Happy 2018 everyone. Have a safe and prosperous New Year

Fareed Zakaria GPS: Watch the what in the World Segment on Apprenticeships about halfway through the show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfA1qK1QisI

Video Courtesy of PBS on the Kansas Economic Program

https://www.facebook.com/newshour/videos/10156030194993675/

This Week in Science and Technology

https://futurism.com/images/this-week-in-science-dec-16-22-2017/

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jimmy Marguiles

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Ed Wexler

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Ed Wexler

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Paresh

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Dave Granlund

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Rob Rogers

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of John Cole

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jim Morin

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jack Ohman

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of M Streeter

Marvin Miller belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame

This is probably a strange post for a public policy blog but this is about the head of a union that deserves appreciation from the people he ably served. Around this time every year, there is always debates on who should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. There are players that have had exceptional careers like Fred McGriff, Tommy John, Luis Tiant, Jim Kaat, Harold Baines, and Thurman Munson that have not been elected yet despite players with comparable careers having made it. The same can be said for managers like Billy Martin or Davey Johnson who were consistent winners for different teams. There will be continual debate whether Pete Rose, because if his career as a player, should finally be let in the Hall. However, there is one person who has been denied that every ballplayer since the 1960's owes a debt of gratitude. That person is Marvin Miller, the former head of the Major League Baseball's Players Association. Every baseball player who played the game since the late 1960's should go to where Miller is buried and kiss hid gravestone because the salaries and benefits baseball players have then and today can be traced to this one head of baseball's players union and his ability to help break the backs of the reserve clause that paved the way for free agency. A person with that much influence in the game and in labor history deserves a plaque in Cooperstown. The Veterans Committee should show their appreciation the next time Miller's name comes up. It is only right.

Shields and Brooks from 12/29/17

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/shields-and-brooks-on-political-polarization-and-social-reckoning-in-2017

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of David Horsey

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Phil Hands

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jack Ohman

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Michael Ramirez

Editorial Poster courtesy of Democracy Rising

Editorial Poster courtesy of American Reformers

Editorial Poster courtesy of Occupy Democrats

Idea of the Week: Paid Family Leave

It is time to help all Families with paid family leave when there are periods of need.  This would not replace paid sick or vacation days most major employers provide. This can be funded by a small percentage of a persons paycheck to go into this "emergency fund" and indexed according to the size of the business and the time a person needs to take off. This would be an addendum to the Family Leave Act of 1993.

Movie of the Week

Steven Spielberg's   "The Post" which is a historical drama on the release of the Pentagon Papers that revealed to the country our government's mistakes and ulterior motives for getting involved in the Vietnam War.

DVD of the week

Both versions of the television series Cosmos narrated by Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson.  both series show that we are just members of the chorus in this vast Universe. A MUST WATCH.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80004448

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081846/

My Books for the Year

Service-Learning and Social Justice: Engaging Students in Social Change Mar 15, 2010
by Susan Benigni Cipolle

Historical Literacy: The Case for History in American Education edited by Paul Gagnon

Jean Jacques Rousseau's  Emile 

Michael Shnayerson's 2008 Coal River.

Robert Kaplan  The Coming Anarchy, The Revenge of Geography, Balkan Ghosts, Warrior Politics,  Eastward to Tartary, and Mediterranean Winter

Naomi Klein  No is Not Enough, This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine

David Fromkin A Peace to End All Peace  and In the Time of the Americans

Margaret McMillan 1919

One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported by E.J. Dionne Jr. (Author), Norman J. Ornstein (Author), Thomas E. Mann  (Author)

Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
by Paul Hawken  (Editor), Tom Steyer (Foreword)

The four-volume Robert Caro series on Lyndon Johnson and the Carl Solberg biography of Hubert Humphrey.

The Prince and Discourses by Machiavelli

Who Stole the American Dream,  Rethinking America,  and  The Power Game by Hedrick Smith

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

To the denier that thinks climate change is not real: please read the below links from Vox

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/12/28/16795490/natural-disasters-2017-hurricanes-wildfires-heat-climate-change-cost-deaths

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/12/28/16827022/climate-change-cold-arctic-snap-us-canada-jet-stream

Interesting perspective on automaton courtesy of Free Think/Wrong

https://www.facebook.com/freethinkwrong/videos/133186197397827/

Editorial Video on Fact Checking courtesy of VOX, Now This, CNN, and the Presidents latest interview with the New York Times: YOU JUDGE

https://www.facebook.com/Vox/videos/815402721980665/

https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/1848991711798977/

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16829806/trump-interview-new-york-times?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=entry&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/29/politics/donald-trump-new-york-times/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/29/politics/donald-trump-approval-rating/index.html

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of David Horsey

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Darren Bell

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Patrick Chappatte

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Clay Bennett

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Ken Catalino

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Lisa Benson

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jimmy Marguiles

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Steve Benson

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Occupy Democrats

Interesting Video from Robert Reich on the evolution of President Trumps lying process

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/videos/1810519548960633/

No Virginia, there was never a War On Christmas.

