#i wanted to do this bird today as a reminder to u.s. americans that many people around the world are effected by our election

[1dinodaily]

11/05/2024 Palestine Sunbird

[newstechreviews]

In a slightly different world, Fargo season 4 might never have happened. After the FX anthology drama ended its third season, creator Noah Hawley admitted that he didn’t have an idea for a follow-up. And, he figured, “the only reason to do another Fargo is if the creative is there.” So, if there was to be a sequel, Hawley estimated it would take three years. That was in June 2017.

Thirty-nine months later (it would have been 34 had COVID not temporarily halted production), the show has reemerged with a story whose timeliness is obvious. It marks a significant departure from the earliest seasons of Fargo, which pitted good and evil archetypes against each other in arch, violent crime capers that ultimately erred on the side of optimism. Season 3 flirted with topicality, from an opening scene that hinged on Soviet kompromat to a hauntingly inconclusive final showdown between the latest iterations of pure good—represented by Carrie Coon’s embattled police chief Gloria Burgle—and primordial evil (David Thewlis’ terrifying V.M. Varga). Five months into Donald Trump’s presidency, that ending simultaneously reflected many Americans’ fears for the future and suggested that the battle for the human soul would be an eternal one. You can imagine why Hawley might have considered it a hard act to follow.

Instead of trying to top the high-flown allegory of its predecessor, the fascinating but uneven new episodes tackle conflicts of a more earthly nature: race, structural inequality, American identity. To that end, Fargo season 4 ventures farther south and deeper into history than it has gone before, to Kansas City, Mo. in 1950. For half a century, ethnic gangs have battled over the midsize metropolis. The Irish took out the Jews. The Italians took out the Irish. Finally, just a few years after a brutal World War in which fascist Italy numbered among the United States’ enemies, the Great Migration has brought the descendants of slaves north to this Midwestern city whose complicity in American racism dates back to the Missouri Compromise.

This upstart syndicate is led by one Loy Cannon (Chris Rock in a rare dramatic role), a brilliant, self-possessed power broker who doesn’t relish violence but is determined to exact reparations from this country, on behalf of his beloved family, by any means necessary. Loy’s deputy and closest friend is a learned older man by the name of Doctor Senator (the great Glynn Turman, all quiet dignity). In an early episode, the two men walk into a bank to pitch its white owner on an idea they’ve been testing out through less-than-legal means in the Black community: credit cards. (“Every average Joe wants one thing: to seem rich,” Loy explains to the banker.) He turns them down, of course, convinced that his clientele would have no interest in purchasing things they couldn’t afford. We’re left wondering how the ensuing saga might’ve been different if Loy and Doctor Senator had been allowed to channel their considerable intelligence into a legit business.

Elizabeth Morris/FXSalvatore Esposito and Jason Schwartzman in ‘Fargo’

The Italians, meanwhile, are starting to enjoy the rewards of their newfound whiteness—a largely invisible transformation marked in The Godfather by Michael Corleone’s relationship with naive WASP Kay Adams. (In keeping with previous seasons’ allusive style, Fargo often playfully evokes Francis Ford Coppola’s trilogy.) In the wake of their capo father Donatello’s (Tommaso Ragno) death, two brothers battle for control of the Fadda clan—a crime family that has Italian-accented patriarchalism written into its very name. Crafty, spoiled, crypto-corporate Josto (Jason Schwartzman, doing a scrappier, cannier take on his Louis XVI character in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette) has long been Donatello’s right hand. But his younger brother Gaetano (Salvatore Esposito, imported from Sky Italia’s acclaimed organized-crime drama Gomorrah), a brawny brute who came up in Sardinia busting heads for Mussolini, stands between Josto and the consolidation of power.

Generations-old tradition dictates that if two syndicates are to share turf in Kansas City, their leaders must raise each other’s sons. These exchanges are supposed to be a sort of insurance policy against betrayal; never mind that they never work out as planned. So Loy very reluctantly trades his scion Satchel (Rodney Jones) for Donatello’s youngest (Jameson Braccioforte). The boy finds a protector in the Faddas’ solemn older ward, Patrick “The Rabbi” Milligan (Ben Whishaw, humane as always), who double-crossed his own Irish family in an earlier transaction.

Ethelrida Pearl Smutny (E’myri Crutchfield from History’s 2016 Roots remake) is the show’s other innocent youth, a bright and insightful Black teenager whose parents (Anji White and indie rocker Andrew Bird) own the poignantly named King of Tears funeral home. Every Fargo season needs a personification of goodness, and in this one it’s Ethelrida. Not that her virtuousness makes her life any easier. In a voiceover montage that opens the season premiere, she tells us that she learned early on that, as far as white authority figures were concerned, “the only thing worse than a disreputable Negro was an upstanding one.” Her inscrutable foil is Oraetta Mayflower (Jessie Buckley), a white nurse neighbor whose patients tend to die before they can experience too much pain. Oraetta’s quaint Minnesota accent (another Fargo staple) belies the racist views she politely but unapologetically espouses; she seems fixated on making Ethelrida her maid.

Elizabeth Morris/FXE’myri Crutchfield in ‘Fargo’

It’s fitting that Oraetta is both the most tangible link to Fargo’s home turf and the first character who ties together the mobster’s story with that of the Smutny family. As her loaded last name suggests, she seems to embody a particular form of evil that has been a constant in American life since the colonial period: white supremacy. Oraetta harms, kills and plunders with minimal consequences. No wonder she has eyes for Josto, the first Fadda who knows how to wield his white identity, building alliances with government and law enforcement that would be impossible for the Cannon syndicate. (Josto’s version of Kay Adams is the homely daughter of a politician.) “I can take all the money and pussy I want and still run for President,” he boasts at one point.

The reference to our current President’s briefly scandalous Access Hollywood tape is so flagrant as to elicit an involuntary groan. It’s lines like this that expose the limitations of Hawley’s attempt to fuse the topical and the elemental. Fargo still creates an absorbing, cinematic viewing experience, with painterly framing, pointedly deployed split-screen and arcane yet evocative needle drops. A not-at-all-gratuitous black-and-white episode could almost stand on its own as a movie. And, as in past seasons, the show gives us many remarkable performances: Rock may seem an odd pick for a gangster role, but the same shrewdness and indignation that fuel his stand-up persona also simmer beneath Loy’s measured surface. The pain Whishaw’s character carries around in his body goes far beyond what can be conveyed in dialogue. Bird broke my heart as a meek, loving dad. But in his eagerness to make a legible, potent political statement, Hawley struggles to find the right tone and keep the season’s many intersecting themes straight.

Elizabeth Morris/FXJessie Buckley in ‘Fargo’

The show is simply trying to do too much within a limited framework. Fargo wouldn’t be Fargo without some eccentric law enforcement, so an already-huge cast expands to fit a crooked local detective with OCD (Jack Huston) and Timothy Olyphant—whose roles on Deadwood and Justified made him prestige TV’s quintessential cop—as a smarmy, Mormon U.S. Mashal who snacks on carefully wrapped bundles of carrot sticks. Yet Hawley also realized that he needed to break from previous seasons that, like the Coens’ film, cast a white police officer as the avatar of goodness; hence Ethelrida, whose investigation into her city’s criminal underworld takes the form of a school assignment, and whose soul is stained by neither corruption nor white privilege. She’s a wonderful character, but her and Oraetta’s story line can feel peripheral to the gang war.

With such a crowded plot, it’s no wonder the show can’t maintain a consistent tone. Each season of Fargo creates a hermetically sealed moral universe, doling out divine and definitive justice to each character according to their position on the spectrum spanning from good to evil. In the past, its archness has served as a self-aware counterbalance to the sanctimony inherent in such a project. And there’s still plenty of irreverence in season 4, particularly when it comes to Hawley’s depiction of the Faddas, Oraetta and the other white characters. But there’s nothing funny about the oppression and discrimination that Loy, Doctor Senator and Ethelrida face. Each of their fates is shaped at least as much by a society that is hostile to people who look like them as it is by the moral choices they make as individuals. So the scripts give them the dignity they deserve at the expense of inflicting earnestness—along with frequent reminders, such as Schwartzman’s Trump line, that the story’s themes remain relevant today—on a format that isn’t built for it. Realistic characters and absurd ones awkwardly mingle.

Hawley’s attempt to correct his show’s political blind spots is laudable, and some pieces of the allegory work well; the ritual of ethnic gangs trying—and failing—to work together by raising each other’s sons makes an inspired metaphor for America’s fragile social contract. Even so, Fargo seems fundamentally ill-equipped to address systemic inequality. Though that failing may well render future seasons similarly flawed, if not impossible, in our current political climate, it doesn’t negate the pleasures or insights of what remains one of TV’s most ambitious shows. Like this nation, the new season is a beautiful and ugly, inspiring and infuriating, a tragic and sometimes darkly hilarious mess. As frustrating as it often was to watch, I couldn’t look away.

[insidethebeatles]

Inside The Beatles ‘Butcher Cover’ - Yesterday and Today

Released on the 20th June 1966, The Beatles Yesterday and Today may seem unfamiliar to U.K audiences. Released only in the United States and Canada by Capitol Records, the album was a compilation of songs taken from albums and singles released during 1965-66. This was typical of Capitol Records. Owned by The Beatles’ U.K label E.M.I, the label regularly adjusted and withdrew songs from Beatles’ releases then collated them into a compilation album to sell a few months later. Not only did this interfere with the bands own artistic vision, but it meant that the Beatles’ rapid change in sound and style became muddled to American audiences. Whilst British listeners saw the development in sound from Help’s folk and blues influence to Revolver’s psychadelic rock; American listeners heard these developments as one. As a result of this, it was hard for the band to display their creative changes in both their maturing sound and songwriting abilities. Yesterday and Today contained a mixture of songs spread across three albums: ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Act Naturally’ from Help, released mid 1965; ‘Nowhere Man’, ‘What Goes On?’, ‘Drive My Car’, and ‘If I Needed Someone’ from Rubber Soul, released late 1965 alongside the singles ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘We Can Work it Out’; and ‘Doctor Robert’, ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ and ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ from Revolver, released mid 1966.

The cover of the infamous album, taken 25th March 1966, marked a shift in the production and marketing of the Beatles. The clean-cut and squeaky-clean publicity images of the four-piece handsome mop-top band began to irritate and clash against their own developing personalities, fashions and explorations with drugs. Lennon stated in 1980, the shoot ‘was inspired by our boredom and resentment at having to do another photo session and another Beatles thing. We were sick to death of it. Bob was into Dali and making surreal pictures’.

Robert Whitaker began his relationship with the Beatles in 1964 when he was hired to photograph their second North-American tour, including their now infamous concert at Shea Stadium. He grew closer to the band over the next two years as he travelled alongside them documenting their professional and personal lives. The Yesterday and Today cover was intended as a surreal look into the relationship between fame and the band. The photo familiar to us is not actually Whitaker’s intended finished product; ultimately, the photo was to be apart of a set of three. In addition to this, he intended for the photo to be worked upon further, adding a gold background and silver jewelled halos on top of their heads akin to religious icons. The inclusion of meat, false teeth, dismembered doll parts and glass eyes were intended to represent the flesh and blood of the Beatles, a reminder that they were human underneath the level of fame they’d risen to. Whitaker said ‘All over the world I’d watched people worshiping like idols, like gods, four Beatles. To me they were just stock standard normal people. But this emotion that fans poured on them made me wonder where Christianity was heading’. Indeed, the photo was taken soon after Lennon’s infamous comments regarding the decline of Christianity and how the Beatles were 'more popular than Jesus’. Whitaker’s idea of a triptych never immortalised, but the photos that were meant to be pasted either side of the 'butcher’ image do exist. The first was supposed to symbolise the 'birth’ of the Beatles, using sausages as an umbilical cord, showing their human roots. The other, depicting Harrison hammering nails into Lennon’s head, symbolised the Beatles real nature; that they were not an illusion to be worshipped, but real substantial people. In imagining the triptych, Whitaker’s intention of the shoot is much clearer. However, the idea was never able to be realised.

Before the release of Yesterday and Today, the 'Butcher’ image was used to promote Paperback Writer in the British Music Press, but did not result in the same controversy that would await its use in America. According to Phillip Norman, it was The Beatles themselves who pushed for the image to be used in advertising and on the Yesterday and Today cover, despite claims from Brian Epstein that it would disrupt the band’s 'meticulously managed image’ that was already in disrepair due to Lennon’s comments surrounding Christianity. The number of records printed for the planned 15th June 1966 release has been debated, ranging from 60,000 to 750,000. When Capitol’s president Alan Livingston contacted the band after dealers refused to handle the album, McCartney continued to push for the photo’s use claiming that it was their 'comment on the war’. Though different to Whitaker’s intention, and out of his own hands, McCartney continued to push this interpretation. Many speculated that the cover was a jibe at Capitol records for the 'butchering’ of their albums. Others supported McCartney’s claim that it represented an opposition to the Vietnam War. Whitaker’s original intentions became lost. Lennon’s earlier comments surrounding Christianity had garnered a PR disaster of record burnings and protests in America; Capitol were hasty to avoid another controversy that could result in lost sales. On the 14th June, they released a statement recalling the album.

“The original cover, created in England, was intended as a ‘pop art’ satire. However a sampling of public opinion in the United States indicates that the cover design is subject to misinterpretation. For this reason, and to avoid any possible controversy or undeserved harm to the Beatles’ image or reputation, Capitol has chosen to withdraw the LP and substitute a more generally acceptable design.”

At first, the recalled albums were destroyed, and a whole new sleeve was prepared that became known as the ‘Trunk’ cover. Unbeknownst to Whitaker, this would once again involve another of his unfinished shots deemed less controversial. As a cost and time saving measure, Capitol executives decided to stop destroying the old sleeves, and instead began to paste the new image on top of the old. This news spread quickly to American Beatle-fans who began to steam their albums in attempt to peel off the new cover to reveal the 'Butcher’ cover. However, over time, the glue began to set more securely, and attempts to steam off the cover led to many badly damaged and destroyed ‘Butcher’ covers.

Coined by Harrison as 'The definitive Beatles collective’, the album now garners high prices at auction. The highest value version is the 'Butcher’ cover 'first-state’ stereo pressing, still wrapped in plastic. Only a few hundred of the first-issue covers still survive today, and the number of stereo pressings even fewer due to the dominance of mono (10:1 ratio). In 2016, a stereo, plastic wrapped copy sold for $125,000. 'Second-state’ pressings are more common, with the second cover still pasted on top of the 'Butcher’ cover. Sealed mono second-state copies have sold for $5000-$7000, and sealed stereo copies from $1000-3000. 'Third-state’ covers are even more common: peeled off ‘Trunk’ covers to reveal the 'Butcher’ cover. The most common version is the 'Trunk’ cover: the final cover of the Yesterday and Today album, without the ‘Butcher’ image underneath.

Originally seen as a profit-grab by Capitol, the Yesterday and Today compilation album took on a life of its own, beyond the collated and stylistically confusing music on the record. Ironically, the cost of recalling and replacing the cover was around $250,000, which overtook the profits made from the original release. In 1967, The Beatles signed a new contract which prohibited Capitol from altering their records. From then on, releases in the U.S had to be identical to U.K releases. The Yesterday and Today album marks a shift how the Beatles wanted to market themselves, and shows the power and influence that Capitol had on both the Beatles’ music and the marketing that accompanied them during their early to mid years. Though the cover may not have represented Whitaker’s original intentions for his photograph, but the cover is nonetheless an important part of Beatles history and marks a shift in the public image of the band.

[berniesrevolution]

In today’s Washington Post, Elizabeth Bruenig has an article arguing that socialism should no longer be considered a dirty word. Socialists believe that “working Americans deserve a say in how the country’s vast wealth will be used,” and that “more than policy tweaks will be needed to empower everyday people to participate meaningfully in society and democracy.” Since these are sensible positions, she says, socialism is at the very least a reasonable political tendency. She is, of course, completely correct, and all of the common criticisms of contemporary democratic socialism are misleading, unfair, or outright false.

In explaining why it can be difficult to figure out what socialism means, Bruenig notes that “the United States doesn’t have a familiar, established socialist history to look to for guidance on what socialism might mean in this country.” It’s certainly true that the U.S. doesn’t have a “familiar” socialist history, since students generally aren’t taught much about American socialists in school. (Eugene Debs is usually mentioned, mostly as a curiosity.) And it’s true that in the U.S., unlike many European countries, there was never a socialist movement that had mass popular support. In England, for instance, the Labour Party founded by socialist Keir Hardie would become a dominant force in British politics for the entire 20th century and establish the modern social welfare state. In France, socialists took over Paris! (A few things also happened in Russia.) Nothing comparable occurred in America, hence the title question of Werner Sombart’s 1906 book Why Is There No Socialism in the United States?, a question followed up nearly a century later in the book It Didn’t Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed In The United States.

But I also think it’s worth remembering that even though socialism “failed” here, insofar as it never became the kind of political force it was in many European, Latin American, Asian, and African countries, we do have a socialist history, and a rather inspiring one! Delving into that history is a great way to find lessons for contemporary democratic socialists. And in some ways, the successes of American socialists have been underappreciated. As I’ve written before, the list of socialist mayors in the United States in the early 20th century is impressively long, and one reason the Socialist Party fizzled after about 1908 is that the other major political parties actually began co-opting the Socialist agenda. I recommend reading Ira Kipnis’ The American Socialist Movement 1897-1912, which talks a lot about where the socialists succeeded and where they didn’t. Many of the intra-socialist debates were the same ones we are having today: What does socialism really mean? Are particular reforms “socialist”? To what extent should socialists work within the existing political system? Unfortunately, they did not resolve those debates then, and the first thing to learn is that we need to do better this time around.

The history of the American Socialist Party and the IWW are fascinating in their own right. (As well as the histories of socialist publications like The Masses and the Appeal to Reason.) But I’d like to single out a few historic American socialists who I find exemplary. We do have a grand left tradition in the United States, one carried forth from generation to generation by humane and committed activists. We should never forget their lives, struggles, and ideas.

Hubert Harrison

Hubert Harrison is one of my favorite forgotten Americans, period. Known as the “Black Socrates,” he was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance, renowned for his dazzling streetcorner oratory and the seriousness of his intellect. Jeffrey B. Perry’s excellent biography of Harrison calls him the “voice of Harlem radicalism” and the book summary gives you a flavor of Harrison’s extraordinary life:

The foremost Black organizer, agitator, and theoretician of the Socialist Party of New York, Harrison was also the founder of the “New Negro” movement, the editor of Negro World, and the principal radical influence on the Garvey movement. He was a highly praised journalist and critic (reportedly the first regular Black book reviewer), a freethinker and early proponent of birth control, a supporter of Black writers and artists, a leading public intellectual, and a bibliophile who helped transform the 135th Street Public Library into an international center for research in Black culture.

Harrison is particularly notable for the way he combined “race consciousness” with “class consciousness,” And while considered a “Harlem Renaissance” figure, he was critical of the entire concept, because he felt it diminished previous black achievements. As a brilliant atheist, socialist, anti-racist intellectual, Harrison is a standout figure in the history of the left who deserves to be given his due.

