DUCT-TAPED BANANA ART PIECE MAKES A BIG SPLASH IN NEW VIDEO GONE VIRAL

(December 9th, 2019) A new video posted to social media continues the saga of the duct taped banana. A real banana attached to a gallery wall with duct tape by renowned artist Maurizio Cattelan sold for $120,000. On Saturday, December 7th, performance artist David Datuna  ate the banana in front of a crowd of people in the Miami gallery. The gallery owner said that the art of Cattelan, including his 2017 $6 million gold toilet titled “America” is not about the object, but “about how objects move through the world.” (The golden toilet was stolen from Blenheim Palace in England this past summer.)

The new video, shot in very low light, appears to show a man sitting on a toilet while mumbling about a banana; he then flushes the toilet. The toilet appears to shine, as if made of gold. Some viewers claim that the man is performance artist Datuna.

It appears that this particular piece of art is truly moving through the world. 

posted on December 7, 2019

[fake news]

—-

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU "DRAIN THE SWAMP?"

I worked as an ecologist for more than 50 years, and studied a wide variety of wetland habitats, including swamps. First, I have to say that it is a violation of federal law to drain a swamp without documenting the potential environmental impacts and obtaining proper authorization. Second, you might not like the results of such draining.

When the water is removed, or drained, from a swamp, what remains is mud (a non-technical term). This mud contains a lot of organic debris and living organisms. The organic debris, now exposed to air, gives off a sulfurous odor - it really stinks! And the living organisms are a variety of bottom-dwellers, mud-suckers, and detritus-feeders.

Donald J. Trump campaigned on "draining the swamp" in Washington, D.C. It seems that he has succeeded in his efforts, as evidenced by the stench now emanating from the nation's capitol and the large number of bottom-dwellers, mud-suckers, and detritus-feeders in Trump's cabinet, agency management, White House advisory staff and legal team.

---

PRESIDENT ROMNEY 2020: A COMIC TRAGEDY IN THREE ACTS

It could happen, and this is how I see the drama playing out.

ACT 1. Confusion

The Democratic Party seems to be struggling to identify a clear choice for their 2020 presidential candidate. Dem voters also seem to be struggling with the choice of candidates in terms of the perpetual question: who can actually beat Trump? Is health care really the major issue of our times? Watching the so-called debates leads to that conclusion; however, there is no indication that this is the singular issue vexing voters. 

This Democratic comedy is getting so bad that now there are numerous articles and opinion pieces in the media suggesting that the movers and shakers in the Democratic Party are looking for someone to step in late in the game and take the nomination; someone who, in their view, would be a clear winner against Trump and the forces of evil. The names being thrown around include Michelle Obama and - gasp - Hillary Clinton!  

ACT 2. The Path to Survival. And then there is the Republican Party, or what’s left of it. Whether or not he is impeached, and I doubt that the Senate Republicans would convict him, Trump’s image will be severely tattered and torn by the impeachment revelations. Sure, his renowned Base will mostly stick by him - he’s their guy - but serious-minded Republicans will be hoping for a knight in shining armor to rescue them from themselves. 

Enter Mitt Romney, stage middle-right. Mitt has wanted to be President for a long time. I see his clever purchase of a Senate seat as his second chance strategy to achieve his goal. The Trump impeachment could be the opening Mitt has been angling for, and in this scenario, he jumps into the Republican primary in early 2020 as a clear-minded, sane, intelligent, politically seasoned, stable, old-style moderate Republican. He could actually beat Donald Trump in a primary race and emerge as the 2020 Republican candidate. 

ACT 3, Final Scene, The Reckoning. The characters left on stage are Mitt Romney and either Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren (long shot: Bernie Sanders). The Romney strategy and message is simple: Joe Biden is Barak Obama, and Republicans certainly don’t want more of that. Warren or Sanders are fire-bomb-throwing radicals who will turn the United States into the Soviet Union - SOCIALISM!!!! - and no red-blooded American Patriot will stand for that! 

What do Democratic voters do? If Biden is the candidate, young progressive voters either don’t vote or vote for a Jill Stein or other lefty crackpot. If Warren/Sanders is the candidate, older, moderate Democrats and possibly middle class white voters put their mark next to Romney on the ballot because, as a moderate, he’s a better choice than the socialist Democrat. 

Curtain call: Mitt Romney struts his victory strut and the curtain falls. 

The audience goes home to a Romney presidency. 

—-

THE WHEELS ARE COMING OFF THE BUS

POLITICAL ZOMBIES

WHAT ELIZABETH WARREN NEEDS TO EXPLAIN ABOUT HEALTHCARE

I injured my shoulder 6 months ago - it’s a long story best left untold - and went to physical therapy for 2-3 months with no improvement. When I finally saw an orthopedic specialist, he took an x-ray and then sent me for an MRI. The imaging lab preferred by the surgeon is Epic Imaging, a private company. The MRI was done, and I’m waiting to see the orthopedist again. 

I was curious about Epic, so I did a bit of online research. Epic is owned by CDI (Center for Diagnostic Imaging) headquartered in Minneapolis. CDI has a few dozen offices around the country. CDI, in turn, is owned by Onex Corporation, a Canadian company in Toronto that “manages capital on behalf of Onex shareholders, institutional investors and high net worth clients around the world.” I counted 97 companies on the Onex website that are owned by the firm. These include consumer & retail, financial services, healthcare, industrials, services, and technology, media and telecon. Onex assets total about $39 billion and they claim a return above 20%. 

