Mr Charles Blow —the “Opinion Page” columnist for the NY Times (but all of its “news” is opinion these days) did not like the President’s Independence Day speech at Mount Rushmore. In “Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil” (NYT July 5, 2020) Blow shames himself by smearing and attempting to demean the truly great men of our history.:Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. All these men had a hand in making America what it is today. Yes each was a man of his times, and should be understood as an historical figure..not brought forward to the modern day and judged by our present standards.
Mr. Blow castigates George Washington as a “slave owner”—who only freed his slaves at the end of his life. But if George Washington had not ever graced this land with his commanding presence, with his military determination, courage and simple doggedness on and off the battlefields, up and down our east coast against the most experienced, powerful military and navy in the world our nation would not exist. Without this man the military aspect of the Revolution may have never started and if it had it was likely to have resulted in failure and with the British, brutally subduing pacifying the colonies—as they did in Ireland and Scotland. Those slaves that Washington freed would have remained as chattel —property—of the British overlords and there would be today be no America for Blow to be so unhappy with.
It was Thomas Jefferson who gave us the Declaration of Independence and those great ideals to which we continue to aspire to and to work toward. Jefferson enshrined one of the greatest political statements and documents of all time. Those ideals and ideas would never have been written were it not for his fertile mind. Western America might be still part of a French global empire (Louisiana Purchase) and Rogers and Clark would not have made their great passage of discover across out continent.
Need I explain what the our world would be like had not Abraham Lincoln served as President? Lincoln never owned a slave but nevee the less offends Mr. Blow—because he once expressed a view of race and race relations of THAT TIME which is painful for some to hear today. But it was Lincoln who heroically, intelligently and doggedly managed to win the Civil War, maintain the fragile union and free all of America’s slaves. That was not enough for Mr. Blow.
President Teddy Roosevelt seems to offend Mr. Blow’s sensibilities because he was white and an “imperialist” and at least according to Blow a racist. But it was Roosevelt who gave us the Panama Canal and began the practice of saving great swaths of our beautiful land preserving them for us all as our magnificent National Parks for which he is rightly honored today.
This and all those great deeds and wondrous achievement would not exist where it not for these —yes white men—yes like all of us somewhat flawed. But even with their inability to rise above the perceptions, value systems, economic constraints and ideas of their time—they accomplished great and wondrous—nay heroic- deeds and are worthy and more so of their elevation at Mount Rushmore.
Now as to Mr. Blow —and most all of us Americans —if he had never made it through his elite university and then on to the ivory halls of the NYT—all made possible by the early efforts of these great men —Blow has chosen so ungraciously to smear— no one would notice his absence..
Monday, July 6, 2020
Thursday, July 2, 2020
ON “JOE” AND THE EVIL OF NEGATIVISM FROM THE LEFT
Again today ( July 2) we were reminded of how powerful and damaging are the pernicious forces of the far left which control the press, media, entertainment, education, and the entangling tentacles of powerful local, state and federal government. And how determined these forces are to paint our President and our present predicament in uniformly drab, depressing shades of gray and black.
We are a people battered by multiple threats: from a virulent and deadly invasive disease, isolation, economic disaster, and the rise, harboring and facilitation by local government of gangs of anarchists posing as peaceful protestors. We need some good news to prop up our spirits and give us hope for the future. But the left —truly the “nattering nabobs of negativism” (re: VP Agnew) will not or can not give our nation—all of us—a fair break from their continuous battering of dangerous, harmful negativism.
Today, the President led the morning news cycle with the joyful revelation that the June unemployment numbers and jobs-creation data were (again) very positive. Some described them as “stellar” This was wonderful news for a nation struggling to return from the effects of disease and economic disaster. The President’s message —even in the face of rising Covid cases— was a sign that perhaps we have learned something about dealing with this virus. And that the 40 million unemployed who lost their jobs to this novel disease first detected in China and spread around the world-have been reduced by nearly a third! That is real progress and a welcome hopeful sign of recovery. . That is something positive to hang our hopes on. As each of our 50 states go through the inevitable biological population dynamics manifested by rising corona cases as the disease moves through new populations —and then their precipitous fall to recovery —we as a nation have hope to see a return to some semblance of normality. We needed those positive hopeful Presidential words.
