The Weirdness of American Mass Shootings

UNTIL RECENTLY I had no idea, but at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, where a mass shooting took place which killed seventeen people, elaborate preparations had been made in advance, every conceivable precaution had been taken in the event of just such a catastrophe. The Parkland shooting event is one of those which everyone remembers; one of the more sensational, to add to a lengthening list. A few weeks prior to the nightmare, school officials had decided that considering the frequency of mass shootings in America, particularly in schools, it would be advisable to form and implement a comprehensive plan to increase school safety. Fences, gates, and cameras were installed, of course. Eight employees of the school, including teachers, administrators, and custodians, were trained in the use of firearms, and given licenses to carry. It was decided to install eight gun safes at various locations around the large school for storing the handguns, with lock combinations and finger print I.D. technology. Then, a series of drills was conducted, active shooter practice, in which the entire student body of three thousand, and all employees took part. In fact, at least one active shooter practice drill had been conducted not long before the actual shooting incident. About eighty percent of public schools in the United States have made such preparations, conducted active shooter drills, and formed specific procedures for everyone to follow, including where to go and what to do. Then, the unthinkable actually happened at Parkland, and the question was immediately asked, and still remains: did all the advance preparation help or hinder the school during the actual shooting; were lives saved or lost because of all the preparations? Astonishing, that this question even needs to be asked. Equally astonishing, that we still do not know the answer. It may be that the guns should have been kept on the persons of the people certified to use them, instead of in safes. Everyone seems to have opinions about specific procedures. On the day of the Parkland massacre, everyone was expecting an unannounced drill to take place; nobody knew when it would be, and when the real event started, there was large scale confusion as to whether it was a drill or a live shooter, and whether the confusion hampered responses. Since no mass shooting is likely to happen according to expectations, it is questionable whether preparations, no matter what they entail, can possibly help. So many mass shootings have occurred over the past few years, large organizations are forming nationwide of survivors and relatives and friends of victims, and "reunions" are being held in an effort to come to terms with these tragedies. it may be that eventually a sizable percentage of the American population will belong to such an organization. There is also a fairly large, ridiculously large number of "truthers", or crazy people, who perpetuate the notion that the mass shootings are not real, they they are staged by the government in an attempt to justify restrictions on gun ownership. Most of this craziness is the work of the infamous Alex Jones, who uses the media to make trouble and spread lunatic conspiracy theories. For Alex Jones his style has paid off in terms of fame and money, but not in terms of community service. These are dangerous people, some of whom harass and troll friends and family members of mass shooting victims, believe it or not. What all this adds up to is a vague, disconcerting sense that the whole mass murder phenomenon is symptomatic of very deeply rooted societal illnesses in the good ole U.S. of A..

Creating, Defining, and Promoting Freedom of Speech

WHAT WE IN AMERICA CALL "Freedom of Speech", and "Freedom of the Press" are what we consider to be basic American values, written explicitly into our constitution, the sort of values which the young king of Saudi Arabia might have been referring to when he asserted that: "Saudi Arabian values are not American values". True enough. All countries and all people are allowed by nature, and therefor ordained by nature's God, as Jefferson might say, to have their own values. Expressing them openly is anther matter, of course. We all have freedom of thought. But because speech is such a powerful tool, people have always been aware of how important it is, both to secure individual freedom and to hold and keep power over other people, to control it. Speech, among humans, has never been without restraints. Our first amendment, legal scholars agree, says that congress cannot infringe upon free speech, but it says nothing about parents, teachers, employers, and friends. Our fist amendment rights are protected by government, only from government. I, however, tend to think of myself as having far more wide ranging free speech rights than are actually guaranteed in the constitution, as I suspect just about all Americans do. In America, we feel as if and believe we have free speech, even if we only have it guaranteed protected from government infringement. Unless I am dreaming, the term "congress" in the constitution in the first amendment has come to mean the federal government in general, and all government in America, state, county, and city. None of the above has the right to infringe upon free speech, unless, as I said, I am dreaming. The same is true with the press, the media in general, including online media and social media, unless I am still dreaming. The truth is, free speech and freedom of the press have always been very rare and limited, like they are today, and, alarmingly, they are under severe attack, all over the world, including in the United States, where Trump's relentless attack on the media is only one of the many reasons why Donald J. Trump is a horrible president, and must either change his behavior fundamentally, or be removed from office. (...and let's face it. he aint likely to change)... His constant accusations of the mainstream American media as "fake news" is a complete lie, and a dangerous, unwarranted attack on the freedom of the press. Anything in the media that criticizes Trump or that Trump doesn't like Trump labels "fake news". Trump gives the impression that he wants to be another Hitler, or petty dictator, an authoritarian ruler about whom nothing negative is permitted to be printed. That is one of the many reasons why Trump is very dangerous, and must be removed, and why freedom of speech and of the press must be defended and encouraged everywhere. Maybe it should be considered a universal, not just an American value.

