MY MENTAL SAFE SPACE

In these strange times we all need a safe space in our minds. I realized this morning while doing the breakfast dishes, after seeing some very disturbing images and news, that I have a safe space in my mind. I found myself laughing out loud, almost uncontrollably. What set off this moment of levity? Boaty McBoatface, of course!

In 2016, the Natural Resource Research Council of Great Britain decided to ask the public, via the internet, to name a new polar research vessel. The NRRC offered some names of polar explorers, scientists and others that would be appropriate, but left it open for proposed names. The winning name, by a huge margin, was the RSS Boaty McBoatface. The NRRC decided not to use that name, but in a nod to the humor of the public, they did use that name for a remotely-operated research submersible (an actual yellow submarine).

Maybe it is my strange sense of humor, but I find this episode of trusting the public for something that one should never trust the public to do, quite hilarious. And it seems that in some of the most dire of times, I break out in a huge smile or audible laugh when my brain brings up Boaty McBoatface. I simply think it is hilarious, and always will.

So yes, Boaty McBoatface is my safe space. Thank you, Boaty, for being a comfort to me.

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TRUMP: THIS IS SERIOUS AND URGENT

There is a madman in the White House, seriously. Donald Trump is an unhinged madman who has thrown the entire world into a very dangerous position. The past few days have been a whirlwind of very serious events, and our future is at this point very uncertain.

As I watched the news readers on MSNBC and CNN last night, and then the talking heads on those shows, I realized that they were trying to hide the fearful reality that they know; Donald Trump is off his rocker and the world is in great danger. Only the filmmaker Roger Moore, interviewed by Ali Velshi on MSNBC, had the boldness to speak the truth about our present realities. It was sobering.

In a matter of days, Donald Trump has:

• come close to shutting down the government (we will know today what happens) because Congress would not put $5 billion in the budget to built his wall. (Trump at first appeared willing to sign the authorization that did not have the $5B, but then changed his mind after all of the right-wing TV/radio nut jobs took him to task.);
• announced on Twitter that he is pulling all US troops out of Syria (this took our allies by surprise, and has left the Kurdish fighters feeling abandoned by the US, thus playing solidly into the hands of Russia and Iran, and greatly pleasing the autocratic president of Turkey);
• lost his Secretary of Defense, Gen. Jim Mattis, who resigned in protest after the Trump tweet about Syria (read his letter of resignation - it is a chilling warning to all of us);
• been implicated in crimes committed by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and watched his former National Security Advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn, get chastised by a federal judge at his sentencing hearing for committing serious crimes (the judge even asked if Flynn's actions might be considered treason);
• lost his Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly, and had trouble finding someone willing to take on that job;
• had his appointed interim Attorney General refuse to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation after the DOJ attorneys recommended that he recuse himself (and the next Trump AG appointee is on record as being opposed to the Mueller investigation);
• (I have to add that at the recent UN Climate Conference in Poland, the US delegation held a session promoting the benefits of coal!!)

So here is the situation we are in:

• all of the "adults in the room" (and most of them were not very good people, anyway) have left the room; 
• Trump's inner circle is now totally comprised of sycophants who promote mean, evil and un-American values, actions and lies; 
• Trump's appointed agency directors are solidly in his industry/big money camp, and are actively deconstructing government to please the big money interests;
• Trump has thoroughly alienated American allies around the world, leaving a power vacuum that Russia and China are eagerly trying to fill;
• Trump's shady cons and apparent crimes are becoming more and more visible, and the Special Counsel investigation appears to be winding up with projected release of reports within 1-2 months.

The President of the United States is under siege, and is increasingly lashing out via Twitter at everyone. He is truly unbalanced and dangerous. He will become even more unhinged once the Democrats take over the House of Representatives next month, and will try everything he can, using Executive Orders and other means, to get his way. 

This is truly a major crisis in America and the world. Donald Trump must be removed from office now; the world cannot wait until the 2020 election. 

Every American should be very concerned right now. Every one of us should call every one of our representatives in Congress and urge them to get Donald Trump out of office, under the terms of our Constitution. It can, and must, be done now; it might already be too late. 

Seriously.

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WHY ARE YOU ALL STILL ON FACEBOOK?

Does it seem that almost every week or two there is a new revelation about Facebook doing something that is not what it's users think it is doing? Well, the reason it seems like that is because it is. Today the NY Times published an article about Facebook giving big tech companies a lot of access to Facebook users' account information, including their friends.  In other words, yet another major violation of Facebook users' privacy without their permission. Worse, Facebook claims that these big tech companies are users' "friends" and therefore the permissions given to the big tech firms fit into the permissions the users gave for access by "friends." Really?

For years, Facebook gave some of the world’s largest technology companies more intrusive access to users’ personal data than it has disclosed, effectively exempting those business partners from its usual privacy rules, according to internal records and interviews.

It seems that a large number of people I know who are on Facebook often say to me "I wish I could leave Facebook, but I can't." Well, yes you can; I did it months ago and have really not missed it a bit. Yes, yes, I know that for many people Facebook is how you stay in touch with friends and family who you might otherwise not stay in touch with. I get it, and it's a good thing. I don't think Facebook is just evil; I do know that Facebook only makes money by selling every bit of data it can squeeze from users (and even non-users - more about that in a bit), and, it seems, by giving access to user information to other tech companies who use it to make money. If this is OK with you, then end of discussion. If it's not OK with you, well..

Facebook allowed Microsoft's Bing search engine to see the names of virtually all Facebook users' friends without consent, the records show, and gave Netflix and Spotify the ability to read Facebook users' private messages. 

And by the way, Facebook tracks you even if you don't have a Facebook account. According to my Duck-Duck-Go web browser, the three top tracking offenders on the web are Google (80%), Facebook (37%) and Twitter (19%). these companies, and a huge number of others, track web traffic from everyone. 

Facebook will crash and burn one of these days. What will you do then? I don't really have the answer, but there is one out there. I signed up on MeWe, a privacy-centric, no data collection social networking site. Yesterday the second person I know signed up on it - certainly not a flood of people leaving Facebook! I don't use MeWe because none of my friends or family are on it. The point is that there are alternatives out there waiting for us all.