But the nattering nabobs of negativity on the left can or will not let any “positivism” break. Focused as they are on only the defeat of President Trump they will mindlessly tear down our nation to achieve that goal. These far left-leaning media, entertainment, deep state and political organizations, government institutions are determined to beat us all down. Their motives are not pure—they connive and conspire not for the betterment of the nation—or for the mental health of our citizenry—but for base partisan political advantage. These organizations and individuals can find no good news anywhere—ever! That fact exposes their alteration into organs of propaganda. Since Nature assures us on the basis of statistics that “good” and”bad” come to us in equal doses. Only by massive information manipulation can all things be always be “bad”.
In
To reinforce this thought—-our nation was faced on the same day with having to experience the negative reposte to President Trump’s speech with:—the “Biden Response”. Joe, recently out of his cellar but still looking fragile and with a jailhouse pallor could find no benefit coming out of the facts —thePresident revealed earlier in the day—that our nation is recovering economically, that more people are working, that blacks, Hispanic and others are returning to work in a record numbers in response to the tentative and fitful reopening of America. Instead, “Bad mouthing USA Joe” chose to throw in our faces and focus on the negative news about Covid cases. He seemed happy to encourage negativity as if it was “good news” to him! Candidate Joe’s “bad mouthing” the nation and destroying hope at this very time in our recovery is simply another sign of institutionalized negativism practiced by the left. It confirms thought that former
regular guy “Uncle Joe” has been taken over and “retooled” into a fringe lefty by the socialists and far left elements of his own party.
Is this all that the left has to offer? They offer us negativism, chaos and brigandage in our cities, politically “correct” control over our word choice and language, despoiling of our churches and statuary, stomping on our flag, defunding our police, ridiculing our faith, besmirching our patriotism our religions institutions, encouraging spikes in urban crime and violence as they replay economic strategies like socialism which have been applied and tried and rejected all over the world. They promise higher taxes, deficit spending on failed political nostrums of the 1930s, pie in the sky “free stuff” for everyone, open borders, and a return to a time of disappearing jobs, slow growth and a weak economy,
Joe looks weak and fragile and makes clear he is in bed with the tyrants and anarchists in his own party. He is out of his depth. He is too old and weak. He is not up to the task physically, mentally or ideologically of leading a vibrant, powerful nation out of its present circumstances into a better place.
FYI
The economy created almost 5 million new jobs in June. That amount was astounding, given that in May the economy had produced a reported 2.5 million jobs or about 8 times what was expected. That number was later recalculated upward to 2.7miion jobs! Thus in the last two months almost 8 million jobs were filled. The numbered reduced the unemployment figure down from nearly 15% to a bit more than 11%! These numbers are impressive indeed and suggest a steep “v” shaped recovery from the Covid 19 downturn.
We are a people battered by multiple threats: from a virulent and deadly invasive disease, isolation, economic disaster, and the rise, harboring and facilitation by local government of gangs of anarchists posing as peaceful protestors. We need some good news to prop up our spirits and give us hope for the future. But the left —truly the “nattering nabobs of negativism” (re: VP Agnew) will not or can not give our nation—all of us—a fair break from their continuous battering of dangerous, harmful negativism.
Today, the President led the morning news cycle with the joyful revelation that the June unemployment numbers and jobs-creation data were (again) very positive. Some described them as “stellar” This was wonderful news for a nation struggling to return from the effects of disease and economic disaster. The President’s message —even in the face of rising Covid cases— was a sign that perhaps we have learned something about dealing with this virus. And that the 40 million unemployed who lost their jobs to this novel disease first detected in China and spread around the world-have been reduced by nearly a third! That is real progress and a welcome hopeful sign of recovery. . That is something positive to hang our hopes on. As each of our 50 states go through the inevitable biological population dynamics manifested by rising corona cases as the disease moves through new populations —and then their precipitous fall to recovery —we as a nation have hope to see a return to some semblance of normality. We needed those positive hopeful Presidential words.
But the nattering nabobs of negativity on the left can or will not let any “positivism” break. Focused as they are on only the defeat of President Trump they will mindlessly tear down our nation to achieve that goal. These far left-leaning media, entertainment, deep state and political organizations, government institutions are determined to beat us all down. Their motives are not pure—they connive and conspire not for the betterment of the nation—or for the mental health of our citizenry—but for base partisan political advantage. These organizations and individuals can find no good news anywhere—ever! That fact exposes their alteration into organs of propaganda. Since Nature assures us on the basis of statistics that “good” and”bad” come to us in equal doses. Only by massive information manipulation can all things be always be “bad”.
