Killing Kids, No More

THE SEVEN CHILDREN, according to confirmed reports, killed by the all American drone strike, were all under the age of eighteen, including at least a couple of infants. The infants won't have much to remember this time around; better luck next time, if there is a next time. Their premature deaths should be more than ample reaon for the United States, like Japan, to formally renounce war as an instrument of policy, to promise to never wage war again outside its own borders, and not at all, unless attacked and invaded, in which case all bets are off, justifiably, in the name of self defense. Indeed it should be sufficient reason for all the powers of the Earth to outlaw drones, to proclaim all war illegal, and to invest all effort and resources into creating a future of healthy, happy prosperity for future generations. None of that will happen, obviously. I've read enough utopian science fiction to imagine a world without war. But, like Einstein said, imagination is infinite, knowledge is extremely limited, and, like he also said, as long as there are people, there will be war. We are free to hope otherwise, therefore, let us hope otherwise. You plainly see what makes war among humans inevitable, if you simply pay attention to people, no matter where you live. You see the greed, the deceit, the arrogance, the pettiness, and the refusal, the inability to let go of anger and grudges. Grudges never sem to end. Every damned time somebody gets mad at me and stays mad, I condlude that its for the same reason: I told the truth, and the mad person didn't want to hear it. Then, the grudge begins, lasting years, prsumabely, the rest of our lives. Grudges never seem to end, but rather, to grow, and intensify. Most horrible is not our personal anger and pettiness, nor even our violence, but our proven expertise in organizing it and manifesting it on a huge scale, involving millions of people. What Einstein meant, what he saw, is what all well trained sociologists and psyshologists see; that the human personality traits which lead us incessantly to war are deeply embedded in each one of us, and that to therefore eliminate war, or for that matter violence from the human behavioral portfolio, it will be necessary to either fundamentally alter fundamental human nature, or to suppress it. I am endlessly appalled at how little it takes for people to become not only annoyed, but seriously angry, how long they remain angry, how they seem to cling to their anger and to willingly allow it to morph into continued resentment, and how even the memory of the alleged offense, after ostensibely offering "forgiveness", continues to play a prominante role in future relationships. Before we can funadmentally transform society, we must fundamentaly transform ourselves as individuals, and that task seems so overwhelmingly prodigious as to be effectively impossible, at least in our current state of evolution.

Breaking Deals

IN MY MIND she and I could be great friends, since we had been forty years ago. We got together, did lunch, and started catching up. She had four marriages to report, and I, a teaching career and a bunch of cats. When she told me that she had been a Trump supporter for the first three years of his administration but kicked him to the curb late in his term, I regarded that as a good indicator, while vaguely wondering what Trump could possiblly have done to alienate a supporter after three years, other than unacceptably reducing his racist hateful rhetoric, or by suddenly making too much sense, such as admitting that no, George Washington did not, after all, capture all airports in the colonies during the War of American Independence. I was afraid to ask, so I didn't. It was still working pretty well when suddenly she informed me, in no uncertain terms, that Michelle Obama is a man, Barack Obama was born in Africa, and the piece de resistance: Jared Kushner is the anti-Christ. Taken aback, but undeterred, I decided that crap like this would not be a deal breaker, that I would still be happy to try to rebuild a long lost friendship, but that I would "push back" as we say these days, rather than letting the nonsense slide. I to this day have no idea what she expected me to do. My best guess is that her preference would have been unqualified agreement. She might have accepted quiet implicit tolerance, or open minded questioning, accompanied by expressions of amazement. Three choices I was not willing to provide. The four I considered were: 1) you're an idiot. 2) you're crazy, or 3) you're a racist. 4) All the above. That, of course, was the deal breaker; one does not rebuild a long lost friendship by calling the long lost newly discovered friend a "racist idiot", even if she clearly reveals herself to be one. My only consolation: I take great comfort in the fact that that she, and not I, ended the renewed friendship before it really began. I out-tolerated her! She isn't my only recent loss of renewed friendship. A good friend revealed himself to be a good friend after our reunion by making all manner of repairs to my house at no cost. But when he used the "N" word to explain why he isn't a college athletics fan, and when he referred to "queers" with abject disgust, I knew one thing: I won't end this friendship, nor will I inspire him to by telling him what I think of his bigotry, but...well...I won't call him, he can call me...or not. My general conclusion is that when close friendships end in early adulthood due to divergent life paths, then reconnect in senior citizenship, don't expect too much. It may work, it may not. For certain, it won't be the same, and any attmept to make it so will result indisappointment. Betweeen the ages of twenty and sixty people change, even if not fundamentally. I never would have expected the lady to evolve into a loony tunes, or the gentelman into a bigot; but, as they say, stuff happens.

Getting Hotter, Fast

JULY 2021 was the hottest month ever, globally, by a wide margin, nearly two degrees. The four previous hottest months all occured within the past five years. that means that climate chang is real, and repidly accelerating, far more rapidly than any scientist would have thought possible. "Nor is it "natural". Not only has science conclusively proven that it is "human made", but science has advanced to the point where individual weather events can be attributed to climate change, and the degree to whcih they are caused by it. At sixty six, but in good health, I am now beginning to thinkd that I may live long enough to experience the truly catastrophic impact of global warming, which is almost certianly to arrive in the near future, unless drastic action is taken now, which, so it seems, it will not be. Until recently I had assumed that i would be dead before the nightmare, which has already begun, truly begins. I'm retired, and financially secure, but am considering a new career, one final career, as a solar energy sales person. That would keep me off the streets, and allow me to contribute to the transition to sustainable energy. Why not? If nothing else, I can say that I went down fighting. We should all have solar energy on our roof tops. I plant trees. I bought a lot, built a house, and planted saplings all around. They are now grown, and well worth the effort. The trees cool the house and keep the electric bill so low that it wouldn't be efficient enough for me to install solor, ironically. I've published dozens of essays on this website over the past ten years on climate change, and each one begins with the same remark: we just experienced the hottest month in history. It is necessary to repeat that fact, and it bears repeating. There isn't much new to say about climate change, other than the fact that unless humnanty changes its behavior now, the Earth will within a few hundred years resemble Venus, a planet on which the average temperature isa above eight hundred degrees, and the atmosphere is almost pure CO2. Noam Chomsky said that there isn't a word evil enough to convey the evil of people who, though already wealthy, keep trying to queeze more and more profit from fossil fuels, fully aware of the impact on the Earth, on people, and on the future of each. A more true comment was never made. I despise people who refuse to acknowledge the reality of human made climate change, even more than I despise people who support Donald Trump, even after he tried to overthrow the government and stay in power after his election defeat. It is virtuous to despise that which is despicable.

Appraising Presidents

A FRIEND OF MINE, a fellow college instructor, has a routine of arriving for class fifteen minutes ahead of time, and engaging in group discussion with any student or students who chose to arrive early and participate. The discussions are free ranging; campus issues, national issues, global issues, personal issues. The discussions took a turn which, in retrospect, was perhaps inevitable. Several of the participants repeatedly complained about President Trump, complained that Trump was absolutely, beyond a doubt the worst president in Amrican history. They had arguments to back up their claim. My friend countered with: "We must be careful not to exagerrate, not to stereotype, and not to make such arguments and accustaions without a firm foundation of evidence". He considered this topic to be not only of immediate relevance to all Americans, but also a good way to teach critical thinking skills, a primary function of all education. His argument was that there have been many presidents of the United States over more than two centuries, and that in one way or another, almost all of them could be accused of being ineffective, of being "the worst" president, depending upon the biases and viewpoints of the beholder, and that therefore, to lay the burden upon Mr.Trump was a heavy load, not to be taken lightly. The students, evidently strong Democrats, persisted, unrelenting. My friend decided to do a little historical research. He began by familiairizing himself with all forty four previous presidents, and reading a bit about their biographies. then he proceeded to study each presidential administration in turn, becoming something of an American historian in his own right, though his actual academic area is drama and communications. He consulted the history department for recommendations, and was careful to read only the most respected American presidential historians. In chronological order, starting of course with Washington, one by one he became conversant with the administrations, in terms both of the agendas and personal ideologies of each president, and with the circumstances, domestically and internationally, which accompanied their times in office. All this took him about a year of intense study. Finally satisified with his ability to render judgment, he was forced to come to a striking, and alarming conclusion: he had been wrong all along, and his Trump bashing students had been right. Donald Trump, he was concinced, was not only the worst president in American history, but we was the worst by a wide margin. In terms of personal behavior while in office, moral standards of personal conduct, and also with regard to official policies and conduct while in office, there was no comparison. Trump, definitely the rock bottom worst. Grant, Hoover, Filmore, Wm. H. Harrison; nobody was even close. My friend told me that he conceded the point to his students, but he didn't tellme whether they bothered to rub it in. If not, they should have.

