Posts of Robert Leming RSSSat, 22 Aug 2020 04:10:48 GMTIt's late, I'll be brief, kinda:I'm listening to the Dodgers vs the Rockies on my iPos Touch, as I write  :- ) First, basically, I was surprised how well it went, flaws, but mostly in the wabi sabi spirit? For the most part, I loved it. My take away was that Trump was accurately on display as a man who has petered out .... the air went out of the Baby Trump balloon?But! let me stop there. The time for complacency is NEVER.It is not just the Democrats that Trump hates with all his bottomless bile, it is Democracy itself!\.There was a lot to love though:     * The roll call was amazing - so wonderful to jump from state to state that way     * It was great to see and hear the Obamas, right? So stern, so alert to the danger that is Trump           Michelle: Empathy: that's something I've been thinking a lot about lately.                         Sadly, this is the America that is on display for the next generation. A nation that's underperforming not simply on matters of policy but on matters of character. And                                that's not just disappointing; it's downright infuriating, because I know the goodness and the grace that is out there in households and neighborhoods all across                                       this nation.         Barack: So tonight, I want to talk as plainly as I can about the stakes in this election. Because what we do these next 76 days will echo through generations to come.We were all, of course, wondering when Joe came up to bat. Then he, for the most part, hit it out of the park. It was a triple anyway. I sat back as it went on, relaxed, and enjoyed it.Jill made me think "what the hell are we doing, wasting our time, hanging around with Melania?"I thought they handled the people from the streets: the woman who's Dad's only pre-existing condition was that he trusted Trump: the lovable stuttering kid: ...The topic of course sprawls, calls for a pre-or-post-COVID bar, and a 4 hour conversation .... My take-away: I'm optimist... Read more

]]>Sat, 22 Aug 2020 04:10:48 GMTOriginally Posted on March 27, 2017Thanks to my great grandmother, who migrated from County Cork in Ireland, to being a maid on Philadelphia's Main, Line saving until she could buy a bungalow near the seashore which she said reminded her of her girlhood on the Irish coast - I grew up spending my summers at Cape May Point. ##OurAmazingWorldIn a longer piece, I will go into the Point, how it became a world-renowned Bird Sanctuary, how they lost - and then rebuilt their dunes, there will be a steady stream.But today's post begins with this article in today's Inquirer:     http://www.philly.com/Philly/news/new_jersey/The-Jersey-Shores-best-weapon-against-beach-erosion-tiny-wisps-of-grass.htmlIt's the story of how experts and volunteers are working to rebuild the dunes and protect the land all up and down the Jersey Coast.  ##EIRecommendsThis from the article:As the beach grass grows, its roots - called rhizomes - form a weave within the sand which in turn forms a core for the dune.  The blades of the grass on top of the surface also act to trap windblown sand, allowing the dune to retain the sand and grow naturally.I have seen this first hand in Cape May Point.When I was a kid, we were free to roam the dunes. As a young teen, that became forbidden, the dues restricted. I was affronted at the time!But by now, I'm glad!The dunes at the Point are, maybe, 100 yards wide at their widest? They run for maybe a mile along the Atlantic side of the town. They are lush, gorgeous, and a delight to fellow creatures ranging from the bunny, to the Autumn passing hawks, to the Monarch Butterflies who can swarm there.A point I want to make is about the power of diversity there. The Inquirer article rightly sings the praises of the American beach grass - which is prevalent along Cape May Point's dunes, but those dunes also provide a home to scrub pine, bird-friendly poison ivy, golden rod, bay berry, beach plumb - to n... Read more

]]>Thu, 28 May 2020 01:29:46 GMTOriginally Posted on March 25, 2017We just posted Good Night & Good Luck as a Resource here.This Storyline, from IMDBIn the early 1950's, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred W. Friendly decided to take a stand and challenge McCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history.Written by Brian Washington <Sargebri@att.net>Good Night, and Good Luck provides a kind of tutorial, from an earlier era in American History, about how to confront, resist, and eventually take down a leader who deals in slander, innuendo, and a near total lack of evidence to smear his enemies and get his way.Joe McCarthy was that leader. He conducted a vicious campaign that under the guise of rooting communist influence out of American life - swept up many Americans through innuendo, association, or just trumped up charges against anyone who opposed him. These attacks were ruthless.Edward R Murrow was a journalist and later pioneer broadcast journalist. He first covered the the March 1938 Anschluss, in which Adolf Hitler engineered the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. Later he reported live from London as German bombs rained down.Murrow had become a prominent journalist for CBS News by the time this movie is set.In the movie Murrow uses McCarthy's own images and footage against him, knowing that McCarthy will attack him back.In the end, Murrow and his team use discipline, tactics, and resolve to bring down McCarthy and bring an end his reign of terror.I believe this provides a model of the kind of courage that is required to turn aspects of the current tide.#EIRecommended M... Read more

