IGUANAS FALLING FROM TREES

Iguanas are not Key West favorites. I have never met a person who liked them.

I recall when they first began appearing some 20 years ago. First saw them on the golf course. Sitting in trees. A foot long at best. Small dinosaurs in effect.

Then they grew and multiplied. Some now as long as 5 feet. All over the island.

Why are they disliked? They are destroyers. Eat flowers and other plants on one’s property. Flowers are especially expensive to plant and grow in the lower Keys.

Eating gardens iguana’s number one past time. Number two is defecating in one’s pool. Cleaning and replacing the water an expensive proposition.

Why are they now falling from trees? The extreme cold the past few days is not healthy for iguanas. The cold causes them to lose their grip as they hold onto tree branches. Sometimes striking a human on the way down.

They do not die, however. Sad. The cold does not cause them to die or freeze. The iguanas go into a state of hibernation to return and aggravate the populace another day.

A good friend and excellent physician died. My heart doctor. Cardiologist Michael McIvor. Yesterday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami. He was 67.

Dr. McIvor operated The Keys Heart Center in Key West.

The good doctor retired 6 months ago.

A very sad loss.

Trump and those Republicans who support him are experiencing leaks in the dike. A few fingers help to keep the dike from caving in. However, in due course it will happen.

Trump spoke at a rally in Texas saturday. The newspapers reported “tens of thousands” attended. A very warm Trump crowd.

Trump’s mouth got in his way once again. He hinted should he run in 2024 and be reelected, he would pardon all January 6 persons convicted. He constantly talked about running and winning in 2024. Connected to he did not lose the election. It was stolen.

Trump also stood tall in opposition to certain criminal investigations against him which are ongoing. He warned were he to be charged/arrested, the streets in Atlanta, New York and Washington would overflow with demonstrators. supporting him. His suggestion without saying, another January 6.

A handful of Trump stalwarts came out with comments/statements following Trump’s talk in opposition to his statements. Senators Lindsay Graham and Sue Collins.

Their turn about does not surprise me. They both have tendencies to come out against something and soon thereafter sing a different tune.

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu also came out in opposition.

Two observations I would like to share.

There were few if any major political figures at the rally. Another indication there are leaks in the dike.

Most in attendance were everyday Americans. They came from all over the U.S. to hear and support “their President.” Some came several days early. Partied. Their mood has been described as “festive.”

I read a few weeks ago and reported it in my blog and on my blog talk radio show at the time. The report was to the effect that 80 percent of the people demonstrating on January 6 in Washington were not part of any organized group. They were ordinary everyday Americans who came to Washington to stand with Trump because he asked them to come.

Those are the type people I believe were at the Texas rally saturday.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked Lindsay after he came out with comments adverse to Trump. Especially where Lindsay called Trump’s ideas “inappropriate.”

One Republican chastising another. Two Republicans who hereinbefore had been on the same side. Another example of the leaks in the dike.

Maine’s Republican Senator Sue Collins came out with a blast against Biden. She accused Biden of being “clumsy”in the way he has handled the nominees for the Supreme Court. She said, “He has politicized the Supreme Court.”

What a joke!

Who has politicized the Supreme Court in the past few years more than Mitch McConnell and his Republican cronies? Collins is part of that team.

Her statement typical of Republican comments about most things in recent years. They talk out of both sides of their mouths. They lie/misspeak about most things.

Canada has had a very troublesome weekend. Specifically in the Ottawa area. Chaos, swastika flags, a woman dancing on the tomb of the unknown soldier, desecration of monuments, threatening of police and city workers, and surrounding of the Parliament building.

Defense Minister Anavul said the incidents were “beyond reprehensible.”

The purpose of the truck Freedom Convoy was to protest vaccine mandates.

Difficult to understand. Prime Minister Trudeau said those causing the trouble were a “small fringe minority.”

His statement supported by the fact that 90 percent of Canada’s truckers have been vaccinated. As have 90 percent of Canada’s adult population.

I sense here the same thing I wrote about yesterday. Affluent wealthy whites are financing with very big dollars these demonstrations. They want to control and run the government. Having made huge amounts of money not enough. Now, they want power. It’s a game of personal satisfaction.

A demonstration of the number of trucks and persons involved requires organization. The trucks came from everywhere. Who paid for the gas, food, motel expenses, etc.

And so it goes.

Enjoy your day!

BANNING BOOKS

Book banning is in vogue again.

