2016 Presidential Scorecard

The 2016 Presidential Candidates

Republican Class of 2012: Where are you Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain, and my personal favorite: Sarah Palin?

With 16 Republican candidates (and counting) it is hard to follow the action without a scorecard. I invite you to learn more about the Republican Class of 2016:

  Presidential Scorecard 

Included in the spreadsheet whose link is above are a few facts about each candidate and links to their corresponding Wikipedia and official campaign websites for a deeper dive. If you have suggestions for additional columns in the spreadsheet, please comment.

The Republican "Debates"

I have watched the first two debates and I am embarrassed.  I can't imagine how silly we look to people in other countries, particularly our allies in Europe.  We aren't going to talk to our enemies, including Putin?  We need to expand the Sixth Fleet (Fiorina)?  We don't believe in vaccinating our children (Trump)?  When the other candidates' behavior and opinion lead one to conclude that Rand Paul and Donald Trump are the most mature people on the stage, it gives me chills.  

All the attempts to bask in the dubious glory of Ronald Reagan were overt and disgusting.  "I believe I flew with Reagan in that very plane" (Kusch).  Give me a break.  

Ted Cruz' hollow, nationalistic bombast scares me: "If I am elected President, on my very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic nuclear deal." Spare me. He will say anything to get elected and then find it impossible to follow through on his promises.

The Republican solution for the non-problem of illegal Mexican immigration is to seal the border.  Not to be content with the one wall proposed by most of the candidates, Carson wants to build two walls separated by a road!!  

Questions such as whose face to put on the new $10 bill and asking the candidates to choose their own Secret Service code names did nothing to add to the luster of the debate.

Is it possible that our country is collectively stupid enough to elect any of these men?  I hope not.

My Rant About the Republican Agenda

To my mind, a candidate should have a burning desire to make some aspect of the world a better place.  This field of Republican candidates does not impress me that way.  While all sing the anthem of lower taxes, none have articulated an agenda to move the country forward on any social issues.  Is it all about money?  Can't it be about improving peoples' lives?  Rand Paul has taken a stand against the so-called Patriot Act, artfully named to shame people into giving up their civil rights.  While his stand is honorable it likely will terminate his candidacy a bit early.

Is "Republican humanitarian" an oxymoron?  Apparently so.  There is a long list of civil rights and social issues, the majority of which each Republican candidate opposes.  I hedge a bit here because in the August 6th Republican debate Kusich hedged on gay marriage.  Although he says he is against it, he can tolerate/respect others' decisions.  One wonders if Kusich can survive the primary process with such a liberal view.  My guess is not.

The following issues disfavored by Republicans affect the lives of individuals, particularly those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale:

• Voter equality
• Gay rights
• Abortion rights
• Funding of Planned parenthood
• A living wage
• Affordable healthcare for all
• Medicare
• Social Security
• A path to citizenship for illegal immigrants
• Infrastructure improvements such as rail, highway and bridge maintenance
• Environmental protection
• Labor unions, particularly in education (reference Jeb Bush & Scott Walker)
• Free or affordable higher education
• Funding Public Radio
• Gun control

Is liberation from taxation the only goal worth achieving in our society?  It is clear that Republicans are willing to spend billions on a bloated military and willing to start wars to justify that spending. The following article compares the cost of one U.S. military procurement versus the cost of potential social programs: The F-35 Strike Fighter.  To say that we are too poor as a country to afford to help our people live a better life is to be disingenuous.  It is a matter of prioritization.  We spend more on national defense than the next 10 militaristic nations combined: U.S. Military Budget Versus the Rest. Surely this isn't out of necessity.  We are merely feeding the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about: Eisenhower's Farewell Address.  

I will never understand how cutting taxes will create jobs.  Trickle-down economics has never worked.  The reason is that the money does not actually trickle down.  The richest 1% of Americans now are reported to have more wealth than 90% of the rest of America.  Consult: U.S. Wealth Inequality.