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PERPS, NOT PATRIOTS

Based on a TV talking head I saw recently, it appears that some people might consider perps like lawyer Michael Cohen and General Michael Flynn to be patriots because they decided to cooperate with the investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. According to the perps and their lawyers, these guys chose to cooperate, to tell the truth, out of a loyalty to their country, out of their civil duty, out of their patriotism. 

I don't buy it; these guys are crooks and con artists. Cohen will do time; Flynn should, too.

Breaking news today sheds a bright light on the mercenary business of Mike Flynn. I don't have the energy to go into the details - just look at your news feeds - but this guy is, as they say, a real piece of work. He didn't just lie to the F.B.I., he was operating as the agent for a foreign government, Turkey, without filing the required papers with the US government to do so. His company had a $600,000 contract from the Turkish government to help them get their hands on a Turkish ex-patriot living legally in the United States, a man Turkish President Erdogan claims orchestrated the coup against him, and wants the US to extradite him to Turkey. And believe me, if he is extradited to Turkey, they will murder him the moment he steps off the plane! And Flynn was doing this while he was an advisor to Trump, and then when he was National Security Advisor. Even worse, the Trump team was informed of this by the intelligence services, and they chose to do nothing for a few weeks.

Alligators in the Swamp!

Mike Flynn, retired U.S. Army General. If you don't remember it, internet search Mike Flynn and "lock her up." He participated in, and led the crowds in the Trump rally chants of "Lock her up! Lock her up!"

Michael Cohen, according to Michael Cohen, was duped by Donald Trump, followed a man he admired and was mislead, regrets his actions,.....(excuse me while I throw up). Cohen is a well-known con man who is guilty of much more than we've seen recently. He deserves the jail time he got, and more.

I am aware, as I write this, that tomorrow a judge will sentence Mike Flynn. Mueller recommended no jail time for Mike, based on his cooperation with the Special Counsel. I understand the reasoning here, send a message to other perps that, if they cooperate, they could get a good deal from the DOJ.

But I say: "Lock him Up! Lock him Up!"

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DONALD TRUMP'S BIGGEST MISTAKE OF HIS LIFE

Poor The Donald. Now every one of his business ventures is being investigated. Even his children who are involved in these businesses are implicated. Will the law finally catch up with this family of grifters?

Donald made the biggest mistake of his life when he decided to run for president. His goal was not to be president, but to burnish his brand and make it a globally-recognized name that would promote even more shady deals. He knew that he had no chance of winning the election, so this was a sure bet.

Unfortunately for The Donald - and for the rest of the world - he accomplished the impossible, he won the election. His elevation to POTUS put everything about him under the microscope of the law, and he is now in very deep doodoo.

Had The Donald not run for president, the intensity of investigations about him and his businesses and charities would likely not be so great. Big mistake, Don; too bad for you.

The walls are tumbling down around the Trump family, and hopefully these grifters will be exposed for what they are, and penalized heavily for their crimes and cons. I only hope the world recovers quickly once they are gone.

All together now: Lock them up! Lock them up!

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“DISEASE-RIDDEN” “RAPISTS AND MURDERERS” ATTACKING OUR SOUTHERN BORDER

I've truly had more than enough of the Trump bigoted bullshit. Anyone who has been awake for the past three years knows about the “murderers and rapists,” and a few days ago he made up a myth that the immigrants at our doorstep are carriers of horrible diseases.

History Lesson

It's time to deal with the immigration question. So let's start with a bit of history that I assume most Americans don't know (I'm not an expert, but have done some reading).

The territory that those horrible immigrants from south of the border are trying to "invade" used to be part of Mexico until 1848. It's complicated, but here is a quick timeline:

• 1521 - Spanish explorer Cortėz conquered the Aztecs, enslaved most of the indigenous people, and European diseases killed about 24 million indigenous people between 1521 and 1605
• 1523 - Catholic missionaries arrived and converted millions of people
• 1821 - Mexico gained independence from Spain
• 1822 - Itúrbide declared himself Emperor of Mexico
• 1823 - Santa Ana overthrew Itúrbide and established the Mexico Republic
• 1836 - Santa Ana defeated the Texans at the Alamo (remember the Alamo?) thus squelching the Texan's bid for independence; the Texans had declared the Republic of Texas
• 1845 - U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas, which Mexico had not recognized as independent from Mexico
• 1846-48 - the Mexican-American War. U.S. President Polk, under his policy of Manifest Destiny (the United States should expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean), provoked the Mexican government by sending troop to a disputed area (both countries claimed it), and after Mexican troops won a few battles with the American troops, Polk asked for and received a Declaration of War from Congress
• 1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - U.S. victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the U.S. claiming all the Mexican territory shown in the map, above.  The treaty guaranteed a number of rights to Mexican citizens who lived in and/or owned property in the territory ceded to the U.S.; the treaty agreements have often been broken or ignored. 

Every Central and South American country has a complicated history of conquest and colonization by Europeans. With the exception of people descended from the many groups of indigenous people who lived in the Western Hemisphere before the Europeans "discovered" it, we are all immigrants. The United States of America is a country occupying land stolen from other people; how dare we now label people as "illegals" and "aliens" and "undesirables" who simply want to immigrate here like the rest of us did? 

And for a quick look at immigration to the USA, here is a good image:

The Present Reality

And now here we are in Trumpworld. The immigration laws in the USA are complicated and outdated, and include many biases. The problems we see today did not start with the election of Trump; however, the problems are being dealt with in much more draconian ways than under previous administrations. We now assume people are guilty of something just for showing up at the border. We now abduct children from their parents and put them in detention camps, many of which are cruel and brutal places for anyone, let alone for children. We detain adults and children for many months, sometimes years, while the wheels of the immigration process grind ever-so-slowly. We deport people without a fair hearing. We provide no legal counsel to people, including children, who are brought before an immigration judge under a system that immigration lawyers describe as extremely complex and unfair. We have deported parents while keeping their kidnapped kids, and even adopted out the kids without the knowledge of the parents. We do all of this, the United States of America, America the Brutalfull! 

