This week an attempt to "swear off" at least some of the Trump-related political news: "Territory Day" in Colorado; troubled waters; a "new" president's day theme; Wallace Stenger; Chinese space station; home alone; new cold war; the shallow state; local organizing; a bureaucratic warning; the coal dilemma.
February 28, 1861: The Territory of Colorado was organized by the US congress from land in the later states of Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, and New Mexico.
Not so pure. A link to an article about the world's really deep ocean depths. A new study finds that these depths, once thought to be pollution-free, are really not so pristine.
President's Day, 2017. In several cities across the nation, a new wrinkle was added to the national holiday with "Not My President's Day" demonstrations. On a truly, non-political, personal note, my students always wondered why I did not take two days off for my birthday: my actual birth day, shared with George Washington (22nd), and whatever date was "celebrated" as the national President's Day. "Gee, Mr. Abell, why are you here today?"
Wallace Stenger, friend of the West. On the occasion of his 108th birthday, Matthew Stuart penned a remembrance of Stenger in High Country News. As details (and concerns) swirl around President Trump's new Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke (formerly US House R, MT), Stuart remembers what Stenger meant to the West and his readers world wide. Stenger won a Pulitzer in fiction (1972) for Angle of Repose and a National Book Award in fiction (1977) for Spectator Bird.
The CSS. The Economist reports that the Chinese are very much interested in getting to Mars. Whether driven by national pride (as the US was) or irrational fear of other nation's space programs (principally India's) , China's scientific and industrial wherewithal will undoubtedly be part of mankind's march into the solar system.
Home alone? Astronomers have discovered a nearby sun orbited by seven planets, three of which may be indeed earth-like with liquid water. The system is known as Trappist - 1. Continued observations will help give a more accurate "picture" of this cool, brown dwarf star and its planets. Also, "nearby" is a relative term: the sun and its planets are 39 light years, 229 trillion miles, from us, not really just around the corner. Do not make travel plans.
Foreign policy. Just what is our foreign policy? Here is one commentator's thoughts in a piece entitled, "The worst and the dimmest: The wheels are falling off Donald Trump’s foreign policy, and the adults aren’t at the wheel." It seems that precise explication is not one of the White House's long suits.
Here is a friend's analogy. 1917 : Tsar Alexander II : Rasputin :: 2017 : President Trump : Steve Bannon.
A new Cold War? This article from the London Review of Books discusses four recent books that examine current US - Russian relations. One in particular will ring a bell with anyone familiar with America's post-WW II foreign policy: Who Lost Russia? How the World Entered a New Cold War (Peter Conradi). As Chang Kai Shek's Nationalist Chinese government was overwhelmed by Mao Tse-dong's (nee Mao Zedong) Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army, a cry went up in the halls of Congress demanding to know, "Who lost China?" Alas, the fault lay largely in the long-running inability to Occidentals to read the tea leaves of Chinese politics. Sadly, the Russians, too, love their tea. History has a curious way of repeating itself.
Shallow vs. deep. Foreign Policy's David Rothkopf talks of "shallow" and "deep" states. Unlike the swimming pool, the shallow end may not be your friend, nor the deep end your enemy.
The “deep state” is the flavor of the month for conspiracy theorists,
the “black helicopters” of 2017. The idea of career intelligence and
military officers and bureaucrats marshaling the institutional power
they have spent decades mastering to advance their goals regardless of
the whims or wants of elected public officials or the people at large is
irresistible....The shallow state, on the other hand, is unsettling because not only
are the signs of it ever more visible but because its influence is
clearly growing. It is made scarier still because it not only actively
eschews experience, knowledge, relationships, insight, craft, special
skills, tradition, and shared values but because it celebrates its
ignorance of and disdain for those things.
Two recent examples: how well did President Trump really understand the foreign policy concepts of "one China" or "one vs two states [Israel - Palestinian]" before he so flippantly got on the phone with Taiwan''s president, Tsai Ing-wen and China's Xi Jinping or walked to the lectern with Israel's Netanyahu? Was he fully briefed and by whom?
Local organizing? As this PBS News Hour segment with Shields and Brooks aptly relates, local organizing has come full circle: the Republican-leaning Tea Party movement is providing the blueprint for various Democratic-leaning groups springing up nationwide seeking to challenge the Trump-led forces at all levels, from the nation's villages to the Capitol.
Though, as David Brooks (and others) has pointed out, the Tea Party initially went after the Republican Party itself. Then, too, they focused on the Affordable Care Act (aka ACA -- ObamaCare and Obama himself. As the Tea Parth gained adherents, they moved on to the election process, finally gaining enough adherents to form their congressional Freedom Caucus. This group is now able to block much proposed legislation with which they do not agree, which confounds their own congressional leaders, as well as the minority Democrats.
DDE and George Will. In his Farewell Address, President Eisenhower warned of the military - industrial complex. In a recent column, George Will warns that government ...
expands by indirection, using three kinds of “administrative
proxies” — state and local government, for-profit businesses, and
nonprofit organizations....For example, the EPA has fewer than 20,000 employees, but 90 percent of
EPA programs are completely administered by thousands of state
government employees, largely funded by Washington. So, today’s government is indeed big (3.5 times bigger than 5½ decades ago), but dispersed to disguise its size.
Will closes, "The government/for-profit contractor/nonprofit complex consumes about 40
percent of [our] gross domestic product. Just don’t upset anyone by calling
it 'big government'.”
Coal. Every nation with coal deposits has had its long love-hate relationship with its mixed blessings. Mining the hard, black gold has always meant both money and misery. This op-ed piece examines this dilemma. The author, Maria Zurber, is "the vice president for research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chair of the National Science Board...[who] grew up in a place named for coal: Carbon County, PA." Ms. Zuber's has a family history with coal, the money it brought to the family, as well as black lung and death. As a scientist she presents careful thoughts for consideration.
Simple, right? How long is a year? Not an easily answered question. Pity the poor science writer. Ask a simple question like "How long is a year?" and get very complicated answers.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy President Trump's speech to Congress this evening.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
This week we consider: an infamous day, February 19, 1942; cannibalism; Garrison Keillor in VT; fake news, then and now; teen scientists; Thomas Jefferson, revisited; the vice president; NYC vs the nation's capital; America's dams and levees; unintended consequences, in Germany; Dubai on Mars; "Who are we?"; secession -- again?;
February 20, 1942. President FDR signed the infamous Executive Order 9066, consigning many Japanese Americans to isolated internment camps, one of which was the Amache Camp in south eastern CO which housed 9,000, a majority of whom were American citizens. A "Day of Remembrance" was held at the History of Colorado Museum in downtown Denver.