The crazies are bullying school boards re certain books in school libraries.

Let’s begin with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled on the issue in 1982 in Island Trees School District v. Pico. The Court ruled school officials cannot ban books in libraries simply because of their content. The decision held the First Amendment limits the power of junior and senior high school officials to remove books from school libraries because of their content.

A New York school board received a complaint from a community group. The complaint asserted school policies re library books were too “permissive.” Nine books were involved, including Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Langston Hughes’ Best Short Stories by Negro Writers.

The complaint asserted the 9 books were “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and just plain filthy.”

In response, the school board removed the books in February 1976.

Five students, including Steven Pico, challenged the school board’s decision. The students claimed the books were removed because “passages in the books offended [the group’s] social, political, and moral tastes and not because the books, taken as a whole, were lacking in educational value.”

The Court ruled in favor of the students’ First Amendment thoughts, “holding the right to read is implied in the First Amendment.” The government in this case a public school – cannot restrict speech because it does not agree with the content of the speech.” The Court called libraries places for “voluntary inquiry” and concluded the schoolboard’s “absolute discretion” over the classroom did not extend to the library for that reason.

The decision clearly indicated that neither screaming parents at a school board meeting nor the school board itself had legal authority to question what books are in a school library.

The decision leaves today’s “interested parents” with only one recourse. Threaten school board members with violence. They are.

The result is that in many instances school board members are resigning in fear for themselves and their families. Their attitude understandably that the position is just not worth it.

The situation is similar to a local occurrence that just happened regarding the post of Supervisor of Elections for Monroe County. Key West lies within Monroe County.

The Supervisor is Joyce Griffin. She has been employed in the Elections Office for nearly 40 years. Her present post an elected one.

Griffin announced friday she is not running for reelection. The election is not till 2024. However she wants to give more than adequate notice so all will be aware.

Her reasons for not running again two fold. First, the State legislature. Recent decisions are making it difficult for election supervisors in Florida to do their jobs and permit voters to vote. Secondly, “I get death threats. We are fighting a battle without a leader.”

A personal observation. Abusive parents at school board hearings are funded by certain wealthy far right Republicans. Similar to January 6.

The school board bullies are too well organized across the country.

One such group is Moms For Liberty. Obviously funded. The group first organized in Florida in 2021. By two former school board members. Today less than a year later, the organization has 165 chapters in 53 states.

Moms’ pet projects “include beside book challenges, anti-critical race theory and anti-emotional learning in public schools, anti-mask mandates, and other legislation relating to education and COVID related policies.”

Those concerned with the sudden surge in the number of challenges to school boards, bookstores and libraries launched Banned Books Week in 1982. An annual event. Generally held in September.

Banned Books Week spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools.

The philosophical thrust of the Week is to make people aware the freedom to read is real. They spell out reading brings people together, whereas censorship draws people apart.

Book banning has been around as a practice for centuries. Book banning includes book burning. Derived from different political viewpoints to religious and cultural expression, the explanation for censorship attempts are vast.

Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen wrote an Opinion piece in the New York Times yesterday titled: “My Mind Was Distorted By A Book. It Changed My Life.”

Nguyen wrote, “Book banning is meant to stop people from thinking, which makes them easier to govern, to control and ultimately to lead into war.”

He also wrote, “And once a society acquiesces to banning books, it tends to soon see the need to burn people who love the books.”

Books banned on one or more occasions in the U.S from its earliest days to present times include Moll Flanders, Fanny Hill, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Elmer Gantry, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Tropic of Cancer, and The Grapes of Wrath.

Additionally Forever Amber, Memoirs of Hecile City, The Pentagon Papers, 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, Animal Farm, The Bible, The Hebrew Bible, The Protestant Bible, Watch Tower Society Publications, and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Authors banned world wide include Judy Blume, Maya Angelou, D.H. Lawrence, J.K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Marquis de Sade, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee, F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, and James Joyce.

Also George Orwell, Joseph Heller, Aldous Huxley, William Faulkner, Margaret Mitchell, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Truman Capote, William Styron, Evelyn Waugh, Norman Mailer, Theodore Dreiser, and John Updike.

Two noteworthy authors in the preceding list are Judy Blume and Ernest Hemingway. Both residents of Key West. Hemingway in the 1930s, Blume in more recent years.

Being a part of Key West, each warrants a few extra words.

Blume one the most banned writers in modern history. Amazing. Early on, she wrote primarily for young female adults and adolescents from the fourth to seventh grades. Topics focused on masturbation, menstruation, teen sex, birth control, and death.