In
To reinforce this thought—-our nation was faced on the same day with having to experience the negative reposte to President Trump’s speech with:—the “Biden Response”. Joe, recently out of his cellar but still looking fragile and with a jailhouse pallor could find no benefit coming out of the facts —thePresident revealed earlier in the day—that our nation is recovering economically, that more people are working, that blacks, Hispanic and others are returning to work in a record numbers in response to the tentative and fitful reopening of America. Instead, “Bad mouthing USA Joe” chose to throw in our faces and focus on the negative news about Covid cases. He seemed happy to encourage negativity as if it was “good news” to him! Candidate Joe’s “bad mouthing” the nation and destroying hope at this very time in our recovery is simply another sign of institutionalized negativism practiced by the left. It confirms thought that former
regular guy “Uncle Joe” has been taken over and “retooled” into a fringe lefty by the socialists and far left elements of his own party.
Is this all that the left has to offer? They offer us negativism, chaos and brigandage in our cities, politically “correct” control over our word choice and language, despoiling of our churches and statuary, stomping on our flag, defunding our police, ridiculing our faith, besmirching our patriotism our religions institutions, encouraging spikes in urban crime and violence as they replay economic strategies like socialism which have been applied and tried and rejected all over the world. They promise higher taxes, deficit spending on failed political nostrums of the 1930s, pie in the sky “free stuff” for everyone, open borders, and a return to a time of disappearing jobs, slow growth and a weak economy,
Joe looks weak and fragile and makes clear he is in bed with the tyrants and anarchists in his own party. He is out of his depth. He is too old and weak. He is not up to the task physically, mentally or ideologically of leading a vibrant, powerful nation out of its present circumstances into a better place.
FYI
The economy created almost 5 million new jobs in June. That amount was astounding, given that in May the economy had produced a reported 2.5 million jobs or about 8 times what was expected. That number was later recalculated upward to 2.7miion jobs! Thus in the last two months almost 8 million jobs were filled. The numbered reduced the unemployment figure down from nearly 15% to a bit more than 11%! These numbers are impressive indeed and suggest a steep “v” shaped recovery from the Covid 19 downturn.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
ON JOE—A POLITICAL PROP FOR THE DEMS (Όχλος κράτος) MOBOKRATS
Joe Biden has his first political ad. Yes, the ancient and frail candidate for President whom the desperate Democrats scraped up out of the detritus of the political disaster of the last primary seaso has pushed open that sloping Bilco door to his basement and poked his balding head out into the sun With prompting from someone behind him in the shadows he mouthed his first political advert. Breaking into a phony smile which crinkled up his dry, prison pallor skin he states: “We are in the battle for the soul of this nation”. And then he asks: “Who do we want to be?”
It’s clear that large silent majority of Americans don’t want to be what Joe and his radical handlers want us to be— socialists and mob members. In his dotage, Joe may not fully comprehend that those who will make his decisions for him—perhaps only allowing him a figurehead presidency—represent the radical violent far left fringe. These folks are not the democrats of old who could claim to be the “power of the people” (demos- kratos) but are now the new MOBOKRATS—who embrace the violence and unrepresentative power of the chaotic, frightening mob.
Τhe Democrat Party once represented the “deme”—the people. It was a political coalition of the lower middle class, the unionists, farmers, laborers and blue collar workers. “Sleepy” Joe was once one of those Democrats —all of 47 years ago. In those days the party held broad political power all across the nation Today, like Joe —that party is no more. Those who call themselves “Democrats” have retreated —or been relegated to the densely populated, narrow urbanized enclaves on our teeming coasts. Confined in these places they have, out of necessity, cobbled together a coalition of anarchists, social democrats, communists, radical feminists, illegal immigrants, secularists (who defame the Christian faith), abortionists (who would permit the taking of innocent life on demand into the third trimester and infanticide legal), and a fringe element of African Americans and others who would rather claim and hold tightly to their “badge”of victimhood than take the myriad advantages and opportunities that this nation has so generously made available to them.
Joe may not know it but it is clear to all of us—those with full use of our faculties— that what the MOBOKRATS offer to their fringe radical coalition is just “free stuff”—free college, free health care for illegal aliens, free abortions, free access across our borders, no bail for felonious offenders, and defunded and defanged police forces so that the violent, radical ignorant mobs can rage across our nation defacing, burning, destroying property, and pulling down historic statuary with impunity.
