Man of the year?

"Why is Elon my pick for man of the year? Don't laugh - it is because the car stunt this week. I love the brazen aspect of the entire production. He has guts and imagination."

I love this guy. Who is that? Elon Musk. He is one of the new American Captains of Industry. Jeff Bezos is also way up there in my book. So is Tim Cook. While our government stumbles all over itself trying to do just about anything, our new Captains of Industry are off and running. And it is fun to watch. ICYMI, this past Tuesday, Space X, the rocket company owned by Musk, launched what might have been the most powerful rocket - ever. We saw it on TV. It was quite a sight. 

In other news, another one of Musk's companies (Tesla) had a very bad quarter. It lost a boat load of money. Musk shrugged it off. He is going full boar on production on the Tesla anyhow. Why? He is a visionary. He is in this for the long haul. How much did this news about his car company affect his rocket launch? Nada. In fact, this very powerful rocket had a very special payload. A car. Not just any car, a brand new Tesla.

Would this have ever happened with a NASA launch? Never in a million years. But Mr. Musk is his own man. And has a ton of money. So he decided it would be kind of cool to launch one of his cars into space, put it into a slingshot orbit around the sun, and then head to Mars (no, I am not making this up). Once at Mars, it will go into orbit and stay there for maybe all of eternity. To put frosting on the cake, Musk even has a dummy dressed up in a space suit sitting behind the wheel.

This is all good stuff. Seriously - it is not nutty - it is good. Our new Captains of Industry exemplify the quote Edward Kennedy offered in Robert Kennedy's eulogy - "Some men see things as they are and ask why? Others see things that never were and ask why not?" 

I don't know why Elon Musk decided to put an expensive car on top of this rocket and send it to Mars. Maybe it was a bet, maybe it was a fantasy. Or, maybe he said to himself, "why not?"

By the way, Bezos is not just sitting around. Amazon announced today they are ready for two hour delivery on groceries. And Tim Cook is all over facial recognition with his new i phone. Speaking of which - get ready for a whole bunch of facial recognition devices being market ready in the very near future. Cook knew that being one of the first in facial recognition would be a huge advantage with Apple's market share.

So, why then is Elon my pick for man of the year? Don't laugh - it is because the car stunt this week. I love the brazen aspect of the entire production. He has guts and imagination. He will change the world - as well as the other Captains. Now he can truly say when asked about his Tesla cars, "they are so good, they are out of this world".

New fingerprints?

"Stay calm folks. This story is far from over. It has legs - lots and lots of legs. How will it end? Badly for some."

There is an old saying - never put anything out on electronic media. Why? It lasts forever. The big breaking news this morning is the discovery of more emails between Peter Strzok and his consort and colleague, Lisa Page. This smoking gun continues to expose more fingerprints. And the new fingerprints might end up with the man in the castle - that would be POTUS (44).

"POTUS wants to know everything." That is the money shot from one of the newly revealed text messages. Some might say, "Ah ha! We new Trump was dirty!" One problem - Trump was not POTUS at that time. It was Barrack Obama. And if Obama had knowledge of all this skulduggery, so did Hillary Clinton. And then the "swamp" will have a whole new dimension.

Get the picture? For those who are of age (like myself), this is shades of Watergate. While the Democrats have been trying to equate Russian collusion and the Trump campaign to Watergate, it really is the corruption on the Left which will win the prize. Why is this like Watergate? It seems like every day, a new piece of the puzzle was discovered. Soon enough information was put together to draw the noose tightly around the Nixon Administration.

I know many get a bad taste in their mouth and really don't want to hear any more of this garbage. But this is important. And it is history being made. As the President as well as others in his administration have said - 99% of the folks working at the DOJ and FBI are hard working, and honest patriots. There are however, a few skunks in the woodpile. And they are high up in the pecking order.

Donald Trump promised us he would drain the swamp. For many, it sounded like a good campaign slogan. What are we finding out? The swamp is real! Not only real, but vast. It is deep and wide and affects many of the departments in Washington. Oh yes - the "deep state" is also real. We are seeing it exposed, live and in color, every evening on the television.

Stay calm folks. This story is far from over. It has legs - lots and lots of legs. How will it end? Badly for some. Some will be convicted. Some will do the perp walk. Legacies will be tarnished. 

What is coming is a cleansing. It will be like going to the dentist to get your teeth cleaned. A very unpleasant experience, but very necessary. The cleaning is coming. Maybe sooner rather than later. 

Tonight, the journey starts...

"Come out to caucus! Join the fight for a better Minnesota! Remember - if you don't caucus and/or don't vote, you might end up with the government you don't want. Your vote counts. Your participation counts. It is caucus night - let's go!"  

There was a time, I would say very few people in this state have caucused more than I have. It was kind of a joke. Yes, I have been to a few political caucuses - but the majority of my caucuses have taken place during negotiations. Every time one side or the other needed to break for some "team time", the team leader would request a caucus.