Going Up Top

THE GUY FROM the roofing company knocked on my door and said he'd like the opportunity to climb up on my roof. I didn't see the harm, and he seemed enthusiastic, so I let him. He got up there, and started pointing and counting, while I remained below, mildly bemused. When he climbed down he told me that I met the minimum of ten hail strikes per square foot of roof, or something like that, and that he would be happy to call my home owners insurance company, and arrange for a new roof. Why not, I replied? Sure enough, he got the whole thing approved, and we started choosing shingle colors. In his big book he had all kindsa shades of shingles, mostly varieties of black, but what caught my eye was the bright red variety, which I had never seen on any roof anywhere, and never thought I would, until now. It worked out great. In less than two days an industrous group of young Hispanic men transformed the top of my house into a bright red glittering panorama, and killed only one of my shrubs in so doing by tossing off old shingles, ableit my favorite shrub. It cost eight thousand dollars, my insurance company paid somewhat more than that, and I pocketed a few hundred for my trouble. One of my friends, himself a home builder and fixer upper, claims that all hail damage roof replacements are a scam, that hail never forced anyone to get a new roof; I don't know and I don't care. I don't ask questions when getting a good deal. Not long thereafter the bright red roof must have attracted the solar energy sales person who came by, stopped, and knocked. He and I agreed that several of those nice rectangular highly scientific looking solar energy panels would loook mighty fetching laying atop the red shingles. He looked around my front yard, noticed the half dozen forty foot oak trees shading my front yard south of the house, but was unfazed. We agreed that the twenty trees I had planted as saplings, which were now big and tall, in both my front and back yards would not block the sun, summer or winter, but that my neighbor's trees, on the east and west ends of the house, would. At my house, the sun doesn't rise above the trees until close to noon, and by four P.M., in the middle of summer, the sun is sinking behind my other neighbor's trees. There just isn't enough time in the day for direct sun on my roof to make solar energy work. That, plus my always cheap electric bill would make it a non winner financially to install solar. I don't want my neighbors to cut down their big beautiful trees, as much as I would love to have solar energy. I would love for everybody to have it, and, the way things are going, everyone will within a few decades. The cost is drastically declining, new materials of manufacture are making solar energy panels ever more efficient, and coal and all other forms of electricity generation are being priced out of the market. Donald Trump couldn't "bring back coal" even if he wanted to, which he probably still does.

Being Accused

IN HIGH SCHOOL, I supported Richard Nixon's reelection. I recovered from that mistake, reforemed myself, and by 1976 was a firmly ensconced Democrat. Ny lone personal foray into politics occurred in 1992, when I ran for city council, and lost, possibly because on my public access television talk show I praised rather than attacked my opponent. Not good campaign strategy, but a good way to look yourself in the mmirror, and like what you see. Having discovered that I didn't like political candidacy, I betook myself to participation in the Democratic party, in which capacity I remain today. I bought my way onto the Democratic National Committee; with a little loyalty and hard work thrown in for good measure: it is an honor. For this reason accusations that the election was stolen from Trump are especially irksome and insulting to me. As to how and by whom the election was stolen, none of the seventy five million Trump supporters who claim it was stolen have answers, or at least haven't shared them. Presumably, if pressed, they would implicate the Democratic party; who else has the motive, and the means, assuming that the "means" even exist, assuming that stealing an entire election is even possible for anyone, a dubious possibility at best. Even if the Chinese, the Russians, the media, or the extraterrestrials stole it, they were effectively working for or with the Democrats, to whom they gave the results, and who were the primary beneficiaries of the crime. I can assure Trump supporters that I am sufficiently well placed within the Democratic party, sufficiently "in the know", that if the party had indeed stolen the election, not only would I know about it, I would have been an accomplice. I have in effect, and in reality, been accused by seventy five million Americans, including several of my "friends", or committing a serious crime by participating in one. Frankly this accusation angers and insults me, because I have never stolen anything in my life, much less an election. For that reason, whenever I speak to one of my Trump friends, which is becoming increasingly rare, I ask: "Do you have any proof, or even evidence, that the election was stolen"? Invariably I receive in return some nonsensical answer, like: "investigations are ongoing", or, "the eivdence is there, but its still being concealed." Like I pointed out to one of my friends: investigations are intended to discover evidence, but they in and of themselves are not evidence, any more than bait in the water is dinner. After a contest, any contest, athletic or othwerise, the contestants shake hands and congratulate each other. That's basic good sportsmanship, basic human decency, honor, and integrity. That's the way I was raised, and I assume the way most people were, except, evidently, Trump supporters. But if you chose instead, after the 2020 election, to accuse your oppnonet of a crime, you must present proof, or at least strong evidence of the crime before you make the accusation. Not only is that proper jurisprudence, its common decency and honesty. Its also , evidently, beyond the moral capacity of Trump supporters.

Mixing Truth and Pandemic

MORE THAN six hundred and thirty thousand Americans have died from Covid 19, nearly all of them, arguably, unnecessary, most of them avoidable. In one of the world's wealthiest countries, (depending on how wealth is measured; there are many ways) in which the supply of vaccine greatly exceeds the demand, only slightly more than half the American population is fully vaccinated, although the rate of vaccination has improved recently. The U.S. is still far from herd immunity, but could have, should have achieved it months ago. That is a testament to P.T. Barnum's famous assessment: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people". It is also, easily arguable, a crime against humanity, an indictment of the American culture of false beliefs, false choices, and misplaced values, as well as criminal indifference to human suffering. Many of those who refuse vaccination undoubtedly see themslves as champions of freedom and personal choice, true patriots defending American values and freedom against governmental authority, and they seem to see themselves, stupdidly, arogantly, as currently healthy, and thus, invincible. In fact, at least in terms of the pandemic, they are fools at best, traitors at worst. There are days in China during which no new cases are reported, no covid deaths. This is fact, neither Chinese propaganda nor some media hoax. In America, we could easily have been in the same enviable situation. The fake news consists of the various idiotic, nonsensical reasons vaccination refusers contrive for refusing. There is no word sufficiently negative to describe people willing to spread disease and death merely to satisfy some twisted, misguided need for self esteem enhancement, to arrogntly feel superior to science and expertise, to demonstrate power, to refuse to behave so as to make others safer. To fabricate nonsensical reasons to justify insane behavior which accomplishes only emotional gratification is nothing other than purest evil. The only marginally valid excuse for avoiding vaccination in America, that the FDA had not yet fullly, formally approved the vaccine, is no longer available. The hopeful expectation among many medical professionals, that vaccine hesitant people will now abandon their idiocy, do the right thing, and get the shot, is dubious at best, vain at worst, considering the infinite capacity of the American people to fabricate new versions of nonsense and false realities in their ceaseless quest for an enhanced feeling of self worth. When one excuse is proven false, another will soon replace it. Those to whom these remarks about the American pandemic response may seem unduly negative, hateful and unfair, are shooting the messenger because they dislike the truth, and are reacting to it emotionally, rather than objectively, honestly. The response, or lack of it, is the problem, not someone who decribes it. The fact that more than half a million Americans are dead from Covid 19 proves that this bleak assessment is fair, and accurate. If only it were not true. To paraphrase Adous Huxley: Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Acting Like A Christian

