Fanatics destroying art

In 2001 the Taliban completely destroyed two giant Buddhist statues in Afghanistan.  The Bamiyan Buddhas were over 1000 years old.  The Taliban used enough explosives to ensure the statures could never be reconstructed.

In 2015 in Palmyra, Syria, Isis destroyed the Temple of Bel and the Arch of Triumph.  In January 2017 Isis destroyed the Tetrapylon.  All of these structures dated to Roman times.

In 2019 the San Francisco School Board allocated $600,000 to destroy a mural in George Washington High School painted by Victor Arnautoff, a W.P.A. artist. The mural shows George Washington, but also shows slaves picking cotton and a dead native American.  The artist wanted to show Washington from a different perspective than he is usually pictured. 

The School Board believes the painting is upsetting to the students.  Members do not want to curtain off the painting or have it moved.  They want to destroy it.

The Taliban and Isis are made of of ignorant fanatics.  So is the San Francisco School Board.

This information is from Bari Weiss, “San Francisco Spends $600,000 to Erase History,” New York Times, (June 30, 2019), p. SR5, along with various on-line sources.

Biden and Harris

In the debate last night Kamela Harris, with what seemed like a planned emotional outburst, chastised Biden for saying he worked with ardent segregationists like Talmadge and Eastland.

Harris, I’ll bet, would advocate talking to the leaders of Iran, although I don’t know that for a fact.  

Here’s what House Majority Whip James Clyburn, the highest ranking African American in Congress, said about this.  “I worked with Strom Thurmond all my life.  You don’t have to agree with people to work with them.”

While I think Harris was terribly unfair, I also think Biden sounded flummoxed.  Who would I want debating Trump?  That would be Harris.  

What was Elizabeth Warren wearing?

I like Elizabeth Warren, and I like almost all of her policy positions.  I do not like her call for scrapping private health insurance; and I’m afraid it will come back to haunt her during the campaign.  Nonetheless, she is absolutely right about money running our political system, about the need to readjust taxes, and about the environment.

So what does the New York Times publish today?  A big article on page one of the “Styles” section entitled “Let’s Debate Dress,” with 13 photos of Warren in various outfits.  The article accompanying the photos then makes the point that it is the image, not the position, that makes or breaks the candidate.  

Photos of Mayor Pete’s ties, Gillibrand’s dresses, Sanders’s hair, and Harris’s pearls are also featured.

The Battle Never Ends

A common misperception is that once an area is declared protected, or once a program to protect the environment is enacted, the fight is done and we can relax.

Wrong.

In Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf (a Democrat) has proposed transferring over $15 million from the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, $10 million from the Recycling Fund, and about $70 million from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund.  

The last one was created in 1955 to finance conservation, recreation, dams, and flood control projects.  In 2017 the PA Supreme Court said that revenue in this fund had to be used for conservation.  

At the federal level the Trump administration has worked to allow Antofagastra, a Chilean company, to mine copper in the Boundary Waters.  The Forest Service (part of the Department of Agriculture) said an environmental review was unnecessary.  The Boundary Waters area is pristine, and the Obama Administration had ruled against the copper company.  I think everyone now recognizes that if Obama did it, Trump will want to overturn it.

I wish to thank PA State Representative Greg Vitali for publicizing the attempt to divert money from PA environmental programs.  Information on the copper mine decision is in today’s Times.

Joe Sestak

Two days ago I received an email from former admiral Joe Sestak saying he was running for President.  At first I assumed it was a spoof.  It wasn’t.

I think Joe Sestak is a great guy.  He ran for statewide office in Penna. twice, and I voted for him both times.  And both times he lost.

What drives all of these people who have no chance to be elected to run for President?  Bill deBlasio?  Beto O’Rourke?  Hickenlooper?  I don’t get it.

P.S.:  I survived the carpel tunnel operation.  The bandage leaves my fingers free to type.

Carpel tunnel operation

Tomorrow I go under the knife to open up the carpel tunnel on my right hand.  I have had operations in the past I dreaded, but this is one to which I’m looking forward.  I can still type (slowly), but I’m no longer able to write in cursive.  

Feel free to send flowers.

