6 Thoughts for October 1, 2016

1. Lead: Is it just me, or are we stupid for continuing to allow the sale of lead sinker weights for fishing? I remember growing up using lead sinkers, and I also remember losing a lot of lines and those lead sinkers. After a cursory search, it appears that only in recent years some states have begun to -- ahem -- tackle this issue. Just think about how long those lead sinkers will be sitting in our waterways, polluting the fish we eat, for a century or more.
2. Bill's Indiscretions: If Donald attacks Hillary on the notion that she was an enabler of Bill's indiscretions, or to fault Hillary for attacking Bill's public accusers, he will lose the issue. Marital infidelity involves two people using their free will; you cannot lay the blame of the choices Bill and his female partners made, at the feet of Hillary. As for her actions in defense of Bill, marriage is hardly the institution it once was (Donald's three marriages, anyone?), but if you go back a few decades, Tammy Wynette once popularly sang, "But if you love him you'll forgive him, even though he's hard to understand ... Stand by your man, and show the world you love him." Today, it is no longer a virtue to endure infidelity.
3. Market Response to Debate: No, I'm not talking about the response of equity markets around the world, shooting up after a Hillary blowout win in the first debate. It's something of a comical insult that free-market Capitalism is fearful of Donald the Republican, but that's not the market response I'm talking about. Instead, I'm highlighting Predict-It's prices in the presidential race. Since July, a Hillary win has reached a low of $0.61 and a high of $0.79, and yesterday reached $0.73. The market is thus saying that its confidence of a Hillary win has been as low as 61% and as high as 79%. Contrary to what some statisticians say through their analysis of public polls, people playing the markets on this specific race have never considered the race to be a toss-up, nor has it been as volatile as the media portrays it.
4. US Supreme Court Vacancy: It is bad enough that the court has had a vacant seat for half a year, but the new term begins Monday and the first case comes up on Tuesday. The following Tuesday will be a blockbuster case, Samsung v. Apple, on whether or not damages from a violation of a design patent should be limited to the attributable value of that particular component covered by the design patent. By the time the US Senate has approved an appointment, SCOTUS will have gone through a full year spanning two terms without 9 justices.
5. USC Football: The real reason why people are upset at the head coach is that at 1 - 3 with two conference losses, fans are forced to lower expectations for the season. Losing one or two games early is one thing, but to lose three is a stab in the heart. The team has vastly improved from that first game, but not to the point where it could compete for a full game against Alabama. The head coach labeled Utah a must-win but they lost nonetheless, so where does that leave us? It leaves us with 8 remaining games, all of which are must-win games. But if you think the anger at a 1 - 3 team is bad, see what happens if the team reaches 7 losses.
6. Deplorable: I've listened to numerous podcasts and read many articles criticizing Hillary's reference to Donald's "basket of deplorables" and it completely annoys me that so many White Liberals Don't Understand. In a White person's world, racism is a negotiable opinion, but to a Black, Asian or Native American (etc.), it's a stab in the heart -- a direct offense against one's existence. YES, BEING A RACIST MAKES YOU A BAD PERSON. If you're White and you're talking to your White colleagues, it is easy to ignore the racism of your White brethren because their racism does not affect you directly; you may take offense at racism but it does not directly impede your way of life. That the Republican Party has moved to normalize racism as a negotiable opinion IS WITHOUT QUESTION, BAD.