Twitter Meister

King of the Tweeters
The Great Communicator
The Great Manipulator
Given’ ‘em just a taste, or
just doin’ what comes naturally with the tool at hand, Twitter.

Whichever it is, Mr. Trump has mastered Twitter. At his fingers, Twitter has become The Medium for reaching his supporters; making ‘em believe he’s doin’ somethin’ huge; keeping the mainstream media in the palm of his hand; minimizing and controlling available information; and, eliminating substantive reporting.

It reminds me of mortar or artillery harassing fire to keep the enemy pinned down and guessing what’s goin’ on, anxiously occupied for the comin’ attack, if there is one.

That is to say, we are all waiting for the next itty-bit of info that the Meister tosses our way in order to cipher out which way is up.

And, of course there are potential downsides to all this Twitterin', right? Dr. Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan, points one out in his Tweet:

Tweets.2
As a Michigander, I’ll admit to more than a little distrust when viewin’ Mr. Trump’s tweets claiming a great victory over savin’ 1,000 jobs, since the number of disappeared manufacturing jobs ranges to nearly 5 million over the past 20 years. And, to complicate matters, over the past 25 years, exports have quadrupled and uncompensated productivity has actually skyrocketed with a lot less people workin’. Further, claiming a great victory, without revealing the terms to do so, is not only misleading it is an abysmally microscopic first step compared to losin’ millions.*

*The Carrier Deal Is Great — But Trump Hasn’t Saved Manufacturing Yet, Issie Lapowsky, Wired.com, 30 Nov 2016.

Ah... about Draining That Swamp...

Given the team self-professed, federal-government-dismantlers which Mr. Trump is appointing to his cabinet, we can expect an unrecognizable USA to emerge in short order as these Republican nihilists murder what little humanity exists in our government. It won’t take them long because they are literally drooling like a pack of starving hyenas ready to rip apart and “privatize” our meager consumer protections and miserly human services.

But, the real question is: How long before the flyover-state Trump supporters realize that they have been duped into believing he will make their America great again?*

After all, we already know he wasted no time making his America greater. Right from the get-go he has been monetizing the power of the presidency into his bank account.**

Interesting isn’t it? Mr. Trump seems determined to drain the “swamp”, just like he promised on the campaign trail. But, no one thought to ask him the follow-up question, “Where will you put all those nasty swamp monsters?” 

Now, we know. He’s appointing them to his cabinet and other top level federal jobs.

* Already a Big Gap Between Trump’s Promises to the Middle Class and his Policies, Josh Bivens, BillMoyers.com, 28 Nov 2016.

** Democrats Ask Oversight Committee To Investigate Trump’s Potential Conflicts Of Interest, Matt Fuller, Huffington Post, 28 Nov 2016.

The Election: Wake Up. Listen to the Stories.

by Gary R. Baker, Senior Lecturer, English Composition, University of Akron

Around nine o’clock on the evening of November 8, a friend from college days at Kent State University called me to say that the election results were not going well. He was offering a gentle warning. As we talked, Trump built up his lead in the Electoral College, and the US map grew red and then redder. I told my friend that support for Hillary Clinton in the West – in Colorado – but especially California plus Oregon and Washington – would save the day. Before election day, I had assumed that Clinton would win in a very close vote. I was worried that Trump might win the popular vote with Clinton winning the Electoral College – thus giving Trump “evidence” that the system was rigged against him.

I stayed up much too late that night. I even took my radio to bed with me to continue to listen to the results. Trump’s victory in the Electoral College left me stunned – a bit punch drunk – and on the edge of nausea for several days. I have been trying to figure out what happened and why. What does this election mean? What do we do now?

Donald Trump (with Rudy Giuliani) visited the University of Akron during the Fall Semester. He spoke at the JAR (the arena named for the late Ohio Governor, James A. Rhodes). That day excitement was building. University police were evident – standing next to their cars in the area around the JAR. Just west of the arena, TV trucks with satellite dishes stood ready to beam the rally to the world.

Many tables and small “Trump Stores” were being set up on campus and on the sidewalks bordering the campus. Plenty of wares were laid out – buttons, bumper stickers, baseball caps. The messages on the merchandise were not filtered. One button with Hillary Clinton’s face said, “Life’s a Bitch, So Why Vote for One?”

