"Kill the Endangered Species Act" proposed legislation

This is a tense time.  The newly elected Congress is not sworn in until January.  That gives the Republicans (and Fetterman) time to screw up all kinds of things, and they are at work doing just that.  

The Senate has already approved the “Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026” also known as the “Kill the Endangered Species Act.”

Some Democrats voted for it, saying they will make amendments in the final version after the bill goes to the House.  Why vote for it at all?  

Here are some of the provisions:

it will weaken protections across the country by gutting the national system for protecting endangered species, replacing it with a patchwork of up to 50 different state processes.  

it will exempt some highway and water projects from endangered species requirements, never asking if the project might jeopardize the existence of an endangered species.

it will shift conservation responsibilities to state agencies.  You think South Dakota and Wyoming give a damn about endangered species?

it will even cut federal wildlife scientists out of decisions about projects that threaten endangered animals.  

This bill should never have seen the light of day.

Information for this post was provided by Defenders of Wildlife, although it was I who renamed the bill. 

Sen. Colom

I just looked at the clock and it is the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the time when the WWI Armistice went into effect.  

I have a birthday coming up soon.  I’ll be 84.  I have lived long enough to see a human walk on the moon, to see a Black president elected, and now to see a Black U.S. Senator elected from Mississippi.  Amazing.

Tomorrow I am going to the gym.  Tonight I’ll get a good night’s sleep.  I am trying to stay healthy so I live long enough to see Trump arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to prison.  Then I can die even happier than I am tonight.

Trump and Big Bend National Park

The lower Federal courts have been a bulwark against many of Trump’s actions, only to be overruled by the Supreme Court.  The latest example is in Big Bend National Park.  A lower court federal judge ruled that Congress had not authorized the use of 30 foot tall steel walls and new roads through the Park.  She ordered an immediate stop to all construction-related activity.  

The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal, lying about the number of border crossings in the area.  The U.S. Supreme Court said the Administration could continue with the wall construction.  The Court said that the law limits judges powers to intervene when the federal government decided speedy border barrier construction is necessary.

In Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer (1952) the Supreme Court said President Truman did not have the power to seize steel mills even though he claimed troops in Korea needed steel production because of the Korean War.  That was when the U.S. Supreme Court took its job (and the Constitution) seriously.

Remember what can be built can also be torn down, but in the meantime cross-border animal migrations have also been stopped and one our best national parks desecrated.  

We have got to put term limits on the Court, or limit its jurisdiction, or add judges.  None of those items need a Constitutional amendment, just legislation.  

Political friends

In 1965 a political scientist named Mancur Olson wrote a guide to group recruitment and maintenance.  The book was entitled The Logic of Collective Action.  Olson said that there were three reasons people joined groups or continued to support group activity.  

Purposive reasons were when you believed in the goals of a group and wished to support the group’s ideology.  If you liked history, you might join a preservation society.  An environmentalist could join Nature Conservancy; a civil libertarian would join the ACLU.

Material reasons are obvious.  People form labor unions for higher wages or better pensions.  Some groups formed for non-material purposes will also give their members material incentives–calendars or discounts on certain products as a reward for joining.

Olson noted that sometimes people who joined a group stayed active for what he called solidary reasons, or what I would call friendship.  Their associations turned into something more than membership for material gains or ideological goals.  They got along with each other, liked each other, formed close friendships.  

Political party activists at one time may have registered and became active for material motives.  This is no doubt why Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg suck up to Republican Party leaders like Trump.  Most activists, however, don’t expect to gain employment or favors.  Civil service certainly has cut down on that aspect.

I would guess that most party activists, certainly the ones I know, become active in Democratic Party politics because they believe in health care for all, or they support a woman’s right to control her reproductive decisions, or they are worried about global warming, or they dislike the brutality of ICE.  

An interesting aspect of this activism is that they become friends with one another.  At least that is the case for me.  I don’t have a huge number of friends, but those that I have tend to be political cohorts.  I obviously know some people who are MAGA types, and I might even be able to think of one who I consider a friend (give me some time on that), but most of my friends are on the left (or far left) end of the political spectrum.

