The Impeachment Hearings - Argh & Damn

Len and I watched a lot of the impeachment hearings this week. George Kent, William Taylor, and Marie Yovanovitch showed us the worthy, smart, and patriotic Americans still serving our nation. Or at least trying to do so behind the chaos and greed, the ineptitude and apparent bribery of the people in this administration. 

 I’m sure other governments departments are staffed by many who are equally experienced, educated, professional and unflappable as Kent, Taylor, and the incredible Madam Ambassador. We don’t get to see them often enough to know what’s going on, so this is a strange opportunity to observe our tax dollars at work. I am grateful.  

 I was also so, so angry at Devin Nunes and some of the others.  In case you don’t know it, Nunes is a representative from California’s San Joaquin’s Valley. He says he is a dairy farmer, but an investigative report discovered the amazing truth that the dairy farm owned by his family for three generations is actually in Sibley, Iowa and is mostly staffed by undocumented workers. Read more about Nunes. 

 The hypocrisy is flamboyant and ugly.

 This is what Len wrote to friends:

...

 “I think that there are a lot of people who are used to enjoying the advantages of being white males in America, and they are at a loss to explain why it isn't working any longer. They followed the rules, such as they were. They played the game, and now the factories have gone to China, or robots, and they are not on top of the world.

 It's easy to see them blame imports, immigrants, welfare mothers and the Deep State.

 I think that they are also blaming the smart kids, and the anger they show at education is just as strong as it is toward the other groups.  And, it's sort of justified.  When they were in school, society said being tough, playing sports and going after the quick buck was going to be rewarded in a better way than learning stochastic processes.  (I don't exactly know what stochastic processes are, but my daughter does, and that's cool).  

 So now they think Trump gave them a tax break (spoiler alert: he didn't), and that the budget would be balanced if only we would stop giving money to the poor.  And the government doesn't make it any better by making tax returns weird, along with health insurance and college tuition. I just heard that the FAFSA is easier to fill out now; I'm skeptical.   

 The US still leads the world in technology and the arts, and I think that will continue to be the case.  But even though American is changing along with the world, many Americans are not, and they are really, really mad about it.”

... 

We have a long way to go in this saga.