The Bumbler 45000: A New Reading

Checking In On A First Move

My new contraption, the Bumbler 45000, has registered an (anticipated) rise in President Trump's approval rating, now inching into the low- to mid-40s, and threatening to reach 46--at which point the Bumbler shuts down.

And yet, there is reason for concern.  On January 29th a raid on a Yemeni village went off the rails.  This was President Trump's first military operation, and establishes a pattern, as such, for the future:  little consulting with experts, just an off-the-cuff ok--reportedly over dinner.  Hopefully, this pattern won't be repeated.  (Could this have been US military // intelligence wanting to let the new President see what happens when the odds aren't good? --but on a small scale, a hedge against something much bigger.  Maybe.)

Well, as I've mentioned before, my intention in writing about the Bumbler 45000 is primarily to offer a suggestion.  In this case, it's: get out of Yemen.  With 80% of the population needing international assistance, and that population growing rapidly..., sure, offer humanitarian assistance, but let the locals sort out their own affairs for the most part.

Instead, take a 'big picture' approach to foreign affairs.  Implement an appropriately outlandish idea that accentuates the positive in a big-hearted way.  Like this:

  * Hold a competition among nations, like a gameshow.
  * Entering countries describe what they're going to do that'll improve things for their people.
  * Judges then look over the proposals and pick one that wins for that year.
  * That nation receives a 'jump-start' aid package that gets its economy growing.
  * About half is public financing, half private.  Public monies come from an arms sales tax.
  * Mainly, this is to get low-income nations noticing and copying their neighbors' good ideas.
  * And, this shifts attention away from the bad to the good.

I wrote about this idea (in somewhat more complicated form) in this article that appeared a few years ago (item #3 on the list).

So, in general, Mr. President, trust your instincts that say we should be working on the U.S., first.  Aren't you glad we aren't bogged down in Syria?  Save for humanitarian assistance, and staying the course, stay out.

2/25/17 Update:  The Trump administration has asked NATO countries to all live up to their pledge to spend 2% on defense.  Kevin Drum at Mother Jones has a handy chart that compares selected countries.  And, he makes the case that as a percent of per capita GDP the US is the major country spending too little.

My own twist on this is to suggest that NATO:
1.  Allow NATO countries to instead contribute $$ to fund the above competition.
2.  These monies can be contributed in lieu of spending on the country's military.
3.  Also, impose a 1% tax on arms sales and increase the rate from 1% to 2%, etc., over time
4.  Meanwhile, get other countries outside of NATO to voluntarily join the self-imposed tax.
5.  Use the collected revenue to enlarge the competition to allow at least one winning country from each continent every year.

Variant: *Equalizer* Scrabble

My View: It's Brilliant

Brother Tad's bright idea to equalize draws in a 2-player game:  use two draw bags, and eight additional tiles from a second Scrabble game.

Players draw from their own bag; and in their bag are the same tiles set as in their opponent's bag.

The eight additional tiles are: one each from the eight letters that have an odd count: "z", "q", "x", obviously, and five others (see chart on your Scrabble board).

This variant, we discovered, tackles two problems with Scrabble:
  * no player can complain that they drew inferior, low-point tiles; likewise, 's' tiles and 'blanks' (frankly, two blanks drawn by a single player during a given game is very hard to beat).
  * this variant rewards longer words, as a player can be 'ahead', but have tiles left in their bag when another player uses her last--so, much more interesting, as this negates the obsession with the 'perfect' play that only a Scrabble geek can fathom.

If you try it, you'll have to separate your 100 + 8 tiles into two stacks of equal numbers of 'a's, 'b's, etc., before the game can begin.  But, it's worth it!