Killing Journalism

THE SAUDI ARABIAN journalist lived in the United States, in the Washington area, and worked for the Washington Post, writing articles about Saudi Arabia which were not always complementary, often highly critical of the Saudi government. he walked into the Saudi embassy in Turkey, presumably thinking he would gather material for an article, and vanished, disappeared. The Turkish government says that a hit squad of Saudis, disguised as diplomats, were sent to the embassy by the Saudi government specifically to kill the journalist, which they did. Afterward, a theory has been circulating that they cut up the body into small pieces, and smuggled it out of the building for transport to some unknown destination, or, they ate it before leaving the embassy building. So, its created quite a stir, so to speak. the Saudi government quite predictably denies any involvement. The young Saudi head of state, king, crown prince, sultan, whatever his official title, is a most impressive young man, darkly hidden behind his full black beard and head covering, a darkness ab out him, his eyes glowing and alert, hes demeanor regal, above the fray, his mannerisms indicate that he has been raised from early childhood to become king, and he has taken to the job smoothly, with obviously high intelligence and education. He is to be commended for liberalization of Saudi society, at least to an extent; recently, women gained the right to drive. Clear the roads, right guys? While being interviewed by western journalists about the disappearance of the Washington Post writer, the king, when informed that American due process requires a full accounting for the journalist's whereabouts and fate, and that, rather than murdering a critic of the Saudi Arabian, the man should either have been left alone to his opinions or at least give due process, including arrest, indictment, and a fair trial, was not happy to receive a lecture on American due process, "Saudi Arabian values are not American values", he dismissively replied. We,, maybe not, but...aren't certain values, such as fair play and sanctity of human life, more than American? Are they not universal? Aren't all the highest values concerning human life universal? It makes one appreciate being an American where criticism of the government is not only perfectly acceptable, it is a requirement for good citizenship. president Trump, between a rock and a hard place, doesn't know whether to insist on justice for the missing journalist, or just let it go, to preserve relations and military equipment sales to the Kingdom. Trump, a we Americans well know, is not exactly a great champion of the media, and the journalist profession, so any defense he offers of journalistic freedom and the safety of journalists rings quite hollow. But at least we Americans, who often fail to live up to our own values, can insist that there are human values and moral precepts which transcend national borders. Surely one of these is the right to disagree without being murdered because of it.

Trump Seeking Attention; The Lies Keep Coming

PRESIDENT TRUMP has been spending a lot of time lately seeking attention. You're thinking; so, what else is new? He constantly does this. He does it twenty four seven, seeking, and receiving attention. He's been doing it since he was in diapers. Nothing's changed. True. But lately its been excessive, even for Trump. Campaign rallies galore, press conferences, sound bite seeking, hard hitting, bombastic comments made off hand while walking between planes, mansions, and microphones. Rampant narcissism in action. He's been out on the hustings, in swing states, campaigning for Republicans for the upcoming election, or more accurately, pretending to campaign for them, using the opportunity as a shallow disguise for his real intent: to promote, aggrandize, ans draw attention to himself. Its actually quite entertaining. The Republicans may live to regret having Trump campaigning for them, judging from the polls. Trump is an entertaining speaker, and he is so alarmingly remindful of Hitler, psychologically, that its either hilarious or frightening, depending on how you choose to look at it. Why not a bit of both? A time of division, hatred, and anger, and a grass roots right wing movement dedicated to choosing a strong man to challenge and overthrow the establishment, break up the entrenched bureaucracy, reform the government, and make the country great again. Make Germany great again. Make America great again. Hitler, and Trump. The bombastic, screaming speeches, full of hatred, contempt, accusations and lies about the news media, the judicial system, immigrants, and everything else, constant lies, and nationalism, hyper patriotism. Hitler...and Trump.. Its creepy. Trump said that we must elect Republicans to keep the Democrats out, with their hatred, anger and mob mentality. The crazy thing is, this is Trump, talking about himself and his own followers, and either not knowing it, or pretending not to know it. Either way, its dangerous, bizarre, sick, twisted, and must be rejected and defeated. These Republicans and their leader must be removed from office, soon. Trump has been spewing anger and hatred since he announced his candidacy for president, encouraging his followers to be violent at his Hitler like rallies, leading chants of "lock her up" against Hillary, Feinstein, and who knows who else, exhorting the throng into a frenzied anger. Trump is always viciously attacking somebody or some group, including other countries, spewing extreme hatred and anger. The recent protest against Kavanaugh by the Democrats, who represent a majority of Americans, was an attempt to stop the evil, the evil in which Trump and his followers overlook their own evil, which is pervasive, and deflect attention from it by accusing others of it. The lady said she was molested by Kavanaugh, as did several women. They all seemed credible, with no ulterior motives. It was a very alarming situation. Kavanaugh should have been replaced, by someone beyond reproach, like Neil Gorsuch. It would have been easy to find someone. Instead, Trump and his immoral gang of Republicans chose to utterly ignore the situation, and accuse Kavanaugh's opponents of being a "mob". It would have been easy to find a good person, like Neil Gorsuch, to replace Kavanaugh. But instead, they chose to turn it into a fight, a war, and for this, as well as for their general immorality and evil, they should be cast out of office, and out of decent society.