Movie reviews

“Men in Black International” is very bad.  I actually fell asleep.  The aliens aren’t interesting, the leads have no chemistry, and the franchise should now die quietly.

The second installment of “The Secret Life of Pets,” on the other hand, is very funny and even manages to get in a jab at helicopter parents.  The part where the cat teaches the dog how to act like a cat is worth the price of admission alone.  I actually liked it better the first one, which I thought was kind of dark.

Tomorrow I’ll check out “Toy Story 4.”

Trump takes decisive action, then doesn't

OK, first of all, what kind of president sends out planes to bomb a foreign country without knowing what the results will be?  While the planes are in the air he learns that casualties might run as high as 130 killed.  WHILE THE PLANES ARE IN THE AIR!

How much proof does it take to convince people that this man is unfit for office and needs to be removed, not for crimes and misdemeanors, but for mental incompetence.

The problem with lying

The Gulf on Tonkin resolution was based on a lie.  North Vietnam supposedly fired on American ships, and President Johnson called for retaliation, which Congress granted.  The problem was that North Vietnam had not fired on the ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.

On the run-up to the war in Iraq we were told that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction.”  Remember that?  Vice President Cheney claimed to have absolute proof.  The problem was that that whole war was based on a lie.

Now we are told that Iran attacked two American ships.  Did it?  Once trust is broken, it is very hard to reestablish.  I want more proof than the Trump administration has yet provided.  The Iranians evidently did shoot down a drone.  I suppose if an Iranian drone were flying over U.S. airspace, the U.S. might also shoot it down.

The Affordable Clean Energy Rule

That’s the name of the Trump administration regulation that would roll back tailpipe emissions standards, complete the planned withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, and keep coal burning plants open longer in order to protect the coal industry.

“Affordable Clean Energy Act” is called “doublespeak.”  Governments do that sort of thing when they want to hide something, fool the public, or confuse the issue.  Let’s be clear here and call it what it is.  It’s bullshit.

We're back

The problem with vacations is all the work that awaits you when you get home.  Emails to answer, bills to pay, lawn to mow, weeds to pull, jam to make–it is almost overwhelming.

I did hear that Trump's new slogan is Keep America Great.  If that is correct, it won't look so good on the hats.  KAG?  Too close to GAG.

Manatees

We visited the Merritt Island National Wildlife Reserve today.  It is just north of Cape Canaveral.   We saw at least ten manatees swimming around right in front of us, including one adolescent.  They are amazing animals

 We also saw some of the scars inflicted when boat propellers cut them up.

It is so strange to be outside of the political loop.  I have no idea what is happening.

What an ugly state

We drove through Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa today, and I was not impressed.  These are some awful cities.  To think that people drive a thousand miles to expose their kids to the crap in Disney World is also mind-boggling.

Pity the Everglades, our reason for being in Florida.  Big Ag is diverting water necessary to the health of the Everglades.  Development is encroaching from Naples in the west and Miami in the East.  Pesticides and insecticides are harming the ecosystem.  Invasive species like the Burmese python have been introduced.  It is depressing.

I know that many people move here to escape the cold and snow.  Give me the cold and snow any day.

Has Trump been impeached yet?

It is hard when driving through South Carolina and Georgia to keep up with the news.  The motels usually have copies of "USA Today," but that is not such a great paper.  I did see that the U.S. is ratcheting up the tension with Iran, probably to take our minds off Trump's various crimes.

We are now in Yulee, Florida.  Tomorrow we zip right by Disney World and Epcot Center on our way to the Everglades.

The census citizenship question

Of course Trump doesn't want the House Oversight and Reform Committee to get their hands on the documents related to the citizenship question on the 2020 census.  The whole reason for that question is  advantage the Republican party.

I just hope the members of the Supreme Court are watching these shenanigans and have enough integrity to rule against the citizenship question.

Trip note:  We are in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.  The downtown is in really bad shape.  A fire truck and ambulance just visited our motel, but I'm not sure why.  In the words of Jason Isbell, "I don't wanna die in a Super Eight Motel."  Look it up on You-Tube.  It's a great song.

"He did a bad thing"

In Arizona a group called No More Deaths has been placing water for migrants who try to cross the desert.  Scott Warren, a geography teacher, helped a pair of migrants from Central America, and he was arrested on felony charges by Border Patrol agents.  He was put on trial and faced up to 20 years in prison.

