Author Archives: Commentary about the Blue Marble

Another Extinction Coming

21 Monday Apr 2025

Posted by in Extinction

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        Many years ago, in fact, about 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period, a crack opened up in what is now Siberia. Lava poured out covering millions of square miles to a depth of several thousand feet. Millions of metric tons of heat generating lava heated the ground under it. In that ground was multiple layers of coal, oil, and natural gas which caught fire and burned releasing vast amount of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. The air temperature rose, algae and bacteria bloomed killing off creatures living in the seas, and fresh water lakes, and streams. The creatures drinking the poisoned water died, too.

            This was the fourth and largest great extinction on the planet. It took millions of years for earth to recover from the few seeds, plants, and creatures that managed to survive. Since then the surface land has split apart forming mountains. Another extinction hit about 65 million years ago, wiping most of life when an asteroid hit the Gulf of Mexico just off the Yucatan Peninsula.

            Today, we are continuing to burn coal, oil, and gas in massive amounts putting those same gases in the air that caused the mass extinction. We may be doing it slower but the result could be the same. Those who are denying we are heading for disaster will be cursed by their progeny. The rest of humanity doesn’t believe in global warming we know is happening!

            Are we going to be the cause of the Sixth Great Extinction?

A Flock of Ostriches

14 Monday Apr 2025

Posted by in School Books

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        For the past several years I have read about how school text books are based on what the Texas school boards, state and local, feel their students should believe. Texans are not supposed to know about evolutionary science so it is expressed as a possibility or belief whereas a belief is a supernatural being creating everything in a few years as factual. Religion is strong in Texas which generates lots of lawsuits for and against.

            Now, Texas is going to persuade American children that climate change isn’t real. Why? It is simple. The boards use advisory groups that are basically dominated by the fossil fuel industry.  It is Texas where it is sacrilegious to speak ill of oil and gas. So instead of trying to teach Americans that it is going to get worse each year and we are at the tipping point of global disaster, Texas school boards are denying the knowledge and reality of carbon causing it. Texas can push their student’s heads in the sand, but their influence and pressure on school books around the country means teachers have to tell their students the books are wrong.

            We have a President and an Administration that is more interested in making money for themselves and their friends than continuing the efforts of previous forward looking Presidents and the rest of the world. Deniers cite China is building fossil fuel plants so we can’t cut back on ours to use solar and wind. That’s the fossil fuel obfuscation. Yes, China is building fossil fuel burners but they also have several time more wind and solar than we do and they are building nuclear plants as fast as they can. Seems like they have smart people running their energy policies and we have ostriches!

Mt. Rushmore

12 Saturday Apr 2025

Posted by in Monument, President Trump

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        President Donald J. Trump has always thought of himself as one of America’s greatest men. His father or someone else he greatly respected probably told him so. He lied, cheated, or bought his way to where he is today. Even as President he cons people into buying his company stock or soon his private crypto currency saving all the money to his family company.

            He believes, and his sycophants tell him, he is the best President ever. They have even talked about Mt. Rushmore again. They compare him to some of history’s greatest men to curry even more favor.

            He is using Wilson’s and Roosevelt’s failed attempts to get Greenland so if he can coerce the people of Greenland into becoming an American State, he will be greater than both of them. He says he doesn’t want to use force but doesn’t rule it out.

            With Panama, a few ultra conservatives thought we should have overridden the lease termination and kept it. He is going to use every threat to get it or as a last resort force. The act, which may will lead to war, and probably the loss of the canal, as well as the last of our few remaining friends. The canal is easily put out of operation.

            Annexing Canada is an old, old dream by a few people but doing so, Trump thinks would make him the greatest ever. History seems to define the greatest presidents as ones that won a war or acquired more area. Some of those Presidents are Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, Polk with the Oregon Territory and the Canadian Boundary, Tyler annexing Texas, and Polk goading Mexico into attacking to get the Southwest.

            Imagine Trump’s ego if he got the Canal, Greenland, and Canada, no matter what he did to make it happen.

Comic Strips

12 Saturday Apr 2025

Posted by in Comic Strips, Newspapers and Comic Strips

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        Comic Strips in newspapers have always been a way for differing views of the current cultural and political environment to be presented. I was never a “Doonesbury” fan and missed out on some very good commentary on life.

            A good political strip must be like “Gulliver’s Travels” which was an outside of the box shot at the government and royalty in England. It poked fun at the political system without many readers really seeing the point at first reading. Imagine how fast the point would have been seen if Facebook had been available a couple of centuries ago.