Rebuilding

AMID THE DEVASTATION, the hurricane, all hurricanes, and for that matter tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, and, heaven forbid, bombing campaigns, has a silver lining. Namely, by forcing us to rebuild, they give us the opportunity to rebuild better, smarter, safer. Whether human habitat should be withdrawn from coastal areas is a question requiring an answer involving thoughtful planning. No matter where and what we build, there are risks, naturally. Perhaps future generations will expand human habitat to floating cities, and cities on the ocean floor, as well as cities in Earth orbit, and on and below the surfaces of Mars and the moon. Maybe it would be a good idea to declare the world's coastlines natural habitat, and to withdraw human development ten or fifty miles inland. If the human race explores all possible habitat, it could be that eventually as much as one half of the Earth's surface could be redesignated wilderness and natural habitat, without straining humanity for resources. We need to redesign human society and habitat, starting now, because what we are currently doing is not working, The Earth is in poor health. It is in fact dying, right before our very eyes. More plants and animals are becoming extinct than ever before. The climate is changing drastically, rapidly. And its all because of human activity, the pouring of billions of tons of poison into the ecosystem, for hundreds of years of accumulated environmental poisoning. We are all dying, of course, but most of us die from natural causes, not sustained poisoning, and it doesn't work like it did for Mithridates, the constant bombardment of poison does not make Earth, its people, plants and animals immune to poison, it kills them. We are in a sense killing the Earth with kindness; nature loves carbon, but in the right place, at the right time, in the right amount. Putting a trillion tons of it in the atmosphere and leaving it there does not sustain, but rather, kills, because of the increase in heat energy stored by the excess carbon. The planet Venus, with its eight hundred degree surface temperature, is a good example of what too much carbon in the atmosphere does to the surface of a planet. Every new updated climate change forecast is more accurate than the previous one, as the science continues to improve, and each forecast is more dire, more frightening. The next thing you know they'll be telling us we only have two weeks to live. As it is now, they are saying that by the year 2030, only twelve years away, if we have not made significant reductions in atmospheric carbon, we are finished. If the scientists ever tell us that we are doomed, we are. The science improves every day, as you may have noticed by the quality of your smart phone and television set, as well as medicine, and other amenities. In the long run, science is always right, even if it takes a while. We have known about climate change for two hundred years, but not enough of us have known about it. Einstein knew about it; he thought adding carbon to the atmosphere might be a good idea, to warm the atmosphere, increase the growing season, and produce more food for a hungry humanity. He was talking about controlled climate change. What we now have is out of control climate change, getting worse, fast. And still not enough people know about it, or care.

Keeping An Eye On Customers

WAL MART'S NEW shopping cart have been designed, tested, and the bugs worked out, and are ready for mass implementation. Its just a matter of how many they can produce over the next few months, and which stores will get them first. They have sensors on the handle, and as you place your hands on it to push the cart, it monitors and measures your heart rate, blood pressure, height, weight, body mass muscle index, body temperature, cholestoral, triglycerides, bank account, social security number, I phone number, Facebook password, favorite television shows, work history, and status of mortgage. Well, maybe not all that, but heart rate and blood pressure, yes, Wal Mart is going to begin keeping track of.their stated reason is to help them predict more accurately when somebody is at risk for or is actually about to stroke out or have a heart attack. Precisely how this is going to help anybody, the store, or especially the customer, remains unexplained, unless Wal mart is planning to install an Emergency Room in its stores or start having an ambulance parked right outside the main entrance. On the surface, it sounds sneaky, suspicious, like one of those incremental process you hear about, in which some powerful force takes away a little bit of what you have, then gradually more, and more. I mean, why on Earth would they (Wal mart) want to do this? People can monitor their own vital signs any time they want, with their smart phones and other gadgets. Will retailers and then corporations and businesses start doing this, start collecting information, whatever information they deem worthwhile, from customers about themselves, without the customers really even being aware of it? And why, other than to exploit the customers, to increase sales and profit? You might hear powerful corporate executives sneer and scoff a the very notion, at the apparent paranoia, sanctimoniously protesting that their only concern is to better serve and protect their valued, beloved customers. That, of course, is bullshit. but let them sanctimoniously sneer. The powerful often sneer to cover perfidy. What you begin to wonder about, if you are reflective, contemplative by nature, is the possible extent of future corporate control over the consumer, the individual, the citizen, the country. Consider how omnipresent and powerful the corporate community is now. they practically own and control our political system, paying for the election of their chosen politicians, influencing, even controlling American foreign and domestic policy. how much more power and control over the customer, the citizen, teh culture, teh country do we want to confer upon our corporate masters, who are already our masters, and could quickly become much more so, if we aren't careful.

