How to misinterpret data

Obamacare Signups Near 10 Million in Midyear Report

This is a great lesson in misinterpretation.  This quote is from the end of the article:

""Consumers from coast to coast are continuing to show how important health coverage is to their families," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement. The figures released Tuesday cover the period through June 30."

Let me see here.  We pass a law that says everyone HAS to do something.  Then, some people abide by the law, and voilà, we have proven how important health coverage is to people.  Well, it might be important to people, I don't know, but the fact that people are signing up certainly doesn't show any such thing.  It only shows that people are signing up because otherwise they face a fine, and, according to this article, 84 percent of those that signed up are eligible for tax subsidies.  So, yeah, it's probably better to sign up and get free, or at least reduced cost coverage, than to not sign up and pay a fine, which is scheduled to increase substantially this year from last.  So, what this really shows is that people would rather spend money and get something than spend money and get nothing.  Yawn.  Unfortunately, this law will only lead to increasing healthcare expenditures, while hiding the true cost of healthcare from consumers.  In the meantime we can just go about pretending it's all good.

Treason!

Senate Republican Tom Cotton Commits Treason Against America For The Second Time

I always thought that treason was doing stuff like aiding and abetting the enemy, so I couldn't resist when I saw the headline.  Turns out, it's worse than I thought.

Apparently, the left thinks that treason consists of disagreeing with the President, at least so long as the President is also on the left.  Or maybe they think it's okay to disagree so long as you don't actually say you disagree, and certainly so long as you don't actually take any action based on that disagreement.  Action meaning doing stuff like voting to block the President from making a deal, or lobbying your colleagues in the Senate to vote with you.  After all, our government isn't meant to have actual checks and balances; it's only meant to have the appearance of checks and balances.  That way, we can have a dictator while maintaining the appearance of having a democracy.  Cuz, you know, appearances are everything.

So, this article claims that Cotton "[swore] a pledge of allegiance" to Israel.  Um, no.  He did promise to stand by our ally, which, call me silly but this is something that I think we should do, otherwise we're not allies.  At any rate, here is the quote that apparently constitutes a "pledge of allegiance" to the left:

“Today’s meeting only reaffirms my opposition to this deal,” Cotton said in a statement after the meeting. “I will stand with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel and work with my colleagues in Congress to stop this deal and to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself against Iran and its terrorist surrogates.”

I suppose that technically you could, in fact, call this a "pledge of allegiance," but the linked article only used those words to put a spin on the actual words, to make it sound as if Cotton were just about denouncing his U.S. citizenship.  Instead, though, he was promising to use the power of his office to work to stand by our ally.  Hardly what I would call treason, but then, I'm not exactly a progressive.

Well, this article is full of nonsense, like this:

"[T]his is an executive agreement and not technically a treaty"

That quote actually links to this article, which explains what the difference between an executive agreement and a treaty is.  I'll save you the click; there is no difference except in the name.  The term executive agreement was devised to come up with a way for the President to not have to get Senate approval for a treaty, by calling it something else.  So, um, technically, it is a treaty.  A treaty by any other name... well, you know.  Except here in the U.S. of course.

Given the foolishness demonstrated by the author of the linked article, it isn't surprising that the comments are even more foolish.  For example:

"Arrest and try the Idiot for treason. Iam sick of our elected officials giving aid to foreign countries."

 Apparently, this individual thinks that any kind of foreign aid is treason.  I may not really like how much foreign aid we give, but I wouldn't call it treason.  If it were, then every one of our government officials is probably guilty of treason.  Hmm, maybe that guy is on to something...

Here's another good one:

"Mr. Cotton and his "cohorts" in congress should be charged with treason no matter what. This is a huge embarrassment to the USA. Its high time we charge people with treason..... Our forefathers would have done it already."

They should be charged with treason no matter what.  That's an interesting thought: charge them regardless of whether they committed actual treason.  Cuz, you know, they embarrassed us.  Okay, they didn't embarrass me, but it looks like they embarrassed some people.  Clearly treasonous.  But if embarrassment is truly equivalent to treason, then perhaps Obama, and those that chose to elect him twice, are equally guilty of treason.  That last part of the quote is particularly interesting in that our forefathers were also guilty of treason.  It's also interesting that someone that probably doesn't know much about the history of our country deigns to know what our forefathers would have done.  Worse than that, this is probably also a person that insists that it isn't important what our forefathers would have done, since this is definitely a different world than the one our forefathers lived in.

