10 Thoughts for February 1, 2017

1. Pokemon is Back On: Well, after two months apparently I'm now allowed back in. My niece and sister were playing, so I reinstalled it and turned it on, and it logged me in. In the six-ish days that I've actually started playing again, I've jumped from level 15 to level 18. It's so easy when you live in downtown and walk a lot -- the dog has learned that we're going to randomly stop every so often, so he just stands there waiting and watching what's going on around him.
2. Don't Blink: If you blink, you might miss some crazy story about The Emperor. Not ever in the history of the United States, have we had an administration with this much chaos in such a short amount of time. We are rapidly building up to either his resignation or his impeachment, or something worse like a stroke, caused by overwhelming stress. In real time, we're seeing the meltdown of an administration, completely incompetent, with the walls closing in. But there's a problem...
3. Party Over Country: Do Republicans in Congress understand the difference between fielty to country and support for the party? This isn't just a problem facing Republicans, of course. In general, most of us have difficulty overcoming the bandwagon effect and an affinity for our own group. However, if Republicans fail to place country over party, we will either see The Emperor fundamentally change this country and turn it into an autocratic nation or some sort of militaristic / violent reaction. I don't know which action will push the country over the edge, but I am growing more confident that the trigger will be a combination of a recession with a widely unpopular move by The Emperor. Which brings me to the next point...
4. Our Generation's Selma Moment: We are, metaphorically speaking, having our own Selma moment, witnesses to both profiles in courage and cowardice. We have rogue federal workers standing up to The Emperor, an acting AG who refused to defile the US Constitution replaced by one who will. This is, as you might expect, driving The Emperor to madness. Lacking patience or tolerance for opposition, he has increasingly given way to rants and ill-considered actions.
5. The Strategy Few Comprehend: Psychologically, The Emperor is very easy to exploit and manipulate; were I in charge of a national strategy, as I noted one year ago, I would continually hit back at him, criticizing every little bit of detail that could possibly annoy him. It is when he is unhinged -- forced by his ego to respond to every little slight -- that he is most vulnerable to exposing himself as a poor decision-maker. His vocabulary shrinks, his eyes bulge, his face turns red, and he cannot think or operate clearly. It was Obama's cool-under-fire temperament that drove conservatives crazy, however, it is The Emperor's unhinged moments that make these same conservatives cringe.
6. Administration Disproves Itself: Just days after signing a foreign entry order which, among other things, stopped allowing refugees into the US, by suggesting that terrorists could get in under the old system, the administration has quietly determined that it will allow 872 "in-transit" refugees entry into the US. In other words, the prior vetting system was sufficient. The Emperor's team is full of shit, aren't they?
7. The Emperor's NDA: Reports have come out that the exclusion EO was written by congressional staffers who then signed NDAs. On its face, that appears to violate sunshine laws, particularly if those staffers used non-government systems to communicate, in an effort to hide their activities. More importantly, however, it also appears that these NDAs would violate the separation of powers of the US Constitution -- how does the Executive branch compel employees of the Legislative branch to keep quiet about their activities? I look forward to an outside group filing an FOIA to access coordination communications of these staffers, as well as the actual NDAs. Perhaps, I should have become a lawyer so that I could be on the front lines, but then again my greatest strength is actually creativity.
8. Personal Bubbles: We all live in personal bubbles of our making; in some cases, we naively create our bubbles, in other cases, we knowingly discriminate against others. Case in point, if you attend a world-class university you will encounter a lot of people who do not look, speak, or think like yourself, and you are given the choice to associate or dissociate yourself from each group or person. In college, I met and enjoyed talking to people from Iran, Iraq, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Israel, Mexico, Canada, Peru, Thailand, and Fiji. Yet, it was clear that many other people preferred to form cliques and stick to members of their own stripes. We should all strive to learn from others, tossing aside our preconceived notions. I don't screen people based on their conservative / liberal ideology -- do you?
9. National Signing Day: Did you hear that sound? Across the country thousands of jaws dropped, hitting the floor, as USC jumped from outside the top-10 to top-5 in a single day. If you go back two weeks, USC was just inside the top-20. Meanwhile, it sure sounds like coaches at Oregon were using negative recruiting and failed. As much as Trojans fans wanted Adoree Jackson and others to stay for their senior year, this year's haul shows that the Trojans are never lacking in the talent department.
10. Netflix Watching: In part because of my flight to / from Hawaii, I caught up on some Netflix viewing -- thank goodness for the ability to download episodes for offline viewing! -- so I've now completed A Series of Unfortunate Events and the last half of the final season of Hell on Wheels. In addition, I've also completed Terrace House Aloha State, season one of The Librarians, and Travelers. Next up will be the Terrace House Boys and Girls in the City, the current season of Ripper Street, completion of the second season of Narcos, the "second" season of Sense8, and Better Call Saul. With the speed that Netflix has been bringing newly released disc titles to streaming, I'm probably getting very close to dropping my disc subscription.