When did this inequity begin?  It started with old "trickle down" Reagan:


Tax cuts under Republican administrations have historically benefited the wealthy.  During World War II the marginal rate on the wealthy was above 90% and it remained at least 70% until Ronald Reagan slashed it to 28% in 1988.  No wonder he was revered by wealthy Republicans.  Today it stands at 39.6%, very low by historical standards, but higher than the Reagan years due to push-back from Democratic majorities in Congress.  For further information consult: Historical Tax Rates and Historical Wealth Distribution in the U.S.

Therefore it is a matter of choice.  If you are not a member of the 1% club, why would you vote for Republicans against your own self-interest?  Do you truly believe that the 1% is going to share that wealth with you?  History says no.  While income has barely kept pace with inflation for the 99%, income for the 1% has tripled over the 35 years since the Reagan Presidency began.

A flat tax proposed by most Republican candidates will benefit the wealthy, giving them a dramatically lower rate than they currently pay.  It will punish the 99% of Americans who can least afford it.  In particular, the poorest will subsidize the richest among us, i.e. a flat tax is regressive. Instead, we should raise taxes on the 1% and raise the minimum wage to make it a living wage.  We need to resuscitate the middle class.  Putting more money in the hands of the 99% will stimulate demand in the economy.  Conversely, the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% is a drag on the economy because it is merely accumulated and not spent on goods and services which lead to job creation.  Republicans are fond of saying that small business is the job generator in this country.  Truly small business is not started by the 1%, they own the blue chip companies of the world.  Small business is struggling not because of tax rates that are too high or the Affordable Care Act, but instead because of inequality in the distribution of income in the U.S.  Income inequality reduces the capital that fuels the creation of small business and depletes the ranks of their potential customers.

About the Republican Candidates

Educational Achievement:

Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee have humble educational achievement.  Even George W. Bush had a college degree (Yale).  Are these men intellectually qualified to be President?  A college dropout, a pastor?  Seriously?  Regardless of their positions on the issues of the day, having one of them become President is a sobering thought.

Republicans toss around the word "elite" when referring to Democratic candidates.  Used as a pejorative does "elite" connote "well educated", "Ivy League", or just plain "smart"?  Looking at the educational achievement of several of the Republican candidates (MIT, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Oxford University, University of Michigan, etc.), why does the term not apply equally to them?   If elite means liberal then "liberal elite" is redundant.

The Candidates in Their Own Words:

All quotes are taken directly from the candidates' official campaign sites.  The date I provide is the date the quote was lifted from the website, just in case the candidate might pivot.

Jeb Bush

His campaign website reviews his early political career, his family, and touts his fiscal shrewdness in Florida as Governor.  His reason for wanting to be President: apparently millions of Floridians would not be capable of reading without having had Jeb as Governor.  Seriously?  

July 17, 2015: All this work paid off: millions of Floridians today are reading, doing math, getting the benefit of high-school and college degrees and rising up in life because of what we did. 

That is a record I am proud to claim. That is a record I would like to bring to Washington, D.C.

Carly Fiorina

Her campaign website is devoid of any rationale for her candidacy. The only quotable line seems to speak to her lack of political experience and casts her as a political outsider in the race.  There is no information about what she believes in, what choices she would make, or how she would govern.

July 16, 2015: Our founders never intended us to have a professional political class. They believed that citizens and leaders needed to step forward. If you believe that it's time for citizens to stand up to the political class and say enough, then join us.

Jim Glilmore

August 4th, 2015: I’m a candidate for president because our current Washington leadership is guiding America on a path to decline and I can reverse that decline. That current leadership is damaging our economic and national security to such a degree that for the first time in American history, most Americans believe their children will not be better off than they are.

I have a vision for a different America. One that will return America’s policies of a dynamic entrepreneurial free market economy and a policy of peace through strength for our national security. To learn more, watch the video of my announcement or read about the Growth Code , my plan for economic prosperity.