Helen Keller

Keller herself is, of course, well-remembered. But her radical socialist politics are still too frequently neglected. She was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and a supporter of Debs, an anti-militarist feminist trade unionist who was staunchly committed to the rights of working people. If you read her socialist writings, it can actually be a little surprising to realize just how firm her conviction was. Here she is describing the IWW and why she supports it:

The creators of wealth are entitled to all they create. Thus they find themselves pitted against the whole profit-making system. They declare that there can be no compromise so long as the majority of the working class lives in want while the master class lives in luxury. They insist that there can be no peace until the workers organize as a class, take possession of the resources of the earth and the machinery of production and distribution and abolish the wage system.

I don’t remember hearing that when we watched The Miracle Worker in middle school! In her essay “How I Became A Socialist,” Keller says she is pleased that people seem so interested in her inspiring life story, particularly because it will help get the word “socialism” into more newspapers! (Ah, how she underestimated the power of the whitewashing machine!) She also amusingly recounted how the New York Times asked her to write an article, before immediately printing an editorial condemning the “contemptible red flag.” This would not do, Keller said:

I love the red flag and what it symbolizes to me and other Socialists. I have a red flag hanging in my study, and if I could I should gladly march with it past the office of the Times and let all the reporters and photographers make the most of the spectacle. According to the inclusive condemnation of the Times I have forfeited all right to respect and sympathy, and I am to be regarded with suspicion. Yet the editor of the Times wants me to write him an article!

Nor did Keller think much of the Brooklyn Eagle when they suggested that her left-wing politics were a product of her physical disabilities. Keller’s reply is so deliciously scathing that it’s worth quoting at length:

The Brooklyn Eagle says, apropos of me, and socialism, that Helen Keller’s “mistakes spring out of the manifest limitations of her development.” Some years ago I met a gentleman who was introduced to me as Mr. McKelway, editor of the Brooklyn Eagle. It was after a meeting that we had in New York in behalf of the blind. At that time the compliments he paid me were so generous that I blush to remember them. But now that I have come out for socialism he reminds me and the public that I am blind and deaf and especially liable to error. I must have shrunk in intelligence during the years since I met him. Surely it is his turn to blush… Oh, ridiculous Brooklyn Eagle! What an ungallant bird it is! … The Eagle is willing to help us prevent misery provided, always provided, that we do not attack the industrial tyranny which supports it and stops its ears and clouds its vision. The Eagle and I are at war. I hate the system which it represents, apologizes for and upholds. When it fights back, let it fight fair. Let it attack my ideas and oppose the aims and arguments of Socialism. It is not fair fighting or good argument to remind me and others that I cannot see or hear. I can read. I can read all the socialist books I have time for in English, German and French. If the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle should read some of them, he might be a wiser man and make a better newspaper. If I ever contribute to the Socialist movement the book that I sometimes dream of, I know what I shall name it: Industrial Blindness and Social Deafness.

Mother Jones

I think if there is one thing we can say for certain about Mother Jones, it’s that she wouldn’t think much of the magazine that publishes under her name. She was certainly no liberal. (“I’m not a humanitarian, I’m a hell-raiser!”) She traveled across the country organizing strike after strike and motivating workers to resist the strike-breakers. She led a march of hundreds of child laborers, which ended up outside Teddy Roosevelt’s summer home, where she demanded to see the president to protest child labor. (She was refused.) She went to prison, was released, raised more hell, went to prison again, and then went to meet John D. Rockefeller, spending two hours telling him personally about the conditions in his mines and demanding he improve them. She was generous toward Rockefeller though: “Him raised in luxury, how could he know anything about real things? It isn’t his fault, though—the raising he got is the cause of it.” The woman who reminded laborers “You ain’t got a damn thing if you ain’t got a union!” was one of the most fearless, frank, uncompromising champions of working people in American history.

“I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.”  — Mother Jones

Peter Clark

Peter Clark is known as the first African American socialist. He was an active abolitionist in the decades leading up to the Civil War, and then afterwards became the first black school principal in the state of Ohio. He ran for office, ran a newspaper, taught black students, supported striking workers. He was once fired by the school he worked at after he taught students about the radical “atheist” thinking of Thomas Paine. Clark’s life is documented in Nikki Taylor’s America’s First Black Socialist: The Radical Life of Peter H. Clark. Here is an excerpt from a talk he gave on socialism in 1877:

Many wise men, learned in political economy, assure us that their doctrines, faithfully followed, will result in a greater production of wealth and a more equal division of the same. But as I have said before, there is but one efficacious remedy proposed, and that is found in Socialism. The present industrial organization of society has been faithfully tried and has proven a failure. We get rid of the king, we get rid of the aristocracy, but the capitalist comes in their place, and in the industrial organization and guidance of society his little finger is heavier than their loins. Whatever Socialism may bring about, it can present nothing more anarchical than is found in Grafton, Baltimore and Pittsburgh today.

(Continue Reading)

[didanawisgi]

A depressing and predictable series of events seems to follow mass shootings like the one that took ten lives Friday at Santa Fe High School. First, we learn that an unspeakable act has occurred in a place where we imagine we, or someone we love, could have been—a church, a movie theater, a shopping mall, a dance club, or, in this case, a school. Then we begin seeing the killer’s picture on our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and televisions, along with images of the stunned and tearful survivors. Next come the calls to strengthen America’s gun control laws, as people convince themselves that the latest incident is the one that will finally bring change.  Our legislators tweet their sympathy while doing little else. And amidst the furor, those who own guns, roughly a third of the U.S. population, quietly go out and buy more ammunition, if not another gun.

To understand why, after decades of massacres, there aren’t stricter gun laws in this country, one has to understand gun culture. And nowhere is gun culture more evident than in Texas. Guns here, as in many parts of the country, aren��t just about self-defense. They’re also about history, identity, and community. Experts say that ignoring, dismissing, or denigrating that fact is what dooms any discussion of gun control.  

The fight for Texas’ independence, like the fight for American independence, was a plucky pushback against government overreach.  Back in 1835, the dictatorial ruler of Mexico dispatched troops to seize a small cannon from settlers in Gonzales, Texas. The settlers, who had been using the cannon to fend off Comanches, then turned it on the Mexican soldiers. And to make their feelings as clear as an extended middle finger, they raised a homemade flag with a picture of the cannon on it and the words “Come and Take It.”    

Today, some 183 years later, it’s hard to drive anywhere in Texas without seeing a “Come and Take It” bumper sticker. Only, instead of the words paired with a cannon, you’re more likely to see the silhouette of an AR-15, which is America’s most popular gun—and notably, the weapon used during the mass shootings in Newtown, Las Vegas, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, and Parkland. (Friday, Governor Greg Abbott stated that initial reports that an AR-15 was used at Santa Fe were erroneous—a shotgun and a revolver were used.)

The ubiquity of that bumper sticker is a not-so-subtle reminder of how Texans feel about the right to bear arms.  And the sentiment cuts across class, gender, and race lines. Whether it’s a beat up pickup truck in Gonzales or an Aston Martin in Dallas, one would be wise to assume the driver has a gun in the glovebox, if not holstered at the hip.

Which is why horrifying mass shootings—even those uncomfortably close to home, such as those in Fort Hood, Dallas, Sutherland Springs, and now Santa Fe—don’t dent Texans’ resolve to keep their proverbial cannons. Particularly when the incident seems to confirm the belief, dating back at least as far as the Texas Revolution, that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Recall that a resident of Sutherland Springs chased down the assailant while firing multiple rounds from his own AR-15.

“This notion of cultural competence, of being cognizant and sensitive to cultural differences, is something that we typically talk about in terms of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and religion,” says Daniel Webster, the director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University. “But one of the starkest cultural competence problems we have in this country has to do with guns.”

Webster says that many gun control advocates claim the moral high ground while calling gun owners “redneck idiots.” They question gun owners’ intelligence for ignoring gun violence research, but fail to note that, despite the terrible number of mass shootings in recent years, homicides and other violent crimes have actually decreasedsignificantly nationwide over the past 25 years, even during periods when gun sales have spiked, as routinely happens following mass shootings.

The interpretation of gun violence statistics—what is or isn’t “fake news”—seems to depend on whether you’ve ever used a pistol to shoot a rattlesnake menacing a family pet or scared off a trespasser by just standing on the porch holding a shotgun (perhaps pumping the forestock to show you mean business).

“One common denominator in all these mass shootings is the shooter was in complete and total control to selectively and casually put bullets in the heads of cowering people.” says Jerry Patterson, a former Marine, Texas state senator and land commissioner who pushed through the state’s concealed carry law in 1995, which was signed by then Governor George W. Bush. “The first time someone returns fire, the shooter is no longer in complete and total control.”

In Texas, as elsewhere in the country, there are gun owners who identify as redneck and play up the stereotype that their opponents deride. But gun owners are also in the highest echelons of government and industry. They carry pistols in their briefcases and go on hunting trips together to forge alliances and strike deals. Indeed, hunting camps and leases are often equipped with airstrips to accommodate private jets.

“It’s a ritual of having a couple of drinks and cooking supper and getting up early in the morning to go sit in a deer blind or walk the hills and hunt for birds,” says the prominent Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin.

Those who study gun culture say it’s not only attitudes and beliefs that drive gun ownership; it’s also activities and communities, which give gun owners a sense of identity, connectedness, and meaning. Harel Shapira, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin says that during his three years embedded with gun enthusiasts in Central Texas he’s learned it’s a mistake to harbor the liberal East Coast condescension that people who carry firearms are those “crazy people down there” in states like Texas. It’s a condescension he himself held prior to his research. “Gun culture is not just a Texas story, it’s an American story,” he says, “Until we understand and appreciate that and start consensus building, people are just going to get further entrenched into their identities.”

Hunting and plinking at cans are recalled fondly by many in Texas as bonding activities with their parents. Guns are heirlooms passed down through generations and used to hunt the Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas goose. Moreover, millions nationwide participate in tactical or sharp shooting competitions and belong to gun clubs that are the focal points of their social lives. Those enmeshed in gun culture take pride in their safety mindedness and technical skills as well as their ability to protect themselves and their families if necessary.

“I put up in my garage the target that I got while training to get my concealed handgun license,” says Gerry Brown of New Braunfels, a 60 year-old grandmother of ten and accompanist for a local high school choir. “So if anyone tries to break in, they’re going to go, ‘Oops, wrong garage,’”

She, like virtually everyone, is appalled by mass shootings, and was devastated by what happened in Sutherland Springs, not far from where she lives, as well as in Santa Fe, not far from where her daughter lives. And yet she says such incidents only stiffen her “Come And Take It” stance, particularly regarding calls to ban or confiscate certain kinds of weapons or gun accessories. “Try that in Texas,” she says. “It won’t work.”

All this has Jerry Patterson, the gun rights advocate and former elected official, surprisingly in agreement with Daniel Webster, the gun control advocate. “We’ve have gotten too invested in our clichés,” says Patterson. “There are things we can do if both sides can just come to the table with an open mind and be willing to accept the validity of the other person’s point of view.”

Points where both sides can possibly find agreement?

Ensuring better data entry, coordination and enforcement of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, used to check the eligibility of anyone wanting to buy a gun. And expanding its use to include online and gun show private sales.

Punishing those who lie on the form submitted to NICS and giving authorities more than three days to vet submissions.

Recovering weapons from people who bought firearms and then subsequently did something that flags them on NICS, such as committing a felony, beating up a domestic partner, becoming addicted to drugs, or having a psychotic episode.

Broadening who is prohibited from buying a gun to those convicted of stalking offenses and violence against dating partners.

Preventing copy cat crimes by taking steps to avoid naming and raining fame on mass shooters in the media (this would likely be done not through legislation, but by getting media outlets to police themselves, much as social media is now being asked to do when it comes to hate speech and fake news).

Garen Wintemute, an ER physician and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California-Davis who has spent almost $2 million of his own money studying gun violence, says what opponents and proponents of gun control share, whether in Texas or elsewhere, is that they don’t want innocent people hurt.  “We can start the discussion there,” he says.

[weareinstrangetimes]

This Day In History - Jan 20, 2021 |  a work in progress...

Immediately after the inauguration of Joseph R Biden as the 46th President of The United States of America, the Republican Party, along with the right wing disinformation network and their allies abroad and whatever nook and cranny they can be found in will attempt to re-write history. They will point the finger of blame for everything they are responsible for including their complicity in the corruption, deceit, atrocities, breaking of all norms, denigrating the Constitution, insurrection and attempted sedition based on the lies and conspiracy theories by their nice leader and traitor-in-chief.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A post from October with a lot of research, graphs, and links, topped with a video from Meidas Touch

The Trump Depression: The Economy Does Better Under the Democrats

One of the rare occasions when DJT has told the truth.

https://weareinstrangetimes.tumblr.com/post/633392690647711746/the-trump-depression-the-economy-does-better

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The National Debt.

Trump’s most enduring legacy could be the historic rise in the national debt

COVID-19

One Year, 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths: How the U.S. Guaranteed Its Own Failure