Cannibalism and Colorado. Have you heard of Alfred Packer? Two articles about cannibalism: one from the august Scientific American, the other from the Washington Post. Everything from the animal to the human worlds. Here is link if you are specifically interested in Colorado's very own infamous cannibal, Alfred Packer
Fake News, Nazi style. Not President Trump's illogical reference, but the real thing. The Book Thieves is about immense number of scholarly material simply swept away as the German army marched across Europe. The author note that of relevance today, with the talk of fake climate science, is one particular Nazi canard: Albert Einstein was not "a serious scientist, being a promulgator of 'Jewish science.' Not unlike today, science was viewed through a political prism." You know: liberal, progressive talk of what is not happening around the globe. Tell that to the polar bears -- or the scientists forced to evacuate their long-standing station in Antarctica by a huge, widening crack in the ice shelf.
Keillor. Having checked in at his chosen chain motel in VT, Keillor first comments on the ubiquitous TV in the motel lobby, before moving on to more interesting topics on a lovely, snowy New England evening.
[There was] a big TV in the lobby, two heads on the screen, a man and a woman, talking, about the news, I guess, though the sound was low and nobody was listening. It was a background murmur, like ocean surf or the wind in the trees. For this, these faces are paid millions a year and I suppose they imagine they play a large role in the life of the nation, whereas their function is more like houseplants. They’re decor.
One can only wonder, were the well-paid, talking heads, on Fox or CNN? In either case what did their choice say about the chain or the manager's politics?
Teen scientists. This article in Monday's Optimist column highlights stories of some of the American teens who are participants in this year's annual National Science Fair. Note their names -- more than a few non-European immigrants, President Trump!
TJ and Sally Hemings. Archaeologists and restorers are hard at work "re-covering" a bit of the past at Monticello, Jefferson's mansion in VA. A bedroom thought to have been used by Sally Hemings, converted to a bathroom is now being restored, scheduled to be open to the public later this summer. "[M]any historians now believe the third president of the United States was the father of [Sally Hemings'] six children...Time, and perhaps shame, erased all physical evidence of her presence at Jefferson’s home....a building so famous that it is depicted on the back of the nickel."
Vice President Pence. Above the fray or out of the loop? History seems to show that the White House often views the VP as a constitutionally required interloper, best kept at arms length. The most egregious instance historically was FDR's failure to "read in" Vice President Truman on the Manhattan (atomic bomb) project. Occasionally, a president has seemed to truly value the VP's counsel; Barack Obama and Joe Bidden being the best, most recent examples. Though, even then, there were bumps in the road.
Another article titled, "Shadow president or just shadow?" It also seems more than a little out of the ordinary for the president to send the vice president overseas to major conferences and to meet foreign dignitaries. While he holds campaign-like rallies in FL. But, as columnist Mark Shields said on the PBS News Hour, "campaigning is fun; governing is tedious, difficult, time-consuming, and demands your attention...Policy is not spontaneous, it's specific...."
Pence's soothing words in Europe, played against Trump's seemingly contradictory message in FL, left our European allies wondering, "Will Pence emerge as a capable vice president, empowered by his willingness to delve into policy details where the president will not, or is he yet another grunt in Trump’s freewheeling army of disruption?"
Washington, D.C. is not NYC. In a recent column Michael Gerson notes, There is a certain kind of New Yorker who really believes Frank Sinatra: “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” The world of Manhattan real estate must have seemed to Trump like the big leagues. It wasn’t. And the techniques that succeeded in his little world — the taunting, the exaggerations, the bluster, the threats, the bullying — do not translate well in dealing with real professionals. The ones who fight Russian influence. (emphasis added)
Good dam? Or damn bad dam? The recent problems/concerns with California's Oroville dam and spillway have brought to the fore -- yet again -- the not so good condition of the nation's dams, spillways, and levees. Some 200,000 down-stream residents near Oroville were abruptly ordered to evacuate after the area's recent heavy rains. Oroville holds back the Feather River and is the nation's tallest dam. (At 770 feet, Oroville, an earthen dam, is 44 feet higher than the more massive concrete Hoover Dam.) How is your nearby dam or levee? (Links in the quote below.)
In fact, dams and levees across the United States are falling into dangerous disrepair. According to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, U.S. dams are degrading far faster than they are being repaired. By 2020, 70 percent of dams in the United States will be more than 50 years old. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s dams a D grade in its 2013 infrastructure report card, while levees earned a D-minus.
The German "left." It goes without saying that in international affairs some very strange things, totally unforeseen, happen. Germany's left-leaning Social Democratic (SPD) party is rebounding from hard electoral times, in large part by responding to President Trump's perceived, but uncertain, European policies. Many in the Trump camp may have thought that his victory would lend aid and comfort to the German nationalists. But....
What is happening in Germany is the kind of Trump bump perhaps never foreseen by his supporters — a boost not for the German nationalists viewed as Trump’s natural allies but for his fiercest critics in the center left....now staging a surprisingly strong bid to unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel....His anti-Trump platform comes as Germans are questioning American power more than at any point since the end of the Cold War, illustrating an erosion of allied faith in the new era of “America first.” A recent poll found that only 22 percent of Germans see the United States led by Trump as a “reliable partner” — putting it only one percentage point above Russia.
The United Arab Emirates' bold plan. A plan for 2117 was announced by "...Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and vice president of the UAE, [who] sounded confident about the project. 'Human ambitions have no limits, and whoever looks into the scientific breakthroughs in the current century believes that human abilities can realize the most important human dream...' " This is not a shining terrestrial "City upon a Hill," but, rather, al Maktoum plans for his city to be built on a far distant hill on Mars.
I just read finished Hidden Figures about the American space program. Back in the day, getting into space, orbiting the Earth, and going to the moon sounded just as improbable. Today, why not Mars? At least at present, the UAE can certainly fund such a bold adventure. If humankind's timid venture to the moon provides any indication, the necessary planning and technology for a Martian sojourn can be had.
Who are we? In his column last Saturday, George Will discussed the memoir of Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, “All Falling Faiths: Reflections on the Promise and Failure of the 1960s. Judge Wilkinson locates the genesis of today’s politics of reciprocal resentments in “the contempt with which the young elites of the Sixties dismissed the contributions of America’s working classes.” We have reached a point where “sub-cultures begin to predominate and the power of our unifying symbols fades. We become others to ourselves....But in the coarsening, embittering 1960s, Wilkinson writes, “more Americans annihilated fellow citizens in their consciousness than were slain on the field of any battle.” In a harbinger of very recent events, “the short-haired and hard-hatted sensed that class prejudice had simply been substituted for race hatred.”