More than 3000 migrants have died in the Arizona desert since 2000.  Border agents have been observed dumping water supplies into the sand.

The prosecution’s closing argument noted of Mr. Warren, “He gave them food, he gave them water, he gave them a place to stay....He did a bad thing.”

The trial ended in a hung jury.

Note to my readers.  I will be on an extended trip for the next seven days.  I will try to post along the way, but I often have trouble connecting.  If I go dark, that’s the reason.  Also, I’m setting off in a car that is displaying the “check engine” light, so it may be longer than seven days.

One final note:  Did you hear or read about Trump’s press conference yesterday?  There really is something wrong with him.  He made so many statements that suggest he is losing his connection to reality.  

Plastic bags

I’m guessing that most of the readers of this post don’t use plastic bags when they go to the supermarket, but sometimes we forget.  East End Market in Vancouver will sell plastic bags to shoppers, but the bags they sell have logos like “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium” or “The Colon Care Co-op.”  

I’m fairly sure those customers will remember to bring their bags along the next time they shop at East End Market.

A bear in Palmerton, Pennsylvania

My friend Jan sent me a video of a bear walking along Delaware Avenue, the main street of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, the town where I graduated from high school.  It was a very large bear, ambling along the sidewalk, checking Shea’s Hardware and Spillane’s Gym before crossing Delaware and heading to parts unknown.

Palmerton is a town with a feral cat problem.  Some residents have the cockamamie idea that the cats should be neutered, then released into the wild to kill small reptiles, amphibians, and song birds.  When anyone suggests that the cats be killed, all the cat lovers go nuts.  Small reptile, amphibian, and song bird lovers are outnumbered.

Do bears eat cats?  I sure hope so.

A legend in his own mind

It turns out that Mexico had already agreed to the conditions Trump demanded before he threatened the tariff.  So Trump appears tough, takes credit for something that already happened, and presents himself as the hero of his own story.

I will bet you that there has never been a president in your memory, (in my case that includes Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and both George Bushes) about whom you’ve said, after some Presidential action, “What an asshole.”  Ok, maybe it was “What an idiot” or “what a jerk.”

Now he plans to give a political re-election speech on the Washington Mall on July 4th.  What an asshole.  

Gone forever

On January 1st of this year the last Hawaiian tree snail died.  His name was George.  He had spent his entire life in a terrarium, and researchers were unable to find a mate.  George, by the way, was named for Lonesome George, a Pinta Island tortoise from the Galapagos, the last of his kind, who died in 2012.

In February the Australian government declared the Bramble Cay melomys to be extinct.  It was a small mammal found on a single island between Australia and Papua New Guinea.  Its extinction is blamed on climate change.

In April China announced the last known female Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle died.  

In the last 50 years the human population has doubled.  The size of the global economy has quadrupled.  Global trade has increased ten times in that period.  To feed, clothe, and provide the luxury goods all those people demand, we are destroying the global environment.  The three main components to that process are habitat destruction, over fishing, and the biggie–global warming.  

Cultural wasteland

We have this arrangement with Sunny’s Gas Station and MiniMart on 209.  Every day they get one copy of the New York Times.  They put it aside for us, and we buy it.  If for some reason we don’t get there, they hold it.  If we are on vacation, they keep all the copies, and we buy them when we get back.

Perhaps once every two months or so the distributor screws up and forgets our Times.  Then we go on a quest–Turkey Hill in Gilbert, Weis Market in Broadheadsville, the Sunoco station in Palmerton, the gas station near the Mahoning interchange.  None of them had the Times today.  What kind of place is this?  We are 90 miles from New York, and nobody had the newspaper of record.  When we lived in Fairfax, CA, we had it delivered to our house every day.  TO OUR HOUSE!  EVERY DAY!

Now somebody will tell me they read it on the internet, to which I can only reply, Bullshit.  Nobody reads the New York Times on the internet.  I are calling realtors.  I are getting out.  I can’t stand it.

Trump at Normandy

He didn’t embarrass himself or the United States.  If it were either or the Bushes, or Clinton, or Obama, we wouldn’t need to write that.  We’d assume it.  With Trump you kind of hold your breath.  We have a very low bar with Trump.

