Congrats to Brazil

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the gold medal for the Men’s Giant Slalom at the Olympic Winter Games.  It was the first gold medal won by Brazil at the any of the Winter Games.  In fact it was the first gold medal won by anyone from South America at the Winter Games.  Nice work.  

The midterms

It is obvious that Trump knows he is in for a drubbing at the midterms, so the Republicans are already gearing up to cheat on the elections.  They began months ago with the gerrymandering of congressional districts.  Now they are pushing for ID’s that many poor and older people and married women who changed their names won’t be able to produce.  

I will.  I have a passport.  How many MAGA people will be able to produce either a birth certificate or a passport?  This may backfire.  Of course, if they are white or carrying an assault rifle or wearing MAGA gear, the ID requirements will be waived.

Don’t worry about the elections being cancelled.  Russia holds elections.  Hungary holds elections.  Authoritarian governments don’t cancel elections; they rig them. 

The World We Live In

In a recent interview with Jake Tapper, Trump advisor Stephen Miller said “We live own a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”

I don’t like living in a world with Stephen Miller, but that sure does sum up the attitude of a lot of people in the Trump administration.  They don’t even pretend otherwise.  And they wear those cute little crosses around their necks.

The Rich Get Richer...

According to an article in the business section of today’s Times “The net worth of the top 1 percent of households climbed to a record share of nearly 32 percent of the national total in the third quarter of 2025, according to data from the Federal Reserve, which started tracking household wealth in 1989.”

I wonder if that has anything to do with a front page article in today’s Times

entitled “G.O.P.’S Cash Edge Gives Democrats Midterm Anxiety.”  

That article noted that Elon Musk himself had donated tens of millions of dollars in the last few months.

It is soon time for the torches and the pitchforks.  

Worshipping the Golden Ass

Exodus, Chapter 32, verses 2-4 (with some slight modifications)

2.  And Trump said unto them, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters and bring them unto me.

3.  And all the Crypto Bros broke off their golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Trump.

4.  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten ass, 15 feet high, with a thinned-down tummy, and the Crypto Bros fell down and worshipped it, and he blessed them.

For more info see David Yaffe-Bellany, “A Golden Idol for President Trump Created by Memecoin Worshipers,” New York Times, (Feb. 11, 2026), pp. B-1, B-6.

Way too many deer

Our field bordering Station Street looks like a football game was played in the snow.  Instead of a nice white expanse, the entire field is roughed up and full of holes.  A herd of deer did that.  Our neighbor who farms the field planted daikon radishes in the fall as a cover crop.  The deer had been eating the tops before the snow.  

Now they are back, digging down through 14 inches of snow with hooves that aren’t really made for digging.  Desperation and starvation are driving them to improvise.

While I feel slightly sorry for them, it is obvious that Pennsylvania, or at least our area of Pennsylvania, has way too many deer.  Our coyotes are not really capable of pulling down a full grown whitetail.  We really need the reintroduction of wolves–or cougars.  I’m not picky.

Is Donald Trump insane?

I’m not being funny.  It is a serious question.  Who stays up at night issuing strange messages on social media?  Who has that much antipathy toward people he thinks are enemies?  Who would want to name tunnels and buildings and ships after himself?  Who would want to build a giant arch, or issue a National Park pass with his picture, or rename the Gulf of Mexico, or rip down a portion of the White House, or take credit for all kinds of things he had nothing to do with.  Who would show so much anger at reporters, or threaten so many people, or spout so much nonsense in a non-ending stream?

I really believe he has crossed the line between being strange and being mentally ill.  My fear is that this won’t be recognized by enough people around him, and many of those people he surrounds himself with actually have a major self-interest in seeing that he stays in power.  

I thought Nixon was a terrible president, but it never occurred to me that Nixon would launch a nuclear war for some kind of personal vendetta.  With Trump I think that is quite possible.  It is something that should be discussed openly–and soon.

The Bad Bunny Halftime Show

Toward the end of his life, my Dad, who was a country-western fan of sorts (had a guitar, could sing the old classics from the 30s and 40s), didn’t know any of the more recent country-western musicians, although he did see the Oakridge Boys at Penn’s Peak.

I find myself in the same situation.  I own (and play) literally hundreds of albums from the 50s through the 90s, but it ends there.  I never get the rappers clued in the New York Times crossword puzzles, and I can’t sing along with even one Taylor Swift song, although at least I am aware of who she is.

One problem is that unless you stream or download music, you really don’t hear it.  It is not on the radio.  You can find oldies there, and right-wing blowhards, and an all news station, but none of the stations play current hits.  They come over your cell phone, which I don’t have.

Having heard of Bad Bunny and also having heard that he annoys Trump and also that he sings in Spanish, I had to check him out.  I have never watched a Superbowl halftime show before, but I did tonight.  I was entertained, and Bad Bunny seemed like a nice guy.  I didn’t care for the music, but there is a rule about music.  You must listen to a song at least five times before you make a decision on whether or not you like it.  

Can I even get an album with a selection of Bad Bunny songs?  Probably not.  