My Immigration Policies

If I were Ruler of America, here are what my policies would contain (and note that I am searching for a comprehensive plan to "fix" US immigration policy, so far without any success):

• Foreign Policy. We need to address the core issues that are driving people north to our southern border, including poverty and crime. Instead of threatening to halt all foreign aid to countries like El Salvador and Guatemala as Trump has, I would instruct my Department of State to work diligently with Central and South American governments, individually and within the framework of the Organization of American States and the United Nations, to identify and implement key measures to improve economies, reduce poverty, fight and reduce crime, especially related to drugs, improve food, medical and educational programs, and other measures. Yes, the wealthy United States should be a leader in these efforts. 
• Immigration Law. Fix our immigration laws so they are modernized to reflect the realities of the 21st Century. Ensure that the immigration process is humane, compassionate, efficient, effective, and fair. 
• Immigration Policy. First and foremost, recognize and proclaim that America is a nation of immigrants, that immigration to the United States is a good thing, that we welcome and honor immigrants and will always give them a chance to become Americans if they meet certain universal criteria. Reconstruct our immigration and security services to serve the people who ask for asylum or apply for entry in ways that are kind and just. Guarantee that immigration and asylum applicants will be processed quickly and treated fairly. Never separate children from their parents, except under the most dire circumstances. 

I understand that our immigration system is overwhelmed along our southern border. No one, not even Democrats as accused by the Trumpsters, thinks we should have an open border and anyone can simply walk in. I heard on the news today, for example, that an average of 170 unaccompanied minors cross the border or show up at border crossings every day. These children are placed in detention camps, mostly operated by private corporations under contract to the US government (and, btw, they have been exempted from being vetted, so all kinds of people - good and evil - work in them). This is not sustainable, and it is certainly not good for the children who end up in this system. The first step is to rescue these children. The longer-term step is to fix our immigration system. 

My grandparents were immigrants who escaped poverty and bigotry in eastern Europe to find a better life in America. As the grandchild of immigrants, I welcome immigrants to our country.

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WILDFIRES AND CARAVANS IN TRUMPWORLD

Let's see if I am understanding this. Trump has sent >5,000 soldiers to the border with Mexico, where they are sitting around doing nothing in order to keep the Caravan of people from crossing the border. Meanwhile, thousands of people are homeless as a result of the California wildfires, and many are camping in a Walmart parking lot.

In a rational world, the POTUS would send the 5,000 troops to California to build high quality temporary housing that would be warm and dry, and also some community service facilities. In fact, if needed, they could recruit skilled and unskilled labor from people in the caravan heading towards the US/Mexico border!

But Trump World is not a rational world.
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TRAVELING TO FLORIDA TO GET OUT THE VOTE

Lakeland, Florida is about halfway between Orlando and Tampa Bay. Six of us in our family, five from Portland, one from Lewiston, Maine, traveled to Lakeland to volunteer for a couple of Democratic party campaigns. Sounds like a crazy thing to do, but we all felt it was an important thing to do. Nephew Ken did the research, and determined that Florida is a key swing state, and this specific location is a key location. Democratic candidates had chances to unseat or beat Republicans for the U.S. Senate and House, for Governor, and for state Senate and House seats. 

We spent the three days before election day canvassing for Bob Doyel, candidate for Florida Senate, and Kristen Carlson, candidate for the U.S. House. We also left information and talked to voters about Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for Governor, who had a good chance of becoming Florida’s first African-American Governor. There were many other races, and ballot measures for voters to consider, but focusing on one or two candidates gave us the opportunity to talk about voting Democrat all down the ticket and supporting worthwhile ballot measures. 

I’ll be honest, this was hard work. We Pacific Northwesterners are not acclimated to very hot and very humid weather. Several times a day we sat in our rental vehicles with the air conditioning blasting, just to try to cool down our bodies. And yet, we persisted!  The experience was gratifying, and we felt that we were helping take back our country - making America good again - MAGA! 

All of the neighborhoods in which we canvassed were either mixed demographically or majority African-American. We worked from voter lists of people who have voted Democratic in previous elections, using MiniVAN, a canvassing app for mobile phones that pulls up lists of addresses and voter names, age, gender, and other information. The information collected is uploaded to the database in real time, allowing canvassers to see which addresses, or “doors,” have been visited and what response was given. 

Over the course of three days, I estimate our group knocked on more than 1,200 doors. Many knocks went unanswered, in which case we left a campaign flyer, but many resulted in talking to people. We had many interesting conversations with people on their doorsteps. In middle class and working class neighborhoods we met kind and friendly people, many who started the conversation with some form of “we need to take it back.” In my experience, all of the older people I talked with had or were planning to vote. I also talked with a number of people who don’t vote, and they were mostly younger. As one African-American “neighborhood grandma” told me, these kids don’t understand the history of black folks not being able to vote, and the importance of every vote. 

We canvassers had interesting debriefings and discussions over beers, wine and bourbon in the evenings. We all feel that we made a contribution to the political process, and even convinced some people to vote who otherwise might not have. Grandson Max might have flipped a Republican voter - his wife is the Democratic voter in the household - to vote for Bob Doyel, the Democrat running for Florida Senate. We helped some people find their voting location, helped arrange free rides to the polls and gave one woman a ride to her polling place 30 minutes away, answered questions about the process (as best we could) and about who was on the ballot. 

We also understand the flip side of the political process, and how democracy in America is endangered not only by the political party currently in power, but by the inability of the process itself to change. We had a discussion at dinner one night, five very tired people (Eric had to fly to Chicago that day for business), about what needs to change if and when the Democratic Party gains control of the Congress and, hopefully in two years, the presidency. So many of the issues our country faces today have been growing issues for many years, under Republican as well as Democratic administrations and Congresses. The Democrats, too, have a hugh burden of responsibility for not addressing these issues and solving them. We understand that the goal is not, and should not be simply to put politicians whose names are followed by a D in office; this is partisan politics for the sake of partisan politics. However, and this is a big however, it was critically important for the 2018 election to vote for every Democratic candidate on the ballot, in order to apply the brakes to Trumpism. 

Our candidate, Bob Doyel, lost his bid for Florida Senate, as did the other candidates for whom we campaigned. We went to Bob’s election night party to watch the returns, and although sadness filled the room, Bob remained upbeat and proud of the the successes of his campaign in a sea of Republicans (he challenged the Republican incumbent for the Senate seat). He praised the work of staff and volunteers, many of them young, energetic and idealistic, and stated emphatically that his campaign was the beginning, not the end, of a change in Florida politics. Interestingly, the very high profile contests for U.S. Senate and Florida Governor are, as of this writing, still too close to call and ballots are being recounted. Florida is changing.

