Author: Greg Snyder

Even before the Supreme Court grossly reinterpreted the second amendment and expanded it to the engorged, bloated carte blanche, free-for-all for the gun industry NRA monster it quickly became, and set the table for Congress to dine at the gun rights lobbyist buffet, Americans had the right to have one or two guns for protection.

I have never objected to anyone having a gun for self protection in his or her home. I don’t believe that anyone, however, should have combat weapons for anything. Even home protection. Why? Because they are combat weapons and were not created for general use other than combat. No. Your home is not a combat zone. At least not a sanctioned one.

The two branches of our government most responsible for gun violence, deaths and mass shootings are the Supreme Court because of the decisions it has made and Congress because it has not made laws that keep us safe and protect us. We have a president who would sign such legislation into law if Congress presented such bills. But we’ve been waiting for that to happen for a long time and gun violence and deaths have only increased while we’ve been waiting.

The Supreme Court defends the constitutionality of gun rights. But it doesn’t defend the constitutionality of Americans being protected from guns. Why?

The most remarkable thing about billionaires and centimillionaires is that they usually only use their money to make more money. They don’t participate in humanity. They don’t give back.

The most hopeful thing in this country of more than 330 million people is that most of the people are good people. They don’t hate. They are not paranoid and insecure. They are not bullies. They do not discriminate or hate for no reason or because of fear or because of ignorance. They don’t cheat to try to win and get their way in politics by being the biggest loudmouths and bullies or by dividing and conquering the fractured and polarized political space using racial, xenophobic nationalistic, and extreme and radical politics as a means of taking power.

Most Americans are not lap dog servants of the ultra rich. They are not violent and do not use violence as a way to achieve their agendas. Most of the more than 330 million Americans are peaceful, civil, empathetic, and civil people. They are good people. And the great thing is that they are now participating more in their government, the government that is supposed to represent them, work for them, and protect them, much more proactively than they had been for a very long time. And, I believe, there is less apathy for politics than there had been for a very long time.

That is what makes me feel hopeful about America: that the vast majority of Americans will eventually find a way to serve their own best interests by standing up for what is good and right and no longer continue to allow bullies or self-serving opportunists to take advantage of them and retain control and power over their lives. Eventually, Americans will actually govern themselves and work to create the government of, for, and by the people that the founders had in mind when they wrote the constitution.

Having basic needs met: housing/food/medical care/education/opportunities/equality/work and income are essential for human fulfillment and dignity.

This is true for every human being.

We ALL could have our basic needs met. But to do that we would have to pool our resources and make sure that they are all universally distributed.

Most people are only a paycheck away from being destitute at some point in their lives. Would it not be in the best interest of ALL of us to make sure that instead of finding ourselves destitute and impoverished we collectively take care of each other as brothers and sisters?

How much does the average American make in a lifetime? The answer varies by industry, education level, gender and location. The typical lifetime gross income range for American males is $1.13 million to $3.05 million, and $510,000 to $1.86 million for women, according to Social Security Administration data.

Individual income taxes accounted for more than half of total revenues for the federal government in 2022. The US collected $5.03 trillion in federal revenues in 2022, up $630 billion from the previous year, after adjusting for inflation. That equates to $15,098 collected per person, up 14% from 2021.

The average American will pay $532,910 in taxes throughout their lifetime. That’s a third (33.23%) of all estimated lifetime earnings ($1,571,244) spent on taxes.

A billion dollars is equal to one million dollars times 1,000.

Here’s what we know: Since 2020, the richest 1 percent have captured almost two-thirds of all new wealth. According to a 2021 White House study, the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the US paid an average federal individual tax rate of just 8.2 percent.