MAHATMA GHANDI much preferred being addressed as "Mohandas", his given name, but seldom was. "Mahatma" is an ancient Indian term of endearment and reverence, roughly equilalent to "revered one" or "reverend". Like all wise people, Ghandi was humble, and disliked flattering titles. A Hindu, when asked what he thought about Christians, he replied: "I don't know. I have never met one." We all know what he meant by that, we all agree with him, or should, that few if any of us have actuallly met a "Christian", in anything but name only. (CINO) pronounced "sinno". Nobody lives up to the ideal behavior and life espoused by Christ, most folks fall woefully short, (its a high bar, as we like to say today), and many if not most don't even seem to try. (One needn't be Christ-like to be a true Christian, but mustn't one at least try?) Sustained research strongly indicates that being religious, no matter what the religion, has no correlation with morailty, that religious people, no matter the faith or how strong the faith, do not show superior behavior morally, and that atheists generally have higher moral standards and better behavior than do the ultra religious. As Cassy Stengal used to say: "You could look it up". It seems that believing devoutly in an all powerful all seeing god who monitors our every action does less to improve our behavior than believing in our salvation, our entry into heaven with sins forgiven does to enable bad behavior by excusing it and eliminating consequences for it. Atheists, on their own, tend to shape up, having given such matters much thought......One fine day my neighbor came strutting jauntily into my yard, big, muscular, confident, where I was standing, looking around, frowning. His "Christ is my king, my lord and savior" tat was glistening on his powerful bicep, speaking volumes. I was in the process of freaking, since two small but very aggressive dogs had just now come charging into my yard, barking, chasing, and snapping at my cats, who were skidattling in all directions, terrified, out of the yard, and down the busy street, the dogs in hot pursuit, putting all the animlas in dire automotive jeopardy. (In America, we drive fast without concern for others, we text while so doing, and we kill, then we drive away, uncaring. Thus we, and especially animals, are constantly in automotive jeopardy) My proud-to-be-a-Christian neighbor assessed the situation, and began laughing at the scene, and at my horrified reaction to it. Then he said: "I just came over to give you a hard time". He was teasing, of course, but I wasn't in the mood for it. I kept frowning, and tried to impress upon him the severity of the situation, but he remained in good humor, unconcerned, laughing at my apparent concern over nothing. I heard him say something like: "To you dogs and cats are like your children; to me, they're just animals", spoiling for an argument, which I was ready to deliver. It was more than I could take. Just animals, eh? Really. So, I played the cat card, reminded him that about two years ago his own cat was dying in his arms, and he said to it: "You have been so,so good for me. I love you... I will see you again, in heaven". For my big strong trouble making Christian neighbor, I pointed out to him, there had once, if only once, been an aniimal which was more than "just an animal" to him. He didn't seem to like that, my winning the argument by reminding him of his own behavior, and thus proving him wrong. He went hime, thank you lord, sullen and resentful. He didn't spaek to me for a month. With each passing day I had less respect for his behavior. A simple smile, handshake, and acknowlegement of the truth I had told him would have sufficed quite nicely, thank you sir. A little humility and honestly go a long way, after all. Finally when I spoke to him a month later he gave me the cold shoulder, still angry, resentful, humiliated by being proven wrong, or whatever. Proud to be a Christian, willing to let his tatoo proclaim his pride in faith, too proud to concede a valid point and change his viewpoint accordingly, proud enough to hold a grudge against a friend and neighbor who had the decency to tell the truth and teach him something. Just animals, are they? For you, big tough guy, there had been...one little cat...which was more, much more...than just an animal... Well then, dear freind, saved Christian, big tough guy, ultimately, so are we all, just animals, really. We are all in this together, on this tiny spot of a planet in God's great universe, and a little humility and loving compassion for all living creatures might do us all, including you, some good. But how could my friend with the big proud tatootato ever really be "just an animal"? After all, he is among God's chosen, a "saved" Christian, thus above and beyond anyone who isn't. But, so..... somehow, one might almost expect a "true" Christian to be a bit more loving and understanding and kind...or to at least try to be....

Killing Trees, Planting Trees

DURING THE PAST several years, it is estimated that roughly one hundred twenty million trees have died in California, from beetles, wildfires, and drought, a veritable array of destructive forces sure to kill trees in prodigious numbers. A drop in the bucket, really, for there are billions of trees in California, and as many as three point five trillion world wide. Alarming nonethelss, because at the dawn of neolithic civilization there were an estimated seven trillion trees on the planet, and since roughly ten billion a year are being destroyed, net, the future is tree bleak, not sustainable. You hear crazy things about trees, the craziest being that the number of trees in North America is actually greater now than it was when the United States came into existence. Misinformation is a staple in modern life. The most obvious true fact is that there is absolutely no rreasonable reason for the human species to slowly destroy all trees on planet Earth, just as there is no reasonable reaon for humanity to suffocate the world in added atmospheric carbon. All along, we could ahve been planting more trees than we have been destroying. we still could. We could begin to do so today, and the optimistic sign is that in many places, including African nations, this is precisely what is beginning to be done. Take California, for instance. I recall hearing about California wildfires twenty years ago and more, about how each wildfire season the fires were becoming more intense, larger, more frequent, flaring up during most times of the year, not just the traidtional late summer fire season. The current refrain about wildfires is not new; its several decades old. I wonder what the areas devasted, sweept clean by wildfires twenty yeras ago look like now. By now, they should be back to their original appearance, shouldn't they? Twenty year old trees are largely, essentially full grown. Grass and underbrush and wildflowers take far less time to return to a burnt landscape than do trees. One would think that areas which were scorched by fire ten, fifteen, twenty and more years ago would by now be largely indistinguishable from virgin forests, and they probably are. That is the good news. That is our hope; that everything burned to the gourund by wildfire is renewable, and will renew, unless the scorched land is "repurposed" as a housing subdivision or parking lot mall combination, as some of them probably have been. The bad news, as always, is homo sapien sapiens, and its behavior, its wanton destruction of the environemnt whcih sustains it and makes life possible. But, what else is new?

Saying Good Bye

SCROLLING DOWN FACEBOOK, checking out the posts, America's favorite past time, sometimes I come across one which converys supreme wisdom, amidst the trivia, and sometimes I come across a post which conveys great inspiration, and sometimes, fortunately seldom, I encounter a post which leaves me filled with grief. It was a head on picture of a cat, camera looking the animal straight in the eyes. It was an old cat, by its face. It was laying on a metal table, on a soft cushion, medical style, in the "brisket" position, with two needles in its right forepaw. Its eyes were narrowed, as if narrow were its norm. Immediately trying to comfort myself, I told myself that the narrowed eyes were not slipping into slumber, permanently. That would come soon, but later, after the picture was taken. The two needles were connected to plastic pipe-tubes, through which liquids were flowing. Yes, it looked calm, not fearful. I tried desperately to convince myself of that. The caption simply said: "Saying Good Bye". It said nothing else, as if I should even expect it to. No expressions of human grief. Perhaps we were expected to understand without further explanation. My grief became so great that I began to feel that it would do me in. So far only one person had typed in a comment. The usual, "so sorry for your loss". I always in these situations want to do something more than that, to say smoething more than the obvious, to say something uplifting. So I always say the same thing: "I firmly believe that at length you and your beloved pet will be reunited, forever, in eternal happiness". Though not religious, I firmly believe that, because I must, and because the laws of the universe seem to so indicate. At length, and forever, in this universe in whch nothing is ever created nor destroyed, in which subatomic particles talk to each other across trillions of light years (Einstein's "spooky action at a distance"). I must believe that this unknown to me person who is surely grieving for her put to sleep cat will indeed be ultimately reunited with the pet, and I must brelieve that "the infinitely superior spirit who built the world", "the old dternal genius" of Einsteins' beliefs exists. I can thus simultaneously comfort myself in times of great grief, vicarious or otherwise, and, I can depend on Einstein, not some ancient primitive manuscript. I kept reminding myself that the sweet cat's "owner" was doing the right thing, the only good thing, the thing I have msyelf done all too often. Most people seem to believe that animals know it when they are about to die. I question that. I suspect that we humans are merely superimposing our knowledge upon the animal, projecting, as we say.They seem to know that something big is about to happen, but...death? Can they even conceive of it? We read or hear that some human who died was "surrounded by loved ones" when the transition occurred, when the bridge to forever was crossed, as we say. I wonder about that too. Is that what most people really want, to be surrounded by other people? When I am sick, I prefer to be alone. Before I die, I will be sick, most likely. The cats I have been with as they died seemed to prefer to be alone, in a safe place, away from everybody, rather than in a person's arms. Almost as if to die in a safe unthreatening place is the paramount thing. I have seen them walk away from their owners, the moment before death, almost as if to say: "I love you, but I need to do this without interference". Often people believe that they are about to die, but they do not die. It seems possible that to actually know that you are about to die is nothing more than a lucky guess. I do not think we know much about death, nor anything else. As Eisnstein said: "We don't know one millionth of one percent about anything". But I think we can safely witness that death is normal, natural, and that it, like life constantly is, is a transition from one form of existence to another.