There were many successful outcomes for Democrats, and in my opinion for democracy, in this mid-term election. In Florida, a very important ballot measure, Number 4, passed. This will allow nearly 1.4 million ex-felons to vote in future elections. Bob Doyel and I have been conversing by text and email since the election, and Bob is looking at possible ways to work to get ex-felons registered to vote and informed about their newly won rights (rights that should never have been taken away). 

Democracy is a messy process, and for the Portland Six it was also hot and humid! Our experience reminded us of how complex our system is, that many people feel disenfranchised or simply uninterested in the process (one man shouted to me through his window that “I’m not political”), that too many young people, including people of color, don’t vote, and that partisan politics supported by big money is truly counterproductive to democracy. 

Onward to 2020. 

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AMERICA THE BRUTALFULL

KILLING JEWS - AGAIN

I wrote about Jew hating 4-1/2 years ago, after a gunman killed Jews in Kansas City. Read it here.

Has anything changed since then? Yes, it has gotten worse; the second largest number of anti-semitic incidents in the United States since 1980 (see below). 

Bigotry and hatred have been condoned by the President of the United States, and the Republicans in Congress are complicit. Period. Not fake news. 

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JUDGE KAVANAUGH IS NOT THE PROBLEM

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, with all his warts, is not the problem; he is the symptom. Kavanaugh is the symptom of a society gone sour, of an electorate and a Congress that has forgotten (or ignored) the basic tenets of America. Kavanaugh represents many of the things that increasingly define us.

Think about it, the President of the United States is a man who bragged about and has been accused of sexually attacking women, who has mocked persons with disabilities and women who are not model-skinny, who has picked a fight with the Muslim family of a fallen war hero, who accuses the free press of being the "enemy of the people," who in his bigoted way has defined immigrants as murderers and rapists and terrorists, who has initiated policies that result in kidnapping and incarcerating children, whose policies destroy the climate of our planet and make our environment unhealthy for people, who embraces (even "is in love with") dictators and other authoritarians, who has destroyed relationships with our closest friends and allies. It is this man who nominated, and still supports, Judge Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court.

And the Republican members of Congress are complicit. In their rush to confirm the appointment of Judge Kavanaugh, they have flipped the finger at victims of sexual assault while pretending to understand and listen to these victims and survivors. They patiently, and fearfully, regarding their image, listened to the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, made declarations of how compelling her testimony was, and moved on to confirm the accused judge without any further consideration. It doesn't seem to matter to them that Kavanaugh has serious flaws that should disqualify him for the Supreme Court seat, let alone from any other position of authority. Trump picked him, they support him, he would be their champion wrecking ball justice who will help undo all liberal decisions and usher in a new age of conservatism in America.

Yes, we all need to hope and act to stop the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh; but we also need to understand that he is a symptom of a much larger problem. We also need to understand that Donald Trump is also a symptom of the strong anti-democracy current that has been building in American politics since the Reagan era of the 1980's. We will be rid of Trump in 2 or 6 years; we will not be rid of the moneyed interests and voting base that support him. That is the real challenge to our democracy, and we who are to the left of the far-right need to play a long game, not get too distracted by these Kavanaugh-type skirmishes.
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UPDATE: MY PRIVACY MATTERS

On February 4, 2018, I posted here a piece titled "My Privacy Matters" in which I talked about my efforts to regain control of my privacy from the internet giants. Since then I have quit Facebook, switched to Signal for texting (and VOIP-based voice and video calls),and thought more about my on-line life. Today's post is an update.

From talking to many of my family and friends, I know that a lot of people are concerned about their privacy on the internet, and about the progress of what has been dubbed "surveillance capitalism." And yet, most people I know are too dependent on, or addicted to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp (all Facebook-owned and operated), Google, Amazon and other internet "services" to take the steps of unplugging from these corporate behemoths. In the meantime, a number of internet pioneers, including some who have become billionaires, are expressing concerns about where the internet has gotten and is going, and some are taking steps to make corrections.

In the meantime, I have become social network isolated - by not being on Facebook and/or Instagram I am not in the loop with many family members and friends. I still post to this blog and other on-line places, but I know that few people see these things because there are no links to them on Facebook.

I read a lot about the internet, and I do not expect other people to do the same. If interested, there are thousands of articles and books available about the evils of the internet giants. Here is a short blog post about privacy by the Protonmail folks that is worth the time to read as a good summary of concerns.

What will it take for masses of people to leave the surveillance-based internet giants? Social change theory tells us that if influential people make the move, others will follow. Well, I'm not one of the influencers, but I am making the moves.

Here are my latest actions:

email: I am sending a message to my gmail contacts that I am switching my personal email to Protonmail. I will leave my business email at gmail for the foreseeable future.

text messages: I have switched to Signal. Messaging between me and other Signal users is end-to-end encrypted and very secure. signal also has internet-based voice and video calling that I use for calls overseas.

internet browsing: I use the Duck-Duck-Go extension on Apple Safari for my laptop (Macbook) and tablet (iPad), and Duck-Duck-Go is the default browser on my Android phone. (One nice feature on the DDG Android app is that it shows me the trackers it is blocking when I am on the internet; and this is eye-opening: see the images, below, when I browsed to the Portland Tribune).

socializing:  I've looked around to find an alternative to the Facebook/Instagram paradigm. There are some out there. I've signed up on MeWe, a service that intentionally does not collect user data, track users, etc. One person in my hundreds of contacts is also on MeWe. I've not used it much, but I will be looking at it more closely, see what kinds of groups exist, and maybe encourage friends and family to check it out.  In the meantime, I've started to contact people by text and phone in order to stay in touch.  Last year I started a discussion group using the Slack platform. The idea was to have a place where people could have focused discussions about specific topics. Nobody seemed interested.

additional internet privacy: we use a VPN (virtual private network) when on the internet, especially when traveling.

privacy policies and settings: this one is complex and time consuming. Ideally we would read through the privacy policies of every on-line app, software or website we use, and then go through every privacy setting for each of these and set them for maximum privacy. Obviously the vast majority of people don't do this, and simply check "I agree" for everything. We all recently received email messages from many of our provider and app developers that they have new privacy policies; this was a result of new internet rules being in effect for the European Union. I struggle with this issue.

pay for privacy and ad-free use: Some companies and apps offer ad-free service for a fee, instead of using the free version. I choose to pay for certain things, especially if I support the ethics and standards of the company (Protonmail is an example).