Trump Doing His Hitler Thing

UNLESS I'M DREAMING a very bad dream, President Trump has been having campaign rallies on a regular basis ever since he was sworn in, correct? Am I imagining this? No, I'm not. These rallies are full of high intensity emotional excitement, much of it anger, as the President screams insults and threats at his opponents, and proclaims his own greatness, how many accomplishments and victories his administration has already achieved in making American great again, and incites anger at all the usual suspects, Hillary Clinton, Democratic congressional leaders, the media, you know the list. On many occasions I and many other people with some historical knowledge have compared the Trump phenomena, including his followers to Hitler and his followers, but these rallies take the cake, these frenetic, frothing, screeching semi religious revivals are the most Hitleresque aspect of Trump of all. During the one the other day the mob was chanting "lock her up", yet again, but this time referring to Diane Feinstein who, according to Trump, has a secret [piece of legislation in Congress called the "Open Borders Bill", which she soon intends to spring on the American people, maybe after the elections, when Feinstein hopes there will be a Democratic Congress. The whole thing is a lie, of course, completely made up by The Great Prevaricator, our pathological liar president. He must be mentally ill, to tell so many huge, obviously fabricated lies in front of so many people, without the slightest show of shame, or humor, or guilt. Even more frightening is the sheer number of people who brainwash themselves to believe him. What must their mental illness be, some complex combination of schizophrenia, paranoia, stress, denial, and delusion? these weird rallies are exact duplicates of the sort Hitler and other dictators tend to stage, to mobilize and inflame their base of support, which is always a minority of the population, but a very frightening, vociferous minority. Trump's shocking pathological lying, and the willingness of his followers to either overlook or embrace the lies are extremely alarming, perhaps harbingers of an America with out of control culture, full of anger, aggression, and fantasy. You can almost see Trump talking his minions into believing that not only would it be in the best interests of the world to become more like America, but that it is America's sacred duty to Americanize the world, by whatever means necessary, and if that proves impossible, then the rest of the world is a deadly threat to America, and must be dealt with strongly. And what about America's enemies within, the liberals, the Jews, the minorities....will it become "necessary" to "deal with" them as well, with Trump leading his minority faction of extreme conservative patriots determined to make America great again, as it once was and is finally becoming again, to ever greater heights of virtue and power? Stranger things have happened.

Spending Flat Screen Poor

AMY, MY FELLOW MEALS ON WHEELS DELIVERY PERSON, drives through the ratty trailer park, until we finally find the right ratty trailer. I get out, with a warm lunch in my hand, and knock. On the warped wooden front porch sit five cats, who sluggishly scatter as I approach. The trailer is rusty, looking much in need of....something. This is my first time running a route. Amy, long familiar with every consumer, gives me whatever information I need before each trip to the front door. This one, she says, will take a few minutes, but I will be greeted by a nice, soft spoken elderly woman. After a long pause, a little old lady in a bathrobe cracks open the door, and I can see into the room behind her. She smiles, mentions that she has not seen me before, and I introduce myself. In the room behind her, I notice complete chaos; junk piled high, newspapers and some paper trash lying about, holes in the carpet, large stains. Then, in the corner, I notice a huge, beautiful flat screen TV, turned on, with a huge, beautiful picture, pimple free people smiling..When I return to the car I cannot help but mention it to Amy, the seeming incongruity between the run down modest dwelling, the apparently poor occupant, and the big beautiful, presumably expensive television set. It makes me wonder if the lady has other electronic devices, hidden bank accounts, hidden wealth. Amy agrees with me. Both of us think its somehow out of place, funny. We think its very funny. In fact, I have always thought it funny, when I see something like that. Several times I have seen unshaven men dressed in ragged clothes standing in front of Wal Mart, pan handling, talking on smart phones. That's always seemed kind of funny to me. This incongruity can be seen fairly often among America's poor. Conservatives consider this phenomenon absolute proof that the entire welfare system is a bleeding heart liberal hoax, a scheme to cheat wealthy people, whom they supposedly resent, out of their money, to create an entire, permanently dependent class of loyal democrat voters. People don't need the government to support the poor and make them dependent on government handouts; the poor need work. Obviously, there is truth to that, but not enough truth. It fails to take into considerations the real, complicated reasons for widespread poverty in America, which go far beyond individual laziness. Not enough truth to justify terminating all cash transfer programs, or any of them, which would only plunge millions of people deeper into poverty. These poor people with big TVs may have saved nickels and dimes for years to pay for the flat screen, or, they may have received the gadget as a present from family members. The point is, we want the poorest people in American to be able to afford a flat screen now and then, whether they work for it or not, whether they get their income through employment or through social security or welfare. Every time somebody buys a flat screen, businesses make money, people get jobs, and the economy grows. The more people who spend and consume, the better for us all, for the country. The key to making capitalism work is not cutting taxes on the wealthy, it is increasing the market place, increasing demand for goods and services, by getting money into the hands of people who do not have any, turning poor people into consumers, with growing demand from a growing consumer class of formerly poor people resulting in increased production and supply, and more jobs. You sometimes wonder why conservative Republicans, who tend to believe in capitalism, or claim they do, apparently fail to understand such a basic truth about the free market, and capitalism.

