioneer a new way into the future.

On this radical concept of university instruction, the in situ instructor is a motivator, encourages those students taking the course presented by the Master to learn and do likewise as the Master does.  The he or she instructor on a university campus looks for progress in each enrolled student's in learning taught online by the Master.  

-----------------------------------------------------------

I witnessed the University of Illinois' PLATO series of online courses as these were being developed in the 1970s--too new a concept to catch on in a university atmosphere anywhere--as university education was conceived in those days--dating from the Middle Ages!

The challenges yet exist to bring about the changes needed to make the university system more responsive to society's crying needs for new knowledge that will be applied to our problems in living today.  

(In the university system, I also include the huge numbers of community and technical colleges available to those unable to meet tuition financial needs students in university settings must meet.)

But, the vision of university teaching--master teacher to inquiring young mind--is herein met via the transmission of instruction online with local coaches--the stimulators to learn--fostering the steps in coming to master the knowledge that the Master willingly imparts online.         

Turkey now echoes the Ottoman Empire in the Muslim World

President Erdogan has taken Turkey into its prime.  The August 1 issue of the Economist mentions its major accomplishments since the early 1990s.  I remember Turkey when it did not stand so closely with the Muslim faith: a place for one to worship as he saw fit.  But now, in my way of thinking, Turkey has done yeoman service recently in bringing together nations of the Muslim faith in unity.

I cannot forget how Turkey endeavored to bring aid to the Palestinians and by so doing, break Israel's navy blockade of Gaza years back.  I am amazed to learn that Turkey is still talking with the EU to attain full membership status.  Nevertheless, its accomplishments towards brotherhood are astounding.  

The Turkish military has always been an egregious presence in the region and in NATO.  It seems the military junta has made accommodation for Erdogan, since through military might, Turkey has extended its presence throughout the Middle East, bringing development and prosperity.  Its close relations with Dubai provide it a financial rating par excellence.  

I am hopeful that the President will further demonstrate his leadership in the Arab world by joining with Jakarta and Asian Muslims to rid the jihadist claims to political power in Africa; and will continue his support of  the UN-backed government in Libya.

I further believe that there can be an acceptance of the PKK's presence in both Turkey and Iraq.  I believe that President Erdogan's efforts for peace in the region will encompass such disputes that long have lingered among Islamic sects.       

A Tip taken from my experience toward living a long life

I have enrolled in DC's health aide program that enables me to have someone to help me do chores and get around town.

In just the two month's participation, I've come to realize the importance of that someone other, whose opinion and point of view gives me a novel opportunity to see myself more objectively.

That observing me and making suggestions to me, howbeit causally and off-the-cuff, has already proven invaluable.

Moral:  we need someone to see how well we are performing and make corrections as he or she is willing to do, so that we can better see ourself--the mental and bodily self floundering now and then, but with that other's input, doing a better job at staying alive.

 

  

What's Russia's helping with in the 2020 election: my take

 I was wondering how Russia might be helpful to Trump this time around--in 2020.

Watching his dramatics on TV for the past few days, I detect their-all intent:  Pres. Trump--the man of peace, the negotiator for the cause of justice and tranquility among all peoples; the ruler who is for law and order in the marketplace, but tolerates no outrage and violence among his subjects.

This description might even fit President Putin of Russia, himself, a strict disciplinarian in his land.

Returning to Trump, I discern his reluctance to boast of what skills he brings that make him saleable to the masses.  Only promises of their prosperity, and promises of his admiration among his coterie of fellow-travelers, whom  he protects from legal prosecution.     

Why US Big-Business Needs China, Now!

 Well, this is just a WHACK-O THEORY; and nothing more--except the July 25th issue of the Economist lends credence to it.

It details how the big corporations and their industries are moving to evermore encompass features of a structured society dedicated to automation.  If the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Centuries were devoted to mechanization of mankind, the Twentieth through the ages to come are to become recognized as the Age of becoming a physical reality of the virtual mind.  In particular, the computer is taking over the world of production and manufacturing as well as the realm of bookkeeping.

How China fits into this grand scheme is not hard to tell.  In order for the Big companies of America to build the new empire of computer drones, they must get rid of the labor force of the past,with its old fashion ways of doing things and thinking about production.  By cutting back on home productivity, they prepare the country for its advent into the new ways of doing business a la AI oversight of entrepreneurial businesses.  Society is being prepared by business to accept its new look.

