The Amish/Muslim connection

In Mohnton, PA, an Amish Halal Butcher caters to Muslims.  For a major Muslim holiday like Eid al-Adha, up to 500 Muslim families may visit the Amish farm to purchase halal meat.  The farm also caters to Hindus, primarily from Nepal, and some Africans and some Jews.  The farm employs two full-time Muslims, one from Syria and one from Ghana.  

Visitors from Philly and Harrisburg often picnic at the farm.  Ephraim Stoltzfus, the owner, has become quite knowledgeable about Muslim religious traditions.  

It makes me proud to be an American.

Info for this post is from Dan Sullivan, “Amish Halal Butchery Caters to Muslim Market,”  Lancaster Farming, (June 6, 2026), pp. A1, A7. 

Bread and circuses

We are imitating the last days of the Roman empire when the Roman citizens were given bread and circuses.  The circus was on Trump’s birthday when the “cage fighters” did an imitation of the gladiators in the arena.  I do not know if Trump, AKA Nero, gave thumbs up or down, or if anyone was actually put to the sword.  Probably not–we can’t do anything right.

My issue is this:  We have had the circus, but where the heck is the bread?  Or does that just go to the Emperor and his cronies? 

A letter to Pres. Trump on assigning blame

I've written to the President a number of times, although thus far he seems to have ignored my letters.  Nonetheless, I keep trying to help him out.  Here is the one that I'm mailing tomorrow:

President Donald J. Trump

The White House

Office of the President

1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Trump:

There is an old rule in politics that after an office holder is sworn in, he or she can blame his or her predecessor for problems and miscues for a period of six months.  After that, the new office holder owns the problems.

I notice that you have been blaming President Obama for some of the problems and issues faced by our country.  Since President Obama left office in January of 2017, his tenure is well past the “blame date.”  Under the six months rule, even President Biden would be past the time where he can be blamed for problems.  

Your advisors should have told you this.  In any case, it is something for you to keep in mind.

All the best,

Roy Christman

Was the Klan an inspiration for Turning Point?

In the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan organized Klan Klubs in high schools.  Some yearbooks featured the Klubs along with Glee Clubs and Debate Societies.  The high school Klubs were big especially big in Indiana.  

Now Turning Point has proudly announced that it has over 1000 chapters in high schools around the nation.  Was the Klan the inspiration for this?  Inquiring minds want to know. 

Restoration has started

It will take years. maybe decades, to bring sanity and normality to the U.S., but it has already started.  Trump’s name has been removed from the Kennedy Center (and a rainbow decorated the sky while it was happening).  

A judge just ordered exhibits taken down by the Trump Administration in National Park sites to be restored.  U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts wrote that the Trump efforts were meant “to rewrite the Nation’s history with a white-out pen.”

In Philadelphia an exhibit discussing the lives of nine slaves of George Washington that had earlier been removed from the Independence National Historical Park was reinstalled in February.  (By the way, is there anyone left on the U.S. who did not know Washington owned slaves?)  

Calls are starting to restore the White House to its configuration before Trump starting messing it up.  We will eventually cleanse this mess.

Jeff Corle's "Empty Barn"

According to an article in the June 13 edition of Lancaster Farming, when Jeff Corle’s dairy farm went under, he thought about his loaded shotgun but instead picked up his guitar and wrote the song “Empty Barn.”  Now he travels around singing it solo and raising money for mental health awareness among farmers.

It’s available on YouTube.  I don’t think it will make the top 40, but it isn’t terrible, and I liked the photos of the cows.

Bags of sugar

Today I made a batch of strawberry jam.  You need lots of sugar for homemade jellies and jams, and Linda bought two bags.  She pointed out that the bags, which I assumed were five pound bags, were actually only four pounds.  They look the same as the five pound bags, but it’s there on the bag–four pounds.

It really is dishonest.  Of course it is legal, but it is wrong.  It is pulling a fast one on the consumer.  It is irritating.  The word for it is “shrinkflation,” but it is simply another form of inflation, and it is not only happening to sugar.  

I blame Trump.  

Family Reunion

Paul and I have been friends for most of our lives.  We went to the same church when we were kids, we were in 4-H Club together, and when I was in grad school at Penn State, Paul was an undergrad.  He is the only one of his six siblings still alive.

His family is now scattered across the country in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, California, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  The younger generations have no knowledge of their ancestors, of the experience Paul and his brothers and sisters had growing up on a small dairy farm, their time in one-room schools, or where their great grandparents are buried.

Paul decided to invite them all to fly or drive back here for a two-day tour of cemeteries, schools, and other places important to the family.  Today they visited Kibler School, a one-room school house I attended, now owned by the Palmerton Area Historical Society.  I was the docent for the visit, and we served cake and lemonade.  I thought this was a wonderful way to hold a family “reunion,” so we put out a press release.  The local tv station and the local newspaper covered the school event. 

