First Blog

Over a century ago, British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli penned ,”There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”   So true this is I’ve advocated for years my all students should take a Stat course.   We’ve advanced and now it is safe to say there are Lies, damned lists, statistics, and campaign promises. You can tell because whenever a campaign promise is kept, it becomes actual news. Even the official remarks on it as though one finally happened.   A regular flurry of press releases issue forth as if from a snow machine.   Remarkably, every election season most people vote for these promises knowing all the while they will not likely become reality.   Elections, therefore, are the single greatest example of hope by mankind – or are they simply legalized gambling events?    (You bet your future on outcomes you don’t expect. 😊 )

On United States foreign policy.   I long for the days when our Presidents at least listened to the advice of their foreign policy experts, and even more long for the days when our foreign policy experts were actually experts. Nowadays, contravening this chain of logic, politics seems clumsily to enter and dominate at every point. I do support our current expert, Rex Tillerson, who has decades of pragmatic experience under his belt. This supersedes most academics with only theoretical experience, politicians whose watchwords are expedience and votes, and lawyers armed with only guiding reflections coming from litigation. --------------------------------- On Judge Moore.  The Alabama Senate race pits judge Joe Moore, widely accused of sexual harassment in his past, versus Doug Jones, the Democratic challenger.  It is not clear who will win, but in the case Moore prevails, he may be first seated in the Senate, then forced to resign, then the Alabama will appoint a replacement