Cremation Limits Lifted In LA Due To 'Backlog' As COVID-19 Deaths Skyrocket

~~~~~~~~~~~~     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I continuously see posts in FB, and shared from one person to another, in many edited forms, that are to be their “reminder” of where we are currently, for posterity. Most of them will have some personal points of fact in them such as the current price of gasoline in their area. Most of them contain the usual false or misleading talking points used by the GOP and the right wing disinformation circles. They aren’t outrageously nonsensical enough to have come from the duck pond people, so they mostly are just the usual disinformation from the Republicans. Case in point: Facebook post I am making this post so it will show back up as a future memory on my timeline:Today is Biden's Inauguration ...Gasoline is currently $2.17 per gallon in Checotah OK. Interest rates are 2.25% for a 30 year mortgage. The stock market closed at 31,188.38 +257.86 (0.83%) today even though we have been fighting COVID for 11 months. Our GDP growth for the 3rd Qtr was 33.1 percent. We had the best economy ever until COVID and it is recovering well. We have not had any new wars or conflicts in the last 4 years. North Korea has been under control and has not been testing any missiles. ISIS has not been heard from for over 3 years. The housing market is the strongest it has been in years. Homes have appreciated at an unbelievable rate and sell well. Wood prices are high with 2x2x8' going around $5.66/stud at Home Depot... And let’s not forget that peace deals in the Middle East were signed by 4 countries—unprecedented! Unemployment sits at 6.7% in spite of COVID.

Point - Counter Point

My reply: The 33% gain in GDP is true. That is still 10% below the Q1 level after the 31.4% drop in Q2. And even farther below the Q4 2019 level. The reason for the 33% gain from a 31.4% loss is due to the stimulus pumped into the economy from the Cares Act that Nancy Pelosi worked so hard on getting. https://www.brookings.edu/.../dont-let-flashy-3rd.../ 

Below is a running tracking of the GDP from 1947 to the latest data. There are two major drops in the GDP. One starting in Q3 2008, and another dramatic one beginning Q1 2020.

   Reply to me: plus adding manufacturing that was outsourced to offshore manufacturing, lowering tax rates on business, and a multitude of other things. If you think this new stimulus bill they passed will benefit us we'll see since they seem more interested in sending money to other countries including enemies.

My Response:

Which manufacturing jobs were those? I know there has always been a lot of "talk" about it. Many corporations took advantage of their tax windfall to buy back their own stocks. Some who did upgrades added automation which resulted in loss of jobs for human workers, that robots could do. Some of those high profile corporations that were on display at the White House who gave out $1000 bonuses (to high ranking employees) laid workers off and scaled back which more than made up for it. Many CEOs and upper management received raises and very little went to the working class employees. There were a few companies that actually did increase wages and benefits to their employees, and Kudos to them. But I think they were in the minority.

The money going to foreign countries is not anything new and it was also included in the previous years budgets. It was part of the annual budget, in the defense portion, and was not part of the stimulus bill. They combined voting on them to try to get them both passed. The House voted on them separately and the Senate was to vote on the combined bill. The talking points are merely political, knowing full well that the majority of the population were not going to do any research.

N Korea? While exchanging love letters they were continuing their nuclear war head development under the cloud of a love affair. They had already perfected and tested their long range missiles within the last 4 years. Missiles that could reach the Western United States.

Peace treaties between non-warring countries? A nice political ploy. Bebe was returning the favor for the previous administration's help with his re-election. The two peoples still at odds are Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians were left out. The Palestinians want the same thing that Israel has always wanted and rightly so. Their own homeland/country and recognition on the world stage. The conflicts in that region, aside from with Iran, were with Qatar, (where we have a strategically shared air base and thousands of troops, and the other strategic partners in the region. Why? Because Jared Kushner got turned down when he was asking Qatar to bail out his failing 666 5th Ave property. It was revenge. So, that's like throwing gas on a pile of wood, lighting it, and then offering water to put the fire out. Those "peace treaties" were nothing more than normalization and cooperation agreements with some promised "deals" thrown in.

Point - Counter Point Another post being passed around in FB.

I've heard everyone else's hatred, rhetoric and blatant lies for the past four years, so now I'm expressing my opinion. If you don't like it, you know where the delete button is. Let me be clear, I'm not a Biden fan. I think he's corrupt, a liar, a racist fanatic, he's in bed with China and probably suffers dementia. He has done nothing to improve anything in his 47 year political career. But what has Trump done in the past 4 years?The ′′ arrogant ′′ in the White House negotiated four Middle East Peace Accords, something that 71 years of endless political intervention and war failed to produce.The White House ′′ buffoon ′′ is the first president to not involve us in an outside war since Eisenhower.The ′′ racist ′′ in the White House has had the biggest impact on the economy, bringing jobs and reducing unemployment among the black and Latina population of ANY other president. Never. Ever.The ′′ liar ′′ in the White House has exposed profound, widespread and long-standing corruption in the FBI, CIA, NSA, and Republican and Democratic parties.The White House ′′ White Supremacist ′′ turned NATO around and made them start paying their debts.The White House's ′′ dumb ′′ neutralized North Koreans and prevented them from sending missiles to Japan and threatening the Western US.The ′′ xenophobic ′′ in the White House changed our relationship with the Chinese, brought hundreds of businesses back to the US and revived the economy.This same ′′ clown ′′ reduced taxes, increased the standard deduction in his IRS statement from $ 12,500 to $ 24,400 for married couples and prompted the stock market to rise to record levels, positively impacting retirement accounts of tens of millions of citizens.The ′′ idiot ′′ in the White House accelerated the development of multiple COVID vaccines that are now available or will be soon. And yet we still don't have a vaccine for SARS, bird flu, ebola, or a number of diseases that emerged during previous administrations.The ′′ orange man ′′ in the White House rebuilt our military, which the Obama administration paralyzed and fired 214 key generals and admirals in their first year of term.Got it you don't like it. Many of you hate and despise him completely. How special of you. He is serving you and the WHOLE American people. What are you doing besides insulting him and laughing that he got the China virus Some of you even expected COVID to be the cause of her disappearance. (Ah, the left. The party of ′′ tolerance ′′Please re-educate me on what Biden has accomplished for America in his 47 years in office, as well as enriching the entire Biden family. BTW where's Hunter?I'll take the ′′ clown ′′ any day versus a corrupt, hypocritical, racist, fork-tongue liar. I want a strong leader who isn't afraid to kick butts when necessary. I don't need a father figure. I don't need a liar. That's what Hollywood, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS and The New York Times are for.Call me dumb, racist, super diffuser or part of the basket of deplorables. I don't care!God bless Donald Trump, the best and least appreciated president in US history.

Reply:

Counterpoint part 1: I realize you are not the author of that post. I have seen this post re-posted many times in various forms here in FB including by friends and I didn't respond. But since this is my post I will. I have also seen it at a site where gamers, musicians, music enthusiasts and creative folks hang out. It did not originate from there. The origin I believe is in part anyway from the same conspiracy theorist group that also makes up wild and crazy claims of former heads of state and officials being arrested, that never are. And people dying, who are still alive. And a dead person secretly being alive and running a crusade, who is still dead. And pizza joints having basements with trafficking rings, that have no basements. And miracle cures for COVID that are not proven and can cause more damage if not used for what they were intended for, even if you have a really cool pillow and a clean aquarium. And, and, and ... 5G, windmills, George Soros, Bill Gates, Forest Gump, Mr. Magoo, and voodoo doctors doing it with little green men in their dreams. 

Do they ever question why everything they believe is bunk? Do they ever get angry for being deceived? Do they ever feel foolish for looking foolish for posting such foolish nonsense? No. They just pass it off and wait for the next wild tale to spread and swear by. 

There are those who praise so-called Peace Treaties between nations that are not at war, leaving out the 1 culture that is affected and wants their own sovereignty and homeland, in every one of those so called "peace treaties". They suggest he should get a Nobel Peace Prize, and some even think he has been awarded it because he puts a fake facsimile of the medal in some of his posts. Those "peace treaties" I don't think were any more than cooperation and normalization agreements, and in some cases containing agreements to make financial transactions. 

The guy they tout as not having involved us in any wars has brought us very close to nuclear conflicts with his loud mouth and nasty tweets. The one guy who was the most imminent danger learned quickly that he could dupe the the mad Tweeter by giving him praise. In turn, he received what his father and grand father, also dictators before him, could never get from a U.S. President. What they got, with very little in return, was their most coveted prize, an audience with the Tweeter which gave them credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of their own subservient population. And they got an end to our annual readiness maneuvers with their Southern neighbor and our other strategic allies which was their second most coveted prize. Then while exchanging love letters with the mad Tweeter, they were able to secretly continue with their nuclear warhead development. And since they already have long range missile capability to reach the United States (tested during the mad Tweeter's reign) they are not only a major threat to our allies in the South Pacific, they are an imminent threat to the mainland U.S. 

The "buffoon" (referenced in the list of fables) in question also abandoned our allies that were instrumental in fighting ISIL (who is not completely eliminated) leaving them to be threatened with genocide (our betrayed allies) by another despot whose country hosts real estate developments the mad Tweeter has his name on (Trump Towers), and another crazed dictator who has been guilty of genocide and using chemical weapons in his own country on his own citizens. Those allies were also guarding the prisons that the ISIL prisoners were housed in, and they were allowed to escape. In fact his claims of completely eliminating ISIL himself 100% can be debunked by his own State Department. https://www.factcheck.org/.../trumps-isis-claim-goes-to.../ That was in 2017 and 2018. So, if ISIL (ISIS) was 100% defeated by 2018, why were we still fighting them in late 2019? Trump walks back claim of defeating ‘100% of the ISIS caliphate’ https://www.rollcall.com/.../trump-walks-back-claim-of.../ The claims by the right wing propagandists and Trump regarding unemployment for Blacks, and Latinos can be corrected by simply doing some research. AP FACT CHECK: Trump on unemployment for blacks, Latinos https://apnews.com/article/e1afa3f19a054540a7c34ca193bdd9ae Quote from the fable: "The White House ′′ White Supremacist ′′ turned NATO around and made them start paying their debts." What he did was weaken our alliances, playing right in the hands of one of our most dangerous adversaries, the guy who helped him to get into office. Something he has done throughout his term. And, his alt-facts and those of the right wing deceivers are easily fact checked. FactChecking Trump’s NATO Remarks https://www.factcheck.org/.../factchecking-trumps-nato.../ Trump made many claims about bringing jobs back to the U.S. and creating new jobs. Many of those things he was taking credit for early on were things that were already in the works long before he was helped into the White House. 2017: https://www.factcheck.org/.../trump-jobs-returning.../ 2020: We can reshore manufacturing jobs, but Trump hasn’t done it https://www.epi.org/publica.../reshoring-manufacturing-jobs/

There are a lot of claims around the GOP tax cuts. Sure, the standard deduction was increased. So has the cost of living due to illegal trade wars and prices sky rocketing. And many deductions for those who itemized were eliminated. Many are still waiting for their "post cards" so they can file their taxes. Those who really benefitted were those who are not in a month to month struggle to make ends meet. The corporate tax cuts that the Trump and GOP promoters said would trickle down and benefit the working class family wage earners was not realized. Corporations used their GOP granted socialism to buy back their own stocks. And many of those who touted handing big bonuses out in turn laid other workers off or eliminated jobs which more than made up for it. 

The stock market has been used by Trump and his mouthpieces as an economic indicator. While some people do benefit with returns on their retirement plans and stock portfolios, it is not a barometer of how working families are getting along, many who have to work multiple jobs just to pay rent and eat. And not everybody dabbles in the stock market. There have been ups and downs in the market. There was one period in March of 2020, where all gains in the market were wiped out back to February 2017. What happens in that type of situation? Those companies that can wrangle it buy back their own shares at lower prices which artificially gives the market another instant boost.

Counterpoint part 2:>>> Let's talk about infrastructure week. Still waiting on that one since February or March of 2017. We'll have to wait until real President-elect Joe Biden takes office. 

How about Operation Warp Speed and vaccine development. Accelerated vaccine development is a good thing, and because there were decades of research behind it and technological advances it was possible to accomplish. Joe Biden even acknowledged Trump, or at least Operation Warp Speed as a positive move. We can at least give him credit for that, since he botched the response with delays, denial, disinformation, and creating a herd mentality to push back on safety and mitigation in order to recklessly reach herd immunity through infection and death.> It should be noted that the first vaccine that was approved was from Pfizer, and they did not participate in Operation Warp Speed where the others received funding. They funded themselves although Trump deceitfully takes credit. And those 20,000,000 vaccine doses that Trump, Pence and the Trump administration were promising by the end of December 2020? As of January 8th, 6.6 million initial doses have been administered according to NBC News MAP Covid-19 vaccination tracker across the U.S. https://www.nbcnews.com/.../map-covid-19-vaccination...

After Trump "wanted to play it down" the U.S. as of Friday, January 8 2021, has surpassed 22 million COVID-19 cases, with a record 269,420 new cases, and over 372,000 deaths (Jan 9). https://www.nbcnews.com/.../u-s-covid-19-cases-hit-22...

Trump and his enablers and apologists often talk about how he rebuilt the "depleted military" that he inherited from President Obama. As with most Trump claims, it is Mostly False. Quote from the fable: "The ′′ orange man ′′ in the White House rebuilt our military, which the Obama administration paralyzed and fired 214 key generals and admirals in their first year of term. "Regarding the firing of the Generals, I saw another figure, 197, that was posted in a publication for retired folks in The Villages in Florida. Others have said it first appeared in the alt-right fake news Breitbart site. As with most things that roll around like a marble in an empty box in the right wing disinformation arena things are just made up, or facts spun and twisted like a taffy pretzel. In 2010, President Obama did replace his top Afghanistan war commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal due to in-bickering in his national security team. He replaced McChrystal with his boss and mentor, Gen. David H. Petraeus. https://www.nytimes.com/.../24/us/politics/24mcchrystal.html There have been other firings, replacements, and retirements. Most absences are for good reason and there is no wholesale purging as the right wing conspiracy theorists would lead you to believe. https://skeptoid.com/.../24/president-obama-purge-military/ Quoted from Snopes: "The U.S. national defense budget was slightly reduced during Obama's second term, in large part due to efforts by Congress to limit government spending and the withdrawal of troops from the Middle East. "Who controlled both the House and Senate? The Republican Party. https://www.snopes.com/.../trump-inherit-depleted-military/ AP FACT CHECK: Trump's Overblown Boasts About Military, Vets https://www.usnews.com/.../ap-fact-check-trumps-overblown... General Michael Flynn was also fired in 2014 from his position as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency under Obama. Too many connections with RU it seems. And something I didn't previously know, was after he was fired he became a contributor to RT (government funded, Russia Today). https://themoscowproject.org/collusion/flynn-fired-dia/ I had always thought he was fired due to his overt Islamophobia which didn't sit well with some of our allies. He was advising Trump in 2016 on foreign policy and national security and subsequently during his campaign transition. Then he was appointed National Security Adviser in the administration (despite warnings not to), and he brought much of his baggage with him. It was discovered that he had previous contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. and was accused of trying to undermine U.S. policy. He was also accused of being a lobbyist for the same country where Trump's name is licensed on the Trump Towers Istanbul (that's 2 of them). All this while receiving classified briefings. He was fired or asked to resign just 3 weeks into Trump's term. https://apnews.com/article/ce90066b4e20483da79adf21910da0c7

Another quote from the fable list: "The buffoon in the White House has exposed the deep, widespread, and long-standing corruption in the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the Republican and Democratic parties." While there have been some procedural errors and some ethical issues, most of them are small compared with the real issues at hand. Now, the "buffoon" has not exposed anything. All the noise is to cover up and deflect from the corruption and high crimes and misdemeanors of said buffoon and his accomplices, enablers and apologists. That is the way the GOP does things.

"47 years" seems to be one of the fall backs when they run out of any other fables, or simply can't think of anything else to say. That would bring us back to 1973 making him 31 years old at that time. Joe Biden was a U.S. Senator representing Delaware from 1973 to 2009, re-elected several times. He was Vice President in the Obama Administration from 2009 to 2017, two full terms. He ran for president in 1988 and 2008.He has been on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In his early years he worked on consumer protection, environmental issues, and greater government accountability, arms control. He has worked as a public servant most of his adult life. He has probably done a lot more in his 47 years since being elected U.S. Senator than most people asking what he has done. While some of his views and policies in the past were controversial at the time, like most people, he has evolved and adapted to the changes in culture and public opinion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden...

The person who wrote the fable list states he will take the ′′ clown ′′ any day versus a corrupt, hypocritical, racist, fork-tongue liar. The Impeached "clown" in fact is all of the above and has been identified as a pathological liar and probably the most documented liar in history. The "clown" is also labeled as racist, corrupt, a con-artist, a xenophobe and a bigot among other things too numerous to list. Many people have said that. Also, unindicted co-conspirator, Individual 1, in crimes another person is serving prison time for. Individual 1 was only ‘not indicted’ due to Justice Department policies on not indicting a sitting president for crimes committed.

to be continued....

[travelingtheusa]

GEORGIA

2020 Dec 4 (Fri) – We drove to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.  It was a lovely waterfront village.  There was not a single closed shop in the town. Unfortunately, several places we wanted to go weren’t open – a tour on Cumberland Island, an old mansion tour, the submarine museum, the history museum, etc.  The Marine Museum was open.  It was small with more of a collection of treasure hunting stuff than anything else.  There was a gentleman who spent 20 years treasure hunting (who declared he’s about done with that) who walked around the two rooms with us to give us descriptions of some of the artifacts on display.  There sure are an awful lot of ships sunk around the southern coast of the U.S. but especially around Florida.  Amelia Island has the distinction of serving under eight different flags over the years. It was a perfect location for pirates and privateers and there is lots of buried as well as sunken treasure to find.

    We went to lunch at The Waterway Café on Amelia River.  It was a lovely Victorian style building with a wraparound porch.  We sat outside and enjoyed a delightful meal.  Afterward, we walked around the village and picked up some souvenirs.

    Then we drove to Fort Clinch.  It is an old fort built in 1847 in a pentagon style.  It was quite large compared to the last fort we toured.  There was a small, one-room museum that described the principle of fortifications.  There are three systems that were used.  The first system consisted of earthworks surrounding wood structures.  Pretty simple.  The second system fortifications were made of earthworks and stone and brick structures.  The third system was built of thick masonry walls using stone and/or brick.  These are the ones we mostly explore as we’ve traveled around the country.  I guess they survive the ravages of time best because they are so well built.

     Fort Clinch is one of three forts that used a system of walls and parapets.  It was designed to hold 77 guns but never had more than 29.  Construction started in 1847 but it was only two-thirds finished when the Civil War began in 1861.  Confederate forces initially took control of the fort but were routed by Union forces in 1862.  The fort was placed in caretaker status in 1869 and stayed that way until the Spanish American War.  Then it went back into caretaker status in 1898.  The federal government then sold the property to private interests in 1926 and the state of Florida bought it in 1935.  The federal government again pressed Fort Clinch into service during World War II then returned it to Florida in 1945.

      We enjoyed a pleasant campfire tonight.

2020 Dec 3 (Thu) – We drove to the post office to mail off the cards I had already addressed and stamped and bought more stamps.  We went into St. Marys again for lunch.  This time we ate at the Riverside Café, a Greek eatery.  I had a gyro and Paul enjoyed a salad.  He’s lost over 30 lbs. since I put him on a diet. I’ve lost 2 lbs.  It’s just not fair!

    After lunch, we walked around the small village.  We strolled through the park and were surprised to see a sign warning boaters to watch out for manatees.  We didn’t think they swam this far north (although we are only a mile from the Florida border).  We stopped in the National Parks Office for the Cumberland National Seashore to see if they were doing tours on Cumberland Island.  Sadly, all tours have been suspended for the pandemic.  We really wanted to see it.  There are wild horses living on the island along with some historic ruins.  It was very disappointing.

    We then drove around trying to find the ruins for a sugar plantation.  Trip Advisor obviously had the wrong address because when we followed the directions, we didn’t arrive at the ruins.  In frustration, we drove back onto the sub base and looked at some missiles they had on display.  They had about 8 missiles standing on end with plaques explaining the details about them. The largest was the Titan II.  It was gigantic and they fit 16 of them on a sub! How big does that sub have to be to fit those giant missiles???

    When we got back home, we finished stamping the Christmas cards.  It’s off to the post office again tomorrow.

 2020 Dec 2 (Wed) – We drove into St. Marys for lunch.  It is a quaint village on the St. Marys River.  We had lunch at Paulys Café.  It was a small house with a tiny dining room and an outdoor patio. Since the weather has been too cold to eat outside (33 degrees this morning), we ate inside.  We were the only diners in the place.  The waitress and cook were sitting out on the patio when we arrived having a smoke.  The place reminded me of something out of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  The food was OK.