But what are the MOBOKRATS offering us—the vast majority of hard working midddle class, small business men and women and more rural Americans? The America of the heartland and across our wide land who keep the peace, raise their families, support their churches and—pay the vast majority of the nation’s tax revenue. The radical fringe who are using Joe as a pasty-faced political prop offer nothing to those who actually pay for the “free stuff” and who in fact create jobs and wealth. Rather than aiding these people the radical politicians permit their mob-allies to burn and loot their businesses and destroy vast swaths of commercial property.
What do the Mobokrats offer? Not a thriving economy and low unemployment. No low tax rates. No safe and secure streets and freedom to conduct business in peace and security. Not better and more secure jobs, No end to bad deals that give away jobs to China. No kow-towing to the Chinese for access to their 1.4 billion consumers. No end to China stealing technology. No level playing field for our goods in Chinese markets. And not an end to off-shoring our well paying jobs.
No Joe we don’t want to be like your violent mob who are attempting to raise up out/dated, proven useless economic socialism which even the Chinese abandoned. And what chutzpah to even raise the question of the “soul” of this nation? It is you and your far left handlers who are on a course to destroy the wise, politically moderate, soul of this nation.
Joe—please now in the full of your four score years —we can see plainly that you are too fragile, too old for this job— go back into that basement, close that Bilco door and stay there below ground.
It’s clear that large silent majority of Americans don’t want to be what Joe and his radical handlers want us to be— socialists and mob members. In his dotage, Joe may not fully comprehend that those who will make his decisions for him—perhaps only allowing him a figurehead presidency—represent the radical violent far left fringe. These folks are not the democrats of old who could claim to be the “power of the people” (demos- kratos) but are now the new MOBOKRATS—who embrace the violence and unrepresentative power of the chaotic, frightening mob.
Τhe Democrat Party once represented the “deme”—the people. It was a political coalition of the lower middle class, the unionists, farmers, laborers and blue collar workers. “Sleepy” Joe was once one of those Democrats —all of 47 years ago. In those days the party held broad political power all across the nation Today, like Joe —that party is no more. Those who call themselves “Democrats” have retreated —or been relegated to the densely populated, narrow urbanized enclaves on our teeming coasts. Confined in these places they have, out of necessity, cobbled together a coalition of anarchists, social democrats, communists, radical feminists, illegal immigrants, secularists (who defame the Christian faith), abortionists (who would permit the taking of innocent life on demand into the third trimester and infanticide legal), and a fringe element of African Americans and others who would rather claim and hold tightly to their “badge”of victimhood than take the myriad advantages and opportunities that this nation has so generously made available to them.
Joe may not know it but it is clear to all of us—those with full use of our faculties— that what the MOBOKRATS offer to their fringe radical coalition is just “free stuff”—free college, free health care for illegal aliens, free abortions, free access across our borders, no bail for felonious offenders, and defunded and defanged police forces so that the violent, radical ignorant mobs can rage across our nation defacing, burning, destroying property, and pulling down historic statuary with impunity.
But what are the MOBOKRATS offering us—the vast majority of hard working midddle class, small business men and women and more rural Americans? The America of the heartland and across our wide land who keep the peace, raise their families, support their churches and—pay the vast majority of the nation’s tax revenue. The radical fringe who are using Joe as a pasty-faced political prop offer nothing to those who actually pay for the “free stuff” and who in fact create jobs and wealth. Rather than aiding these people the radical politicians permit their mob-allies to burn and loot their businesses and destroy vast swaths of commercial property.
What do the Mobokrats offer? Not a thriving economy and low unemployment. No low tax rates. No safe and secure streets and freedom to conduct business in peace and security. Not better and more secure jobs, No end to bad deals that give away jobs to China. No kow-towing to the Chinese for access to their 1.4 billion consumers. No end to China stealing technology. No level playing field for our goods in Chinese markets. And not an end to off-shoring our well paying jobs.
No Joe we don’t want to be like your violent mob who are attempting to raise up out/dated, proven useless economic socialism which even the Chinese abandoned. And what chutzpah to even raise the question of the “soul” of this nation? It is you and your far left handlers who are on a course to destroy the wise, politically moderate, soul of this nation.
