But Trump is gaining friends

Courtesy of a Duncaster resident

We're losing our friends

Courtesy of a school teacher friend

He shouldn’t be president of anything!

Of course, I’m referring to ‘our’ president, Mr. Trump. I can’t remember when I last saw him perform for more than a few minutes. So, I wasn’t prepared for last night’s travesty. It reminded me of when we were kids and had these stupid, egocentric battles. But, we usually ended the battle that day and reconciled our differences for a reasonable length of time.

I can’t understand how anybody could work for him or hire him. But, I also fear he will be reelected by people who have a hard time realizing how far this country has sunk in the past 3+ years.

Paying one's taxes

Murdoch likes Trump

I wager that you've seen many references this weekend to the NY Times breaking of a truly major story. The Times has been able to gather enough information about Trump's financial dealings over the years to summarize his current financial status thusly: “Financial pressure on the president is only growing. Mr. Trump has reported losses at many of his signature properties, including $55.5 million at his Washington hotel since it opened in 2016, and $315.6 million at his prized golf resorts since 2000. He appears to have sold off most of his stocks and has relied heavily on debt. More than $300 million in loans he personally guaranteed will soon come due.”

Almost every news site I've seen today has highlighted the Times article. I say 'almost' because references to the article are quite muted in the Murdoch chain - Wall Street Journal, NY Post and Fox News. Why is that?

An audience of 1

Get rid of your car?

Starting the day feeling good

Surviving a building collapse

Why not work with WHO

Meet Magawa

Not much time left

It's time for the Three Tenors

Is a picture worth a thousand words?

Apparently not for the mass media, according to Wall Street on Parade. They assert that the mass media (including the Times and the WSJ) have not reported on the thievery of the big banks. And this thievery is in the trillions.

According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and its review of the FinCEN Files, this is the amount disclosed  in suspicious activity reports by the largest banks. 

Deutsche Bank                           $1,310,771,379,656 

JPMorgan                                   $514,206,745,666 

Standard Chartered                    $166,139,835,277 

Bank of New York – Mellon        $64,109,417,780 

Barclays                                       $21,677,582,233

Kindness can improve mental health

Partners doing The Twist

Courtesy of a long-time friend

JPMorgan Chase accused of criminality

Or so thinks the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which recently published a report on money laundering at some of the biggest banks on Wall Street. The report is based on secret documents leaked from FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a unit of the U.S. Treasury. The banks mentioned are JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon. The comments are by Pam Martens, of  Wall Street on Parade; I've followed here for a while and she seems to know what she is talking about.

While her primary concern is that the NY Times and Wall Street Journal have not really done much with this information, she does lay out a case against JPMorgan Chase. 

JPMorgan Chase has pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts brought by the U.S. Department of Justice since 2014; she also brings up several examples of JP being involved in moving funds illegally, one example being for Paul Manafort. Furthermore, she writes "In February of this year, the Financial Secrecy Index named the United States as the second worst country, behind only the Cayman Islands, in helping individuals hide their finances from the rule of law. The report noted that the U.S. “has yet to sign up to the Common Reporting Standard, which currently has 105 signatories.”

She points out a number of shady cases involving JP. It's a good - but disturbing - read.

Saving ducks

Courtesy of a friend

Stranded whales

Do you have an animal friend?

Courtesy of a Duncaster resident

Goodby Summer 2020

Ignoring the natural world

Our opinion of our country

 

Covid deaths around the world

What other countries think of us

They love octupi

The whale is having fun

Climbing rocks is not easy

Would you get the vaccine?

 

Flamingos eating underwater

Courtesy of a Florida friend

Reality?

Redfield vs. Trump

Kelli O'Hara - Opera star? Country star?

Another negative of Century 21

Autumn Waltz

 

The 21st century Mayflower

A lazy seal?

 

Selling organs

He doesn’t believe his relatives

 Or, more likely he’s looking for fame. “He’” is James Blaesing, the grandson of former President Warren Harding. His mother was the result of an affair between President Harding and Mr. Blaesing's mother, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing. Harding’s other relatives have acknowledged that Blaesing is, in fact, related to Harding. However, he has initiated a court case to prove with ‘scientific certainty’ that he is Harding’s grandson. He wants to have Harding’s remains exhumed to confirm they are related.

There has been genetic testing done. In 2015, the testing confirmed a match between Mr. Blaesing's DNA and that of two Harding descendants. Blaesing's biological link to Harding was officially declared by AncestryDNA, a division of Ancestry.com. But, Mr. Blaesing says "I did the test and we brought it to the public in 2015. It's now 2020 and no one has asked me one thing.”

Blaesing’s efforts have probably been triggered by the planned upgrade of Harding’s grave and the establishment of a new presidential centre in Marion, the Ohio city near which he was born in 1865. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Harding’s election so there will likely be a certain level of media coverage, which Blaesing seems desirous of. 

But Mr Blaesing said he and his mother have not received the recognition they deserve. He feels that he deserves to "have his story, his mother's story and his grandmother's story included within the hallowed halls and museums in this town".