What will happen to the displaced workers on the assembly line, etc.  They could attempt to destroy what new enterprises are currently and methodically set to take over the realm of today's labor market.  God forbid!  Big Business is offering society options on how to handle workers displaced in the productivity line.  

Options for society to handle an overcrowded labor market

1.  Retrain.  2.  Pay all workers unable to find suitable work, a living stipend.  (Incidentally, that was Nixon's option.)  3. Have as many able-bodied laborers among them paid to work on infrastructure projects such as construct roads and bridges.  

Whatever option society chooses, China has a significant role to play, now.

In China, with Chinese labor, continue the modern methods of doing business that aren't as automated as soon Big Business will install in the States.  In short, let the Chinese industries be the less futuristic and AI futuristic than that currently being installed in the US by US leaders per field of industry!

I believe US Big Business is already accomplishing this revolutionary change.  Further, it is on a campaign worldwide to induce forward-looking corporations to re-locate to the United States, where labor costs are coming down due to the corporation giants who have been able to quell home dissent by creating a downturn in productivity on the home-front, while retooling on US shores for the future in the AI world of manufacture, maintenance and the manifold service areas.

NBA Players exhibit defensive plays, finally!

 Honestly, you go to a ballgame and never see the defense at work.  It's all run-down-the-court and shoot-score!

Well, this past week, the professional players came together in one, big defensive move: they refused to play to protest another killing of an unarmed black man.  And to my mind, they all scored big! 

At College of DuPage in the 1970s, I taught an independent learning course; & developed course taught over radio

So online learning is just an extension what I did in those pioneer efforts of course instruction in independent learning situations.  But in those days, college students were unused to "being on their own."

However, even then meeting with an instructor was always an option, if not periodically required as part of the instruction package.  And there was always office hours for consultation one-on-one.

I even offered a course in the classroom where my lectures were presented via tape.  That wouldn't necessarily be the case that I was not physically present for a lecture's presentation on tape--to answer questions, interact with students.

Motivating students to regularly and systematically study I found more difficult a challenge for learning to occur than when offering the regular teaching through the classroom.  But I even took courses in college at the time via independent learning, so to indicate my dedication to the method.  It just requires training to learn that way, i.e., the independent method of learning.

The point I'm getting to is that there are very great advantages to learning independently vs. learning through the typical classroom setting--I am convinced!  

Make learning a little closer to the heart!

The occasion of the current pandemic has provided the opportunity for school children as well as adults to truly identify themselves as learners, its being just part of their nature.

Picture a school kid.  He's got food in his home; he's got a bed.  And what should be just as dear to his heart as these goodies? --  is a computer teaching him, inculcating his mind.

This pandemic has opened up the potential to introduce local internet stations--at a nearby church, a community center, even a restaurant.  Remember those ma and pa Chinese restaurants where after school, the children would go to their parents' store and study and play there till off to their beds?  A close-to-home restaurant setting for learning might be just the thing to sway the kid into thinking himself a learner.

The thing about schools, is that they're just too far away from what things an individual identifies with--the teddies of a grown person!  Bring back the store where a person worked that also was his home- address as a craftsman in the Middle Ages!

We're close to re-introducing the idea in modern parlance.  What we're at, in my opinion, is a nearby learning pod, where the kid has access to a computer.  And now with 5G computer networks, the kid--learner in his own pad--is just about a reality.   

  

What to do after Brexit?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson may be taking account of where Britain is now in the scheme of international affairs after his resounding success.

I have been arguing that GB should expand and intensify efforts on behalf of the consortium of nations it has founded.  But this would only be a logical step in its maintenance of London's prominence as a financial epicenter of the world.  Its world-wide respect is at the apex.  Take advantage of your greatness.

 

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Kamala Harris, a real find!

The issue is respecting equally those persons who are within the bounds of the country.

It's a matter of the law.  Police conduct with the citizenry and those others in the country must be monitored that individual rights are not violated.  

Kamala Harris has spent her career dedicated to matters legal and the principles governing the rule of law.

Recently, New York University studied the nation's police departments, I understand.  They devised a model for contemporary engagement between those representing the law and the police; and the ordinary citizen.  The model has been used to upgrade the police department in Camden, New Jersey.

From these beginnings, comes the need to effect change nationwide updating to bring police departments up to the requirements to modern life.

Kamala Harris could be the spark to lead to the transformation of police departments to the needs of  the modern era.  She knows the system and areas needed to improve it profoundly.

G W Hospital, my real standby as I age

Since I was 52 years of age, I've been able to make use of the George Washington University Hospital.