People planning to attend the rally were walking on campus. They were happy and excited – looking forward to the rally. They looked like working people. They looked like people from smaller towns. They didn’t appear to be students or members of the faculty. Their numbers grew. The line formed near the entrance. The line started to stretch.

Later that afternoon, I watched the rally inside the JAR via a video feed from my laptop in my apartment. It was scheduled to begin at 7 PM. Around 6:10, Rudy Giuliani was warming up the crowd. His energy level hit a peak. His adrenaline was pumping. Every seat and every space was taken. “We planned to start at 7. But the arena is full. It’s packed. The line to get in is not getting any shorter. It keeps growing. So we’ve decided to start. Why wait?” And he proceeded to introduce Donald Trump.

Under spotlights, Trump walked into the arena from a side door to loud, on-going applause. During some of his rallies, Trump had happily encouraged security people or police to throw out protestors – not this time. No protestors appeared in the arena. He went smoothly through his speech. At the end of his speech, he walked down a long line of bleachers. People leaned forward and reached out to shake his hand or to ask him to autograph a T-shirt or Make American Great Again baseball cap. Women came up to him. One woman with her teenaged daughter. Black men. Younger and middle aged white men. He slowly made his way to the side door he had entered earlier. He had many conversations with people along the way.

Look at the faces of the people. To understand what’s going on, we need to look not so much at Trump but at the people. Their faces showed enthusiasm and affection and a willingness to hope. Their faces showed a confidence in Trump that he was someone who heard their stories and felt their concerns on a gut level. To understand what’s going on, we need to listen not so much to Trump’s words but to the stories the people are speaking about their own lives.

Trump carried Ohio. No doubt about it. Clinton carried the urban areas; however, Trump cut into her lead in those traditionally Democratic areas. He swept non-urban counties. Most of the state map ended up “red”.

Trump won a majority in the Electoral College. But Clinton won the national popular vote by around 2,000,000 – the second time in sixteen years that the outcome of the Electoral College vote did not square with the national popular vote.

What Now?

To understand what’s going on, we need to look not so much at Trump but at the people. Their faces showed enthusiasm and affection and a willingness to hope. Their faces showed a confidence in Trump that he was someone who heard their stories and felt their concerns on a gut level. To understand what’s going on, we need to listen not so much to Trump’s words but to the stories the people are speaking about their own lives.

Trump carried Ohio. No doubt about it. Clinton carried the urban areas; however, Trump cut into her lead in those traditionally Democratic areas. He swept non-urban counties. Most of the state map ended up “red”.

Trump won a majority in the Electoral College. But Clinton won the national popular vote by around 2,000,000 – the second time in sixteen years that the outcome of the Electoral College vote did not square with the national popular vote.

We have to hear each other. We have to hear the stories. We have to hear the stories about each other’s lives and the work we do.

The Democratic Party must become the party of working people again – working people of all races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and geographic locations. As working people, we have overlapping and shared identities.

We must work for fairness and justice in our elections. If we keep the Electoral College, we need to reform it. Perhaps we should follow a form of proportional representation within each state to assign electoral votes – rather than the tradition of winner-take-all. We must work for fairness in the drawing of Congressional and state legislative districts. Let’s put an end to gerrymandering. Some states have taken action already and have established non-partisan or independent commissions. California is one of those states. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission has been operating for several years. Take a look at http://www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/faq.html.

To make democracy work, we must vote in elections. But between elections we must be like Argus, as James Madison explained. We have to watch the individuals elected and appointed. We have to watch each branch of the government. We must stay awake and aware.

But – so important – we must watch out for each other – especially the most vulnerable, the most exposed to political and economic winds, the people with the least amount of power and the least amount of money in their own hands.    

References and Photo Credits

1. Entertainment Fort Smith
2. Election Results, Ohio, The New York Times
3. Mother Kindness, DownriverUSA
4. Everyday Hero is Next to You , DownriverUSA

One Executive Worth his Salt

In case you haven’t noticed, some “executives” achieve their “C” suite positions because they are or border upon psychopathic personalities. They treat their employees like trash and their fellow executives like stepping stones.

Sergio Marchionne, however is a human being and an outstanding leader, as well. So, in my book, he is one executive worth his salt.