Immigrating

THOUSANDS, perhaps tens of thousands of Afghani refugees will soon resettle in the United States, contributing their culture and talents, and, like all immigrant groups, improving the United States by reriching and diversifying its culture, providing work, producing prosperity. The bad news, from the viewpoint of white conservative Christian Donald Trump supporters, is that the newly arrived Americans will be majority non Christian, dark skinned (non "white"), and not inclined to become Republicans. Already, before they even arrive, white conservative Christian America despises them, and is determined to try to keep them out. Anything to preserve America's traditinal white Christian dominant culture. Afghanistan, because of its non Christian non white majority culture, and because of its pervasive poverty, is similar, in a general sense, to those horrible African "shit hole countries", so despised by the racist Trump and his racist supporters, about which Donald Trump spoke so disparagingly when he thought the tape recorder was either turned off, or that it didn't matter whether it was or wasn't. Trump clearly expressed his preference that future immigrants to the United States be Norwegians, who just happen to be majority white and Christian. We can assme that Trump is actually more amenable to human beings that. that.Keenly aware of the relative importance of one's ethnic and cultural heritage as a factor in accounting for one's personal success, Trump, throughout most of his life, has identifeid himself as having Swedish ancestry, rather than his actual German. His grandfather came from Germany under inauspcious circumstances, having been kicked out of the country for criminal activity, at a time when being of German descent was not a pathway to popularity or success in teh United States. Immigrants fleeing poverty, violence, or oppression who manage to make it into the U.S., legally or otherwise, often initially view America, for some reason, as the proverbial land of opportunity, unliminted. Many of them soon discover that poverty and violence are common in their new home, if less prominent. They also discover racial discriination, which is far more prominent in the land of opportunity. Generally, immigrants work harder, overcome more obstacles, commit fewer crimes, and succeed better than native born Americans, a fact that is not often mentioned in the mainstream conservative media. Our new Afghani-Americans will almost certainlly fit this pattern, will contribute much to the American economy and culture, and will be villified by racist conservatives. That shame is ours, not theirs.

Disliking Humanity

NOBLE BE MAN, COMPASSIONATE, AND GOOD, said Goethe, upliftingly. Hunanity, like New York, like the United States, is an entity bout which no matter what you say, it is probably true. AS I age, I become more cynical, and negative. Llike mark Twain said: "the more I learn about people, the more I like my dog". But I'm not unreasonable. It isn't unreasonable to identify organized mass violence (war), environmental destruction, unchecked greed and petty anger, collectively and individually, as dominant human characteristics, and to condemn them. Goethe helps. Goethe is considered to have been among the wisest, most intelligent, and greatest writers in european history, including Shakespeare. Bertolt Brecht spoke the truth in his autobiographical poem "Concerning Poor B.B.". "I make friends with people. And I wear a derby on my head as others do. I say: 'They are strangely stinking animals.' and I say 'No matter, I am too'"... Whether we choose to exist as humans, a debatable question, we exist as humans, which is not debatable. Such is our dilemma, whoever made the choice for us. Again, Goethe: "Is not life short enough? Should we not join hands with those who go our way"? Of course we should, at least to some extent. As Aristotle said: "Man is a social animal". We can no more live as true individuals than bumble bees or ants. That was easier to do when I was young. Then, it was easy to find many people going my way, largely because at a young age none of us had yet gone far, our paths had not yet diverged. The older I get, the more my path diverges from those with whom I shared my early life, the less I like human beings generally. Branches and lives diverge, inevitably. In american society, the best time to form friendhsips is in high school. After that, the brandhing out begins in earnest, and as we grow old, we often find outselved alone. I am finding the aloneness of senior citizenship to not be unpleasant. Its almost I have had my fair fill of people, and can look back in appreciation, while enjoying my encroaching solitude. having fewer frineds now seem almost inevitable, almost proper. As I age, I becomme more aggressive, fortunately wise enough to concceal it, and less tolerant, less likely to conceal of intolerance of racism, stupidity, and uncritical thinking, and what I consider rudeness and thoughtlessness. Above all I insist on speaking what the truth seem to me to be, for which I pay a heavy price. As Plato said: "Whoever speaks the truth is the most hated."

Marrying, Or Smart

 I'M ON FACEBOOK, and have been for several years. For years I stayed away, wary of social media, seeing it as a sort of cultural quagmire. When I finally joined, I had no intention, and still have no intention, of forming new friendships long distance. I learned my lesson twenty years ago, when AOL (remember them?) was king. I never initiate a conversation on Facebook messenger, again, because of lessons learned with AOL "instant message" (remember that?). My one and only purpose on Facebook is to promote this essay website, and, well, actually there is another purpose, to oppose conservatism, the Republican party, and "Trumpism", all three of which are essentially the same thing. Its hard to measure the impact Facebook has on these endeavors; suffice to say that it probably does no harm, and my help a little. People often send attachments on messenger, usually having something to do with something I said in an essay, which is a good indication. I try to read and send thanks for all the attachments, but I don't always have the time or energy. Ninety percent of the messages I receive are from attractive young women, or people posing as attractive young women. I tend to either ignore them, or type in "Please visit my website, "The Truthless Reconciler". That tends to dampen the conversation. By all indications, their purpose is to make some easy money, by having me, and presumably many other men (suckers) send it to them. they start with "I am looking for a serious meaningful relationship", tempting me to respond: "Then why in hell are you sitting in front of a computer screen, sending out bullshit on social media"? They ask a/s/l? (age, sex location) just like they did in the the good old days on AOL at the turn of the century-millennium. They want to know age and location, mainly; my name gives away my gender. When I tell them that I am a robust sixty six years old they are invariably undeterred, or seemingly undeterred, which proves one thing: scamming money is indeed their aim. They ask me if I am married and have children, and when I say "neither", they always ask "why not"?, as if being single and childless demands an explanation, so strange a state it is. As to why I am not married, my stock response is: "My mother always used to say its because I'm smart". I agree with my mother. The young attractive women do not seem to.

Suffering What Trump Hath Wrought

 THE MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE;  a young lady with a four year old child, was all set to watch "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" with her preschooler last December, when she heard a ruckus in her front yard. Peeking between blinds, she saw what she dreaded most: a gang of MAGA hatted screeching Trump people, with bullhorns, cell phones, and hand painted signs, chanting "stop the steal", and promising that hell no, they weren't going anywhere for awhile. To deserve this, she had a couple of days earlier formally certified the Michigan election results, in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump narrowly to win Michigan's fourteen electoral votes. She is far from alone. All across the land of liberty, election workers are still being death threatened and harassed, eight months after the election, for having the audacity to count the votes and declare the winner the winner. When the winner is Joe Biden, the Trump people are absolutely certain of one thing; Biden won only because of massive election fraud. Two days ago a man driving a pick up truck parked in front of the Library of Congress, just down the street from the nation's capitol building, and announced that he had a bomb, and was not afraid to use it. Another Trumper, still mad as hell, still buying into the big Trump lie. Its a new normal, as we say nowadays, for American democracy; a normal in which decency is replaced by lies and terror, in which instead of shaking hands and offering sincere congratulations after an election, we hurl unfounded, outlandish accusations of voter fraud, and proceed to go to war, in courtrooms, on the streets, in the media. And no matter how convincingly, how logically and persuasively ad definitively the accusations of mass voter fraud are dispelled, no matter how indisputable the facts supporting the election results as reported, it is never good enough. The Trump MAGA mob merely moves the goal post further back, raises the target higher, and issues new, ever wilder accusations and claims of election theft form Trump. The poll workers were Democrat plants.  Disappearing ink. Ballot boxes were switched in the wee hours of the night, nationwide. the Dominion voting machine company, in concert with Venezuelan socialists and American democrats, were rigged. The sore loser Trump crowd never runs out of contrived, dishonest reasons, and never regains any semblance of decency, morality and honor. Two thirds of the Republican party, two thirds of American conservatives, all reason tossed to the wind, complying with the raving nonsense of s single, disturbed individual, the former president of the United States. Donald Trump predicted the election would be stolen from him before election day. On election night , before the votes were done being counted, as Joe Biden appeared to be inching towards victory in key states, Trump did it again; he claimed that, "actually, we won the election". Then, over the next days, weeks, and months, he kept repeating the same big lie, like a Joseph Goebbels on steroids. The lie was and remains as obvious as the side of a barn, painted bright red, staring you in the face. And still, the traitors to democracy and to America, millions of the, simply will....not....let....it...go. Their moral bankruptcy is beyond disappointing. It is unbelievable.