In another , area of concern, remember It Takes a Village? Here is another thought on who we are, thease words from a US veteran diagnosed with adjustment disorder, less severe than PTSD. "The village has chosen us to do its dirty work, but the village doesn’t quite know how to bring us back. We need more substantial strategies to integrate our soldiers back into society beyond hollow celebrations."
2018 secession. Fill in the blank here. 1860 : secession & slavery : the South :: 2018 : secession & ? : California. There is a move afoot in CA, you know among those crazies on the west coast to put a secession question on the ballot in November 2018. "[T]he group, Yes California, is collecting the 585,407 signatures necessary to place a secessionist question on the 2018 ballot." A tall order, indeed. In a bit of west-coast hyperbole, one academic consultant (?) in San Francisco says, “We can lead what’s left of the free world.”
Can one state transform itself into a nation? Hard to tell, but it should be noted that CA does boast the world's 7th largest economy. Not everyone is convinced. According to Bill Carrick, [Los Angeles's mayor] Garcetti’s political consultant. “Something like this is a rabbit pulled out of a hat; there’s not a chance in the world it will pass.” Nor did the pundits foresee a President Trump.
Thank you for reading. Have fun looking for links to those disturbances in Sweden! The best one I have found is the large group of Swedish "polar bears" (i.e. nude, icy-water plungers) stampeding out of their icy-hole, headed for the nearby sauna. Truly!
February 20, 1942. President FDR signed the infamous Executive Order 9066, consigning many Japanese Americans to isolated internment camps, one of which was the Amache Camp in south eastern CO which housed 9,000, a majority of whom were American citizens. A "Day of Remembrance" was held at the History of Colorado Museum in downtown Denver.
In 1983, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians concluded that those who had been locked up posed no threat, and that there was no military necessity for the internment.
The commission determined that racial bias, rather than on any true threat to national security, led to the internment, according to Sites of Shame, with information on the camps. (Denver Post, Feb 20, 2017)
Fake News, Nazi style. Not President Trump's illogical reference, but the real thing. The Book Thieves is about immense number of scholarly material simply swept away as the German army marched across Europe. The author note that of relevance today, with the talk of fake climate science, is one particular Nazi canard: Albert Einstein was not "a serious scientist, being a promulgator of 'Jewish science.' Not unlike today, science was viewed through a political prism." You know: liberal, progressive talk of what is not happening around the globe. Tell that to the polar bears -- or the scientists forced to evacuate their long-standing station in Antarctica by a huge, widening crack in the ice shelf.
Keillor. Having checked in at his chosen chain motel in VT, Keillor first comments on the ubiquitous TV in the motel lobby, before moving on to more interesting topics on a lovely, snowy New England evening.
[There was] a big TV in the lobby, two heads on the screen, a man and a woman, talking, about the news, I guess, though the sound was low and nobody was listening. It was a background murmur, like ocean surf or the wind in the trees. For this, these faces are paid millions a year and I suppose they imagine they play a large role in the life of the nation, whereas their function is more like houseplants. They’re decor.
One can only wonder, were the well-paid, talking heads, on Fox or CNN? In either case what did their choice say about the chain or the manager's politics?
Teen scientists. This article in Monday's Optimist column highlights stories of some of the American teens who are participants in this year's annual National Science Fair. Note their names -- more than a few non-European immigrants, President Trump!
TJ and Sally Hemings. Archaeologists and restorers are hard at work "re-covering" a bit of the past at Monticello, Jefferson's mansion in VA. A bedroom thought to have been used by Sally Hemings, converted to a bathroom is now being restored, scheduled to be open to the public later this summer. "[M]any historians now believe the third president of the United States was the father of [Sally Hemings'] six children...Time, and perhaps shame, erased all physical evidence of her presence at Jefferson’s home....a building so famous that it is depicted on the back of the nickel."
Vice President Pence. Above the fray or out of the loop? History seems to show that the White House often views the VP as a constitutionally required interloper, best kept at arms length. The most egregious instance historically was FDR's failure to "read in" Vice President Truman on the Manhattan (atomic bomb) project. Occasionally, a president has seemed to truly value the VP's counsel; Barack Obama and Joe Bidden being the best, most recent examples. Though, even then, there were bumps in the road.
Another article titled, "Shadow president or just shadow?" It also seems more than a little out of the ordinary for the president to send the vice president overseas to major conferences and to meet foreign dignitaries. While he holds campaign-like rallies in FL. But, as columnist Mark Shields said on the PBS News Hour, "campaigning is fun; governing is tedious, difficult, time-consuming, and demands your attention...Policy is not spontaneous, it's specific...."
Pence's soothing words in Europe, played against Trump's seemingly contradictory message in FL, left our European allies wondering, "Will Pence emerge as a capable vice president, empowered by his willingness to delve into policy details where the president will not, or is he yet another grunt in Trump’s freewheeling army of disruption?"
Washington, D.C. is not NYC. In a recent column Michael Gerson notes, There is a certain kind of New Yorker who really believes Frank Sinatra: “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” The world of Manhattan real estate must have seemed to Trump like the big leagues. It wasn’t. And the techniques that succeeded in his little world — the taunting, the exaggerations, the bluster, the threats, the bullying — do not translate well in dealing with real professionals. The ones who fight Russian influence. (emphasis added)
Good dam? Or damn bad dam? The recent problems/concerns with California's Oroville dam and spillway have brought to the fore -- yet again -- the not so good condition of the nation's dams, spillways, and levees. Some 200,000 down-stream residents near Oroville were abruptly ordered to evacuate after the area's recent heavy rains. Oroville holds back the Feather River and is the nation's tallest dam. (At 770 feet, Oroville, an earthen dam, is 44 feet higher than the more massive concrete Hoover Dam.) How is your nearby dam or levee? (Links in the quote below.)
In fact, dams and levees across the United States are falling into dangerous disrepair. According to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, U.S. dams are degrading far faster than they are being repaired. By 2020, 70 percent of dams in the United States will be more than 50 years old. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s dams a D grade in its 2013 infrastructure report card, while levees earned a D-minus.
The German "left." It goes without saying that in international affairs some very strange things, totally unforeseen, happen. Germany's left-leaning Social Democratic (SPD) party is rebounding from hard electoral times, in large part by responding to President Trump's perceived, but uncertain, European policies. Many in the Trump camp may have thought that his victory would lend aid and comfort to the German nationalists. But....
