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.