So what’s the point? Well, this is but one small example of how health care in America is a for-profit industry. In this example there are three levels of corporation that take profits from the business revenues. It’s no wonder health care costs in America are among the highest in the world. 

I favor some kind of single payer health insurance in my country, such as the Medicare for All plans being put forward by some of the Democratic Party presidential candidates. This idea is controversial, and fraught with misunderstanding. I’m on Medicare. I can go to any doctor I want (who will accept me as a patient) anywhere in the country; there is no “in-plan” and “out-of-plan.” I pay a monthly premium, and have a $185 per year deductible. Medicare pays 80% of the charges they approve, at the rates established by Medicare. I also have, and pay a monthly premium for a Medicare Supplemental Plan with a private insurance company that pays the remaining 20%.* In my discussions with friends and family, it seems that I pay comparable amounts or less for my health insurance than others do for private insurance. 

So what does Elizabeth Warren need to explain, in my humble opinion? She needs to explain, succinctly and in simple terms, exactly how a Medicare for All plan would work, what it would cost people in taxes and/or premiums, what it would cover, why it would be so much less complex and comprehensive than the present system, and how it can be sustained. She should also explain how it would work for medical providers, and how they would be fairly compensated for the services they provide. In other words, dispel the many myths and lies presently swirling around in the health care debate and give voters the information needed to make reasoned decisions. (Cynical note: assuming most voters are capable of making reasoned decisions.) 

Senator Warren also needs to tie in her battle against corporate/government corruption and the health care industry. She needs to clearly explain how the present system is dominated by for-profit entities (see above) that pay armies of lobbyists to make sure the government structures things in ways that benefit corporate profits. And she also needs to clearly acknowledge that a huge Medicare for All government bureaucracy will not be perfect, [will be subject to the whims of Congress and the lobbyists who influence them, and how it can be structured and guarded to be as efficient as possibly for the benefit of American citizens, not corporations. A tall order, but if anyone can explain all this, it is Senator Warren.

Now if only Elizabeth Warren subscribed to this blog....

——

*Note: Interestingly, I usually pay more in premiums for the Medicare Supplemental plan than the 20% the plan pays out per year, so I might pay less if I dropped that plan and paid the 20% out-of-pocket. I’m still doing the math on that one.

SHOULD WE CENTRALIZE CLIMATE EXTREME RECOVERY EFFORTS?

It is a fact that climate change has, and will continue to alter weather patterns on our planet. We are experiencing extreme weather events that have greater intensity and perhaps more frequency than what we consider normal (i.e. the past century or two, since weather has been recorded). We know that these extreme events, and the rapid changes in conditions such as sea level, will impact a growing number of people around the world. Rising sea levels, for example, are expected to displace millions of people in low-lying coastal areas.

Following every climate extreme event, such as a major hurricane, tornado, flood or wildfire, we receive asks from numerous non-profit organizations to donate money for emergency relief efforts. A growing issue for people who want to help is where to donate so it will be the most effective; there might also be a growing donation fatigue as the number of these emergencies continues to grow.

Perhaps there needs to be a centralized organization that would coordinate the distribution of donations for what I will label "climate extreme events." The "Climate Extreme Rescue, Relief and Rebuilding Fund" (the Fund) would accept donations and build a fund to be used for these climate-related emergencies anywhere in the world. The Fund would have to be apolitical, totally transparent, and operated according to clear principles and processes. The Fund would contract with existing non-profit organizations that provide rescue, relief and rebuilding services, based on the specific needs of each situation, and the services, expertise and abilities of each non-profit.

Donations to the Fund would come from individuals, governments and corporations. The Fund would need to be recognized and endorsed by world governments as a trusted apolitical entity. A climate change metric could be used (for example, annual carbon emissions) as a basis for annual funding from world governments and also from carbon-emitting corporations and utilities. The rationale for this funding is that the climate changed by human-related carbon emissions has serious impacts to humanity that must be mitigated in an equitable manner by all of humanity and its institutions.

The world 50 years from now and beyond will be very different than the present in terms of climate-related events and patterns. Scientists and policy-makers involved in climate change research have long recognized that we have moved from the question of "is climate change real" to needing to start mitigating the effects of climate change. Every climate-extreme event requires immediate rescue and relief efforts, as well as long-term rebuilding of damaged infrastructure, homes, institutions, people's lives and the social fabric. Unfortunately, we have seen some efforts that were poorly organized, under funded, and situations that quickly disappeared from the public radar. We need to do better, and doing better will require a more effective and efficient organizational structure than appears to be in place now.

I don't know how this idea can become reality. I initially thought that the Fund could be part of the United Nations; however, that organization is too political to be effective. On the other hand, perhaps the United Nations could be the incubator that gets the Fund up and running, and then spins it off as an independent non-profit global organization. Or perhaps a number of major foundations could pool their efforts to get this started. Yes, a daunting task, but in my opinion, a much needed effort.

---

WHY THE WORLD IS SO WEIRD, EXPLAINED

Think about it, dear reader, and you will agree that the world has become very, very weird. I'm talking about Donald Trump. Brexit, Boris Johnson, Moscow Mitch, climate change denial, resurgence of authoritarianism, greed trumping (oops) the well being of human civilization, and so many other weird things these days. None of it makes sense in a rational world, and so we have to conclude that the world is irrational. But why? How did we get here?

