Good news from the U.S., India, and Ethiopia

First, the U.S.  The large P.R. firm Edelman took on the GEO Group, a multibillion dollar business based in Florida, as a client.  The GEO group was contracted to run immigration detention centers.  It was the company separating migrant children from their parents, and Edelman was hired to burnish the company’s image.  Work on that project was supposed to start this month, but company employees objected.  This week Edelman announced it was dropping GEO as a client.

Now India.  India in the past four years has seen a rise in the number of Bengal tigers in the wild.  In the last decade India created over a dozen new tiger reserves.  Unfortunately, because of forest fragmentation, some tigers and humans are interacting with bad results, but the Indian government is working on the problem.  There are about 700 more tigers now than there were in 2014.

And Ethiopia.  On Monday the Ethiopian prime minister along with students, farmers, governmental officials, and just about everybody else in the country planted approximately 350 million tree seedlings.  That’s not a mistake.  350 million!  This beats Uttar Pradesh’s record, which in 2016 planted only 50 million trees in one day.

Finally, here is a really weird and, to me at least, somewhat disconcerting item.  I found myself in agreement with Donald Trump.  He called “the reverend” Al Sharpton a con man.  He’s right.  

I need to stop with the depressing news

My friend Tom sent me a link to an article by Roberto Savio that appeared in the independent journal “Consortium News.”  I thought this portion was worth repeating.

"The attention span of people has declined dramatically. The majority of Internet users do not stay on an item more than 15 seconds. In the last five years, book volumes have been shortened by 29 pages. Today, articles longer than 650 words are not accepted by columnists’ services. The last meeting of editors of international news agencies decided to aim lower, at a 17-year-old instead of a 22-year-old. In Europe, the percentage of people who buy at least one book a year now stands at 22 percent (in the United States it is now 10.5 percent). According to a recent study in Italy, only 40 percent of the population is able to read and understand a book. In the same country, 13 percent of libraries have closed in the last 10 years. 

.....

The Gutenberg generations were accustomed to dialogue and discussion. Today, 83 percent of Internet users (80 percent under the age of 21), do so only in the virtual world they carved out for themselves. People of Group A gather only with people of Group A. If they come across somebody from Group B, they insult each other. Politicians have been able to adjust rapidly to the system. The best example is Trump. All U.S. newspapers together have a circulation of 60 million copies (10 million those of quality, both conservative and progressive). Trump has 60 million followers who take his tweets as information. They do not buy newspapers, and if they watch TV it is Fox, which is Trump’s amplifier. No wonder that over 80 percent of Trump’s voters would vote for him again. And the media, which have lost the ability to offer analysis and cover processes, not just events, take the easy path. Let us follow famous people and make the famous more famous. Analytical journalism is disappearing.”

The British Are Coming

I just finished The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson.  It was published earlier this year and covers the first two years of the American Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the winter of 1976-77 when Washington and the troops camped in Morristown, New Jersey.  The text is about 560 pages long; another 100 or so pages consists of footnotes and bibliography.

It is military history.  Atkinson does not discuss the politics of the Continental Congress, doesn’t get into the writing of the Declaration, doesn’t discuss too much of the home front.  He does detail the battles, including maps.  He also explains what the British troops and generals were doing.

I finally understand what happened, at least in the first two years.  (Atkinson is planning two more volumes.)  I never realized how close the colonies were to capturing Canada.  I never realized how close we came to losing the war on a number of occasions.  I never realized the vicious treatment the British meted out to rebels or the Revolutionaries to loyalists.

I also have a new respect for Washington.  He was a rather bad general at first, but he was a quick study.  He also listened to his other generals, who occasionally prevented major mistakes.  

I knew that many slaves fought for the British, who promised them freedom.  What I did not know was that Washington, always short of troops, also welcomed free blacks into the army.  Atkinson writes that the Revolutionary Army was the most integrated American force for almost 200 years.  