Giselle Anatol specializes in child and young adult literature. Anatole wrote, ” When I grew up, she was everything to the young. She spoke to a lot of feelings and anxieties that young people were having at various stages.”

Our three daughters were born within 4 years. I recall walking around the house and seeing Judy Blume books lying around. I leafed through a couple. Thought my daughters should not be reading this stuff. I asked my wife about it. She said, “Mind your own business.”

Some of Blume’s works are titled Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret, Deenie, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, and Tige Eyes. Blume’s books have been translated into 35 languages and have sold 82 million copies.

Judy resides in Key West with her husband George Cooper. They operate a popular non-profit book store called Books & Books inĀ  Key West.

Ernest Hemingway seems to never be forgotten. His time in Key West every one wants to know about. His time here remains popular some 80 years after he left.

The world knows of Ernest Hemingway.

Yet three of his novels were banned at various times in certain countries: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom The Bells Toll.

Even the U.S. government frowned upon him in 1973. One of his books was declared non-mailable.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

ARCTIC WARNING BRINGS GALE WARNING TO KEY WEST

The northeast is buried in snow as I write. An arctic front of unusual proportions the cause.

The arctic front is also affecting the southern U.S., though not with snow. Colder than normal temperatures, strong winds and rain.

Unusual weather for Key West.

The home on occasion to hurricanes is at the moment under a gale warning. Began at 7 this morning and is supposed to lift by 1.

Should the gale materialize, it will not be that bad for us hurricane weathered veterans. Winds will be 34-47 knots.

At the moment, winds are 25-30 knots. Frequent gusts at 35 knots.

I looked out the window. Then walked onto the front porch. Finished my excursion in the back yard.

The palm trees are bending. Reflects the severity of the wind at the moment. Thin trunked trees swaying more than full trunked ones. The thins ones moving 1-2 feet back and forth. The thicker ones 1-2 inches.

The high today projected at 63. Tonight’s low 51. The type of night I wish I had a woman sleeping next to me.

What is happening not a big deal. Though different. Gives Key Westers something to talk about.

An interesting police raid thursday afternoon. The Sheriff Department’s swat team raided a Key West home. Swat team raids in Key West not that frequent.

Raided was the home of local resident Justin August Meyer, 31. His home in the sleepy 2700 block of Staples Avenue.

The swat team had a search warrant. Inside the home, they found guns not all allowed, cocaine, and cash from drug sales.

Meyer was arrested. He is part of a motorcycle gang, and a member of Pagan’s Motorcycle Club.

A woman and 2 children were home at the time of the raid.

Because of COVID, I very rarely go out. I am back into quarantine. The only time I have left the house in 3 weeks is for a doctor visit. I had a doctor visit yesterday.

I cannot recall the last time I purchased gas. Well before the past 3 weeks. I was close to empty yesterday. Stopped for gas.

Wow! How do most people pay for gas and feed their families?

I drive a Volkswagen Beatle. Small gas tank. Twelve gallon capacity or close t it. A little over 11 gallons cost me just over $50.

Biden must resolve the problem. The cost of gas will do more to harm him than most other things.

The way things work out. Strange happenings.

Biden was scheduled to speak in Pennsylvania yesterday afternoon. His topic infrastructure.

A Pittsburg bridge collapsed early yesterday morning. The bridge ran over Fern Hollow Creek. Several vehicles and a Port Authority bus went down.

Since it was 6:39 am, traffic was light. A little later would have been peak time and heavier traffic. The bridge has an average daily usage of 14,500.

People standing by participated in the rescue of 3 persons from the bus. They made a human chain 150 feet long to reach those in the bus.

Biden visited the scene. Spoke to those there: “The idea that we have been so far behind in infrastructure for so many years, it’s mind boggling.” As for the rest of the nation’s aging bridges, he pledged: “We’re gonna fix them all.”

It is 10:50 am. The wind has calmed down. Is it the calm before a storm? There is such a thing. I have experienced it many times with hurricanes in Key West.

Enjoy your day!

WIENERPALOOZA

Wienerpalooza is an example why many opt to live in Key West.

Today the day! A wiener wonderland. The annual Dachshund Parade.

Begins at 11:45 at the Custom House. Finishes at 135 Duval for the “after parade party.”