            Today papers have two great commentary strips I read each day. One that is very obvious is “Prickly City” by Scott Stantis. It crucifies President Trump and his policies in every strip. They make it clear the Emperor has no clothes! It would be difficult to be a Trump Fan and read that strip every day.

            “Animal Crackers” by Mike Osbun is very subtle in his points but most readers should see his reasoning. 

            The best one in today’s paper is “For Better or Worse” by Lynn Johnston in the April 9th issue of the Chicago Tribune. A little girl and her older sister are having a serious discussion on the porch steps. The little girl was listing all the places she wants to go and animals to see. Then she asked her sister “Will all those things be around when I get there?”

How many kids today are wondering the same thing? How will their parents respond to that question? How would you respond?

The King and the XXII

07 Monday Apr 2025

Posted by in President Trump, U.S. President Requirements

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        The XXII Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…”. President Donald Trump says some of his attorneys have said he could get around the Amendment and run again. Do the attorneys really believe it or are they just trying to curry favor by feeding his massive ego.

            Here are some reasons why he would want to talk about running or maybe try to get around the law. The most obvious reason is his ultra supersized ego cannot be downsized to being an ex-President again for the rest of his life. Another reason is at his age he might die in office and not be around when the next President does away with all his changes.           

            Trump says he is already collecting money for that next term. Trump is a born conman who cannot miss an idea to con or coerce money from people. If a rich person or organization wants to bribe him or keep him from coming after them somehow, then a third term is a great plan. He is raising money today through his internet companies and will sell a form of crypto currency called stable coin. Remember all the items he sold while running the money went into his company’s pocket. He views the Oval Office as his company’s headquarters.

When Does Death Happen?

31 Monday Mar 2025

Posted by in Death

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        On an episode of NCIS the medical examiner, Dr. “Ducky” Mallard-played by Dave McCallum, was supposed to have said “A person dies twice. Once when the body dies and again when the stories stop being repeated.” I never thought about it before but it is true. We continue to tell stories about those who have died, therefore continuing to give them life. I have my Mother’s picture album with lots of pictures of people who may or may not be my relatives who died about a century ago. Some have names I don’t know and others with no names. No stories are being told about them so they are truly dead.

            How many of our ancestors and others are truly dead. George Washington was supposed to have cut down a cherry tree or threw a coin across a river. Whether or not it is true doesn’t matter because those stories are mixed in with lots of other stories true or not. Many stories about some of our heroes of the past are well beyond believably, but they keep them alive.

            We continue to talk about our parents long after they are dead and buried, so we are able to keep them alive. We may still tell a story or two about our grandparents who died decades ago. As the last of my parent’s four children, the stories of my maternal grandfather lives only with me.

            Unfortunately the lives of some people continue when we wish they would die permanently. Some of their stories are meant to show what not to do or how not to behave. Will Adolf Hitler and his mob ever die? Will Mao, Stalin and Kim who killed millions of their people ever be forgotten?

Stargate Project

28 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by in Electric Generating Plant, Star Gate

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        The Stargate Project that Trump said he is initiating is not new since the planning was started two years ago from President Biden’s funding bills. The initial cost proposal for the AI Data Center was 30 Billion and to be built in Wisconsin by Microsoft.

            The problem with this project and others is the amount of power they use. Stargate will use more power than 3.5 million Wisconsin homes. Wisconsin has 2.75 million homes so where will all this new power come from? The Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia took over 20 years to build and it cost 35 billion. The plant will produce 4,800 megawatts which will provide power for more than two million homes or two-thirds the amount Stargate will use. Vogtle is the Nation’s largest Nuclear Plant. Wisconsin buys power from the grid because it can’t supply its own needs.

            Lots of other data centers are being planned, being built, or already built around the country. These power hogs are supposed to be using green energy meaning supplied by wind, solar, or battery. One of the original signers of the agreement with the other tech giants has already pulled out because it isn’t feasible. Since it takes decades and billions to build a nuke, fossil fired plants are being planned and built near the data centers. These projects mean we are definitely not going to make any headway towards reducing the CO2 Emissions Goals. One estimate is it would take a solar farm the size of Kansas to supply all the green energy these centers will require and batteries covering Connecticut for night time, cloudy, and windless days.