No Virginia, there was never a War on Christmas.

The objective facts are no, people have not warred on the holiday. What some misguided people object to is the stating of neutral phrases like "Seasons Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" this time of year. In a multicultural nation such as ours where a significant portion are not Christian, this is a perfectly sensible thing to say. What these people (who probably do not realize that December 25 is not the actual birthday of Joshua ben Joseph (Jesus Christ for those who need the Greek translation)) should fight is the war on mainstream Christian (and universal) values from the likes of the extreme elements of the Republican Party led by our President against the all those that can not fight for themselves. That is the war that should be fought. It should not be fought according to how many times you said "Merry Christmas" every December.


https://www.snopes.com/2017/12/27/trump-obama-war-on-christmas/

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/22/politics/donald-trump-war-on-christmas/index.html

The President has spent just as much time at his golf courses in the first year of his Presidency than the number of bills he has signed in that same span. So much for being too busy to play golf.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-signed-fewest-bills-law-claiming-opposite-nonpartisan/story?id=52026698&cid=share_facebook_widget

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/27/573546883/trump-signed-96-laws-in-2017-here-is-what-they-do-and-how-they-measure-up?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-has-trump-golfed-gone-to-mar-a-lago-2017-12

The 12/29 issue of Newsweek: Interesting cover story

http://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/issue.html

Editorial Poster courtesy of Robert Layne Gibson

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/27/barack-obama-and-hillary-clinton-top-2017-list-of-most-admired-people.html

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Mike Luckovich

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Steve Benson

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Bill Sanders

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jim Morin

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Rob Rogers

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jimmy Marguiles

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Clay Bennett

The Republican Party is still on pace to land in the dustbin

A political party whose leading members have recently called for a purging of the Justice Department and F.B.I. officials who oppose the President and whose supporters believe the lying proclamations of the that same President is on its way to irrelevance in the fringes of society and history's dustbin.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/27/politics/francis-rooney-fbi-russia-cnntv/index.html

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/27/16822748/republicans-trump-repeal-obamacare

Ten Under the Radar Political Stories to be aware of.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/under-radar-five-big-overlooked-political-stories-2017-n831881

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/5-overlooked-politics-stories-that-are-worth-your-time-5

Editorial Video courtesy of Social Good Now on health care costs

https://www.facebook.com/actdottv/videos/714966995360536/

Editorial Poster courtesy of Occupy Democrats

NEVER FORGET

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Darrin Bell

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Signe Wilkinson

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Nick Anderson

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Steve Breen

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Steve Benson

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Jeff Danzinger

Editorial Poster courtesy of Occupy Democrats

Remember when he said on the campaign trail that he would be too busy to play golf and criticized Obama for playing it too much.

The Progressive fire is catching on

Yippee for Democrats and Progressives for putting up candidates in 415 out of the 435 House of Representative seats for next year. There is still 20 to go and lets hope this surge in the House is imitated in the Senate, the governorships, and other state and local offices. This is how a succesful 50 state strategy gets started. Good luck Progressives in 2018.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/24/us/democrats-house-control-2018-midterms.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Call to Action: What do politicians have to hide when they get dark money?

Citizens/Voters should know who contributes to a politicians political campaign, be it a average citizen, a Fortune 500 entrepreneaur,  a union, a lobbying firm, a member of a radical organization, or intermediaries of a foreign government. There is no reason why there should be dark money. Voters should beware the politicians that do not reveal the sources of their campaign contributions. It generally means that they have something to hide that is unfavorable to their electoral chances. Please read the link below and get out the word to get rid of Dark Money.

http://blogforarizona.net/campaign-to-outlaw-dirty-money-with-a-right-to-know-initiative/

Call to Action courtesy of Desert Progessives

http://mailchi.mp/e862fce08b1c/get-fired-up-for-236769?e=36cd3fed4c

Interesting excerpts from Fareed Zakaria's GPS on the Next Big Idea's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnE1SJgS1yc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKRTKgsA9ck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPaESFlSXVw

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Kevin Kalluagher

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Adam Zyglis

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Clay Bennett

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Clay Bennett

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Kevin Kalluagher

Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Rob Rogers