The weather will not be cooperative. Winter cold descends upon Key West tomorrow. The high 63 and low 50. Trust me, the weather will not discourage participants from the parade and party. Rarely is anything permitted to interfere with fun in Key West.

The weather sunday will not be much better: 58 high, 56 low

A slight improvement monday: high 69, low 66.

Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The admonition following 1945 and to this day: May it never happen again!

However, it has. There have been more than 40 genocides worldwide since the end of World War II.

I find it difficult to understand why Biden’s popularity is at such a low ebb. He has accomplished much. He has failed in certain areas also. However overall his record is on the favorable side.

His most recent accomplishment involves the GDP. It was announced yesterday the U.S. economy had expanded. The GDP grew 5.7 percent over the past year.

Its highest growth since 1984.

GoFundMe has sitting in its bank account $6 million raised for the Canadian Truckers Freedom Convoy. A well planned event. Truckers from all parts of Canada are joining together to protest vaccine mandates.

GoFundMe says it is merely checking things out before passing on the funds.

The actual dollars raised $6,033,210. Received from 77.6 thousand donors.

Enjoy your day!

ENOUGH FORMER JUDGES ON THE SUPREME COURT

The news that Justice Stephen Breyer will be retiring has brought to mind something that has been bothering me for years with regard to the Supreme Court selection process. Too many are selected who are judges sitting on a lower court.

The selection process has gone amiss in the last 20 years or so. Time for the tide to turn.

Placing the message in perspective, 8 of the 9 Justices presently sitting have been judges on a lesser court before rising to the Supreme Court. The one exception is Elena Kagan.

The selection process has tended to experienced jurists for 2 reasons.

First, Senate members having the responsibility of approving a President’s nomination wanted to know without question a selectee’s prior thinking on certain issues. What better way than to have their opinions from the lower court available for review.

I have always though the thinking of the Senate was off base in this regard. Lower court judges are required to follow precedent. What the Supreme Court said in an earlier case. Not much thinking involved there. Especially since once such a judge is elevated to the Supreme Court, he/she can change precedent.

The other is that out of the blue the Senate decided it was important to have Justices trained for the job. Not a brilliant decision in itself.

Twenty years on a lower court may have taught a new Supreme Court Justice how to write a decision. It has not taught such a judge to recall everyday experiences from the past. Their hearts and the understanding of people’s problems long buried in the everyday grind of legal thought.

Though learned in the law, lower court judges have been away from the everyday problems people face. Whatever experiences they may have had personally or have seen clients experience, is long forgotten. Replaced by technicalities in wording.

The Supreme Court was founded in 1790. Since then 120 persons have sat as Justices. Since 1900, 41 have been without prior judicial experience. The 41 included many who left enviable records as superior Justices. The 41 include William Rehnquist, Lewis Powell Jr., Abe Fortas, Byron White, Arthur Goldberg, Earl Warren, Tom Clark, Harold Burton, James Frances Byrnes, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Harold Fiske Stone, Louis Brandeis, and Charles Evans Hughes. Time will tell if Elena Kagan makes her mark

Names from a more distant history include John Marshall and John Jay.

Many were politicians or political servants.

Some were exceptional influences on the Court. Without Earl Warren, there would have been no Brown v. Board of Education. Felix Frankfurter and Louis Brandeis were legal geniuses without compare. William Howard Taft a former President of the United States.

Rather than great legal minds, what is needed is someone who grew up relatively poor, was buried in student loans, had trouble putting food on the table, making mortgage payments, etc.

Experience/tragedy/hard times are great teachers. However only while fresh in the minds of the nominees and/or not buried behind the clutter of too many cases heard and too many decisions rendered in the lower court.

Stacy Abrams is an example of that which I write. Though in referring to her, I am not recommending that Biden appoint her. The appointment his headache, not mine.

In April 2018, Abrams wrote an op-ed for Fortune Magazine. She revealed she owed $54,000 in federal back taxes and $174,000 in credit card and student loan debt.

Abrams was repaying the IRS incrementally on a payment plan after deferring her 2015 and 2016 taxes, which she stated was necessary to help with her family’s medical bills.

In 2019, she completed payment of her back taxes to the IRS in addition to other outstanding credit card and student loan debt.

Again, I am not saying or recommending Abrams for Breyer’s seat. What I am recommending is that serious consideration be given to one who has experienced hardship before rising to a position to be considered for the high position of Supreme Court Justice.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

ANOCRACY

Anocracy. A word you will hear more of as time goes on. It will replace authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism is exemplified by Hitler rolling tanks into Poland, the Russians into Hungary, and what Putin is attempting today with the Ukraine.

