George’s slightly off-center view of the world
(Originally published 2016.)
John Adams declared that July 2, the date the Second Continental Congress voted to declare the thirteen colonies independent from Great Britain, would be celebrated “…with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” The written Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4. Continue reading “Celebrating Independence”
Here’s something else to blame on Obama:
An African-American president urged action on climate change and signed the U.S. onto the 2015 international Paris climate agreement. The result? “A significant number of white Americans deciding that they were done believing in climate change.”
That’s according to Salil Benegal, a political-science professor at DePauw University. Benegal did a study that found American climate-change deniers tend to be older and white, have racist attitudes and – surprise – identify as Republican.
Before you get carried away about a political-science professor postulating on climate change… he’s not. He’s simply looking at correlations. He also found that these same people only believe what Republicans tell them about climate. Professor Benegal recently summarized his findings in the Washington Post.
Okay, so concurrence is not causation. This is just an interesting factoid.
“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson
The current occupant of the White House has an infatuation with presidential pardons. Sheriff Joe, Scooter, and possibly any number of other felons connected to his campaign. Concurrently, he relishes frothing up crowds with the chant, “Lock her up!” referencing the woman who received three million more votes than he in the last election.
Which brings us to former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and Karl Rove and the depths to which Republicans will sink to gain power and subvert the electoral process.
When… or if… the “zero tolerance” border enforcement situation is resolved, there will inevitably be hundreds, maybe thousands, of children unable to reconnect with their parents. What to do? If we look back to the previous century, we’ll see there is a simple solution: put the kids on trains and ship them off to the heartland to work on farms.
In the mid-1800s, slums in New York and other eastern cities were bursting with immigrants who had come to the U.S. seeking relief from poor harvests, famines, political unrest and revolutions in their homelands. Advertising by railroad and steamship companies extolled America as “Land of the second chance” and where “free land” was available. The reality for most was quite different. Packed into slums where lack of sanitation resulted in rampant disease and working at low-wage jobs where safety was not a consideration during an era of no worker protection, neither against injury or death, nor resultant financial loss. The streets of New York became infested with 30,000 permanently separated children.
Continue reading “What To Do with All Those Separated Children”
Last year, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive sued the Trump administration for violations of the Presidential Records Act. Their claim is that White House staff has been using encrypted 
messaging applications – that automatically delete messages – for internal correspondence. The Records Act requires that all White House communications be captured for posterity.
Our president uses a more rudimentary method of expunging written documents: he rips up the pages, sometimes with a single tear down the middle, sometimes shredding the paper into confetti-sized pieces, sometimes tossed into the trash, other times scattered on the floor.
The Federal Communications Commission has repealed the rules requiring Internet service providers to provide equal access to all web content, i.e. “net neutrality.”
A refresher from mic.com:
“Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should give consumers equal access to all legal content and applications without favoring or blocking particular sources. The overall goal is to provide everyone with equal access to the internet. By promoting a free and equal internet, net neutrality ensures that an ISP is not dictating what kind of content the consumer — meaning you — is accessing online.”