Donor 9623

He was quite popular as a sperm bank donor. The sperm bank, Xytex, he donated to said he had an IQ of 160, spoke four languages, was pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience engineering, and looked like Tom Cruise. But sperm banks don’t have to check the validity of donor’s claims.

Donor 9623 wasn’t in graduate school nor had he ever finished college. But he donated sperm for 14 years and fathered at least 36 children all over the country as well as overseas. By accident the sperm bank released his name. And it was found out that he had been hospitalized for mental illness, had been on disability, was suicidal at one point, and pleaded guilty for burglary — all before or during the time he was donating sperm.

Sperm banks and fertility clinics are fundamentally unregulated. They don’t verify any of the biographical information that the donor submits.

Going to college in the U.S.

Going to school around the world

More costs of climate change

One view of 9/11

Cutting back on carbon

Have you had a coffee like this?

 

Suggested by a Duncaster resident

Social Progress Index

I had never heard of it. The operators claim their index is “a comprehensive measure of real quality of life, independent of economic indicators. The Social Progress Index is designed to complement, rather than replace, economic measures such as GDP.” The organization in based in D.C. and has been producing this index since 2011. It looks at 2.4 billion people in more than 45 countries.

It’s goal is to “measure 50 social and environmental indicators to create a clearer picture of what life is really like for everyday people. The index doesn’t measure people’s happiness or life satisfaction, focusing instead on actual life outcomes in areas from shelter and nutrition to rights and education. I found it at Nicholas Kristof’s column in today’s NY Times.

It sounds pretty comprehensive. “We divide these indicators across three broad dimensions of social progress: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. Within each dimension, there are four components that further divide the indicators into thematic categories. Our diverse selection of indicators allows for granular analysis of the specific underpinnings of social progress in each country, while the broad categories of the index framework help us to better understand global and regional trends.”

The average score for the three categories are 74.65 in Basic Human Needs, 60.82 on the Foundations of Wellbeing dimension and 57.25 on Opportunity. We are not doing that well. Along with Brazil and Hungary, we are the only ones in which people are worse off than when the index began in 2011. Our ranking in 2011 was 19th, this year it’s 28th. A couple of other findings: The United States ranks No. 1 in the world in quality of universities, but No. 91 in access to quality basic education. The U.S. leads the world in medical technology, yet we are No. 97 in access to quality health care.

Meeting her bucket list

Another problem - Not Moving Out

Time and the pandemic

Will you sign up for next year?

 

Courtesy of a Florida Resident

Purple Martins getting ready to migrate

Here's a closer look

Becoming more creative

He can't stand the heat

The loneliest night of the week

Crying in Japan

A Flier

This is what we'll be facing in a few years. (Sometimes I lie)

 

Courtesy of a childhood friend

Religious beliefs?

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington.  She has written a couple of books. The following is excerpted from an article she has written for Raw Story. I was raised a Catholic and found her claims as to some Catholic beliefs unlikely - and my church was relatively conservative. Anyway, I found the excerpt interesting. The numbers refer to a key at the end of the excerpt.

"The foreskin of [a holy one] may lie safeguarded in reliquaries made of gold and crystal and inlayed with gems–or it may have ascended into the heavens all by itself. (2) 

A race of giants once roamed the earth, the result of women and demi-gods interbreeding. (1). 

They lived at the same time as fire breathing dragons. (1) 

Evil spirits can take control of pigs. (1) 

A talking donkey scolded a prophet. (1, 3) 

A righteous man can control his wife’s access to eternal paradise. (6) 

Brown skin is a punishment for disobeying God. (6) 

A prophet once traveled between two cities on a miniature flying horse with the face of a woman and the tail of a peacock. (4) 

[The Holy One] forbids a cat or dog receiving a blood transfusion and forbids blood meal being used as garden fertilizer. (7) 

Sacred underwear protects believers from spiritual contamination and, according to some adherents, from fire and speeding bullets (6) 

When certain rites are performed beforehand, bread turns into human flesh after it is swallowed. (2) 

Invisible supernatural beings reveal themselves in mundane objects like oozing paint or cooking food. 

(2) 

In the end times, [the Holy One’s] chosen people will be gathered together in Jackson County, Missouri. (6) 

Believers can drink poison or get bit by snakes without being harmed. (1) 

Sprinkling water on a newborn, if done correctly, can keep the baby from eons of suffering should he or she die prematurely. (2) 

Waving a chicken over your head can take away your sins. (3) 

[A holy one] climbed a mountain and could see the whole earth from the mountain peak. (1, 2) 

Putting a dirty milk glass and a plate from a roast beef sandwich in the same dishwasher can contaminate your soul. (3) 

There will be an afterlife in which exactly 144,000 people get to live eternally in Paradise. (8)

Each human being contains many alien spirits that were trapped in volcanos by hydrogen bombs. (5)

[A supernatural being] cares tremendously what you do with your penis or vagina. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8.

Key:  1-Evangelical or “Bible Believing” Christianity, 2-Catholic Christianity, 3-Judaism, 4-Islam, 5-Scientology, 6-Mormonism 7-Christian Science 8-Jehovah’s Witness"

Singing dogs

 

Everybody wears a mask

Courtesy of Janet

Living in the past

Another effect of climate change

Not a camp you'd want to live in