In addition to the school, the family members visited two cemeteries, the old homestead (still in the family), and a church, ending with a family picnic.  It was a good day.

Does Trump have dementia?

No, he does not.  Yes, he falls asleep.  Yes, he says incredibly stupid things.  But he has always said incredibly stupid things.  If you listen to some of his most outlandish statements, for example, “I love inflation,” he was trying to make the point that when the war ends inflation will come down, and he will look good.  Yes, it is stupid, but it does have some kind of internal logic.

The fact that he harps on the reflecting pool (i.e., “pond”) or that he wants to build a huge arch are not sighs of dementia.  They are signs of narcissism, and we are aware that he’s always had that.  Yes, he lies, but he has always lied.  Again not dementia, just lying.  So if you are hoping that at some point the Cabinet will step up and declare him unfit–won’t happen.  The way to stop him is in November when we elect a majority of Democrats to both houses of Congress.  Forget dementia.  Forget a stroke.  Forget impeachment.  

The way to oppose authoritarians is by opposing authoritarians every which way you can.  Register voters.  Put up signs.  Demonstrate.  Write letters to the editor.  Post stuff on Facebook.  Speak out in the grocery store.  Flood Fetterman (or your own Congress member) with letters.  Don’t quit.

Remarks on the Kidder Township Solar proposal

Plans are afoot to build a 300 acre solar farm in Kidder Township.  The plan calls for extensive grading and the destruction of quite a few wetlands.  An environmental group, Save Carbon County, is asking people to testify against the project.  I sent in the following statement to the PA DEP earlier this evening:

Remarks on the proposal for a solar installation in Kidder Township

Roy Christman, Ph.D., former adjunct in the San José State University Environmental Studies Department

Environmentalists love renewable energy.  If power is produced by solar panels or wind turbines we generally like it.  No mining is required, no drilling is needed, nothing is burned, no toxic fumes are emitted, no fly ash is produced.

Nonetheless, we must exercise caution when discussing “renewable” energy.  We can put a “pinwheel generator” on a stream to produce electricity, or we can build the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River to produce electricity.  Obviously the environmental impact is different.

We could also use wind power as either an example of environmentally sound or environmentally destructive energy production.  A wind turbine in the corner of an Iowa farmer’s field benefits both the farmer and the grid.  Iowa is not on a major migration flyway.  On the other hand, a similar wind turbine at Hawk Mountain would result in the slaughter of thousands of birds annually.  Both turbines produce “renewable” power, but the effects are very different.

One more example more pertinent to this hearing: my wife and I have solar panels on our shed roof.  In most months of the year those panels produce enough electrical power for our own needs and some extra for PPL Corporation.  That is renewable power production at its best.

On the other hand, a solar farm (love the word “farm”) that requires the destruction of hundreds of acres of trees, obliterates wetlands, requires extensive earth movement, and needs an upgrade on the grid is most definitely not “environmental.”  Let’s use some judgement here.  Let’s understand that “renewable” and “environmental” are really not synonymous.  And let’s halt this project.

Israel: What Went Wrong

That is the title of  book (which I have not read) by Omer Bartov.  Dr. Bartov was born in Israel, raised in a Zionist household, served four years in the IDF, and currently teaches at Brown University where he is a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies.

Bartov says that Zionism had two faces:  one that was liberating and pluralist; the other was ethnonationalist.  Since the founding, he says, the emancipatory element has receded while the ethnonationalist element has become a “state ideology.”

A country founded as a refuge from intolerance has acquired the traits of an increasingly remorseless ethnonationalism.  He is pessimistic about the future, noting that neither Israel nor the Palestinians have leadership capable of getting out of this morass.

I probably should read the book, but the Sunday Times review by Jennifer Szalai sounds absolutely depressing to anyone who hopes for peace in the Middle East.

Dissecting the War Against Iran

A few years ago I bought a course from “The Teaching Company” entitled “History’s Great Military Blunders and the Lessons They Teach.”  The course was taught by professor Gregory S. Aldrete.  The course analyzed ten or 15 battles ranging from ancient Greece to modern times.  Dr. Aldrete said battles were lost for any of four reasons, often in combination.  

I thought the war in Iran makes an interesting case study.  I’ll let you decide how many of the causes of failure apply.

1.  Failures in planning.  Includes failure to define objectives and failure to pay attention to intelligence and the strengths of the enemy.

2.  Failures in leadership.  Includes incompetence, working above one’s ability, and inability to work with other leaders.

3.  Failures in execution.  Includes such problems as splitting one’s forces, moving too early or too late, and not knowing when to cut one’s losses.  Reinforcing failure is a common theme.