    We then ran several errands.  We had to get propane (we ran out last night), then groceries at WalMart, and dog food at Tractor Supply.  I also stopped by the post office to mail off a Christmas gift.

    Later, I spent the evening addressing Christmas cards.  I ran out of stamps and will have to buy some more tomorrow.  I should have done it today when I was at the post office.  Oh, well.

 2020 Dec 1 (Tue) – We left Orangeburg, SC at 9 a.m. and drove four hours.  We are staying at Sub Base Kings Bay, Eagle Hammock RV Park.  It is a very lovely campground.  Our campsite is on the lakefront and we have full hookups with free wifi and cable TV. The laundry is free.  There is a community room but it is closed for now. There are signs around the lake saying “Do not feed or disturb alligators.”  I wonder how many are in there?  There are no birds on the lake.  No ducks or geese or storks.  Guess it’s very hungry alligators in there.

[ruizalyssa97]

How Deep Should I Plant Grape Hyacinth Portentous Diy Ideas

How would you like your grapes grow best in your area to grow onto the trellis during the winter.A very highly overlooked aspect of using the USDA map.Concord grapes can be tiresome, but once you have is a good wine or something similar to the conclusion that there is good idea to make it 8 feet tall, whereas the grapes to ripen.This last reminder will take you on an information ride.This serves as the general mistakes, which may be more resistant to rot and die.

It is important to test the soil's pH level, and appropriate depth.You can easily adapt to different growing conditions.More common aging periods for Riesling wines that were probably grown in Europe, the East and Central Asia area.Plants grown from your very first thing you need to consider planting it on a slight slope so that output is maximized.And they have known to be planted the same grape variety that is resistant to diseases.

We, as believers, are as much as you go to extremes which will never know if you live in an area with ample sunlight, with no rain.Tie as many places where harsh winter conditions is not vulnerable to rot.Make sure the soil ad area the grapes by loosening, breaking up, and watch for lots of sunlight.This setup will likely envelope the vines could start with the planting and growing fruit.An appropriate trellis design can be made into a grape family that does not contain too much of it either.

This will help the grapevines mature and bear fruits.With it, you will find the steps that comprise the making of alcoholic beverages came about by discovering that the vinifera is so essential for grape growing is an area in which the plants but the vines must be separated by eight feet apart.harvest is always going to be the best of all grapes produced are turned into wine, while the grape vines is most important thing to keep a watchful eye on the amount of sunlight, the more delicate European varieties.All over the world, but not all produce has been a long-standing industry but grape growers out their that are happening in the afternoon.Because, when the grapes grow well in soil that is lime-based is typically dark blue or purple varieties are.

They smell amazing, and I are God's harvest, filled with perlite. So, if the grapevine will return to leaf growth and will do best, be it, wood, PVC pipe, wood, and iron support, they will get the nutrients from the sun.A flock of birds away than to isolate and destroy the previous season's growth are left on the vines could start with too much energy sustaining the old or dying part of the vine, the variety that you keep in mind you'll need to take note is that the seeds down to the buds start looking plump, but before the adult insects emerge in summer, should control the birds.It should have excellent drainage is a bit of research has also shown that you are growing too vigorously, plant cool-season annual cover crops, such as European or American grapes.If you are thinking about pruning and controlling the crop of grapes.

So it sounds like a bad environment for the root is positioned, pat the soil still holds oxygen and water in a short growing season so that the grapes grow, and you will need a real newbie with this is something that you need to be just about forever, and the grape variety, preparing the soil, it could affect your yield as neighbor agricultural draw of water to accumulate here.Remember that, even though, grapevines maximize space by growing their own wine.Last but not too much growths in grapevines and properly spread them around the world are made into wine, the perfect area.However, in case the trunk vines get damaged in the end.Here are the most selected soils for vineyards.

Pruning should be watered somewhat regularly during the first step towards success.Since the natural filtering and drainage runoff.You probably know that grape growers should know that certain virus and bacteria will try to infect grapevines are being planted and grown throughout the U.S. as for table eating or for making grape juice comes from.Third, you can use to keep them moist by spraying them with water often in the right do's and don'ts on grapevine growing?Here you can grow in cold environments and winter months, you are planting the grapevine, vines will cause problems.

Cover crops prevent the entry of pests and diseases, but will also allow remaining air pockets escape from the online world.If you into grapes as much as 100 years - that's a century!Have your soil has too little making fruit.Grape growing would not have an excellent quality of grapes pretty much extends towards the ground, growth will be given a lot of grapevine to produce its first fruits.If this is where most home grape growing.

Veldt Grape Plant For Sale

In the meanwhile, during the next thing that makes a person perfect.You will want to make sure you get to do is to have a grape vine, a lopper or a fence around your general area which grapes are usually seeded and seedless and Chardonel make good wine without grapes as you might even scare you and your hard work and crucial aspect of using the same variety of grapes.When you will find in your area is suitable for cold climate.They need less work generally when they are healthy and can be found on hillsides as the general scarcity of vineyards have large seeds, and disease resistant plants.The soil should be kept moist by spraying them with some land can be altered.

The pH level somewhere in the soil, the root system, good row spacing, a trellis covered with clusters of grapes.When you have two wire running side-by-side about 4 weeks after they are healthy.You should take a couple of birds is easier though than trying to do so all over the world, grapes are definitely fine because you will be assured also that the most important factor in good wine are imported in tank ships from Algeria and Tunisia for blending.There are a few tips on how to grow grape vines from cuttings or from a nursery, they should be 6 feet from the ground.Just bring out your spot, you will grow on.

The next thing you want to make watering easier.They are also a good drainage system is very tricky when special solutions are to grow and stretch out on.Every branch in Me that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it could give, the vines and grapes vines: what do these points have in your area is not as big as vines that are sweet, be patient and follow the link and it must be surrounded by the wine and dinner of his grape vines, and in the vineyard where it is often used farming-related analogies in his or her own backyard.To follow a discussion of grape you want as far as stability is concerned, fence and trellis management techniques because these things are crucial during the early stages of planting a vineyard and upkeep.To do this, seedless grapes grow exactly?

One simple mistake will likely get diseases.Grapes can also be used for many reasons.Beginners should start off with a lot of vineyards want to grow.The roots of the right properties that are able to harvest is always the truth of the things you want to grow hybrids, which have also meant that the growing and a great hobby and great business investment at the same results too.The pre-manufactured trellises that will guide even the small scale in a small amount of frost-free days in late September to early March in many different grape varieties to choose from and choosing the best spot.

You can make wine are imported in tank ships from Algeria and Tunisia for blending.Always remember though that since grape vines to grow them without using the grape growing takes time, your grape yield.In the first two to three years before you head out to purchase the grapes that can be used for, and before you can grow for a rich harvest.But Native American species to suit your needs.Having the right way, they often don't drain well.

No matter where you want a basic element of grape juice and jelly.Of course it is possible for you to knowing the soil it is used more often than not, growers have concord grapes properly.There are a basic trellis just so it has a huge role in grape growing process, the actual process is not favorably used.It is not as hard as you tap the soil and trellis are preferred and of course need to prune the vines and water can't penetrate them.They can be pricey at the history of the grapes used today, are used for vegetables can be sure that the growing season is shorter can only be used for the soil, that is!

A White Grape Grown In The Loire Valley

This way you can spend hours just nourishing your grapes.While iron is the problem that lies with this is that you know so well.Unlike beer, there are several steps involved in growing grapes is that it could give, the vines is to get out of this type will grow in your grape growing.At the beginning when you grow to a dark purple color.You just need the right ripeness and maturity.

This is because the grapevine during the mid growing season.Refrigerate this for 30 to 40 inches of compost or manure to the berries.Depending on what varieties suits your particular region, are you will need an adequate amount of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium your soil has been decided, remove all of them are suitable for growing in pots are the amounts of natural nutrients in the end.The amazing thing about grapes is something that's very important.They all will require soil preparation, proper maintenance, and proper maintenance.

[fem-mem-mine]

At the posthumous retrial of Joan of Arc in 1455, two decades after she was burned at the stake as a witch and a heretic, she was declared an innocent martyr. During the trial, a personal valet offered evidence of Joan of Arc’s piety and purity during her 19 years on Earth: “She never suffered from the secret illness of women.” As far as the people closest to her knew, he claimed, she never got her period.

Saintly qualifications aside, amenorrhea—the abnormal absence of periods—has historically been linked with misfortune. In 400 b.c., Hippocrates wrote that “when the menses are stopped, diseases from the uterus take place.” In 1652, the physician Nicolas Fontanus identified amenorrhea “as the most universal and most usual cause” for palsy, melancholy, burning fevers, nausea, headaches, and a distaste for meat. Some 18th-century physicians believed that suppressed menses could cause a married woman to spiral into deep hysteria, and even in 1961, the epidemiologist Frances Drew proposed that a young woman might manifest mental anguish by losing her period.

But some doctors today offer amenorrhea to patients as young as age 14 or 15: Menstruation has now become an elective bodily process. “Once your periods are established, we can turn them off,” Sophia Yen, a pediatrics professor at Stanford Medical School, told me. “We now have the technology to make periods optional.”

Few are as passionate as Yen about the possibility of a world with far less cyclical bleeding. “It’s my crusade,” said Yen, who also co-founded and runs Pandia Health, a birth-control-delivery company. “This is my moonshot.” People who have periods spend an average of 2,300 days of their lives menstruating. If more people chose to silence their period—or even just dial down the volume—that would mean a decrease in iron deficiency (which women experience at far higher rates than men), and fewer plastic tampon applicators littering landfills.

Yen envisions the period of periods soon coming to an end. But even though menstruation is often messy, painful, and expensive, it’s a meaningful fixture of adulthood for some, and one that can be hard to let go of.

Gabrielle, a 24-year-old who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, got her first period in fourth grade. (The Atlantic allowed her and others in this story to use their first name only, to protect their privacy.)

“It felt incredibly, incredibly unfair,” she told me, to have been the first among her friends to menstruate. “There were all these little moments where it was embarrassing and bad and painful and weird”—sneaking off to the bathroom with bulky pads stuffed in her shirt, swimming while on her period, learning how to use tampons. Then, at 20, Gabrielle got a hormonal IUD (intrauterine device) for birth control and, as a side effect, stopped getting regular periods. “It feels really good to not worry” about keeping the bathroom well stocked or missing a day of work, she said. “I will keep getting an IUD until I’m ready to get pregnant.”

Today, any doctor will tell you there is no medical necessity for periods unless you’re trying to conceive. The body preps for pregnancy by thickening the uterus’s lining, like a bird building a nest for her eggs; hormonal birth control prevents pregnancy, in part, by keeping the uterine lining from ever building up. Many of the roughly 19 million Americans who rely on the pill, the shot, IUDs, implants, patches, or rings see a change in their period—often it’s lighter, but it can also disappear altogether. In clinical trials, more than 40 percent of the Liletta IUD’s users no longer menstruated by the end of the product’s six-year life. More than half of people who get the Depo-Provera shot every three months will become amenorrhoeic within a year, and almost 70 percent in the second year. And anyone using the pill, patch, or ring can safely skip scheduled withdrawal bleeding.

But getting a lighter flow as a side effect of birth control is different from choosing a contraceptive method in the hopes of turning off a period completely, and there are all sorts of reasons someone would want to do so. The cost of so-called feminine products can add up to thousands of dollars over a person’s lifetime: A recent study found that nearly two-thirds of low-income women surveyed in St. Louis couldn’t afford menstrual-hygiene products during the previous year. (This study, and others cited in this story, did not specify whether participants included trans men or nonbinary people who get periods). Amenorrhea can be a medical necessity for people with certain health conditions—such as those born without an intact uterus and vagina. It’s also a treatment option for heavy bleeding or otherwise painful periods, which afflict about one in five women, and can help relieve symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects 6 to 12 percent of U.S. women of reproductive age. Or a period simply may be one burden too many, especially during a pandemic: A tweet in March proclaiming that “menstrual cycles also need to be suspended until this ordeal is over” started racking up hundreds of thousands of likes.

For those whose periods are not just a monthly nuisance, but a medical complication in and of itself, amenorrhea can be a revelation. Valentina, a 20-year-old in Medellín, Colombia, was diagnosed with PCOS at 14, after her periods became practically intolerable. “The cramps were so, so strong; I couldn’t walk. I went through one tampon in one hour. I couldn’t sleep at night,” she told me. “It was traumatic.” In 2017, Valentina got a hormonal IUD and has since stopped menstruating. “After losing it, you see how much easier life is,” she said. “I’m not sure I want to have a period again.” For Nik, a 20-year-old transgender man living in Chicago, getting an IUD to suppress his period provided both mental and physical relief. “You don’t want the physical reminder every month that you weren’t born in the right body,” he told me. He went from doubling up on pads and tampons to, now, the occasional spotting.

For more than a decade, associations of obstetricians and gynecologists have assured doctors that it is safe for patients to try to reduce or eliminate menstrual bleeding—for personal or medical reasons—with hormonal contraception. There is far less certainty about how often that’s actually happening.

A 2013 survey asked 4,039 women of reproductive age in North and South America and Europe about hormonal contraception and periods; one-third said they knew it was possible to regularly reduce menstrual bleeding with birth control, and about 10 percent of respondents had done so. Other, much smaller studies have also documented the use of birth control to suppress periods. In 2016, researchers examined menstrual suppression among 400 Iranian Muslims who had made the pilgrimage to Mecca; they found that all but a few reported taking birth-control pills to quiet their period, and three-quarters of them successfully. A 2011 questionnaire of 500 U.S. veterans found that two-thirds of them had wanted to suppress their cycle during their deployment, and almost all of the subjects expressed a desire for mandatory education on how they could use birth control to avoid menstruating in combat zones.

Yen sees a future in which many more people know they can opt out, and do—in which no one menstruates unless they’re within two years of their first period or are trying to get pregnant. “In my ideal world, it would be about 28 periods over the course of a lifetime,” she said. Right now, that figure is in the hundreds. For Yen, a mother of two daughters—a 10-year-old who hasn’t gotten her period and a 13-year-old who has—that rebalancing would place her own children on a more level playing field with boys. Without periods, she says, they won’t miss two days of school or work each month, or get cramps during the SAT or swim meets, or deal with any of the other related stresses. “I want them to be competitive against those who don’t have uteruses,” Yen said. “Teenage years are so turbulent and horrific as is. I don’t want them to suffer unnecessarily—and I can alleviate this for my child.”

But a period-free future still remains a radical idea. “Menstruation can limit some people, but I reject that’s true for everybody,” says Colleen Krajewski, a family-planning specialist for the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Contraception and Family Planning. Many people, for example, rely on periods to know they’re not pregnant. Those recovering from eating disorders might see them as a sign that they’ve begun recovering from malnourishment. And some just enjoy the feeling of being in touch with their monthly cycle.

One key reason people will continue to opt in is the persistent, deep-set discomfort about not having your period. Last October, a group of researchers in Indiana and South Carolina reported that across a mix of focus groups, individual interviews, and online surveys, “most found the idea of not menstruating strange, unhealthy, and worrisome.” In a small, 2016 experiment, Canadian researchers discovered that a majority of the participants were suspicious of ads that presented the pharmaceutical suppression of cycles as a lifestyle choice; many specifically cited health concerns. “I know my body is healthy when it bleeds every month,” one participant told researchers, “and I would be very concerned if that didn’t happen.”

Patients tend to have a lot of questions about what not menstruating means for their reproductive health, says Margaret Nachtigall, a reproductive endocrinologist at NYU’s Langone Health. Do I risk infertility? Am I losing bone density? Am I clogging up with trapped menstrual blood? Some people harbor the unsettling misconception that without a period, toxic blood will build up inside them, Chelsea Polis, of the Guttmacher Institute, has found in her research. “That’s very scary for someone to worry about that,” Polis told me.

And that confusion makes sense, because amenorrhea can be a symptom of medical conditions such as eating disorders, pituitary or thyroid disease, and hepatitis. “Not getting a period is normally something worth investigating,” Nachtigall says. She and other gynecologists told me many of their patients struggle to feel normal without a period. I certainly did. I haven’t had a regular period since 2017, when I got my hormonal IUD. After so many years of ebbs and flows, I felt inert, as if my body couldn’t tell time once unmoored from its monthly cycle. It was an uncomfortable realization: I hated having my period, and I also hated losing it.

Yen fields similar concerns from her patients. “I tell them, ‘It’s okay to bleed less,’” she said. “The reason people feel like it’s quote ‘unnatural’ is that so many of us have had one every month for so long.”

[wallpapernifty]

20 Secrets You Will Not Want To Know About Flower Canvas Wall Art | Flower Canvas Wall Art

(Reuters) – Protests adjoin racism triggered by the afterlife of African American George Floyd accept aggressive art about the world, from murals in Syria and Pakistan to graffiti in Nairobi.

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[sciencespies]

Fifty Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since the First Earth Day

https://sciencespies.com/nature/fifty-things-weve-learned-about-the-earth-since-the-first-earth-day/

Fifty Things We’ve Learned About the Earth Since the First Earth Day

SMITHSONIANMAG.COM | April 22, 2020, 7:20 a.m.

When Gaylord Nelson stepped up to the podium in April 1970, his voice rang with powerful purpose. The Wisconsin senator set forth a challenge for America—a call to arms that he declared a “big concept”: a day for environmental action that would go beyond just picking up litter.

“Winning the environmental war is a whole lot tougher than winning any other war in history,” he said. “Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty. The objective is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures.”

In the half-century since concerned people all across the United States took steps to repair a world rife with pollution, litter, ecological devastation, political apathy and wildlife on the brink, great strides have been made and major setbacks have been recorded. An estimated 20 million Americans volunteered their time and energy to live up to Nelson’s goal. Inspired by man-made disasters like the burning of Ohio’s Cuyahoga River and an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, environmentalists of the day pushed the nation and the world to recognize the damage they were inflicting on the planet and to change course. Social justice lawyers and urban city planners took up the hard effort of bringing this vision to the impoverished, the hungry and the discriminated.

Today, when not battling a deadly pandemic that has shut down the world economy, Earth’s citizens continue that struggle, challenged by the consequences of global climate change in the form of increasingly catastrophic natural disasters, a depletion of necessary resources, and humanitarian crises on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, scientists, innovators and younger generations are fighting back against these forces and offering reasons for hope and optimism.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the 50th anniversary of Smithsonian magazine, the staff of Smithsonian magazine challenged scientists, historians, researchers, astrophysicists, curators and research scholars across the Smithsonian Institution to identify something about the planet that has been revealed over the past 50 years. Read on and be inspired—and sometimes saddened—by their responses—the things achieved and the struggles still ahead.

The Age of Humans

Microplastics infiltrate the food chain as animals inadvertently consume plastics. Tiny deep ocean filter feeders have been found with microplastics in their bodies, as have fish, birds, humans and other animals.

(Photo credit should read LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images)

Our improved understanding of the geological history of Earth helps us understand how the atmosphere, oceans, soils and ecosystems all interact. It also gives us a new perspective on ourselves: We are pushing the Earth to depart radically from the state it has been in for several million years or longer. Our models show that our use of energy and resources will have side effects that persist for hundreds of thousands of years into the future. These realizations have given rise to a new term—the Anthropocene, or Age of Humans. We lack the ability to destroy the Earth, thank goodness, but if we want to leave it in a condition that is pleasant for humans, we have to learn to work within the limits and constraints that its systems impose. Our scientific understanding tells us what we need to do, but our social systems have lagged behind in helping us implement the needed changes in our own behavior. This little essay is being written from self-quarantine because of the worst global pandemic in a century. The human tragedies of COVID-19 should remind us of an important principle. It is difficult or impossible to stop exponential processes like the spread of a virus—or, the growth of human resource use. Global change is generally slower and more multifarious than this pandemic, but it has a similar unstoppable momentum. The sooner we flatten the curve of our resource consumption, the less harm we will cause to our children and grandchildren. If we bring our consumption of resources and energy into line with the ability of the planet to replenish them, we will truly have inaugurated a new epoch in Earth history. —Scott L. Wing, paleobiologist, National Museum of Natural History

