As we emerge from Covid and re-engage with friends and family I’m reminded of how badly Trump has damaged public discourse to the point where it’s now necessary for republicans to state which of the 3 categories they belong to. So let’s see, are you a Liz Cheney type with conservative values but a never Trumper? Or do you fall more in the camp of a Mitch McConnell, a chicken with no backbone who secretly hopes Trumpism goes by the wayside but is afraid to say so publicly for fear of losing Trump’s base. Or have you gone full election denier, Q Anon, Trump Cult and sympathize with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers? Which is it, I really need to know!

Because if you’re an election denier, birther, racist cult member, we don’t have much to talk about. In fact I’m inclined to find some other place to be if you’re around.

If you’re in the Liz Cheney camp then we can definitely socialize and have a good time because while I know we will disagree on policy issues, you understand what ethics are and are strong enough put country over party when no one else will. Also I can be pretty sure you haven’t lost your mind.

If you’re in the middle camp of people who are either afraid or unwilling to denounce Trumpism or don’t really agree with it but engage in debate for sport in order to own the libs, then we don’t have a lot to talk about because it’s really difficult to engage in conversations with people who are intellectually dishonest.

My approach is to cut people a little bit of slack to start with because most of us are born into (and subsequently adopt), the party of our families. If your parents espoused Republicanism, chances are you’re an R. I get that. Bummer of a birthmark, but it happens. Maybe you’re mostly apolitical or inclined to holding out for republicanism to return to normal someday. That’s very optimistic of you to think that, but okay, no judgement.

And if you voted for Trump the first time because you were holding out for tax breaks or are passionate about the second amendment or abortion or whatever the case might be, I get that too. You get to be you. It’s unfortunate you didn’t heed the massive red flags from the campaign but hey, mistakes happen.

If though, after 4 years of this shit-show that left no doubt that Trump is a racist with no redeeming qualities, you voted for him again, then I’m going to suggest an intervention is warranted. Not by me, I don’t have time, but hopefully you have some friends and family who can help you see the light. Best of luck to you, have a nice life.

But republicans please, whether it be a subtle hint or an outright declaration, let us know what camp you’re in so we know what we’re dealing with. Thank you.

2 years ago I predicted that Jerome Powell wouldn’t do the right thing and raise interest rates because it would have an adverse effect on the stock market which is not acceptable during a republican administration. Everyone likes to let the good times roll while they are answerable for the economy. Predictably, when the fed was rumored to raise interest rates during Trump’s term, the toddler in chief threw a hissy fit and I believe it gave Jerome Powell enough pause to reconsider the move.

The fed chair is suppose to be a non partisan position but Powell, a republican, has masterfully navigated choppy waters and made sure in not so subtle ways that any interest rate hikes would happen on the Democrat’s watch. This enables republicans to scream Jimmy Carter! Jimmy Carter! at the top of their lungs when the stock market reacts to news of the hikes.

Democrats need to do a better sell job on this economy. Yes interest rates are elevated but the biggest underlying reasons have to do the pandemic which in turn is affecting the supply chain. Unemployment has gone down from 6% to 3.9% since the Biden Administration took over. How is this getting missed by the main stream media? That’s a loaded question, I know.

The Newberg, Oregon School Board has been in the news lately for instituting a district-wide ban on political symbols. Four of the board members have taken umbrage to Black Lives Matter and the rainbow colored flags that suggest support for gay rights.

But they didn’t stop there. A few months later in a surprise agenda item at a school board meeting, the four members moved to fire superintendent Joe Morelock for not doing enough to enforce the bans.

There are a number of pending legal issues having to do with the First Amendment which may have had something to do with the pace of Morelock’s enforcement, but that didn’t slow them down from giving him the heave-ho.

I would argue that such a ban isn’t realistically enforceable. Newberg School District has close to 5,000 students and the dress code police can’t be everywhere at once. Families will act out in subtle ways and likely make the board regret the decision.

This all stems from right wing republicanism of course. The problem is as far as gay rights are concerned, that ship has sailed. There isn’t any going back to the good old days of June Cleaver.

As far as Black Lives Matter goes, republicans just don’t get it.

...but, but, ALL Lives Matter.

Yes, of course they do. But at this moment in history we need to be reminded that Black Lives Matter because too many people of color have been shot at, harassed, pulled over and sent to prison for the crime of roaming around in a white neighborhood. Can we be big enough to support the concerns of our brothers and sisters?

Apparently not in Newberg.

As a former Catholic I often hesitate to be critical of the church for fear of offering opinions on matters of which I know nothing about. However… I do find it odd 60 years after Vatican II the church is still having a heated debate over the existence of the Latin Mass.

That was the biggest rub from the Vatican Council in 1965. Parishes could begin saying the mass in English and the faithful could relate better to what was being communicated.

More importantly though, it’s been 60 years! Don’t you think it might be time for a Vatican III? What else are they doing? C’mon guys, get with the program here. You’re losing members faster than you can shake a stick at them, do something constructive.

You know, I’m trying to love Normal Powell, but it’s kinda hard. Gary Trent Jr. was such a great shooting talent. I still don’t see the upside of this trade. Maybe I will over time, but right now I do not.