Despite all of these efforts, the bottom line is that there is no such thing as complete privacy on the internet, as far as I know, if I want to continue using internet services. And so the question is begged, why do I continue reading about it, trying to find ways to be more private, switching apps and providers? The answer is, it's who I am. I don't like what cyberspace has become, the extent to which it has become commercialized and intrusive, the dangers inherent in thousands of companies knowing everything about me and my daily activities. And so, nevertheless, I persist! If you care to join me, fine; if not, fine.

And thanks for reading.
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WHITHER KAVANAUGH?

The day after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and, separately, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, much has been written about the event. Here at the Fishhouse this has been a constant topic of conversation. There is not much I can say that hasn't already been said, but there is a line of inquiry I want to follow. 

What are the possible explanations for the discrepancy between the positions of Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh? I will list those I thought of, and please let me know if you have others.

I'll start in the order of the appearances, with Dr. Ford. Here are the possible explanations of her testimony:

F1. Christine was sexually attacked by Brett and is telling the truth.
F2. Christine was sexually attacked by two boys, but it was not Brett and his friend Mark, and she has mis-identified the attackers.
F3. Dr. Ford is mentally unstable and, for whatever reasons, has made up the story and brought it forward to get attention.
F4. Dr. Ford has been paid a very large sum of money (dark money) by one or more wealthy Democrats to make a false accusation in order to stop the ascendency of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. 

And here are the possible explanations for Judge Kavanaugh's testimony:

K1. Brett did not sexually attack Christine and is innocent.
K2. Brett did sexually attack Christine but was so drunk that he did not, and still does not remember the incident. 
K3. Judge Kavanaugh sexually attacked Dr. Ford when they were teenagers, and has been covering it up and lying about it ever since. 

So what do you think is plausible? For Dr. Ford, I would opine that F4 is least plausible, followed closely by F3. F2 is a possibility; however, Dr. Ford is emphatic that she knew and recognized Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. That leaves F1 as the most plausible explanation. 

For Judge Kavanaugh, K1, K2 and K3 are plausible explanations. It seems to me that K3 is the least plausible because it would be so very extreme; however, it is not out of the question. That leaves K1 and K2.

If, in fact, teenage Brett did attack teenage Christine, accepting F1 as the most plausible explanation for Dr. Ford's testimony, K2 is the most likely explanation for Judge Kavanaugh. There are some friends and associates of Brett, when he was a teen and a college student, who have said publicly that he was a heavy drinker and was sometimes incoherent when drunk. Brett's close friend in high school, Mark Judge, was an alcoholic as a teen, and has written one or more books about it. In fact, Mr. Judge referred to a character named "Bart O'Kavanaugh" in his book:

If passing out was part of teenage Brett's drinking routine, and in yesterday's hearing Judge Kavanaugh talked extensively about how he liked beer and drank a lot, then K2 has more support for being the plausible explanation. (In this line of inquiry, I'm not ruling out K3 as the correct explanation, and it would truly be a juicy scandal! And, I feel compelled here to say unequivocally that my thinking and statements in no way minimize the crime of sexual assault.) 

There are a few confirmed facts in this he said - she said case. 

• Dr. Ford took and passed a polygraph test;
• the timing and method of Dr. Ford's accusation are that she first acted anonymously when Judge Kavanaugh was on the list of potential nominees, and she acted in a way to conceal her identity;
• statements by at least three other women about sexual assaults by young Brett Kavanaugh (the statements are fact, the alleged assaults are unproven); 
• statements by friends and associates of young Brett Kavanaugh that he was a heavy, often belligerent and often incoherent drunk as a teen and college student;
• statements by friends of Brett Kavanaugh that he was not a drunk, and did not treat women badly;
• statements by three people named by Dr. Ford as being at the party where she was allegedly attacked that they have no memory of being at such a gathering;
• previous background checks and clearances for Judge Kavanaugh conducted and issued for federal jobs and appointments;
• numerous letters of support and character reference for both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh. 

It is obvious that an investigation should be undertaken by an impartial entity, the F.B.I., to gather factual information, interview all persons who might have relevant information, and prepare this information for the Senate Judicial Committee to use for further deliberation. Only then will the true explanation have any chance of being known.

Until then, we can only make educated guesses.
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WHAT PRICE WILL THE GOP PAY?

In an interview on NPR this morning, Senator Marco Rubio (R Florida) confirmed what we already thought we knew about the Congressional Republicans. A question has dogged many of us about why the GOP has been so silent about the craziness coming from the White House. Here is part of the interview by Steve Inskeep, NPR host:

INSKEEP: Does the president strike you, in your interactions with him or the staff around him, as responsible, focused, on target, fit?

RUBIO: Well, he strikes me as Donald Trump, which is - he's not a political figure. He understands and describes issues differently from someone who served 20 years in the Senate would describe them. But he has a pretty clear understanding of what's at stake with China. He has a pretty clear understanding, in the conversations I've had with him, about what's at stake in Venezuela. He has a pretty clear understanding of the risks involved in this engagement with South Korea - North Korea.

INSKEEP: The understanding about North Korea, he proclaimed that the nuclear threat has been taken care of with North Korea, which is, obviously, not true.

RUBIO: Well, but again, that goes back to the nonpolitical guy. And that is someone...

INSKEEP: That's not nonpolitical. It's not true.

RUBIO: No, but let me tell you why - because in his view, he's a negotiator. He's applying his business acumen. And that's why I tell you he wouldn't express himself the way a 20-year senator or a member of the Council of Foreign Relations would. In his mind, I'm a negotiator. And the way to get the other guy to give me more of what I want is to be nice to him. But he is fully aware that North Korea poses a threat. But he's trying to reach a deal. I, personally - in my view, Kim Jong Un doesn't want a deal. And I've said that to him, and I've said it his administration.

INSKEEP: One more thing. I asked, is he fit? You answered, well, he's Donald Trump. I understand that. But is he fit?

RUBIO: I have not personally seen or been told by anybody anything that causes me to believe that he's not fit to serve as president of the United States.

INSKEEP: Are you willing to say, in a positive sense, yes, he is fit?