And then, there's actually a comment that questions the validity of the claim that Cotton actually committed treason.  Unfortunately the poster hasn't yet learned that you won't get a good response to that kind of question in the comments section.  Here is the response:

"Was he or was he not in that country? Did he and a few other senators invite Him to our country to disgrace our president?"

Sounds like a lawyer wannabe.  Last I heard, visiting Israel (that country) doesn't constitute treason.  And, did inviting the leader of one of our allies to speak to Congress actually disgrace our President?  Nope.  I actually doubt that disgracing the President was the intended outcome.  Personally, I think our President does a pretty fine job of disgracing himself.  Again, maybe we should lock him up, if we're going to be locking anyone up.  Making a case to support an opinion that differs from the President's opinion does not constitute treason.

This isn't rocket science here.  This isn't treason either.  For the record, so long as we as a country insist that we don't negotiate with terrorists, I think we shouldn't negotiate with state sponsors of terrorism either.  So, it follows that I am against the deal with Iran.  And while I don't necessarily know enough about Israel to form an opinion as to whether we should be allies with them, I do know that since we are allies with them we should be committed to that relationship and promise to aid them should they need it.  Otherwise, what exactly is an ally?

The cost of stupid

For a while, I was considering actually determining how much stupidity costs.  Then, I decided that actually attempting to do that would be, well, stupid, so I didn't.  I don't think it really needs to be figured.  It is, for all practical purposes, equal to GDP, which helps to explain why we run federal deficits regularly here in the U.S.

So, here are some examples of how stupidity costs us.  I know of one employer that has a facility to employs over 1,000 people, all of whom have the job of dealing with customer stupidity.  A rough estimate of the cost of this single facility is $50 million annually.  Don't ask who it is.

A road near my home was dug up last year to do some utility work.  When the crew ran into some underground utilities that weren't where they were supposed to be, they decided to postpone the work until this year and repaved over the whole thing.  This year, the road was dug up again, and it looks like they completed the work, since they have repaved the road again.  Painted some nice white lines on it.  Looked really good, until they then decided to chip seal it.  Maybe that's a new thing, to chip seal new asphalt, but I don't really see the point, and I especially don't see the point of painting lines first, since now, they'll need to repaint the lines.

We've spent billions launching air strikes against ISIS, never doing enough to win, or even to take back meaningful areas of land.  Stupid.  Either set about winning, or GTFO of that whole mess.  My choice is the latter.

Most, if not all, automobile accidents are the result of stupidity.  The list goes on.  In saying this, I'm not saying that everyone else is stupid and I'm not; I am, after all, human and being stupid is part of that.  But, really, a lot of the stupid that goes on in the world is, in fact, avoidable.  Unfortunately, most don't want to be bothered with avoiding it, or worse, most think that they are, in fact, not stupid, which, in turn, makes them the stupidest of all.

So, now that I've gotten that off my chest, here's a look at some of the recent news.

Mt. McKinley to Denali: How A Mountain's Renaming Got Tied Up in Politics

Yeah, I don't really care how it got tied up in politics.  I don't know what all the hubbub is about.  It's a name, a label.  People are too hung up on labels these days.  To me, there's actually a simple solution to the problem anyway.  Name the mountain Denali, but name the national park McKinley.  I'm sure someone would be offended by that, but who cares, really.  People are spending way too much time looking for things to be offended by.  Another example of the cost of stupid.

Challenged on Left and Right, the Fed Faces a Decision on Rates

"[T]he Fed plans to raise its benchmark interest rate one-quarter of one percentage point, a mathematically minor move that has become a very big deal."

Um, no.  When the rate is changed from 0% to 0.25%, it's actually not a mathematically minor move.  It's friggin' huge, mathematically speaking.  But, in the real world, it won't change much, so it really is a kind of minor thing.  I don't think it's really the rate that's all that important.  It's more about the signalling.  If the Fed raises rates, it signals that they think the recovery is strong.  It also gives them room to lower the rate when we enter the inevitable coming recession.  What do I think?  I don't think it much matters what the Fed does.  The next recession, which isn't far off in the future, is going to be bad whether the Fed has any room to lower rates or not.  It's going to kill a lot of people's retirement plans, including mine.  To get a little more specific, without going into a lot of detail, I think the next recession is going to be long and marked by high inflation, which shouldn't happen but will in this artificial economy our government has created in order to make it look like they're doing something.