Anocracy are groups developing within a society with differing opinionsĀ  as to how and what the government should be. The U.S. previously has experienced anocracism. The Civil War which began in 1861. The South pro slavery, the North not so.

Barbara R. Walter is a respected political scientist who is concerned with the the U.S.’ rapid drift into anocracy. She wrote an interesting Opinion piece in the Washington Post 1/24 on the subject.

Walter began with recognizing today’s United States is divided into two groups.

One being what I see as revolutionaries who seek in their mind a better way. The QAnons being one. They believe U.S. must change government wise. The present structure rotting at its base.

Trump did not help. During the 2016 campaign, he mouthed words the anti’s wanted to hear. The government is falling apart, we must do something about it, etc.

On the other side are groups such as Black Lives Matter. They do not want a new government. They want to make changes in the government’s present form to improve life for persons of color and the poor.

Interestingly, the black/white divide is the base upon which all else stands in the revolutionary period we are entering. Recall slavery was the essence of the Civil War. Slaves were money to the South. The South would not give up their right to own slaves without a fight.

Whites recognize they are a diminishing group. Very shortly persons of color will clearly outnumber whites.

Such would mean a loss of power and influence politically and personally. Also the danger of what goes around, comes around. Whites fear they would be treated by persons of color as they have been treated by whites for the past two hundred years.

Imagine how whites in Texas would react if persons of color were in political control and outnumbered the whites. Those of color could pass legislation affecting white voting as the whites have recently done to those of color. Whites see it coming. Fear it. Fight it with laws adverse to those of colored persons today.

An increasing number of political scientists recognize the threat of war as anocracy increases, with the result of another civil war occurring.

Threat to the U.S. comes from within. Not the outside.

An anocracy is loosely defined as part democracy and part dictatorship. Again, the U.S. is trending that way. Evidenced by citizens organizing themselves into rival factions.

Walter wrote a civil war could be inevitable: “The cause is the Republican Party’s blatant attempt throughout the nation to promote racist authoritarianism by disenfranchising voters of color. The over revealing goal at both the state and federal levels is government by minority rule.”

The U.S. has been trending towards autocracy for many years. The direction has been reset. Changed. It is now trending towards anocracy.

Congress is another reason for the change in path. So obvious and familiar have Congress’ misdeeds been, no further explanation is required.

A problem is the mindset of the American people. Regardless of the side, most continue to view the U.S. as the “city on a hill.” They fail to recognize the U.S. has changed, become different.

The U.S. is in a “political tailspin.” Walter recognizes that “when a country moves into the anocracy zone, the risk of violence reaches its peak.”

Violence has already begun.

The U.S. has become “complacent.” Walters finds it “troubling.” In modern history, many of those involved in civil wars did not see the “war coming…..were surprised when it did.

Walters’ conclusion is on the money. The U.S. is being led into a “downward spiral of fear – and then a grab of power by force.”

Much to think about here.

Enjoy your day!

I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC

“I do solemnly swear I will support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

The oath all federal employees and members of the Army take.

An oath increasingly forgotten by many.

Texas is talking secession. Violates the oath.

The most conservative of conservative members of the Supreme Court was and remains Justice Antonin Scalia. He stated in 2006, “If there was any Constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”

Entertain this thought. Putin makes a deal with Mexico. He is permitted to station military personnel and equipment in Mexico. Texas seceded sometime before. Putin wants to take over the government of Texas and appoint a ruler/President favorable to him.

All of a sudden 100,000 Russian troops are on the Mexican/Texas border.

Who is Texas going to call upon to defend them? Santa Claus?

Sinema’s popularity slowly sliding downward.

Arizona Democrats recently censured Kyrsten Sinema because of her vote on the filibuster. The Democrats believe her filibuster vote helped sink the Democratic Party’s voting rights legislation.

Having observed Sinema’s nature, the rift will continue. She alienates. Her “virtue” was not obvious when elected. She is buying a primary the next time she runs.

Rudy Giuliani and Michael Flynn received honorary Doctorate degrees from the University of Rhode Island, though at different times. Giuliani in 2003 and Flynn in 2014.

The University’s Board of Trustees voted friday to revoke both honorary Doctorates. University President Marc Parlange said, They “no longer represent” the values and standards they demonstrated when they first received the honors.”

Drums of war.