RUBIO: Based on everything I've seen and known. That doesn't mean I agree with everything he's done or every conclusion he's reached. And that doesn't mean that I would express myself or that he always expresses himself in ways that I would hope a president would. But that doesn't make him unfit. That just makes him different from what I would prefer. And the one - best way I would describe it is I love a lot of the things that he's doing on a lot of public policy. Many of them are things that politicians have been promising to do for a long time and never did. I just wish we could have that without all the other stuff.

If you read the above, you learned that Rubio does not think Trump is unfit to be President, or irresponsible or unfocused, or off target; he is simply Donald trump, not a politician. And as far as saying things that are not true, well, that’s O.K., he isn’t lying because he is a negotiator using his business acumen. 

And why does Rubio, and the rest of the GOP, accept Trump because he is Trump? Because Trump is doing a lot of things the GOP likes, things that politicians have been promising for a long time. And what are these things? Well, we all know what they are, they are things that benefit the wealthy donors to the GOP, people and corporations, and therefore keep these GOP politicians in office. 

So in Rubio’s view, and the view of the rest of the complicit Congressional Republicans, Trump’s misogyny, bigotry, obstruction of justice, bizarre tweeting, claims that the media is the “enemy of the people,” kidnapping and abuse of immigrant children, elimination of environmental protections, insulting and alienation of our allies, butt-smooching of authoritarians, attacks on U.S. intelligence agencies, collusion with Russia, pulling out of international climate agreements and the nuclear weapon agreement with Iran, and etc. and etc. are simply “Trump being Trump,” a businessman being a businessman! Right, and Putin is just being Putin, and Kim Jung Un is just being Kim Jung Un, and Genghis Khan was just being Genghis Khan! 

The GOP will pay a high price for their complicity with Trump and his advisors. Their chickens will come home to roost. Unfortunately, the entire world is paying the price now, and will continue to pay for a long time as a result of Trump and the GOP. 

The Republicans in Congress have no shame, and history will not be kind to them. They have been accomplices to a bold attack on the U.S. Constitution and democracy. 

Thank you, Marco Rubio, for so clearly showing the world the true colors of the Republican Party. 

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CATHOLIC CHURCH PEDOPHILIA: BRING BACK THE GUILLOTINE

Once again, the Catholic Church is being rocked by scandal regarding rape and other sexual abuses of children by Catholic clergy, and extensive cover-ups by higher authorities within the institution. Thousands and thousands of children have been sexually abused by Catholic priests all over the world - the extent might never be fully known - and the church has done little to punish the offenders and, more importantly, put an end to these crimes. A grand jury in Philadelphia reported that more than 300 “predator priests” in the Catholic diocese there have been accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children. These sexual predators, according to the grand jury, have been systematically protected, and many promoted, by Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops and cardinals. In other words, the entire heirarchy of the Catholic Church is implicated in sexual abuse of children. 

I am not specifically picking on Catholics, but I am calling out the institution known as the Catholic Church, all the way up to the Pope himself, who has acknowledged these problems but accomplished little to correct them. Is this pedophilia somehow inherent in the institution itself? Is the Catholic Church, by means of it’s basic design, a haven for sexual predators? Should government issue warnings to communities that have Catholic churches alerting people of the potential presence of sex offenders among the clergy? Am I being too extreme? Hardly, if you have been reading the news for the past couple of decades.  

So how to we solve this problem? It is obvious the Catholic Church is unwilling to police itself. And so I offer this:

I propose that every priest convicted of child sex abuse, and every higher-up in the Catholic Church who has been involved in covering up sexual abuse, be lined up at the below-the-waist guillotine and given a quick trim! 

And by the way, I am not making light of the horrible facts of child sex abuse; I’m angry beyond control at these men - yes men - who are preying under the guise of praying and getting away with it. And also the men - yes men - who, in all their professed holiness, are protecting these predators. I want more than a perp-walk, I want a lineup at the chopper, and let the dicks fall where they may - in the basket! 

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THIS IS A CRY FOR REVOLUTION

This is a cry for revolution.

When in the course of human events...

This is a cry for justice.

We hold these truths to be self evident...

This is a cry for equality.

...that all men (sic) are created equal...

This is a cry for democracy.

Governments...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

This is a cry for acknowledgement.

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends...

This is a cry for action.

...it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it...

This is a cry for change.

...and to institute new government...

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 

pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design

to reduce them under absolute despotism,

it is their right,

it is their duty,

to throw off such government,

and to provide new guards 

for their future security.

...history of repeated injuries and usurpations, 

all having in direct object the establishment of 

an absolute Tyranny... 

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has started trade wars with China, the European Union and Canada.

He is putting Russia first over America first.

He prefers Putin and other autocrats over our democratic allies.

He has slashed corporate taxes and greatly increased the national debt.

He has denied climate change, walked away from global climate accords, and promoted fossil fuels.

He is removing environmental regulations, causing dire consequences for human health and the environment.

He has broken the Iran nuclear deal and now threatens war with Iran.

He is steadily eroding the Affordable Care Act. 

He has attacked our free press, labeling them “fake” and “the enemy of the people.”

He has appointed the most incompetent people to direct and destroy federal agencies and deregulate corporations.

He is treating immigrants and asylum seekers like criminals.

He has abducted and abused children of immigrants and asylum seekers.

He has condoned and ignored bigotry and hatred of “the other.” 

He wants to Make America White, Straight and “christian” Again.

He is  violating every norm of how a president should behave. 

He is basically violating every norm of decency and justice and fairness for which the United States stands.

We hold these truths to be self-evident....

THIS IS A CALL FOR REVOLUTION!  

—-

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID, OF HELSINKI

Donald Trump is at this moment crashing his way through the NATO meeting, insulting and bullying America’s allies. His next stop will be Helsinki for a meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Everyone on the planet who believes in freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and justice should be very, very afraid of the outcome of this Helsinki meet-up. 

Donald Trump is Putin’s Poodle. Trump thinks very highly of Vlad, thinks he is a great guy and a great leader. Keep in mind that Donald loves and is jealous of every strongman dictator in the world, including Kim Jung Un, Dutarte, Erdogan and others. We need to be afraid that The Donald will give away the store in his meeting with Vlad.