Joe—please now in the full of your four score years —we can see plainly that you are too fragile, too old for this job— go back into that basement, close that Bilco door and stay there below ground.
Saturday, June 20, 2020
ON DOG TICKS,l
Ticks can smell!
The tick season has arrived. Those tiny, flat, brown, arachnids are on the prowl again. These blood sucking little critters are dangerous. They complete their life cycle only by burying their head in your skin (or your pet’s skin) and gorging bloob like a vampire. In the process they said well up to three or four times their original volume. . Whereupon finally blown up to look like a shiny bead-pearl they fall off The host and begin their life cycle again. In their passage through their blood sucking life they often pick up a host of deadly diseases which they can pass on to their human hosts:.Lyme, Babisiosis, Erlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, etc etc.
These eight-legged members of the spider “family” live among the weeds, brush and waste places around every home. Over the millions of years of evolution they have evolved a very efficient system to help them find hosts and complete their bloody life cycle. They can smell!
Yes these tiny arachnids can smell you out. Their olfactory organ is not located on the front of their head—their “nose”. No, that part of the head, where a nose would be is instead devoted to blood sucking. (This critical part—the probosis—is composed of a central straw/like tube bounded on each side by a sharp pointed harpoon-like appendage armed with rear-projecting barbs. These “side harpoons” slide forward and backward on either side of the central “sipper” tube, In the process of entering the skin of a host these harpoons move alternately as they drive the proboscis deeper into the host’s skin, eventually positioning the “sipper tube” deeper and deeper through the epidermis into a region where it can draw blood.
The twin harpoons with their array of rear facing hooks, once deeply embedded, make it near impossible for the tick to pull out if it wanted to or to remove the critter without tearing off the elaborately armed “nose” or “probosis”. On removal this part —the tube and harpoons are most often left behind embedded in the host’s skin to fester there when the tick is pulled out. )
So with its “nose” area devoted to harpooning a host and sucking blood, any olfactory organ (“smeller”) had to be located elsewhere. In the tick anatomy, that elsewhere is on the “wrists” of their most anterior appendages or front legs. These tiny “smelling” organs known as Haller’s Organ are comprised of a tiny pit on each “wrist” of the first appendage. The pit is lined with sensory setae (hairs) which seem to be able to sense the presence of carbon dioxide gas, ammonia, and other mammalian generated chemical vapors. Some claim they may also sense heat.
Thus a tick can “smell out” its host. When a cat or dog—or other warm blooded animal—passes through a brushy area. As it moves through this environment it leaves behind a trail of CO2 gas, as well as a gaseous trail of organic molecules resulting from the animal’s metabolic processes, such as carbon dioxide, urea, ammonia etc. etc. Ticks In the surrounding area respond and can home in on these scents using their Haller Organs to direct them. By always moving toward the more concentrated scent they eventually crawl up onto the branches or leaves which were in contact with the passing host animal. There they lay in wait.
In a tick’s view, if an animal had passed this way once...it is likely it will return. The ticks position themselves in a near upright stance , with their hind appendages holdong on to the leaf or branch and their fore appendages (these are armed with entangling bristles) are extended outward ready to engage the fur or fabric of a passing host. When a tick senses the approach of a host (perhaps by sensing heat) they simply extend their appendages and are literally swept up onto the skin or fur of the potential host.
Once aboard a host animal they cling on tightly and begin to move upward. Ticks are antigeotropic. They sense gravity and move opposite to its attraction —upward. They will not turn to go down. Thus a downturned collar on a long sleeved shirt will protect a human host from ticks crawling over its neck and into his or her hair. The arachnid reaches the bend in the collar and will not turn to go down and over it— so stay it stays trapped under the collar. (They must be removed from there)
While working as an archaeologist on Shelter Island off of Eastern Long Island my team an I often had to penetrate dense vegetative tangles and thickets heavily infested with ticks. Our field work required us to locate sites by subsurface probes and then excavate these areas. The process required clearing vegetation and then driving wood stakes to mark off excavation boundaries. On more than one occasion our work extended over several days. Often returning to a site after leaving the site area overnight we would find the tops of our stakes densely occupied by hungry ticks. The stakes —which had been driven into the soil by sweaty human hands—leaving behind attractant odors for ticks to home in on from the surrounding vegetation. Ten or more might be clustered on the top of the stake standing nearly upright with their fore appendages ready to grasp or entangle a host they expected to pass by again. .