We have drug violence all wrong: Prohibition is the root cause  

Yes and no.  Legalizing drugs may actually reduce drug violence, but at the same time, I suspect that violence would increase elsewhere.  But, I'm all for legalizing drugs.  I'm also all for legalizing prostitution.  I don't even think driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs should be an actual crime.  Drug laws don't stop people from doing drugs.  DUI laws don't stop people from driving under the influence, and prostitution laws don't stop people from going to prostitutes.  Perhaps in some cases it does deter those things, I don't really know.  Really, though, I don't feel like having those laws makes anything safer.  And I don't expect to see a big decline in violence if those things are ever legalized.  We'll still find reasons to kill or hurt each other, because that's the way we are.

Inside Ben Carson's quiet surge

So, it looks like Ben Carson deserves another look.  In an earlier post, I really pretty much dismissed him since I didn't know who the heck he was, actually.  But, the more I see, the more I like, mostly anyway.

"He told CNN earlier this year that some people become gay in prison, indicating homosexuality is a choice -- a comment for which he later apologized."

I just wish he hadn't apologized there.  I don't know if there's a genetic "cause" of homosexuality or not.  In the end, though, the behavior is a choice.  And I don't think that anyone that has an opinion like that needs to apologize for having that opinion, nor do they need to keep their opinion to themselves.  It is, perhaps, the one thing that I actually admire about Donald Trump.  I don't think I've ever heard him apologize for his opinion.

Obama to Call for More Icebreakers in Arctic as U.S. Seeks Foothold

I hear a lot of people on the right saying that Obama is executing a plan to destroy the U.S.  I don't think Obama is smart enough to have a plan.  I think he's doing it, as my kids used to say, "on accident."  But, if he does have a plan, this particular part is absolutely brilliant, I must say.  Let's just assume for a moment that the human contribution to climate change is real, and substantial.  First, Obama throws billions of taxpayer dollars into decreasing carbon emissions, which is already not economically viable hence the need for the government to spend that money.  Then we'll spend more making sure oil companies can produce ever increasing amounts of oil, making "clean" alternatives ever less economically viable as the increasing supply of oil pushes the price ever lower.  Presumably, the next logical step is to spend even more on reducing carbon emissions, in order to counteract the effect of cheaper oil.  At least that way, nobody will really know exactly how much they're spending on energy.  We'll all just smile appreciatively at Obama cuz, you know, gas is so, darn cheap, and it's all because of HIM.  Kind of like health care, which is now more unaffordable than ever, yet most think it's more affordable than ever.

I have one question though, and I know it's not original, but I still need to ask.  How much carbon did Obama release into the atmosphere on his flight to Alaska to "highlight the challenge of climate change and call for a worldwide effort to address its root causes?"

Kentucky Clerk Denies Same-Sex Marriage Licenses, Defying Court

I just have to say one thing to that clerk.  If you don't want to do your job, get a different job.  That's why they invented those (different jobs, that is).

The Daily 202: Six unclassified nuggets in newly released Hillary e-mails

"IT folks at State did not know about the Clintons’ e-mail setup" 

Of course they didn't.  It was on a need-to-know basis.  And how was she supposed to know that someone would have a problem emailing her and ask the IT folks at State?  So, from her perspective, they didn't need to know.

"Sidney Blumenthal e-mailed HRC that incoming Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) “is louche, alcoholic, lazy, and without any commitment to any principle.”" 

I think Boehner deserves an apology.

“The incompetence is mind numbing.”

 As it is around the world, Chelsea.  Fortunately, your parents fit right in.

"In related news, ICE announced that a four-day sweep led to the arrest of 240 undocumented immigrants with criminal records in Southern California. The feds said most of those 240 had at least one felony conviction on their record. “It was the most successful four-day sweep of its kind in the region,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “But an ICE spokeswoman cautioned against concluding that crime involving immigrants is up.”"

Why in the world would I conclude anything other than there were 240 undocumented workers with felony records arrested?  I can't stand it when a bureaucrat  tells me not to jump to a conclusion that is nonsensical.  Does she think I'm stupid?  All I can say is good job, now get them out of here.  Of course, I also won't be jumping to the conclusion that that will actually happen.

"Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) has called parents to apologize over comments he made to their second- and third-graders during an elementary school visit. “Do you know that there are schools that train children your age to be suicide bombers?” the lawmaker told the children."

Well, yeah, cuz we don't want kids to know the truth about the world.  Unless it's not true, of course.

There are more gems in that last link, but alas, my time is limited.  Unfortunately, I have to think about getting ready to go to my job, which, according to some, I owe to the stupid people of the world that can't follow relatively simple instructions.  Without them, I'd be unemployed.  At least, that's what people think, although I prefer to think that without them, I'd have a way better job.