In Denver you need a permit for free speech

Fear

For at least ten years I have been writing about fear in America. The government and the media have been promoting fear for quite a while. They ignore such basic statistics that more people die from bathtub accidents than are killed by terrorists. The following video does a good job satirizing the issue.

 

Who do you believe?

One View of America

Today's Emma Lazarus

Is this going to be a weekly event?

Of the three issues presented, only one is worth talking about.

Going back on our word

Many thousands of Iraqis helped our soldiers, whether it was translating or doing other tasks. Now that the war is supposedly over these people are in real danger; all have been threatened, some shot, others murdered. We did establish two programs to help these Iraqis come to the United States: the Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis and the Direct Access Program for U.S.-Affiliated Iraqis. The first program has admitted over 7,000 Iraqis here but stopped accepting new applications in 2014. Tens of thousands have been admitted under the second program, but there are still 58,000 Iraqis awaiting interviews.

President Trump has signed orders to stop immigration from Iraq and six other countries for 90 days. What will happen to those who helped us but are still in Iraq? How will this order affect our troops as it makes it harder to recruit local support in war zones?

Someone agrees with me

In November I wrote "I've had the sense that Trump is a 9 year-old spoiled brat. "

Here's a quote from Chris Cillizza in Thursday's Washington Post:
"Time and again, the image of Trump pushed by his “aides” is one of a clueless child — someone who acts on impulse, disregarding the better advice of people who know better."

Wall or Infrastructure?

Source: 2013 Infrastructure Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers

A Flawed Democracy?

Every year Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of the Economist magazine ( a fairly conservative publication), issues a report assessing the state of democracy in countries around the world, ranking them from Authoritarian Regime to Full Democracy. The rankings are determined by quantitative measures of five different parts of democracy: “electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.” We normally rank as a Full Democracy, this year we are considered a Flawed Democracy.

Why? According to the report, “The decline in the US democracy score reflects an erosion of confidence in government and public institutions over many years”. Our lowest scores are in “the functioning of government” (7.14) and “political participation” (7.22). Surprised? I'm not. We have a non-functioning political system and uncaring voters.

The Presidential Limousine

Stop!

Trump is not a fan of the EPA. On Inauguration Day he instructed the EPA to ban press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts. Further, he also ordered a "temporary suspension" of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The EPA awards billions of dollars worth of grants and contracts every year to support programs around environmental testing, cleanups and research.

Can we learn from the Freedom Riders?

Another measure of inequality

The World Economic Forum has just published a report using a different measuring stick, which it calls the inclusive development index . The index is made up of data on income, health, poverty, and sustainability. We don't do very well; we rank 23rd out of 30 developed nations.

We performed worst in measures of the distribution of income and wealth, and the level of poverty. We didn't do well in what the WEF calls social protection—defined as efficiency of public goods and services and robustness of social safety nets—and employment and labor compensation.

8 people - $426 BILLION

Oxfam has just released a study comparing the eight wealthiest people in the world to the those at the bottom of the financial ladder (about half of the world).The eight people have as much wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity. The report attributes this inequality to businesses dodging taxes, driving down wages and using their power to influence politics. And the report goes on to say "many of the super-rich are not ‘self-made’. Oxfam analysis shows over half the world’s billionaires either inherited their wealth or accumulated it through industries which are prone to corruption and cronyism." Some other quotes: 

1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day.
The world could see its first trillionaire in just 25 years.
Seven out of 10 people live in a country that has seen a rise in inequality in the last 30 years. Between 1988 and 2011 the incomes of the poorest 10 percent increased by just $65 per person, while the incomes of the richest 1 percent grew by $11,800 per person – 182 times as much. 