University students in those days were well equipped with Zippo lighters and bug spray and ready and eager to deal with these aggressive and blood thirsty invaders.
But they too often resisted directions to tuck long pants into boot tops and wear long-sleeved buttoned up collared shirts—preferring more fashionable dress—like muscle shirts —to their eventual chagrin.
The tick season has arrived. Those tiny, flat, brown, arachnids are on the prowl again. These blood sucking little critters are dangerous. They complete their life cycle only by burying their head in your skin (or your pet’s skin) and gorging bloob like a vampire. In the process they said well up to three or four times their original volume. . Whereupon finally blown up to look like a shiny bead-pearl they fall off The host and begin their life cycle again. In their passage through their blood sucking life they often pick up a host of deadly diseases which they can pass on to their human hosts:.Lyme, Babisiosis, Erlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, etc etc.
These eight-legged members of the spider “family” live among the weeds, brush and waste places around every home. Over the millions of years of evolution they have evolved a very efficient system to help them find hosts and complete their bloody life cycle. They can smell!
Yes these tiny arachnids can smell you out. Their olfactory organ is not located on the front of their head—their “nose”. No, that part of the head, where a nose would be is instead devoted to blood sucking. (This critical part—the probosis—is composed of a central straw/like tube bounded on each side by a sharp pointed harpoon-like appendage armed with rear-projecting barbs. These “side harpoons” slide forward and backward on either side of the central “sipper” tube, In the process of entering the skin of a host these harpoons move alternately as they drive the proboscis deeper into the host’s skin, eventually positioning the “sipper tube” deeper and deeper through the epidermis into a region where it can draw blood.
The twin harpoons with their array of rear facing hooks, once deeply embedded, make it near impossible for the tick to pull out if it wanted to or to remove the critter without tearing off the elaborately armed “nose” or “probosis”. On removal this part —the tube and harpoons are most often left behind embedded in the host’s skin to fester there when the tick is pulled out. )
So with its “nose” area devoted to harpooning a host and sucking blood, any olfactory organ (“smeller”) had to be located elsewhere. In the tick anatomy, that elsewhere is on the “wrists” of their most anterior appendages or front legs. These tiny “smelling” organs known as Haller’s Organ are comprised of a tiny pit on each “wrist” of the first appendage. The pit is lined with sensory setae (hairs) which seem to be able to sense the presence of carbon dioxide gas, ammonia, and other mammalian generated chemical vapors. Some claim they may also sense heat.
Thus a tick can “smell out” its host. When a cat or dog—or other warm blooded animal—passes through a brushy area. As it moves through this environment it leaves behind a trail of CO2 gas, as well as a gaseous trail of organic molecules resulting from the animal’s metabolic processes, such as carbon dioxide, urea, ammonia etc. etc. Ticks In the surrounding area respond and can home in on these scents using their Haller Organs to direct them. By always moving toward the more concentrated scent they eventually crawl up onto the branches or leaves which were in contact with the passing host animal. There they lay in wait.
In a tick’s view, if an animal had passed this way once...it is likely it will return. The ticks position themselves in a near upright stance , with their hind appendages holdong on to the leaf or branch and their fore appendages (these are armed with entangling bristles) are extended outward ready to engage the fur or fabric of a passing host. When a tick senses the approach of a host (perhaps by sensing heat) they simply extend their appendages and are literally swept up onto the skin or fur of the potential host.
Once aboard a host animal they cling on tightly and begin to move upward. Ticks are antigeotropic. They sense gravity and move opposite to its attraction —upward. They will not turn to go down. Thus a downturned collar on a long sleeved shirt will protect a human host from ticks crawling over its neck and into his or her hair. The arachnid reaches the bend in the collar and will not turn to go down and over it— so stay it stays trapped under the collar. (They must be removed from there)
While working as an archaeologist on Shelter Island off of Eastern Long Island my team an I often had to penetrate dense vegetative tangles and thickets heavily infested with ticks. Our field work required us to locate sites by subsurface probes and then excavate these areas. The process required clearing vegetation and then driving wood stakes to mark off excavation boundaries. On more than one occasion our work extended over several days. Often returning to a site after leaving the site area overnight we would find the tops of our stakes densely occupied by hungry ticks. The stakes —which had been driven into the soil by sweaty human hands—leaving behind attractant odors for ticks to home in on from the surrounding vegetation. Ten or more might be clustered on the top of the stake standing nearly upright with their fore appendages ready to grasp or entangle a host they expected to pass by again. .