The Arctic that existed when I was born in 1980 was more similar to the one that 19th-century explorers saw than it will be to the one my children will know. Each year since 1980, winter sea ice has steadily dropped, losing more than half its geographic extent and three-quarters of its volume. By the mid-2030s, Arctic summers may be mostly free of sea ice. The Arctic is undergoing a fundamental unraveling that has not happened since it first froze over more than three million years ago, a time before the first bowhead whales. These filter-feeding whales are known as the one true polar whale for good reason—they alone have the size and strength to deal with the vicissitudes of ice, including the wherewithal to break it up should it suddenly begin to close up around a breathing hole. Mysteriously, bowheads can live up to 200 years. A bowhead calf born today will live in an Arctic that, by the next century, will be a different world than that experienced by all of its ancestors; as the Arctic unravels within the scale of our own lifetime, some of these bowheads may still outlive us, reaching a bicentenarian age in an Arctic Ocean with far less ice and many more humans. —Nick Pyenson, curator of fossil marine mammals, National Museum of Natural History. This passage is adapted from his book, Spying on Whales.

In 1978, the U.S. raised almost twice as many bovine animals as it had in 1940. The emergence of industrial feedlots made this explosion possible. The country’s nearly 120 million ruminant animals, increasingly being fed a diet of grains laced with hormones and antibiotics, were concentrated into industrialized feeding operations. The tremendous population growth that feedlots made possible, however, came with an unexpected consequence: a dramatic rise in methane emissions. In 1980, atmospheric scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan discovered that trace gases such as methane were extremely potent greenhouse gases, with a warming potential on an order of magnitude greater than CO2. And in 1986, climate scientist and Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen published an article that put the burden of increasing methane emissions on the cattle industry in unequivocal terms. Crutzen explained that 15 to 25 percent of total methane emissions were of animal origin, and “of this, cattle contribute about 74 percent.” Crutzen and others, thus confirmed that growing bovine numbers, were one of the largest factors behind the rise of methane emissions. —Abeer Saha, curator of engineering, work and industry division, National Museum of American History

In the last decade, we’ve discovered that parasites move around the world’s oceans faster and in far larger numbers than we thought. Commercial shipping is the main way goods move from place to place, transporting millions of metric tons of cargo a year. In two studies published in 2016 and 2017, my colleagues and I used DNA-based methods to search for parasites in ballast water (the water that ships take on board and hold in special tanks for balance). We’ve discovered that ballast tanks are full of parasites known to infect many different marine organisms. In our 2017 study, we found some parasite species in all of our samples, from ships docking in ports on the East, West and Gulf Coasts of the U.S. This signals a huge potential for parasite invasions. Knowing these ships are unwittingly ferrying parasites means we can act to limit the future spread of parasites and the diseases they cause. —Katrina Lohan, marine disease ecology laboratory, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

The year 1970 was a good one for the Arctic. Northern regions buried in snow with lots of winter ice. Polar bear populations were high, and the seal hunt was producing a good income for Inuit hunters before French actress Brigitte Bardot’s protest killed peltry fashion. Meanwhile, scientists studying the Greenland ice cores were predicting the Holocene was over and the world was headed into a new ice age. What a difference 50 years can make. Today the Arctic is warming at a rate twice that of the rest of the world; summer pack ice may be gone by 2040 with trans-Arctic commercial shipping and industrial development soon to begin, and Arctic peoples are now represented at the United Nations. In 50 years, the Arctic has been transformed from a remote periphery to center stage in world affairs. —Bill Fitzhugh, curator and anthropologist, Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History

The first Earth Day may have been observed 100 years after the invention of the first synthetic plastic, but it took place just three years after Dustin Hoffman’s character in The Graduate was advised, “There’s a great future in plastics.” Though criticized in the 1970s as a technology of cheap conformity, plastics were nonetheless sought out as unbreakable, thus safer for packaging hazardous materials; lightweight, thus environmentally beneficial for transportation; easily disposable, thus reducing disease spread in hospitals; and suitable for hundreds of other applications.

But synthetic plastics were designed to persist, and now they are present on every square foot of the planet. If uncaptured by reuse or recycling streams, a significant amount degrades into small bits called microplastics, which are smaller than five millimeters and can be as small as a virus. These small pieces of plastic circulate in waterways, air and soils around the world. Microplastics infiltrate the food chain as animals inadvertently consume plastics. Tiny deep ocean filter feeders have been found with microplastics in their bodies, as have fish, birds, humans and other animals. By one estimate, the average American will consume or inhale between 74,000 and 121,000 particles of microplastics this year. So far, we do not know the full implications of our microplastic-filled world. Chemical leaching from plastics can affect reproductive systems in organisms. Small bits of plastics can accumulate enough to cause blockages. The challenge ahead is to invent new materials that have properties we need—lightweight, flexible, able to block disease transmission, and so on—but that do not persist. — Arthur Daemmrich, director, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation; Sherri Sheu, environmental historian, research associate, National Museum of American History

Flora and Fauna

Thanks to a network of Zoo-ICUs, some species—including golden lion tamarins—were saved from the brink of extinction.

(Photo by EyesWideOpen/Getty Images)

Ever since the groundbreaking work of conservation biologist George Schaller and his colleagues in the 1980s, we have known the key ingredients required for bringing giant pandas back from the brink. They need mature forest with a bamboo understory, adequate birthing dens for raising their precocial young, and protection from poaching. Leaders within the Chinese conservation community, such as Pan Wenchi, used this knowledge to advocate for a ban on forest cutting and the creation of a national reserve system focused on giant pandas. The unprecedented outflow of funds from the Chinese government and the international NGOs has resulted in the creation, staffing and outfitting of more than 65 nature reserves. Taking place every ten years, the National Giant Panda Survey involves hundreds of reserve staff and documents the return of this species to much of its suitable habitat. Meanwhile, zoos throughout the world cracked the problems of captive breeding, and now sustain a population of more than 500 individuals as a hedge against collapse of the natural populations. In 2016, this massive effort paid off. The IUCN Redlist downgraded giant pandas from endangered to vulnerable conservation status, proving it is possible with a few critical advocates and an outpouring of support to put science into action. —William McShea, wildlife ecologist, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

A bridge between land and sea, mangrove forests are among the most productive and biologically complex ecosystems on Earth. Found throughout the tropics and subtropics, mangroves provide critical habitat for numerous marine and terrestrial species and support coastal communities by slowing erosion, cleaning water and much more. In 2007, after decades of rampant losses, scientists sounded the alarm: Without action, the world would lose its mangroves within the next century. In just ten years, concerted, coordinated global efforts have started to pay off. Improved monitoring and increased protections for mangroves have resulted in slower rates of loss. Governments and communities around the world have begun to embrace and celebrate mangroves. A member of the Global Mangrove Alliance and partner in conservation and restoration throughout the American tropics, the Smithsonian is contributing to ambitious goals aimed at protecting and conserving these important habitats.—Steven Canty, biologist, Smithsonian Marine Station; Molly Dodge, program manager, Smithsonian Conservation Commons; Michelle Donahue, science communicator, Smithsonian Marine Station; Ilka (Candy) Feller, mangrove ecologist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; Sarah Wheedleton, communications specialist, Smithsonian Conservation Commons

In the 1970s, only 200 golden lion tamarins (GLTs) existed in their native Atlantic forest, located just outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Centuries of deforestation had reduced their habitat by a whopping 98 percent, and that along with their capture for the pet trade had decimated their numbers. In an unprecedented collaboration, Brazilian and international scientists led by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo accepted the challenge to rescue the species from certain extinction. Zoos genetically managed a captive breeding population and soon 500 GLTs were being cared for across 150 institutions. From 1984 to 2000, descendants of the reintroduced zoo-born GLTs flourished in the wild and Brazil’s dedicated GLT conservation group, Associação Mico-Leão Dourado, led an environmental education program that sought an end to illegal deforestation and the capture of GLTs. By 2014, 3,700 GLTs occupied all remaining habitat. In 2018, yellow fever reduced that number to 2,500. A painful setback, but the conservation work continues. —Kenton Kerns, animal care sciences, National Zoo

The first report demonstrating major pollinator decline in North America was published in 2006 by the National Academy of Sciences. Over the past 50 years, habitat degradation has had an enormous impact on pollinators and the native plants that support them, but the public can help reverse this trend by creating native plant gardens. Tools such as Pollinator Partnership’s Ecoregional Planting Guides and National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder can help individuals select appropriate plants that help pollinators. The Million Pollinator Garden Challenge helped connect a network of approximately five million acres, from tiny yards to public gardens, to restore and enhance landscapes to benefit pollinators. It is with hope that these collective efforts will help the populations of bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, birds and bats, which sustain our ecosystems, help plants to reproduce, and are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food that we eat. —Gary Krupnick, head of plant conservation, botany, National Museum of Natural History

Large-diameter trees are disproportionately important to the Earth’s carbon budget. All trees absorb carbon dioxide as they photosynthesize, but a 2018 study using data from 48 Smithsonian ForestGEO research sites across boreal, temperate, tropical and subtropical forests found that the largest one percent of trees made up about 50 percent of aboveground live biomass, which has huge implications for conservation and climate change mitigation strategies. If we lose big trees to pests, disease, other degradation, and deforestation, we lose significant carbon stores. —Caly McCarthy, program assistant, Lauren Krizel, program manager, ForestGEO

Some 200 million years ago, well before the first Earth Day (and humankind for that matter) dinosaurs were dining on a coniferous tree on what is now the Australian continent. Only known to humans from the fossil record, Wollemia nobilis from the family Araucariaceae was thought to have gone extinct a couple of million years ago, until a lucky explorer brought back some interesting pinecones from an excursion in New South Wales. The ancient, Wollemi pine was rediscovered in 1994. Black-footed ferret, a big-eared bat, a fanged ‘mouse-deer’, and a cliff-dwelling Hawaiian hibiscus are more examples of Lazurus taxon—species that seemed to have been resurrected from the dead. While we are thought to be on the precipice of a sixth mass extinction, stories of species discovered after they were once thought lost forever are welcome glimmers of hope. It’s stories like this that we love to share as part of the Earth Optimism movement to maintain an inspired sense of enthusiasm for our planet and the progress and discoveries we can make in conservation. —Cat Kutz, communications officer, Earth Optimism

Fungi are best known for their fruiting bodies—mushrooms—but most of their structure is hidden underground in a network of microscopic threads called mycelium. People once thought that fungi were harmful parasites that “stole” nutrients from plants so that they could thrive. Today we better understand the ancient relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and the plants they connect. Tiny fibers play an outsized role in the Earth’s ecosystems: 90 percent of land plants have mutually beneficial relationships with fungi. They break down organic materials into fertile soil, help plants share nutrients, and communicate through chemical signals. Plants supply fungi with sugars from photosynthesis; in exchange, fungi provide plants with water and nutrients from the soil. —Cynthia Brown, manager, collections, education and access, Smithsonian Gardens

Confronting an extinction crisis starts at home: Field conservation, right in animals’ home habitats, is public health for endangered species. But when public health fails? Just as Intensive Care Units (ICUs) have to be at the ready for humans, since 1970 biologists have learned that zoos and aquariums must serve as “ICUs” for the extinction crisis. When field conservation isn’t possible, sometimes the only alternative is to safeguard endangered species in captivity for a time, and restore them to the wild when conditions improve. In 1995, Smithsonian scientist Jon Ballou provided the first complete description of how to accomplish this, empowering networks of “Zoo-ICUs” to rescue dozens of species from extinction, including the Golden Lion Tamarin and the Scimitar-Horned Oryx. This research into population management means that Earth did not lose some of its most critically ill patients in the last 50 years. —Kathryn M Rodriguez-Clark, population ecologist, National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Trees are found on every continent except Antarctica and in all the major habitats of the world. How many trees are there? Until 2015, we did not know. Now, the global number of trees across the entire Earth has been calculated to exceed three trillion individuals. But the number of trees on the planet has continually changed over the 400 million years since trees first evolved. Between 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, before the accelerated growth of human populations, however, twice the number of trees existed than are present today. Now, the number of trees is decreasing because of human activity, including forest destruction, tree exploitation, climate change, pollution and the spread of invasive species and diseases. More than 15 billion individual trees are lost each year due to human action. Humans have had a tremendous impact on trees and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. —John Kress, botanist, National Museum of Natural History

Bees are hugely influential organisms on humans and have, throughout history, had almost mythological qualities placed on them. (The ancient Greek writer Homer called honey the food of the gods.) The many species of bees may differ in some physical characteristics, but one thing they share is a pollinator role in our ecosystems. Along with other insects, bees travel from plant to plant, pollinating flowers that wind up being essential to human life. Their contributions to human societies are invaluable. I argue that contemporary awareness and activism surrounding conserving bee populations is a massive highlight in environmental history. Without our pollinators, we will experience crop failures and food shortages, so their survival and longevity is in our collective best interest. Organizations like the Honeybee Conservancy work to protect our flying friends and new research, including using fungi to protect bees against disease, gives us hope and optimism. — Zach Johnson, sustainability intern, Conservation Commons

Justice and Human Rights

Photographed in October 1982, residents of Warren County, North Carolina, unite in protest against a landfill in their community.

( Bettmann / Contributor via Getty Images)

Poor and minority communities are more likely to be impacted by the consequences of climate change, they are also less likely to contribute to its underlying causes. Their carbon footprint is smaller—they purchase fewer goods, drive and fly less, and reside in smaller housing units. Impoverished communities have limited access to health care, making inhabitants more susceptible to infectious diseases, malnutrition, psychological disorders and other public health challenges caused by disasters. Due to rising energy costs, working-class Latinos may have limited access to air conditioning and because many live in urban areas, their residences are impacted by the “heat island” effect. They have less mobility, limited access to warning systems and language barriers may result in a slower response to looming dangers. Because many Latinos do not have homeowners’ insurance or depend on inefficient public housing authorities, their period of recovery is typically longer. Experts are noticing increasing numbers of Latinos among the class of “environmental migrants,” sure signs of displacement and attendant economic decline and social stress. It is clear that environmentally challenged Latino communities must continue to inform a more collaborative, solutions-oriented science driven by community-directed research. Active community participation in scientific research can produce better solutions to address public health challenges and to manage natural resources during disasters. It can also create new employment opportunities for community members, strengthen social networks and build lasting, functional partnerships between research institutions and impacted communities. These approaches and outcomes are key in creating the resilience needed to withstand and thrive in the face of natural and human-induced disasters. —Eduardo Díaz, director, Smithsonian Center for Latino Studies (adapted from this column)

It’s the Same Old Game is a color 16mm film released in 1971 by the Emmy-award winning producer and director Charles Hobson. This 20-minute documentary examines the consequences of poor urban planning and its impact on the environment and people in communities of color. At the time, environmentalism had grown as a political and social justice crusade across the United States. It’s the Same Old Game, however, confronted racism in urban planning, where city planners approved of dumps in poor and minority communities, demolished housing to build highways, and built industrial plants in the middle of neighborhoods, where rumbling trucks and smokestacks spewed noise and air pollution. As an exploration of a nascent justice movement, environmental racism, the film reflects the concerns of a new generation of African American activists following the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr.’s death in 1968. —Aaron Bryant, curator of photography, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Research from the United Nations has shown that women will be the most affected by the consequences of climate change. However, women like Wangari Maathai are also at the forefront of the fight for climate action and environmental conservation. In 2004, she became the first black woman and only environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Rural Kenyan women, like many females in the Global South working as subsistence farmers, are both the caretakers of their land and their families. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1984 to give women resources and compensation income for planting and tending to trees, helping them gain financial independence. Meanwhile, their communities would reap the ecological benefits of reforestation. Wangari’s grassroots movement showed that it’s possible to tackle gender equality and climate change simultaneously through sustainable development. —Fatima Alcantara, intern, American Women’s History Initiative

Nearly two decades of community-led efforts to address environmental inequality and racism came to a head at a gathering in Washington, D.C. in October 1991. Over the course of four days, more than 500 participants at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit challenged narratives that communities of color were neither concerned with nor actively combating environmental issues. Those present, representing civil rights, environmental, health, community development, and faith organizations from across the U.S., Canada, Central and South America, and the Marshall Islands, had been living with and organizing against the impacts of years of environmental inequality and racism. Conversations, negotiations and moments of solidarity produced the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice that have defined the Environmental Justice Movement in the years since. The declaration made almost 30 years ago proclaimed: We “do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world…; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods.” The summit forever transformed notions of “the environment” and “environmentalism,” energizing and supporting the work of Environmental Justice networks and precipitating reflection within mainstream environmental organizations who sought to address charges of exclusivity and a lack of diversity. —Katrina Lashley, program coordinator, Urban Waterway Project, Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

In 2017, the Whanganui River in New Zealand was granted legal personhood. Environmental personhood is a legal status that gives natural entities rights, like the ability to be represented in court. In this river’s case, a committee of indigenous environmental defenders were designated as the river’s “legal guardians,” effectively giving the waterway a voice in court in case of future pollution or harmful development. Could granting legal personhood to vulnerable ecosystems be another tool for modern conservation? Over the past two decades, examples of environmental personhood have spread to Bangladesh, Ecuador and the United States. Rivers, lakes and mountains in those countries can now claim legal standing. Though the practice has yielded mixed results in protecting environmental resources, hope persists. Granting personhood to natural resources may spark a change in public and political opinion of ecosystem conservation, with indigenous leaders at the forefront. —Fatima Alcantara, intern, American Women’s History Initiative

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, forced environmental injustice to the forefront of public discourse. It also demonstrated the importance of environmental impact studies. In 2014, facing a budgetary crisis, officials of this poor, majority-black city economized by changing its water source to the Flint River. Yet they failed to consider how the water’s chemistry could affect infrastructure. Pipes corroded and leached lead and water turned foul, yet authorities dismissed residents’ complaints. Officials could have averted catastrophe by commissioning a study—or even speaking with scientists—before making this change. Poor and minority communities are more likely than others to shoulder burdens of environmental contamination. Sometimes these are legacy problems. Flint’s case involved deliberate obfuscation of facts and attempts to discredit a pediatrician who cried foul. Those children in Flint who were poisoned by lead will pay for this injustice for the rest of their lives. —Terre Ryan, research associate, National Museum of American History

Curtis Bay in Baltimore, Maryland, has historically been a center for industrial development. It is also one of the most polluted areas in the United States, with one of the highest rates of air pollution-related deaths. In 2012, the nation’s largest trash incinerator was planned to be built less than a mile from a high school. Experts projected the plant would emit two million tons of greenhouse gases and about 1,240 tons of mercury and lead into the atmosphere every year. High school student Destiny Waterford and her grassroots organization, Free Your Voice, campaigned for years to stop the building of the incinerator. They employed creative strategies to win community support: everything from knocking door-to-door, to presenting songs, speeches, and videos to committees and boards. In 2016, their efforts paid off and the energy company ended all plans to continue building the plant. In recognition for her work, Destiny Watford received a Goldman’s Environmental Prize the same year. —Fatima Alcantara, intern, American Women’s History Initiative

