A Wandering Mind

Anti-discrimination Bill Dead for Another Year      Well, here in Nebraska, a statewide ban on discrimination against LGBTQ persons has been rejected without coming to a vote. The bill's supporters did not have the necessary votes to overcome a filibuster. For those of you not familiar with Nebraska, it's the only state in the U.S. with a single-house legislature (we call it "the Unicameral"), and on top of that, it is officially non-partisan, meaning candidates cannot declare their party on the ballot (though of course party affiliations are no secret). Actually, this is a really good idea, especially for a smallish state like Nebraska. In my opinion, more states should try it, but that is another story.       The Lincoln Journal Star reported that supporters of LB627, as it was known, believed they had close to the 25 votes needed to advance the measure to the next round of consideration, but 33 are needed to end a filibuster. Once again th...

Microsoft and Google Engineers for Good?        Within the past year, software and hardware engineers at both Google and Microsoft have protested to their respective firms that they do not want to be involved in contracts that develop products for the U.S. military. In both cases, the engineers have essentially said they do not want to be part of efforts that "kill people." Weirdly, these two things have not gotten a lot more press. I recently heard an extended story on MarketplaceTech with Molly Wood did an interesting feature on this on February 27, 2019.  https://www.marketplace.org/2019/02/27/tech/a-lot-of-tech-employees-dont-like-the-of-idea-their-work-being-used-by-the-military  There are a couple of articles referencing this, this one on NPR on February 22:  https://www.npr.org/2019/02/22/697110641/microsoft-workers-protest-army-contract-with-tech-designed-to-help-people-kill . Then there is one on Google engineers back in Summer of 2018:...

(NOTE: Published January 18, 2019 on LinkedIn) This piece from NPR (https://www.npr.org/2019/01/18/685829213/attempts-to-make-shutdown-painless-may-stretch-limits-of-federal-law) notes that attempts to ease the pain of the shutdown might be illegal. Or not. At any rate, there is disagreement among legal experts regarding how the federal Anti-deficiency Act should be interpreted. Can the administration order essential employees (those required for safety and security) to work indefinitely? Further, can the administration order others to work, like employees of the IRS, because they have important jobs to do, like process income tax returns? Whatever the answer, it is becoming increasingly clear that this shutdown will be bad for business. We no longer live in the "dual federal" republic where the national government has some jobs, the states and localities have others, and never shall these meet. Many programs are not only jointly funded (think of Medicaid) but joi...

(NOTE: Published in Omaha World Herald December 2017) Dropping a DIME on President Trump James A. Harrold             Military officers are familiar with the acronym DIME, a way to talk about the four instruments of national power: diplomatic, informational, military, and economic power. The military is trained in the application of force, but it is seldom, if ever, the first tool that a nation should resort to using. President Trump seems unaware of this, and seems to think that military might is the main instrument at his disposal. He is wrong, and this error is far more than a philosophical difference with his detractors; it is an error that can get people killed.   Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is busy dismantling the State Department under the guise of reform. Diplomatic positions have gone unfilled, and interest in taking the foreign service examination is down, but President Trump says this doesn’t matter. A...

(NOTE: Sent shortly after the 2016 presidential election) James A. Harrold November 30, 2016 Senator Deb Fischer 454 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Senator Ben Sasse 386A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Congressman Jeff Fortenberry 1514 Longworth House Office Washington, DC 20515 Congressman Adrian Smith 2241 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Congressman Brad Ashford 107 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Congressman-elect Don Bacon 11313 Davenport St Omaha, NE 68154             Dear Members of the Nebraska Congressional Delegation,             This is a letter to all members of the Nebraska Congressional Delegation. Now, it is certainly a fact that as a Nebraskan, I am represented by two Senators and one Member of the House of Representa...

I can only figure that Governor Dave Heineman of Nebraska is kidding.  First, buried on the obituary page of the Omaha World Herald on October 3, 2012, is this short article: http://www.omaha.com/article/20121002/LIVEWELL03/710039956 Here, the governor questions the findings of a college professor.  That is fine.  College professors question each others' findings all the time.  But the governor goes on to send a nasty letter to the University of Nebraska president, wherein he essentially threatens the university with funding cuts because a college professor does what a college professor is supposed to do---publish research (well, research that does not agree with the governor's politics, I suppose).  This is not the first time the governor has beat up on the University of Nebraska.  A few months back, he called the NU Foundation, which helps raise money for the State's university system, a bunch of "fat cats."  This is the same governor who has a ta...

When he thought no media people were listening, Governor Mitt Romney said this: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what … These are people who pay no income tax. 47 percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn’t connect… my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. Governor Romney’s percentages may be a little low.   Economist Robert Samuelson has suggested during the past year that perhaps as many as 56 percent ...