]]>Thu, 28 May 2020 01:27:03 GMTOriginally Posted on February 19, 2017Love this!About finding #CommonGround - and leveraging that to make sure that we and #OurAmazingWorld survive, and thrive.We're in!http://richardlouv.com/blog/we-need-an-nra-for-nature/#Climate #CommonGround #EIRecommends #OurAmazingWorld 

]]>Thu, 28 May 2020 01:17:59 GMTOriginally Posted on January 26, 2017America's ban on Visa's from 7 Muslim countries -     http://fortune.com/2017/01/25/donald-trump-refugees-ban-syria-muslims/Let's unpack that.First, Saudi Arabia, the host country for 911, is not on the list. Why?Since 911, no one on a Visa from the 7 countries who did make the list has been involved in a post-911 terrorist attack in the US.I feel less safe today.I think that the President has put a "strike me" sign on his back (who would stay in a Trump property, play on a Trump course going forward - are they safe?)I think he has put a "strike us" sign on the back of all Americans.___Let me make clear - I do not fear ISIS, the Taliban - any of the terrorist groups who claim to be Muslim - but leave Allah out of their worldview. I support American efforts to break them.I don't see this ban as in line with those efforts. I am willing to bet that the ban is already circulating as Memes on the ISIS recruiting sites and cells around this country & the world.#immigration #muslimban #saudiarabia

]]>Thu, 28 May 2020 01:13:59 GMTOriginally Posted on February 23, 2017Both sides are doing this, right?CNBC says that a team of retired diplomats and Putin staffers are busily compiling a seven-page “portrait” of Trump’s mental stateFormer Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov told NBC that Russian officials now worry that Trump could be viewed as too friendly to the Kremlin, which could weaken his standing among members of Congress and lessen the chance of a thaw in relations."Trump cannot come to a meeting with Putin as a loser,” Fedorov said. “He must sort out his domestic problems first."___ Like Russian nested dolls, this story just keeps spiraling to, what? #politics  #trump #World2Trump #trumprussia

]]>Thu, 28 May 2020 01:11:21 GMTOriginally Posted February 17, 2017At first I was puzzled; how when you have just had to fire your first choice for National Security Advisor to the POTUS - can you not have made sure your 2nd choice would take the job? Is 45 so rusty from his run at The Apprentice, that he had lost track of the real in-the-world logistics of making high profile selections in front of the public?Then the news started to break that Vice Admiral Harward had more concerns than just the enormous 24-hour a day time demands of the job but that he had tow other serious concerns.Hard to believe, but on is that he came to believe that he would not be able to choose his own staff.In this time when the ability to be shocked has been anesthetized, that is shocking.And, because he had no guarantees that the National Security Council — and not Trump’s political advisers — would be in charge of policy.___Still, pretty weird that this all did not work its way out before 45 made the announcement and has not mis-fired TWICE on perhaps the most crucial National Security selection he will make.___The points above are circulating widely. I took them from:http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-admiral-turns-down-us-nati…/The world is watching #NationalSecurity #politics #trump #World2Trump 

]]>Thu, 28 May 2020 01:06:37 GMTOriginally Posted on February 20, 2017#TheGrownups is becoming a thingThis from Politico today:"Cabinet secretaries — including Defense Secretary James Mattis and Tillerson, as well as Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and CIA Director Mike Pompeo — a group one GOP source called 'the grownups.'"and"In their first weeks on the job, the heads of these sometimes competitive departments and agencies are working together, fighting to staff the agencies they lead and to maximize their collective influence over an administration struggling to find stability."http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-ignoring-cabinet-235124Hope?#trump

]]>Mon, 25 May 2020 20:34:07 GMTOriginally Posted on February 14, 2017The Russians again - and the word "blackmail".Was Michael Flynn freestyling, on his own? Was Mike Pence really surprised? Did 45 want the Russians assured that sanctions would be a thing of the past when he took office, that Russia would be a favored State, and wanted his future National Security Advisor to deliver the message?There is a lot of bottom there, to get to the bottom of this.The Russians - again!#Politics #RussianInfluence #trumprussia

]]>Mon, 25 May 2020 20:12:54 GMTOriginally Posted on February 18, 2017This Twitter exchange just crossed my path:Here's Canadian Mounties greeting refugees from Somalia who walked across the border into Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS photo by Paul Chiasson pic.twitter.com/CBAiKxHSSd___back, from an older white woman from the US@CdnPress You people in Canada including PM Trudeau and Canadian Mounties are just too much. Well, you will just be sorry later on.Good luck___then, a response from Canadians, bristling at the condecension:"We've been doing this for like 149 years. We'll be ok""that's correct! We know exactly what we are doing""Canadians know, most people in the US are good and compassionate people, be proud of them"___I have made the point earlier that our immigration policy should work hand-in-hand with the health of our economy. As our immigrant workers start streaming out of the country - who is going to step up and replace them?___Observation: A record number of people were deported from the U.S. during Obama's tenure as PresidentDoes anyone think that 45 will really make us safer than we have been in the last 8 years?If you say yes, why? He has no track record, so you take him on his word?  #immigration #immigrants #politics

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