The answer is simple. Our world is a computer simulation. And the teenager in the very technologically advanced world somewhere out there who is responsible for this simulation wrote a random weirdness routine into the simulation program. And, as randomness goes, the weirdness routine popped up everywhere in the simulation at the same time. And here we are, welcome to weird! (Don't worry, nothing is real.)

---

EL PASO: ALL ABOUT TRUMP, AS USUAL

This photo and commentaries are all over the news media today, but I just have to add my opinion. At an El Paso hospital, none of the shooting victims agreed to meet with Donald Trump, so his staff arranged for two victims to come back to the hospital to "meet" the president. But obviously this was for photo ops. 

The infant in this photo is now an orphan because his mother and father were both killed as they shielded him from the murderer. Look at the faces of Donald and Melania - they are grinning! And Trump is flashing his trademark thumbs up symbol. WTF??? What is the message here? "Look how wonderful the POTUS and FLOTUS are! Aren't we GREAT??" 

This totally creeps me out. The press was not allowed into the hospital with the Trumps, but photos and videos and interviews have been published by people who were there. Medical staff told reporters that Trump mostly cracked jokes, and repeatedly talked about how small the crowd was at Beto O'Rourke's El Paso rally a few months ago, compared to the huge crowd at Trump's rally.  

When I look at these evil, grinning fools, I can't help remembering the nasty, hateful things Trump has said about El Paso and about the "invaders" from south of the border. His bigoted words have stoked the flames of hatred and, in the opinion of many, myself included, contributed to the mass murders in Dayton and El Paso. And when I look at Melania, I can't help remembering the words on the back of the jacket she wore when she visited an "immigrant children's shelter" at the southern border: "I don't really care, do you?" 

Well, yes Melania, we really do care!! We do care that Paul Anchando, the baby in the photo, lost his mother, Jordan, and father, Andre, who were both murdered as they shielded their baby with their bodies. The Anchandos are true heroes in this story; Donald and Melania Trump are true opportunists capitalizing on the suffering of others to burnish their own brand. 

Why are these grifters in the White House? When will America wake up and drive this evil man out of office and into a jail cell? Not soon enough. 
---

DEMOCRATS: NO MORE IMPEACHMENT CONSTIPATION

Congressional Democrats, and the Democratic Party overall, needs to poop or get off the pot, to put it not-mildly. Should we impeach, should we not impeach? This single issue is too dominant in our politics right now. If the Dems want to impeach Trump, do it; if not, take it off the table. This is food for Trump's reelection campaign, and he will continue to use it as long as it is still being discussed.

Yes, any person with half a brain understands that Trump is guilty of criminal acts; it's all in the Meuller report, whether the DOJ chose to indict or not. But it is also an election year, and the best political minds need to play out the options - which they have been doing over, and over, and over, and put a strategy in place for 2020 that does or does not include impeachment. And move on!!

In the meantime, I think the House should continue to investigate everything about Trump and the damage his administration is doing to every aspect of American life.

Democrats - be smart, be unified, you need to win in 2020.
---

MAKE AMERICA GREATER

The 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, campaigned on the slogan “Make America Great Again (MAGA).” To the majority of Americans, the country was already great, so it didn’t make sense that we should make it great, again. But it did not take long for most thoughtful Americans to realize that the Trump slogan really means “make America white again.” 

America is a great country for a variety of reasons. This fact is incontrovertible. As a nation, America has achieved great things and been a global leader in many respects. America never stopped being great, so making it great again has always been a puzzling idea.

However, in many areas, America can and should be greater! 

This is a message I would like the Democratic Party to push, using the term “make America greater.” Many of the current Presidential candidates talk about some of these issues, but I think the message needs to be put into clear context, and it is not. 

One aspect of America’s greatness is its economic power. America controls a 24.3% share of the world economy, the largest of any country. China has the next largest share at 14.8% [1]. America's Gross Domestic Product is also the highest in the world at 24.4% followed by China at 16.1%. For both of the above rankings, no other country is above 10%. 

American military might is also something that makes America great. America is ranked number 1, followed by Russia and China at 2 and 3. [2]

Donald Trump can tout the greatness of Americas economy and military, and these are true; they do not need to be made great again. Economic and military greatness do not, however, make a country great regarding other metrics that have significant meaning to citizens. In fact, many of the benefits of a strong economy go mostly to the wealthiest Americans, so it is a false metric for most people. 

And being the world's leading military is great, but America is also the world's largest arms dealer, and arms sales are increasing worldwide; I don't think that is great! 

source: https://www.statista.com/chart/17316/share-of-global-arms-exports-by-country/

Below are some examples of how America can (should) be greater. I encourage readers to go to some of the links to see the source information, as some of it is eye-opening. 

Donald Trump and his administration, and the Republicans in Congress are certainly not doing anything that will make America greater. It has to be said that the information below is the result of many years, even decades, of not making America greater by both political parties; so yes, something has to change. 

Health Care: 

As shown in the table, America ranks last (11th) in overall health care rankings of 11 developed nations, and also is last in access to health care, health care equity and health care outcomes. America is next to last in administrative efficiency. The health care process ranks 5th of 11.[3] In a ranking of 190 countries, American health care ranked 37th.[4] Certainly American health care can be greater than it is now.

Education:

America ranked 14th in a study that looked at math, science and reading [5], and 20th in a ranking of the best education systems worldwide. [6]. Not so great, needs to be greater.