The war was also incredibly bloody and brutal  Hessian troops were known for their cruelty to the wounded.  Grape shot was used in cannons, turning them into huge shotguns.  And if you were wounded you were probably going to die.  If you were captured by the British, you were also probably going to die.  Smallpox, typhus, dysentery, and lice were common.  So was lack of food, lack of clothing, lack of shelter.  

Where are the French?  I'm sure they will show up in Vol. 2.

What were they thinking?

A child born this year will be 81 in 2100.  Maybe.  

By 2100 many mammals, amphibians, birds, and reptiles will be extinct.  Over half of Florida, most of New York City, San Jose, New Orleans, Houston, and many other coastal cities will be under water.  Crops will fail, food will be scarce, famine will be common, and much of the planet will be uninhabitable.  But wait, you say.  We can take steps to prevent that.

Here is the headline in today’s Times.  “Destruction of Amazon Rain Forest Accelerates:  Brazil’s New President Weakens Protections.”  Yesterday I posted about the Trump administration’s anger at requirements for better gas milage.  Britain now has a clown as leader.  If we will be taking steps, we better start very soon, and I don’t see it.

If that child is alive in 2100, she or he will be asking, “What were they thinking?  How could they have been so short-sighted?”  That “they” is us. 

Sheer spite

Trump’s EPA scrapped the Obama administration efforts to increase gas milage and emission standards.  Nonetheless, California made a deal with Ford, BMW, Honda, and Volkswagen to raise the milage standards.  Auto makers really don’t want to make two different types of vehicles.

The Trump administration has now threatened to challenge California’s right to set its own standards.  In the meantime, this past June was the hottest ever on record, and the earth is heating at a faster rate than scientists predicted just a few years ago.  

Trump doesn’t care about any of that.  He does care about Obama, however.  That hatred runs deep.

Note to readers:  When I don’t post something, I feel like I’m letting you down, and I feel like I owe an explanation.  Yesterday we drove to Connecticut to see two art museums–New Britain’s museum yesterday afternoon and the Hill-Stead museum this morning.  I took along my Air Book, but its power was down to less than one percent, and I forgot the charging cord.  I apologize.

By the way, both museums were wonderful.  On the other hand, we walked out of a restaurant called “Texas de Brazil” recommended by our hotel.  You were supposed to pay $47.50 for EACH person.  For that you got all you could eat.  That’s ridiculous on a number of levels.

Tears in rain

In the movie “Blade Runner” the Harrison Ford character, Rick Deckard, is supposed to terminate the Rutger Hauer character, Roy Batty, who is a non-human “replicant." 

In spite of the fact that Deckard was sent to kill him, Batty saves Deckard’s life just before he himself dies.  Batty delivers these lines in a heavy downpour:

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.  Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.  I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhåuser Gate.  All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.  Time to die.

Now that is what I call a death soliloquy.  Those last two lines were not in the original script.  They were added by Rutger Hauer.  Mr. Hauer died yesterday.

The crooked Betsy DeVos

A company named Dream Center Education Holdings petitioned the U.S. Department of Education to take over a chain of for-profit trade schools.  DeVos approved.  

When dozens of the Dream Center “colleges” closed a year later, thousands of students were left with no degree after paying in thousands in tuition.  After the schools had lost accreditation, making their diplomas worthless, the school continued taking taxpayer supported financial aid from enrollees.

The head of the Education Department’s division of higher education is Diane Auer Jones, a former executive and lobbyist for for-profit colleges.

The corruption of this administration knows no bounds.  Forget Mueller.  Forget impeachment.  Concentrate on what is happening down in the agencies.  Publicize it.  When people ask why you don’t like Trump, rub their noses in this kind of stuff.

Information on the Dream Center company is from Erica L. Green and Stacy Cowley, “For-Profit Failure Clouds Education Dept., New York Times (July 24, 2019), pp. B-1, B6.

