THE USA IS A DECADE AWAY FROM ONLINE VOTING

Has it occurred to you that the computer runs our lives today, but we still seem wedded to voting in person or through the obsolete postal system?  Why don't we completely convert to E-voting online?  Such a process also works better for pandemics, bad weather and other challenges faced by citizens.  Should also be cheaper.

The first stage of the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Network was created half a century ago during the Cold War to develop a system for disseminating information after a nuclear attack.  Their work allowed academic and research organizations to share information with the Defense Department. All this effort led to what officially became the internet on 1 January 1983.  Thus, theoretically, the technology has been available for nearly 40 years to vote online.

Turns out one country has already taken this step, Estonia, while Switzerland, German and Norway are experimenting.  Estonia is a small Baltic country of 1.5 million, about the population of Hawaii, and became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.  They deployed digital identity in 2001 and partially introduced electronic voting in 2005.  In 2019 44% of ballots for their Parliament were cast online.

To summarize:

• 
  It took some time to gain a mindset with confidence.
• The system is fully transparent, where every citizen can check who has accessed their private data, and any misuse is automatically red-flagged.
• Instead of a centralized system, there are hundreds of servers running on different software.
• Thus, if anyone wants to hack into the Estonia system, they would need to get through all those servers with different security codes.  And accomplish this within a microsecond.
• One flaw of sorts is that it might be impossible to totally keep voter identity confidential.  

Why can't the U.S. quickly convert to online voting?  

• There is no standard country-wide ID system.  Here, I think the Biden Administration missed a golden opportunity by not instituting a national COVID-19 vaccination electronic passport.
• Second, there seems to be an absence of trust.  Whether it's hacking by Russia/China or partisan politics or fear of a scam, the nation is just not ready for online voting today.

But now is when the foundation for digital voting should be developed.  

• For one, the younger generation is ready for it.  
• Then add on the shame of Donald Trump to the shenanigans of Republicans in Georgia and regular gerrymandering occurring across the country, and you would think the general populace would want a better system than what we have today.  

• 
  Yet, there remains an old-fashioned feeling that voting in person is something that is a cherished tradition, sort of comparable to many citing a Constitutional right to own guns.  Times have changed, but some stick to an anachronistic past.  
• Like fusion always being 30 years away from commercialization, online voting could well share a similar fate, but something that is only always a decade away from reality.

I show these meals because friends seem interested in what I eat.  Every morning for nearly 15 months now because of the pandemic, I get delivered a papaya with breakfast:

Here, with a soba salad and sashimi, the remainder of my midori cocktail which I had with a bath, beer, tea and sake:

Every five weeks 15 Craigside provides a lau lau dinner:

I add my enhancements, poke from Foodland and ikura from Marukai:

Sometimes the TV-watching can ruin your meal, for #1 Hawaii lost to the University San Diego, a good, but eminently beatable volleyball team.  I thought our season was over, for this has been the fate of Hawaii teams in the past.  We do well all season but get passed over for the NCAA championships.  I nevertheless did have some haupia, or coconut pudding.

Then Sunday morning I found out that not only was Hawaii still alive for the final seven teams tournament at Ohio State next week, but rated at #1, which gives them a first round bye.  Hot dog and baseball for lunch:

The Hawaii baseball team beat University of California at Davis for four in a row this weekend.  So the cuisine and sports success made for a victorious weekend.

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ON THE MATTER OF JEWISHNESS

I was sent this heartwarming story of Sephardi Jews who miraculously survived the Holocaust having a son who went on to lead an effort to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.  Maybe it's a natural inclination to treat all ethnicities and worshipping beliefs equal, or ignorance, but it occurred to me that at my advanced age I knew very little about the Jewish religion.  

When I grew up in Hawaii, there was the dominant Caucasian sector, and everyone else as second-class citizens.  Being Japanese, there was also the matter of where Okinawans fit into this society.  My junior-year English-Social Studies teacher Mildred Kosaki and her husband had just returned from the Mainland, and she kept emphasizing the matter of Civil Rights, but we students just had no concept of Black-White relationships.  Nor were we aware that there was another group, Jews, in this national mix.