Mr. Marchionne has repeatedly proven his unequalled management skills over and over these past years as Chief Executive Officer of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V.; Chairman and CEO of FCA US LLC.; Chairman of CNH Industrial N.V.; and Chairman and CEO of Ferrari N.V.

When Mr. Machionne speaks I know he speaks with the authority of a corporate combat veteran of untold global-spanning battles.

I lived through Depression.2. I can attest to the fact that for many Michiganders and automotive industry people throughout the world that past “recession” was much deeper and longer lasting than most people can appreciate.

So, when Mr. Machionne says that Mr. Trump is a "game changer", well, I know hard times may be just around the corner.*

I hate the thought of Depression.3, because I fear most of the 99.9% will not sit still and wait to be tossed out of their homes again while the .01% continue to enjoy the "Rich and Famous Life Style" touted by our President-elect.

* Marchionne: Trump is a 'game changer' for auto industry

“President-elect Donald Trump’s critical stance toward free trade could affect Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s business in North America, according to the Italian automaker’s chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne.”

“Trump’s election ‘certainly is a game changer, mainly because I think that there are a number of conditions in the U.S. which are not yet spelled out,’ Marchionne told Bloomberg Television at an Alfa Romeo plant in Cassino, Italy. Statements Trump has made about trade are ‘a big issue’ because of the North American Free Trade Agreement’s impact on Fiat’s operations in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.”

Please go here for the whole story:

Marchionne: Trump is a ‘game changer’ for auto industry, JohnFollain, Bloomberg, The Detroit News, 24 Nov 2016.

Super Charged Battery

While the United States seems headed into a period of neo-Dark Ages, some bright lights are still shining. For how long we do not know since the new administration appears ready to dismantle every governmental program of value, including education. Still, it is not looking good for technological progress, to say nothing about the welfare of us, the “Joe and Jane lunch buckets”, the common un-billionaires, the 99.9%.

So, reading Steve Dent’s report at www.engadget.com, about the University of Central Florida’s achievement is like mainlining a brain-boosting IV. Here’s the story:

New battery tech lasts for days, charges in seconds

Scientists from the University of Central Florida (UCF) have created a supercapacitor battery prototype that works like new even after being recharged 30,000 times. The research could yield high-capacity, ultra-fast-charging batteries that last over 20 times longer than a conventional lithium-ion cell. "You could charge your mobile phone in a few seconds and you wouldn't need to charge it again for over a week," says UCF postdoctoral associate Nitin Choudhary.

Supercapacitors can be charged quickly because they store electricity statically on the surface of a material, rather than using chemical reactions like batteries. That requires "two-dimensional" material sheets with large surface areas that can hold lots of electrons. However, much of the research, including that by EV-maker Henrik Fisker and UCLA, uses graphene as the two-dimensional material.

Yeonwoong "Eric" Jung from UCF says it's a challenge to integrate graphene with other materials used in supercapacitors, though. That's why his team wrapped 2D metal materials (TMDs) just a few atoms thick around highly-conductive 1D nanowires, letting electrons pass quickly from the core to the shell. That yielded a fast charging material with high energy and power density that's relatively simple to produce. "We developed a simple chemical synthesis approach so we can very nicely integrate the existing materials with the two-dimensional materials," Jung says.

The research is in early days and not ready for commercialization, but it looks promising. ""For small electronic devices, our materials are surpassing the conventional ones worldwide in terms of energy density, power density and cyclic stability," Choudhary said.

Jung calls the research "proof-of-concept," and the team is now trying to patent its new process. While it could go nowhere like many other battery developments, it's worth looking at new supercapacitor research closely. If commercialized, it could allow for longer-range EVs that can be charged in minutes rather than hours, long-lasting (non-explosive) smartphones that can be charged in seconds and grid or home energy storage solutions that drastically reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Read more about grapheme and other breakthroughs here: www.brkthu.org

Willow Run's Mobility Future

The other day, a few miles from my location in Downriver Michigan, a few politicians gathered for a photo opportunity. They performed the time-honored, “throw-a-shovelful-of-dirt-toward-the-camera” groundbreaking ceremony at Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti Township, MI, close to the location of the former, massive Willow Run assembly plant. During WWII more than 8,700 B-24 bombers were built there.*

The new facility, which the dignitaries celebrated, is expected to be in operation by December, 2017, for the American Center for Mobility (ACM). ACM is a non-profit testing and product development facility for future mobility, designed to enable safe validation of connected and automated vehicle technology, and accelerate the development of voluntary standards.