The other day, the dermatology department came across a skin wound I suffered in 1985(?).  I was coming home from teaching an evening class in computers at Golden Gate University, when on the Bart train, someone on the platform of the Oakland downtown station pointed a handgun at the window in the train car I was seated and shot.  The bullet shattered the glass at my eye nearest the window.  The plexiglass saved my life; but the force of the bullet grazed my cheek below.

I didn't think I was sufficiently injured to require first aid; and I declined to go to a hospital for treatment.

A dermatologist at GW just received results of a biopsy of that injured tissue he took as part of a routine check.  I will need surgery right away.  It may occur in time to prolong my life!

That's the kind of medical care I've been receiving since now back in DC! 

Hey,I've got a DC health aide! (I hope for good!)

I've been asking of her what I need from a health aide and so far it's working out.  I need to think of her ;as providing auxiliary limbs and another 5 senses so that I can achieve what is needful or useful that I should do. 

And, with that in mind, the health aide and I move ahead to achieve a better world as a team.

PS: The health aide need not be a female.  I might have a man sometimes. So far; so good.

You got to give a little, take a little--that's the story of my life in DC!

Management here at my residence has taken away my privilege to use the community computers in our social room.

But I may be able to install and make use of another system that enables me computer usage from my room!  It will take time to get the hang of it, because it's not that user-friendly, however.

I could access my blogs in my room while I stayed in Vegas, which wasn't over a year, sometime ago.  The federal agency I'm associated with had made the necessary installation through the cable company there, so it was a snap to use in communications.

Anyhow, happy FOURTH!

My request for a laptop-mouse access to my Google account.

I''m trying to access my Google account using my Cable info.  I've been asked to make it possible to report in anytime; and I can do that through using Cable.  I had that method in effect while I was in Vegas some years ago during my stay there.  It was set up with the Federal Agency's field office help whileI was working with them.

Is there someway I could get help here where I live in DC to get the system I had there installed?  I need use of the mouse technology instead of the laptop's moving around an area on the keyboard!  So, I will need my own laptop with the modem I have in my room.  I would appreciate the help; and you can verify this request through the Federal Agency who has asked me to proceed.

Again, thanks! 

Alert the Commonwealth: China in jeopardy of violating contractual agreement over Hongkong just moments away!

The rule of law has been a principle sacrosanct: enunciated and upheld through the Commonwealth and because of this universal understanding, international agreements are enforceable  The UK entered into contractual arrangement with China to cede Hongkong through such an arrangement, bearing the rule of law, that nations in international contractual arrangement will abide by it .

Now, Beijing has before it a proposal that will bypass Hongkong--its people and government--to impose its own will upon Hongkong without any say or deliberation with Hongkong in this matter of critical importance to the region and to international trade in general.  This violates the contract between the UK and Beijing-China; and, significantly, imposes a Communist way of doing business upon the Hongkong Chinese territory and contradicts this very principle of international laws.

For Beijing to proceed upon this course of action will necessitate a negative response from the UK and those other members of  the Commonwealth of Nations.  This response must make clear that China is risking its reputation as a responsible member of the international trade community to make good its obligations under the terms of an agreement by which it has bound itself with its contractual participants. 

Whack-O Theory of 5/18/20: President XI and President Trump in war of words over WHO support!

Paraphrasing...

President XI today to the WHO: 'As President of China, I promise $2 billion in our united fight against Covid-19 virus.'

President Trump: 'As President of the United States, I won't, maybe, allow the United States to continue support of the WHO in its battle against the virus.  I, as the Supreme Leader, have spoken for the USA; and I will not have my word contradicted by Congress or any IG official!  You hear that?'

"NOW HEAR THIS!"  (AND, PLEASE REMEMBER IT AT THE VOTING BOOTH THIS NOVEMBER.)

Opportunity knocks for the UK after Brexit

I'll be working on a series of blog items in the ruminations blog dealing with what I conceive is "Opportunity Knocking for the UK" after the country's historic departure from the EU.

I was encouraging the UK in my modest way to see its way through the ordeal that saw Prime Minister May replaced and Johnson struggling bravely to the goal.  But now, the UK is launched on a new beginning, taking with her the many series of accomplishments to be proud of.

In my series of blog items, I will draw upon its history ever-present in its manifest allegiance of nations known as the British Commonwealth. or simply, the Comonwealth of Nations.  Composed of over 50 nations worldwide, the Commonwealth is an institutional embodiment of  the lasting values for which England has stood as a bulwark through times of war and peace, a beacon lighting the way for other countries to come, participate.