Then I went away to college, where I remember a girlfriend asking me if I knew what a Jewish girl looked like.  I immediately responded that she must be blonde because I had just seen Exodus, and one obvious Jewish female was a blonde Jill Haworth.  So I just checked, and 6% have this color hair.  While doing this research today, I stumbled across two more references, one entitled Funny, You Don't Look Jewish, and...

...the 10 Classic Types of Jew, and How to Decide Which One You Are, by novelist Shalom Auslander (right).  So on this spiritual Sunday, I will focus on Jewishness.  As their day of worship is Saturday, it seemed acceptable to summarize from this article written by a self-professed Bad Jew.  If you wish to get the traditional treatment, you can click on Jewish ethnic divisions, from Wikipedia.

So, anyway, Auslander describes the 10 classic types of Jews:

• Type 1:  Jesse Eisenberg, who is fast-talking, moderately intelligent, arrogant and has baseless superiority.  Blames this type for increasing the incidence of antisemitism, not Islamic fundamentalism.

• 
  Type 2:  Nathan Lane, who is the most oppressed of us all, hated by Jews and most likely gay.
• Type 3:  Franz Kafka, who is a sickly and scared sufferer, a wuss, the Jew who takes it...the victim, most commonly used in fiction.

• 
  Type 4:  Samson...tough, hard worker, Casino boss, who in The Bible, a narrative fiction source, he says, is corrupted and destroyed by his own power.
• Type 5  Mickey Sabbath (Philip Roth character), inverse of Jesse Eisenberg, obsessed with genitals.
• Type 6:  the Good Jewish Boy, a mythical beast, created by suffocating parents, where obedience was more important than happiness, who ends up being someone like Benjamin Netanyahu.

• 
  Type 7:  Bad-ass Jewish Girls, like Eve, Amy Winehouse and the Carol Kane character in Annie Hall.
• Type 8:  the Shylock, like Bernie Madoff, or more so Donald Trump, who should be Jewish.
• Type 9:  Alvy Singer (also in the right photo), Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks.

• 
  Type 10:  the Bugs Bunny, smart, has disdain for authority, is always being chased, and a troublemaker, Auslander's favorite.
• Auslander considers himself to be a Type 10, with a strong streak of Type 5, but feels guilty about not being a Type 6, so hides this by being a Type 9.  Others?

• Jesus of Nazareth:  began as a Type 6, grew into a Type 10, with a bit of Type 3 (for the Crucifixion scene).
• Anthony Weiner:  Type 5 with a streak of Type 7 and unintentional Type 9.
• Sigmund Freud:  Type 1 with a Type 5, but probably saw himself as a Type 4.
• Groucho Marx:  Solid Type 10/Type 5, and in a perfect world, would be model for a Type 6.

One traditional way to identify the different types:

• Ashkenazim, the Jews of Germany and Northern France (in Hebrew, Ashkenaz)
• matzah ball soup
• black hats
• most recognized of all American jews
• Sephardim, the Jews of Iberia (in Hebrew, Sepharad) and the Spanish diaspora
• first American Jews
• expelled from Spain in 1492 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
•  m, or Oriental Jews, from Babylonia and Persia
• a fourth, Ethiopian Jews, were nomadic

Then again, a more American way of distinguishing the differences are by branches of Judaism:

• Reform (41.4%): sort of a modernization of the religion.
• Orthodox (6.8%):  only developed after the reform movement, to maintain the traditional form.  New York Hassidic Jews (right) belong here.

• 
  Conservative (40%):  a second development that came in 1885 when Jews adopted a radical platform that included the rejection of kosher dietary laws.  They are the bridge connecting the other two.
• Actually, there are two more smaller movements:
• Reconstructionism
• Secular Humanistic
• 
  Can a Jew also be a Christian?  
• They are not theologically compatible.  
• Christianity split from Judaism only a few generations before the birth of Christ.
• Antisemitism could well have started that early, exacerbated by Roman rule then, but the term itself was popularized by German journalist Wilhelm Marr in 1879.
• While Adolf Hitler was the worst case example, this sense remains today through much of the world, especially in the Middle East.

If that was troubling and confusing, try Christianity, which has three branches (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodoxy) or six main groups (Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholilcsm, Protestantism and Restorationism).  And, oh, there are 45,000 denominations.  Which one would Jesus belong to?  Try Nicolas Kristof.  However, the New York Times won't provide access unless I pay $1/week.