Think about recent actions by Trump:

• At the recent G7 meeting, he argued that Russia should be reinstated as a member, he bullied our allies, he attacked and mocked Canada’s Justin Trudeau;
• He met with North Korea’s dictator Kim Jung Un, giving Kim great legitimacy, volunteered to end U.S - S. Korean military exercises (much to the surprise of the U.S. military and S. Korea), proclaimed Kim to be very smart and a great guy, and signed a meaningless statement about nuclear weapons that N. Korea appears to have alredy violated;
• He has consistently, since his candidacy, berated and bullied our allies in NATO about money, shrugged off Russia’s military annexation of Crimea (“most people there speak Russian”), downplayed the Russian interference in U.S. elections, and mocked the investigation of collusion between his campaign and Russians;
• He has consistently twitter-attacked and otherwise put down our European allies, while treating Russia with kid gloves;
• He has started a trade war with China and Europe, leaving Russia as a potentially better trading partner for our allies.

Is there any reason not to be very, very afraid of what the U.S. Madman-in-Chief will do at the hands of a trained spy and accomplished strongman, Vladimir Putin? What will Trump give away? What does Putin have on Trump, anyway? How will Putin manipulate the “world’s greatest deal maker” to Russia’s advantage? By his own actions, Trump has demonstrated that he likes Putin and Russia more than he likes the European leaders and their countries. 

I might hide under the bed until this is over.

—-

IN MY COUNTRY; IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD

In my country, the government of Donald Trump has a zero tolerance policy for persons who cross the border without permission. These persons are arrested, prosecuted and persecuted. If they happen to have their children with them, the children are “separated” - a kinder word for abduction - and sent away to a detention camp. Yes, detention camps, shameful places from our history. Sometimes the parents are deported back to the place they were escaping, without their children. What cruelty is this?

Crossing the border without permission from the government is a civil crime, a misdemeanor. Violating traffic law is a misdemeanor. Where is the equivalency? 

In my neighborhood, the city and county governments have a 100-percent tolerance policy for persons who take over public sidewalks and violate many laws. Having open containers of alcohol and using drugs in public are unlawful. Trespassing is unlawful. Leaving trash everywhere is unlawful. Threatening people is unlawful. These are all misdemeanors. And yet in my neighborhood, all of this is tolerated 100 percent. And the livability of my neighborhood, and the livelihood of the business people in my neighborhood suffer greatly.

In my country, 21st century storm troopers sweep in and swoop up hard-working people who are productive members of their communities and pay their way in the world, but who happen to not have permission to be here. Families are splintered; communities are terrorized by these ice-blooded storm troopers. 

In my neighborhood the cops do their best, but the total tolerance policy means that people who break the law every day, who don’t work, don’t pay taxes, don’t vote and are anything but productive members of my community are allowed to continue doing whatever they want to do in public spaces. 

What the hell happened to my country? What the hell happened to my neighborhood? 2 + 2 = 5. Up is down. Yes is no. Orwell got it right.

—- 

IT'S OFFICIAL, THE DHS AND DOJ ARE TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

If you read this blog, you know that I don’t mince words. And so, in my capacity as an American citizen and taxpayer, I have concluded and declare that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are, by all definitions, terrorist organizations. “Terrorism is, in the broadest sense, the use of intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror among masses of people; or fear to achieve a financial, political, religious or ideological aims.” (Wikipedia)

Agents of the DHS have been taking children away from their parents at the U.S. border, sometimes forcefully. This is child abduction, not law enforcement. These children are terrorized and traumatized, as are the parents. These actions have created terror among masses of people. Locking up adults who are seeking asylum. and abducting their children and shipping them to be imprisoned in hastily erected large cages of fencing and barbed wire in detention camps are violent and terrifying actions. 

The stated goal of the Trump “Zero Tolerance” policy, as stated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is to deter people from attempting to cross the U.S. border. In other words, the DHS and DOJ policy is to create terror and fear among masses of people, and to commit acts of violence against adults and children, in order to achieve a political aim. 

America has sunk so low under Trump and his forces of evil. 

—-

 

ANN COULTER IS A FECKLESS RUNT (AND SO ARE HER FELLOW TRAVELERS)

Feckless: lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible.

Runt: an animal that is small or stunted as compared with others of its kind.

Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator, said in a TV interview: “I would also say one other thing, these child actors weeping and crying on all the other networks 24/7 right now — do not fall for it, Mr. President." Ann, Ann, Ann...you feckless runt. You are so irresponsible and you greatly lack strength of character. Your conservative personna is so small, so stunted compared to serious commentators. Yes, Ann, we know you like to be outrageous in order to grab headlines and burnish your reputation, and your book sales and interviews in the media. But you truly are a feckless runt, and everyone, including the media, would do well by ignoring you.

You are not the only feckless runt, Ann. Oh no, there are so many others of your ilk. Corey Lewandowski, former Trump Campaign chairman, in response to a news story about a 10-year old girl with Downs Syndrome being separated from her mother at the border, made mocking trombone-like sounds “Womp, Womp.”  He explained his response by saying: “When you cross the border illegally, when you commit a crime, you are taken away from your family because that’s how this country works.” Oh Corey, you are such a feckless runt. 

Ann, Corey and all of their fellow travelers are following the lead of the Feckless Runt in Chief, Donald Trump. He is feckless in every way, and he is clearly a runt in every way.

—-

 

MY MESSAGE TO AG JEFF SESSIONS ABOUT HIS IMMIGRATION POLICIES

My message to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, submitted at USDoJ online comments

To AG Sessions: I am trying to understand the logic of your “zero tolerance” policy and intervention in the specific asylum case of an abused woman. It would be best if I could discuss this with you on the phone (503-789-5107); however, I know this will never happen. 

You are changing U.S. immigration policy, something that is a responsibility of Congress. Your policies are causing tremendous harm to persons now being incarcerated and prosecuted - for civil, not criminal infractions - and causing long-lasting harm to children separated from their parents and incarcerated. These are cruel, inhumane, un-American and at least borderline racist actions on your part. These penalties do not fit the alleged crimes committed by desperate people. 

The justification for your actions - to send a message not to come into the United States, and not to bring children if you do try - is invalid. You are using children as political pawns in a cruel game. I agree that we need to fix our immigration system and policies; however, this is the role of Congress, not the AG instituting draconian policies that punish innocent people. 