Having Class

 ITS CALLED "CLASS", and some have it, others don't.  Joe Biden stood backstage before the final Democratic party primary debate, and looked at his stat sheet. On the left side of the page were the names of all the other candidates, the usual suspects; David Booti-judge, Bernie Sanders, the whole crowd, more than a dozen of them, and ensconced in the middle of the page was the name of California Senator Kamala Harris, a strong candidate, but at this point not distinguishable in any special way, not yet standing out from the crowd. On the right side of the page Biden had written in a paragraph's worth of remarks next to each name, like a scouting report, listing each person's strengths, weaknesses, including suggestions about how to deal with him or her. Harris, a strong, determined, smart former prosecuting attorney from California, had already earned her stripes in the previous debates against Biden, directly attacking him on his long record in the Senate, his vulnerabilities and achievements evident, on the record, evident, as anyone's would be who had served in the United States Senate for thirty six years. Biden had nothing to  hide, nothing he could hide from the scrutiny of the other candidates. Harris had attacked Biden for having apposed affirmative action busing in the early nineteen seventies, and for now being, or seeming to be, all in on racial equality of opportunity. It was a valid point. Biden's response that he hadn't actually been against busing, but only against busing imposed from above by an overbearing federal government, rather than built from the ground up by the people on the ground at the local level, the people who really knew and understand their own school districts. His rejoinder was also valid; the exchange of verbal punches ending, by most accounts, in a tense draw. A camera zoomed in on Biden's stat sheet, eavesdropping over his shoulder at the list of names and comments. And there it was, clearly written in neat cursive, but a single sentence, no analysis, no strategies, only a single sentence; "don't hold grudges". Biden, talking to himself, telling himself; man, whatever else you do...do...not...hold...grudges...Meaning, of course, that his testy little war of words with Senator Harris was yesterday's news, and that today, today is a new day, a new game, a new battle to fight, as it always is with us all. Don't be petty, do not waste time and energy seeking revenge, do not fight yesterday's battle anew. Move on to a new day, today. And this is the essence of Joe Biden, the basis of success, the formula of a winner. A winner, President Joe Biden. Its called "class", and some people have it, and some do not.

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

 IN RETROSPECT,  Biden should have maintained a military force of , oh, five to ten thousand armed military personnel in Afghanistan throughout the summer, adequate to deter Talibanic aggression, while simultaneously, quietly removing all embassy personnel, diplomatic and support, from the country, as well as any Afghani nationals wanting to leave the country as a precautionary measure, assuming that the dread Taliban would or might eventually take over and exact severe retribution upon the thousands of nationals who had helped the Americans during the war. Then, having evacuated everyone wanting to be evacuated, the American military should have been the "last man  out", shutting the door and turning off the lights of yet another failed American foreign war of imperialistic aggression. That would, however, have required knowing in advance the likelihood that the Taliban would indeed be able to defeat the Afghan military and government, an assumption impossible to make, but not impossible to guard against. After all, American intelligence had evidently predicted and informed Biden of such a likelihood. But that, used as a criticism of Biden, is quite a stretch. The difference between Biden's administration and supporters and Trump's administration and supporters is that the former possess integrity and accountability, the latter offer only lies and an invariable habit of deflecting blame and responsibility. Even now the Republicans are attempting to take political advantage of a situation with which neither they nor anyone else could possibly have done better. Trump, by announcing his intention of removing the American presence from Afghanistan and by setting a date for completing the removal (May 1, 20210, essentially provided the Taliban with a blueprint and timetable for retaking the country, and time to prepare to do so, including making an accurate assessment of the level of resolve, if any, of the Afghani government, military, and people to resist the inevitable coordinated Talibanic offensive to regain control of the country they once controlled. Obviously, their conclusion that there would be little or no resolve to oppose their takeover was, on hindsight, accurate. There was never any real necessity for the United states to announce to anyone publicly in advance that is was intending to completely withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal; and yet, Trump announced it, thus setting the stage for the impending disaster. He even provided a date, further contributing to the ultimate and inevitable success of the Taliban. That should be the central theme of analysis after the fact.

Renouncing Religion and Imperialism

 IN A MORE PERFECT WORLD, one of my own design, each and every member of the Taliban would be suddenly struck by lightening on his or her way to Damascus or wherever, would awaken, renounce religion, and declare undying devotion to science, the arts, and philosophy. One might, depending upon one's point of view, rejoice at the thought of Islamic fundamentalists/terrorists casting off the crazy clothing, shaving, slipping into some jeans and a T shirt, popping a cold brew, and having a nice lad back discussion bout the Stones, the Packers, the Yankees, Chris Hedges,, quantum mechanics, and, for good measure, the innumerable benefits of secular democracy. Lettuce stipulate that fanatical talibaniacal governance of Afghanistan could have been prevented in only one of two ways: by the determined will, strength, and resolve of the Afghani people, government, and military to not permit it to happen, and or by the sustained multi-generational presence f a substantial American military force within the country. Neither of these proved possible or acceptable, hence, enter the Taliban. Lacking these options, neither Biden, Trump, nor God itself could have prevented what happened, and whether the American withdrawal was orderly or chaotic seems, upon further scrutiny, to be about as relevant as a bucket of warm spit, as Sam Rayburn might have said. A substantial American military force has been stationed in Europe since World War Two, in Japan since World War Two, in Korea since the Korean War, and in hundreds of American military basis scattered all around the world for about the same length of time. Hence the term "empire" is often used to describe the United States, although terms like "democracy" and republic" are more commonly used,  even though the terms "oligarchy" and "plutocracy" might be more appropriate. For present purposes, "empire" suffices nicely. To all this we the American people have long been accustomed and therefore indifferent; most of us if not all all of us have been born and raised and spent our entire lives in the bosom of the American empire, without really spending much time thinking about it. To use that horribly meaningless and over used phrase: "It is what it is". But in Afghanistan we seem to have finally drawn the line. Twenty years is enough, more than enough. Neither Trump  Biden, nor any other sane American is willing to accept the idea of having thousands of American military personnel in Afghanistan until the turn of the next century, while the Taliban merely waits, lurking in the shadows, for its chance which would in and event ultimately arrive. Since the Taliban is an unacceptable form of government, and since neither of the other options is realistic or desirable, we return to our better world scenario, in which, through ineffable mass transformation, the Taliban renounces religion, and turns to science, art, and sanity. As they say: dream on.

Waging War No More

 THE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN, on the seventy sixth anniversary of Japan's formal surrender in world War Two, promised that Japan will never again wage war, a promise his descendants may or may not be able to keep. Well intentioned, yes, but, as we like to say, be careful what you promise. If China attacks, Japan will most certainly wage more war. One nation down, one hundred and ninety four more such promises to go. At least, its a start. Pledges to pursue and preserve peace eternally have been made from time immemorial, as humans have long understood the futile destructiveness of war. "The war to end all wars", as the first world war became known, preceded the second world war, and many other since. The Bible, as it often does, got it right by instructing us to reshape the weapons of war into life sustaining tools. Doing that would provide enough prosperity for everyone. Albert Einstein looked up, into , and through the camera in his grey T shirt and severe facial expression and and told a likely verity: "As long as there are people, there will be war", in the famous photograph. I cannot predict the future, and neither can anyone else. When I was a kid in the nineteen sixties I thought that by the year nineteen ninety I would have the option of visiting cities on Mars or the moon. By nineteen ninety I though world hunger, poverty, and disease would be mere memories, as would war. I had too much youthful idealism and optimism and faith in science, and in humanity. Back then, I liked people. Well, nothing disillusions a young eager mind than age and life. I could barely wait for tenth grade to begin. Two weeks in, I was disappointed to the point of despair. Biology was noting but rote memory of species in Latin, and world history was a dull list of unexamined facts. I was saved by the intrinsic fun of geometry and its never ending puzzles, and by the creative inclusion of Huxley and Orwell, augmenting Shakespeare, by my English teacher. When my English teacher expressed her view that evolution by natural selection beautifully compliments creationism rather than contradicts it, I was skeptical, and still am, but the very ideal inspired me, and still does. Einstein, himself a dropout, said that considering the standard teaching methods used in the western world, it is amazing that anyone survives a formal education with intellectual curiosity and love of learning intact. I agree completely, and I tend to agree with him that there will always be war, though I remain hopeful of a better future beyond my life time, even if it is a hope of a rather dark and sardonic sort. Still, we must give the Japanese prime minister credit; its the thought that counts.

