I don’t think it will be a happy new year. Here’s a short and incomplete list:
Gaza
Trump
Ukraine
Elon Musk
Biden’s age
social media
global warming
Supreme Court
southern border
nuclear weapons
Republican House
I’ll check back on this list a year from now if I’m still here.
Almost every candidate for office will say something stupid during the campaign. Barack Obama talked about Pennsylvanians clinging to their guns and religion. Hillary Clinton mentioned Trump’s “basket of deplorables.” Jimmy Carter said he sometimes lusted after women in his heart. Mitt Romney talked about the 47%. Biden plagiarized the British prime minister’s speech.
Nikki Haley didn’t mention slavery as a cause of the Civil War in answer to a rather dumb question. What I think about her is that she got South Carolina to drop the stars and bars from its state flag. Yeah, it was a dumb response by Haley, but one bad answer should not disqualify her.
Think of her opponents–DeSantis and Trump. The irony of DeSantis criticizing her is incredible. This is the DeSantis who wants to change the whole state educational system in Florida to eliminate lessons on slavery and discussions of civil rights.
Donald Trump has said his critics can “rot in hell” in his Christmas message. Trump talks about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of America. Trump almost daily talks about revenge and retribution. He belittles veterans and POWs. I could go on, but you already know this. It is just that you and I have become so accustomed to the hatred and vitriol that it goes right past us.
Cut Haley some slack.
Support for the Act was almost unanimous in Congress in 1973. The Act was radical, covering not only the cute animals, but “any mammal, fish, bird, amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod or other invertebrate.”
Here’s a short list of what has come back: alligators, condors, peregrine falcons, ospreys, brown pelicans black footed ferrets. Puerto Rican parrots are recovering from a low of 13 to about 700. Manatees have gone from fewer than 1,300 to over 6,000 Whooping cranes went from 15 adults in 1938 to more than 500 today. Bald eagles went from 400 breeding pairs south of Canada to over 71,000 nesting pairs and have been taken off the endangered list.
We are still losing species, of course. People still hate the act. In our area developers and industries chafe under the need to conduct bog turtle studies. Timber rattlesnakes are protected, but many Pennsylvanians have not gotten the word.
The biggest threat to most species continues to be loss of habitat. If the warming climate won’t soon be controlled, we will lose thousands of species in a fairly short time span. Nonetheless, when you are toasting friends and football teams on New Year’s Eve, raise a glass to the Endangered Species Act. And next November elect people who will fund it.
Info for this post was found in the Winter 2023 issue of the Sierra Club magazine.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law a bill that will move many county and local elections to even numbered years, the same years voters elect federal and state office holders. Turnout in the local elections, often called off-year elections, is roughly 33% in Carbon County. Voters often ignore elections for their County Commissioners, their school board candidates, or their prothonotary.
While most of the so-called “row officers” in Pennsylvania should be civil service positions rather than elected, the reality is they are elected. Because of the low visibility and low turnout, these elections are sometimes decided by a few votes and feature unknown candidates. Combining these races with higher profile elections would increase their visibility, raise awareness, and increase voter turnout. It also makes life easier for election officials.
Good for you, New York. Will Pennsylvania follow suit?
A few weeks ago I wrote to Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas to tell her about a suggestion in France in the 1800s to put working children in high metal boots so they would be unable to sit down and rest when they were supposed to be working at their factory jobs. Since Arkansas has legalized child labor, I thought she would be interested. Of course, I meant this sarcastically. I hoped all my readers knew that.
Whoops. I just received a reply from the Director of Constituent Services in the Office of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She thanked me for writing, and then said this:
“We have reviewed your letter. Governor Sanders welcomes and appreciates hearing from Arkansans all across the state on issues important to them. [Evidently she did not read the return address.] The Governor is working hard to implement bold, transformational policies that help make Arkansas one of the best places to live, work and raise a family.”
“I will pass along your comments to the Governor as well as a member of our policy staff. Thank you for contacting our office.”
So, if you hear that children in Arkansas at a meat packing plant are wearing high metal boots, I guess I am the guy responsible.
The National Park Service is facing the difficult decision on whether to take artifacts from their locations in national parks and hide them away in storage areas. It seems that when people find artifacts, for example Indian relics or petroglyphs, they publicize the location on social media. Soon others arrive, steal the artifacts, or graffiti the petroglyphs. Remote areas suddenly become the destination of hundreds, even thousands of hikers.