Back in the 1940s thousands of Metro Detroiter workers, many of them women of “Rosie the Riveter” fame, came to Willow Run to work on those airplanes. Over the next few years, the facility itself grew in stature to represent in many ways the best of the “golden generation”. The women proved their value and resourcefulness in a multitude of ways and the B-24 played a huge role during the war.

After the war, General Motors Co. repurposed Willow Run as a powertrain plant.

A few years ago, you will recall, GM fell into hard times and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court created RACER Trust to dispose of properties and facilities owned by the former General Motors Corp. Willow Run became one of the “disposed” facilities, and most of the massive structure was demolished. The remaining portion was sold to the Yankee Air Museum.

ACM has great plans for the new facilities it is building on the legendary property, Explained John Maddox, president and CEO of ACM, “We envision the American Center for Mobility as a global hub for connected and automated vehicle technologies supported by Michigan’s high concentration of automotive expertise. We are excited to be partnering with the state of Michigan to establish a fully-capable, real-world testing and innovation center that will be instrumental in putting self-driving cars on America’s roads.”

“Self-driving cars” aka “autonomous cars” or “driverless cars”… Now, this is the technology that will put us one up over the Jetsons. You remember them, the 2060 family. While their vehicle could fly, it still left the steering to George, the head of the Jetson clan.

Our future car? Well, it will steer itself while we try to “relax”.

Go here for an episode of the Jetsons:
The Jetsons S01E04 - The Space Car

*Go here for more about the ACM groundbreaking.
Willow Run could change how world moves again, Daniel Howes , The Detroit News, 22 Nov 2016.

35 Cents & a Box of Sugar

It took a lot of effort back then, but I really wanted that exploding battleship toy. It looked like a lot of fun and sending my 35 cents to Battle Creek, Michigan was like taking part in history. I mean, Battle Creek? What a great name! What happened there, anyway?

"I don’t know", I thought, "but just send these boat things to me. I had to have that battleship and submarine!"

Well, one day they came and it was great fun.

The cereal? I guess it was O.K.

Little did I, nor did anyone, know then that sugar would end up making us all sugar addicts some 57 years later and that sugar, in one form or another, would be an ingredient in nearly everything we eat.

The result is that we are not only obese, we are literally the “walking dead”, subject to the eight chronic metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance) diseases: heart disease, lipid (blood) problems, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cancer (especially breast and colon), polycystic ovarian syndrome, and dementia. Please go here for the story: http://www.legacygrandkids.info/legacygrandkids_health.html.

How did we get into this predicament?

Obviously, most humans have a major sweet tooth. We love sweets. So, in order to sell more product, the process foods industry simply added heaping loads of sugar to everything they made. Back in the 50s and 60s, no one understood the horrible consequences of mega–sugar-overloaded foods.

Today we know.

That’s why this AP headline caught my attention: ‘Independent experts’ paid by Kellogg.

It seems that Kellogg set up a “Breakfast Council” consisting of “independent experts” to help the company with its “nutritional” program. The problem is that Kellogg never directly released the information that their “experts” were paid experts.

For me that rings a warning bell.

Like the tobacco industry, the sugar industry adopted and implemented a long-time “disinformation” program, using paid, “independent experts” to discredit years of research which clearly showed the negative health impact of smoking and consuming too much sugar. Both industries disavowed the fact that experts supporting them were paid by the industries to do so and that the research they proffered was tainted.

Combined, their highly effective PR and advertising disinformation programs have directly led to the lung cancer and metabolic syndrome disease epidemics we have endured over the past 60 or so years. The cost to humanity in misery and death has been horrendous. The cost in healthcare dollars ranges into the trillions of dollars.

I hope Kellogg will quickly implement an effort to inform the public about their paid nutritional expert program. The consuming public needs to know that Kellogg’s has their best health interests in mind.

That Akron, OH, kid... who sent his hard-earned 35 cents to Battle Creek, MI... would greatly appreciate it.