History, Rhyming

 AH, DISTINCTLY I REMEMBER, to quote Poe, March, 1975. The helicopter hovers above the American embassy in Saigon, soon to be renamed "Ho Chi Minh city". John Chancellor narrates the situation. A rope ladder dangles beneath the swaying helicopter, swaying. Desperate diplomates and assorted South Vietnamese citizens cling to the ladder, some making their way up, some immobile, several seemingly  paralyzed with fear and indecision. Viet Nam was our first, but not our last made for television war of foreign aggression to make the world safe for American corporate expansion. After ten years of a futile American war of foreign aggression, superimposed upon an ongoing civil war, the Yankee invader, seeking to save some small semblance of  face, had, after years of arguing with the enemy about the size and shape of the negotiating table, had signed a peace treaty in January, 1973. Nixon had run for president in 1968 and won pledging an honorable end to the Viet Nam War, and millions of mostly young liberal Americans had filled the streets for five years, trying to force him to live up to his promise, honorably or otherwise, sooner rather than later. It eventuated dishonorable, and later. Dishonorable because the end consisted in the enemy winning the war, imposing its political will upon the ally of the United States. The North Vietnamese had simply patiently waited for the invader to go home, which they knew it would eventually have to; I knew it too, and I was only a teenager, a teenager who paid attention. By February 1968 the inevitable American loss we evident; the communists had launched the all out Tet offensive, had been badly defeated and driven back, and didn't seem to mind. They knew there would be many more opportunities. When Walter Cronkite turned against the war, so did I. One hardly needs to mention the similarity to the situation of the United States now in Afghanistan. The military will have the diplomats out by mid week, without resorting to the urgent necessity of rope ladders dangling from hovering helicopters, or so one hopes. Mark Twain had it right, as he usually did, when he said that history never repeats itself, but that it often rhymes. This war lasted twice as long, resulted in far fewer casualties, with the same outcome. The United States is defeated, its enemy imposing its will. Again American imperialism is defeated, predictably. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Christmas Day 1979, and was driven out in defeat ten years later, with the help of jacuzzi Congressman Charlie Wilson and his hand held shoulder launched helicopter killing mortars. Before that, many equally formidable would be conquerors had met with the same fate, in particular the British and the Persians. Now it it time for the mighty American empire to humble itself.

Disaster, Coming True

 THE INTERNATIOLAN PANEL ONCLIMATE CHANGE,  which consists of esteemed scientists and is therefore doubtless considered fraudulent by American conservatives, painted, the other day, the most dire picture of Earth's environmental future to date. Fraudulent it isn't. Where I live October has during the last decade become a summer month, with daily temperatures hitting eighty five regularly. Spring begins in late February, and it rarely snows, like it used to. Each IPCC report, issued every few years, is more dire (for the elucidation of conservatives; the word "dire" means "bad") than the last. One can scarcely imagine how horrible future reports will be, as climate science keeps improving, and climate progresses. It will get worse, much worse. Consider this summer. The American west is on fire, with larger and more frequent wildfires every year. Heat waves and drought are more severe every year. the current heat wave in the west, with daily temperatures well above a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, is unprecedented. the only place for the annual wildfires to spread is east, where there is much more to burn ad the heat waves and droughts are evident. The Ozarks and the Appalachians will eventually burn. So will the pine forests of Pennsylvania and upstate New York. Temperatures well above one hundred all across North America in the summer are no longer the stuff of science fiction, but instead, rapidly approaching in real time, real life. Its the same everywhere. Australia has already burned, last year. So has southern Europe, with hideous flooding and raging wildfires in rapid succession. Every flood is now a once in one hundred or once in five hundred year event. Hurricanes and tornadoes are becoming monstrous, and, it turns out, more frequent. It is now possible to measure precisely the impact climate change has on the frequency and severity of such storms; the impact is considerable. How long before such storms become  incessant? One of my friends sad several years ago that he just doesn't know about this climate change stuff, he has his doubts. Donald Trump knows. He knows it is all a hoax, perpetrated by the media, the Democrats, the Chines, or somebody. Where I live it hasn't rained in nearly a month, and as I watch my lawn die, I wonder how long my trees have. And I remember that day, long ago, when I was half the age I am now, when NASA scientist James Hanson told congress about something called "global warming". He was widely ignored. He still is.

Going High

 DO NOT CALL DONALD TRUMP AN IDIOT, (even though he is one), I spent four miserable years admonishing folks; idiots reveal their own idiocy. When we berate Trump with epithets and insults, accurate or not, we only lower ourselves to his level of indecency. Pay no attention to Trump's flaming orange hair, on days when it flames orange; insult not the sexual behavior of his wife, for thou know not what it is, and, besides, its irrelevant. Advice like this frustrates and angers Trump haters. Their pettiness fully exposed, the anger they should reserve for themselves they cold shoulder upon me. I'll live. One of my long lost friends from early childhood, whom I found on Facebook, kept calling Trump an "idiot", but never said anything else about him. I admonished him to always refer to Trump's specific words and deeds when criticizing, for therein lies the proof. Unconversant with them, my childhood friend reminded me that I am neither his teacher nor parent. My relief was profound. A well informed trump despiser needn't resort to name calling; the field is far richer than that. Donald Trump's words and deeds clearly reveal his cruelty, immorality, and idiocy, and his continued support of his followers, post insurrection, reveals theirs. It is thus quite enough for us the sane and decent to phlegmatically mention that is is not a good idea, for instance, in the land of liberty, for a president, with but two weeks left in office, to try to incite and angry violent mob of punks, thugs, and terrorists to lay siege to the Capitol building in an attempt to turn a democratic republic into a dictatorship. On that day, Trump and everyone who supports him thereafter became criminals and traitors, if they weren't already. To so identify them is not gratuitous slander; it is fact. That they are "idiots" is, like Franklin said when editing Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, "self evident".  We needn't point that out explicitly. Likewise, it isn't a good idea for a head of state to tell an average of twenty five egregious lies per day, or for millions of supporters to support them. The list goes on. It matters not whether the two thirds of registered Republicans who still believe that the election was stolen and that the insurrection was a good idea are in Peoria, Portland, or your local senior center; traitors they are, like Trump. Traitors, and liars. When the contest, football, tennis, or election, is over, decent people who were raised right shake hands and congratulate each other. Trump and his cult followers, as their words and deeds demonstrate, are morally incapable of decency.

Allowing Karma

 WITHOUT PRIDE I recall a family member telling me that she knows one of those idiot anti-vaxxer people who'll be damned if he's going to allow some egg head doctor or scientist put poison inside his body, with one of those computer thingies that turn people into Democrats, and that she (my family member) hopes the stupid delusional son of a bitch catches Covid, almost dies, doesn't, but suffers. I knew I had to step in and at least try to do something, against my better judgment. I led off with the first page of the Dhammapada....Mind foreruns all conditions, mind is chief...if one speaks with wicked mind, evil follows one, even as the wheel follows the hoof of the draft ox...My family member may or may not have gotten the point, she never responded. So I just said it straight out, in my own words: No, you really don't want people to suffer for their stupidity, even anti-vaxxers, even if you think you do. You want to be better than that. You don't want anybody in ICU, gasping a final few hideous breaths, begging for the vaccine, expressing regret, being told it is too late, as happens hundreds of times each day in our rejuvenated epidemic of the unvaccinated. What you want is divine intervention, for the stupid to suddenly, miraculously become smart, to have a Saul becomes Paul on the road to Damascus moment, times several million. That happens too, but, alas, all too seldom. Schadenfreude is overrated. Disgust and anger, though perhaps overrated, are often appropriate. Cajoling accomplishes nothing accept entrenchment, resentment, leading often to what we now like to call "pushback". As the philosopher said: "Against stupidity the Gods themselves contend in vain". People w ho refuse to get vaccinated during the most severe pandemic in a hundred years are traitors to their country, to humanity, they are socially irresponsible, but, alas, intractable. And yes, they are stupid, almost invariably MAGA types, further proof of stupidity. Every reason given by every person who refuses vaccination is transparently idiotic. The one about the absence of formal FDA approval, transparently disingenuous. As if the far right idiots respect any agency of government, any authority, any expertise. To a person, these willing disease spreaders swear allegiance to the flag, God Almighty, and country. And yet, the invader is here, the enemy is among us, spreading death, and the vaccine refuser show their cowardice and lack of concern for others by their unwillingness to take the slightest needle stick in the arm, much less a bullet, willing to harm others while pretending not to be. No we must not and do not wish the anti-vaxxers harm, they they would willingly harm others. Harm will eventually come to them, by their own actions, the damned idiots.