Delivering

MEALS ON WHEELS is one of those federal social spending programs that conservative Republicans are so fond of describing as wasteful, unnecessary, and beyond the intended purposes of government, which only exists to defend the national borders, defend the country, enforce the law, and, once in a great while, build a road or two. Government should hardly even be collecting revenue, should collect only as much as needed to perform these few basic services, and for the most part, leave people alone and on their own, fending for themselves. At least, that seems to be the basic right wing attitude about government; correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not. All taxation is forced compensation of personal wealth, should be and used to be illegal, back when America was great. Only occasionally should low tariffs be put in place to protect fledgling businesses and industries from crushing foreign competition; tariffs should be the primary means of raising revenue for the government. high tariffs inhibit free trade, and high taxes sap the strength of the economy. social spending programs to help the poor, such as SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, which used to be called 'food stamps", unemployment insurance, aid to mothers with dependent children, or whatever that one is called, and meals On wheels are not popular with fiscally conservative socially conservative right wing republicans, TEA Party types the Senior Center Where I volunteer has a Meals On wheels program, and I sometimes deliver meals. its fun and fascinating to get to know the people; many of them want to form a friendship with the delivery person. Most of the recipients live i modest houses and seem to be relatively low or very low income people, but interestingly, most of them, nearly all of them seem to have a very large flat screen TV, presumably all up to cable TV, with hundreds of channels. Frankly, it makes me chuckle. Unfortunately, this arrangement gives ammunition to the right wingers who often argue that most people on welfare or public assistance of one kind or another are merely free loaders, perfectly able to provide for themselves. Well, for that matter, I've seen men looking unwashed in old clothes standing in front of Wal mart on the highway pan handling, talking on smart phones. You republicans, back off. Meals On wheels is one of those programs the right winders love to hate, and the Trump administration wants to do away with it, like it wants to do away with many beneficial government programs, as well as business and environmental regulations. Redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor is the solution to economic stagnation, and the best way to promote growth and prosperity. All these social welfare spending programs which redistribute money from wealthy to poor are exactly what the country needs, a shot in the arm economically, turning millions of people into at least occasional consumers, creating new consumers out of people who were previously spending nothing, doing nothing to help the economy grow, but now, with money from the government, with a little money to spend, can help drive up aggregate demand, thus stimulating new production, supply in response to demand, wealth, job creation, and prosperity, exactly what the business leaders and capitalists say they want. The more flat screens I see, as I drop off meals in the homes of people who look like they can't afford them, the better the economy is for everybody.