John Kasich

There is nothing particularly new in his mission statement.  Like the rest of the Republican party he is  speaking to his white, wealthy base.  I have no idea what DEV refers to.  "Americans who live in the shadows" refers to whom: non-whites? immigrants? the poor?  Who leads a "self-sufficient" life?

July 21, 2015: It’s time for a New Day for America DEV. It’s time to put aside the petty differences that divide us and rediscover the values we all share. There’s so much more that brings us together than divides us. Values that make America great, like personal responsibility, community, respect, courage and, faith. When we remember our shared values, we can come together and do what we all know needs to be done: balance our nation’s budget, create jobs by cutting taxes and reforming our tax code, help our fellow Americans who live in the shadows move up and lead self-sufficient lives, finally get smart about making health care affordable and help make the world a safer place by spreading freedom and prosperity.

Scott Walker

July 15, 2015: In Wisconsin, we took on the unions and big-government special interests and won. We cut spending and transformed an inherited $3.6 billion deficit into a surplus. We cut taxes by $2 billion, reducing the burden on individuals, employers and property owners. We enacted lawsuit reform and regulatory reform. We defunded Planned Parenthood and enacted pro-life legislation. We defended the Second Amendment by passing castle doctrine and concealed carry. And we now require a photo ID to vote.

Delta Airlines: Horrible Baggage Handling System

I'm sharing this experience to make potential Delta Airline customers aware of the unreliable baggage handling system they have.  Part of the issue is with the software/hardware system that creates and prints bag tags and part is the human element involved in the tracking of lost bags (or "Delayed Bags" as they so optimistically refer to the predicament).

Here is the story by day.

Sunday, June 28th, 2015:

I checked my bag at Grand Rapids, Michigan airport (GRR). Unbeknownst to me, someone else was checking a bag at the same time.  This is not unusual, I know.  I will call this other person Carly (fictitiously named to protect the innocent while conjuring Carly Fiorina who isn't).  The relevant fact is that Carly was apparently going to London Heathrow (LHR) and I was going to John Wayne airport (SNA).

The Problem:
Somehow, the bag tag system generated two bag tags with Carly's itinerary.  I hope for Carly's sake that one of them was affixed to her bag.  Sadly, the other was affixed to my bag.  I did not notice this before handing it to TSA for screening.  Even worse, my bag went to LHR.  I have no idea whether my name is on the bag tag or not.  However the bag tag receipt that I was given, had Carly's name and her itinerary identification.

The Trip:

This begins and ends badly.  My flight from GRR to Minneapolis International Airport (MSP) was delayed by thunderstorms in the MSP region.  As a result I missed my connecting flight.  Two hours later we boarded standby to SNA and arrived around 9:30 in Orange County.  Five flights arrived at about the same time.  So there was an announcement to "be patient" as there are way more flights and baggage than the few people working for Delta can handle.  So much for optimism.

My wife's bag arrives on the carousel after 15 minutes so it is a matter of time before I see my bag.  At around 10:30PM I am met by a Delta baggage employee who seems to have a premonition that I may be filing a claim.  We proceed to her office where the reality of the mistake becomes clear.

For the next half hour we try to unravel the situation.  Carly's name is on my receipt.  A bag matching the bag tag identification on my receipt is in fact on a flight to LHR.  Whether it is hers or mine is unclear.  I provide a description of my bag and its contents.  I am told my bag will be identified by my large yellow name tag and contents and will be routed to ATL where it will be sent through customs and returned to SNA.  By the way, SNA is 4 hours south of my home town.  So we start to discuss how my bag will in fact be routed when it arrives in SNA.  The agent asks where I live and which airports are closest to me.  I answer Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo.  Neither airport is served by Delta.  She suggests putting the bag on an AirWest (United) flight from SNA.   Anyway, I am told that the bag will arrive Monday in SNA around 11:30 AM.

