The Double Standard

The Double Standard

1/4/21 by Hidden Brain

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/117340833
Episode: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/d2c4e775-99ce-4c17-b04c-ac380133d68c/4365c6f0-6c0e-435a-a380-aca60152b7c4/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=2c6993d0-eac8-4252-8c4e-ac380133d69a

It’s easy to spot bias in other people, especially those with whom we disagree. But it’s not so easy to recognize our own biases. Psychologist Emily Pronin says it’s partly because of our brain architecture. This week on Hidden Brain, we explore what Pronin calls the introspection illusion.

Trump is obnoxious and he will be gone in 9 days (* or less)

While Congress may be in the process of starting impeachment proceedings, the truth is regardless of what happens, the troubled president will be gone in a little over a week, a memory that most people will want to put behind us. The system worked, the election was held in a fair and reasonable way under our existing laws, a result was decided and Joe Biden will be our president. You can quibble about how we draw districts, count votes, or under what conditions voting exists, but we have to accept what is on the books now — at least until it changes, state by state. But if anything, voting has gotten fairer, as witnessed by the record participation in voting in 2020.

Trump has largely been silenced now he has been retired from Twitter. While I enjoyed read his asinine tweets, most of them were pure trash. It’s unlikely he’s going to be welcomed back to Washington or anywhere else for mass rallies, and they will be a lot harder to organize now that he’s gotten the boot from major social media sites. While he can certainly create his own alternative media services, it’s unlikely that he’ll gain much attraction with his power and clout diminishing. Even the crazy neighbor down the street, with his shrine to all things Donald Trump has dimmed the lights and taken down his Trump banners and flags.

I am glad Trump will be gone. For all of his rhetoric about being a successful business leader, his list of accomplishments in politics are small except for his one-shot election and appointment of three Supreme Court Justices, mostly a result of chance and Mitch McConnell. Trump has shown time and time again, he’s not much of a leader when it comes to a legislative or policy agenda for his country. While some of his people have implemented significant policy shifts in the execution of law, others were poorly thought out and have already been rejected by the courts or will go away with the appointment of new leaders by Biden.

Will Trump be impeached in the next nine days? Probably, it’s a good vote for the Democrats in the house to get the Republicans on. You know it’s a fantastic slogan for campaign mailers and television commercials — the GOP defended the riotous actions of President Trump’s speech. It’s not like Congress is expected to get much work done in the next week, with control in the Senate just waiting for the final certification of the Georgia Senate race. Maybe Trump will resign, if it seems certain that he would lose an impeachment vote in the Senate, but I think it’s more likely that Mitch McConnell will find ways to run out the clock.

I am ready for the nation to move on. Whether or not you have quibbles about Trump’s policies, you have to admit he’s not been good for the image of conservatism. Nothing is all that conservative about a man who has divorced multiple wives, hung out with porn stars and tweets the most vile of things. His policies have been inconsistent at best, more racist, more pro-fascist police state then pro-limited government. And his rejection of reality — on climate change, the election result, the COVID or what is happening on the ground in a thousand different cities — hurts us all. I think the GOP wants to move beyond him. And certainly the Democrats do with all the awful things he’s done to cities and blue states.Β I think we all want some tranquility, some normalcy after the panademic. I think Joe Biden will be an excellent caretaker of the country over the next four years, at which point future presidential candidates will debate and millions of voters will decide what’s the next chapter for that country — at least for those glued to color televisions.

I checked, and so far NWS Albany hasn’t posted the 1991-2020 climate normals yet

I checked, and so far NWS Albany hasn’t posted the 1991-2020 climate normals yet. They should be released fairly soon, as it can’t be difficult calculation, as any data in the past 30 years is certainly computerized. I am very interested in analyzing that data to see how much and when the climate has shifted compared to to the 1981-2010 normals currently in use.