Who are these 8?
Bill Gates: founder of Microsoft (net worth $75 billion) 
Amancio Ortega: owns the Zara fashion chain (net worth $67 billion) 
Warren Buffett: largest shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway (net worth $60.8 billion) 
Carlos Slim Helu: owner of Grupo Carso (net worth: $50 billion) 
Jeff Bezos:  founder of Amazon (net worth: $45.2 billion) 
Mark Zuckerberg: co-founder of Facebook (net worth $44.6 billion) 
Larry Ellison: co-founder of Oracle (net worth $43.6 billion) 
Michael Bloomberg: founder of Bloomberg LP (net worth: $40 billion)

Bacevich on Mattis etal

Excerpts from an article by Andrew Bacevich in the Atlantic:

The most intriguing aspect of the exchange between Mattis and members of the committee was the absolute absence of interest, from either side, in how the armed forces of the United States have performed in recent years. In Afghanistan, in the now-resumed war in Iraq, in U.S. combat operations, large and small, in Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Syria—none has yielded anything approximating conclusive victory. However you define U.S. aims and objectives—promoting stability? Spreading democracy? Reducing the incidence of Islamist terrorism?—they remain unfulfilled. Yet no senator thought to ask Mattis for his views on why that has been the case, what conclusions he draws from that absence of success, and how he might apply those conclusions as defense secretary.

None of the lawmakers present—several of whom made a point of promoting weapons systems produced in their state, or engaged in politically correct posturing—thought to solicit Mattis’s views on the this gap between effort and outcomes. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut elicited ironclad assurances that Mattis favored modernizing the navy’s submarine fleet, subs being made—surprise—in Connecticut. And Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was able to advertise her credentials as a champion of women serving as combat infantrypersons. So of senatorial preening, there was plenty on display. Of questions touching on core issues of national security, there were next to none.

The strategic vacuum in which America’s endless wars drag on went unremarked upon. Whether members of the Armed Services Committee are oblivious to the absence of strategy or don’t see such matters falling within their jurisdiction is unclear. Perhaps they just don’t care.

Mattis responded to senatorial questioning like the career military officer that he is: by making the case for more. More money for maintaining and refurbishing hard-used equipment, more money to buy new weapons, more money to expand the size of the army, navy, air force, and Marine Corps. New nukes? Yes. New strategic missiles? Yes. A new long-range manned bomber? Yes. New submarines? Yes. The gold-plated, years-behind-schedule F-35? Love it. Oh, yes, Mattis promised to be a careful steward of the nation’s resources, a vow that senators pretended to take seriously. The various entities comprising the military-industrial complex, from General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, to Boeing and Raytheon, have got to be licking their chops.

It’s misguided policies based on a flawed understanding of what armed force can and cannot do, and when it should or should not be employed. On that score, Mattis and members of the Senate Armed Services are certainly on the same page. They are clueless.

Snow Day at Oregon Zoo

Now he's promoting L.L. Bean

What company will he endorse next? Here's his tweet:

Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean. @LBPerfectMaine — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Jan. 12, 2017

The first photo of a Ruby Sea Dragon

Money or Country

I have been relatively silent about Mr. Trump's becoming president. I've hoped that his outbursts and non-presidential actions as president-elect would be minimized when he took office. I now doubt that will be the case. I find him still excessively egotistical and unable to accept the facts that he is not universally loved and that he is as fallible and error-prone as the rest of us. 

I can understand his not wanting to "play the game" as practiced over the life of this country. But, one would think at age 70 he would realize that his job now is to be president, not a businessman. Why he is afraid to finally reveal his tax returns can only lead people to believe he is hiding something nasty and clearly non-presidential. As president and former president, he will never be financially troubled. Why can't he establish a trust fund which he does not control? Why must he act in violation of the Constitution?

Who's the biggest

Helping the Needy

The GAO released a study showing that as of October 31, 2016, the government “had disbursed $22.6 billion (60 percent) of the $37.51 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds” that were directed at helping distressed homeowners as a result of the 2008 Wall Street financial crash and the resulting housing bust. The Federal Reserve loaned to both U.S. and foreign banks $16.1 trillion.  It gave $7.7 to just four Wall Street banks from 2007 to 2010. The Fed funneled $2.5 trillion to Citigroup; $2 trillion to Morgan Stanley; $1.9 trillion to Merrill Lynch; and $1.3 trillion to Bank of America. 

How many bombs did we drop in 2016?

The Council of Foreign Relations says 26,171. They used Pentagon data to arrive at this number, which may be an underestimate. The countries bombed were Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya.  In 2016, the United States dropped 3,027 more bombs than in 2015.

Debt, a major aspect of college sports

His hands are tree branches

Mars sees the Earth and the Moon

Mars was about 127 million miles from the earth.