Incarceration:

America ranks 1st in the world on the number of people in prison per capita at 655 per 100,000 population.[7] Even worse than this ranking is the racist aspect of America’s justice system, as shown below.[8] 

Wow! Doesn't that make you feel that America is great? We're number one!

Poverty, Wealth, Unemployment and Homelessness
The percentage of Americans living below the national poverty line is 12.3%, which puts America at 166th out of 196 countries (i.e. 165 countries have a higher poverty rate; 30 countries have a lower poverty rate).[9] America ranks as the 12th richest country [10], and has the 6th highest income inequality. [11] And America has the 4th highest poverty gap of 35 countries (The poverty gap is the ratio by which the mean income of the poor falls below the poverty line).[12]

The American unemployment rate, at 3.70%, is the 45th lowest (June 2019 numbers) of 182 countries.[13]

America has about 550,000 people considered to be homeless; this is 0.17% of the population. Of 56 countries, America has the 30th highest rate of homelessness, based on percent of population.[14]

Yes, America can be greater.

Women in Politics
America ranks 30th out of 35 countries for the percentage of women in politics, at 16.7%. Only Mexico, Japan, Slavic Republic, Korea and Turkey have lower percentages than America.[15]

Infrastructure

America ranks 23rd for quality of infrastructure (2011 data).[16]

Freedom of the Press

America is rated 48th out of 140 countries for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders (2019).[17]

Safety and Gun Deaths

America ranks 65th least safe, using an index that combines war and peace, crime, and natural disasters.[18]

America is rated 2nd highest for total gun deaths at 37,200 (2016) a year. America is rated 20th highest in gun death rate at 10.6 per 100,000 population according to one source;[19] and 11th at 10.54 per 100,000 by another source.[20]  

The firearm homicide rate for 23 high-income nations places America 1st (highest) at 3.6 per 100,000 and 2nd for non-firearm homicide rate. America has the highest total homicide rate at 5.3 per 100,000 population, and the highest suicide by firearm rate at 6.3 per 100,000 population, and the 7th highest total suicide rate at 12.4 per 100,000 population. The total firearm death rate for America is the highest at 10.2 per 100,000; the next highest is Finland at 3.6 per 100,000 (2016 data).[21] 

  

I'll stop here, because you get the point. Do I hate America? Should I go back where I came from? Ha! I am simply pointing out the fallacy of the basic premise of Donald Trump, that America needs to be great again. America should be greater in so many areas of our society. We know what they are, and we need to work on them.

--- 

[1]. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/worlds-biggest-economies-in-2017/

[2]. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/power-rankings

[3] https://www.internationalinsurance.com/health/systems/

[4] http://thepatientfactor.com/canadian-health-care-information/world-health-organizations-ranking-of-the-worlds-health-systems/

[5]. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading

[6]  https://www.currentschoolnews.com/education-news/best-educational-system-in-the-world/

[7].  https://www.statista.com/statistics/262962/countries-with-the-most-prisoners-per-100-000-inhabitants/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate
[8] https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp
[9]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_percentage_of_population_living_in_poverty[10]  https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/worlds-richest-and-poorest-countries
[11] https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm#indicator-chart

[12] https://data.oecd.org/inequality/poverty-gap.htm#indicator-chart
[13] https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/unemployment-rate

[14]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_population

[15] https://data.oecd.org/inequality/women-in-politics.htm#indicator-chart

[16]  https://photius.com/rankings/infrastructure_quality_country_rankings_2011.html

[17] https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table?sort=asc&order=Ranking

[18] https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/non-economic-data/worlds-safest-countries-2019

[19] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/theres-a-new-global-ranking-of-gun-deaths-heres-where-the-u-s-stands

[20] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-highest-rates-of-firearm-related-deaths.html

[21] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-u-s-gun-deaths-compare-to-other-countries/

GOODBYE TWITTER

I decided yesterday to leave Twitter. I’ve been a user for a few years, and I’ve struggled with whether to stay or leave for a long time. Here is what happened yesterday that sealed my decision to leave:

I opened Twitter to look at the tweet storm by Donald Trump concerning the four Congresswomen (all people of color) who were in a spat with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump’s insulting, bigoted tweets are disturbing, to put it mildly. And I also found that some of the tweets by some of the four targets, and their staff, of Trumps bigotry were also disturbing. I started to scroll through the Twitter feed, and my disgust continued to grow. Yes, Twitter has some value, but it has become mostly partisan bickering, political rants, hateful comments, and lots and lots of advertisements. I realized that I was truly wasting my time scrolling through mostly bile, while being the target of data harvesting by which the online tech companies advance surveillance capitalism. I don’t really get anything from Twitter, and I doubt that many other people do, either.  

I follow a few journalists on Twitter, but I can more easily go to the online publications of their employers to read their work. Other than a handful of exceptions, Twitter is just a huge echo chamber. 

I also object to the fact that Twitter makes an exception for certain people who consistently violate their rules, like Donald Trump (@realdonaldtrump). Trump consistently violates the Twitter Rules for abuse and hateful conduct, as well as threatening violence (see Rules excerpts at the end of this post). Trump uses Twitter to vent his bile almost daily, and his victims then reply, and it is game on. What’s the point? For Trump, the point is that he has trained the media and the online public to focus on his outrageous tweets instead of all the dire things he is doing to our country. 