Changing Values

THE POINT IS WORTH MAKING than when multiple women accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct, nary a Republican asserted the presumption of his innocence. Clinton was Accused, and Clinton was guilty, because that's the sort of low life Clinton, being a democrat, absolutely, certainly was. He wa guilty a priori because he was the sort of [person who would do such horrible things; ultimately, hes was guilty because those who hated him said he was. For Bill Clinton, the presumption was guilt. Bill Clinton was even impeached for his alleged sexual misconduct, for allegedly lying about it, not for having been convicted of it, or of anything pertaining to it. Presumed innocence is apparently a protection granted by conservatives, reserved for Republicans. Those who apply high moral standards selectively, discriminantly, only for the benefit of a few elite powerful people, are in fact weaponizing morality. Doing so is not only hypocritical, but verification of moral bankruptcy. And so it is with the Congressional Republicans and conservative community, shameful in their behavior, shameless in their defense of their shameful behavior. Even Donald Trump, whose self proclaimed sexual misconduct is expediently overlooked by Republicans,is either presumed innocent of any wrongdoing, or has done wrong which is being ignored, for teh benefit of the political aspirations of his supporters. Had Brett Kavanaugh testified under oath before Congress that he had in his younger days misbehaved sexually, more than once, it would either be immediately dismissed is irrelevant youthful indiscretions, or consigned to the category of a false memory, or meaningless locker room talk. warped by te passage of time. for our morally bankrupt conservative Republicans, morality is relative to circumstance, and morality is used as a malleable tool to achieve the goal of placing a conservative on the Supreme Court. the most tragic aspect of their behavior is that it worked, like a charm.In recent months dozens of prominent men have been accused of sexual misbehavior; all of them have paid for it by losing their jobs; there has been no presumption of innocence for them.But Kavanaugh's nomination was too closely tied to the right wing political agenda, and to Republican Congressional pride, and defiant stubbornness. Those who argued that Kavanaugh's integrity was compromised and must be removed from consideration were people the Republican majority despises, and hatred rules their actions. And then right wing manipulation took an even more bizarre turn; you blinked, then looked up, and before your very eyes there was Brett Kavanaugh, now suddenly the injured party, now suddenly the victim. those who opposed and protested his nomination because of serious questions about his morality, possible criminal behavior, and ill suited temperament for the bench had now become a mob, out to destroy a good man only for spite.And then the final, most amazing transfiguration; Kavanaugh's supporters had now become victims just like Kavanaugh, champions of truth, justice, and the American way bravely defending themselves and virtue itself against the evil horde. It would be funny if it weren't true. Brett kavanaugh and his supporters, victims of a mob of maniacs with the temerity to suggest that a nominee sullied by the possibility of serious misconduct should not be hired, not because of any proof of guilt, but because of a compromised reputation, which destroys trust. A large majority of the American people do not trust the new Supreme court justice, and wanted another nominee. this is but one of many examples of the Republican leaders of the country governing against the will of the people, Our conservative leaders want the supreme court packed with conservatives, to facilitate a conservative American future. to maybe even over turn Roe vs. Wade, to maybe eliminate all government regulation of the economy and the environment, and to legalize Jim Crow discrimination, none of which the American people want. A hopeful sign is that the Republicans are governing for the benefit of their shrinking base of supporters, whose shrinkage will some fine day result in its extinction.

Seeking the Perfect Face

MEASURE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE EYES, and the distance between the eyes and the nose. Express the two values as a ratio, D,eyes/D,eyes,nose. Extensive research has shown that married people tend to have the same ratio. People who are attracted to each other tend to have the same ratio, a certain compelling facial symmetry. We seem to be seeking reflections of ourselves, or perhaps, of our ancestors, in order to find the most appropriate mate with whom to send our genetic code tumbling through time into the far future. More than skin color, height, weight, or even body build, it is the eye to eye and eye to nose distance ratio which is the primary attraction between humans. It actually makes sense. Facial attraction is, as is well known, the first and foremost component of mating. Faces are the first thing we see when we look at each other, the front door to the soul, the first first impression. Our lives, to the extent that our lives are influenced by the actions of other people and their treatment of us and our place in society and how successful we are navigating our way through human culture, are determined by our faces. Pretty faces are symmetrical faces, are successful faces. A clear complexion is worth a fortune. We prefer, even among dark skinned peoples, lighter complexions. And what we prefer, which is mainly symmetry, we reward as a species. There is a reason why women so painstakingly and carefully manage and take care of their faces, with depilatory creams, lotions, and, above all, make up. Even beautiful women, for whom make up is irrelevant, use it, to improve their facial appearance. Our close cousins, bonobo monkeys and chimpanzees, express themselves vividly through facial expression, and so do we. A fascinating study of the closeness of humans to chimps and bonobos is "The Third Chimpanzee": by UCLA anthropologist Jared Diamond. If you don't believe in evolution of mankind from primates, you will, by the time you read and comprehend Diamond's seminal monograph. And you will understand that what you look like matters more than anything, more than you might want it to, even if you don't want it to, in our shallow, subconscious minds. It may not be what you want to believe, but it is what you must believe, because he clearly proves its truth. My own face women have always seemed to find attractive enough. I look like my father, who was a handsome man. but my problem is that when people look into my eyes, they see intensity, bordering on anger. Its not who I am, but its what shines forth form the windows to m soul; intensity. the more I smile, the better I get along with people, which of course is true of everyone, but particularly true of me. when i fail to smile, I tend to be avoided, ignored. I have learned that if I want to succeed among people, my popularity depends upon my smile. bust those pimples. Wash away those age spots. use make up. But above all, smile, just as everyone on TV does when reading the news, showing off those blemish free balanced faces and paper white, bleached, symmetrically perfect teeth.

