VOTING FOR TRUMP

 No, I'm not voting for Trump.  But it boggles my mind the folks who are.  Here are the random thoughts coursing through my mind.

Blacks.  Trump is a racist and despite what he says, will go out of his way to prove it.  Rhetoric aside, I can't see any policy that blacks can be in favor of.  Ok, maybe abortion, which offends the religious black women.  But in my opinion, they should be more outraged at his cutting of social services that should go along with the babies that would be saved.  He should be getting less than 10% of their vote.

Hispanics.  His policies and rhetoric on immigration should be enough to turn off all of them.  The older Cubans in Florida like Republicans because of their stance against communism (aka Castro).  But that was old Republicans, not the pro-Putin Trump regime.  It will be interesting to see the breakdown from Florida.

Women.    The lack of leadership in this pandemic has exacerbated the problem and with schools going virtual (not to mention restaurants and bars etc), having the kids home should focus their attention that a change of direction is called for.   But I can see some women voting for him.

Evangelicals.  In their fervor to overturn Roe vs Wade, they have abandoned the teachings of Christ.  Well, they have their Supreme Court justice in place, so maybe in their mind selling their soul was worth it.

Mid-West farmers.  Here we have the salt of the earth, stalwart, independent farmers.  These folks, who pride themselves on being self-reliant, have been reduced to being on the dole because of Trump's stupid tariffs.  Farmer bankruptcies are up 20% with many farmers just leaving the business.  To make up for their lost revenue the government is making large subsidies, thus the rest of the country is paying to keep these farmers afloat.  So unnecessary.  

Rally-goers.  We are approaching 1,000 deaths per day due to, or complicated by, the corona virus which is easily spread.  How these folks can ignore the fact and purposely put themselves at risk is beyond my comprehension.  They believe the "fact" that 98% of those infected will get over it with minor inconvenience, ignoring the actual fact that they could spread it to someone who will have major problems, including death.  You can argue about testing numbers, but hospitalizations and deaths are real.  Although there is some outrageous spin on that too.  I don't see how anyone in the medical profession could vote for him.  Some are characterizing these rally-goers as cultists.  I tend to agree, in that they will sit, or stand, packed together without masks (the ones you see on TV behind him have been instructed to wear them for the photo op) in defiance of CDC guidelines, because Trump purposely defies CDC guidelines.  

BACKING THE BLUE

 To be clear, I've had this opinion since at least the mid 90's.  It's only the recent notoriety that prompts me to verbalize it.  This particular post has been in draft form for several weeks as I try to bring disparate thoughts into some form of cohesion.

I'll start with the the de rigueur: "defunding" the police departments.  Despite what alarmists want you to believe, it consists of shifting money and responsibility to some other section of social services.  In my opinion, this is a stupid idea.  Just shift the responsibility and free up the money to enhance police departments.  But this is a Pollyanna approach because of one party's decades long "no new taxes" mantra.  Police departments (and social services in general) are funded by taxes.  Republicans pledge not to raise taxes and Democrats don't have the power or backbone when they do have the power, to raise taxes.  This is so simple: if the cost of everything is going up but income remains the same, something has to be cut.   In the recent shift of money from the police department in Austin,  for example, part of that came from 150 unfilled police department positions and part of it came from delaying police academy classes.  This is stupid.  Increase taxes, fill positions, drastically reduce overtime made necessary because of lack of personnel.  

I'm all for backing the blue, but want something in return.  That something is for them to do their job honorably.  Let's face it, most of us wouldn't do well in that job.  It takes a certain personality to be able to withstand the constant contact with the less desirable members of the public.  Nowadays even a routine traffic stop is no longer routine.  What we need to do is make it easier for them to perform their duties.  Not being a policeman, I have no specific idea what that would be.  But given the spate of police shooting of black folks that make it to the news, I see a majority of them involve altercations with a person mentally challenged, either naturally or drug/alcohol induced.  When the beat cop finds himself in a hostage situation, for example, he calls for SWAT because they are especially trained.  So my first recommendation is for more special training, ideally a special team.  Of course, that takes money and personnel.  And I'm not overlooking that the situation is probably time-sensitive.  But it is a good starting point in coming to a solution.  

From what I'm seeing, either on TV or in person, once they leave the police academy, many cops lose their physical training.  There needs to be more than a half-hearted program to maintain physical prowess.

I firmly believe police unions have their place.  However, coming to the defense of egregious behavior should not be part of it.  I blame it all on football and teamwork.  Team members will go to great lengths to cover up/overlook undesirable activities because disclosure risks ostracization from the team.  All too often, with the advent of videos, the written report bears little resemblance to what really happened.  Police departments have Internal Affairs and from what I can discern, this section and the unions are opposites.  In my opinion, the unions should be at the forefront of overseeing members who improperly perform their duties. They can best have their member's backs by weeding out completely or changing unprofessional behavior.