What is happening in Germany is the kind of Trump bump perhaps never foreseen by his supporters — a boost not for the German nationalists viewed as Trump’s natural allies but for his fiercest critics in the center left....now staging a surprisingly strong bid to unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel....His anti-Trump platform comes as Germans are questioning American power more than at any point since the end of the Cold War, illustrating an erosion of allied faith in the new era of “America first.” A recent poll found that only 22 percent of Germans see the United States led by Trump as a “reliable partner” — putting it only one percentage point above Russia.
The United Arab Emirates' bold plan. A plan for 2117 was announced by "...Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and vice president of the UAE, [who] sounded confident about the project. 'Human ambitions have no limits, and whoever looks into the scientific breakthroughs in the current century believes that human abilities can realize the most important human dream...' " This is not a shining terrestrial "City upon a Hill," but, rather, al Maktoum plans for his city to be built on a far distant hill on Mars.
I just read finished Hidden Figures about the American space program. Back in the day, getting into space, orbiting the Earth, and going to the moon sounded just as improbable. Today, why not Mars? At least at present, the UAE can certainly fund such a bold adventure. If humankind's timid venture to the moon provides any indication, the necessary planning and technology for a Martian sojourn can be had.
Who are we? In his column last Saturday, George Will discussed the memoir of Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, “All Falling Faiths: Reflections on the Promise and Failure of the 1960s. Judge Wilkinson locates the genesis of today’s politics of reciprocal resentments in “the contempt with which the young elites of the Sixties dismissed the contributions of America’s working classes.” We have reached a point where “sub-cultures begin to predominate and the power of our unifying symbols fades. We become others to ourselves....But in the coarsening, embittering 1960s, Wilkinson writes, “more Americans annihilated fellow citizens in their consciousness than were slain on the field of any battle.” In a harbinger of very recent events, “the short-haired and hard-hatted sensed that class prejudice had simply been substituted for race hatred.”
In another , area of concern, remember It Takes a Village? Here is another thought on who we are, thease words from a US veteran diagnosed with adjustment disorder, less severe than PTSD. "The village has chosen us to do its dirty work, but the village doesn’t quite know how to bring us back. We need more substantial strategies to integrate our soldiers back into society beyond hollow celebrations."
2018 secession. Fill in the blank here. 1860 : secession & slavery : the South :: 2018 : secession & ? : California. There is a move afoot in CA, you know among those crazies on the west coast to put a secession question on the ballot in November 2018. "[T]he group, Yes California, is collecting the 585,407 signatures necessary to place a secessionist question on the 2018 ballot." A tall order, indeed. In a bit of west-coast hyperbole, one academic consultant (?) in San Francisco says, “We can lead what’s left of the free world.”
Can one state transform itself into a nation? Hard to tell, but it should be noted that CA does boast the world's 7th largest economy. Not everyone is convinced. According to Bill Carrick, [Los Angeles's mayor] Garcetti’s political consultant. “Something like this is a rabbit pulled out of a hat; there’s not a chance in the world it will pass.” Nor did the pundits foresee a President Trump.
Thank you for reading. Have fun looking for links to those disturbances in Sweden! The best one I have found is the large group of Swedish "polar bears" (i.e. nude, icy-water plungers) stampeding out of their icy-hole, headed for the nearby sauna. Truly!
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Topics for this week include: Syria; ICE enforcement; White House chaos; the gerrymander.
ICE swings into action. The story began to unfold Monday, Feb 6th when Immigration and Control ICE enforcement agents began to round ups at ..."homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina.. ICE dislikes the term 'raids,' and prefers to say authorities are conducting 'targeted enforcement actions.' "
On January 25th, President Trump ..."pledged to deport as many as 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records." Based on preliminary reports, "criminal records" can be anything from brutal felonies to minor misdemeanors. No doubt, this story will continue to unfold.
Flynn out. Retired General Flynn, President Trump's choice for National Security Adviser, became the first high level appointee to resign under fire after admitting he had had potentially illegal contacts with members of the Russian government before the president's inauguration. Flynn had publicly denied these allegations to the press and, more damning, to Vice President Pence.
Interestingly, the then-Acting US Attorney General, later fired by President Trump, had testified publicly before Congress about Flynn's possible problems. The Washington Post's story said, "What's remarkable about the Flynn saga was how incredibly routine it was. A deeply damaging story comes out. The White House goes into bunker mode. Conflicting reports from conflicting aides emerge. And then, whammo: Resignation. It was a prototypical Washington scandal that played out like hundreds of similar ones before it."
Gerrymander. This article from the Washington Post highlights to a long standing problem that has been, in a sense, the elephant in the cloak room, even on the floor of the US House: the once-every-ten-years redrawing of federal congressional districts, most often to the sole advantage of each state's majority party. These absurdly tortured boundaries have long been drawn ignoring previous Supreme Court guidelines.
Congress is deeply and stubbornly unpopular. On average, between 10 and 15 percent of Americans approve of Congress – on a par with public support for traffic jams and cockroaches. And yet, in the 2016 election, only eight incumbents – eight out of a body of 435 representatives – were defeated at the polls....In the 2016 elections for the House of Representatives, the average electoral margin of victory was 37.1 percent. That’s a figure you’d expect from North Korea, Russia or Zimbabwe – not the United States. But the shocking reality is that the typical race ended with a Democrat or a Republican winning nearly 70 percent of the vote, while their challenger won just 30 percent.
What possible explanation is there for this continuing anomaly other than might makes right?
Thank you for reading. May your coming week be much less baffling that the past 7 days.
Syria, Obama's now Trumps fight. I was asking to a retired USAF colleague, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs, how Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, could have lived so long. My colleague's response was, "...the mukhabarat [Assad's secret police/secret service] is very effective and brutal. The leadership is Alawite, Assad’s religious group, which constitutes about 10% of the population. They figure if they lose they will die."
ICE swings into action. The story began to unfold Monday, Feb 6th when Immigration and Control ICE enforcement agents began to round ups at ..."homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina.. ICE dislikes the term 'raids,' and prefers to say authorities are conducting 'targeted enforcement actions.' "
On January 25th, President Trump ..."pledged to deport as many as 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records." Based on preliminary reports, "criminal records" can be anything from brutal felonies to minor misdemeanors. No doubt, this story will continue to unfold.
Flynn out. Retired General Flynn, President Trump's choice for National Security Adviser, became the first high level appointee to resign under fire after admitting he had had potentially illegal contacts with members of the Russian government before the president's inauguration. Flynn had publicly denied these allegations to the press and, more damning, to Vice President Pence.