The 7 principles for the Conduct of a Newspaper

The principles, issued on March 5, 1935, were written by Eugene Meyers who bought the Washington Post at auction in 1933.  They were quoted in an op-ed piece in today’s New York Times by Carlos Lozada, who worked for the Post.

Since the current owner of the Washington Post, billionaire Jeff Bezos, is turning the Post into a shell of its former self, I thought the principles were worth printing.

1.  The first mission of a newspaper is to tell the truth as nearly as the truth may be ascertained.

2.  The newspaper shall tell ALL the truth so far as it can learn it, concerning the important affairs of America and the world.

3.  As a disseminator of the news the paper shall observe the decencies that are obligatory upon a private gentleman.

4.  What it prints shall be fit reading for the young as well as for the old.

5.  The newspaper’s duty is to its readers and to the public at large, and not to the private interests of the owners.

6.  In the pursuit of truth, the newspaper shall be prepared to make sacrifices of its material fortunes, if such course be necessary for the public good.

7.  The newspaper shall not be the ally of any special interest, but shall be fair and free and wholesome in its outlook on public affairs and public men.

I’d like to think that I subscribe to these on this blog, although I might have a problem with numbers 3 and 4, and I’d add “and women” to # 7.

A Minneapolis Buddhist speaks out

She is an assistant to a Buddhist priest.  This is a portion of her recent talk to a gathering of Buddhists. 

Right now we are witnessing the suffering caused by three poisons–greed, and most vividly anger and ignorance.  Not only in others, but within ourselves as well.  If we can look beyond our anger and ignorance we find the true wisdom that transforms into compassion.

Here in Minnesota, we are seeing that transformation take place:  oneness in action, the interconnectedness of our lives.  In response to the infiltration of 3000 federal ICE agents and the shooting of Renee Good, more than 50,000 marchers braved the brutal winter cold, marching through downtown Minneapolis and refusing to be chilled into silence.  Minnesotans rose up to have a voice.  We saw peace through power in numbers.  The energy was disciplined and organized–a broad coalition of clergy, labor unions, immigrant-rights groups, Indigenous organizers, and everyday Minnesotans demanding justice and accountability.

But tragically, the very next day we were thrown back into the realms of anger and sorrow with yet another senseless killing, that of Alex Pretti.  The community came together again in unity to hold vigils in Alex’s memory and to continue supporting those in need–those living in fear.  A contagious wave of kindness blanketed our communities with care and compassion because our neighbors are living in fear and suffering financially, psychologically, and economically.  The people of Minnesota have channeled their anger into compassionate action.  Neighbors are protecting neighbors, strangers are reaching out with empathy offering every kind of service possible:  groceries, shelter, rides to work, protection for children at bus stops, towing for cars abandoned after abductions, repairing smashed doors, pet care for abandoned animals.  People united in oneness to love and care for each other–remarkable workings of great compassion.

That is a model of behavior that I hope I have the courage to emulate.

You can't farm a data center

Mervin Raudabaugh, Jr., an 86-year-old farmer from Cumberland County, was offered $15 million to sell his farm to data center developers.  He said no.  Instead he put the 261 acre farm into the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation program, which means it will be farmland in perpetuity.  I know how it works, because we did the same thing to our 23 acre farm.  Raudabaugh received $7,200 per acre to preserve the farm, considerably less than 15 million he was offered.

I like this guy.  They should put up a statue for him.  The people of Silver Spring Township, where the farm is located, are so lucky.  I wish we had more farmers like Mr. Raudabaugh, Jr., and fewer greedy landowners.

Info for this post is from “Farmer Rejects Data Center’s Millions, Preserves His Land,” Lancaster Farming, (Jan. 31, 2026), p. A1, A 7.

America Needs Total, Unfettered Access to Greenland

That was the headline in an article in the Times by Jeff Landry, who is the governor of Louisiana and Trump’s special envoy to Greenland.  Do you catch the arrogance of that statement?  What would Gov. Landry say if Putin said Russia needed unfettered access to Greenland?  What about the Greenlanders?  What about Denmark?

He brings up the Monroe Doctrine.  Really?  President Monroe’s “doctrine” had no legal standing then and doesn’t now.  In fact, if you look at history, the only reason the doctrine worked at all was because of the British navy.

Who the hell does this Jeff Landry think he is?  I know one thing–he is a Trump sycophant.  That certainly comes through in his article in which he praises Trump’s military acuity.

These clowns running this government with no knowledge of history, bluster instead of analysis, no comprehension of how stupid they sound–it makes my head hurt.

More good news from Texas

I’m kind of on a Texas kick, but this was too good not to mention.  Democrat Taylor Rehmet just won a Texas state senate seat in a district that Trump won by 17 points.  

That gerrymandering the Texas Republicans did just might come back to haunt them.  Wouldn’t that just be special.

Turtle rescue in the Gulf of Mexico

Last night I said nasty things about Texas, but tonight I will give some Texas residents a big thumbs up.  Volunteers went down to the beach in the Corpus Christi area and rescued 522 Green Sea Turtles.  The turtles were in a bad way because of the extremely cold weather.  Over 300 were taken to the Texas State Aquarium near Corpus.  Some of the turtles required intubation and specialized care to restart their breathing.