Putin pushing in the Ukraine. Biden being forced to step up. Putin began with 100,000 troops on the border. Now 127,000. Biden announced he is placing the U.S. military on “high alert.” Eight thousand five hundred American troops are getting ready. Word also a carrier and additional warships are being put to the ready.

At a point yesterday, the DOW was down more than 1,000 points. Economists were blaming the fear the Federal Reserve would raise rates and the Ukraine conflict.

With literally minutes to go, the market rebounded and DOW ended the days 99 points higher.

It was reported 3 major corporations did the necessary transactions to cause the market to reverse itself, especially as dramatically as it did.

I am not an economist, never was a major market investor. So take my projection with a word of wisdom.

Things like what happened at the end of the day’s trading not normal. It reeks of the administration contacting the necessary folks and asking for their help by doing the necessary. Three came through in large numbers.

I apologize. I forget who the 3 are. My recollection tells me 2 of the 3 are Amazon and Walmart. However, I am not sure.

What will today bring? I suspect the market may go down considerably. What the 3 corporations did was merely a band aid.

Free COVID testing kits on the way via mail to all who asked. Biden has announced the U.S.is prepared to provide a package containing 3 free N95 face masks. The one recently recommended by the CDC.

Delivery will be by self pick up at designated drug stores and supermarkets. I am aware of 3 thus far in the Key West area: Walgreens, CVS, and Winn-Dixie. Masks should be available over the weekend. Other locations where the masks will be available will be announced soon.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

TIME FOR TOM BRADY TO PACK IT IN

It’s time for Tom Brady to ride off into the sunset. To pack it in. To retire. To spend the rest of his years enjoying his wife, children and anything else he might want to do, except play football.

Without issue, the greatest professional football player ever. Even at 44 years of age.

His exceptional talent was obvious again yesterday by the fantastic fourth quarter he had. I sometimes think he has a guardian angel helping him.

Tampa was down 27-3 at half time. Tampa lost to Los Angeles 30-27 at the end of the game on a field goal by Los Angeles with no time left on the clock.

Brady seems to have reached 44 with no significant injury. He should not press his luck. He does not know what another year will bring. Anything can happen. He should not gamble.

Professional baseball has been using robot umpires in the minors for several years. The robots have worked their way up. This year they will be calling balls and strikes in Triple-A ball.

The majors are next.

No one should have a heart attack over it. Robots have been operating on people for several years. If a robot can operate on a person’s brain, heart, kidney, etc, he most certainly can call balls and strikes.

A rare occasion when snow falls in the Saudi Arabian desert. It did several days ago. Over a large expanse of the desert and did not melt for a couple of days.

Even rarer is a hail storm in the same area. It happened at the time of the snow storm. So rare that experts describe the hail storm as “historic.”

Key West’s cold spell continues. An off and on thing this month. Fifty nine degrees last night. Heat and a blanket required for sleeping.

Tonight will be 61 degrees.

The high today 66 degrees. Tomorrow, 76 degrees. Evidencing how fickle Key West weather can be on occasion.

You will recall about 10 days ago, a pig’s heart was transplanted to a human. The human’s body did not reject the pig’s heart. The recipient alive and still thriving.

So excited has the medical profession become, a second group of doctors at the University of Alabama performed a similar surgery. This time however it was the transplant of pig kidneys to a human.

One strange quirk to the operation. The man operated on has been brain dead since September. Machinery has kept him “alive.”

The doctors apparently performed the surgery to determine if a pig’s organs could be successfully transplanted a second time. It was. The recipient’s body has not rejected the pig kidneys thus far.

Hadrian! Who was he?

He was Roman Emperor from 117 AD to 138 AD.

Roman Emperors have not been treated well by history. Understandable. However 5 are considered to have been “good” emperors. Hadrian one of the five.

Today is the birth date of Hadrian. He was born this day 76 AD. He died 138 AD.

I have visited Greece several times. One of my favorite places.

I have visited Hadrian’s Library several times. It sits at one of the entrances to Playka.

The structure has always moved me. I love straight lines. The Library is a perfect rectangle two stories high. Not large as Greek buildings of old can be. Its length roughly 100 feet. Its width less than half that number.

Visitors not allowed entrance. The Library is surrounded by a black metal grate fence at least 7 feet high.

The building’s exterior strange. The stone smooth. Aged only by its grayness.

Greek buildings of old appeared to me to be constructed with marble or concrete. I am not sure which was used in the construction of the Library.

