Way too many deer

Our field bordering Station Street looks like a football game was played in the snow.  Instead of a nice white expanse, the entire field is roughed up and full of holes.  A herd of deer did that.  Our neighbor who farms the field planted daikon radishes in the fall as a cover crop.  The deer had been eating the tops before the snow.  

Now they are back, digging down through 14 inches of snow with hooves that aren’t really made for digging.  Desperation and starvation are driving them to improvise.

While I feel slightly sorry for them, it is obvious that Pennsylvania, or at least our area of Pennsylvania, has way too many deer.  Our coyotes are not really capable of pulling down a full grown whitetail.  We really need the reintroduction of wolves–or cougars.  I’m not picky.

Is Donald Trump insane?

I’m not being funny.  It is a serious question.  Who stays up at night issuing strange messages on social media?  Who has that much antipathy toward people he thinks are enemies?  Who would want to name tunnels and buildings and ships after himself?  Who would want to build a giant arch, or issue a National Park pass with his picture, or rename the Gulf of Mexico, or rip down a portion of the White House, or take credit for all kinds of things he had nothing to do with.  Who would show so much anger at reporters, or threaten so many people, or spout so much nonsense in a non-ending stream?

I really believe he has crossed the line between being strange and being mentally ill.  My fear is that this won’t be recognized by enough people around him, and many of those people he surrounds himself with actually have a major self-interest in seeing that he stays in power.  

I thought Nixon was a terrible president, but it never occurred to me that Nixon would launch a nuclear war for some kind of personal vendetta.  With Trump I think that is quite possible.  It is something that should be discussed openly–and soon.

The Bad Bunny Halftime Show

Toward the end of his life, my Dad, who was a country-western fan of sorts (had a guitar, could sing the old classics from the 30s and 40s), didn’t know any of the more recent country-western musicians, although he did see the Oakridge Boys at Penn’s Peak.

I find myself in the same situation.  I own (and play) literally hundreds of albums from the 50s through the 90s, but it ends there.  I never get the rappers clued in the New York Times crossword puzzles, and I can’t sing along with even one Taylor Swift song, although at least I am aware of who she is.

One problem is that unless you stream or download music, you really don’t hear it.  It is not on the radio.  You can find oldies there, and right-wing blowhards, and an all news station, but none of the stations play current hits.  They come over your cell phone, which I don’t have.

Having heard of Bad Bunny and also having heard that he annoys Trump and also that he sings in Spanish, I had to check him out.  I have never watched a Superbowl halftime show before, but I did tonight.  I was entertained, and Bad Bunny seemed like a nice guy.  I didn’t care for the music, but there is a rule about music.  You must listen to a song at least five times before you make a decision on whether or not you like it.  

Can I even get an album with a selection of Bad Bunny songs?  Probably not.  

The 7 principles for the Conduct of a Newspaper

The principles, issued on March 5, 1935, were written by Eugene Meyers who bought the Washington Post at auction in 1933.  They were quoted in an op-ed piece in today’s New York Times by Carlos Lozada, who worked for the Post.

Since the current owner of the Washington Post, billionaire Jeff Bezos, is turning the Post into a shell of its former self, I thought the principles were worth printing.

1.  The first mission of a newspaper is to tell the truth as nearly as the truth may be ascertained.

2.  The newspaper shall tell ALL the truth so far as it can learn it, concerning the important affairs of America and the world.

3.  As a disseminator of the news the paper shall observe the decencies that are obligatory upon a private gentleman.

4.  What it prints shall be fit reading for the young as well as for the old.

5.  The newspaper’s duty is to its readers and to the public at large, and not to the private interests of the owners.

6.  In the pursuit of truth, the newspaper shall be prepared to make sacrifices of its material fortunes, if such course be necessary for the public good.

7.  The newspaper shall not be the ally of any special interest, but shall be fair and free and wholesome in its outlook on public affairs and public men.

I’d like to think that I subscribe to these on this blog, although I might have a problem with numbers 3 and 4, and I’d add “and women” to # 7.

A Minneapolis Buddhist speaks out

She is an assistant to a Buddhist priest.  This is a portion of her recent talk to a gathering of Buddhists. 

Right now we are witnessing the suffering caused by three poisons–greed, and most vividly anger and ignorance.  Not only in others, but within ourselves as well.  If we can look beyond our anger and ignorance we find the true wisdom that transforms into compassion.

Here in Minnesota, we are seeing that transformation take place:  oneness in action, the interconnectedness of our lives.  In response to the infiltration of 3000 federal ICE agents and the shooting of Renee Good, more than 50,000 marchers braved the brutal winter cold, marching through downtown Minneapolis and refusing to be chilled into silence.  Minnesotans rose up to have a voice.  We saw peace through power in numbers.  The energy was disciplined and organized–a broad coalition of clergy, labor unions, immigrant-rights groups, Indigenous organizers, and everyday Minnesotans demanding justice and accountability.

But tragically, the very next day we were thrown back into the realms of anger and sorrow with yet another senseless killing, that of Alex Pretti.  The community came together again in unity to hold vigils in Alex’s memory and to continue supporting those in need–those living in fear.  A contagious wave of kindness blanketed our communities with care and compassion because our neighbors are living in fear and suffering financially, psychologically, and economically.  The people of Minnesota have channeled their anger into compassionate action.  Neighbors are protecting neighbors, strangers are reaching out with empathy offering every kind of service possible:  groceries, shelter, rides to work, protection for children at bus stops, towing for cars abandoned after abductions, repairing smashed doors, pet care for abandoned animals.  People united in oneness to love and care for each other–remarkable workings of great compassion.

That is a model of behavior that I hope I have the courage to emulate.

You can't farm a data center

Mervin Raudabaugh, Jr., an 86-year-old farmer from Cumberland County, was offered $15 million to sell his farm to data center developers.  He said no.  Instead he put the 261 acre farm into the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation program, which means it will be farmland in perpetuity.  I know how it works, because we did the same thing to our 23 acre farm.  Raudabaugh received $7,200 per acre to preserve the farm, considerably less than 15 million he was offered.

I like this guy.  They should put up a statue for him.  The people of Silver Spring Township, where the farm is located, are so lucky.  I wish we had more farmers like Mr. Raudabaugh, Jr., and fewer greedy landowners.

Info for this post is from “Farmer Rejects Data Center’s Millions, Preserves His Land,” Lancaster Farming, (Jan. 31, 2026), p. A1, A 7.

America Needs Total, Unfettered Access to Greenland

That was the headline in an article in the Times by Jeff Landry, who is the governor of Louisiana and Trump’s special envoy to Greenland.  Do you catch the arrogance of that statement?  What would Gov. Landry say if Putin said Russia needed unfettered access to Greenland?  What about the Greenlanders?  What about Denmark?

He brings up the Monroe Doctrine.  Really?  President Monroe’s “doctrine” had no legal standing then and doesn’t now.  In fact, if you look at history, the only reason the doctrine worked at all was because of the British navy.

Who the hell does this Jeff Landry think he is?  I know one thing–he is a Trump sycophant.  That certainly comes through in his article in which he praises Trump’s military acuity.

These clowns running this government with no knowledge of history, bluster instead of analysis, no comprehension of how stupid they sound–it makes my head hurt.