But its past embodied in the lives and memories of those who are become apart of the Commonwealth experience is only, to my mind, a promise of long-range changes it can lead the world to enter as latter's own history soon--because the UK has just achieved its Brexit.

   

SOS from Lebanon: famine; devastated economy.

Once beautiful Lebanon is crumbling.  Is it time for the Hezbollah to go?  Its leaders are evidently more concerned to protect the interests of Syria's Assad than to see a prosperous Lebanon.  And that's a real shame!

Add Lebanon in the Middle East to the list of the countries in South America and in Africa lacking food, clean water and a humane environment.  Meanwhile, sadly, in the US, farmers are finding it expedient to plow under what crops are laying waste in their fields. 

The pandemic is a worldwide natural catastrophe in our midst!

Rachel Maddow Program has featured a forum for slaughterhouse unions seeking worker PPE equipment.

Big business in the US isn't against socialism. (Europe has a lot of socialist countries.)  Big business in the US doesn't want the union movement to succeed ever again!  Not on these shores.  Note that immigrant labor can keep wages down in this country and in Japan, etc.

But when meat is considered an essential product, suddenly, the workers in slaughterhouses are people to be listened to; and they don't want to work in hazardous conditions to their health.  Perhaps, now is the time for unions to come back again into the limelight--in the USA.

Compare the government unions to those in industry. 

PCR Testing is what only is useful right now. But testing as President Trump has allowed is a debacle!

MSNBC reported this morning the findings of the University of Minnesota Public Health current study of the testing products for the virus.  Only the PCR tests are useful; and there's plenty of testing products on the market that are of little value.  What a sham!

Donned in PPE equipment; validated by testing, US citizens cautiously yet confidently venture forth to work and play--outside!

On C-SPAN last night, Governor Kemp (R-Georgia) sketched his plan to re-open his state for business and recreation.  It seemed to meet the President's guidelines and was divided into steps to permit gradual upturn in scale to permit constant evaluation at each milestone along the way toward normalization.

If you've been following the Rachel Maddow interviews (on her show) of those analysts and think-tank types tasked with scheduling re-opening at the state-level business and commercial trade, you may have come away impressed by her insistence that those charged with planning adamantly be concerned with the safety and well-being of employees in the plants and industries where close-contact among workers cannot be avoided on the job.  What yeoman work on behalf of workers on the job she's been doing through those interviews!

Truly, we have become awakened by the human spirit within ourselves so to stamp out this hideous virus that would deny us our very breath.

The Human Species is a social animal! Please note, public health professionals!

There are just some facts that no scientist can change.  Importantly, we can't be told to live in hibernation like the bears!

Now that families are huddling together, domestic squabbles have become increasingly violent, sending normal folks to jail on criminal charges to do harm against their relatives!  No scientist can refute the laws of nature: Mankind must live interactively with others of his species on a continual basis.  OR, risk going stir crazy; and acting crazy, too!

I have good friends in Germany, some of whom know Chancellor Merkel well.  They tell me Germany has lent a hand to help nations fighting the virus in neighboring countries.  Gilead Sciences of Chicago, I understand, has come up with a palliative treatment for those persons afflicted by the virus.  So, somethings seem on the horizon to administer to the hospitalized sick with the disease..

The point is, no science should attempt to change human nature such as it is. 

Man, by nature, is a social animal; and must be active, doing things outside, beyond the confines of his domicile--no matter what ail should befall him.  Would that scientists who advocate the "stay in your home" philosophy would acknowledge that simple truth wrought in the human being!

              

Marketing over mass media before the stores and restaurants re-open in US! Now!

News break:  China is reporting, businesses that were closed there during the Pandemic have re-opened but with sparse customers frequenting them.  An eventful flop.
My comment:  Evidently, there was no marketing campaign over the mass media to stimulate 
consumer appetite prior to this event.  They weren't put in the mood to get out of their homes and buy, buy, buy!

Moral:  Before the gala re-opening takes place here, there should be a mass media blitz staged by company marketing departments to get  consumers out of their homes and into the stores, where the bright lights and brand new items to purchase are (whether or not with the label "made in America")!

Please note that Chancellor Merkel from her vantage point sees the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, too, and muses that things will start toward normal before the rains from April showers dry up in her country's street gutters. 

Will President Trump become a new Czar of International Oil Production?