Interestingly, the then-Acting US Attorney General, later fired by President Trump, had testified publicly before Congress about Flynn's possible problems. The Washington Post's story said, "What's remarkable about the Flynn saga was how incredibly routine it was. A deeply damaging story comes out. The White House goes into bunker mode. Conflicting reports from conflicting aides emerge. And then, whammo: Resignation. It was a prototypical Washington scandal that played out like hundreds of similar ones before it."
Who's in charge. Michael Gerson remembers, "In early January, House Speaker Paul Ryan met
on the issue of tax reform with a delegation from the president-elect.
Attending were future chief strategist and senior counselor Stephen K.
Bannon, future chief of staff Reince Priebus, future senior adviser
Jared Kushner, future counselor Kellyanne Conway and future senior
policy adviser Stephen Miller. As the meeting began, Ryan pointedly
asked, 'Who’s in charge?' ” Silence.'
As the old saw goes, "It's tough to tell the players without a scorecard." This seems to be increasingly true in the Trump White House.
Gerrymander. This article from the Washington Post highlights to a long standing problem that has been, in a sense, the elephant in the cloak room, even on the floor of the US House: the once-every-ten-years redrawing of federal congressional districts, most often to the sole advantage of each state's majority party. These absurdly tortured boundaries have long been drawn ignoring previous Supreme Court guidelines.
Congress is deeply and stubbornly unpopular. On average, between 10 and 15 percent of Americans approve of Congress – on a par with public support for traffic jams and cockroaches. And yet, in the 2016 election, only eight incumbents – eight out of a body of 435 representatives – were defeated at the polls....In the 2016 elections for the House of Representatives, the average electoral margin of victory was 37.1 percent. That’s a figure you’d expect from North Korea, Russia or Zimbabwe – not the United States. But the shocking reality is that the typical race ended with a Democrat or a Republican winning nearly 70 percent of the vote, while their challenger won just 30 percent.
What possible explanation is there for this continuing anomaly other than might makes right?
Thank you for reading. May your coming week be much less baffling that the past 7 days.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
This week's topics: Brooks -- Republican or ethnic nationalist?; 25th Amendment; "required" to "desired" reading; Trump and Ken Burns; What is American?; separation of powers; an independent judiciary; our moving galaxy.
David Brooks opines in his column, "In the first place, the Trump administration is not a Republican administration; it is an ethnic nationalist administration." Seeking to be ever the moderate Republican, Brooks hopes to find a distinction that will somehow "save" the Republican party, amid the chaos emanating from the chaos in the White House. Especially, if he is correct that "[t]he Bannonites are utterly crushing the Republican regulars when it comes to actual policy making." Bannonites are, apparently, a whole new category of political players, philistines, malevolent outsiders bent on evil.
Brooks concludes, "It seems that the Trump administration is less a government than a small clique of bloggers and tweeters who are incommunicado with the people who actually help them get things done. Things will get really hairy when the world’s problems are incoming."
"To say that it is amateur hour at the White House is to slander amateurs." Also calls to mind Artie Shaw's German-helmeted character on Laugh-In and his purposely mispronounced catch phrase, "Very Interesting.....but stupid."
25th Amendment. Several columnists, not all flaming liberal, coastal-elitists, have suggested that it would be well for everyone to review the 25th Amendment, Section 4.
Orwell's 1984, required to desired. Who could have predicted that among its many surprises, the Trump administration would boost book sales. Not just any book, but one often found on "required reading" list for high schools and colleges. Signet Classic books has ordered an additional 500,000 copies of 1984 and which has risen to the top of Amazon.com for a second straight week.
It seems that "alternative facts" just sounded like it had to have come from Orwell's Ministry of Truth. Sales of Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" are also increasing.
The Civil War, 25 years on. There was a certain perverse irony on view Thursday evening (Ground Hog Day, February 2nd): as chaos and uncertainty swirled in the nation's capital, PBS broadcast Part I of Ken Burns' classic film, The Civil War (remastered for its 25th anniversary). In 1860, though the Revolution was won and a democratic republic seeming firmly planted, slavery, the "sleeping wolf" about which Thomas Jefferson had warned, stalked the land. In 2017, the American Republic seems just as surely beset, this time by heretofore unknown internal forces, the outcome of which is similarly uncertain.
American? A very recent PEW Research Center survey "asked residents of numerous nations what it takes to truly belong in their countries. "Americans were far more likely than residents of other countries included in the survey to say that religion was key to sharing in the national identity....Religion was the only question on which Americans were an outlier. On birth, language and customs, America fell in line with other industrialized nations." Younger respondents were less likely to view Christianity as important.
The Separation of Powers. This hallowed establishment of American democracy -- three independent branches -- is currently being examined world-wide in the full light of all media forms. President Trump's travel ban and the judiciary's response via the various legal challenges and the President's responses to these challenges. Etc, etc, etc
Unintended consequences. Presidential tweet: "...this 'so called' judge..." Actually, the judge in question was nominated by President George Bush, unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and duly sworn into office. Therefore, he is a judge. President Trump's chosen Supreme Court appointee, Appellate Judge Gorsuch, will undoubtedly now be asked how he views this seeming questioning of judicial independence. "We don't have so-called judges, we don't have so-called senators, we don't have so-called presidents,"@BenSasse says on @ThisWeekABC.
President Trump's edicts will no doubt provide daily fodder for TV's late night show hosts, even those abroad. "[Pakistani] comedian Azhar Usman tweeted, “dearest trump-hating Americans! Now’s your chance to stand up against fascism: CONVERT TO ISLAM to protest trump! (bonus: eternal salvation)."
Help in Nebraska. You might find it hard to believe, but according to this Washington Post story, the Corn Husker state "has taken in more refugees per capita than any other." Back in the day, Colorado was among the most welcoming states for Vietnamese boat people. The spirit of Emma Lazarus lives on!
Our very own Milky Way galaxy. Just when you thought you knew where you were, it turns out Earth's solar system, indeed our entire galaxy are on the move. In the ever-expanding universe, we are headed for another spot in space, a journey that may take us 750 million light years away, so do not hold your breath.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the week ahead.
David Brooks opines in his column, "In the first place, the Trump administration is not a Republican administration; it is an ethnic nationalist administration." Seeking to be ever the moderate Republican, Brooks hopes to find a distinction that will somehow "save" the Republican party, amid the chaos emanating from the chaos in the White House. Especially, if he is correct that "[t]he Bannonites are utterly crushing the Republican regulars when it comes to actual policy making." Bannonites are, apparently, a whole new category of political players, philistines, malevolent outsiders bent on evil.