$10 million for propaganda

My state representative, Doyle Heffley, sends out an occasional newsletter touting his activities and picturing him with Eagle Scouts or vets or other local groups.  He also does telephone “town halls” where people can hear his actual voice.

Today the Morning Call ran an article explaining that the Pennsylvania House and Senate spend approximately $10 million on PR.  This cost is justified, the legislators say, because it keeps us informed.  The annual cost for the telephone town halls is only about $275,000; the newsletters cost about $1 million  The 130 communications specialists also fly to districts to cover events, fund websites, film committee hearings, take pictures of lawmakers in hardhats in factories, and generally put a good face on everything incumbents do.

In the meantime Pennsylvania’s DCNR and DEP are starved for funds.

A letter to Judicial Watch

My friend Marge received a letter from the group "Judicial Watch" asking for money for all kinds of lawsuits.  The letter also mentioned that the group was a 5021 (c) 3 group, so your contribution was tax deductible.  Actually, it is tax deductible if you itemize, which many of us don't.  Anyway, I was curious enough to write them the following letter.

Judicial Watch, Development Office

425 Third St., SW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20024

Dear Reader:

I don’t understand how Judicial Watch qualifies for a 501 (c) 3 status under current law.  It was my impression that these were supposed to be charitable organizations  After reading your literature it appears to me that you are a front group for President Trump’s re-election.  Talking about an “unprecedented Deep State conspiracy to unlawfully prosecute and force President Donald Trump from office” and criticizing the Obama administration for “its illegal and arguably criminal cover-up of Hillary Clinton’s multiple scandals” kind of gives it away.

You might, while investigating some of those scandals, also investigate the multitude of illegal activities currently underway in the cabinet departments and agencies now controlled by Mr. Trump.  As your letterhead states, “Because no one is above the law.”  That includes presidents.

And please explain the 501 (c) 3 designation.  I am really curious.

Sincerely,

Roy Christman

The end of optimism

When Eagle touched down on the moon, we were so optimistic.  The space age was here.  Everything seemed possible.  Anyone over 60 probably remembers that heady feeling of optimism.

It’s gone.  Some of it came back when Obama was elected, but Republicans in Congress pretty drove it away.  Do you know of anyone now who is optimistic?  Trump supporters pretend to be, but I think deep down they know we are losing our democratic values and all sense of hope.

American adults born in the early 1980s had, on average, 13.7 years of schooling.  American adults born in the early 50s had on average, 13.5 years of schooling.  That’s is a very small improvement, and I’m fairly sure it remains stagnant.

In 2014 life expectancy began to drop for the first time in a century.  This is partly due to what are called “deaths of despair” (suicide, drugs, alcoholism), but the decline is also a result of public health setbacks and amazingly expensive medical care.

Almost everyone in America is aware of the growing income inequality.

The quality of the presidency, the courts, and the Republican leadership and cabinet appointees is laughable.  

If you aren’t pessimistic, you have not been paying attention.

Red Raspberries

Some days it is just nice to put politics aside, forget about the racist tweets, ignore the Trump toady who represents my district in the U.S. House of Representatives, and pick red raspberries in Nockamixon State Park.

I have not seen wild red raspberries in my area for many years.  It was very hot, and we only got about a quart, but I think if I add them to the black ones I already picked, I’ll have enough for jam.

Even in Nockamixon State Park, however, politics intruded.  The Environmental Center has been closed since April for lack of funds, and the Park depends on a volunteer group (all over 70) to pick up litter.  

I wonder how many of the locals who complain about “those people” coming to Beltzville State Park have contacted their local state reps and asked for more funding for DCNR.

Letter from Melania Trump

Here are the first four paragraphs:

Decisions made by the President of the United States impact countless lives across our nation and throughout the world.

From the moment my husband, Donald, placed his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office to serve as America’s 45th President, he has worked nonstop to deliver on his promise to Make America Great Again.  

In confronting and resolving the issues facing out nation, Donald has proven to be a true leader.