Tonight is so important for so many reasons. Caucus night in Minnesota is the start of the journey. It where kitchen table issues are discussed with your friends and neighbors. It is where you have a chance to visit with some politically like minded folks, who you may have not seen since the last caucus. Or maybe have seen them quite often at Tea Party or Liberty meetings. It is the night where usually a straw poll is conducted to see how the different candidates running for various offices stack up.

I will miss being at this year's caucus. That really does sadden me. However, I will email the convener for my precinct and give her our candidate choices for the straw poll. I will also ask that my name be given consideration to be a delegate.

Last year, my wife and I were conveners for our precinct. It was her first time, and I told her it would be interesting for her and not too much work. Turns out that was only partly true. We ended up having 104 people show up. Five times as many as the caucus two years before! It was simply wonderful, but we did work our tails off.

If you have never caucused before, tonight would be a great time to start. This election in Minnesota is really for all the marbles. It is for the future of how this state fares. Much damage has been done to Minnesota under the Dayton Administration. Tonight, we have a chance to start the process to turn this destructive juggernaut around. To help reform our bloated and broken education system. To eliminate our intrusive Met Council. To reduce and reform our out of step income tax system. To make this state more business friendly to attract more businesses in this booming economy. To rightsize, for the first time in forever, our state government.

Come out to caucus! Join the fight for a better Minnesota! Remember - if you don't caucus and/or don't vote, you might end up with the government you don't want. Your vote counts. Your participation counts. It is caucus night - let's go!  

Ready to cross the auto rubicon

"Some corporations have invested huge dollars in this developing technology. It is coming, and coming faster than most realize."

Yesterday, I penned an article about the unbelievable traffic on I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis. One reader of that article responded by reminding me of all the goods that Americans use and need every day, that come via truck traffic. To that I respond, you are so very right sir! Back in business school I took an elective on transportation. It was fascinating as well as educational. I did not expect to learn as much about trucking as I did. Trucking really is the backbone of the country.

The reader did point out one more thing - forget the driver-less trucks. Sorry - this juggernaut is ready to roll. The technology is just about there, and cost of truck transportation need to be reduced. What does that mean? Currently, we are short tens of thousands of licensed OTR truckers. By 2020, that number is expected to grow to 100,000. And the current force is "graying". The average age is 49.

Will drivers freak out the first time they see a driver-less truck on the highway? I know I will - until I get use to them. But we are getting ready to cross the Rubicon. There were three concept "people movers" at the super bowl yesterday. All driver-less. Fifty year from now, it will be rare to see people driving anything. We will have driver-less cars, buses and trucks. We will have ships at sea which are automated. Our planes will be pilot-less. That includes jet fights in combat. Yes, the world fifty years from now will look NOTHING like what we have now.

By the way, most OTR truckers are very good. But the job does take its toll. A friend of mine who is a trucker said the current cadre of truckers are not as good as truckers from yesterday. I think we are trying to do too much with too few drivers. Fatigue often times wins the day. When we were down in Nebraska to see the eclipse last summer, there was a terrible accident on I-80. A trucker did not see a car stopped ahead due to congestion. That huge rig hit the back of a small car and killed three college girls. 

And trains. Amtrak, the train we all love to hate, has had three accidents in the past 50 days. The fatal train wreck from this past weekend was due to the train being on the wrong track. Maybe automation can saved this failed government program.

Get ready folks. A few driver-less vehicles are now being fielded in the SF Bay area. Some corporations have invested huge dollars in this developing technology. It is coming, and coming faster than most realize. What do I think about it? It would sure be better coming down to Florida, going 80 mph, sitting back and playing computer games. And the driving? Let HAL do it.

"Truck Highway"

"There you have it. This is why 'truck highway' is full of all those trucks. From what I have heard, it is all fine and good until there is an accident."

If anyone has ever traveled on Interstate 40 from Little Rock, Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee, they will know what this is all about. For those who love the common carriers known as OTR trucking, they will be in heaven - truck heaven. This stretch of interstate is like something I have never seen. Well actually, that is not true. We saw it last year coming down to Florida. Only this time I really took notice.

It is an amazing sight to see. Coming out of the Memphis area, heading west on I-40, is truck after truck after truck. Every shape and size. Every color. Some singles, some doubles. At times, this parade of trucks stretches to the horizon. 

My wife and I chatted about this strange phenomena as we were headed east on I-40. The truck traffic was bad before we hit Little Rock, but the stretch from Little Rock to Memphis was out of this world truck busy. I knew that Fed Ex had their headquarters in Memphis, and there were a boat load of Fed Ex trucks on the road, but many of the trucks were not Fed Ex trucks.

First off, besides Fed Ex having its headquarters in Memphis, it is also home to their "super hub". This "super hub" is no small deal. Each night, every night, between 150 and 200 jets come in for a landing. They are unloaded, packages sorted, put on trucks, and sent on the road (often times, on I-40 headed west.) The 30,000 Fed Ex employees who work at the "super hub" (yes, that is the correct number) handle anywhere from 1.2 to 1.6 million packages a night. It is the second largest air cargo airport in the world. 