Refinancing

I'M ON THE PHONE WITH A VOICE, a youngish sounding male voice, monotonous, boring, and either bored or non human. To find out, I make a few remarks to which any response would seem to require creative thought, beyond the capacity of any artificial intelligence with which I am familiar. The voice passes the test, then tells me that now is absolutely the best possible time to apply for a home refinance, because interest rates have never been lower, but will soon begin to go up, and I should act now, before its too late. It seems to me that interest rates are always the lowest they have ever been, and always on the verge of beginning an upward trajectory. I try to remember when this has not been the case, but can't. Its all my fault, for even thinking about refinancing my house, for even thinking about responding to my mortgage lender's offer, and calling this number. Its tempting, because if I do refinance, my monthly payments will be significantly lower, low enough that I need never work again to pay for the basics, plus, the new interest rate, no matter what it is, will be lower than the exorbitant rate I have been paying for years. The only drawback is that I will be making payments much further into the future than I will be if I simply stay the course, and bite the bullet, with my high interest rate and high payments. I listen patiently, then its my turn to talk. I explain that I have a 30 year mortgage, and though I have been making payments for only a little over thirteen years, I have paid in principle an amount equal to twenty years of payments, so that, any refi I consider must be very attractive, attractive enough to lure me away from my current well ahead of schedule situation. The young dude does not give me a definitive answer, so I decide to end the conversation. I have applied for a refi three times in the past, with always the same results. They encourage to apply, give me a ton of paperwork, ask me a million questions on the pone and on paper, then, late in the process, inform me that I do not qualify, either because my annual income is too low, or I have not been employed by the same employer long enough or my house lacks resale value, or whatever. No matter how convincingly I explain that I am retired, have substantial savings and assets, and work part time only for fun, they insist that, sorry, we have rules we must follow. That, after all their effort to tempt me to apply for a refi. They bait and switch me. No matter whether you refinance or not, nor how many times you do, by the time you pay off your mortgage, you will have bought your house twice, maybe three times. The financial service corporations make a killing on mortgages, like they do on everything else, and if all mortgage holders who are not wealthy actually paid attention, there would be massive public support for strong government regulation of every aspect of the financial services industry. Most of the major banks and lenders have been convicted of fraud several times. I don't think I will ever refinance, or even think about it again.

Losing Energy, Karaoke Style

I MISSED MY FORTY FIVE YEAR since I graduated high school class reunion, as I had for the past few weeks thought I would. It was up in the air for awhile, then it fell to Earth, with a whimper. Too many Trump supporting climate change denying I don't care my life is fine my life is tough enough why should I care about carbon in the atmosphere class members. These are the same people who whip out their smart phones and show pics and selfies of themselves, their children and their grandchildren, and then get glassy eyed when I say something other than oh how cute they are, something like have you considered that these cute grand kids will be alive nearly a hundred years from now, but that they, assuming people like Trump remain in power and assuming that we continue to do hardly anything to stop the warming because of the apathy and selfishness of people like you, will likely live on a planet which is barely habitable, and becoming rapidly less so? A class reunion is supposed to be fun, not a climate change symposium and strategy for a sustainable economy convention, they might say. I might say that we had better start turning our class reunions, and everything else into climate change symposiums, and darned soon. Like World War Two, during which neighbors got together and plotted victory gardens and metal collecting get togethers. Every time the world's scientists announce new research findings, it gets worse, and has been for decades, which we the people have largely ignored. Now, the latest information is that by the year 2030 we will have run out of time, unless during the next dozen years we do about half a century worth of changing, starting now, which, as we all know, we aren't going to do. So, we're doomed. So why not go to class reunions, and have fun? Well, for one thing, at mine, this past weekend the only report I got was that they sang karaoke. Karaoke, and maybe a round of scramble golf. My immediate reaction was that I can go into darned near any bar in the country, any cheap bar, that is, with cultural deprivation, and sing karaoke with strangers while drinking myself into a stupor, and probably not be able to tell the difference in level of fun between stranger karaoke and high school classmate karaoke. precisely what, one might ask, is it with which you would so smugly replace karaoke? Not replace, I would respond, but augment. Cut the karaoke a bit short, and have....communication. We all leave high school on graduation day promising to go forth into the world and improve it, make it a better place. Let's give everyone, at each reunion, 10, 20, and especially 40 and fifty year reunions, an opportunity to stand before the class and tell exactly how and what we have all done to fulfill our high minded eighteen year old promise. Then, maybe,a bit more karaoke, only, I personally prefer a capella, which reveals the true voice. This would have been my seventh class reunion, and each of the previous six have been progressively a little less energetic, a little bit less well attended, and a little bit less relevant than the previous. so, I finally gave up the ghost. The inexorable slowing down of the class reunions rather reminds me, in a sardonic sort of way, of human culture and its response to its dire climatic future. Just sort of fading away while having a bit of final fun, not really caring, not rally noticing, going out with not a bang, but a karaoke whimper.

