Going-to-Bat With Seattle Times Columnist Jon Talton Again!

Jon Talton

No doubt about it: when your MesaZona blogger likes a professional colleague he really unabashedly likes someone named Jon Talton. Talton has the advantage of living in both progressive Seattle and conservative Phoenix. How he manages to straddle both ends of the political spectrum at the same time is enough reason to respect his published points-of-view.
His latest - published today - on SOCIALISM deserves public attention, especially when The Donald hit on it last night . . . A bad word? NO.
Socialism is gaining in popularity, and today’s capitalism is to blame
by Jon TaltonSpecial to The Seattle Times     

Originally published February 19, 2019 at 11:40 am in The Seattle Times  

The Democratic Party has moved left, with some proudly embracing "socialist" as part of their political identity.

But most of their ideas are hardly out of Karl Marx's playbook.

A specter is haunting America — the specter of socialism.

Ask the president.

In his State of the Union address, Donald Trump said, “Here in the United States, we are alarmed by the new calls to adopt socialism in our country.

A Gallup poll this past August found that Democrats had a more positive view of socialism than of capitalism (by 57 percent to 47 percent). The favorable views are especially high among younger respondents.

New York’s popular Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t shy from the label “Democratic socialist.” Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who just announced his presidential bid, describes himself the same way.

The Democratic Party is undeniably moving left. For many, this is a reaction to Trump. Others see no future in middle-of-the-road politics after the defeat of Hillary Clinton (even though she won the popular vote).

But what do we mean when we say “socialism”? 

• In general, these democratic socialists admire the northern European model where people pay high taxes and get major government services, while capitalism thrives.
• Under President Dwight Eisenhower, the richest paid 91 percent. (For that and other sins such as keeping Social Security, the Republican former five-star general and liberator of Western Europe was branded a “communist” by the right-wing John Birch Society.)
• Medicare-for-all, another policy being floated by Democratic presidential candidates, traces its origins to such commies as Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Richard Nixon.

When Republicans say socialism, it’s a scare word used to suggest the gub’ment is coming for your SUV as well as your guns.
Former Rep. Michele Bachmann said of Democrats’ environmental agenda,
“They want Americans to take transit and move to the inner cities. They want Americans to move to the urban core, live in tenements, [and] take light rail to their government jobs. That’s their vision for America.”
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. . . This opening for the S word didn’t travel the Atlantic from such hellholes as Stockholm or Copenhagen.
Rather, it’s the natural backlash against big changes in American capitalism.
Checks and balances such as antitrust enforcement, regulation of major industries, progressive taxation and unions have been gutted since the 1980s.What for most of the republic’s history was corruption is now business as usual.

Mesa Manages Micro-Mobilty: Better Late or Never

Hard to say when it comes to e-Scooters and dock-less bikes, so why the opening image of Venture Capitalist-funded Start-Up Unicorns?

They're the corporations who have dumped all these 2-wheeled wonders into the public rights-of-way and sidewalks here in Mesa without any prior notice to the public. If there were any agreements with city officials ahead of time we just don't know now or are ignorant of the facts.

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In spite of a post here one year and five days ago, city officials have yet to inform the public what agreement(s) if any city officials made with VC-funded or to establish any guidelines, rules or regulations for risks/hazards to public safety.

Just two weeks ago there was this: there was a REVIEW : What other cities are doing

1:19:01        

Council Study Session - 1/31/2019 - Duration: 1 hour, 19 minutes.

• 67 views
• 2 weeks ago

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3 days ago we learned this: two more companies are now dumping more!

Ford gets into the electric scooter business, chooses Mesa for first ...

AZCentral.com-Feb 16, 2019

Lindsey Collom, Arizona Republic Published 6:00 a.m. MT Feb. 16, 2019

"Ford Motor Co. has entered the growing electric scooter ride share market in Mesa.

Spin, a micro-mobility company acquired by Ford late last year, launched 600 scooters in Mesa on Friday, competing with Lime, Bird, and Jump. Lyft also plans to begin offering electric scooters in Mesa, possibly later this month.

Spin scooters are $1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute. The bulk of the fleet has been stationed in west Mesa, near Mesa Community College. The idea is that riders will use the scooters to travel the last mile or two to their destination. . . "

Mesa has been exploring ways to regulate electric bike and scooter ride sharing, while Scottsdale and Tempe and Scottsdale have rules in place.

Tempe: Companies must pay a licensing fee to operate in the college town. The city also has staging requirements and a cap on the number of bike and scooters in the city. Lime pulled out over the licensing fee and other concerns, and Razor has threatened to bolt.

Arizona State University: The university bans the use of electric scooters on campus and impounds dockless electric scooters found on campus.

Glendale: The West Valley city sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bird after the company had staged electric scooters there.

PEORIA: The West Valley suburb and Bird called off a pilot program in January after the two sides couldn't agree on terms of operation

HERE IN MESA

D2 City Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker took an online poll where the results were that 88% who responded were in favor of NO REGULATION!

Hard-to-believe that one!

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Lyft launching hundreds of scooters in Mesa, Scottsdale areas

ABC15 Arizona-Feb 15, 2019

Lyft launching hundreds of scooters in Mesa, Scottsdale areas ... MESA, AZ — Lyft says they are launching scooters in Scottsdale and Mesa on ...

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Does the future of urban mobility have 2 wheels?

Is it just "filling in the gaps" in Valley Metro Public Transit using Light Rail Extensions and Bus Routes
O yeah it's that first-mile and last-mile thing in what they say
is seamless transportation.

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Arizona lawmakers don't want electric scooter rules to inadvertently affect kids' toys

Ryan Randazzo, Arizona Republic 

Published 6:00 a.m. MT Feb. 12, 2019 | Updated 9:35 a.m. MT Feb. 12, 2019

Link > AZ Central 12 Feb 2019

A Mesa lawmaker wants to place a definition of electric rental scooters in state law to help cities and towns as they regulate the booming business so they don't inadvertently outlaw toys used by children.

Electric scooters from a variety of companies including Bird, Razor, Lime and Uber's brand, Jump, now can be found in several cities in the Phoenix area — though not Phoenix itself, yet — and many of the municipalities are seeking to set rules for them.

But the rules that aim to prevent the scooters from littering public sidewalks and bike lanes, and keep people from getting hurt in traffic, could inadvertently affect children simply using their own private scooter to get to school, said Rep. Tyler Pace, R-Mesa.

Scooters' sudden appearance brings controversy

Since electric scooters began showing up on streets last year, they have created a variety of controversies and mostly displaced the rental bikes that were confounding cities previously.

The scooters can be rented by people who download an application to their phone, enter a form of payment, and then use their phone to unlock the device. They commonly cost about $1 to unlock and 15 cents a minute.

People in various cities have complained about the scooters cluttering sidewalks and bike lanes, and of people getting hurt.

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What are the Limits of Local Control? [2019 Western Chapters Conference]

Published on Feb 19, 2019

On January 26, 2019, the Federalist Society hosted the annual Western Chapters Conference at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA.
The second panel asked, "What are the Limits of Local Control?"
As always, the Federalist Society takes no particular legal or public policy positions. All opinions expressed are those of the speakers.
Featuring:
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Mesa Morning Live Musical Guest: Zilch & Bathos

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