Four Things Which Annoyed Me Today

1. Partian Primaries. I am reading "The Primary Solution", by Nick Troiano. The author makes a convincing case that the main cause of the bitter partisanship in today's politics is due to the system of partisan primaries. In light of this, it is disheartening that only five states have adopted the non-partisan primary: California, Washington, Nebraska, Alaska and Louisiana. The problem here is that the two main parties are jealous of their power and influence and refuse to give up their status as power brokers. Independents, which outnumber both of the two main parties these days, are shut out of the process, and we get candidates on the extreme fringes of the two main parties instead of candidates who actually want to solve problems. I will write more on this after I finish the Troiano book.

2. The Louisville Police Department. The Louisville Chief of Police read a statement today to the press, but said nothing other than that the policeman who had the run-in with golfer Scottie Scheffler did not turn on his body cam, and has been "counseled" about the violation. The Louisville Mayor made a statement in which he said nothing significant. Neither of the two took any questions from the press.

This is totally unacceptable. Why wasn't the District Attorney there, explaining why Scottie was charegd with a felony. Scheffler, who by all accounts is the most mild-mannerd, and deeply religious, golfer on the PGA tour, surely had no intent to cause the officer any harm, rendering the felony assault charge ludicrous. This is a huge black eye for the city of Louisville, and you would think the Louisville audthorities would be anxiopus to get in front of this issue and defuse it. But, apparently not.

3. Nikki Haley. Haley made a statement yesterday announcing she would be voting for Trump. This after her numerous statements during the campaign in which she explained that Trump was unfit to serve as president. This kind of about-face is not necessarily unusual in our politics, but the substance of Haley's statment defies credulity.

She stated that she wanted a president who would "have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account, secure the nation’s borders, and curb the national debt." Trump did none of these, and in fact actively worked to undermine NATO, cozied up to Russia and other authoritarian countries, and ballooned the national debt. Haley destoryed any credibility she might have had on the national stage by her moronic comments. So disappoinitng.

4. Samuelm Alito. News came out today that not only did Samuel Alito have an upside down flag flying at his house, a symbol of support for the so-called "stop the steal" movement by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the 2000 election results, but he also had it flying at his beach house. And yet Alito participates in election cases, further disgracing a Supreme Court which has already been discredited almosst to the point of irrelevancy.