Again and again

Have the "trumpets" *  pushed us †   into another reactionary place?  I wonder. 

I lived, as a child, through the beginnins of the Cold War, H. U. A., C., Joe Mc Carthy, and a bat shit crazy aunt. I learned to think nimbly and practice dissimulation dn evasion.  The aunt  could not listen to another point of view.  She had to be right. 

The aunt was my father's sister. The last of five children.   Shortly after her birth instability attacked the family.   The family spoiled her.  She was quite attractive.  She spent her life waiting tables and running a rooming house with my grandmother.  I believe she possessed much intelegence.  She lacked direction. ‡

My cut on this says she never accepted reality fully.  Her expectations from being spoiled exceeded any  realistic point.   She failed to go beyond high school.  And, she could not understand why she didn't have more. 

My aunt consoled herself with reactionary fixations.  These played out in the usual way.  She followed many bizare  fads.  And, she vituperated vitriolically against the usual minority groups.   

From my perspective, trumpets behave in this way.  

We ±do have issues and  even threats.   That is not the question.  The question focuses on the degree of impact and the better way to address it.


* Trump supporters
† USA citizens
‡ How much of this comes from my own projection?  You can find out if you pay the theray bill.

± op cit

Thoughts on a State Department

Start with Ben Gazi.  Descisions dealing with the number of military assigned to an embassy most likly fall into the hands of  a high level career civil servant.  Does a Secretary Of State actually concern themselves with such.  

So why roast Hillary?  
Because they like to. 


Do career diplomats always get it right?  No, not always do they get it right. 
Could an international businessman do something different?  Could those international business contacts acumulated over a thirty year career serve the needs of  this country?  It seems possible.   


So, comes the word that numbers of seior level civil service specialists in the State Department have resigned.  It also seems likely  that many of them might not want to serve under the Trump administration.  But, also maybe the time has come to go do something else.  With such policy experience in one resume, an academic post or work in a private think tank could slo prove attractive.

So, do these resignations  -- head count not available as of this writing -- mean anything other than just the normal run of things?  Only Hannibal Lector knows for sure.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/26/the-state-departments-entire-senior-management-team-just-resigned/?utm_term=.f0c3e34778f7

How to denude the worlds forests

Logging!  

It threatens to denude the Tropical Rain Forrests of  South America, Africa and Asia. 

Keep it up. 

 I've got a fix. 

We build Trump frames.  And, on these frames, we grow kudzoo and that invasive fern species taking over Florida'S swamps.*  

The resulting vegetation will do what tree huggers allege that the trees do.

Tree hugger research demonstrates that vines, ferns, and non-tree plants process more carbon dioxide than the much vaughented tree canopy.†

*  The plant has yet to swamp  the good o'l boys  in Tallahassee.
†  This is a fact, whether you like it or not.

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time
Future Schock and two Third Waves 

-- or is it reverse, never mind --

predicted that automation / robots would put a lot of folk out of work.   At that time, off shoring and environmental degradation stood far off if at all in our consciousness. 

We, the people, failed to address the imponderables.  
We continued to let the Good Times roll.  
Or, later on, we rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic. 

Or did we fail?   We must ask if we can save all? 
Do too many  indulge themselves in victim hood and take their expectations from that chorus piece from the Stage Musical Li'l Aber:  "When the idle poor become the idle rich...".