Fighting For Science, Precariously Neighborlyly

WHEN MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR, who rarely speaks to me, pulled out her cellphone and showed me pictures of her one daughter's two pomeranians, I realized it was a rare opportunity for me to strike, to strike a blow for truth, science, and the un-American way. "Say" I said. "Isn't it fascinating the variety of dog breeds engineered by humans which drastically depart from the grey wolf, thus giving an immediate example of evolution, right before our very eyes"? Looking at the two strange looking creatures, who look so little like their evolutionary ancestors, and who have been in so short a time bred to be so different, seems to me a perfect example of how the process actually works; that if we the people can have such dramatic results through selective breeding, then obviously nature, through its own natural selection, can and does accomplish much the same as our "unnatural" choices, over time. She looked at me as if I had either totally lost my mind, or as if she were a devout Christian, with word for word belief in the Bible. For the sake of my neighborly self respect, I assumed the latter. Before her mouth had a chance to open and then close, I plowed on, mentioning hybrid corn as another example of human accelerated evolution in action in our daily lives. I could tell that she wanted to steer the conversation in an entirely different direction, towards her daughter's life, her family, her fond memories of dogs past, whatever, but ceratinly not into some theological dark alley. But I didn't care. In this age of encroaching darkness, someone has to defend science, learning, and progress. "I still believe God created man", she replied. "We didn't just happen". I decided not to pursue the concept that nature, merely due to the absence of god, need not necessarily be viewed as merely happening, but can be seen as being its own designing, intelligent force. One should only carry an offensive so far, then wait for reinforcements and supplies to catch up. Still, the urge to promote my scientific truth overcame me. Fair enough, I said. Perhaps, I offered, what we call "god" is an intelligent designing force which might as well be called "nature", or, as Einstein, said, "the infinitely superior spirit which reveals itself in nature", rather than some anthropomorphic being. I then could not resist the temptation to push my offensive to the limit. Maybe the biblical being "Yahweh", should be seen as figuratve and symbolic, a being invented by primitive man who destroyed fifty thousand Philistines merely because someone took a peak inside a forbidden box is perhaps more the product of human fantasy than a true description of reality. At that point, I knew I was through, because I clearly discerned rising indignation in her facial expression. Then too, she had pocketed her smart phone, and was starting to glance at her front door. I knew at that point that I would never again catch a glimpse of her daughter's cute pomeranians.

Presuming Innocence

WHAT WITH THE KAVANAUGH DEBACLE leaving a fresh but bitter after taste in the average American mouth, it seems relevant to give some consideration to the concept of "presumption of innocence", a concept which lately has been given so very much attention, much of it unwonted, much of is misdirected, much of it flat out misleading. Supporters of Kavanaugh have suddenly shown a great deal of fealty to those who are innocent because they have not yet been proven guilty, a distinct departure from their approach to the accusations made against Bill Clinton, who, from all indications, was and indeed is still not innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of conservative republicans, but rather, guilty, a priori. One might surmise that in the republican world of jurisprudence, presumption of innocence applies only to conservatives seeking political office or positions on the U.S. Supreme Court. Presumption of innocence is utterly irrelevant to the Knomination and confirmation process, precisely because the sacred principle applies to criminal litigation, not job interviews. Kavanagh, we must all agree, was not on trial for any crime; he was being considered for a job. I challenge anyone to arrange to be interviewed for any job in the land of freedom, then, in the middle of the interview process, stand accused of sexual misbehavior by more than one alleged victim, and to see how rapidly the job interview turns into a job rejection. Nobody in america, other than, apparently, Brett Kavanaugh, would stand a chance of getting hired after being so accused, innocent or not. The mere possibility of guilt would be more than sufficient reason for any reasonable employer to move right along to the next applicant. So it should have been with Judge Kavanaugh. Republicans, Kavanaugh supporters to a person, and doubtless thinking themselves quite clever, fire right back that presumption of innocence is more than merely a legal principle; it is a sacrosanct, bedrock, fundamental American value, etched into the hearts of all true blue and red blooded Americans, applicable at all times, everywhere. To this, the proper response is: bullshit. There is no such animal as "presumption of innocence outside the courtroom. Certainly not in mainstream American society or culture, certainly not in our daily personal lives, certainly not in american patterns of behavior or tradition or popular public mores' and values. Instead, what we have in America is quite the opposite, a value of I'm right and you're wrong, a system in which every last one of us, when we believe someone has wronged us, in absolutely and irrevocably convinced of the wrong doer's guilt, guilty without the slightest hope of a chance of being proven innocent. No matter who you are, when is the last time you were wronged by someone, and you told yourself that you have not yet been wronged, because the person who did you wrong has not yet been proven guilty, and is therefore innocent? The answer: never. When someone lies to you or steals from you, or is rude to you, you do not wait for the misdeed to be confirmed and proven by any impartial party, other than yourself. Oh no. The person who cheated, lied, stole, or snubbed you is guilty, right then and there, because you say so, you know it happened, and that's good enough for you. That's how we all behave, That's who we are. Innocent until proven guilty in America outside the formal legal system in our daily lives, as a fundamental value near and dear to our hearts?? Not hardly.