University students in those days were well equipped with Zippo lighters and bug spray and ready and eager to deal with these aggressive and blood thirsty invaders.
But they too often resisted directions to tuck long pants into boot tops and wear long-sleeved buttoned up collared shirts—preferring more fashionable dress—like muscle shirts —to their eventual chagrin.
Monday, June 8, 2020
Colin Powell Master of Deception Dragged Out As “Republican” Not Supporting Trump
The left has dragged out aging (83 years) Colin Powell, South Bronx boy who made it in the US Army and politics, rising to Secretary of State for George Bush (the kid) but who always seemed to be elevated to positions just above his punching ability. Powell’s ties to the disastrous Bush (junior) and the evil Cheney administration are legend. But Powell’s critique of the present administration has has no validity. Powell would be wise to keep criticisms of the Trump team to himself, lest we are reminded again about his lies to the American people regarding “WMD which caused so much loss of life and treasure for the USA. In fact, with his history of duplicity how this man has the chutzpah to criticize Trump at all—is itself a remarkable feat.
Recall that it was Powell who in his now infamous lie-filled, plagiarized speech to the UN Security Council of February 2003 laid out “proof” of Iraq’s biological and nuclear arms—WMD. All his proofs were of course made up out of thin air. It was Powell’s speech —supposedly from a senior member of the Bush cabinet with gravitas, honesty and courage to tell the truth—(all scarce in the the young Bush character) that helped turn the tide for invasion and the disastrous Bush-Cheney IraqWar. Those events of the Bush years were ones which truly needed Congressional oversight and criminal investigation and yes impeachment. But the Democrats of those days were silent and compliant with the truly dumb and evil team of Bush/Cheney. The weak Democrats all voted for Bush’s disastrous war.
At the UN, Powell knew the truth —there were no weapons of mass destruction—but did not have the courage to stand up against the kid Bush . He “took a knee” for Bush junior’s death dealing war
plans and caused the demise of untold thousands and the desolation of wide swaths of the Middle East for which we are still paying dearly. . It was and remains the worst foreign policy decision ever made—or near enough to it. (And there were so many.)
How Powell could show his face in public after his long ago UN performance says something about Powell’s understanding of the US public ability to absorb and then forget lies and the hypocrisy of the left who set him to this task
The left. so consumed and debilitated by “Trump derangement syndrome”’is clearly and hypocritically attempting to refurbish and recast this truly “bad playe of the past into a paragon of virtue so as to use him as a cudgel against the President.
They hypocritically forget history.
Recall that it was Powell who in his now infamous lie-filled, plagiarized speech to the UN Security Council of February 2003 laid out “proof” of Iraq’s biological and nuclear arms—WMD. All his proofs were of course made up out of thin air. It was Powell’s speech —supposedly from a senior member of the Bush cabinet with gravitas, honesty and courage to tell the truth—(all scarce in the the young Bush character) that helped turn the tide for invasion and the disastrous Bush-Cheney IraqWar. Those events of the Bush years were ones which truly needed Congressional oversight and criminal investigation and yes impeachment. But the Democrats of those days were silent and compliant with the truly dumb and evil team of Bush/Cheney. The weak Democrats all voted for Bush’s disastrous war.
At the UN, Powell knew the truth —there were no weapons of mass destruction—but did not have the courage to stand up against the kid Bush . He “took a knee” for Bush junior’s death dealing war
plans and caused the demise of untold thousands and the desolation of wide swaths of the Middle East for which we are still paying dearly. . It was and remains the worst foreign policy decision ever made—or near enough to it. (And there were so many.)
How Powell could show his face in public after his long ago UN performance says something about Powell’s understanding of the US public ability to absorb and then forget lies and the hypocrisy of the left who set him to this task
The left. so consumed and debilitated by “Trump derangement syndrome”’is clearly and hypocritically attempting to refurbish and recast this truly “bad playe of the past into a paragon of virtue so as to use him as a cudgel against the President.
They hypocritically forget history.
GERMANY HOWLS WHEN TRUMP PULLS TROOPS
According to the WSJ President Trump has decided (June 7, 2020) to pull 9500 of the @35,000 ot our troops stationed in Germany. The German response was typical...anti- Trump blather. “It’s completely unacceptable” and the false claim that President Trump was “weakening NATO” or “upsetting the post-WW II world order”!