I was an early joiner of Facebook; I left it a couple of years ago out of disgust with the company and it’s executives. I have never been on Instagram, a variation of Facebook. I joined Twitter, but never truly understood it’s purpose or value (with a few exceptions). In my humble opinion, the highly touted “social media” have become very unsocial media. As of this moment I have 71 followers on Twitter. I started this blog that you are reading in 2004, have published 485 posts, written 45 unpublished drafts, it has 14 followers, and has had just under 24,000 “hits.” So yes, I am less than a blip in the online world. I continue to write and post on the blog because I like to write, and it is a good place to put these writings where I can easily find them. 

And so I will terminate my Twitter account, and by so doing, I will be totally disconnected from the world of unsocial media. I will continue to post here, and if you choose to visit this site, maybe you will enjoy something once in a while. If you don’t, that’s fine, too. 

Goodbye Twitter. 

—-

Excerpts from Twitter Rules

We have one set of rules for the hundreds of millions of people who use Twitter and the hundreds of millions of Tweets sent every day. 

Abuse

You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone or encourage others to do so. We consider abusive behavior as an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.

Hateful conduct

You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. 

We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized. For this reason, we prohibit behavior that targets individuals with abuse based on protected category.  

Inciting fear about a protected category
We prohibit targeting individuals with content intended to incite fear or spread fearful stereotypes about a protected category, including asserting that members of a protected category are more likely to take part in dangerous or illegal activities, e.g., “all [religious group] are terrorists”. 

 

THE TINY ROOM OF PEOPLE

Sometimes the world presents precious little things, tiny instances of delight and wonder. And so it was that today I stood alone in an empty hallway on the seventeenth floor of a New York City building, a button pushed and lit. It was quiet. I watched myself in a mirrored wall. I felt enjoyably alone for a brief moment. 

A machine sound went from far away to getting closer, and then the sound of voices talking, laughing, also grew louder from behind a wall. A chime sounded. A small door slid open revealing a tiny room filled with people, people who suddenly fell quiet and looked at me as if just as surprised to see me as I to see them. Those closest to the door looked at me sheepishly and tried to move further into the room. “Don't worry,” I said to them, “I can wait for another one.” They smiled. The door slid closed, the machine sound started as did the sound of voices and laughter, getting fainter until it was quiet again.

I pushed the button. I waited, alone again except for my self in the reflecting wall. I smiled at my self and gave my self a nod of the head and a smile. A chime sounded, a door slid open, and I stepped into another small room. This time alone. 

—-

UPSIDE DOWN JUSTICE IN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Just a quick note about the business as usual in Trump World. 

From CNN: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday denounced the release of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh as "unexplainable and unconscionable...There is something deeply troubling and wrong about this," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox & Friends." (link)

From the NY Times: President Trump has indicated that he is considering pardons for several American military members accused or convicted of war crimes, including high-profile cases of murder, attempted murder and desecration of a corpse, according to two United States officials. (link)

On the one hand, a person convicted of crime who has served almost 18 years of a 20 year sentence is released early based on good behavior. He was tried, convicted, and served his time. This is not OK, according to the Trump administration. 

On the other hand, members of the U.S. military accused or convicted of war crimes might be pardoned by Trump because of their service to their country. This is perfectly OK, according to the Trump administration. 

Sigh...just another day in the topsy-turvy world of Donald J. Trump and his sycophants. 

---

LISTEN UP, DEMOCRATS

Liberal democracy, as we have known it in our lifetimes, is under attack, and Donald Trump is a symptom, not the cause. There are too many signs that Trump can win again in 2020 for us liberals/Democrats to ignore, and we need to be concerned, and active. 

For starters, read the column in the Sunday NY Times by Roger Cohen about Steve Bannon (yes, that Steve Bannon) in Italy specifically, and the European Union in general. Leaders like Trump are being buoyed by populist, nativist movements very similar to that in the USA. I won't mince words, fascism is on the rise around the globe, including in the U.S., Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary....and more. To be clear, fascism is: a political philosophy, movement, or regime ... that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition (Merriam-Webster). Sound familiar? 

I don't think the United States has a fascist government at this point; however, the trend is unmistakable. As Cohen points out, fascism today is not the same as fascism was in the 1930'3-40's in Europe. It has some differences, but the brand is the same. 

I want to believe that Donald Trump will be overthrown - voted out - by a huge margin in 2020, but the facts make that less than certain. Listen to interviews on the news of people who voted for Trump, are being negatively affected by his actions and policies - neither liking things he has done nor believing that those actions are OK - and yet say that overall he is doing a great job and, yes, they will vote for him again. 

People who have felt left out and ignored by government, have seen their wages stagnate while the wealthy class have become much wealthier, who have lost jobs to China or some other low-wage, non-union work force, who are caught in dying communities riddled with opium addiction and crime, and who see a flood of immigrants and refugees threatening them even more, are part of the Trump base. And unless Democrats can clearly explain that the booming economy and record low unemployment are not really signs that Trump and his Republican enablers are doing things right for the common people, we are doomed.

But remember, I said that Trump is a symptom, not the problem. The Republican members of Congress have supported Trump, no matter what horrible things he says and does. Democrats taking control of the Senate is a long shot in 2020, and even beyond, due to the way Senate seats are apportioned 2 per state, not based on state population size. And the GOP under Trump continues to pack the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, with judges who lean to the right on critical issues, and continues to wreak havoc on federal agencies and regulations. 

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has 24 announced candidates for President, and counting. To say that the party is fractionalized is an understatement. Will voters loyal to a specific primary candidate not vote for the nominated candidate, as many did not in 2016? That was politically stupid then, it will be more politically stupid in 2020. 