Trumping, Frauding

 LEST WE FORGET, the election of Donald Trump was neither free, fair, nor legitimate. Donald Trump was an illegitimate president from the moment he was inaugurated, and should never have been allowed to serve. Vast amounts of foreign money used by Russian operatives to fill the internet with disinformation tainted the election, and doubtless helped Trump get elected. This is according to the FBI, the CIA, and sixteen other intelligence gathering agencies within the United States government. If you wish to argue, your argument is with them. The Mueller report, conducted thoroughly, assiduously, and transparently by the former FBI Director confirmed this, confirmed that during his election campaign, Trump was fully aware of, accepted, and welcomed Russian assistance, rather than reporting the illegal activity to the authorities. The Mueller report was made available to the American people, all 448 pages of it, but not until A.G. Barr, acting on behalf of Trump, issued a misleading four page summary of it, making it look as if the report was exculpatory, which it  most certainly was not. It was, in fact, damning. Trump and his supporters, pervasively dishonest from beginning to end, understandably dismissed the facts as a hoax, an extremely complicated unlikely hoax involving the FBI, CIA, and thousands of people. Thus the continuing claim by the morally bankrupt Trump and his equally morally bereft supporters, long after the election had been certified is the actual hoax, continues to be a hoax, a fraud embraced by millions of Americans, and is all the more ironic, all the more tragic.  People invent law, religion, and morality to organize and ameliorate he destructive aspects of human behavior. Fair play, and the proper treatment of others are intrinsic to human instincts and behavior, but so are deception and violence, whenever it serves a purpose. Because law, religion, and morality are all relative to the culture of the society in question, throughout history people have tended to form large groups of killers, for the express purpose of gaining dominance and control over mineral resources, the most valuable of which is land itself.  Organized mass murder is a common human expedient. The Trump phenomenon is a fascinating if tragic manifestation of group immorality on a large scale, one of many examples in history. The same people who gladly accepted as president a corrupt person who was elected illegally, with foreign assistance, continue, long after his quite legitimate defeat for reelection, to claim falsely that his defeat was fraudulent. The fascinating and tragic part in this fraud is the apparent fact that none of the participants seem even remotely aware of, nor concerned about, the extreme immorality of their behavior. Or if they are, they conveniently relegate their awareness to the unconscious. There is nothing new in this; large groups, imbued with group mentality, often engage in destructive behavior en mass. It never, however, ceases to be disappointing.

Believing in God

 SUDDENLY THE MAN  having lunch with me said : "I don't like people who don't believe in God".  My immediate reaction, which I kept to myself, was that I much prefer people who do not believe in God, and tend to strongly dislike people who believe in God fervently, and are fanatically religious. Maybe I should have extended the conversation, invited him to elaborate on his reasons, but chose not to. I think he might have said something untrue, like, "atheists are immoral". I was aware of his political conservativism, and that told me all I needed to know. In truth, agnostics and atheists, studies reveal, are at least as moral as "believers", and usually more so. Religion, particularly the Christian religion, can easily and often does serve as an excuse for bad behavior. In the end, all bad behavior by true believers is forgiven, so, why not behave badly, if it brings benefit, which it often does? I say all this as a person who believes in God, which I have for many decades. Like Goethe said: "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine." I realized that I wanted the comfort of believing in God, that believing in God is a matter of defining God, that everyone is free to have his or her own definition, and that one need not choose one's religious beliefs because other people have chosen them. I selected the God of Spinoza, Jefferson, and Einstein, a deistic, pantheistic God. I chose, and choose to believe that the term "God" is synonymous with the terms "universe", "nature", and "cosmos". The most reasonable people to me are agnostics. There is never , or seldom any harm is saying "I don't know". In many if not most situations, the phrase "I do not know" is not only perfectly appropriate, but is the only position which is appropriate. It seems sociologically fascinating to me that all of the world's major religious are ancient, thousands of years old, and conspicuously false. All of them embrace a morality appropriate only to primitive civilizations, and utterly outdated now. People slowly but steadily evolve their religions, but are extremely reluctant to discard them altogether, and create better versions. Neuro science suggests that extreme religious devotion is a form of mental illness, obsessive behavior resulting from brain damage to the frontal cortex. There is evidence that religion is slowly being discarded from human culture. It may be part of the evolutionary process of intelligent species that they pass through a "religious" stage, in which they explain nature and themselves with primitive causation based on ignorance, ergo religion, but eventually their ability to perceive reality be direct observation replace religion with "science". Maybe humanity reached its highest, and final level of religious belief when Einstein said: "My religiosity consists in humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit which reveals itself in what little we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. I cannot conceive of a personal God who would sit in judgment over creatures of his own creation. Morality is of the highest importance, for mankind, but not for God." Until something better comes along, I will regard Einstein's religion as my own, and his quote as my scripture.

Funding the Big Lie

 THE BIG LIE,  everyone on the planet has become familiar with, everyone understands to be a lie. Everyone, including those who pretend to believe it, or who have managed through arduous mental gymnastics to brainwash themselves into believing it, to benefit and support their personal biases. It might be the most audacious, most egregious instance of false narrative taking hold since Christ walked out of the cave, born again. Opportunists are seeking to gain as much benefit as they can from Trump's ridiculous claim that the election was stolen from him. Jane Mayer, author of "Dark Money", an expose' of the Koch brothers and their corrupt influence on American politics,  published an article in the New Yorker titled "The Big Money Behind the Big Lie". Using the lie as pretext, Republicans all across the fruited plain of freedom's land are bending over backwards trying to legislate as much difficulty and as many obstacles into the process of voting as possible, and much more. Voter suppression is only the tip of the chilling G.O.P. Trumpist iceberg. There is a movement to give state legislatures the power to overturn the popular vote in presidential elections, and to select their own slate of electors - whenever the mood strikes them, which means, whenever a Republican majority state legislature is dissatisfied the a Democrat won the election. Alarmingly, this movement is funded by big, dark, billionaire money, of the sort that only the far right can scrape up. Even more frighteningly, this is perfectly constitutional. The constitution vaguely says that in every state the legislature shall determine the method of selecting presidential electors. Well more than a hundred years ago every state decided to let the popular vote elect the electors, well before they decided the allow the popular vote to elect Senators. Although the United State has never been and still isn't a true "democracy", it is in many respects much closer to being one now than the founders intended. the founders, in particular James Madison, believed that the common people were inferior, and inherently incapable of self government. thus, they established a plutocratic republic, which, in many ways, we still live under today. but now, disgusted at the defeat of their cult icon Trump, conservative American seems determined to utterly dismantle the democrat institutions with which we are still blessed, such as popular suffrage and direct (reasonably direct) election of the president, with free and fair elections. it may eventuate that never again will a Republican lose an election in America without false accusations of voter fraud. Such is the precedent they have established with the big lie. Even as we speak the 2020 presidential election is being recounted in Arizona, for the third time, Republicans unable to bring themselves to live with the fact that Biden won the state by ten thousand valid votes. The entire case of voter fraud being used as a pretext to dismantle democracy is in itself a vast fraud, perhaps the most damaging ever perpetrated in the U.S. And by the time this vast fraud, this big lie hoax perpetuated by conservative Trumpist America is finally out of steam, it will be time for another election, and their deplorable attack on America will doubtless renew itself.