His vision of a better, stronger, safer America is resonating with the people as our nation’s economy grows, new jobs are created, unnecessary government regulations are eliminated, our country’s military is being rebuilt, and America’s position in the world is being restored.

The letter continues in that vein for another two pages.  Then Mrs. Trump asks for money to help the RNC to stop “the mainstream media, obstructionist Democrats, and Left-leaning special interest groups.”

One of the things that struck me was Melania's grasp of English.  Using words like “obstructionist” and “travesty” is impressive for someone who learned English as a second language.  She must be really smart.

I didn’t send her any money.

What the people at the Trump rally may have missed

I’m doing this as a public service for all of you who attended the Trump rally and chanted “Send her back.”  You may have missed the following news in all the excitement of seeing your idol in action.

Defense Department:  Mark Esper, Trump’s pick to head the Department, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, “I see the big picture.”  Mr. Esper’s last job was top lobbyist for Raytheon, a big defense contractor.  Mr. Esper is asking for an exception to ethics obligations.  He would like to be involved in decisions that could benefit Raytheon.

Environmental Protection Agency:  The Government Accountability Office issued a report on the E.P.A.’s dismissal of academic members of advisory boards and their replacement by industry flacks.  The GAO said the EPA broke governmental rules.  

Labor Department:  The replacement for Mr. Acosta, a.k.a. “the pedophile enabler,” is Patrick Pizzella, a lobbyist for business interests who fought organized labor.  Mr. Pizzella will head the Department that is supposed to ensure worker rights.

And yes, I have citations for all of these items.  I do not make this stuff up.

He did it again

Trump was getting some very bad publicity.  There was another pedophile in his life.  (We never had a president who knew so many pedophiles, wife abusers, and crooks.)  There was the publicity about the kids in cages, sparking nationwide protests.  There were planned ICE raids, obviously publicized to create fear and disunity and almost universally condemned.

So what does he do?  He tweets something outrageous, and the nation turns its attention to that.  Look, we know he’s a racist.  We’ve known that for a long time.  We also know most Republicans don’t care and are not going to speak out, unless in support.  Nonetheless, all else seems to be forgotten and once again the conversation is controlled by the clown waving his arms and blowing his little horn.

Focus, people, focus.

Why arguing with Trump voters is useless

White nationalists, proud of their “whiteness,” have been testing their DNA to prove their ancestry.  They then share the results with other racists on social media.  

What happens if the results show ancestors who are not white?  Do the racists reevaluate?  Do they say, “Wow, I really should not be a Nazi, since evidently my grandmother was African American.”

No they don’t.  They delegitimize the testing company.  (It’s run by Jews.)  They question the whole DNA idea.(Those tests are often inaccurate.)  They try to put a good face on it.  (If there is some Native American ancestry, maybe that’s ok).

The point is that people don’t change their beliefs.  They equivocate.  They rationalize.  They deny.  They find some way to explain.  They ignore the evidence.  They change the subject.  (According to Lindsay Graham, the four Congresswomen attacked by Trump are “Communists.”  Really, he said that today.  That whirring sound you hear is John McCain spinning in his grave.)

Rational people are open to new evidence.  Think about that, and give up on trying to convert Trump voters.  We simply must turn out more people who are not Trump voters.

Some info for this post can be found in Heather Murphy, “How White Nationalists Rationalize a DNA Test With Surprising Results,” New York Times, (July 14, 2019), p. 21.

Fruit pickers

My friend Bill from North Carolina sends me a daily crop of quotes, cartoons, and memes.  I’ve posted some of them before.  Here is one I especially enjoyed that is apropos for the day of the ICE raids.

I keep waiting for someone to tell me, “Yeah, I was a fruit picker until those illegal immigrants arrived.”

Reasonable politicians

I watched a portion of an interview of Mayor Pete Buttigieg conducted by David Axelrod.  I have seen Mr. Buttigieg before, of course, but what struck me was how he could speak in whole sentences about all kinds of subjects.  He was rational, reasonable, thoughtful.  He didn’t insult people.  He discussed issues knowledgeably.  He didn’t try to pit one group against another.  