Monday, June 29th:

Incompetence:
Whoever unloaded the LHR baggage in ATL tagged my bag for flight DL1757 to SNA.  In any case, The bag has not arrived in SNA by 3PM.  Suspicious, I look up the flight status and find that DL1757 is a flight between MSP and Denver.  I called baggage claim at around 6PM and questioned why my bag was tagged for DL1757.  After several minutes on hold I am told that this is an error and that the bag will be put on a flight to SNA to arrive by 6PM this evening.  This does not happen.  For the first time the agent suggests that when the bag does arrive in SNA it may be sent via UPS.  OK, so now I am thinking it may take an additional 2-3 days after it reaches SNA before it gets to me.  I relate my anxiety, but am told the method of delivery will be determined once the bag arrives in SNA and to be patient.

Tuesday, June 30th:
I awaken to find that the status of my bag has not changed.  It is still in ATL, or so they say.  There is a bag there having my bag tag number but no one is able to tell me what the bag looks like nor I am able to speak directly with anyone in ATL baggage claim.  Therefore, it could be anyone's bag, perhaps even Carly's (sorry gal).  I call again around 6PM and after at least 10 minutes on hold, the agent essentially repeats to me what I already know, i.e. he thinks the bag is in ATL but it could be in SNA by now.  No one seems to know for certain where it is.  Very comforting...

Further, I am told to wait until 7AM Wednesday morning to see if the night crew in ATL (or SNA) find my bag and and put it on a flight to SNA.  I ask if the original bag tag number is on my bag (or someone's bag) what is to prevent the bag from being sent bag to LHR.  The answer was not comprehensible.  I also ask not so politely why the bag had been in ATL for 24 hours and is still tagged for flight DL1757, despite my phone call advising them of their routing error?  The answer was something akin to "ATL is a big airport and we have a lot of bags". WTF?

Below is the official log from Delta.com/baggage.  An entry is made in the log each time a bag matching my bag tag number is found and scanned.  My bag arrived in ATL Monday at 9:05 PM and it has not been scanned since.  The theory is that it is sitting in the baggage claim office locked and safe (while I envision it spinning on some carousel in LHR or who knows where) because I don't have visual proof that it is really my bag their system has associated with the bag tag receipt I was given (which is actually Carly's).

Wednesday, July 1, 7AM:
I called Delta baggage (re)claim @ 800-325-8224 after there was no activity in the transaction log (delta.com/baggage) overnight.  The lady had great bedside manner but had little new information.  She thinks the bag is in ATL in cold storage which is why it has not been scanned for two days.  Bags are only scanned when going into or coming out of cold storage.  Most likely it is there because of the DL1757 fiasco.  She sent a message to LHR, DTW (Detroit), MSP, ATL, and SNA asking for a search of a bag matching my description and if found that it be scanned so we know where it is.

DTW enters the mix because Carly's itinerary was GRR -> DTW -> LHR.  The bag may have been mishandled at any of these points.  There is also a possibility that the bag returned to LHR given that the bag tag itinerary may have been used when the back was sent to ATL.

She said to give it 4 to 5 hours and then call back.  I asked if I should start making an itemized list of the bag's contents and she thought that was a good idea if only because it takes a while to recollect everything I may have put in the bag.  She went on to say that all unclaimed luggage eventually goes to one large warehouse.  If my bag is missing after 5 days, I am to file a claim which includes my item inventory.  This will be used by people at the warehouse who will use it to verify my bag when located.  She claims Delta finds 99% of all "delayed bags".  Given the millions of bags they process a year and what I imagine is a large number of missing bags, I did not feel completely consoled on this point.  I am creating the inventory.

10AM
It occurred to me that since duplicate bag tags were issued, both containing Carly's itinerary, perhaps there was a similar transaction record under our mutual bag tag id and her last name.  So I entered that information at delta.com/baggage and lo and behold the following log appeared:

I called back again and explained the history to yet another agent.  I told her that there was a second transaction log under Carly's name having the same bag tag id.  I also asked her if Carly had filed her own missing baggage claim and was told she had.  Her bag was picked up yesterday at LHR so all subsequent transactions must be referring to my bag.  The agent wrote LHR baggage claim and asked them to find my bag and verify that it has Carly's id and matches my description of lost luggage.  My bag contained 3 bags of linguine noodles from Sunrise Creative Gourmet and 4 bags of pecan caramel corn from Garrett's in Chicago.  It is unlikely that any bag in the world has those contents today.  As of now I am hopeful I will again see my bag.  But all flights from LHR to either ATL or SNA have already left for the day.  So with luck it is on a flight to SNA tomorrow and i will receive it on Friday via UPS overnight.