I’ve had personal experience with this. Before DCNR took over Wild Creek Falls a few Boy Scouts camped there and some locals hunted and fished there. Once the DCNR took over Wild Creek Falls, visitors began posting photos of swimmers and campfires and parties. Soon hundreds of people picnicked in an area of shallow-rooted hemlocks and swam and partied in a a place that lacked toilets or even trashcans. Finally two years ago DCNR closed that area of the park on weekends. What was a fairly unknown and somewhat isolated natural area became a destination for hundreds, and it was ruined.
For the dilemma of the National Park Service, see Julia Busiek, “To Collect or Not to Collect,” National Parks (Fall 2022), pp. 24-26.
For the past five days “Trump smells” has been trending on social media. My friend Bill sent me about 20 memes on this very subject. Former congressman Adam Kinzinger mentioned the odor around Trump, comparing it to bad body odor mixed with other smells. Now the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans trying to save the party from Trump, is preparing to run an ad on Trump’s bad smell.
Trump has been accused of of trying to overthrow the government, but this is a whole new revolting development.
On Friday Linda and I celebrated our “golden” (50th) wedding anniversary. I would have mentioned this earlier, but I didn’t want readers sending us expensive gifts. We were married in La Honda, California, at that time the home of the “Merry Pranksters,” none of whom attended our wedding, although three couples who were our friends were at the service.
We held a small party in a bar down the road from the church, but we were asked to leave because we were too rowdy.
Merry Christmas (or whatever you may celebrate).
I’ve been to Nesquehoning, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Bowmanstown, Weissport, Palmerton, along with Franklin, Penn Forest, Kidder, and Towamensing Townships. Not on every road and street, of course, but at least I’ve got a sampling.
The winner is on Main Road in Franklin Township about half a mile east of Weissport. There are some other excellent displays (house in Bowmanstown, shooting stars on Columbia in Palmerton), but the individual prize goes to the Main Road display. I noticed cars are stopping just to take a look. I don’t know who is responsible, but nice work.
Best municipal display is the Lehighton Park. The park is small enough and the trees are numerous enough to make a beautiful array, and the colored lights on the fountain cap it off. Good for Lehighton.
In The Fifth Risk (W. W. Norton & Co., 2028), Michael Lewis discusses the 2016 transition from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration. In some cases Trump’s political appointees and cabinet officials had no idea what their departments did; in some cases their main objective was to destroy the work of their departments. They didn’t meet with career officials, nor did they even look at the briefing books prepared by their predecessors, a practice started in the George W. Bush administration.
Lewis gives examples of the unsung heroes who did their jobs each day, often with little thanks and no recognition. In some cases important functions were able to continue simply because the appointees were so inept, or in a few cases because they turned out to be “the adults in the room.”
The second Trump administration won’t be like that. He’s already said he will convert 50,000 civil service jobs into political appointments, taking us back to the spoils system. He has already turned to supporters for a list of hacks who will follow his dictates. We will yearn for the return of the so-called “deep state.” It will be too late.
Today is the official first day of winter, it but it is already winter in America. According to an article by Bret Stephens, a Harvard-Harris poll conducted earlier this month found that 9 percent of Americans over 65 agree with the statement, “Jews as a class are oppressors.” Not the Netanyahu government, not right-wing settlers on the West Bank, but Jews.
To me 9% is high but it gets far more depressing.
44% of Americans ages 25 to 34 agreed with that statement.
67% of Americans aged 18 to 24 agreed with that statement.
See Bret Stephens, “Why I Can’t Stop Writing About Oct. 7,” New York Times, (Dec. 20, 2023), p. A23.
A reporter noted that Biden was angry with his campaign staff for his low poll numbers. Really? Angry at the staff? Look in the mirror, Bud.
Over half of the people in this country don’t want either Trump or Biden to run. And yet the train keeps hurtling down the tracks, and we passengers can’t seem to do much about it.
At least the Republicans have choice in the primaries. (By the way, Nikki Haley is going to kick Trump’s ass in New Hampshire. You heard it here first.)
That was sung by Union soldiers during the Civil War. Jefferson Davis, as you probably know, was the president of the Confederacy, the group of states that fought against the government of the United States. You may also remember that the Confederacy lost that war.
Now we have another gentleman who fought against the government of the United States, sending a mob to prevent the Congress from certifying the President of the United States who was elected in a fair and free election.
That man should no more be allowed to run for President of this country than Jefferson Davis would have been. Today the Colorado Supreme Court agreed and said he could not legally be on the ballot. The Court didn’t go as far as saying he should hang from a sour apple tree, however.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection held a public hearing tonight in the Panther Valley High School on whether to allow an energy company to burn tire shreds along with waste coal to produce electrical energy for bitcoin mining.