So, finally, the reason why I entered this subject:

• 
  Only 2,000 Greek Jews survived of 60,000 because of the Holocaust.  
• A particular  family lived because the father happened to be out of the ghetto when residents were taken to Auschwitz and Birkenau, and the mother because a family member paid off the Nazi Party to save her from execution.  
• 
  Israel-Abraham Bourla was born of these two Sephardi Jews in 1961, and raised in Greece.
• grew up to be an animal doctor
• in 1993 joined Pfizer in Greece, moved to the U.S at the age of 40 and changed his name to Albert
• in 2019 he became CEO of Pfizer
• the following year came COVID-19 and now as Executive Chairman, dedicated the company to find a vaccine, regardless of potential financial returns
• this cure, which will save the lives of many millions was pushed by a Jew from Greece whose parents miraculously survived the Holocaust
• Pfizer did pay him $21 million last year

Before I end this posting, got to mention that the 93rd Academy Awards will be bestowed beginning at 8PM EDT, or 2PM in Hawaii.  However, ABC started the ceremonies from 7AM HST.  Read about the details here.  It also predicts the winners:

Best picture Nomadland
Best director Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Best actor Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best actress Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Best supporting actor Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Best supporting actress Youn Yuh-jung, Minari
Best original screenplay Promising Young Woman
Best adapted screenplay Nomadland
Best documentary My Octopus Teacher
Best original song Husavik, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga 
Best animated film Soul

Best international film Another Round 

Me?  Never went to a theater last year, which is really saying something because in the past decade I've gone to 50 films/year.  Netflix and Prime dominated my life.  I saw three of the eight nominated Best Pictures because they were on those channels.  Look for women of color accepting awards tonight.  Nomadland looks to be the big winner.  

Rotten Tomatoes gave it 94/82 ratings.  I won't see it any time soon, for it is streaming on Hulu.

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WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

Froma Harrop had a recent op-ed entitled, Some countries are happier than others--or are they?  Essentially, she said, Finland is the world's happiest country--fourth year in a row!  At least, according to the World Happiness Report from the United Nations.  The U.S. ranked 14th in the latest, but here is a compilation from 2018-2020, where we are shown at #19:

Apparently, this UN report did not ask anyone how they felt about the weather.  How can you be happy when the worst day in London, every day, is like Finland everyday?  One February I went to Helsinki and experienced something that was stunning.  Well-covered with gloves, hat and neck wrap, I walked outside my hotel on a sunny day and instantaneously my nose froze.  The ground was really slippery with ice.  I told myself the next time I come here I would wear a motorcycle helmet  (in case you fall) with face covering pre-treated for fog breath.  Maybe golf shoes with real spikes.  But then, you can't walk indoors with them.  Well anyway, college is free, their educational system is outstanding and they are said to have the best saunas.

Who produced this report?  Columbia University with help from Canada and the UK, with Gallup.  What they did was interview 350,000 people in 95 countries.  One question asked was, Did you smile a lot yesterday? 

To summarize:

• New Zealand at #9 was the only non-European country.  Australia was #11.  
• This Nordic nation of 5.5 million people did well in the pandemic with 70,000 cases and 805 deaths.
• The Worldometer table I use showed 85,077 cases and 163 deaths/million people
• Hawaii, the state with the lowest deaths/million people in the United States, had 336 deaths/million people
• U.S.  1757 deaths/million people
• World  396
• Sweden  1369
• Denmark  425
• Norway  135
• Japan  77
• South Korea  35
• China  3
• Thailand  2
• 
  Measures including social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product (GDP) and levels of corruption were used in the study.
• The country deemed the most unhappy in the world was Afghanistan, followed by Lesotho, Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. 
• China improved from #94 to #84.
• Click here for all the information you would want.

There have been other such studies, as the one from Harvard in 2014 concluding that the five happiest cities in the USA are in Louisiana:  Lafayette, Houma, Shreveport-Bossier City, Baton Rouge and Alexandria.  I lived in Baton Rouge for several years.  I've been to all those cities.  While Cajun culture and concomitant joy, combined with local food festivals and music, with ample high-paying job opportunities are attractions, why do people come to Hawaii rather than those happy spots?

Since 2008 Bhutan has used a Gross National Happiness Index as the measure of success.  Well, the reality is that the government talks about happiness while continuing ethnic cleansing measures and committing human right abuses.  In 2019 Bhutan ranked 95th out of 156 countries.