Thank you for reading. Please reverse your bad policies immediately and work with Congress to solve the immigration issues.  

(Note: the abused wife case I referenced above is a Salvadoran woman who has been in the US for many years working her way through the courts to gain asylum status. She was the victim of domestic abuse by her ex-husband, and the Salvadoran police and justice system would not help her. AG Sessions has intervened in her case to make an example; he has recently announced that domestic violence and gang violence will not be reasons to grant asylum in this country. A good article is here.)

THE DONALD AND THE DICTATOR: WHAT DOES THE LEFT DO IF SOMETHING POSITIVE HAPPENS?

I've been thinking about this for some time now. While the prospect of Trump and Kim Jong-Un being alone in a room together, each with a translator, scares the poop out of me, I have to wonder, "what if?". What if something positive comes out of this summit? What if Kim agrees to some process that reduces the risk of nuclear engagement? How should we on the left respond?

The Trump-Kim summit scares me. Trump has stated that he does not need to prepare, he will know within the first minute, based on touch and feel, if Kim is going to make a deal. He has stated that if he senses that Kim is not going to make a deal, he will walk out and not waste time. Oh brother. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Yes, absolutely, a denuclearization of the Korean peninsula would be a very good thing. A breakdown of the summit, the lack of any kind of agreement* will be a bad thing. So if Trump has any success, the left has to acknowledge it. In other words, we certainly don't want to celebrate a Trump failure, no matter how bizarre the entirety of this summit has been and is. And a Trump success will be a good lesson in bipartisanship for the left; or, as Mrs. Obama often told us: "They go low, we go high."

I will be watching the news closely.
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* I switched to the word "agreement" instead of the word "deal" because foreign policy is not real estate; one does not make "deals."

TRUMP:.HATE YOUR FRIENDS, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

Trump tweets on June 9, 2018:

“I am on my way to Singapore where we have a chance to achieve a truly wonderful result for North Korea and the World. It will certainly be an exciting day and I know that Kim Jong-un will work very hard to do something that has rarely been done before...…Create peace and great prosperity for his land. I look forward to meeting him and have a feeling that this one-time opportunity will not be wasted!”

[Editor's note: this is preposterous and bizarre. Kim is a brutal dictator who has kept his people isolated from the world, educated them to hate the west, especially the United States, and freely has enemies and even family members executed. Why Trump has been cozying up to this brute is unknown, and this is an unprecedented and frightening “foreign policy” (or non-policy)].

“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!”

“PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!”

[Editor's note: again, preposterous and bizarre. Why is the POTUS insulting our allies? His claims are non-truths; he truly has no idea what he is talking about. He pissed off (and on) the other 6 members of the G-7. These are our staunchest allies! He did, however, have nice things to say about the new PM of Italy, who was the only G7 member to show interest in reinstating Russia to the G7 (returning it to the G8). Trump has invited the Italian PM to the White House as a reward.]

Trump is truly a madman, a moron, a megalomaniac, and an amoral* person with aspirations of being like Putin, Kim, Dutarte and other authoritarians. The damage he is doing to the United States is astounding.

*I am not name calling; I am merely stating the truth about Trump based on his own actions and words.

---

WHO NEEDS TO PREPARE?

“I think I’m very well prepared. I don’t think I have to prepare very much. It’s about attitude, it’s about willingness to get things done. So this isn’t a question of preparation, it’s a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we’ll know that very quickly.”

How would you feel if this was said by the surgeon who was about to operate on you? Or maybe your lawyer, moments before a huge trial in which you could lose everything? Professional sport players? The contractor about to build your new house?

Don't worry, no professional would ever think that way or say such a thing. And no professional said the above; it was Donald J. Trump at a press conference with Prime Minister Abe of Japan, talking about the meeting with Kim Jong-Un of North Korea next week. WHA??

We need to be worried. Please, someone, don't leave Trump alone in a room with Kim.

And it turns out, according to news reports, that the U.S. National Security Team has not yet met to plan for this summit meeting next week. WHA????

We need to be very, very, very worried!!

Do you know where the nearest bomb shelter is located?
---

I CAN’T WAIT FOR AUTONOMOUS CARS

Driving around Portland recently, I’ve decided that a world of autonomous cars would be terrific. I am so sick and tired of rude, crazy, lousy drivers making life dangerous for everyone else. Like the other day, when some driver didn’t like the fact that I was driving 25 mph in a 25 mph zone on a busy commercial street, and had to zoom around me, then around a bus, then around another car; and all to wait at the next stop light with me. This happens every day, and it’s getting worse.

Imagine a world with only autonomous, or self-driving cars. These vehickles would always follow the rules of the road - always. They would never exceed the speed limit. They would always stop for pedestrians wanting to cross the street at an intersection  (the law in Oregon), or that the reason another car is stopped is because there is something to stop about. They would not race yellow lights, make rolling stops through stop signs, tailgate other cars. 

Yes, I know some of you are thinking “oh yeah, what about all the accidents because there won’t be a driver?” Sorry to burst your bubble, but sure, there will be some accidents, but absolutely not nearly as many as there are now with cars being driven by rude, rushed, distracted and, frankly, dangerous driving systems - humans! 

Life will slow down a bit for everyone. You won’t be able to be in a hurry; you will get there as traffic and the rules of the road allow. Maybe we’ll all mellow out a bit. Maybe there will be no more road rage.

And we won’t need personal automobiles anymore; why would we? Today’s Uber and Lyft will be tomorrow’s fleets of autonomous cars for hire, or some similar scenario. “But won’t that cost more?” you ask. Well, what is the true cost of owning an automobile, including maintenance, fuel, insurance, parking? How does that compare with paying a fee for using a fleet of autonomous cars that are always driving around waiting to be hailed?  And if we all don’t have one or more cars, that means very few parking lots and structures, no cars parked along every street, much less noise and pollution. And if every autonomous vehicle is electric, think about the lessened impact on the atmosphere, public health, and the tremendous reduction in the need for petroleum. 

Sounds too good to be feasible, right? Sounds like a world controlled by robot masters. What about all the lost jobs associated with the automobile? Pooh - think big. Use your imagination. Unshackle your mind from the petroleum economy invented by a handful of major industries and be futuristic. This isn’t science fiction any longer, it is a looming reality. 

And I can’t wait! 

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