Worshiping Wealth, and the Wealthy, Fame, and the Famous

 RIHANNA, (sp?), is now "worth" an estimated one point seven billion dollars. (Our "worth" is defined and determined by how much money we have"  This information did not come from her; she mad no pronouncements at a press conference lauding her fame and fortune, and in fact her precise attitude about such matters, about fame and fortune, are unknown to anyone except her. She seems intelligent; perhaps she is entirely focused o her art, and views everything that comes with it as mere incidental factors. If she is intelligent, and wise, that is exactly what she does. Her status as the world's wealthiest female vocalist was made known to the world by none other than ABC News, of mainstream media fame and fortune. ABC news uses more time showing commercials than reporting news, and much of the news it reports is either sensational but irrelevant to most people, or, simply "fluff"; feel good stories intended to lighten the burden of the viewer in absorbing the mostly nightmarish news. But ABC, like all successful news outlets and entertainment based businesses knows where its bread is buttered, know how to make a fast buck. In these United States of  Avarice, its money that matters, and its entertainment which sells. Thus, ABC likes to focus on hot, attractive celebrities, which, the corporate community fully realizes, having been assured by marketing studies and executives of the truth of this, is the key to keeping the attention of the normally inattentive American viewer. It would be wonderful to live in a society in which not only did in which nobody had so much money or so little money that the the exact amount seems irrelevant. Such a society would have the added benefits of greater economic and therefore social stability, much less crime, and better overall health, mental and physical, for its members. But, alas, we are far from achieving such a utopian society, if we ever do. Id we never do, one fears that our excessive greed and tendency to express this trait through sustained competition and corruption might brig about the decline and destruction of civilization, as we know it, such that it is. Such that it is we worship celebrities as Gods; we build monuments to them, grovel at their feet, seeking to have them scribble their names on pieces of paper that we cherish for as long as we live, and bequeath to our descendants like priceless heirlooms. By the time Albert Einstein became an American resident, somewhat by accident, he was already world famous, and was amazed at the difference between the treatment of famous people in Europe and in America. Einstein could make his way around Germany and Europe without attracting much attention; there is no comparable celebrity worship on the continent. the minute he set foot on American soil, people besieged him for his autograph. He remarked that usually the people asking for his autograph had no interest in actually talking to him; the scribbled name was more than sufficient. Requests for his photograph became so frequent that he began to describe himself as a "fashion model".  Now, our technology is making fashion models out of us all. The most frequent type of photograph taken by Americans?  Surely you already know, or can deduce the answer; why, its the "selfie", of course. Nor  is it difficult to ascertain precisely what this says about American culture and society generally. Ask Rihanna. She must surely know.

Changing Climate

 IT HASN'T RAINED in nearly two weeks in my neck of the woods, the heavily wooded American lower Midwest. Throughout this past spring it was very rainy here, and also through much of the summer. I loved every minute of it, but kept wondering whether august would come, the rains would dry up, and we would sink into a long, dry drought. And that may be exactly what is happening here, where quite a bit of rain is needed throughout the growing season to sustain all the trees, streams, and lakes we are blessed with. Within the past twenty years, there have been two or three years during which the trees started turning brown in August and we were ordered to seriously conserve water. It was a frightening situation. The extreme drought heat, and fires becoming year round in the American west is an alarming confirmation of the fact that climate change is already here; we can expect much more of the same in the next few years. We can also expect the area suffering from extreme drought, heat and wildfires to expand also, essentially to the rest of the United States, in which no area will be safe from this cataclysmic combination of nightmares. Obviously not every heat and drought by itself proves the reality of climate change; but a warmer average temperature for everywhere in the world every year for the past forty years certainly seems to be strong evidence. Senior citizens and meteorologists all will tell you that the climate has changed drastically, that our weather patterns today are nothing like they were fifty years ago. Also, the rate of change seems to be increasing, meaning that over the next several decades climate change will become so extreme that violent weather will become the norm, not the exception. So now we are talking about carbon neutral this and carbon neutral that, making a lot of noises about the impending disaster; but not yet really doing much about it. Each year the amount of carbon poured into the atmosphere increases, adding to the problem. Whether or not you have grandchildren, think about those do. Whether or not you are young, think about those who are. Future generations can only exist on this planet if we the living start taking drastic action now. Sometimes it almost seems as if we the currently living are content to merely live out the rest of our lives, without concern for future generations, knowing full well that by the time climate change becomes so extreme that life becomes impossible, we will be long dead. Humanity must become "carbon neutral" soon, and must remove much carbon from the atmosphere. The good news is that its possible.

Advancing

 ROBERT  HEINLEIN famously said that the indication of an advanced, civilized country was the level of courtesy on the street, and the cleanliness of public restrooms. An even better measure might arguably the distribution of economic and financial power. Extremely concentrated political and economic power tends to stifle culture, whereas widely distributed power encouraged greater citizen participation and creativity. This is the thesis of an excellent work "Economics Unmasked" by Philip B. Smith and Manfred Max-Neef, who assert that the entire field of modern economics arose as a means of justifying the status quo, the possession of most forms of power by an elite ruling class. Their intent is to redefine the purpose of economics, to replace power and greed with compassion and the common good, and in this they nobly succeed. Also, of  course, the quality of care for the sick, the level of respect for the elderly, the treatment of disabled people, and the nurturing and protection of children, are factors which determine whither a culture is truly "civilized". In a society in which a few extremely wealthy people have most of the wealth and power, and their is widespread poverty and powerlessness,  the creative potential of millions of people is imprisoned by lack of access to outlets of expression, resources, opportunity. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Louis Brandies (1926-1941) famously said that you can have democracy and you can have great economic inequality, but not both at the same time. Politics and economics cannot be separated. The more power one has, the more money, and the more money, the more power. He who lacks one always lacks both. In order to create, establish, and maintain a healthy, functioning democracy, there must be greater economic equality. It is obvious that as of 2020 the United States, economically and politically was in rave danger,  because a great deal of wealth, more than half the national wealth, is owned and controlled by less than one percent of the population, and a similarly tiny percent of the population has nearly all the political power as well. One of America's major political parties has grown so desperate that it is actively engaged in subverting American democracy, by legislation, and other methods, including spreading huge election fraud lies, and violent insurrection. The economic system under which we live in the United States forces the great majority of mankind to live their lives in desperate poverty. European and American colonialism was designed to enrich big corporations, and it succeeded by plundering the resources of smaller, weaker countries, ruining the economy, plunging victim countries into seemingly eternal poverty. Even worse, the American corporate capitalistic economic system threatens to destroy the ecosystem, and all life on Earth. Arguably, it has already largely achieved that goal, so advanced is the death spiral of human made climate change. The addiction to profit is destroying Earth's ecosystems. Unregulated capitalism is a religion, a destructive, harmful one. The masses, the majority of non wealthy people of the world must have a say in how their world is made and maintained, and the only way to do that is through politics, democracy, and government.

Combining Nightmares

 CLIMATE CHANGE  and the pandemic should, at some point, be discussed at the same time and in the same place because they are America's current twin plagues, both are reaching catastrophic proportions right about now, and because they are related. Both became part of the human experience because the human species brought them into its society. Humans are responsible for both climate change and the pandemic, but have an opportunity to solve both problems. with regard to both disasters, it must be noted that the progressive attitude towards them, and progressives solutions, are correct, and the conservative attitude, and conservative responses, are entirely wrong. Progressives have been warning about looming climate change for decades, while conservatives generally ridiculed and dismissed the warnings. Now, this summer, climate change is becoming extremely obvious. Global warming has been evident for decades, predicted for centuries, and is now more obvious than ever, with each year hotter than the previous and weather patterns becoming increasingly extreme and wildly unpredictable. And still, shockingly, a large part of the American conservative community continues to take the dismissive Donald Trump approach, that climate change is either a hoax, or that it is happening, but is entirely caused by natural forces; nature changes the climate anyway, and humans are far too puny and small to ever affect the planetary climate. This viewpoint is demonstrably false, and crazy. To notice which end of the political spectrum is responsible for the current resurgent pandemic, simply look at a map of the United States showing red states, red counties, vaccination rates, and instances of Covid 19 infection. IN the counties and states won by Trump in the presidential election, the vaccination rate is well below average, and the rate of infection well above average. The reverse is true in states with majority progressive populations. The jury is no longer out: the verdict is in. The conservative attitude and response to both climate change and the Covid 19 pandemic has been and remains catastrophic, catastrophic in the sense that completely false beliers have resulted in not only a massive failure within the conservative community to take the necessary action to mitigate these twin disasters, but conservative policies have proven disastrous, in contributing to the spread of the epidemic, its death and disease, and in allowing climate change to go unchecked, the conservative refusing to support necessary policies to reverse it. Conservatism has historically been a backward looking ideology, resistant to progress, but our current variety of right wing ideology is more harmful than ever, doing great damage to the planet and to humanity, and must be defeated and destroyed.