It is so refreshing to hear people like Buttigieg and Klobuchar and Biden and Sanders and Harris and Warren.  While I don’t like some of the positions of every candidate, they are normal rational intelligent people.  They are not in politics because of some psychological need for adulation or to make money.  It really is a breath of fresh air.

Jim Thorpe protest against child abuse

If a parent treated his or her child like immigration officials are treating children at the U.S.-Mexican border, an arrest would be made for child abuse.

Today was designated a day for protests against our government’s treatment of these kids; hundreds of demonstrations were held across the nation.  I joined one of those protests in Jim Thorpe.  My sign said, “Not in our name.”

Unfortunately, those policies are in our name.  It is our tax dollars that pay those private contractors who are running the detention camps.  It is our tax dollars that pay for ICE raids, not against criminals, but against people who have families and jobs and have become part of their communities.

I also would like to point out that many of the men and women who deal with those children on a daily basis are also traumatized.  They see the problems.  They see crying children who lack basic necessities, who have no idea what happened to their parents.  They see the problems first hand, but do not have the resources (or the permission) to make life better for those children.

Finally, I would be the first to agree that our immigration policies need to be fixed.  The whole system is broken.  Cruelty is not a way to fix things.  All it is is cruelty.

Right Wing Trolls at the White House

President Trump is holding a “social media summit” at the White House.  While the list of guests has not been announced, a number of trolls have already bragged about their invitations, including James O’Keefe, founder of “Project Veritas.”  Also invited were Bill Mitchell, promoter of conspiracy theories, and a Twitter user named “CarpeDonktum,” who created a doctored video of Joe Biden.  I guess you know what kind of campaign Trump will be running.

I wonder if he invited representatives from the Russian government.  

Info for this post came from Kevin Roose, “Trump Woos Social Media Influencers,” New York Times, (July 11, 2019), pp. B1, B5.

Insects

Millennials, constantly on their phones, may not know about the decline of insects.  Americans who live in the bubble of home, car, and workplace probably don’t know or care about insects.  Those of us who grow vegetables or flowers, however, are very aware.  

When is the last time you saw a Monarch butterfly?  Fifty years ago Tiger Swallowtails and Monarchs were everywhere.  Honey bees were gathering nectar in the flowers.  Bumblebees were common.  At night the porch light attracted Luna moths and Cecropia moths.  I have not seen a Luna moth since I moved back to Pennsylvania in 2002.  

The spotted lantern fly seems to be doing well.

What's wrong with these people?

Joe Sestak couldn’t beat Katie McGinty in a Pennsylvania Democratic primary.  He has announced that he’s running for president.

Marianne Williamson is a New Age whack job.  She is running for President and was allowed into the debates.

Beto O’Rourke could not beat the least popular U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in a race in Texas.  Now O’Rourke is running for President.

Andrew Yang’s platform is to give everyone a thousand dollars a month.  He was allowed into the debates.  

Tom Steyer has been on a quixotic crusade to impeach Trump.  Steyer announced he is running for President.

Bill deBlasio is hugely unpopular in New York City, but he is running for President.

I don’t even know enough about Hickenlooper or Ryan to slam them.  There are others I can’t even remember.  If we don’t soon get serious, that ignorant criminal in the White House will win another term.

Solar power in Florida

If any state should be concerned about global warming, it is Florida.  Much of the state is barely above sea level, and Florida is often in the direct path of hurricanes.  Solar power, of course, emits no greenhouse gases, and would be a natural for–wait for it–the Sunshine State.

So why does Florida trail 18 states in the use of solar power?  Florida is one of eight states that prohibit the sale of solar electricity directly to consumers unless the provider is a utility.  (The kind of solar power we are generating with our panels on our shed roof would not be allowed.)  Florida also has a law that big solar arrays on houses must have expensive insurance.

