High Water Everywhere

Bob Dylan's Love and Theft album has a great song, High Water Everywhere. Unfortunately, that seems to be a new reality. Contrary to what our fearless leader, Mr/ Trump. has said, climate change is not a Chinese hoax.

The South Florida coast, Jacksonville, the Gulf coast and the new Jersey coast are all experiencing frequent, serious flooding. Not just during severe storms but often just from the tides. The sea levels are rising/

Tropical weather, while possible in June, is almost unheard of. Today, the Gulf coast is experiencing a tropical storm. I live near Savannah, Ga, where there was no tropical activity for about 200 ueasr. Last year we had 3 tropical storms and a hurricane.

High Water Everywhere may become a new reality. Unless, of course. you live in the Southwest US. The last few days have seen temperatures there around 115 degrees F. No break in sight. At the same time, California just went through a severe drought that was broken by severe flooding.

Portugal is having murderous wildfires. Peru and Columbia are expecting devastating mud slides. All around the World, extremes of weather are becoming the new norm.

At this point, it does not matter what is causing this. The first thought should be, 'what do we do in response?' Later, we can worry about causes and blames. It is probably a natural cycle worsened by the fact that we have turned much of the World into concrete . Our destruction of wet lands and forests have surely worsened things. Cars and green house gases? Maybe yes, maybe no, but they are surely not the major cause and, as I said, that does not matter right now. Our response is what is important.

President Trump may one day wake up and find his Mar a Lago has become waterfront property. For that matter, the White House may become waterfront property. Maybe then he will realize that this is no hoax. When farmlands are alternately flooded and scorched, what will people do? Being rich will not matter. You cannot eat money.

America, The Monarcht Awaits

I understand that Puerto Rico may become a State. Fine with me. In Florida, I had several Puerto Rican friends and they were all hard workers who loved to have fun, so I am all for letting them become a State

At the same time, I understand that California is not fond of Americans in the rest of the land. No problem they can secede. That way, we can still keep those 5o star flags.

Those folks obviously do not like democracy, so here's a thought. They can have a Monarchy, and I propose Hillary Clinton as their first Queen. Queen Hillary sounds sort of royal, doesn't it?

She could have her way and, since she is  so sure she know what's best for the lowly peasant, she could dictate what all her subjects could do, from the poorest farm worker to the grandest businessman, excuse me, business person; we must not be sexist or off with our heads.

Huma Abaden, Loretta Lynch and Elizabeth Warren could be Ladies in Waiting. Bill, of course, would be Prince Consort and Chelsea would be Heir to the Throne. Just think; those two wacky cut ups. John Podesta and Anthony Weiner, could be Court Jestres. Oh what jolly tomes Californians could have;

If all goes well, which I am sure it will, maybe Guam could next get Statehood. To keep those 50 star flags, we could eliminate another State that seems less that Democratically inclined, New York. They may be in luck. By the end of the year, the way things are going, Donald Trump may be available to become their King. I am sure he would love the title and, after all, he already has a son named Baron.

America - Fact vs Fiction

I have been thinking about terrorism a bit and things do not add up. We are supposed to, according to the media, the President, and assorted pundits, be terrified. Instead, lets be rational. I know that is nearly unthinkable these days, but come on and give it a try; it'll be fun.

In the dark period after 9/11, not a whole lot happened in this country. The, in London, Madrid and Indonesia, there were horrific bombings, carried out in a sophisticated style by Al Qaida Okay, things got a bit scary. Here in the USA, we had some failed efforts. Look at them. About the most serious was 'the Underwear Bombe, who, as it turned out could not even blow up his own underwear. Since then, we have had a few multiple shootings and a few knife attacks. Awful? Yes, but remember a few things. We have for the last 50 years been plagued by mass and serial killings. Does  no one remember Charles Whitman, Richard Speck, Manson, the Son of Sam and the Zodiac Killer. Ted Bundy? The Green River killer and the Hillside Stranglers. The point is, for reasons never known, (actually, we have fairly good idea what happened, but this is not the place for that discussion)Americans were slaughtering each other at a furious clip before we heard of Islamic Terrorists. In fact, the monsters just mentioned were far more effective at their ghoulish business than any of our recent terrorist have ever dreamed of being.

Look at recent attacks in England. They were, of course, horrible, but think a minute. There was one bomb in one attack. The other 2 involved guys in vans, plowing into crowds and then waving knives around. Really? Is that the best the dreaded ISIS can do" Then. look at Sandy Hook and Columbine where kids walked in armed to the teeth and killed a lot of other kids.

Yet, instead of coming to grips with the causes of this manic urge some have to randomly kill their fellow humans, we immediately start dropping vast amounts of bombs on the Middle East.
Yes, ISIS and their kind are based in Islamic lands but no one in anything resembling their right mind, believes that all Moslems living in Europe and America want to kill all Westerners. Some of these folks have lived among us for long years and gotten along just fine.

And no number of bombs dropped, which by the way have killed 10s of 1000s of innocent people, can explain our own, homegrown, monstrous killers. Even the monster who killed the folks at the gay club in Orlando seemed more upset by his own closeted sexuality that ant Western oppression, and, we should remember, he was a US citizen.

I have made it clear that I am not fond of importing people from Islamic lands but that his because of costs and culture shock, not fear that they will kill us all.

Who should we be nervous about? A seldom mentioned group, the White Supremacists, the Militia groups, the neo-Nazis and Klan. These people are heavily armed, fiercely violent, and pretty well organized and they are becoming more vocal every day. If you think they are not dangerous, remember the Oklahoma City bombings. We fight in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan while ignoring the monsters we ar breeding at home.