Now comes the strangeness to all this.

There is a Hadrian’s Library on top of Acropolis. You will recall, I made it to the top just short of a heart attack. Climbing up to Acropolis was as bad as the volcano I tried to climb off Santorini.

Only once did I go to the top of Acropolis to visit Parthenon, etc. One trip as enough!

There is a Hadrian’s Library on top. Built on the north side of Acropolis.

There is much to see on top of Parthenon. I am not sad I missed a big one.

Did a bit of research this morning. The original Library atop the mountain was destroyed early on in some war. Partially replaced by 3 churches. Since I did not see, I have no recollection of that area nor the three churches.

I could not find on a quick review any reference to the Hadrian’s Library I discovered near Playka. A copy of the big original topside? Perhaps. It sat alone as an historical structure where it was located next to Playka. Playka is “old Athens.”

Amelia King is a “hot headed” Virginia mother who refuses to have her children wear masks to school.

At a school board meeting late last week, the issue of mandated masks arose. Masks are mandated.

Mother King shouted, “No way!” Not her kids. She continued, “My kids will not come to school already with a mask on…..That’s not happening. And I will bring every single gun loaded and ready to…..I will call every…..”

The end of her statement choppy. She had been cut off at that point because of a 3 minute time limit. She still got a few more words of warning in: “I’ll see ya all monday morning!”

King was arrested bcause of the gun threat. Then released on $5,00 bail.

Too many people with vinegar in their blood re the mask issue. I do not understand. I suspect those opposed such as King are expressing their personal rights rather than concern for the safety of their children.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

MANCHIN THINKS JAMES MADISON ON HIS SIDE

Joe Manchin believes James Madison is on his side. Especially re the filibuster issue.

He is not.

Jamelle Bouie wrote a revealing Opinion piece in the New York Times yesterday. Titled: “Joe Manchin Thinks James Madison Is On His Side. Nope.”

I share Bouie’s article with you.

The column rips apart Manchin’s reliance on Madison. Clearly evidences Manchin does not know what he is talking about from an historical perspective. Shameful since Manchin partially relied on Madison’s thinking when he voted against the voting rights and the Build Back Better bills.

Manchin exuded a confidence in rejecting the bills based on his filibuster beliefs routed in what he believed were Madison’s.

Manchin once again proved the ignoramus he is in many respects. This time historically.

When it comes to the Senate, Manchin should know its history well. He has served 11 years in the Senate.

Manchin showed a sickening illiteracy when he said: “Protecting the role of the minority – Democratic or Republican – has protected us from the volatile political swings that we have endured the last 233 years.”

Manchin cited James Madison to support his point: “Madison said the purpose of the Senate was ‘first, to protect the people against their rulers, secondly, to protect the people against the transient impressions into which they themselves may be lead,’ and that the Senate serves as a ‘necessary force against such danger.'”

Why is Manchin’s reliance on Madison without basis? Madison never was a member of the Senate (he did serve four terms in the House of Representatives).

The Madison quote Manchin relied on is found in Madison’s notes of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia dated 6/26/1787. Madison wrote, “The ends to be served…..were first to protect the people against the transient impressions into which they themselves might be led.”

There exists no mention of the word “filibuster” in Madison’s notes. In fact, “filibuster” at the time was not yet in common use or any principle of unlimited debate.

Manchin’s words and those of other filibuster defenders are confusing in view of the following.

Manchin and other filibuster defenders speak of protecting the “minority” in Congress. They mean a “partisan minority,” Democrat or Republican.

The problem/reality is that at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, “no one had any idea of political parties, much less a partisan minority. They did not exist and none of the framers evenĀ  thought they would.”

Another Bouie observation: “When Madison speaks of a ‘minority’ in the context of the Senate, he means an ‘economic interest,’ not an organized political faction.”

Political parties did not exist nor were they anywhere in the minds of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention.

Madison was not writing about different political parties. He was writing about the mass of the poor, working and indigent against the owners of property and wealth.

Bouie clearly points out that “the question of how to balance power between two partisan factions with in a legislature never came up. Which makes it difficult to use Madison in defense of something like the filibuster.”

Bouie added: “The debate over majority rule in the Senate is not whether the Chamber will have the power to stop any irrational exuberance in its tracks. It’s about whether over an extended period of time, internal deliberations and public debating, a partisan majority in the Senate can pass its agenda into law using a simple majority.”

Bottom line…..a “simple majority” was intended.