Our troops have been stationed in Germany for 70 years or so costing us dearly while bolstering the German economy where our troops spend their paychecks. The local economy around troop bases has become dependent upon the economic presence of these soldiers and their families. But an even more significant effect has been that the Germans have never needed to spend their tax money on defense. Our presence in Germany may save them more than one percent (of GDP) on their defense expenses or perhaps $50 billion in US dollars. They are reluctant to change the system —so for them it is “unacceptable”.
Perhaps that’s why the Germans have such a “good life”. They have the best health care system in Europe, exceptional transportation systems, clean, well run affluent cities, and they spend magnificently on social welfare and the social safety net, offering long vacations, psychological leaves, exorbitant family leave and year long maternal leaves.
Much of this domestic spending is possible because Deutschland spends little on their national defense. Germany expends about 1% of GDP on defense. Other more independent nations spend many times more. American tax payers have the burden of three times that amount! Our formal “defense” spending is well over 3% οf our GDP. The German federal government. relieved of defending its borders, can then afford to spend lavishly on domestic spending—keeping all those Germans fat and happy and Ms Merkel in her post as PM for the last 15 years.
Those German defense costs have been transferred to the backs of hard working American tax payers. We American workers pay so the Germans can live longer and happier lives than we can as they freely and often cast dispersions on our race relations, our government and our people in general. So we keep them safe and we get no thanks.
To add to Trump’ chagrin the Germans have agreed to purchase natural gas—not from America their long term benefactor —but Mr Putin’s Russia via pipeline. .
So the only world order that President Trump is threatening is the well heeled,overfed pampered German tax payer. Trump is only attempting to level the paying field for the US worker - so let’s give him a chance to do that.
Our troops have been stationed in Germany for 70 years or so costing us dearly while bolstering the German economy where our troops spend their paychecks. The local economy around troop bases has become dependent upon the economic presence of these soldiers and their families. But an even more significant effect has been that the Germans have never needed to spend their tax money on defense. Our presence in Germany may save them more than one percent (of GDP) on their defense expenses or perhaps $50 billion in US dollars. They are reluctant to change the system —so for them it is “unacceptable”.
Perhaps that’s why the Germans have such a “good life”. They have the best health care system in Europe, exceptional transportation systems, clean, well run affluent cities, and they spend magnificently on social welfare and the social safety net, offering long vacations, psychological leaves, exorbitant family leave and year long maternal leaves.
Much of this domestic spending is possible because Deutschland spends little on their national defense. Germany expends about 1% of GDP on defense. Other more independent nations spend many times more. American tax payers have the burden of three times that amount! Our formal “defense” spending is well over 3% οf our GDP. The German federal government. relieved of defending its borders, can then afford to spend lavishly on domestic spending—keeping all those Germans fat and happy and Ms Merkel in her post as PM for the last 15 years.
Those German defense costs have been transferred to the backs of hard working American tax payers. We American workers pay so the Germans can live longer and happier lives than we can as they freely and often cast dispersions on our race relations, our government and our people in general. So we keep them safe and we get no thanks.
To add to Trump’ chagrin the Germans have agreed to purchase natural gas—not from America their long term benefactor —but Mr Putin’s Russia via pipeline. .
So the only world order that President Trump is threatening is the well heeled,overfed pampered German tax payer. Trump is only attempting to level the paying field for the US worker - so let’s give him a chance to do that.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
On Sec Mark Esper A deer in headlights
Sec Mark Esper has come out with a nervous faltering explanation as to what happened on the evening he accompanied the President to the Episcopal Church across the park from the WH. His statement: He didn’t know where he was going or why. It wasn’t his fault! He is not culpable for gassing the violent mob ( they were not gassed). Oh and he is NOT in favor of ever calling out the troops to put Diwn the violent insurrection we face across in almost every city across the nation. .
One can only conclude this is not the guy you would want to find yourself next to in a foxhole at night with the VC lobbing mortars into your LZ. I don’t feel safe with him as Sec Of Defense.
President Trump does not need this guy on his team.
He belongs elsewhere. The other team?
One can only conclude this is not the guy you would want to find yourself next to in a foxhole at night with the VC lobbing mortars into your LZ. I don’t feel safe with him as Sec Of Defense.
President Trump does not need this guy on his team.
He belongs elsewhere. The other team?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)