1. Bernard Arnault $208 B

2. Elon Musk $143 B

3. Gautam Adani $128 B

4. Jeff Bezos $119 B

5. Warren Buffett $110 B

6. Larry Elison $109 B

7. Bill Gates $103 B

8. Carlos Helu & Family $89 B

9. Mukesh Ambani $88 B

10. Larry Page $79 B

11. Steve Ballmer $77 B

12. Michael Bloomberg $76 B

13. Sergey Brin $76 B

14. Amancio Ortega $70 B

15. Zhong Shanshan $70 B

16. Jim Walton $61 B

17. Rob Walton $60 B

18. Charles Koch $59 B

19. David Thomson & Family $53 B

20. Michael Dell $52 B

That’s just the top 20 billionaires.

The costs of some dozen or so drugs are now being negotiated by Medicare and Pharma is spending gazillions of dollars to try to prevent it. Does Pharma think that negotiating drug prices on even this minuscule group of drugs might be a “gateway” to lowering the cost of more drugs? To which I would answer, “It damn well should be the opening salvo in Medicare being able to negotiate the cost of all drugs!”

My question is: Why isn’t Medicare able to negotiate and set the cost of ALL drugs? The ridiculously minuscule number of drugs that Medicare was okayed to negotiate is ludicrous. Medicare needs to be able to negotiate the cost of ALL drugs it procures. Anything less is insufficient and insulting and not really of much benefit to Medicare recipients.

If Congress really wanted to actually do something to mitigate inflation, it would write a law that allows Medicare to negotiate the costs of ALL drugs with Pharma.

Yes. Flying is often the only reasonable mode of transportation because distances are long and time is limited. And people do not give flying anywhere they feel like going a second thought. It has become the way we live. But before about 2 generations ago, air travel had not existed for all of the history of people inhabiting the Earth. Now it’s habit. But there are consequences to living like this. Including causing irreversible harm to the planet and probably eventually killing the planet and extinguishing the human race and life as we know it.

It amazes me that the subject of air travel has not even entered the discussion on climate change and what to do about it.

According to the latest estimates, there are approximately 100,000 flights per day. This number includes all types of flights, including passenger, cargo, and military aircraft. Passenger flights alone account for over 90,000 flights per day, transporting millions of passengers to destinations all around the world.

Just as we need electric cars to cut down the emissions from cars, we also need an alternative type of fuel for planes to do so. But that is not going to happen unless it enters into the discussion about climate change in the first place.

A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of CO2 per year. This assumes the average gasoline vehicle on the road today has a fuel economy of about 22.2 miles per gallon and drives around 11,500 miles per year. Every gallon of gasoline burned creates about 8,887 grams of CO2.

Compared to:

CO2 emissions from aviation fuel are 3.15 grams per gram of fuel [1], which gives CO2 emissions from a Boeing 737-400 of 115 g per passenger per km. At a cruising speed of 780 km per hour [Wikipedia, 28.2. 08], this is equivalent to 90 kg CO2 per passenger per hour.

1 gallon of gas, on average, creates 8,887 grams of CO2 for the average car. You can calculate how much CO2 you create by multiplying the number of gallons of gas it takes for your car to travel a given distance. So, if your car uses uses 50 gallons of gas in a trip, it has produced 440,350 grams of CO2. That trips generated .44035 metric tons of CO2.

Whereas, a Boeing 737-400 creates 90kg of CO2 per passenger per hour. So, if you are a passenger on a Boeing 737-400, your share of the emissions output is 90 kg per passenger hour.

In terms of traveling by cruise ship, here is some data:

But just how severe is their impact on the climate? Unfortunately, taking a cruise takes a toll on the planet. Your trip will average anywhere from 700-1000 pounds of carbon emissions a day, which is much higher than flying, driving or a traditional ‘land’ vacation.

Because the Trump era begs these questions:

Shouldn’t our president and other elected officials be required to have a minimum level of intelligence, not be corrupt, follow laws, be ethical and have morals?

Shouldn’t our president and other elected officials follow standards of normal behavior and actually honor the oath of office that they swear and not deviate from it for their own purposes?

Shouldn’t our president and other elected officials refrain from engaging in partisan and divisive politics to obtain and retain political power?