The hearing, scheduled one week before Christmas, was poorly publicized. People giving testimony were limited to three minutes, were timed, given warnings with one minute left and 30 seconds left, could not ask questions. We were told not to clap (we did anyway), and we were warned that anyone who spoke out of turn would be escorted out by police.
The testimony, including mine, was overwhelmingly against the proposal, since tires produce all kinds of harmful emissions. We learned that the plant has already been burning tire shreds for the past year and has been cited at least seven times for exceeding the allowed limit of pollution. Approximately 20 people testified against the proposal, with one in favor. About half of the people who spoke were members of various environmental organizations, and half were local residents.
People pointed out that the process was unfair, that the D.E.P. almost always approves every permit for polluters, and that area residents would not benefit from bitcoin mining. Residents noted that this kind of facility would never be allowed in wealthy towns.
Many of the speakers were cynical, predicting that the D.E.P. would approve the permit. I share in that cynicism. I believe that after the D.E.P. does approve the permit, the opponents will need legal action to force the D.E.P. to follow its own standards and procedures. I think we will win.
This weekend I attended a Pennsylvania Democratic State Party meeting non Harrisburg. I noticed almost immediately a lack of anger. Democrats are really pleasant people. No yelling about “replacement theory,” no grousing about trans people using the wrong bathroom, no whining about the government trying to take our guns away, no weird conspiracy theories.
A group of young people started shouting “Cease Fire Now” at the beginning of Sen. Casey’s speech, but some hotel employees ushered them out. Sen. Casey did not offer to pay the legal fees of anyone who beat them up, as Trump did during a similar incident. All Casey said was “This is America. They have a right to speak.”
Sometimes when I was teaching at San José State I would come across an article and I would think, my students have got to read this. It was easy–I would use the office copier, make copies for everybody in the class, pass them out, and tell the students the material would be on the test.
I would like to do that for Sherrilyn Ifill’s essay entitled “How America Ends and Begins Again” published in the December 21 issue of the New York Review of Books. Ifill is a civil rights lawyer who served as President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund from 2013 to 2022. She is currently a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School.
Go to New York Review of Books and find her article. You have to register, but it is free and you can read (and print) the whole article. Ifill explains how America has had three beginnings. She thinks that after Trump, we will have a fourth.
I am not as optimistic as she is, but what an essay. You have got to read this. The material will be on the test. I wouldn’t mind hearing some comments as well.
My friend Bill just sent me a meme showing a grinning woman in a T-shirt that says “You can’t fix stupid, but the hats sure make it easy to identify.” That’s what I want Santa to bring me.
I won’t be posting tomorrow night. I’m a Carbon County delegate to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party meeting in Harrisburg. Should be fun.
Lockstep is a form of marching in which the person moves in close proximity to the marcher in front. It is can also be used to describe the behavior of the Republican members of the House of Representatives, i.e., they march in lockstep.
You would think that at least ten or twelve of the more than 200 Republicans would support funding for Ukraine. You would think that at least ten or so would balk at giving a Christmas present to Putin. At least ten or so would have read about Munich and its results. At least ten or so would say “This funding for Ukraine is far more important than my re-election.”
Nope. They reward aggression, betray allies, pander to the worst in their party. Lock stepping all the way.
The Biden Administration has announced its support for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to compete in the 2028 Olympics with its own lacrosse team. The Confederacy has competed before in international games, but it will be up to the I.O.C. if it is allowed to enter the Olympic games.
The Confederacy is composed of indigenous people who lived in New York and Eastern Canada. You probably heard of the individual tribes: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscarora. They were the people who invented the game of lacrosse.
Information for this article was taken from Matthew Futterman, “Biden Backs an Indigenous Team’s Push to Compete Under Its Own Flag in 2028,” New York Times, (Dec. 7, 2023), p. B12.
I have often heard people who oppose changing the names of Army bases named for Confederate generals say, “But that’s re-writing history.”
In his book How the Word Is Passed, Clint Smith explains why people might want to change those names. Smith is from New Orleans. Here’s what he wrote:
Every time I returned home I would drive on streets named for those who thought of me as chattel.
“Go straight for two miles on Robert E. Lee.”
“Take a left on Jefferson Davis.”
“Make the first right on Claiborne.”
Translation:
“Go straight for two miles on the general whose troops slaughtered hundreds of Black soldiers who were trying to surrender.”
“Take a left on the president of the Confederacy who understood the torture of Black bodies as the cornerstone of their new nation”
“Make the first right on the man who allowed the heads of rebelling slaves to be mounted on stakes in order to prevent other slaves from getting any ideas.”