Brooks concludes, "It seems that the Trump administration is less a government than a small clique of bloggers and tweeters who are incommunicado with the people who actually help them get things done. Things will get really hairy when the world’s problems are incoming."
"To say that it is amateur hour at the White House is to slander amateurs." Also calls to mind Artie Shaw's German-helmeted character on Laugh-In and his purposely mispronounced catch phrase, "Very Interesting.....but stupid."
25th Amendment. Several columnists, not all flaming liberal, coastal-elitists, have suggested that it would be well for everyone to review the 25th Amendment, Section 4.
Orwell's 1984, required to desired. Who could have predicted that among its many surprises, the Trump administration would boost book sales. Not just any book, but one often found on "required reading" list for high schools and colleges. Signet Classic books has ordered an additional 500,000 copies of 1984 and which has risen to the top of Amazon.com for a second straight week.
It seems that "alternative facts" just sounded like it had to have come from Orwell's Ministry of Truth. Sales of Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" are also increasing.
The Civil War, 25 years on. There was a certain perverse irony on view Thursday evening (Ground Hog Day, February 2nd): as chaos and uncertainty swirled in the nation's capital, PBS broadcast Part I of Ken Burns' classic film, The Civil War (remastered for its 25th anniversary). In 1860, though the Revolution was won and a democratic republic seeming firmly planted, slavery, the "sleeping wolf" about which Thomas Jefferson had warned, stalked the land. In 2017, the American Republic seems just as surely beset, this time by heretofore unknown internal forces, the outcome of which is similarly uncertain.
American? A very recent PEW Research Center survey "asked residents of numerous nations what it takes to truly belong in their countries. "Americans were far more likely than residents of other countries included in the survey to say that religion was key to sharing in the national identity....Religion was the only question on which Americans were an outlier. On birth, language and customs, America fell in line with other industrialized nations." Younger respondents were less likely to view Christianity as important.
The Separation of Powers. This hallowed establishment of American democracy -- three independent branches -- is currently being examined world-wide in the full light of all media forms. President Trump's travel ban and the judiciary's response via the various legal challenges and the President's responses to these challenges. Etc, etc, etc
Unintended consequences. Presidential tweet: "...this 'so called' judge..." Actually, the judge in question was nominated by President George Bush, unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and duly sworn into office. Therefore, he is a judge. President Trump's chosen Supreme Court appointee, Appellate Judge Gorsuch, will undoubtedly now be asked how he views this seeming questioning of judicial independence. "We don't have so-called judges, we don't have so-called senators, we don't have so-called presidents,"
President Trump's edicts will no doubt provide daily fodder for TV's late night show hosts, even those abroad. "[Pakistani] comedian Azhar Usman tweeted, “dearest trump-hating Americans! Now’s your chance to stand up against fascism: CONVERT TO ISLAM to protest trump! (bonus: eternal salvation)."
Help in Nebraska. You might find it hard to believe, but according to this Washington Post story, the Corn Husker state "has taken in more refugees per capita than any other." Back in the day, Colorado was among the most welcoming states for Vietnamese boat people. The spirit of Emma Lazarus lives on!
Our very own Milky Way galaxy. Just when you thought you knew where you were, it turns out Earth's solar system, indeed our entire galaxy are on the move. In the ever-expanding universe, we are headed for another spot in space, a journey that may take us 750 million light years away, so do not hold your breath.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the week ahead.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
This week's topics include: reading, non-fiction; better weather forecasts; Chicago violence; electoral vs. popular victory; modern retailing; Houses in disorder; obstacles to The Wall; the "new" America First foreign policy; science reporting; the lonely whale; still tallest?; disorderly government. Finally, after all the dour news of the week, do not miss this final entry, London's "high heels" debate.
Reading, non-fiction. April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr's Death and How It Changed America, Michael Eric Dyson, Basic Civitas Books.2008. Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and writes movingly about the continued plight of African Americans.
Weather reporting. The recently launched advanced weather satellite will bring substantial improvements in both imagery resolution and time sequencing. Better pictures, updated more rapidly will make it possible faster local, pin-point warnings. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) says the satellite will be fully programmed and functioning by November 2017.
Chicago vs. Los Angeles or Detroit or NYC. Once upon a time, these latter three cities were usually thought of as America's most dangerous cities; no longer. The current homicide rate in Chicago leaves little doubt that it is our most dangerous city. President Trump vows to "send in the feds" if the city cannot deal with its problems. Sounds despotic? Sales of George Orwell's dystopic classic, 1984, have shot up. His "Ministry of Truth" seems to be blossoming as the White House presents "alternative facts" and officially censors science reporting by various governmental websites.
President, yes, but.... President Trump seems determined to "prove" that he is more than a so-called "electoral college" president. If there were, as he now asserts, 5 million fraudulent votes, then he would also be the "popular vote president." Few officials outside very his inner circle think he is correct.
Job destruction. In this column, George Will asserts that President Trump seems not to note that American jobs are being lost because of forces here at home, not just "overseas." Mr. Bezos' Amazon home deliveries (ordered online, not in-store) are the 21st century's equivalent of those many mail order catalogs of a bygone era. Factoid from Will: "3 million [Sears] catalogues were distributed in 1907, when the nation’s population was [merely] 87 million."
Market analyst, Rex Nutting, notes in MarketWatch: "The [NY] Times reports that 'the typical online retailer generates $1,267,000 in sales per employee versus $279,000 at bricks-and-mortar stores.' ”
London's Westminster. A "CBS Morning News" segment (Thursday, 1/26), "Houses in disorder," toured London's Westminster, home to Britain's two Houses of Parliament. A telling comment, words to the effect, that age and neglect might accomplish what Hitler's bombs failed do. In the recent past here in America, you may have seen the US Capitol building encased in scaffolding (since removed) as we, hopefully, dodged England's looming problem.
Trump's Wall. In theory it is doable: walls have been built before, but, in the end, a few have failed. Notably, China's Great Wall and Khrushchev's Berlin Wall. Trump's Wall faces obstacles. (I have added two concerns, a 6th concern, implicit in 1, 2, and 3) and a 7th stated by Mexico's President Nieto.
