The Electoral College and My Accountant Friend

One might think that a degree in accounting would, at the least, mean that there is an understanding of mathematical principles. However, that was not the case in a discussion with one of my friends about the Electoral College. He thinks it should be eliminated, but, when it gets down to how and why, it boils down to Hillary would have won in 2016, and that's all he needs to know.

I say the Electoral College needs to remain, and for this reason: it creates a formula through which a majority can be determined from a set of numbers that might not contain one that represents a majority.

"What?," he asks. "I don't even understand what you just said." 

"All Men are Created Equal," said the Slave Owner Who Founded America

Whatever else is said about Thomas Jefferson, it must include some highly conflicting moral implications about his hypocrisy as the author of such eloquence of thought and rhythm, and the owner and father of children who were enslaved by his "legitimate" white children. 

Jefferson's wife, Martha, inherited enslaved people from her father, one of whom was Sally Hemmings, the youngest daughter of her father's "shadow family." When Martha died, Jefferson promised that he would not remarry. Instead, it is readily accepted these days, he fathered children born by Sally, who was Martha's much younger half-sister. Their children would be Jefferson's shadow family, but, unlike their mother who was one-quarter black and three-quarters white, their children were one-eighth black and seven-eighths white.

Conservative Friends, Capitalism, and "Getting It" about the Price of Gas

A friend of mine who identifies as conservative said that he is happy the midterm elections are over so we can "work on the economy and inflation." I don't know what he means by that and neither does he. Someone asked him what he meant by his statement and his answer was to "look at gas prices." 

Let's look at gas prices. 

He and I have talked about gas prices before. He understands that the price is mostly based on supply and demand, but that there are other factors, too. His conclusion is that if we increase supply by glutting the market, the prices will drop. What he doesn't know is which company is going to pump enough oil to drop the price of a barrel below its production costs just so he will pay less at the pump. When I asked him if we should pay the oil companies to glut the market with gas so that he would pay less at the pump, he said he hadn't thought about it that way. I told him that we already do that in several different ways. That is partly why we pay less per gallon than most of the world. However, the main reason that gas prices are high is due to price gouging by the companies. 

He says he "gets it," but he doesn't really get it.

Accepting the Lesser of Two Evils and the Problems that Brings to 2024

This was written on April 27, 2023. It is as significant a problem today as it was seven months ago.

* * * * *

It was a little more than three years ago that the Democratic party was desperately trying to undermine its two most popular candidates so that it could put up an establishment dweeb who would remain loyal to the party's big-money donors. To the party's chagrin, Bernie Sanders was still packing arenas and stadiums wherever he appeared, and Tulsi Gabbard tripled her support by stating the truth about some of the other candidates on the debate stage. After Bernie questioned Pete Buttigieg's claim of victory in the Iowa primary, the party knew that he was doing his own counting. 

The party did not have time to rig New Hampshire, which Bernie Sanders won. Joe Biden came in fifth with one-third the votes that Bernie got, but who somehow got two-thirds the number of delegates that Bernie got. 

The party then denied Tulsi Gabbard a spot on the debate stage claiming that she failed to qualify. However, it allowed a former-Republican mayor of New York to buy his way onto the stage. While mayor of New York, Bloomberg (you may have heard of his news network) was infamous for his "stop and frisk" policy that courts struck down as unconstitutional. Clearly, the party was less concerned about qualifying for the debate, and more about finding some way to stop the growing progressive wing of the party. 

People Deny Agreeing with Tulsi Gabbard but They Agree with Her

So, do high-tech social media conglomerates have enough power to influence the way the public thinks? Do these companies abuse their knowledge of what we are thinking to influence our final decisions? Do you think that these companies sometimes limit what can be found in the search engines they own? 

If so, then likely the biggest difference between you and Tulsi Gabbard is that we can trace the actual damages that she suffered as a result of the truths that were agreed upon as the premises. 

Tulsi Gabbard was the most searched candidate after the first presidential debate. However, she said that her Google ad account was mysteriously suspended and later reinstated without explanation as to why either thing happened. In her recent statement to the House weaponization committee, she cited that as having limited her opportunity to interact with people who were interested in her candidacy. So, if Google did restrict her ad account in search results, I think it is reasonable to assume that they influenced those who searched for her and found other people's opinions of her but not her statements about her candidacy.