We liberals need to understand that things are very different now. In spite of the progress made over the past few decades, we are once again in a climate of hate in which women, non-whites, immigrants, Jews and Muslims, LGBT people and others are under open attack, not just by young men carrying tiki torches, but by local, state and federal GOP legislators. We are in a climate in which our leaders are building de-facto walls around our country, isolating us from our allies, allying us with the worst authoritarian regimes, building up our military and provoking our adversaries with words, tariffs, and dropping out of important international agreements. The endpoint of these trends is not a pretty picture. 

Electing a Democrat in 2020 to be the POTUS is a very important step. But I fear that the fight we are in, the fight for the heart of the American promise, will be long and difficult. We need to steel ourselves for a future in which things aren't the way we want them, in which the other side has won and we have lost and the future of democracy in the world is at stake. Yes, it is that serious.

Let's be smart. Let's be active. Let's pull together under one banner. 

---      

CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL EXPLAINED - AT LAST

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often wondered why supposedly smart people like, let’s say, GOP members of Congress, are climate change deniers. I know why Donald Trump is a denier - he’s an idiot. But the rest of them...?

Yesterday it all became clear. Actually, the hints have been there for some time, like this article from 2017: “Russian tanker sails througn Arctic without icebreaker for first time.” But a speech by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a couple of days ago at the annual Arctic Council meeting (the Council members are: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) left no doubts about what motivates climate change deniers.

 As Time.com reports: “For the Trump administration, disappearing sea ice in the world’s “high north” appears to be first and foremost an economic opportunity to exploit rather than a crisis to mitigate.” Not once in his speech did Pompeo mention climate change. He did extol the effects of climate change, however, as providing new opportunities for commerce, including easier and faster shipping through the Arctic due to reduced sea ice, and new ice-free land areas to exploit for natural resources - oil and gas. And prior to the meeting, the United States insisted that the term “climate change” should not appear in any official documents of the meeting. 

I heard a radio report about this, and it included statements by a petroleum industry person about these new and wonderful opportunities to exploit the natural resources of the far north.

Take a look at this map of the world:

 

(Map source: geology.com)

Nothing on that map looks very familiar, does it? Yes, it is Earth from above the North Pole, and it shows the nations that have coastal areas in the Arctic. Think about what it means to have the Arctic Ocean ice free for a longer time during the year than previously, and have thinner ice, and have shrinking ice margins that expose more and more coastal areas; all a result of a warming climate. Get used to seeing this view of the world, because more and more news will be coming from there as competition for commercial routes and natural resources heats up between the Arctic Council members. It has already begun.

Russia has been building a large fleet of icebreakers, the most recent being a jumbo nuclear-powered vessel. The Russians have 40 ice breakers; the United States has 2. The Russians are building tanker and freighter ships designed to navigate the Arctic waters even when there is ice - thinner ice than “normal.” The article above about the Russian tanker reported that the trip from Norway to Korea with a load of liquified natural gas took 30% less time traveling the Arctic route than going the usual way through the Suez Canal. Russia is developing oil and gas resources along its northern coast. 

Think about it; the Republicans in the US Congress and the Trump administration deny human-induced climate change (or don’t want to talk about it), they are pushing a relaxation of oil and gas development rules, including environmental regulations, and they want to open all U.S. coastal areas to oil and gas development. Does having an ice-free Arctic have anything to do with this? What do you think? 

—-

WHY HASN'T TWITTER CLOSED TRUMP'S ACCOUNT?

Twitter has a set of Rules concerning what is acceptable and not acceptable to post. One section is titled Abusive Behavior.

We believe in freedom of expression and open dialogue, but that means little as an underlying philosophy if voices are silenced because people are afraid to speak up. In order to ensure that people feel safe expressing diverse opinions and beliefs, we prohibit behavior that crosses the line into abuse, including behavior that harasses, intimidates, or uses fear to silence another user’s voice.

Within the Abusive Behavior section of the Rules is a subsection on Abuse and hateful conduct:

Abuse and hateful conduct

Abuse: You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.

The twitter account of Donald J. Trump, @realdonaldtrump, consistently violates these Rules. On April 12, Trump posted a video that appears to link Congresswoman Omar with the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11. His tweet fans the bigotry against Muslims at a time when Islamophobia is on the rise. The FBI recently (prior to Trump's tweet) arrested a man in New York who threatened to "put a bullet through [Congresswoman Omar's] fucking skull." The man said he is a patriot, Omar is "a terrorist," and he supports President Trump. 

Twitter has had many requests to close the Trump account, but has not done so. The company has made statements that the accounts of world leaders get some leeway because they may contain important information for the public. Twitter tries to achieve some sort of balance in this regard. In my opinion, the Trump account is so full of vitriol and hatred that the bad it does outweighs the good by a wide margin. 

So why doesn't Twitter shut down the Trump account for violating The Rules? This is a good question. The cynical me assumes that the Trump twitter feed brings a lot of traffic to twitter, and is therefore good for the bottom line. I might be wrong. Or maybe they are giving Trump free reign so he can continue to post evidence against himself for some future legal action - not likely. 

I have filed a complaint of abusive behavior against the @realdonaldtrump account for the recent video using Rep. Omar and the 9/11 tragedy, and asked Twitter to close the account. I encourage every Twitter user to do the same.

#Closerealdonaldtrump

---

ON BEING 75

I was born in April of 1944, one and a half years before the end of World War 2. It amazes me the changes I’ve witnessed and of which I’ve been part. 