The concept has lost its way. And Manchin is not aware such was intended.

So smart is he!

The more I watch Manchin operate, the more convinced I become he is a pretty face hiding an empty head.

Enjoy your Sunday!

EXECUTIVE BRANCH LIES, CONGRESS LIES, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THE SUPREME COURT WOULDN’T LIE?

Lets begin with the premise that all branches of government lie. No question the Executive and Congress do. What would exclude the Judiciary, especially the Supreme Court?

Men in black robes have sexually abused thousands of children world wide. The black robes worn by Supreme Court members does not shield them from lying.

On 1/19, I read early morning the NPR article that things were not kumbaya on the Supreme Court. Mask wearing was the initial thrust of the column. The article was written by Nina Totenberg. Totenberg has been with NPR since 1975. She writes on the courts and legal matters. Very well respected.

I searched to see if anyone else was on the story. I could only find one small media outlet.

You may not be aware that over the years I have run “a breaking news story” 1 to 2 days before the major media outlets do. I have not mentioned this before, though I will admit I have been impressed with my research prowess.

I went with the story. I had no reason to consider it false. Titled it: The Supreme Court…..Tempers Ready To Explode.

After the furor that has risen nationally (with the topic, not my blog), I am not sure. At this point, it makes no difference however.

I have diligently followed the Supreme Court and Judiciary religiously over the years. In more recent years, I have been highly critical of the Supreme Court. Recall the number of times I have recommended that changes in the structure, rules, etc. had to be made.

Everything hit the fan on 1/20, the next day. Beginning with Chief Justice Roberts’ brief statement that Totenberg’s article was not correct. Backed up by Gorsuch and Sotomayor’s brief joint comment to the same effect.

The next day was 1/21. Southern Lady is a reader of my blog. She commented that I should check the facts, there was no truth to the story about the mask and the Supreme Court.

Southern Lady appears to have written the comment after she became aware of Roberts’. In effect, she took the word of the Chief Justice over mine. No problem.

It was later the same day and the next (which would be today) that the national media picked up on the story and went with it.

Turns out the furor is over one word. The word “asked.” Totenberg was not sure whether Roberts “asked” Gorsuch to wear a mask or made his position known to Gorsuch in a more subtle way. So she referred to it “in some form.”

The one word issue in a matter of hours turned into a monumental item with all kinds of ramifications.

I have not written as I have to absolve myself from sin. I do not consider I am guilty of any wrongdoing. In the slightest.

The purpose of today’s blog is to remind people that men and women lie, regardless of the position they maintain. Today the higher the position, the more the individual lies. Trump being the perfect example.

The Supreme Court is in trouble for many reasons. I repeat I have written so for several years. The Court has lost its way.

Lets start with Trump’s 3 nominations Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett. All testified under oath before the Senate Committee questioning them that they would respect precedent. The questions in this regard were especially concerned with Roe v. Wade. They all lied. The most recent abortion case involving Roe has been argued and will be decided in the next few months. I worry whether Roe will survive.

When Barrett was nominated, I wrote a blog spelling out my concerns about her. Her background. Which in my opinion made her selection highly questionable and should be denied.

The shame of her becoming a Justice is today reflected in talk that she will be the next Chief Justice were Roberts to leave. Woe beget the Court! Woe beget the American people!

Today’s Justices do not conduct themselves as those of yesteryear. The Republican Justices attend far right events. Weekend gatherings at a resort. They mingle with their own. Within the last 2 weeks, McConnell had such a gathering. The three I mention attended.

Such things were ethically prohibited when I was in law school in the 1950’s. Things have changed without anyone or entity saying it was against the rules.

The great Scalia who I respected for his legal minds but not his conclusions, used to attend many of these events.

Justice Thomas should never have been approved. His wife his problem. Even before he was approved, she was a far right member of the Republican Party. Still is. Considered MAGA. The many issues she is against, her husband is likewise opposed.

Justice Alito has been a problem for Roberts since he failed to be appointed Chief Justice by Bush. The man cannot forget Bush opted to choose another.

And on and on.

I apologize for no blog yesterday. I started working on it at 5:30 in the morning. At 8, I Only had 2 small topics competed. I was moving extremely slow. Doubted it was either COVID or the flu. My symptoms were not those. In fact, I had no symptoms. I was just plain tired and could not function mentally.

I closed down the computer and went to bed. Around 2 in the afternoon, I felt better. I have no idea what was wrong.

Enjoy your day!