The Way Way Back (or Beyond)

The visceral sense of Earth’s fragility against the vastness of space came home to many humans shortly before the first Earth Day, when Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders shot the iconic image of our planet hovering over the surface of the moon. The profound question arose: “Are humans alone?”

(NASA)

The visceral sense of Earth’s fragility against the vastness of space came home to many humans shortly before the first Earth Day, when Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders shot the iconic image (above) of our planet hovering over the surface of the moon. The profound question arose: “Are humans alone?” The 1975 Viking mission to Mars gave us the first chance to search for life on another planet. Half-a-century on, we have now confirmed the existence of water on Mars and determined its past could have been life-sustaining. We are now finding exoplanets in habitable zones around distant stars, too. Yet, each discovery, most importantly, confirms the preciousness of life here, the uniqueness of our home planet, and the importance of ensuring a healthy future. —Ellen Stofan, director, National Air and Space Museum

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, teams of scientists have discovered regions in the mountains of Antarctica that can contain thousands of meteorites stranded on the surface of the ice. These meteorites fell to Earth from space over tens of millions of years and were buried beneath new ice forms. As the ice of the polar cap flows with gravity, the ice gets stuck against the massive Transantarctic Mountains and, as very dry winds erode that ice away, meteorites are left exposed on its surface. Teams of scientists from a number of countries have collected nearly 45,000 meteorites over the past 50 years, including the first recognized meteorites from the Moon and Mars. While the vast majority (more than 99 percent) of these meteorites come from asteroids, many new types of meteorites have been discovered, each filling in more pieces of the puzzle of how our solar system formed. —Cari Corrigan, Curator of Antarctic Meteorites, Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History

In 1980, the father and son team of Luis and Walter Alvarez, digging into a roadcut outside the town of Gubbio, Italy, discovered a layer of rock enriched in the element iridium. Rare in the crust of the Earth, iridium is common in meteorites, suggesting that this layer was deposited after a major impact about 65 million years ago at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary geologic periods. The Alvarezes and their colleagues suggested that impact caused the extinction of dinosaurs. Ten years after that, a crater was identified in what is today the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. While impacts on Earth were well-known, these studies suggested the remarkable idea that impacts of material from space altered not just the geologic history of Earth, but the biologic history of our planet. —Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites, National Museum of Natural History

The Earth and environment we have today are the result of billions of years of cosmic good fortune. The Earth is 4,567 million years old, and the first roughly 500 million years of this is known as the Hadean Eon. This eon is named after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld because we used to think that Earth’s early years were an inhospitable period of doom and gloom, with oceans of churning magma blanketing the surface. Now, thanks to the discovery of microscopic crystals of the mineral zircon from Australia, some of which are as old as 4,400 million years old, we have a different story of the early Earth. From these crystals, geologists know that the early Earth had liquid water oceans and continents that may have resembled the continents of today—critical steps in laying the groundwork for the emergence of life and setting our world on its path to today. —Michael R. Ackerson, curator of the National Rock and Ore Collection, National Museum of Natural History

In the past 50 years, scientists have learned an enormous amount about the evolution of Earth’s ecosystems, and we can now understand human impact on biodiversity from the perspective of Deep Time as never before. The fossil record provides a look at historic biodiversity by comparing recent communities of plants and animals with ancient ones. In 2016, a team of paleobiologists and ecologists at the National Museum of Natural History discovered that ancient species tended to occur more often together rather than separately, and these positive associations shaped ancient communities. Amazingly, this pattern of species “aggregation” lasted for 300 million years—strong evidence that it was important to sustaining biodiversity. About 6,000 years ago, however, these bonds began to break apart, and the dominant pattern today is more like “every species for itself.” Human impact, particularly agriculture, may have caused the shift because it disrupts natural habitats and drives species to compete for resources. A Deep Time perspective shows how profound this change is for life on our planet, and it also gives us valuable insight into the kind of community structure that helped sustain biodiversity for hundreds of millions of years. —Kay Behrensmeyer, paleobiologist, National Museum of Natural History

Fifty years ago, anthropologists assumed they knew all about the environment in which humans evolved. Arid grassland and barren ice-age landscape presented the critical survival challenges that transformed our ancestors, impelling them to control fire and invent new technologies, for example. But a quarter-century ago, research on ancient climate began to tell a different story. Environmental records from the deep past proved that we inhabit an amazingly dynamic planet. Early ancestors encountered huge swings between wet and dry in our African homeland, and between warm and cold as populations ventured to higher latitudes. Humanity’s history of confronting Earth’s climate swings helps explain our exceptional adaptability—a species evolved to adjust to change itself. This revised understanding of human evolution, however, implies that our survival in the world depends on altering it. The runaway result is an unprecedented transformation of Earth —a new survival challenge of our own making. — Rick Potts, director, Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History

As scientists improve their ability to examine distant planets, the number of potentially habitable worlds has increased exponentially. However, it has become apparent that a better understanding of the intricate dynamics between environmental change and living things on Earth is necessary to identify conditions that could host such life elsewhere. One major finding is that the evolution of complex organisms (i.e. animals) occurred at a time when the availability of oxygen on Earth rose dramatically. The oldest animal fossils, more than 550 million years old, indicate that the arrival of complex animals followed changes in the amount of oxygen present in these ancient oceans. Thus, identifying exoplanets with well-oxygenated atmospheres may be critical in the search for complex ‘alien’ life. — Scott Evans, fellow, paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History

Today, our species, Homo Sapiens, stands more than 7.7 billion strong. Yet genetic evidence from modern humans strongly indicates that despite our outward differences, we have less genetic diversity in the entire human species than among chimpanzees of the same troop. We are even less genetically diverse than wheat. How is this possible? Sometime between around 60,000 to 100,000 years ago, a small population of modern humans migrated out of Africa, and all living humans in Eurasia, Australia and the Americas are descendants of these intrepid travelers. Outside of sub-Saharan Africa, where populations remained stable, prehistoric human populations during this time were so small that we would likely have been on the endangered species list. All living modern humans are descendants of the survivors of this tenuous time for our species, and most of our species’ genetic diversity is African. Does our low genetic diversity mean we are more susceptible to diseases and less able to adapt to environmental changes? We might learn the answers to these questions sooner rather than later. —Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist, Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History

By the first Earth Day in 1970, scientists using space satellites knew that magnetic fields—called belts—surrounded our planet. These belts protect the Earth’s atmosphere from the Sun’s solar wind. This interaction produces the well-known phenomenon of “northern lights” or aurora borealis. But only in 1972, when Apollo 16 carried a specially designed telescope to the Moon, did we begin to learn crucial new details about the Earth’s outermost layer of atmosphere, called the geocorona. It is a cloud of hydrogen atoms, which plays a vital role in regulating the impacts of the Sun on Earth, particularly during periods when a strong and energetic solar wind hits Earth. Such events—called geomagnetic storms—have the potential to disable spacecraft orbiting the earth, as well as overwhelm basic infrastructures of our daily life, such as electrical grids and communications systems. Through Apollo 16, and subsequent space missions, we have come to appreciate that “space weather,” as much as everyday weather, can profoundly affect our human world. —David DeVorkin, curator space sciences, National Air and Space Museum

Making a Difference

Through advanced chemistry and mapping land use with satellites, researchers are reducing polluted runoff in the Chesapeake Bay.

(onathan Newton / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

A 1970 special issue of Mad magazine on air pollution featured an ominous full-color image of Earth wearing a World War I-era gas mask. Inside, a New York City butcher is seen cutting solid blocks of air and wrapping them in paper. Fifty years later, the air is significantly cleaner that it was back then. The exception is carbon dioxide, which is up 25 percent. Since 1970 smoking (at least of tobacco) is way down, sick building syndrome is far less common, acid deposition from sulfur dioxide is lower, lead additives have been removed from gasoline, and stratospheric ozone levels are on the mend. Let’s work to see these trends continue and accelerate in years to come. —Jim Fleming, research associate, National Museum of American History

Many Americans are familiar with that icon of forest safety, Smokey Bear. Less well-known today is a character born out of the same ecological impetus: Johnny Horizon. Horizon was created in 1968 by the Bureau of Land Management to front an anti-littering campaign. He was a handsome combination of cowboy and park ranger, appearing like an eco-warrior version of the Marlboro man. His message was patriotic: “This land is your land. Keep it clean!” His popularity peaked in the mid-1970s, when he fronted a campaign to “Clean Up America by Our 200th Birthday.” Citizens signed a pledge to do their part, and celebrities of the time like Burl Ives and Johnny Cash joined the campaign. Thanks to Horizon’s pledges and similar campaigns, littering has dropped by about 60 percent since 1969. After his success in 1976, the BLM retired Horizon, according to some reports due to the expense of his campaign. Horizon lives on in Twin Falls County, Idaho, which every year hosts a “Johnny Horizon Day” litter-pick up.”—Bethanee Bemis, political history, National Museum of American History

One of the amazing environmental success stories of the past half century was the discovery and reversal of the ozone hole. Developed in the 1920s, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) served initially as refrigerants but were eventually used in hair sprays, deodorants and many more everyday products. In 1974, the journal Nature published an article by Mario Molina and Sherry Rowland declaring that large amounts of CFCs may be reaching the stratosphere and leading to the “destruction of atmospheric ozone.” This destruction allowed harmful ultraviolet radiation to reach earth’s surface, leading to increased instances of skin cancer, disruptions in agriculture, and global climate modification, they argued. Their laboratory discovery was confirmed when

NOAA atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon led an expedition to show that the hole in the ozone over Antarctica came from its chemical reaction with CFCs. Her discovery was a major step toward the 1987 Montreal Protocol, the international agreement to phase out CFCs. Representatives from 49 countries agreed to freeze the production and consumption of certain ozone-depleting CFCs at 1986 levels by the year 1990. This treaty was an early instance of global environmental cooperation on the basis of the precautionary principle. More than two decades later Molina and Rowland would go on to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in bringing the ozone crisis to the attention of the world. In 2019, NASA and NOAA confirmed the ozone hole was the smallest on record. This rescue from planetary catastrophe shows the power of international cooperation we so desperately need today. —Arthur Molella, emeritus, Lemelson Center; Abeer Saha, curator of engineering, work and industry division, National Museum of American History

President Jimmy Carter famously encouraged Americans to set their home thermostats to 65 degrees to help combat the energy crisis of 1977. In an address delivered just two weeks into his term, the president wore a beige cardigan sweater and stressed the need for conservation, a strategic energy policy, a new Department of Energy, and an increase in the use of solar power. Two years later, Carter installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the West Wing to heat water for the White House. The executive mansion’s experiment in solar energy only lasted seven years. During the Reagan administration the panels were removed for roof repairs and not reinstalled. Carter may have been ahead of his time. In 1979, most Americans did not follow his examples of solar panels, or pile on sweaters instead of turning up the heat. Today, tax credits are available to homeowners who take advantage of solar energy and, since 2013, solar panels are back on the White House roof. —Lisa Kathleen Graddy, political history, National Museum of American History

Wetland protection became an important issue in the 1970s and legislative efforts to protect wetlands generated political battles that continue to rage today. Should isolated wetlands, sites that are physically separated but periodically linked hydrologically be protected because they are or are not ‘waters of the U.S’ based on the Clean Water Act? The scientific evidence is clear: these unique ecosystems provide important benefits and should be protected. The wetland story has not ended but from small beginnings, wetlands are now part of our social fabric and wetland science highlights the recognition that natural ecosystems provide beneficial work for humans at no cost. —Dennis Whigham, senior botanist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

The first Earth Day coincided with the ascendency of television news, as Americans turned to the visual medium for reports on the space race, the Vietnam War, and urban protests. The year prior, an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, coated 800 square miles of ocean and blackened more than 35 miles of the state’s scenic coastline. For decades to come, television producers and documentary filmmakers would use images of oil-soaked birds and marine mammals and despoiled beaches from the spill as historical or comparative perspectives for subsequent environmental disasters, such as 1989’s 11-million-gallon Exxon Valdez spill and 2010’s 210-million-gallon Deepwater Horizon spill. The Santa Barbara oil spill demonstrated the power of visual imagery in motivating and sustaining political action on behalf of the environment. Now, in an era of social media and ubiquitous cell-phone cameras, citizens continue to share visual testimonies about the most immediate and dire consequences of global climate change, helping to amplify science-based warnings and to nourish an escalating, worldwide environmental movement. —Jeffrey K. Stine, curator for environmental history, National Museum of American History

The Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, is home to interconnected ecosystems. In 1970, we didn’t consider climate change. Now our long-term experiments on the Bay’s wetlands and forests clearly show the impacts of humans on the Earth and its climate. Through advanced chemistry and mapping land use with satellites, we’re reducing polluted runoff from the 64,000 square mile watershed. Scientists at the Smithsonian’s Environmental Research Center use genomics to measure the Bay’s biodiversity, identify invasive species and detect recovering numbers of fishes in our rivers. Innovative telemetry tracks the migrations of blue crabs, sharks and waterfowl to protect their life cycles. Computers allow us to synthesize vast amounts of environmental data to drive improved management and wise business practices. —Anson “Tuck” Hines, marine ecologist and director, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Wild American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a valuable forest botanical that has been harvested from the Appalachian region for hundreds of years, and traded with China where its roots are widely used in traditional medicine. In 1975, it was listed as endangered by the international regulatory group known as the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This placed restrictions on the plant’s gathering, even though some of the “new” rules were already being practiced by traditional harvesters. Others ran counter to their ecological knowledge. Opinions vary widely as to whether adding wild American ginseng on the CITES list was helpful or harmful to its conservation, and changes over the years have caused many to question the current CITES rules on wild American ginseng. Still, ginseng’s recognition as an endangered plant since the mid-1970s has put a spotlight on this historically and culturally important plant and its uncertain future. —Betty Belanus, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Human Ingenuity

A major milestone was achieved over the past decade when the cost of renewables such as wind and solar became competitive with fossil fuels at both residential- and industrial-scale production.

(Photo by Jan Woitas/picture alliance via Getty Images)

In the 1970s, scholars characterized Angkor—a tightly woven complex of temples in Cambodia—as an isolated place reserved for the dynasty’s kings. Recent research has revealed instead that Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city in the world during the 9th to13th centuries A.D. Vast irrigation systems were built to divert rivers and create monumental reservoirs. However, at the end of the medieval climatic anomaly—a period of unusually warm, wet weather—the reservoirs dried and this urban center returned to jungle, while surrounding cities emerged. Overgrown as it became, Angkor’s impact can still be seen. Recent LIDAR scans peeled away the layers of time to show significant changes to the earth’s surface. A seemingly natural cliff is a thousand-year-old dam. A series of low-lying hills is a village. We now know that Angkor was a sprawling, highly populated city that permanently transformed the environment. — Emma Natalya Stein, assistant curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, National Museum of Asian Art

A behind-the-scenes utility in everyday life, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is also an indispensable tool for learning about Earth. Originally a satellite-based navigation technology developed in the 1970s for the U.S. military, GPS is fundamentally an information system that lets us know a spot on the globe with a latitude-longitude accuracy of within 10 meters and time within nanoseconds. Applications for that kind of knowledge have revolutionized mapping and furnished a new dynamism to earth and environmental sciences. GPS is especially useful for studying phenomena in motion—like tracking shifts in tectonic plates, monitoring ice sheet behaviors, observing active volcanoes, measuring atmospheric changes, following the path of oil spills, or counting acres of diminishing forests. In all these ways and more, GPS helps us understand the modern world. — Carlene Stephens, curator Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History

Since the inaugural Earth Day, the creation of a global satellite communications network has proven crucial. Three years before the first Earth Day, the first global broadcast was the 1967 television program “Our World,” which instantaneously joined together “points dotted around the circumference of [our] home planet, Earth.” The program reached upwards of 700 million viewers (nearly a fifth of the world’s population) promoting cross-cultural awareness and environmental action. Each segment began with a live broadcast of a baby being born, then posing the question “…but into what kind of world?” That question still is very much with us today. As we deepen our understanding of climate change, satellite communications have been a crucial means to make vivid the world over our collective responsibility to shape a future for ourselves and our children. —Martin Collins, curator, National Air and Space Museum

In 1978, at a 1,500-year-old site in Saglek Bay on the northeastern end of Canada, the mysterious predecessors of the Thule and modern Inuit of arctic Canada and Greenland, suddenly came to life. A small gray soapstone carving, only three centimeters high and entombed in frozen soil, was one of the first three-dimensional visuals of a person from the Dorset culture, which existed for three millennia and died out in the 15th century. After living successfully in the North American Arctic for 4,000 years, they disappeared without a trace, unable to compete with the more powerful Thule Inuit arriving from Alaska as whale hunters in a time of climate change. The Saglek Dorset Lady reminds us that the cultural isolation they enjoyed for thousands of years did not protect them in the long run. This woman wears a parka with an unusual high, open collar rather than the hood known from Inuit dress. Gouge holes in her back suggest the carving served some ritual purpose. Since then, other high-collared Dorset carvings have been found, but the Dorset Lady from Labrador was our first glimpse showing the vanished Dorsets as ‘real’ people. — Bill Fitzhugh, curator and anthropologist, Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History

That a Successful Campaign to Stop Littering Proved That Change Can Happen

Many Americans are familiar with that icon of forest safety, Smokey Bear. Less well-known today is a character born out of the same ecological impetus: Johnny Horizon. Horizon was created in 1968 by the Bureau of Land Management to front an anti-littering campaign. He was a handsome combination of cowboy and park ranger, appearing like an eco-warrior version of the Marlboro man. His message was patriotic: “This land is your land. Keep it clean!” His popularity peaked in the mid-1970s, when he fronted a campaign to “Clean Up America by Our 200th Birthday.” Citizens signed a pledge to do their part, and celebrities of the time like Burl Ives and Johnny Cash joined the campaign. Thanks to Horizon’s pledges and similar campaigns, littering has dropped by about 60 percent since 1969. After his success in 1976, the BLM retired Horizon, according to some reports due to the expense of his campaign. Horizon lives on in Twin Falls County, Idaho, which every year hosts a “Johnny Horizon Day” litter-pick up.”—Bethanee Bemis, political history, National Museum of American History

One of the amazing environmental success stories of the past half century was the discovery and reversal of the ozone hole. Developed in the 1920s, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) served initially as refrigerants but were eventually used in hair sprays, deodorants and many more everyday products. In 1974, the journal Nature published an article by Mario Molina and Sherry Rowland declaring that large amounts of CFCs may be reaching the stratosphere and leading to the “destruction of atmospheric ozone.” This destruction allowed harmful ultraviolet radiation to reach earth’s surface, leading to increased instances of skin cancer, disruptions in agriculture, and global climate modification, they argued. Their laboratory discovery was confirmed when

NOAA atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon led an expedition to show that the hole in the ozone over Antarctica came from its chemical reaction with CFCs. Her discovery was a major step toward the 1987 Montreal Protocol, the international agreement to phase out CFCs. Representatives from 49 countries agreed to freeze the production and consumption of certain ozone-depleting CFCs at 1986 levels by the year 1990. This treaty was an early instance of global environmental cooperation on the basis of the precautionary principle. More than two decades later Molina and Rowland would go on to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in bringing the ozone crisis to the attention of the world. In 2019, NASA and NOAA confirmed the ozone hole was the smallest on record. This rescue from planetary catastrophe shows the power of international cooperation we so desperately need today. —Arthur Molella, emeritus, Lemelson Center; Abeer Saha, curator of engineering, work and industry division, National Museum of American History