Thursday, July 2:

The messages sent on Wednesday morning to all relevant airports paid off.  MSP says they have my bag and they put it on a flight to SNA this morning.  The flight arrived around 2PM PT and the log says it is set up for delivery.  I was too busy to find out if UPS picked it up today and Delta placed no information in the transaction log to indicate that it was taken by UPS.  Delta did not contact me today regarding the bag.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened.  Somehow my bag got on the plane from GRR to MSP even though the bag tag should have directed it to DTW.  Once it arrived MSP, the bag tag would have identified a DTW flight or a LHR flight that does not originate at MSP, therefore I assume the baggage agent moved it to cold storage until someone provided further instruction.  Why the bag was never scanned in MSP until yesterday is a mystery.  I am also confused why the transaction log of record remains Carly's rather than mine.

Of some concern is that it looks like the bag sat on a carousel for 49 minutes.  Fortunately no one took it.

Friday, July 3:

There was no activity in the log (below) overnight.  So I called a baggage agent and was told that there was no record of the bag at SNA and that it was probably in ATL cold storage.  I was kept on hold for ten minutes at least and then the agent said she was placing calls to both MSP and ATL.  I expressed incredulity that she would be calling MSP because the log from the previous day indicated that the bag was no longer there.  She said she had no information that the bag had been taken by UPS, in fact, she was quite certain that due to the arrival time of my bad in SNA that the UPS pick up time would have passed.  She could not explain why she thought that the bag was in ATL given the scan showing the arrival of the bag in SNA and no further activity.

I became furious and hung up at that point.  I suggested to my wife that there was a chance that the bag would show up today.  I figured that Delta kept such poor records that someone may have sent the bag via UPS and did not bother to update the transaction log.  This is actually Carly's log.  My log had not been updated since June 29th.

So I went to Target to buy a few sundries that were in the missing bag.  While there I received a phone call from an SNA baggage agent named Kathy.  She claimed that my bag had been delivered by UPS at 2PM.  That was news to me.  My wife was home so I called her to confirm.  It was indeed my bag and all was intact, including the 4 bags of Garrett popcorn from Chicago that were not as appealing at they had been the previous weekend.

Kathy explained that she had recorded in Delta's offline transaction log that she had placed the bag with UPS and that UPS was very prompt in picking it up for shipment.  She could not explain why other agents were unable to read her notes in the log and why they thought the bag was in ATL when it had already been shipped to me the afternoon before.  She was very nice and said she would call back later after I had a chance to get home, see the bag, and check the contents.  The only things missing were my yellow name tag and all the tags from the bag's journey.  I said I was curious where the bag had been and she said she saw a tag for LHR.  I told her I had assumed that the bag had somehow gotten to MSP on my flight but she didn't think that was the case.  She thought it may have gone from LHR to ATL and then from ATL to MSP, although there was nothing in either online log (Carly's or mine) to confirm this.  So it is still a mystery exactly what happened with my bag.  I had hoped for closure but instead I have my clothes.

The next day I received an email from Delta "Tell us how we did?".  Believe me I will have a lot of constructive and not so constructive criticism.

I checked my file and it was closed as of July 3rd, but Carly's is still open.  Not sure why.

Case closed.

Lessons Learned:

1. Stop flying Delta Airlines
2. Always review the bag tag before handing my bag over to TSA at checkin
3. Be less trusting of checked luggage in the future
4. Take a photo of my checked bag so I can more precisely describe color/shape/etc.
5. Put my camera in a carry on bag