I'm not certain how he could, unless his buddies--the Saudis of OPEC and Putin, whose domain of  oil production quotas extends to Venezuela--could join with the President in twittering US oil producers that they limit production to whatever this threesome may recommend as a controlled product output from the countries they rule--during, what might be, the formation of an apparent world-wide oil cartel

Cell Station to Cell Station Workflow Processing

I understand that as a result of coping with the coronavirus, companies are going to cell station to cell station workflow processing, e.g., where at least one of the stations is someone's personal address.

I've been using cell station workflow for over 35 years!  It's not new to me.

My experience with it notes that it  has innumerable consequential benefits; but I must rely on daily journaling--I can't record the steps in proceeding in a winning sequence of outcomes without detailing through journaling my daily events including steps at my cell station per project toward success.  For me, it's an absolute must to have a written record!

But the rewards in achieving successful projects' outcomes are immeasurable.  I find it makes possible accomplishing way more than I would have thought any one person could envision achieving(--in my case, related to doing service to my country; and on behalf of the moral goodness I believe the USA stands for).

Yoga weekly for seniors!

I live in a senior residence; but it's my soup kitchen I go to weekly for a half hour class in Yoga.  I found in the 2 months I've been in class that my thinking is clearer and my limbs more relaxed and less arthritic (I believe).

Anyway, I've suggested to the program director here at the residence that our entire "family" could benefit from the Yoga regimen. 

Whack-O Theory-2 of 2/28/20: What would have happened in 1989 if the US had encouraged Russian satellites to go independent?

What a Whack-O idea!  That any of the Russian satellites would dare to subvert the Russian Empire of the USSR by declaring themselves--each of them--to be solely an independent sovereign nation!
Why, it might cause the Empire to disintegrate!

And, that the US might encourage the satellites to pursue such an emboldened idea--as, for instance, by wanting these satellites to study the US' own Declaration of Independence--might lead to war between the US and the USSR!  Thank God, it never entered any of these enslaved nation's plan for independence to declare themselves free like the US did from England in 1776!

Please remember, a Whack-O Theory is just something conjured up for one's own, personal imagining!   

Whack-O Theory-1 of 2/28/20: What would happen if the US invoked the Monroe Doctrine against Russia, today?

You might think that President Kennedy invoked it against Russia during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  I happen to believe that was in the back of his mind at the time he told them to get the Missiles out of there!

Well, the entire continent of Africa has united by forming its organization of the African Union to patrol virtually its landed bounders.  I would call that organization successful particularly in the peace accord that has been imposed on the Sudan and environs, recently.

But I want to imagine that the entire continent of the Americas had such an organization to embolden the OAS to patrol our continental shores for infractions to the Monroe Doctrine, enunciated by President Monroe in the early Nineteenth Century.

Would then Russia virtually have taken over the government of  Venezuela to enable it to plunder that country's natural resources as it would deem fit?  Indeed would it think itself invited by its cozying up to beleaguered governments to "rescue" them such as Syria in Asia Minor and of course here on our continent, the nation of Venezuela?  We are witnessing a Putin who is enamored with the period of the Czars--so much so as to wish his dictatorship to extend the world over, as was tried by former Russian dictators in a heyday just after WWII onto the African continent.

The immense emigration of peoples living there prior to Russia's assistance in both these countries proves that Russia's interference has been detrimental to their own individual independence and their quest for the well-being of their people.  For in each case, their citizenry are driven to run for their lives. 







 

New news update sources: Russia is reaping a bonanza of cash from sale of Venezuelan minerals!

Georgia and I guess the United States are the first victims of new aggressive hacking and subversive activities as a result of the close ties Russia had cemented to restructure the Venezuelan government, I am led to believe.

Anyway, I'm grateful to be involved in some perennial problems on the international scene.  I am trying my best to earn the faith I have recently received in me and  the operations I've committed myself to on behalf of the United States and indeed, the world; and believe I have some resources to tap that will mean something positive toward their solutions!

The Two Wonderful Brothers, Mark and Sam, whom I knew so many years ago.

Just wanted you guys to know that those were good times years ago.  I still remember!  There was love among us all, too.  It might be that we could surface our reflections of what will remain deep down in us, in our very core of who we are and shall be.

I'm living in DC now on the East Coast.  Please keep me in your thoughts with kindness and tenderness.  In the area?  Look me up.  You'd be doing me a genuine act of thoughtfulness. 

President Trump's Foreign Policy in a Post-Aquittal Era: "It's all a democratic hoax!"