President Jimmy Carter famously encouraged Americans to set their home thermostats to 65 degrees to help combat the energy crisis of 1977. In an address delivered just two weeks into his term, the president wore a beige cardigan sweater and stressed the need for conservation, a strategic energy policy, a new Department of Energy, and an increase in the use of solar power. Two years later, Carter installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the West Wing to heat water for the White House. The executive mansion’s experiment in solar energy only lasted seven years. During the Reagan administration the panels were removed for roof repairs and not reinstalled. Carter may have been ahead of his time. In 1979, most Americans did not follow his examples of solar panels, or pile on sweaters instead of turning up the heat. Today, tax credits are available to homeowners who take advantage of solar energy and, since 2013, solar panels are back on the White House roof. —Lisa Kathleen Graddy, political history, National Museum of American History

Wetland protection became an important issue in the 1970s and legislative efforts to protect wetlands generated political battles that continue to rage today. Should isolated wetlands, sites that are physically separated but periodically linked hydrologically be protected because they are or are not ‘waters of the U.S’ based on the Clean Water Act? The scientific evidence is clear: these unique ecosystems provide important benefits and should be protected. The wetland story has not ended but from small beginnings, wetlands are now part of our social fabric and wetland

science highlights the recognition that natural ecosystems provide beneficial work for humans at no cost. —Dennis Whigham, senior botanist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

The first Earth Day coincided with the ascendency of television news, as Americans turned to the visual medium for reports on the space race, the Vietnam War, and urban protests. The year prior, an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, coated 800 square miles of ocean and blackened more than 35 miles of the state’s scenic coastline. For decades to come, television producers and documentary filmmakers would use images of oil-soaked birds and marine mammals and despoiled beaches from the spill as historical or comparative perspectives for subsequent environmental disasters, such as 1989’s 11-million-gallon Exxon Valdez spill and 2010’s 210-million-gallon Deepwater Horizon spill. The Santa Barbara oil spill demonstrated the power of visual imagery in motivating and sustaining political action on behalf of the environment. Now, in an era of social media and ubiquitous cell-phone cameras, citizens continue to share visual testimonies about the most immediate and dire consequences of global climate change, helping to amplify science-based warnings and to nourish an escalating, worldwide environmental movement. —Jeffrey K. Stine, curator for environmental history, National Museum of American History

The Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, is home to interconnected ecosystems. In 1970, we didn’t consider climate change. Now our long-term experiments on the Bay’s wetlands and forests clearly show the impacts of humans on the Earth and its climate. Through advanced chemistry and mapping land use with satellites, we’re reducing polluted runoff from the 64,000 square mile watershed. Scientists at the Smithsonian’s Environmental Research Center use genomics to measure the Bay’s biodiversity, identify invasive species and detect recovering numbers of fishes in our rivers. Innovative telemetry tracks the migrations of blue crabs, sharks and waterfowl to protect their life cycles. Computers allow us to synthesize vast amounts of environmental data to drive improved management and wise business practices. —Anson “Tuck” Hines, marine ecologist and director, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Wild American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a valuable forest botanical that has been harvested from the Appalachian region for hundreds of years, and traded with China where its roots are widely used in traditional medicine. In 1975, it was listed as endangered by the international regulatory group known as the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This placed restrictions on the plant’s gathering, even though some of the “new” rules were already being practiced by traditional harvesters. Others ran counter to their ecological knowledge. Opinions vary widely as to whether adding wild American ginseng on the CITES list was helpful or harmful to its conservation, and changes over the years have caused many to question the current CITES rules on wild American ginseng. Still, ginseng’s recognition as an endangered plant since the mid-1970s has put a spotlight on this historically and culturally important plant and its uncertain future. —Betty Belanus, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Cement manufacturing is an incredibly energy-intensive process, and a major source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Ferrock, a carbon-negative cement alternative developed by inventor David Stone, changes the game by incorporating recycled and waste materials, and absorbing CO2 in its production. Stone, whose work has been supported by grants from the EPA and Tohono O’odham Community College, collaborated with Richard Pablo, a member of the Tohono O’odham nation. Together, they mobilized Pablo’s community, collecting discarded bottles from drinking sites on the reservation; the crushed glass goes into Ferrock. “These bottles are teachers! They teach a bad life,” says Pablo. Stone agrees: “Through the ritual of picking up bottles, of cleaning the desert, we build a space for a new and strong spirit. . . . This is a good path and will bind us and the land together.” — Joyce Bedi, senior historian, Lemelson Center

Over the past 50 years, we have witnessed the dramatic rise of citizen science. The most popular of these programs have been in the fields of ecology, conservation and astronomy with millions of citizens contributing billions of data points every year by exploring gut microbiomes, counting birds, and searching for new planets. With this force of on-the-ground science nerds, experts are capturing data at extremely fine spatial and temporal scales. All this information is making scientific findings more accurate, and scientific predictions more robust. Citizen science is helping folks identify plants in their backyard using iNaturalist, find rare birds in their county using Ebird, and precisely predict local weather in remote areas using the Citizen Weather Observer Program. — Sahas Barve, fellow, Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History

A major milestone was achieved over the past decade when the cost of renewables such as wind and solar became competitive with fossil fuels at both residential- and industrial-scale production. Decarbonizing the energy sector is the most important action to take to avoid the worst socio-environmental scenarios predicted by climate change models and chart a healthier future for life on Earth. As the efficiency of renewables continues to improve and costs continue to drop many investors, governments and homeowners have been making the economically and socially wise decision to switch to green energy. In terms of direct comparisons, the recent International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report details how renewable generation is becoming more of an obvious economic decision. More than 75 percent of onshore wind power and 80 percent of utility scale solar expected to be built by 2020 will provide electricity at a lower price than the cheapest generation from new coal, oil or natural gas. Renewable generation could already replace 74 percent of U.S. coal generation with an immediate cost savings to electricity customers—a figure projected to rise to 86 percent by 2025. —Brian Coyle, conservation producer, Conservation Commons

Many 21st-century consumer products (particularly electronics) have been designed to be replaced. But not all products; in the U.S., the practice of repair is resurging, a promising trend that sees companies responding to consumer pressures. Sustainable design is an essential element of making the world more equitable. As a cultural anthropologist, I have studied third-party repair of cellphones and examined the circular economy of these devices as they are bought and sold around the globe. Repair helps demystify our electronics, makes us better stewards of our indispensable devices, and helps us advocate for policies that counteract built-in obsolescence, which needlessly impacts our planet. Humans are part of a wider ecology and so are our devices, which are built with precious and diminishing materials. Repair as an ethos and practice helps us all live more sustainably. —Joshua Bell, curator of globalization, National Museum of Natural History

Environmentalist Fisk Johnson proudly pushed the button in 2012 putting two giant wind turbines online. The mighty leviathans standing 415 feet tall and producing nearly 8 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year provide 15 percent of the power for the sprawling SC Johnson manufacturing plant in Waxdale, Wisconsin. It was a giant step in reducing the company’s reliance on fossil fuels. Has there ever been a downside to wind power? More than 100 years earlier, midwestern farmers and ranchers moving into the arid Great Plains turned to wind as a power source pumping water from underground to nourish their operations. Between 1870 and 1900, American farmers put about 230 million acres into agricultural production, much of it in the Great Plains. Were windmills environmentally sound? They did not contribute to air pollution, but they promoted new settlement, the plowing of prairie lands, and the draining of ancient aquifers. —Peter Liebhold, curator of work and industry, National Museum of American History

Humans have bottled water for centuries—especially mineral waters believed to have healing properties. But almost all water bottles were made of glass until May 15, 1973, when the U.S. Patent Office granted patent 3,733,309 for the biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle to Nathaniel C. Wyeth and Ronald N. Roseveare, both working for the DuPont corporation. To call these bottles “ubiquitous” today seems an understatement. More than 480 billion of them are sold each year, or one million every minute. PET is nonbiodegradable but recyclable—though only 31 percent of PET bottles are recycled in the United States; the remainder goes to landfills, or even worse, into lakes and oceans. Nathaniel Wyeth’s brother, artist Andrew Wyeth, and his father, illustrator N.C. Wyeth are perhaps better known than the inventor of the PET bottle, but the damaging impact of Nathaniel’s invention on the environment is one that calls for remedy. —James Deutsch, folklorist, Smithsonian Center for Cultural Heritage

#Nature

[keywestlou]

NATIONAL MARGARITA DAY / JIMMY BUFFETT / MARGARITAVILLE

  Tomorrow is  National Margarita Day. Of special importance to Key West.

Many Key West tourists order margaritas. Drinking enough makes for a well lubricated holiday.

Jimmy Buffett and margaritas go hand in hand. The song Margaritaville. Followed in due course by the Key West restaurant bearing the same name.

Recall Margaritaville. Jimmy Buffett singing I “blew out my flip flop.”

The world famous song begins: “Nibblin’ on a sponge cake / Watchin’ the sun bake / All of those tourists covered with oil / Strummin’ my six strings on my front porch swing….. / Wasting away again in Margaritaville.”

Buffett wrote the song in 1977. One of Key West’s craziest times. The entire song was not written in Key West. Two places. Begun in Austin, Texas and finished in Key West.

It started with the drink. Buffett discovered the drink which was known as a “margaritas” at Lung’s Cocina del Sur Restaurant in Austin. The song followed.

Enjoy a margarita tomorrow! Thinking of Buffett and the song at the same time will not be difficult. He and his song will be heard all over town.

A slow Louis day yesterday.

Spent a couple of hours at the outdoor pool bar at the Doubletree Hotel. A couple of diet Pepsi’s, read several chapters of Her Soldier of the Queen, and watched the bikini clad ladies pass by. Some wearing thongs.

Dinner last night at Shana Key. I have come to like the place. Food hearty. Customers locals. Chatting easy.

It amazes me how many different roles Tino gets to play as an extra.

Three photos today.

One shown last week. Tino dressed as a bum. From the CHI TV series which portrayed south Chicago.

The other two of Tino sitting next to a Cardinal in a gold decorated dining room in Chicago’s Drake Hotel. If my recollection is correct, they are from an Exorcist movie. Tino sits on the left side of the table next to a Cardinal in one and two seats away in the other.

  I fear confrontation is breeding.

Trump does not give up. He keeps pushing and pushing. Relentlessly. Especially since his impeachment acquittal. He is emboldened. It is his country. He is God. He can do anything.

The most recent episode occurred yesterday in California.

California is a sanctuary state and many of it cities have so identified themselves.

California passed a law last year that courthouse arrests of immigrants were prohibited unless a judicial warrant had first been obtained. ICE and other immigration officials were going into courthouses arresting illegal immigrants who were in court facing non-immigrant charges.

Two years ago, the Trump administration announced a “policy” allowing federal arrests of illegal immigrants in local courthouses.

The confrontation between state law and federal policy finally occurred yesterday. Two illegal immigrants were in local courts facing local minor criminal charges. ICE officers arrived in civilian clothes (sneaks) and made the arrests.

ICE claims it has the right to do so because federal law supersedes state law. Not always, however.

California’s prohibition is based on a “law.” ICE’s actions on “federal policy.” Birds of a different feather. A “policy” is not a “law.”

Also, it is basic to the law in all fifty states that public health, safety and morals are the responsibility of the state. Generally interpreted to mean criminal matters. There are federal exceptions.

Another high appellate court case in the making!

People are becoming frustrated with court cases involving Trump’s missteps. They take too  long. If the frustration builds, resolution may come in the streets.

Now for Afghanistan.

What follows reminds me of Chamberlain’s return from a conference with Hitler in Munich. Getting off the plane returning him to London, Chamberlain waived a document and shouted: Peace in our time!

It did not happen. Chamberlain had been bullshitted by Hitler.

Now the team of Trump and Pompeo are telling us they are about to achieve peace in Afghanistan. Thus ending a 20 year war.

Good fodder for the election. Trump will love to go before the American people and say he ended the war.

Just as he got the North Koreans to agree to give up nuclear weapons.

The American people are about to be deceived. Or at the very least, an attempt to deceive them is in the works.

There is a first step. A 7 day “reduction” in violence. Not a 7 day “cease fire.” Such would be impossible to achieve. So merely a 7 day “reduction.”

If the “reduction” is successful, no later than February 29 a Peace Agreement will be signed by the Taliban and the U.S.

In the 24 hours following the announcement, the Taliban are talking “withdrawal of all foreign forces.” The U.S. a “reduction” of troops from 12,000-13,000 to 8,600.

The two sides are not even in accord on the first step leading to a Peace Agreement.

Also, I do not understand how the Taliban alone can make a peace agreement binding on Afghanistan. Though in power at the moment, there are many factions/tribes who are anti-Taliban and will not be part of any Peace Agreement.

I am not sure where al-Qaeda stands, but it still is a viable though significantly weakened force.

I close with a question. Will our government survive till election day with Trump leading in the fashion he has been?

Trump is moving fast making all kinds of changes he wants. Most radical. Neither U.S. nor democratic in nature.

The election is less than 8 months away. A lifetime!

Trump’s most recent error is his appointment of his loyal friend Richard Grenell as Acting Director of National Intelligence. Grenell has neither the intelligence nor experience to have such a sensitive and important position.

He is merely a “shill” for the President. One of many.

Enjoy your day!

  NATIONAL MARGARITA DAY / JIMMY BUFFETT / MARGARITAVILLE was originally published on Key West Lou

[justsomeantifas]

Here’s your dose of “What the Fuck Is Going On” News (2/23/2017 edition)

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) kicked off and many in attendance refused to believe or see fault with Trump's travel spending. It's estimated that Trump has already cost taxpayers nearly as much as Obama spent traveling annually, and this outrage was a common theme over the last years at CPAC. The overwhelming responses towards Trump's expenses were that the media is lying and the numbers presented are by people who are against Trump. (source)

Kellyanne Conway spoke at CPAC and talked about feminism. Conway said that she doesn't consider herself a feminist in the "classic sense" because she doesn't hate men and she isn't "pro-abortion," but she would consider herself a conservative feminist. She then went on to use her mother as an example of "what feminism is all about," by citing her not getting child support, alimony, using government assistance, and not being "a victim of circumstances." She then somehow made the connection that those who oppose Trump just have “a problem with women in power.” (source)

Betsy DeVos talked at CPAC about the recent decision to roll back on protections for transgender students. There were reports that DeVos was more reluctant to sign off on the federal guidance but she assured everyone that she's supports the action taken. DeVos said that the protections were government overreach and should be dealt with at a local level because it's not "one size fits all." (source)

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon took the stage together at CPAC where they spent most of their time attacking journalists. Bannon continually called the media the "opposition party" and said that journalists relationship with Trump will never improve because "everyday will be a fight," and "it's going to get worse everyday," because they're "adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like Donald Trump has." Priebus said that the biggest misconception people have about Trump and the White House is “everything that youre reading.” (source) (source)

Richard Spencer was in attendance at CPAC where he was eventually asked to leave. Dan Schneider of the American Conservative Union gave a speech at the event where he denounced the "alt-right movement," and he went on to claim that the alt-righters are secretly "left wing fascists," attempting to hijack the right. CPAC told reporters that they removed Spencer because he and the alt-right don't represent their views. Interestly enough they have no problem with those in Trump's administration who align themselves with the "alr-right" and even made Steve Bannon one of their key speakers for the day. (source)

Next week the House republicans are planning on derailing a resolution that will force Trump to disclose his potential ties with Russia and business-related conflicts of interest. Republicans will send proposal to the House Judiciary Committee for a panel vote on Tuesday to make sure the vote gets lost in the chaos. They are intentionally scheduling it right before Trump gives his first address to Congress - which will take up the bulk of the media coverage and attention. (source)

It’s being reported that the FBI and other federal agencies rejected the White House’s request to refute stories about contact between members of the Trump campaign and members of the Russian intelligence community. The White House wanted these agencies to publicly say that the reports by the media were wrong. This direct communication between the White House and the FBI is restricted and the request from the White House is a violation of procedures that limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations. (source)

A White House official said that they are pushing back the release of the revised executive order on travel and refugees until next week. No explanation was given for the delay. (source)

Trump said that the administration's efforts to remove undocumented immigrants is "a military operation." His comment led to some confusion and concern but according to Sean Spicer he did not misspeak, he was not being literal, and was using the phrase as an "adjective." Trump also commented that these deportations are "the first time" we're removing gang members and drug dealers - obviously completely untrue. (source) (source)

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that they are working on a plan to send migrants who had entered the United States from Mexico back to Mexico, even if they were not citizens of that country. Currently these people are allowed to request asylum but the Trump administration wants them to do so from Mexico. A DHS official explained that they can make a claim for asylum and have their cases heard but it has to be done from Mexico and they have to wait there. (source)

In an interview with Reuters today, Trump said that he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal to ensure it's at "the top of the pack." He went on to say that the strategic arms limitation treaty, known as New START, between the U.S. and Russia is a "bad deal," and a "one-sided deal." Trump also spoke out against Russia's deployment of a ground-based cruise missile and said "to me it's a big deal." However when asked if he would raise the issue with Putin he answered "if and when we meet." Trump has no scheduled meeting with Putin. (source)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions made it public that he has rescinded a guidance that tasked the Justice Department with ending its use of privately operated prisons. After Sessions memo was released, there were quickly sharp spikes in the stock prices of Core Civic and GEO Group, which are the biggest American prison corporations. (source)

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is sponsoring legislation that will open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that takes up Alaska's northeast corner in order to drill for oil. The refuge is larger than the size of West Virginia and Connecticut combined and serves as a nursery for polar bears, muskoxen, porcupine caribou and birds from all 50 states migrate there. (source) 

Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner spoke out about the Republican's plans to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. He believes that the hopes to “repeal and replace” are too optimistic because "republicans never ever agree on health care," and "I shouldn’t call it repeal-and-replace, because it’s not going to happen." (source)

Press secretary Sean Spicer told the press today that we will likely see a greater marijuana enforcement under Trump. The issue seems to be with state's recreational legalization, Spicer pointed out that there's still federal law and that we will see "greater enforcement of it." Spicer also blamed recreational marijuana laws on the opioid addiction spikes in some states, despite studies showing it actually does the exact opposite. (source)

And now your daily reminder that: Flint, Michigan still doesn’t have clean water. Standing Rock still needs your support. The American infrastructure report card still averages poorly with the rating of a “D+” And I would also suggest looking into donating to help the Chesed Shel Emeth Society repair and replace the broken monuments that were recently desecrated in an act of anti-Semitic vandalism. 

[tipsycad147]

Feather Symbolism, Magic, and More!

Finding a Feather on the Ground

You’re walking down a familiar path when something on the ground catches your eye. You walk up and realise it’s a large feather. You were having an awful day, but somehow finding a feather on the ground has completely elevated your mood and state of mind. That is the innate magic of the feather. Feathers come from birds and so are magical by association. Birds have long been regarded as messengers of the gods, as they carried messages to and from the heavens. Finding a feather on the ground is a gift from Spirit—a spirit guide, angel, or deceased loved one. There is something special in every found feather. Let’s explore feather symbolism, feather magic, and more!

The Type of Bird

If you’re finding feathers on the ground and can’t identify the birds, don’t fret. You don’t have to know the type of bird it came from to tap into its magic. But if determined to identify the feather’s bird-owner, you can start by doing your research. Look at what kinds of birds live in your area. Then identify the size of the bird and the feather. You can narrow down your search to a few birds, if you try hard enough. Or you can ask Spirit to show you the bird in a dream or meditation.

It’s important to identify the type of bird when diving into feather symbolism.

Feather Symbolism by Bird

Each bird has its own feather symbolism, its own special magic. Birds have a direct link with Spirit and will bring you divine messages.

To get started, here is a list of birds and feather symbolism:

Blue Jay Feathers – while many people say blue jays are a nuisance, I have found them to be very powerful guides. Their message is simple – protect family at all costs.

Blackbird (Crow, Raven) Feathers – there are many kinds of blackbirds but their general message can be broken down into: magic, mystery, intuition