America, Trump and God

I have been having some vision issues recently, so this will be a short post.  However,, I feel a need to touch on Trump's apparent religious zealotry. I don't buy it. He is running around Israel, visiting the Pope and mentions God with great frequency but I just do not buy it.

Donald Trump's God is the Trump family, with himself as Patriarch. But, his Administration is full of devout, ultra right religious zealots and therein lies the danger. Pence, Sessions, Devos, Perry, Bannon, all of these are extremely religious and Trump is being used by them. He gets to act important and they get their agenda through.

The {residential orders he has written guaranteeing absolute religious freedoms are serious. I, myself, am deeply spiritual and essentially Christian, but I recognize danger when I see it. Wpmen will have a tougher time obtaining contraceptives, especially if poor. Gay rights will disappear. If you are non-Christian or non-Jewish, you will have problems.

Son-in-law Kushner is an Orthodox Jew  and this is a group that even Israelis find overbearing. His presence is pushing Washington even further in its pursuit of a pro-Israel direction and this will be supported by all those right wing Christians hanging around because of their belief in a comin g Apocalypse.

Worse still, if en forced as written, Hindus and Moslems will be able to practice such charming religious notions as honor killings without sanction. After all, it is their religion and Trump has now said that they are free to practice with n o restrictions.

Hard core religious fundamentalism and zealotry are nightmarish, but good old Donald has opened the door to a world of dark, deadly, dangerous hard line, men and women who have given up rational thought for simple minded adherence to ancient and malevolent doctrines. God, np pun intended, help us all. 

America - The Insanity Cpntinues

Have You folks got the message yet? This Trump thing is not working. Just look at the facts.

The promise to end out Mid Easr woes? They are worse. The promise to rein in N/ Korea? They just figured out how yo launch an ICBM.
Get tough with China/ They're now our best buddies.

At Home? They cannot write am immigration directive that can pass the courts The Wall is not going to happen. Health Care reform is going to take a wee bit longer. Yax reform is being pushed down the road. Jobs are being created at avout the same ratel we have no huge upswing in employment.

The whole 'buy American' thing will remain a joke since his own daughter's clothing line is produced elsewhere.
The White House gas become a den of backstabbers worthy of the Medici's of old Iraly. They function from crisis to crisis, ,ost caused by the President's bug mouth, over blown ego and increasing paranoia.

This cannot continue or the Nation will be a roral disaster. So, with that in  mind, I want you all to practice saying '{resident Mike Pence."

America and the New Reality Show

It seems that our President, frustrated that the Russian ties to his candidacy just will not go away, has fired FBI Director James Comey. To be sure, Comey seemed an incompetent buffoon, trying to play both sides of the fence. His handling of both the Clinton email scandal and the Russian probe has been a laughable attempt to both please and prosecute everyone and no one. Well, he's gone now and that's that.

But, I am afraid that Trumps woes will continue. The US Attorney in Virginia has issued Grand Jury subpoenas for some of Mike Flynn's associates. The investigations will continue.

The whole affair is beginning to remind me of Watergate, a nothing little crime made far worse by cover ups. The same can be said of Clinton's email fiasco. For those who don't remember, during Watergate, we saw a President, Richard Nixon, become totally unhinged, sinking into a paranoid state unacceptable in a man controlling our nuclear arsenal. This morning, I am seeing reports fro White House staffers of Trump screaming at the TV when he sees unfavorable news reports.

We need to calm things down a bit, have some fun, so I have a recommendation. Trump gained notoriety for his 'reality' TV show, The Apprentice. He is now searching for a new FBI Director, so let's assemble a list of candidates and let them reprise that ridiculous TV show. Trump can give them all silly little jibs each week and at the end of each episode, we can have him say those famous words to the week's loser, "your fired." The last one standing will be the new FBI Director.

The show would get monster ratings. Maybe Trump would calm down when back in a more comfortable role, that of a silly TV host. It makes about as much sense as anything else the Trump White House is doing.

America and the Beauty of the Constitution

The other day, our President actually said that he found the constraints put on him by the Constitution to be frustrating. He seems to be missing an important little thing. That is the point of much of the Constitution.

The Founding Fathers, a remarkable group of human beings, feared strong leaders. They also feared the emotions of the people. A combination of strong leadership. playing on strong emotions in the populace, is dangerous, very dangerous. So, they devised away to keep sanity in charge.

First, and I wish folks would get this, we are not a democracy. We are a representational republic that uses democratic voting to choose representatives. When you vote for Congressmen and Senators, you are electing representatives and when you vote for President, you are voting, not directly for a candidate, you are voting for a representative in the Electoral College, who will then vote for your candidate. This was done to prevent huge states from being overly dominant. Yes, it produces the occasional anomaly, like Trump, but on the whole, it works well.

Now, the constitution sets up checks and balances. The Judicial, Executive, and Legislative Branches each has their function and each watches the other. In essence, it prevents any one group from becoming overly dominant.  As a result, we govern by conversing, arguing, and ultimately, reaching compromises. No body gets everything they want, nor should they. A Texas rancher and a New York stock broker have very different interests and to accommodate every one is not possible at the Federal level. That is why the Fathers left a lot of issues up to the States.

The system set up by our Constitution is absolutely brilliant and I am very glad that Trump feels frustrated. He is supposed to; that's how things were set up. Let's keep things that way.

We do not want a Nation where the emotions of the population converge with the plans of a strong leader. The World saw that about 80 years ago in Germany and things did not end well.