4.  Failures to adapt.  Change occurs, and a leader must be ready to adjust to meet those changes.

Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Susan Collins sets record, remains a jerk

Susan Collins, who has been in the Senate for 29 years, has not missed a Senate vote in all that time, casting her 10,000th vote and setting a Senate record.  And she is proud of it.  Proud of voting for Brett Kavanaugh, who helped to overturn Roe v. Wade, proud of voting to send people to El Salvador to a prison where they were tortured, proud of funding ICE and backing Trump’s policies.  

The Democratic candidate in Maine, Graham Platner, has done some stupid things, but if he is elected, he will not vote to support Trump’s authoritarian and fascist polices.  Susan Collins, I’m sure, never got questionable tattoos and may never have posted stupid or nasty comments online, but she sure has done nothing of substance to fight the polices of Donald Trump.  I am not impressed that she cast 10,000 votes.  She is a disgrace.

Info for this post came in part from Carl Hulse, “Casting Her 10,000th Vote, Collins Sets Senate Record,” New York Times, (June 7, 2026), p. 18.

Save Our Bacon

California and Massachusetts have passed laws that you can’t sell pork in those states if pig growers use gestation crates.  These are crates for the pregnant sows that are so small the pigs can’t even turn around.  They are not given straw to make a bed, and, in my view, are treated in cruel and inhumane manner.

Now the Republican House has passed a bill to override the state laws.  The legislation has been given the cute name of “Save Our Bacon,” but it really is a law to legalize cruelty.  Pigs are incredibly intelligent animals much smarter than horses.  But Big Pork has lobbying power.

Here is another solution.  If you must eat pork, then buy it from local butchers who buy their pigs from local farms that raise pigs in traditional ways.  Or forego pork entirely.  Eat eggs.  You don’t need to kill the chickens to get the eggs.

Ten Endangered Rivers

Every year the American Rivers organization puts out a list of the ten most endangered rivers.  The criteria are that the rivers can be saved if public pressure is brought to bear; if the river has significance to people and nature, and if the threat will harm the river and its communities.  Here’s the list and the threat:

Potomac River.  Threat–data centers

San Joaquin.  Threat–mining

Boundary waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  Threat–mining

Lumber River (NC).  Threat–forever chemicals and feed lot waste, mostly 

from pig farms

Rogue River.  Threat–mining

Chilkat River (Alaska).  Threat–mining

Nissequogue River (NY).  Threat–a dam

Dan River (VA and NC).  Threat–pipeline projects

Amargosa River (Nevada).  Threat–mining

Suwannee River (FL and GA).  Threat–excessive water withdrawals and 

pollution

Here is the problem.  The Trump Administration is a cheerleader for the mining, pipelines, and pig farm interests.  The Potomac is already over-burdened with data center issues, and the North Carolina pig farms are not about to stop using huge manure lagoons which often overflow.  People are still moving to Florida.  Perhaps the dam on the Nissequogue can be stopped, but environmentalists don’t seem all that popular or powerful these days.  

I would have added the rivers that flow into the Great Salt Lake.  The lake is drying up.  That will be an environmental disaster.

How to tell if they are members of the MAGA cult

Not all Republicans, even the ones who voted for Trump in the past, are true believers willing to follow him anywhere.  There is an easy way to tell if they are MAGA cult members or just normal voters who were either misguided or perhaps not too bright.  

Just ask them:  Do you think Trump won the 2020 election?  If they say yes and claim he actually was cheated out of the presidency, they are cult members.  If they say no, Biden won that election, they are at least rational people who haven’t bought Trump’s conspiracy theory.  Try it.

Democrats are really bad people

My friend John C. was working the polls on election day and a Republican at the polling place was also handing out literature.  Her cards had this message:

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Democrats have chosen

The enemies of Israel, over Israel

Muslims over gays

Rigged elections over democracy

Communism over capitalism

Criminals over police

Globalists over America

Wall Street over Main Street

Illegal Aliens over citizens

Transvestites over men and women

and Satan over God

I don’t quite get the “Muslims over gays” thing.  The “Wall Street over Main Street” is also kind of weird.  And “criminals over police” is dumb in light of the “slush fund” for cop killers at the Jan. 6 riot.  Do Republicans really believe this junk?  I guess many of the MAGA types do.  Scary stuff.

Trump continues to wreck our national parks

President Trump by executive order has lifted the ban on off-road vehicles in national parks.  You can now drive your ATV, dune buggy, snow mobile, or dirt bike in our national parks.  Go off-roading.  Scare and run over animals.  Make loud noises.  Tear up the environment.  It will be fun.

And for those of you opposed to this move, buy clothes line and tie it across off road vehicle trails at neck height.  Dirt bike riders shouldn’t be the only ones who enjoy some fun.