(Best with 4-5 gallon soup pot)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 5 # ground hamburger (or turkey)
• 8 medium white onions
• 3 green peppers
• 2 red peppers
• 2 anaheim peppers
• 2-4 habenero peppers (depending on how spicey you want it)
• 6 cans diced tomatoes ( 16 oz. ea )
• 4 cans kidney beans ( 15 oz. ea )
• 1 can garbonzo beans ( 15 oz. )
• 5 cans black beans ( 15 oz. ea )
• 2 cans tomato sauce ( 16 oz ea )
• 2 cans chicken broth ( 16 oz ea )

Seasonings:

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp minced garlic

Instructions:

• Add olive oil to the bottom of the chili cooker
• Cut the white onions into small, thin pieces
• Cook and stir ground turkey (or hamburger) and onions in the large soup pot until meat is brown and onions are tender.
• Cut up the green, red, anaheim and habenero peppers into small pieces
• Strain the kidney, garbonzo, and black beans into separate bowls of liquid and beans.
• Drain off fat from turkey and onion (this can be done with a ladel inside the soup pot)
• Stir in chicken broth, diced tomatoes, bean liquid, peppers, tomato sauce and seasonings
• Heat to a boil
• Simmer for 45 min.
• Add beans.
• Simmer for 30 min, stir for right consistency
• Let it sit with the heat off for another hour
• Warm and serve

As a small part of my retirement plan I came up with the business idea of creating a bumper sticker that can hopefully catch fire and sell a million. So here it is, designed by yours truly, expressing the root cause for the problem with ‘Merica. Shoot me an e-mail @ billtoner.email@gmail.com and we can arrange for a $3 PayPal transfer.

I cruised past the 40 year mark last year in the high tech industry. It’s been a ride with ups and downs for sure. The recession of the early 1980s. The dot com boom of the 1990s. The recession of the early 2000s. Times have been good and times have been lean.

I had the good fortune of getting steered into role as a DevOps engineer for the twilight of my career. Good in the sense that it’s a job title that is in high demand. I haven’t felt this much job security in a long time.

For about 36 of those 40 years, corporations have had the upper hand in employment. All are at-will employers, but suffice it to say most corporations have a cattle mindset when it comes to headcount. Attrition hardly ever mattered much. Everyone is easily replaceable. Oh, you’re leaving? Best of luck to you.

There have been 2 exceptions to this. During the dot com boom I saw engineers leave for startups at shocking rates. Tektronix during the 1990s was a great place to work, but people were being woo’d away with signing bonuses and salary increases to the tune of about 5 a week. That was the first time I ever saw management and HR have to huddle up and try to figure out what to do about attrition. “We have to stop this.”

I remember thinking how great it was that employees finally had the upper hand. We get to decide what might be fun things to get involved with and they have to listen. The corporation has motivation to treat us well lest we might up and leave. They HAVE to be nice to us.

For years I toiled at Boeing as an Flight Controls Engineer, which you’d think would be in pretty high demand but actually not. The skillset wasn’t that transferable. Boeing was the definition of how corporations treat employees like cattle. By the very nature of the beast, any corporation that boasts 8 layers of management can’t help itself but make the poor souls at the bottom of the rung feel pretty inconsequential.

Okay now add to that environment an economic slowdown in aerospace complete with layoffs and the company really has the upper hand. If you want to complain about something, you have to talk with your feet. That’s your only option – get another gig. Even then they shrug off the loss like yesterday’s newspaper.

Enter the 2010s and the Amazon Cloud. That was the beginning of another turning point that put supply and demand back in favor of the little guy. Suddenly cloud certification became a big ticket to a higher paying job and if you were good you could even be a little choosy about which opportunities to get involved with. The bonus money started to look really healthy. If you’re fortunate enough to work for a profitable company, the incentives are nothing to sneeze at.

At the start of the 2020s, even with the pandemic, DevOps engineers have had the upper hand for a while. I’ve seen a raft of departures lately from people who worked at companies with rock solid careers in place. They are getting enticed away with offers for higher compensation and better work. Management is starting to get nervous again. If this keeps up another round of HR meetings will take place to try and figure out how to stop the bleeding.

In some cases, nothing less than a management epiphany will reverse their fortunes. Case in point is jobs that included on-call. On-call comes with the dreaded requirement of being chained to your house for a week or more at a time. For those of us who do it, it blows. One thing that would make the requirement a little more palatable is if companies would compensate for it — and I mean really compensate for it, not a token $50 a day for the inconvenience of having to be at the ready 24/7. I proposed this to a mid level manager at a previous employer and he wasn’t having any of it. “I want people who love what they are doing and passionate about it.” Translation: Willing to work for free. To be fair, some companies have figured this out and have gotten creative about ways to compensate or otherwise comp the time for the inconvenience it causes. But not everyone gets it yet, and those that don’t will suffer higher attrition, at least in this market. Next year could be a whole different ball game.

It’s Econ 101, really. Supply and Demand. It would have been nicer if more than 4 years out of those 40 had been tilted towards the little guy, but as they say, “first world problem.”