Trump outlined a world in which foreign relations are collapsed into a zero-sum game. They gain, we lose...Trump makes no distinction between friend and foe (and no reference to liberty)....A free world marked by open trade and mutual defense was President Truman’s vision, shared by every president since....[His assertion of America first] is just another unmoored entry on a ledger of confusion....Trump’s vision misunderstands the logic underlying the far larger, far-reaching view of Truman. The Marshall Plan surely took wealth away from the American middle class and distributed it abroad. But for a reason. Altruism, in part. But mostly to stabilize Western Europe as a bulwark against an existential global enemy....We are embarking upon insularity and smallness. Nor is this just theory.
Krauthammer noted that Trump was probably unaware of the clouded background of Lindbergh's "America First" movement, one which dissolved with Pearl Harbor. Regrettably, one has to wonder what sort of crisis would dissolve President Trump's America First program.
Left unsaid is this presumptive analogy. The existential threat of the USSR and communism : post WW II :: ISIS and radical Islam : today. The latter portion has been loudly proclaimed by President Trump, unless, of course, this was just another "unmoored entry on [his] ledger of confusion."
Science reporting. The Trump administration has admonished governmental departments/agencies about reporting on climate news. Is the ostrich's head in the sand? “We asked some environmental employees and one said, 'We're in the clown car to crazy town,'" said Jeff Ruch, the executive director of the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Re this week's second entry on NOAA's better/faster weather reporting satellite. What will happen if the accumulating satellite data tends to confirm that the climate is changing and man seems to be part of the problem? Do you turn off the pesky nay-saying satellite and not warn, say Oklahoma City, of an impending storm embedded with multiple Level 5 tornadoes?
The "Hertz 52" whale. Here is a link to an interesting article about an as yet unseen whale that seems to be cruising the world's oceans and has been heard for years by those interested in "whale sounds." You know the old saw, "If a tree falls in the forest...." Well, what about a whale sounding off but seeming to get no responses? Further, we know that human voices tend to deepen with age and, interestingly, this whale is aging and is now heard around Hertz 46.
Everest, still the highest? Yes, it still stands very tall, but has it been "shrunk," by a recent earthquake? You may be surprised to know that "[t]he last time the mountain was measured was more than six decades ago, also by the Survey of India." In other words, today's GPS technology has not "measured" the world's highest peak. "This time around, scientists will measure Everest’s height using GPS equipment and triangulation techniques."
Disorder at home. We Americans are inured of disorderly government, but somewhere else, not here at home. But, when the Senate's consent on President Trump's cabinet choices lags and he fires the Acting Attorney General, disorder creeps closer to home. The President's plaintive tweet, "Where's our cabinet," reflects his ignorance of the Senate's role and the separation of powers concept. He can "fire" the Acting Attorney General, but he cannot fire the Senate. The following quote from Lincoln leads one to wonder what can be said for a leader, a self-confessed non-reader, who seems to have little interest in broadening his knowledge of the past.
“[No man has the] right to mislead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it. . . . Thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument.”
Abraham Lincoln, “Cooper Union Address,” 1860
Finally, Parliament's "high heels" debate. For those not familiar with the ways of the British parliament, signatures on citizen petitions can literally force a national parliamentary debate on a given issue. "After [[Nicola] Thorp, 27, started a petition against compulsory high heels [and dress codes] on parliament's website that garnered 152,420 signatures, her rebellion became a national talking-point and led to an inquiry by lawmakers into workplace dress codes in Britain." Reportedly, the issue will be openly debated in early March.
Again, for the uninitiated, debates in Britain's House of Commons are far more interesting than watching our staid House of Representatives or Senate on C-Span. Their floor debates are far from dull, dry and boring; rather, they are loud, raucous, and boisterous, with much (not always good humored) debate. Really, how could a debate noted on a website called "Pink News" not be entertaining.
Pink reports that the preliminary report urges “the Government to take urgent action to improve the effectiveness of the Equality Act. It recommends that the Government reviews this area of the law and, if necessary, asks Parliament to amend it. It also calls for “more effective remedies—such as increased financial penalties—for employment tribunals to award against employers who breach the law, in order to provide an effective deterrent.”
Neither do British parliamentarians hide behind euphemisms such as "the gentleman/gentle lady from State X." Rather, they are wont to loudly call out their opponents, verbally and with pointed gestures.
If you have not yet imbibed in a Commons debate, I urge you to tune in and enjoy. As you watch, imagine how US House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell might fare in Commons. Ryan, the young lion, "bring it on;" the staid, sourpuss McConnell, not at all!
On CBS' Friday Morning show, Gayle King could not help but wonder about a 6"3" Charlie Rose in 2" (or higher) heels. Charlie is, of course, known for only wearing sensible tennis shoes, albeit good looking, trendy brands.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the week ahead.
Reading, non-fiction. April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr's Death and How It Changed America, Michael Eric Dyson, Basic Civitas Books.2008. Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and writes movingly about the continued plight of African Americans.
Weather reporting. The recently launched advanced weather satellite will bring substantial improvements in both imagery resolution and time sequencing. Better pictures, updated more rapidly will make it possible faster local, pin-point warnings. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) says the satellite will be fully programmed and functioning by November 2017.
Chicago vs. Los Angeles or Detroit or NYC. Once upon a time, these latter three cities were usually thought of as America's most dangerous cities; no longer. The current homicide rate in Chicago leaves little doubt that it is our most dangerous city. President Trump vows to "send in the feds" if the city cannot deal with its problems. Sounds despotic? Sales of George Orwell's dystopic classic, 1984, have shot up. His "Ministry of Truth" seems to be blossoming as the White House presents "alternative facts" and officially censors science reporting by various governmental websites.
President, yes, but.... President Trump seems determined to "prove" that he is more than a so-called "electoral college" president. If there were, as he now asserts, 5 million fraudulent votes, then he would also be the "popular vote president." Few officials outside very his inner circle think he is correct.
Job destruction. In this column, George Will asserts that President Trump seems not to note that American jobs are being lost because of forces here at home, not just "overseas." Mr. Bezos' Amazon home deliveries (ordered online, not in-store) are the 21st century's equivalent of those many mail order catalogs of a bygone era. Factoid from Will: "3 million [Sears] catalogues were distributed in 1907, when the nation’s population was [merely] 87 million."
When the president speaks
of closed factories scattered like “tombstones” across America, has he
noticed the shuttered stores in shopping centers, and entire malls
reduced to rubble? He promises “protection” to prevent foreigners from
“destroying” manufacturing jobs by exporting to America things that
Americans want to import. Does he know that one American company might
be “destroying” more American jobs than China is? And that this supposed
destruction is beneficial?