Seattle, Washington has a Gross National Index to assess the well-being of the population, and you will remember that, with Portland, it was among the worst racial riot cities in the nation last year.  Vermont uses something similar to gauge success.

The Philippines talks about Gross National Happiness, then elects President Rodrigo Duterte, who went ahead and killed up to 6000 drug suspects and arrested a quarter million people.  The UN condemned him.  The country ranks #61 in the World Happiness Report.

With a responsible government, Japan is at #56.  A military junta now runs Thailand.  It's #54.  Singapore has been stuck at around #32 for years.  South Korea, the country of high efficiency?  #62.

Others:

• Russia  76
• China  84
• Turkey 104
• Iran 118
• Egypt 132
• Afghanistan 149

North Korea?  Not mentioned.  However, a decade ago they came up with a Global Happiness Index and showed that China was #1, North Korea #2, and followed by Cuba, Iran and Venezuela.  South Korea was #152 and USA at the bottom.

Finally, Wallethub ranked the 50 states by happiness in 2020 and selected Hawaii as #1.  Metrics included emotional and physical well-being, work environment and community environment.  Utah came in at #2.  Least happy?  Senator Joe Manchin's state, West Virginia.

In any case, Don't Worry Be Happy.  That was a third of a century ago.  Here are some Happy Pop Songs to make you smile.  Or Ten Songs to make you always smile.  Too new for you?  These take you back a half century.

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WILL THE FILIBUSTER BE ABOLISHED?

 From the New York Times this morning:

• The Pfizer and Moderna shots appear to work against the variants found in New York, Britain and South Africa.
• Women in the U.S. are getting vaccinated at a higher rate than men.
• The Senate passed a bill to help law enforcement agencies review hate crimes against Asian-Americans.
• The House voted along party lines to grant statehood to Washington, D.C., a Democratic priority that faces obstacles in the Senate.

Is this another Democratic ploy for something that just will not happen?  What about global warming, gun control, minimum wage and whole slew of other liberal dreams?  No way because of something called a filibuster in the U.S. Senate.  But it only takes a majority vote to abolish filibuster.  Why not?

This is easier said than understood, but:

The nuclear option leverages the fact that a new precedent can be created by a senator raising a point of order, or claiming that a Senate rule is being violated. If the presiding officer (typically a member of the Senate) agrees, that ruling establishes a new precedent. If the presiding officer disagrees, another senator can appeal the ruling of the chair. If a majority of the Senate votes to reverse the decision of the chair, then the opposite of the chair’s ruling becomes the new precedent.

The filibuster is a parliamentary procedure to obstruct and delay decision-making.  

• It is undemocratic.
• Nothing new, for it was used in Ancient Rome.  
• However, the framers of the U.S. Constitution did not include this process, for they were afraid of ruling by a minority.  
• The filibuster was created in the early 1800's, but abolished in the House in 1893.
• It was used in the Senate in Civil War matters and against Civil Rights, but weakened from 2/3rds to 3/5th of the membership in 1975.  That is, unless 60% of the current Senate approves, nothing much will happen.

• 
  However, over time, exceptions have regularly be added.
• In 2013 and 2017 the filibuster was removed for executive branch positions and federal judgeships.
• Budget reconciliation was created in 1974, allowing spending, revenue and national debt matters to pass once/year by a simple majority.
• This is the avenue President Biden used for his $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, and will apply for the $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan.
• The Senate Parliamentarian (lady in green above, Elizabeth MacDonough) ruled on April 4 that Biden has at least two, and probably more, opportunities to use this procedure this year.

However, for DC statehood, padding the Supreme Court, immigration matters, global warming, gun rights control, racial justice and raising the minimum wage require abolishing the filibuster.  All it takes is a simple majority vote, but:

• Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster under any circumstances.
• President Joe Biden seems to have backtracked on this option.

As of today, Manchin is standing in the way of abolishing the filibuster.  If he can be persuaded to change his mind, the filibuster can be abolished.  Simple as that.  At this point, the best the Democrats can expect is for Joe Manchin to help "reform" the filibuster.

To close, here is Trevor Noah of The Daily Show on the filibuster.  If everything above confused you, perhaps this tutorial will help.

The Dow Jones Industrial average closed at another all-time high, rising to 34,043.

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