He must have a lot of free time...

maybe he has trouble sleeping or he has a personality disorder. Why does he have to respond to situations where he is not praised? Why doesn't he tweet about his tax audit?

Per Capita Gun Deaths in 2014

From the BBC

A Serious Problem

The white strip in the photo above shows the beginnings of a breakup of one of the ice shelves in Antarctica. Scientists expect it to continue and in their words, "it will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula.” Ice shelves keep glaciers in place. If the breakup continues, it is likely that  global sea levels will rise by almost four inches.

The rift has grown about 50 miles since 2011, 11 miles of which have happened since the beginning of December.  It has now widened to over 1,000 feet and only 12 miles of ice continue to connect the chunk with the rest of the ice shelf.

For those for whom the '50s were Nirvana

From a Duncaster resident

Where is truth?

Albino Moose are rare

This was in Ontario.
Thanks to a Cape Cod friend

Really?

A waste of time?

And it continues

"It" is the number of incidents of gun violence that happens every day in this country. On New Years Day 64 people were killed, and another 146 were injured. The cities with the most (at 24) were Chicago and Jacksonville. New Years Day is a more dangerous day as the average number of incidents per day for the past two years was 112.

The Times They Are Changing

When I was growing up in the Boston area, two of the biggest stores were Sears Roebuck and S.S. Kresge. And we always heard about Macy's holiday window displays in NYC. Today's Boston Globe showed how much has changed for these giant retail establishments. Sears sold its Craftsman brand for about $800,000,000 and announced it would be closing 150 stores this year. Kmart, once known as Kresge's, will close 108 stores. Macy's will close 68.

Is it the Internet, competition or just old age?

Miles to go?

Derivatives Again?

When a Wall Street bank buys a credit derivative, it is buying protection against a default on its debts by the referenced entity like a European bank or European corporation. But when a Wall Street bank sells credit derivative protection, it is on the hook for the losses if the referenced entity defaults.

Dodd-Frank established the Office of Financial Research (OFR) to: “shine a light in the dark corners of the financial system to see where risks are going, assess how much of a threat they might pose, and provide policymakers with financial analysis, information, and evaluation of policy tools to mitigate them.” Here are some scary excerpts from its 2016 Financial Stability Report:

“U.S. global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) have more than $2 trillion in total exposures to Europe. Roughly half of those exposures are off-balance-sheet…U.S. G-SIBs have sold more than $800 billion notional in credit derivatives referencing entities domiciled in the EU.”

“At the end of 2015, U.S. life insurers’ derivatives exposure, as reported in statutory filings, totaled $2 trillion in notional value. This $2 trillion does not include derivative contracts held in affiliated reinsurers, non-insurance affiliates, and parent companies that do not have to file statutory statements. Details on these entities’ derivatives positions are not publicly available.”

“According to statutory data on insurance company legal entities, nine large U.S. and European banks are counterparties to about 60 percent of U.S. life insurers’ $2 trillion in notional derivatives. These data show that despite central clearing, derivatives interconnectedness between the U.S. life insurance industry and banks remains substantial.”

“Deficiencies in data and data management remain a critical vulnerability. Data needs remain unfilled, particularly in shadow banking markets. Many of the new data are not ready or available for analysis. Despite progress, the probability remains high that data deficiencies will again prevent risk managers and regulators from assessing risks before it is too late.”

The ground is not helping

A few recent studies show that the soil in the Arctic is warming up and releasing carbon into the atmosphere. Previously, it had been too cold for this to happen. But it has started to happen. These places are contributing far, far more CO2 and methane to the atmosphere than they ever have. This means that even if all human fossil fuel emissions were halted immediately, soils would continue to release approximately the same amount of CO2 and methane emissions as the amount produced by the fossil fuel industry during the mid-20th century.

Butterflies

From a Duncaster neighbor

Swimming in Dorchester Bay on New Year's Day

For over a century the L Street Brownies, a swimming club in South Boston, has sponsored a "polar plunge", a dip in the waters of Boston Harbor. Yesterday, almost a 1,000 people dipped. The water was calm and, at 46 degrees, comparatively warm. The air temperature was 42 degrees, with wind gusts of 25 to 28 miles per hour. 

A different slant on the holiday songs

Thanks to our Plymouth correspondent

Living in a refugee camp