The company is Amazon...Macy’s, after announcing in August that it would close 100 more of its remaining 730 [brick and mortar] stores, now says it will shed 10,000 jobs. Sears, which is 13 decades old and still has 1,600 stores, has lost $9 billion in five years, has closed 500 stores and is closing 150 more (including some Kmarts). Market analyst, Rex Nutting, notes in MarketWatch: "The [NY] Times reports that 'the typical online retailer generates $1,267,000 in sales per employee versus $279,000 at bricks-and-mortar stores.' ”
London's Westminster. A "CBS Morning News" segment (Thursday, 1/26), "Houses in disorder," toured London's Westminster, home to Britain's two Houses of Parliament. A telling comment, words to the effect, that age and neglect might accomplish what Hitler's bombs failed do. In the recent past here in America, you may have seen the US Capitol building encased in scaffolding (since removed) as we, hopefully, dodged England's looming problem.
Trump's Wall. In theory it is doable: walls have been built before, but, in the end, a few have failed. Notably, China's Great Wall and Khrushchev's Berlin Wall. Trump's Wall faces obstacles. (I have added two concerns, a 6th concern, implicit in 1, 2, and 3) and a 7th stated by Mexico's President Nieto.
- Rough terrain.
- Most of the TX border is privately owned.Very important point: who will be compensated (and how much) for their "lost" property?
- Most of the border in TX is the Rio Grande River, a natural, but sometimes, moving boundary; the river's movement that has caused past border disputes between the US and Mexico.
- Surveillance will make the wall effective.
- Migrants are often determined and have few options
- Some of the border is on a very real flood plain. (For example, on January 26, 2017, Homeland Security reported that the Rio Grande is running at 23 feet -- far, far above its normal level. So, where is the border now?)
- Mexico's president: "I am not coming." "We will not pay for the wall."
Trump outlined a world in which foreign relations are collapsed into a zero-sum game. They gain, we lose...Trump makes no distinction between friend and foe (and no reference to liberty)....A free world marked by open trade and mutual defense was President Truman’s vision, shared by every president since....[His assertion of America first] is just another unmoored entry on a ledger of confusion....Trump’s vision misunderstands the logic underlying the far larger, far-reaching view of Truman. The Marshall Plan surely took wealth away from the American middle class and distributed it abroad. But for a reason. Altruism, in part. But mostly to stabilize Western Europe as a bulwark against an existential global enemy....We are embarking upon insularity and smallness. Nor is this just theory.
Krauthammer noted that Trump was probably unaware of the clouded background of Lindbergh's "America First" movement, one which dissolved with Pearl Harbor. Regrettably, one has to wonder what sort of crisis would dissolve President Trump's America First program.
Left unsaid is this presumptive analogy. The existential threat of the USSR and communism : post WW II :: ISIS and radical Islam : today. The latter portion has been loudly proclaimed by President Trump, unless, of course, this was just another "unmoored entry on [his] ledger of confusion."
Science reporting. The Trump administration has admonished governmental departments/agencies about reporting on climate news. Is the ostrich's head in the sand? “We asked some environmental employees and one said, 'We're in the clown car to crazy town,'" said Jeff Ruch, the executive director of the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Re this week's second entry on NOAA's better/faster weather reporting satellite. What will happen if the accumulating satellite data tends to confirm that the climate is changing and man seems to be part of the problem? Do you turn off the pesky nay-saying satellite and not warn, say Oklahoma City, of an impending storm embedded with multiple Level 5 tornadoes?
The "Hertz 52" whale. Here is a link to an interesting article about an as yet unseen whale that seems to be cruising the world's oceans and has been heard for years by those interested in "whale sounds." You know the old saw, "If a tree falls in the forest...." Well, what about a whale sounding off but seeming to get no responses? Further, we know that human voices tend to deepen with age and, interestingly, this whale is aging and is now heard around Hertz 46.
Everest, still the highest? Yes, it still stands very tall, but has it been "shrunk," by a recent earthquake? You may be surprised to know that "[t]he last time the mountain was measured was more than six decades ago, also by the Survey of India." In other words, today's GPS technology has not "measured" the world's highest peak. "This time around, scientists will measure Everest’s height using GPS equipment and triangulation techniques."
Disorder at home. We Americans are inured of disorderly government, but somewhere else, not here at home. But, when the Senate's consent on President Trump's cabinet choices lags and he fires the Acting Attorney General, disorder creeps closer to home. The President's plaintive tweet, "Where's our cabinet," reflects his ignorance of the Senate's role and the separation of powers concept. He can "fire" the Acting Attorney General, but he cannot fire the Senate. The following quote from Lincoln leads one to wonder what can be said for a leader, a self-confessed non-reader, who seems to have little interest in broadening his knowledge of the past.
“[No man has the] right to mislead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it. . . . Thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument.”
Abraham Lincoln, “Cooper Union Address,” 1860
Finally, Parliament's "high heels" debate. For those not familiar with the ways of the British parliament, signatures on citizen petitions can literally force a national parliamentary debate on a given issue. "After [[Nicola] Thorp, 27, started a petition against compulsory high heels [and dress codes] on parliament's website that garnered 152,420 signatures, her rebellion became a national talking-point and led to an inquiry by lawmakers into workplace dress codes in Britain." Reportedly, the issue will be openly debated in early March.
Again, for the uninitiated, debates in Britain's House of Commons are far more interesting than watching our staid House of Representatives or Senate on C-Span. Their floor debates are far from dull, dry and boring; rather, they are loud, raucous, and boisterous, with much (not always good humored) debate. Really, how could a debate noted on a website called "Pink News" not be entertaining.
Pink reports that the preliminary report urges “the Government to take urgent action to improve the effectiveness of the Equality Act. It recommends that the Government reviews this area of the law and, if necessary, asks Parliament to amend it. It also calls for “more effective remedies—such as increased financial penalties—for employment tribunals to award against employers who breach the law, in order to provide an effective deterrent.”
Neither do British parliamentarians hide behind euphemisms such as "the gentleman/gentle lady from State X." Rather, they are wont to loudly call out their opponents, verbally and with pointed gestures.
If you have not yet imbibed in a Commons debate, I urge you to tune in and enjoy. As you watch, imagine how US House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell might fare in Commons. Ryan, the young lion, "bring it on;" the staid, sourpuss McConnell, not at all!
On CBS' Friday Morning show, Gayle King could not help but wonder about a 6"3" Charlie Rose in 2" (or higher) heels. Charlie is, of course, known for only wearing sensible tennis shoes, albeit good looking, trendy brands.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the week ahead.
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