I think few of us will forget how the Secretary of the Army railed against China in hostile terms during his talk in a recent event at the Brookings Institution.  Slowly, the Trump administration is building an Iron Curtain around China, much like what it is doing around Iran.  Not Russia but China and Iran are the bogey-men on the other side.

This despite China's acceptance throughout Africa to build infrastructure, train and establish cordial relations with its governments; and a memo of understanding drawn up by China with Italy that it--China--will become a distributor of EU products in Africa.  Despite the US tariffs, China's trade has been expanded significantly.  But US investors aren't allowed to invest in Venezuelan oil because of the US sanctions currently in place against Venezuela.

So, in the first 3 years of Trump's Presidency, Russia has netted two new colonies:  Venezuela and Syria added to the one Cuba it had before Trump; and Trump has found a straw-man to say to business here at home, "See what you get for taking your factories abroad?  Someone, who'll steal your innovations!"  As if business isn't aware that innovation attracts copycats!

Washington Post: Trump Administration telling business where to make investments; and where not to

In Friday's edition of the Washington Post, February 7, 2020 the Post reveals that The Trump Administration is telling investors where to put their money abroad:  don't invest in China's Huawei, that is developing its 5G wireless, but consider Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia.  This must be the outcome of Trump's poor dealing with China over trade tariffs and his lackluster trade agreements.  The animosity Trump reveals to the Chinese over commerce and his kowtowing to Putin, even to the point of overlooking how Putin is virtually taking over the Venezuelan economy, especially, the secret sales worldwide of its oil, to enrich the coffers of Moscow, is a scandalous favoritism of one communist, Putin, over an avowed other communist ruler, Xi.

Moreover, Barr has erected another Berlin-wall, spurred by competition between the US and China in taking global share in the technological trade market.  It fashions Beijing as a bogey-man out to take over the world.  Surely, the Trump people could be more imaginative.  There is no Cold War, despite the endeavors of this Administration to create one out of their own ignorance of global affairs and their attempts to fashion myths to cover up their own blunders in foreign policy directives.

The impression that President Trump gives cannot be glossed over when he consistently supports or glosses over Russia's gains in controlling Venezuela and affecting political elections, perhaps even in the US: he is pro-Russian, as Nancy Pelosi thinks. 

     

The President's solution to the Mideast conflict must be considered an outrage to people of reason!

The one thing the Palestinians have is a beautiful coast land, which the Israelis want to start knawing away from them.

Outrageous that the Palestinians have been left out from providing input in another proposal of a giveaway from President Trump, as if he has it to continue to benefit a government headed by someone in trouble with the judiciary.

US doctors offer assistance to China in virus epidemic there!

This is what the US offers to the world: its expertise and knowledge and wherewithal.

I am hopeful our doctors can be of help to their Chinese counterparts; and grateful for the US offer.

P.S. This is what our military do worldwide today with tremendous results.

Whack-O Theory of 1/23/20: President Trump showing signs of dementia?

Please keep in mind a Whack-O is just that!  Whacked!

I was talking to one of my doctors who was listening to President Trump comment on the fact that he never did give the House of Representatives his "materials" they needed to do oversight concerning his Ukrainian dealings.

My doctor suddenly blurted into the phone, "Say that sounds as if Trump's got the beginnings of dementia!"  When I thought about Trump's lying behavior, it dawned on me that this diagnosis could explain the past 3 years of Trump's fantasizing.

BBC reveals how China's re-training of TV and mass media industry workers is faring

It's true that China has barely an impact on programming on TV in Kenya.  But the BBC described recently how native workers employed by Chinese companies are taken back to China to learn the ways as a means to present their kind of programming over Kenyan-Chinese stations.

It would seem that the Chinese are using the airwaves to promote their style of life, whether or not the Africans are interested in learning from it.

Whack-O Theory of 1/17/20: Putin wants to make himself King constitutionally by 2024!

He hopes to get a new constitution formalized in the next 6 months, I understand.

He's not that popular but after all the Chinese did it for their President.  Anyway, the entire administration has resigned headed by D. Medvedev, the Russian Prime Minister.

There will be included in this Constitution reference to a Committee Putin will head.  On it are to be assembled technocrats to give him ideas, but he will be strictly in control of the government.  That's the plan according to the BBC-radio last night. 

The point is will he last in his presidency until 2024 or will he be demoted through an exercise of the will of the people?  I say, he's not all that popular; and importantly, he's not all that wise for the Russians to entrust him to call all the shots for their own good!  (China has established over centuries a powerful ruling class of provincial leaders that have sway over its central administration, I think).