Technology has been one aspect of society that has changed rapidly in my lifetime. I remember sitting in the living room with my family when I was little and listening to programs on the radio: The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, Fibber McGee and Mollie and so-called variety programs. I was there for the beginning of commercial television (black and white) and yes, we watched test patterns while we waited for a program to start. Commercial jet travel started when I was a child; I think my first airplane trip was in 1965 for our honeymoon trip to Florida. In 1983, I purchased one of the first highly successful “personal computers” (PC), an IBM with the 8088 CPU. My first camera was a simple fixed lens, black and white film camera, probably a Kodak. And I remember getting a portable, battery-powered AM/FM radio as a gift for my graduation from 8th grade in 1957. When I was little we had a party-line telephone, and there was an operator you could talk to, which is how you made a long distance call (very expensive). Telephony became mobile during my lifetime; my first mobile phone was a Motorola “brick.” 

I have in my pocket at this very moment a “telephone,” actually a combination pocket computer, telephone, camera, text messaging device, global positioning system, internet connected, movie/video viewer, radio, drawing tool, voice recording, news reader, address book, calendar, electronic mail capable, remote banking, note taking and document writing, calculator, ride hailing, travel agent machine (and so much more - I have 117 apps). 

The advances in medical science and technology over the span of my life are amazing. An example is the robot-assisted surgery I had one month ago to remove my cancerous prostate. As my home-made T-shirt reads: “Embrace your Inner Robot.” 

As a community elder, I feel very connected not only to my local community, but to the global community. We are fortunate to be world travelers, and to have internet access to global news and the so-called social media. I am a member of a photography internet site, and members of the few groups in which I participate are from many different parts of the world. I have a few blogs and a web site, and I can see that people from around the country and the world sometimes visit these. 

I have also lived through dark times. The last 1-1/2 years of World War 2, the Korean War, the war in Vietnam, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a number of smaller military events around the world. I’ve witnessed and participated in political movements for racial, gender, and marriage equality, and worked on the first Earth Day. I’ve seen many changes in these areas; however, there is still so much more progress to make. 

At the present time, the world is confronted by major crises that threaten not only our societal structures, but the quality of life itself. The climate crisis, in spite of the denial rhetoric of many politicians, threatens the stability of millions of people and the social orders in which they live. Every aspect of human society is threatened by the rapid changes humans have made to the atmosphere. Every ecosystem on the planet is changing as a result of the changing climate, with cascading effects. 

Add to the environmental crises the political crises of our time and things look very dire, indeed. The rise of authoritarianism, nationalism and xenophobia in the United States and countries around the world is an ugly reminder that history tends to repeat itself, and does not bode well for our future. 

And so, as I begin my 76th year of life, I marvel at the changes I’ve seen, the positive advances made by human society, and the interconnectedness of the global community. I also am keenly aware of the threats to our well being from climate change and political trends. I know that, if I’m lucky, I have another 10 to 15 years of living, and what bothers me most about leaving this life is that I won’t know how all of this turns out for my grandkids and generations after them. 

But life is good, as we always say in our family, even in the face of illness and death. I’ve had a wonderful life so far, and expect to continue enjoying it. I have a wonderful spouse, kids, grandkids and extended family and friends. I’ve had an interesting and fun career as an ecologist. I have had numerous adventures resulting in exciting stories that I tell - over and over and over….

To all the friends and family who have sent birthday messages via my wife’s social media (I don’t use Facebook or Instagram), I want to thank you for your greetings and very kind words. I am amazed and humbled by the number of people I can truly count as friends and loved ones. You all are the best! 

---

MUELLER REPORT: KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNS

In the immortal words of former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld in 2002: 

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

And that truly sums up what we know, don’t know, know we don’t know, and don’t know what we don’t know about the 300+ page Mueller report. The reality is that we only know what AG Barr wrote in a 3+ page letter to Congress, and that letter hints at a whole lot of unknowns that we don’t know. 

In other words, when it comes to the Mueller report, we know what we don’t know, and we also don’t know what we don’t know. And Rumsfeld got it right, the most difficult category is the unknown unknowns - “the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” 

A close reading of the Barr letter is instructive, and I recommend everyone read it (it is easy to find on the internet). There are a lot of key unknowns between the lines. Barr’s letter is in two sections, one dealing with collusion with Russia, the second concerning obstruction of justice by the President of the United States. Let’s look at the knowns, the known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.

It is important to understand the scope of the Mueller investigation; the knowns. There were 19 lawyers assisted by 40 FBI agents working on the investigation. The work consisted of:

• >2,800 subpoenas issued;
• Executing nearly 500 search warrants;
• Obtaining >230 orders for communication records;
• Issuing almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers;
• Making 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence;
• Interviewing approximately 500 witnesses. 

Mueller issued numerous indictments and gained a number of convictions for crimes, and referred several matters to other offices (of the USDOJ and other jurisdictions). 

In regards to interference with the 2016 U.S. election by Russia, Barr quotes the Mueller report (the Report): “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” This is not the conclusion folks on the left fantasized, but it is actually a good thing that a sitting President was found not to have “conspired or coordinated” with Russia to influence the election. 