Besides the Fed Ex "super hub", Memphis is home to the fifth largest inland port in the nation. The inter-modal transfer station is huge. I know - I drove by it. Crane after crane after crane set up to take inter-modal containers off rail cars, and then put them on trucks. Where will this truck traffic go once the container is loaded? Many get on I-40 and head west. Take that traffic, mix it in with all the Fed Ex traffic, and you end up with "truck highway".

There you have it. This is why "truck highway" is full of all those trucks. From what I have heard, it is all fine and good until there is an accident. Then I-40 goes from "truck highway" to the "highway from hell". My take? Needs at least one more lane each way, maybe two. Or - hurry up and get those driver-less trucks on the road.

More to come?

"Both sides need to put politics aside and clean house. Totally and absolutely. We owe it to our Founders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe to our kids and grand kids."  

I almost titled this post, "Why we can't get along". This is up, this is down, black is white, white is black. You say this, I will say thus. Whatever. Last night I was watching CNN and then switched over to Fox. As usual, I wondered if those two news sources were broadcasting from the same planet. We already know that MSNBC is not. But CNN? At one time, it had a shred of credibility. Now it is nothing more than a spokes hole for the DNC.

Anyhow, the major theme on CNN was, "move along - nothing to see here". Plus, "this is just a ruse by the Republicans to take the spotlight off the Mueller investigation". Nothing, nada, zero, zip about any corruption. Nope. This story was a big nothing burger. Fox however, saw it a different way.

Hannity had a guest on last night, who has been investigating this corruption issue for quite a while now. She was very informed. He also had Gregg Jarrett on, who is a legal expert who works at Fox. They looked at this story as anything but a nothing burger. Jarrett saw it as legal issue, where there is legal liability.

However, here was the prize within the reporting. Both Hannity and his guest who has been following this issue, agreed on a very important point. This release was only the tip of the iceberg. Like it only tells 10 to 15% of the story. And there is much, much more yet to come (like maybe the "unmasking" issue).

Our Founders put a whole bunch of work in preparing our founding documents to ensure our government never became intrusive. We are suppose to be the masters, and the government is not. The government works for us. Ben Franklin warned after the signing of our Constitution that "we have a Republic, if we can keep it". In other words, we need to be vigilant always to protect our God given freedoms. The quickest way to lose them, is to assign them to our government.

We do have pockets of corruption in our government. Please, please, can we agree on that point? The President himself has said the rank and file in both the FBI and DOJ are doing a stellar job. He means it. But there are some bad apples. And those bad apples need to be identified and flushed out. Fined and jailed, if they strayed outside the law.

Both sides need to put politics aside and clean house. Totally and absolutely. We owe it to our Founders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe to our kids and grand kids.  

Why it matters

"I really don't care which party did it. I really mean it. Take politics out of this just for a minute. What happened was wrong - dead wrong." 

Today is the day many have been waiting for. The "memo" was released. Some are ecstatic, others not so much. Some think this memo exceeded expectations, others say it fell short. Some say it was important to release to ensure transparency, others say it is only a political ploy. I will give you my take.

As some know, I was in the "business" during my Navy career. What I did was strictly sanctioned by the government. There was no room for error or indiscretion. Every year we all had to read a now declassified document called USSID 18. It spelled out exactly what was in bounds, and what was out of bounds for the jobs we did. To violate any tenets of USSID 18 once you verified you have read it and understood it, would land you out of a job and in deep, deep legal trouble.

I retired in 1992, and in 2001 the terror attack came. Then everything changed. The Patriot Act gave broad powers to the government which did not exist when I was in the Navy. There were times terror suspects were surveilled while they were hiding overseas. No problem. There were also times when terror suspects needed to be surveilled when they were talking to an American citizen. To conduct surveillance on both sides of the conversadtion legally, a warrant was prepared and presented to a FISA court for approval. 

Once approval was given by a FISA court for an American intelligence agency to conduct surveillance on an American, it was very tightly monitored and controlled. In NO EVENT EVER, could the name of the American being surveilled be "unmasked" (revealed) unless the FISA court granted permission due to an iron clad reason to do so. Anyone who would "unmask" someone being surveilled without such approval, would be in deep, deep trouble.

Get the picture? What the memo just touched on (never even mentioned the illegal "unmasking" which took place under the Obama Administration), shows corruption in the some areas of upper level FBI management as well as the DOJ. Forget Muller for a minute. This is the REAL story. An organization, which is supposed to be purer than the driven snow, was weaponized by some operatives in the Clinton camp during the 2016 election. And they lied to a FISA court to obtain an illegal warrant to conduct surveillance on a political opponent. 

I really don't care which party did it. I really mean it. Take politics out of this just for a minute. What happened was wrong - dead wrong. Heads should roll. People should be fired. Under Obama, we weaponized the IRS, the NSA, and now the FBI? We need to fix this, and then do a lessons learned to prevent this from EVER happening again.

And Strzok and his lover? They should have both been fired a long time ago, and NEVER allowed to work for the federal government again. 

That is my take. That is why this matters. Anyone with dirty fingers needs to go. And I mean anyone.