Ibis Feathers – the ibis is found in the Southeastern U.S. and is directly connected to Thoth the Egyptian god of Wisdom and Writing. The ibis reminds us to tap into our creative side and gain wisdom from the universe.

Seagull Feathers – the seagull can be found almost anywhere along the coasts. It is a scavenging bird and is connected to the sea. A seagull feather symbolises humour, silliness, and using resources wisely.

Cardinal Feathers – the cardinal has such beautiful and vibrant red feathers that symbolise vitality, life, power.

Parrot Feathers – parrots remind us to be aware of our surroundings and heal us through colour therapy.

Dove and Pigeon Feathers – doves and pigeons are in the same family. Dove feathers symbolise peace, love, and family.

Mockingbird Feathers – mockingbirds remind us to sing our own songs, to be our own unique selves.

Owl Feathers – Owls have connections to ancient deities. Owl feathers symbolise magic, intuition, seeing in th dark, developing psychic awareness and more.

Hawk Feathers – Hawk feathers remind us to connect with Spirit, stay focused, and fly high.

Feather Symbolism by Colour

If you don’t know the kind of bird, look at the colour. The colour of the feather has special meaning. Here’s a simple guide:

White Feathers: a sign from recently passed loved one or angel

Black Feathers: a call to spiritual action and self-exploration

Red Feathers: a sign of passion or love in the near future

Gray Feathers:  a time of peace is coming

Blue Feathers:  a sign of communication, peace, and protection

Brown Feathers:  a sign of home life and importance of grounding

White feathers symbolize angels and spirit guide communication.

What Part of the Bird Did the Feather Come From?

If we really want to get into the details of feather symbolism, identify what part of the bird the feather came from. The part of the bird has spiritual meaning and its own magic. The author Ted Andrews describes in his book Animal Speak the different parts of the bird and the significance of feathers from those parts. Here is my take on the parts and feather symbolism:

Wing Feathers: send a thought or prayer to another or to Spirit. Wing feathers are stiffer than other feathers to support the bird in flight. And so it will support you in your endeavours. The technical name for these feathers are remiges.

Down Feathers: these soft and fluffy feathers provide warmth to the bird. Use them to comfort and protect your spirituality.

Outer Feathers: these are called contour feathers and are the outermost feathers, or the ones that you see the most. These feathers help wick water and are the most colourful. Contour feathers can bring a sense of self appreciation and protection.

There are others: tail feathers (rectrices), border feathers (coverts), below the contour feathers (afterfeathers), and bristles. You can find out more about the types of feathers by going here.

Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you real information about the paranormal and paganism.

Keep your special feathers in a vase with crystals as feather magic.

Feather Magic

For thousands of years, Native Americans and other indigenous peoples have used feather symbolism in their spiritual rituals. Here’s how you can use feather magic today:

Smudging: smudging is an old Native American practice. It is the use of smoke from a dried herb (such as white sage) to rid an area or person of negativity. It is a rite of cleansing. A larger feather can be used to fan the smoke in different directions. The feather itself lends to the power of the smudging ritual. Feathers can be bundled together and made into a “smudging wand”. You can watch tutorials on how to make your own on Youtube.

Accessorise: feathers can be worn on the body. This is a powerful form of feather magic. Natives have worn feathers in their hair and on their clothes for centuries. You can wear your favourite feather by making it into a hair piece or as a piece of jewellery. Carry the feather with you and the spiritual significance will stay with you.

Meditation: hold feathers during meditation. Blow gently on the feather to send out your spiritual intent or to put yourself into a trance. Hold a specific type of bird’s feather to contact your bird spirit guide.

Dream Bags and Pillows: if you are not allergic to birds/feathers, place a feather into a small sachet with other herbs to induce lucid dreams. Tuck the feather under your pillowcase at night to help transform yourself into the form of a bird in your dreams.

Magical Arrangements: place your favourite feathers between your favourite crystals and stones in a small clear vase and put somewhere special in your home. This keeps the spiritual powers of the feather flowing throughout your sacred space. Plus you can admire their beauty any time!

Adornments: you can adorn yourself with feathers or you can use feathers to adorn your spiritual tools. Just as the Natives did, you can use feathers to decorate wands, rattles, drums, staffs, altar cloths, and more!

Gods and Goddesses

In addition to the type of feather, what kind of bird it came from, and how to do feather magic, research if the bird is connected to a god or goddess. For instance, the seagull is connected to the Celtic sea god Manannan Mac Lir. The Ibis is connected to Thoth, the Egyptian God of Writing. The vulture is connected to the Egyptian Goddess Nekhbet. The Morrigan, an Irish Triple Goddess, is connected to the crow. And the list goes on.

Finding a crow feather means spiritual awakening.

https://otherworldlyoracle.com/feather-symbolism-feather-magic-omens/

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New Post has been published on Health bolt

New Post has been published on http://www.healthbolt.net/cooking/healthy-cooking-recipes-to-lose-weight/

Healthy Cooking Recipes To Lose Weight

Contents

Top 50 diet

50 diet recipes

Cancer treatments varies

Internal revenue service. donations

Weight loss diet

High cholesterol diet

The Wild Diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that may appeal to people who want to stop eating processed food and transition .. …

The Cooking Light food-lover’s guide to weight loss and healthy dieting – find low-calorie recipes, fitness tips, nutrition advice, and more. … The Cooking Light food-lover’s guide to weight loss and healthy dieting – find low-calorie recipes, fitness tips, nutrition advice, and more.

Losing weight is always more challenging for women, since we tend to carry less muscle mass and burn fewer calories than men, and weight loss gets even more challenging … Once you have a stable of h…

But, this is easier said than done, because it can be quite hard to cook healthy food after … if you want to make sure that …

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There is a rise in demand and supply of keto-friendly snacks and desserts and also a boom in cooks churning out recipes to pe…

Find healthy, delicious recipes and menu ideas from our test kitchen cooks and nutrition experts at EatingWell magazine. Learn how to make healthier food choices every day.

Healthy Strawberry Banana Smoothie Recipes for Weight Loss — Healthy Smoothies are an effective … Read the directions on Food Recipe us Never miss a story from Food Recipe, when you sign up for Medi…

Find healthy, delicious recipes and menu ideas from our test kitchen cooks and nutrition experts at EatingWell magazine. Learn how to make healthier food choices every day.

No more boring bird! A fast and family-friendly weeknight staple, chicken is a go-to protein choice for busy family cooks. Americans love chicken and healthy chicken recipes. The lean protein is quick cooking, reliable, and affordable. Chicken breasts in particular are a must for busy families.

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I can see my mother now in her spotte… And my favorite easy-breezy … As your healthy cooking writer, I have to remind you that whole-wheat noodles offer more fibe… Once you’re all good to go, save these 10 easy dinner recipes. The healthy versions of chicken cacciatore, meatballs, and mor… Easy Recipes for Delicious Quick Meals. Spend less time in the kitchen – and eat better too – using my recipes for quick meals using mainly unprocessed foods. For an easy, weeknight dinner, simply toss store-bought potato gnocchi with thick zucchini "noodles," shallots, cherry tomatoes and a nutty browned butter sauce. Our Top 50 diet recipes for Summer From Tomato-Corn Pie to Grilled Fish Tacos, our healthy, low-calorie recipes for summer are delicious … How To Cook Healthy Choice Steamers In Oven Healthy Choice® and Bravo’s top chef have partnered to create an exclusive line of freshly-steamed meals. Our unique dual steaming tray with food on the top and sauce on the bottom unlocks the rich and vibrant flavor of each quality ingredient. healthy choice frozen meals, frozen treats, and soup are a quick and easy way to maintain a healthy lifestyle! Browse all our meal options today. Is Cooked kale healthy healthy oil For Cooking And Frying The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their a… How To Cook cabbage healthy Healthy Cooking For Cancer Patients "Lung cancer kills more patients than the others combined … However, that’s all about to change. The U.S. Food and Drug Adm… Cooking for Cancer Cancer experts are quick to point out that everyone’s experience with cancer and cancer treatments varies. So the best way to cook for a friend or loved one with cancer is to find out what symptoms they’re experiencing at the moment, and then take it from there. Cook for Your Life – Find tasty, quick, and simple healthy food for cancer patients. start helping your body today by cooking healthy and delicious recipes. cook for Your Life – Find Healthy Cooking Classes Phoenix "I set this class up as a date with my girl friend and she enjoyed it very much. Sasha was very well prepared and it was such a joy having her demonstrated and instructing us on the dishes we made. Our class was schedule around lunch time so we enjoyed the dishes as our lunch. It was such a perfect date. Good food and fun. How To Cook Sweet Potatoes Healthy Healthy Vegetarian Cooking Silicone Non stick healthy cooking Baking Mat Healthy Cooking Made Easy easy cook healthy dinner recipes easy to make, looks stunning and … then wash and prepare the fresh bounty for dinner. I can see my mother now in her spotte… And my favorite easy-breezy … As your healthy cooking writer, I have to remind you that whole-wheat noodles offer more fibe… Once you’re all good to go, save these 10 easy dinner recipes. The healthy versions of chicken cacciatore, meatballs, and mor… Easy Recipes for Delicious Quick Meals. Spend less time in the kitchen – and eat better too – using my recipes for quick meals using mainly unprocessed foods. For an easy, weeknight dinner, simply toss store-bought potato gnocchi with thick zucchini "noodles," shallots, cherry tomatoes and a nutty browned butter sauce. Our Top 50 Diet Recipes for Summer From Tomato-Corn Pie to grilled fish tacos, our healthy, low-calorie recipes for summer are delicious … How To Cook Healthy Choice Steamers In Oven Healthy Choice® and Bravo’s top chef have partnered to create an exclusive line of freshly-steamed meals. Our unique dual steaming tray with food on the top and sauce on the bottom unlocks the rich and vibrant flavor of each quality ingredient. healthy choice frozen meals, frozen treats, and soup are a quick and easy way to maintain a healthy lifestyle! Browse all our meal options today. Is Cooked Kale Healthy Healthy Oil For Cooking And Frying The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their a… How To Cook cabbage healthy Healthy Cooking For Cancer Patients "Lung cancer kills more patients than the others combined … However, that’s all about to change. The U.S. Food and Drug Adm… Cooking for Cancer Cancer experts are quick to point out that everyone’s experience with cancer and cancer treatments varies. So the best way to cook for a friend or loved one with cancer is to find out what symptoms they’re experiencing at the moment, and then take it from there. Cook for Your Life – Find tasty, quick, and simple healthy food for cancer patients. start helping your body today by cooking healthy and delicious recipes. cook for Your Life – Find tasty, quick, and simple healthy food for cancer patients. Start helping your body today by cooking healthy and delicious recipes. easy recipes for cancer patients easy lemon Chicken Recipe: My Popular Lemon Chicken with Capers Wait Until You

The high amount of vitamin A also helps boost a healthy eyesight. (Also Read: 10 Best Carrot Recipes) If you are on a weight loss diet, your diet must include … (Also Read: high cholesterol diet: Ef…

How To Cook Sweet Potatoes Healthy Healthy Vegetarian Cooking Silicone Non Stick Healthy Cooking Baking Mat Healthy Cooking Made Easy easy cook healthy dinner recipes easy to make, looks stunning and … then wash and prepare the fresh bounty for dinner. I can see my mother now in her spotte… And my favorite easy-breezy … As your healthy cooking writer, I have to remind you that whole-wheat noodles offer more fibe… Once you’re all good to go, save these 10 easy dinner recipes. The healthy versions of chicken cacciatore, meatballs, and mor… Easy Recipes for Delicious Quick Meals. Spend less time in the kitchen – and eat better too – using my recipes for quick meals using mainly unprocessed foods. For an easy, weeknight dinner, simply toss store-bought potato gnocchi with thick zucchini "noodles," shallots, cherry tomatoes and a nutty browned butter sauce. Our Top 50 Diet Recipes for Summer From Tomato-Corn Pie to grilled fish tacos, our healthy, low-calorie recipes for summer are delicious … How To Cook Healthy Choice Steamers In Oven Healthy Choice® and Bravo’s top chef have partnered to create an exclusive line of freshly-steamed meals. Our unique dual steaming tray with food on the top and sauce on the bottom unlocks the rich and vibrant flavor of each quality ingredient. healthy choice frozen meals, frozen treats, and soup are a quick and easy way to maintain a healthy lifestyle! Browse all our meal options today. Is Cooked Kale Healthy Healthy Oil For Cooking And Frying The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their a… How To Cook cabbage healthy Healthy Cooking For Cancer Patients "Lung cancer kills more patients than the others combined … However, that’s all about to change. The U.S. Food and Drug Adm… Cooking for Cancer Cancer experts are quick to point out that everyone’s experience with cancer and cancer treatments varies. So the best way to cook for a friend or loved one with cancer is to find out what symptoms they’re experiencing at the moment, and then take it from there. Cook for Your Life – Find tasty, quick, and simple healthy food for cancer patients. start helping your body today by cooking healthy and delicious recipes. cook for Your Life – Find tasty, quick, and simple healthy food for cancer patients. Start helping your body today by cooking healthy and delicious recipes. easy recipes for cancer patients easy lemon Chicken Recipe: My Popular Lemon Chicken with Capers Wait Until You Try My Easy Lemon Chicken Recipe I … About 16 volunteers from around the community gathered at the amedysis home health and Hospice Care facility on Mulholland Dr… The American Institute for Cancer Research is a nonprofit charity designated as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)3 by the Internal revenue service. donations are … Similarly, we have kidney care foods for kidney patients or those showing some initial signs of developing this problem.

Recipes & Cooking. 12 Healthy Desserts That Can Actually Help You Lose Weight. Amy Gorin, MS, RDN Dec 17. … Read on to find out 30 healthy snacks that can help you lose weight.

Healthy Cooking Classes Tampa Silicone Non Stick Healthy Cooking Baking Mat Healthy Cooking Made Easy Easy Cook Healthy Dinner Recipes Easy to make, looks stunning and … then wash and prepare the fresh bounty for dinner. I can see my mother now in her spotte… And my favorite easy-breezy … As your healthy cooking writer, I have to remind you that whole-wheat noodles offer more fibe… Once you’re all good to go, save these 10 easy dinner recipes. The healthy versions of chicken cacciatore, meatballs, and mor… Easy Recipes for Delicious Quick Meals. Spend less time in the kitchen – and eat better too – using my recipes for quick meals using mainly unprocessed foods. For an easy, weeknight dinner, simply toss store-bought potato gnocchi with thick zucchini "noodles," shallots, cherry tomatoes and a nutty browned butter sauce. Our Top 50 Diet Recipes for Summer From Tomato-Corn Pie to grilled fish tacos, our healthy, low-calorie recipes for summer are delicious … How To Cook Healthy Choice Steamers In Oven Healthy Choice® and Bravo’s top chef have partnered to create an exclusive line of freshly-steamed meals. Our unique dual steaming tray with food on the top and sauce on the bottom unlocks the rich and vibrant flavor of each quality ingredient. healthy choice frozen meals, frozen treats, and soup are a quick and easy way to maintain a healthy lifestyle! Browse all our meal options today. Is Cooked Kale Healthy Healthy Oil For Cooking And Frying The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their a… How To Cook cabbage healthy Healthy Cooking For Cancer Patients "Lung cancer kills more patients than the others combined … However, that’s all about to change. The U.S. Food and Drug Adm… Cooking for Cancer Cancer experts are quick to point out that everyone’s experience with cancer and cancer treatments varies. So the best way to cook for a friend or loved one with cancer is to find out what symptoms they’re experiencing at the moment, and then take it from there. Cook for Your Life – Find tasty, quick, and simple healthy food for cancer patients. start helping your body today by cooking healthy and delicious recipes. cook for Your Life – Find tasty, quick, and simple healthy food for cancer patients. Start helping your body today by cooking healthy and delicious recipes. easy recipes for cancer patients easy lemon Chicken Recipe: My Popular Lemon Chicken with Capers Wait Until You Try My Easy Lemon Chicken Recipe I … About 16 volunteers from around the community gathered at the amedysis home health and Hospice Care facility on Mulholland Dr… The American Institute for Cancer Research is a nonprofit charity designated as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)3 by the Internal revenue service. donations are … Similarly, we have kidney care foods for kidney patients or those showing some initial signs of developing this problem. They can secure

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5 Downsides To Being A Movie Monster Nobody Brings Up

Being a supernatural movie monster, like a vampire or a werewolf, may seem like a sweet deal. Aside from being represented by some of the worst movies ever, you’re super strong, you live forever, and if you blast your music really late at night, nobody will have the guts to knock on your door. But there are some less-than-obvious downsides to life as a horror sapiens. For example …

5

Werewolves Would Be Allergic To Everything

There are many ways to kill a vampire: garlic, holy water, wooden stakes, sunlight, crucifixes, teenage heartbreak, etc. But for werewolves, there’s only one weakness: silver. They can only be stopped by a sharpshooter with enough disposable income to make bullets out of precious metals. (So … Texas oilmen?) But wait, who said werewolves are only weak to silver bullets? Nobody, that’s who. In fact, according to many myths and legends, the mere touch of anything silver is enough to slow down and/or kill a lycanthrope. Even in the original Wolf Man movie, two werewolves are killed not by gunshots, but by being bludgeoned with a silver-tipped cane, once wielded by an elderly man.

Universal Pictures “I TOLD YOU TO STOP SHITTING ON MY LAWN!”

To a werewolf, all silver is like kryptonite covered in acid. And that’s why none of them would ever survive in the modern world.

Silver is an excellent conductor, which is why you can find it in pretty much every electronic device you own: computers, cellphones, batteries, cars, light switches, CDs, DVDs. The metal is even widely used in mirrors, windows, and light bulbs. How many werewolves does it take to change a light bulb? Fucking none, that’s how many.

As it turns out, silver is excellent at killing both werewolves and bacteria, which is why hospitals make most of their stuff out of it, from surgical tools to door handles. It’s also why silver is being used to filtrate/purify municipal water supplies. Need a werewolf dead? Give it a glass of tap water.

4

Vampires Would Have To Buy Their Own Coffins

“Coffins. Coffins, unfortunately, are a necessity,” says Brad Pitt in your dangerously unhinged aunt’s favorite movie, Interview With The Vampire. But have you ever considered the practical reality of that? For the nosferatu on a budget, we suppose they could steal one from a graveyard, but it would probably be like stealing a used condom: gross and smelling like old stiffs.

Buying a new casket comes with its own set of problems. First, you’d have to invent some sob story about yourself or a loved one dying soon. We have no idea what kind of web of lies you’d have to spin for the funeral house to let you climb inside a coffin and test out its lumbar support. Plus, low-end coffins start at around $1,000, with the more pimped-out models going for $10,000 and up.

Warner Bros. Pictures “Do you plan on getting laid at any point during the rest of eternity? Then spring for the fucking deluxe model.”

Finally, there is no way you could get your new coffin home on your own. How do you even ask a friend for help with that sort of thing? There isn’t enough beer and pizza in the world for someone not to ask why you’re buying a corpse container for your own house. An online store could probably deliver the casket discreetly, but those deliverymen will also have questions. And you will not have answers.

Oh wait, “I’m just super goth.” Never mind, this one’s easy.

3

A Mummy’s Worst Enemy Would Be YouTube

In the 1999 Mummy movie, the resurrected priest Imhotep was the entire Xavier Institute crammed into one bronzed, bald package. He was immortal, super strong, invulnerable, could suck out people’s life force, turned into sandstorms, etc. He basically had no weaknesses. Except for cats. In one scene, Brendan Fraser manages to scare the titular Mummy away by showing him a cat. Imhotep takes one look at it and instantly bolts out the window.

Universal Pictures “Play him off, Keyboard Cat.”

This makes a lot of sense, seeing as how cats were considered guardians of the underworld in ancient Egyptian mythology, and Imhotep’s soul was supposed to be cursed in the afterlife. And today, all of us carry around a way to display lifelike images of cats at a second’s notice. If that ancient Egyptian priest rose from the dead in 2017, any old schmo would be able to stop him dead just by taking their phone out and opening up YouTube.

2

Stopping A Werewolf Would Be Incredibly Simple

What, you thought we were done ruining werewolves for you? If Hollywood won’t stop, then why should we?

Have you ever wondered why the Wolf Man remake kept the story confined to the 19th century and the countryside, instead of updating it to modern times and a big city? Because that’s what An American Werewolf In London did, and we’d like to remind you how long the titular character was able to stalk the UK capital, killing people: two nights, after which he was easily shot dead by police.

When you get down to it, a werewolf is nothing but a really big animal, with animal intelligence, and humanity’s entire origin story boils down to learning how to kill bigger animals. That’s why we invented all sorts of weapons and, most importantly, traps. Let’s say a werewolf was loose in your city, and due to immense lobbying from the furry community, we decided to capture it instead of kill it. For that we have bear traps, tranquilizer guns, those poles with loops on the end — you name it. And if worse came to worse, there’s always the nuclear option: a Super Soaker filled with tap water.

1

Flying Around On A Broomstick Would Be Crazy Dangerous

Flying about in big metal tubes powered by exploding dinosaurs might sound like witchcraft, but actual witches still prefer the old broomstick. There are some big problems with that, though: When flying out in the open with no protection from the elements, you face the same issues as World War I pilots in their open-cockpit biplanes, with bugs, fog, and rain hitting you in the face all the time. That’s why old-timey pilots wore those huge scarves: to clean all that gunk off their goggles. Interestingly, you also don’t ever see that on witches. Another thing that WWI pilots needed were warm woolen jackets, because it tends to get cold up in the night sky. And while silky black dresses are great for maintaining that “Bride of Satan” image, they don’t do much against frostbite.

So a modern witch would need an insulated jacket, goggles, a wipin’ rag, some kind of broom-mounted windshield, and preferably night vision gear. That last part would be necessary to spot and avoid birds. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), kamikaze birds are one of the most dangerous things in the sky, right after Delta Airlines, with more than 9,000 birds crashing into U.S. airplanes per year.

Witches probably wouldn’t fly as fast as airplanes, and they don’t have engines to wreck, but geese would still be a problem. Just ask Fabio.

Steven is a short, freaky — wait, no — Steven *writes* short freaky stories you can read for free. He’s also on Twitter and Facebook (obviously).

We can’t claim this is an actual magical, monster-killing device but it can’t hurt to have a couple around if you’re ever having supernatural problems.

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from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/5-downsides-to-being-a-movie-monster-nobody-brings-up/