I never stop being amazed.

The info on Florida and its benighted policies is from “Why Is Florida Dragging Its Feet On Rooftop Solar?” by Ivan Penn in the business section of today’s New York Times.

What, me worry?

After 67 years Mad Magazine is going out of business.  I loved Mad Magazine.  The last time I saw Mad for sale was at Mallard Market in Lehighton last year.  Of course I bought a copy.  I am guessing that it went under for two reasons.  First of all, where can you buy a magazine these days?  What were once called “news agencies” are long gone.  I don’t think there is a single place in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, that sells magazines.  

Secondly, it seems to me that if it is not on a phone, it won’t get read.  People no longer read.  

Alfred E. Newman, rest in peace.

History lesson

If you listen to Trump, you can learn all kinds of stuff you never knew.  Here is an actual quote from his talk on July 4.

“Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s raid glare, it had nothing but victory”

Why stop at the War of 1812?  I don’t know why he didn’t discuss Washington crossing the Delaware to fight the Hessians at the Philly International Airport. 

“Listen my children, and you 

shall hear, of the midnight 

flight delay of Paul Revere.”

Keep those cards and letters coming

Elizabeth Egan, writer and editor, started a project to send a postcard a day to elected officials, especially those in the Trump administration.  She has written quite a few to Trump, who never responds.

In a recent article she noted that she has now written 450 cards and is still going strong.

I also write, mostly letters.  Not one a day, but I have written to Trump (urging him to resign), to Sen. Toomey, to Rep.Meuser, to state representative Doyle Heffley, to Sen. Lindsay Graham, to Sen. Ben Sasse, and to the Governor of Alabama.  Some of them I have posted.  Toomey and Heffley replied but with form letters.  No one else wrote back.

Why bother?  Hey, as we were reminded yesterday, it’s a free country.  I have a right to verbally tell those people what they are doing wrong (or right, although that is not as common).  I’m hoping someone, somewhere reads them.  They do occasionally get results.  I wrote to Nixon three times urging him to resign.  After the third letter he did.

Toy Story 4 and Trump's parade

I decided that I would rather see “Toy Story 4” than watch the Trump campaign rally in Washington.  It was much better movie than I thought it would be–a nice story about friendship and mutual assistance.  Plus Keanu Reeves voices the Canadian motorcycle driver.  Plus the theater was air-conditioned.

I’ll read about the campaign rally tomorrow, but I don’t think it measured up to the Russian or North Korean parades.  Am I correct that there were only two tanks, and they were both parked?  Sad.

The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump

My friend Marian gave me an early Christmas present today–a book entitled “The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump.”  The author, Rob Sears, pieced together lines from press conferences, tweets, and TV appearances of Mr. Trump to create some wonderful poems.  

Here is one:

MAGA!

Will Smith did a great job by smacking the guy “reporter” who kissed him

Together we’re going to fix our rigged system

Sara Jessica Parker voted “unsexiest woman alive"–I agree

We must keep “evil” out of our country

A person who is very flat chested is very hard to be a ten

We’re going to make America great again.

Here’s another:

I am the best

I predicted Apple’s stock fall
I will build a great, great wall

I build buildings that are 94 storeys tall

My hands aren’t–are they small?

Robert Frost, move over.

Politicizing tax breaks

Trump’s 2017 tax-cuts eliminated deductions for personal losses from wildfires and earthquakes.  The bill, however, retained the tax deductions for victims of hurricanes.

See if you can figure out why.  If you can’t, email me at <hiramc@ptd.net> and I’ll fill you in.

America's birthday ruined

It is truly amazing what Trump can ruin.  The 4th has always been non-partisan.  Flag-waving, patriotic speeches, picnics, fireworks, and ultimately, a fun day everyone could enjoy.

Now Trump is turning it into a campaign rally for his re-election.  He is the reverse Midas.  It affects everything he touches.