            We might as well face the facts. We are doomed to the disastrous effects of global warming. We may not get as hot as Venus’s 600 degrees but 150 degrees or more is probable now.    

Millions of Blind Mice

27 Thursday Mar 2025

Posted by in President Trump

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        How can so many Americans be so naive? During President Donald Trump’s first term he said he was going to build a wall across our Southern Border and tens of millions believed Mexico was going to pay for it. After a few years many saw it was a lie. That lie and many others was a part of his loss in his next election.

            Millions more were sucked into the vortex that the 2020 election was rigged even though his own people and their contractors could not find any fraud committed by Democrats. All the criminal offenses were committed by Trump’s own people as in Georgia and Arizona.

            Once the greatest American and perhaps the world’s greatest con man got into the brains of so many Americans he couldn’t help but suck money from them to buy junk. They thought the proceeds were going into his campaign as the usual practice but the money went into his pocket. Poor people were actually giving their money to a self-proclaimed billionaire.

            Today Trump is slapping tariffs on our friends and trading partners while telling Americans the other country is going to pay the tariff. The truth is the product comes into the country and the buyer must pay the tariff to get the product. The producer then passes the additional cost on to the American consumer. The producer pays nothing of the tariff so how can Trump still blind so many people?

            Elon Musk and others have followed Putin’s strategy of faking admiration to curry favor. Musk put up to a hundred million dollars to help Trump get elected so they could get the opportunity to destroy the agencies they had been fighting with on taxes and regulations. Musk just said he would donate another hundred to primary any Republican that stepped out of line. Oh, notice Musk is into cutting all agencies except NASA. Isn’t NASA where Musk gets his big money to run his Space X programs?       

Guidelines for Some

21 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by in Presidential Power

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        Some of us break the law by going a few miles an hour over the speed limit or maybe forgetting to turn headlights on when its sprinkling., We know it is wrong to go through a red light or stop sign because it is a dangerous and definitely breaking the law, just like driving 70 in a 45 zone, or driving impaired. The average American is going to agree with what we might call a guideline and what is a law not to be violated without serious consequences.

            For a fast growing number of Americans the serious laws seem to have become guidelines which they feel do not apply to them. At least four people who were confirmed to be Supreme Court Justices lied during their hearings. Every year hundreds of local, state and federal official are convicted on a variety of crimes and usually given lighter sentences than the average American would get.

            Hundred of people committed insurrection on January 6, 2021 because their President told them to do it. President Donald Trump just pardoned them because “they did nothing wrong.” Thousands of Republicans were shocked at what happened for a few days or weeks before toeing the line put out by a lying ex-President.

            We have never had a President who strayed so far from the normal Presidential behavior. We have never had a President whose ego is so great he thinks the laws don’t apply to him. Trump’s scams include selling boots, Bibles, and other items to fund his election when it actually went into his pocket or the cyber currency that goes to the Trump family entity which he oversees. The cyber currency is definitely illegal for him to sell.

            The Constitution in his mind is a series of guidelines which he can violate as he wishes. He has already decided the Fourteenth Amendment is not applicable today. Does he think the Twenty-second Amendment doesn’t apply to him? His dictator friends are his idols and his rabid supporters would agree.

Illegal Order

20 Thursday Mar 2025

Posted by in Illegal Order, Presidential Power

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        In today’s political climate the first order we think about is President Donald Trump’s order to send the gang members to an El Salvador Prison. A judge said to stop but the flights continued in spite of the court order. That is a minor but first stop in defiance of the laws of our country.

            The illegal order I am worried about isn’t a civil or criminal order that concerns me, it’s the ones he gives to his hand-picked leaders of our country’s military. Yesterday he hinted he could take Canada or Greenland when he wanted. As a student of history, in particular World War II, I remember Adolf Hitler hand-picked the leaders of his general staff. The previous ones had advised against an aggressive military strategy where Germany would start the conflict.

            The German people and military had been told over and over that the Arian Race was the best and Germany was the greatest nation. It was Germany’s destiny to fulfill that destiny. During his last inaugural speech Trump talked about manifest destiny and the artificial border with Canada. He has said Greenland is closer to the United States than to its home country Denmark.

            The question is would our General Staff who swore an oath to our country say no? Would Trump replace them with Generals who would comply with his order to invade both places? We know his ego does not allow for dissension of his wishes and dreams. He has just said he is the leader of the world’s most powerful country and economy and he should be able to do what is best for America and the world. If the Congress and Courts can’t control him, will the Military?