 

Harvie and Fitzpatrick

If this were 1950 or even 2000 I would think it was too bad that Congressman Fitzpatrick from Southeast Pennsylvania lost his seat.  He was a decent man, a good vote on the environment, and a frequent critic of Trump.  But it is 2026, with a polarized country and a Republican Party firmly in control of President Trump.  If Trump dies and Vance dies, House Speaker Mike Johnson becomes President.  Republicans control all Committees in the House.  The 2024 Republican platform was written by the Heritage Foundation, a far right group of fanatics.  

If Fitzpatrick really wanted to stop Trump and to reflect his constituents, all he had to do was change parties.  He wouldn’t have been the first congressman to switch.  He could have resigned in protest.  He could have switched to Independent.

Or he could lose the race last Tuesday to Democrat Bob Harvie.  I don’t feel the same satisfaction I did with the races in Ohio or Texas or Kansas or Michigan, but I am still happy with that outcome.  

The Commie threat!

A local newspaper reporter interviewed voters in Lehighton on the day of the election.  One voter said it was important to vote because “We don’t need any communists.”  At the same polling location another voter explained,” I hope (this) morning we don’t have to get up and say we’re communists.”

I don’t even know what to say to that. 

Who swung left, who swung right?

If the votes for various groups in 2026 are compared to their voting behavior in 2024, we see some interesting swings.  In some cases the swing was dramatic  For example, men under thirty were 38% more likely to vote Democratic in 26 than in 24; women under 30 were 28% more like to vote Democratic.  The swing for young women from 24 to 26 was less than for men because more young women were already voting Democratic in the 24 election.  

Here is a quick rundown of some of the groups who moved more toward the Democrats this Tuesday compared to their vote in 2024:

Asians

Hispanics 

Black men

Black women (who in 2024 were already voting Democratic by over 90% and still voted 3% more on Tuesday)

Older voters

Voters without college degrees

White voters

White voters without college degrees

Groups that swung more toward the Republicans:

I couldn’t find any listed, but maybe Tech Bros?

Plant New Forests

Space X and Tesla are looking at a merger.  This possibility may now be investigated; the Democrats control Congress.  Starlink, which was denied to Ukraine for a time, will probably be looked at as well.

And Musk, who spent about $224 million trying to influence Texas elections, lost bigly.  Remember that Musk moved the headquarters for both SpaceX and Tesla to Texas after claiming that California had become too liberal.

Senator Edward J. Markey (D, Mass) posted on X.  “They are going to need to plant new forests for all the subpoenas we’ll be printing.”  He was talking about upcoming hearings on tech executives.  I love that he posted that on X.

Info for this post was taken in part fromRyan Mac and Jack Ewing, “After Opening His Wallet Against Texas Democrats, Musk Could Now Face Greater Scrutiny,” New York Times, (Nov. 5, 2026), p. B-3. 

Thought from the PA 7th District

Sure, sex is great, but have you ever voted a Republican out of office?

Excerpt from "Potluck at the Wilmot Flat Baptist Church" by Jane Kenyon

On the way home we pass the white clapboard faces of the

library and town hall, luminous in the moonlight, and I

remember the first time I ever voted–in a township hall

in Michigan.

That same wonderful smell of coffee was in the air, and I 

found myself among people trying to live ordered lives....

And again I am struck with love for the Republic.

My wish for tomorrow

I’m hoping the Dems take the Senate by such a margin that the Party can toss Fetterman out.  He’ll be out in two years, but I don’t want to wait that long.

Structural reforms needed

The Constitution only has 27 amendments, and ten of those are the Bill of Rights.  That means in 250 years we really only have had 17, and that includes Prohibition followed by cancelling Prohibition, so you could say really 15.  That’s roughly about one every 17 years.  Maybe not enough.

We really need some reforms by way of amendments.  Passing laws simply won’t do it, since we now have precedent for a President to ignore laws and a Supreme Court that ruled the President has almost unlimited immunity.

Here’s a partial list of potential amendments that would help fix sone of the weaknesses of this so-called democracy.

Term limits for Supreme Court justices.  (There are other ways to fix the Court; that’s just one suggestion.)

Limit the Presidential pardon power.