Republican Senators

When the Trump administration put kids in cages, they said nothing.

When Trump attacked allies and sucked up to dictators, they said nothing.

When the E.P.A. dismantled the clean water and clean air standards, they accepted it.

When Trump appointed judges who were unqualified, they approved them.

When he talked about investigating his opponents, they were silent.

In fact, they never had the courage to criticize him for anything UNTIL he threatened a tariff on goods from Mexico.  Hold on!  This would hurt corporate interests.  This would have an impact on funders.  This will cause rich people to suffer.  

Republican Senators are now bleating like lambs taken from their mothers.

The Central Park Five

Ava DuVernay has directed a Netflix four-part series entitled “As They See Us.”  The program is about five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted in 1989 for gang-raping and nearly killing a woman in Central Park.  

Their convictions were dismissed in 2002 and they were paid $41 million by New York in 2014 to settle their civil rights suit.  They had done nothing.  The man who did was finally caught.

A real estate developer in 1989 took out full page ads condemning the boys.  At a news conference he said, “You better believe that I hate the people who took this girl and raped her brutally,”  

That was Donald Trump.  He has never apologized.

Commander in Cheat

For many years Rick Reilly was a writer for Sports Illustrated.  His award-winning essays were deservedly famous.  Now he has written Commander in Cheat, subtitled How Golf Explains Trump.

I am not a golfer, but I know that you don’t kick a ball out of the rough or throw it out of the sand trap or drive your cart on the greens or substitute your ball for your opponent’s when it lands in a better spot.  Golf is a sport that depends more than most on personal integrity, since there are no refs accompanying a foursome.  

Reilly has golfed with Trump, interviewed pros and friends who golfed with Trump, interviewed his caddies, talked to golf architects who designed some of his courses, and analyzed his tweets about his triumphs.  [And they are always triumphs].  It is amazing how Trump lies, cheats, sues, holds grudges, brags, and exaggerates.  Did I mention lying?  .

The book is short and very funny, but ultimately scary.  It is published by Hachette Books.  I recommend it.

Kevin McAleenan, Homeland Security

Mr. McAleenan, acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, was in Guatemala recently.  He spoke to leaders of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala and said, “Our neighbors have been our friends, and I can offer you our full support.”

He told the leaders he would try to restore the American aid that the Trump administration had cut earlier this year, and he signed an agreement to send 80 homeland security agents to help to train local officials to stop human trafficking rings. 

Unfortunately, the same day Mr. McAleenan left Guatemala City, Trump announced he would impose a tariff on Mexican goods if Mexico didn’t halt the flow of immigrants.  It must be very hard to work in the Trump administration, especially if you try to do a good job.

Information for this post is from Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “U.S. Offers Security Aid, but No Funds, to Curb Guatemala Migration, New York Times (June 2, 20129), p. 19.

West Marin

Sometimes when people hear that I left California for Pennsylvania, they ask, “Do you miss it?”

Well, yeah.

We lived in Fairfax in Marin County.  Fairfax is on the edge of West Marin, which includes tiny towns like Olema, Woodacre, Point Reyes Station, Bolinas, and Tomales.  West Marin is a world of its own.  My friend Ramona recently sent me some issues of the Point Reyes Light, a local newspaper.  The paper includes a column entitled “Sheriff’s calls.”  Here is the list for Feb. 22 of this year:

Woodacre:  At 8:08 a.m. a tenant had questions about a civil issue with a landlord.

Point Reyes Station:  At 1:55 p.m. a Mercedes-Benz and a dump truck crashed in a bank parking lot; the truck was leaking gas, the caller said.

Olema:  At 6:05 p.m. a black cow was inside a fence, but “the fence is an issue,” someone said.

Olema:  At 6:20 p.m. someone reported a loose black cow.

Nicasio:  At 6:46 p.m. a woman became lost on her way to Oakland.

Inverness:  At 8:29 p.m. a resident was upset that a PG&E contractor was cutting trees in the dark.  

That black cow was a problem.  The next day at 9:14 a.m. it was on the roadside, and by 2:37 p.m. it had traveled to Tomales, where it was again in the road.  At least I assume it was the same black cow.

How could I not miss that?