There are some important unknowns related to this first conclusion; mainly that we don’t know anything about the evidence collected by the Mueller team about possible coordination/conspiring with the Russian government. I can think of all kinds of questions: was there any coordination/conspiring with independent Russian actors, not the “Russian government;” were there any incidents of persons associated with the Trump campaign seeking to coordinate/conspire, but did not succeed; was there information exchanged between persons in the Trump campaign and Russians that could have or did influence the election, but were not legally determined to fall into the “coordination and conspiring” categories? (In a footnote, Barr points out that the Special Counsel “defined “coordination” as an “agreement - tacit or express - between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference.””) Does this leave a question open about activities carried out by people in the Trump Campaign that were troubling, but did not exactly meet the definition of coordination?  We know that we don’t know these answers, and we don’t know what else we don’t know.  

It is also very important to consider this: the Mueller investigation found criminal wrongdoing by agencies and individuals of the Russian government, and indicted a number of Russian individuals involved in these activities. The investigation concluded that the Russian government actively worked to influence an American election. Donald Trump, however, has stated publicly that he does not agree with this conclusion, because Vladimir Putin told him that Russia did not do these things, and he apparently believes Putin more than he believes the U.S. intelligence agencies. 

In the second part of his letter, dealing with obstruction of justice, AG Barr leaves a lot of unknown unknowns hanging in the breeze. Special Counsel Mueller punted a determination on this issue to AG Barr, declining to make a “traditional prosecutorial judgment.” Barr lets us know that, for each relevant action investigated, Mueller set out evidence on both sides of the question and purposefully did not reach any conclusions, based on various considerations of law. The Special Counsel did state that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”  Whoa Nellie! Read that statement again. In other words, the Special Counsel stopped short of a conclusion regarding obstruction of justice, and left it an open question for the Attorney General to wrestle with. And therefore, AG Barr made the decision that the evidence presented in the Report is not enough to establish that Donald Trump committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. 

The problem with this is that we don’t know what the evidence is in the Report upon which AG Barr based his decision. We know that we don’t know the evidence; we don’t know what evidence we don’t know. Barr then goes on to explain that, if there was no crime committed re: coordination and cooperation with Russia to influence an election, then there can be no obstruction charge because an obstruction-of-justice offense requires an underlying crime. And the circle of known and unknown unknowns is neatly closed.

And so, as Rumsfeld pointed out, we are left with the most difficult questions, the unknown unknowns - the ones we don’t know we don’t know. The only way these unknown unknowns will become known is the release of the complete Mueller Report. AG Barr has said that he will release a redacted copy of the Report in April. This will introduce another set of unknowns - the redacted parts of the report. 

It is easy for Trump and his allies to strut and crow about “total exoneration;” however, he has not been totally exonerated, and will not be until the unknowns and unknown unknowns are known. Suffice it to say that there is enough contained in the Barr letter to cause every thinking and objective person to take pause and consider the totallity of the Special Counsel investigation, and the known facts of criminal activity, possible criminal activity, and activity that might be just short of legal lines of criminality. It is factual to say that Donald Trump surrounded/surrounds himself with shady characters, a number of whom have been found guilty of criminal activity. This is not “total exoneration” by any stretch of the imagination.

The fat lady has not yet sung. 

—-

 

NO, THE PLANET IS NOT IMPERILED

“a time to start shifting our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path
“

"Our planet is in peril and we need to be bold,"

“I don’t think people wake up in the morning, whether they’re in the agricultural business or the energy sector, and say, ‘Well what can I do today to kill the planet?’”

I know, I know, I’m a literalist, but statements like those above that I pulled from the internet bug me. According to journalists, bloggers, presidential candidates and many others our planet is imperiled, being destroyed by climate change. No, it is not. 

Planet Earth will continue to be Planet Earth until some cataclysmic event billions of years from now turns it to cosmic particles. What is imperiled is human society, in the various forms it takes around the globe today. (Note that I am focused on humans, and acknowledge that many plant and animal species are also at peril.)  Human-induced climate change has been continuing apace, as predicted by the scientific community, and the effects are clearly visible today, in both subtle and catastrophic ways. Already thousands/millions of people are being displaced by drought, rising sea level, altered weather patterns and other changed climate realities. These societal disruptions will get worse, not better, in the decades ahead. 

Humanity will persist, at least for the foreseeable future (it is a fact of evolution that the animals we call “human” or Homo sapiens will not exist in the future on Planet Earth). Human societies as they exist today are very disimilar from societies of the past, and those of the future will also not resemble those of today. The human species is very adaptable, and societies will change as the climate changes, adapting to new environmental conditions. What comes to mind are the many variations of a dystopian world in science fiction, and these do not seem so far-fetched to us today. 

Those humans who are in positions of societal power or influence and who deny climate change, whether because they simply don’t believe it, they profit from it, or denial gives them political power, are the greatest danger today. The results of their inaction, or negative actions promotes the negative effects of climate change on society, and has contributed to the rightward, authoritarian shift in politics seen around the world today. The Trump phenomenon cannot be divorced from ignoring or denying climate change. 

The global society of humans on Planet Earth has made choices resulting in the climate situation of today. As a world community we could pull together and drastically change the way we use and live on the planet in order to slow the effects of a changing climate. People, organizations and nations are engaged in these efforts; however, progress is slow or in the wrong direction. There is hope, but the odds are far from favorable.

Perhaps the speech writers and spinners in our society have decided that “the planet is in peril” is a message that gains more traction than “human societies are in peril.” In my mind, however, that message hides the fact that all of us, as members of society, need to consider and decide the kinds of societies we want for ourselves and future generations. We have little control over future social and political conditions, but we do have a measure of control over the changing climate. 

—-