These were not the baby turtles that people often help to reach the ocean before they are gobbled up by gulls.  Some of these turtles were very large indeed.  Great effort.  Great outcome. 

Who wants to live in Texas?

Migration to Texas from other states has fallen for the 3rd year in a row.  In fact, in-migration has sunk to the lowest level since 2005.  The state’s rapid growth is over.  Texas is still getting more in-migration than states like New York and California, but I predict that in just a few years people will start moving out.  

Florida also has seen a major decline of people moving in, even more steep than Texas.  

On the other hand midwestern states have seen an increase in population after years of decline.  Personally, I would much rather live in Atwood, Kansas, or Cozad, Nebraska, than in Dallas or Miami.

Some info for this post is from J; David Goodman and Jeff Adelson, “Trend of Migration to Texas Falls for 3rd Year in a Row,” New York Times, (Jan. 31, 2026), p. A10.

1968 and now

In 1968 the nation was polarized, the National Guard was deployed against demonstrators (remember Kent State), the President abused power and misused federal agencies, campuses were shut down, mass demonstrations occurred, people worried about urban rioting, the cops beat people (remember Chicago), and  our foreign policy was a mess (soldiers were dying every day in Vietnam).

Nonetheless it wasn’t the same.  There was more optimism then.  We believed that state of affairs wouldn’t last.  Things would get better.  And they did. 

Nixon was impeached by congress members from both sides of the aisle.  The war did end.  Women were winning rights.  The Supreme Court ruled that the New York Times had a right to publish the Pentagon Papers.  Roe v. Wade was decided.  And Nixon, for all his chicanery, knew American history, hired some competent people, supported the EPA, never sold presidential pardons, and resigned when he knew it was over.

Today the pessimism is overwhelming.  It is hard to imagine things getting better.  Our business and political leaders lack courage.  The Republican Party has been corrupted.  Much of the media is complicit.  The full force of the national government is used to harass opponents.

Nonetheless, I don’t think it is too late.  I am given hope by those people in Minneapolis out there in bitter cold, united with their neighbors.  All kinds of people, from high school students to retirees.  I think we can still turn this around, but it will take courage and a lot of effort and commitment.

"Variety" pans "Melania"

It’s a fake, but it is too funny not to repeat.  The supposed “Variety” judgement of the Bezos-financed film “Melania” said, “If they showed this film on the plane, people would still walk out.”

The film was screened at the “Trump Center.”  Most of the media was kept from the screening.  The audience didn’t show up either. 

Following the authoritarian handbook

 I really think there is a handbook.  I don’t know the order of the actions, but they would include:

form a national police force

capture the legal system

control the media

sow fear among the citizenry

intimidate business leaders

discredit your opponents

seize the law enforcement apparatus

     There are more, but Trump and his lackeys are doing all of those things.  Today the FBI was sent into Atlanta to seize 2020 ballot materials.  These are the people who lied about Minneapolis; of course they will lie about “voter fraud.”  Trump will say, “See, I really did win.”  His followers will believe him.  The Republicans in Congress will back the lie, as will Kash Patel and Pam Bondi. 

We know the truth.  Speak it.

Prime Minister Carney's speech at Davos

I watched it yesterday on YouTube.  What a great speech.  Not stupid, not silly like the rambling screed from the U.S. President.

The speech has been compared to Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri.  Carney talked about a new order in the world.  He said it was too late to fix the one we had; he noted that Canada was in talks with China, and he discussed the power of what he called the “middle countries.” 

He noted that trying to appease Trump would not work, and referenced a speech by the former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who told about the merchant who put a sign in the window praising a dictatorial government because he was afraid.  Soon all the other merchants began to put similar signs in their windows, fearing the consequences if they didn’t.  Carney then said Canada was taking down the sign.

You can watch it yourself.  It’s not that long.  I had two reactions.  The first was what an intelligent and moral man Carney is.  The second was profound embarrassment at Trump’s speech with its self-congratulations and its stupidity.

Better Training for ICE

I’ve hard quite a few discussions explaining that the men and women of ICE need better training.  They need to be better at crowd control, need to get warrants, should learn about the proper use of firearms and tear gas, etc.  

This may help around the edges and might have prevented some of the murders.  That would be a good thing.  Nonetheless, in the scheme of things, a lack of “training” isn’t the problem.  The mission is the problem.

Once ICE abandoned the idea of going after “the worst of the worst” (i.e., actual criminals) and decided to focus on college students, construction workers, aides in elderly care, waitresses, meat packing plant workers, and older people who had been living productive lives for decades, training doesn’t matter.  The mission is at fault.

The terminology is at fault.  (illegals, scum, people from “shithole countries”).  The prejudice is at fault.  (“Somalians,” Haitians, drug “kingpins”).  The assumptions are at fault.  (brown people, people with accents, Muslims).

Think of it this way.  Would better training have improved the Gestapo?