Limit Presidential immunity.

Take the Justice Department out of the Executive Branch.

Specify that Independent Regulatory Agencies are truly independent.  We’d have to figure out how that can be done.

Limit campaign contributions.  Again, there are different ways to reform that mess, but we need to get on it.

Dump the electoral college.  That will be a hard one, since it gives extra power to low population states.

I believe there are more, but at least that’s a start.  

Circadian rhythm disorder

That’s what you will be feeling tomorrow morning, and it can mess up both your mental and physical health.  People who study this find all kinds of problems result from the time change.  Evidently our minds and bodies are tied into a rhythm of daylight and night-time darkness.  

A plurality of people in the U.S. want to have year round daylight saving time, but the experts who study this find that to be the worst of three alternatives.  They say if we plan to adopt one year-round time setting, it should be “standard time.”  The second best option is what we are doing now–daylight savings time in the lighter months; standard in the winter.  The worst option with the most harmful physical and mental problems would be year-round daylight savings time.

By the way, the CIA is aware of what light and dark can do.  One of the ways it tortured prisoners after 911 was to put them into cells with a bright light that was never turned off.

My own problem is not knowing which way to set the clocks.  People tell me, “fall back.”  I occasionally fall, but I always fall forward.  I don’t think I’ve fallen backwards in my entire life.  My solution to this uncertainty is to wake up on Sunday morning and turn on my computer.  It lists the time in the upper right-hand corner.   

Why I'm nervous

1.  When the game is in the late innings and the pitcher has a no-hitter going, nobody on the team refers to it.  No one says, “Hey, it’s the seventh inning and you have a no-hitter in the works.”  Why?  Because it will jinx the no-hitter.  All MSNOW pundits talk about is possible Democratic victories.  Will Kansas go blue?  Will Susan Collins be defeated?  What about Texas, Georgia, even Mississippi?  They are going to jinx this.

2.  I remember ten days before the 2016 election Hillary Clinton had a ten point lead.  Everyone was so happy.  Perhaps you also remember that one.

3.  The polling has been off in the past.  A pollster predicted that Harris was going to take Iowa by 10 points.  

4.  After Trump’s terrible first term and his call for his supporters to storm the Capitol and his coverup of the Epstein files and his project 2025, he still won a second term.  “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” 

So maybe this Is not a Trump supporter

At a Trump rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina, a Fox News reporter approached a guy with a full beard and blue baseball hat and asked him

“Why are you here this morning?”

Guy:  “Well, in the late 70s, I was a little too young to go to South America for the Jonestown Massacre.  But this is as close as I’ll ever get so that’s why I’m here.”

Fox reporter:  “Wait, the Jonestown massacre?”

Guy:  “That’s right.  See, there’s nothing like seeing a cult right up front, man.”

Fox reporter:  “All right.  So maybe this is not a Trump supporter.”

You can watch it online.

$100,000

If you pay $100,000 to Truth Social, you can get inside info on future U.S. governmental policies.  Truth Social is controlled by the Trump family.  Say the military is about to send missiles against Iran.  You could get that info before the rest of us.  If you are a trader in stocks, that would be valuable info for you to have.  It is also illegal.

Tonight I heard Ryan Crosswell, former official in the Public Integrity part of the Justice Department who resigned in protest, explain why he and others have filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit to stop this illegal activity. 

The lawsuit should put an end to this blatant misuse of federal power.  Trump makes Nixon look like a choir boy . 

Dan Meuser explains why Trump was elected

Congressman Meuser represents portions of five Pennsylvania counties–Luzerne, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Wyoming, and Lycoming.  He wrote an article for the Times News published on Jan. 10, 2025, shortly before Trump began his second term in office.  The article was entitled “Making the American economy great again.”  

Meuser began his essay with this sentence  “The American people voted for President Trump’s plan to grow the economy, cut waste and restore fiscal sanity.”

Later in the same article Meuser says “By reversing restrictive regulations like the LNG Pause and Methane Rule and embracing domestic energy production, we can lower costs for families, bring down inflation and revitalize manufacturing.”

He really wrote that.  I am not making this up. 

Now Meuser is running for re-election