India is Changing Dramatically, But It Is Not Without Serious Growing Pains

India has been going through some incredible changes in recent years. It used to be a very traditional society. And while it remains, on many levels, a very traditional society still, it has changed in very dramatic ways.

India's cities were always huge and vastly overcrowded. But nowadays, they are really starting to be dominated by skyscrapers. They also have a cloud of smog frequently hovering over them, and have some of the worst air pollution problems in the entire world. 

The remnants of a once very strict caste system can still be seen, even if it is not quite as prominent, nor as official, as it once was. 

And this country is well on it's way to being the most heavily populated nation in the world, soon to surpass China for that distinction.

Modernization is not without it's headaches, and another area where India has seen enormous changes is with the status of women. Traditionally, women clearly had a subordinate, largely inferior status in Indian society. But that is beginning to change, as Indian women have grown more vocal on gang rapes, and other chauvinistic male practices. And the popularity of these often massive and angry protests has grown, as women have gained more support over the years.

Another area where India appears to be modernizing is with girls. Recently, I ran into this article from the fall of 2017, which explores how India's Supreme Court had decided to finally define sex with a child bride as rape in every case. This was considered a huge win for girl's rights, although it surely has received, and will continue to receive, some blowback.

Then again, nobody ever said that change and progress were easy, or would somehow be achieved without a fight.

It is good to see that India at least appears to be fighting to address past injustices, and to move towards finally addressing some of the worst abuses of traditional society there. 

Here is the link to the Global Citizen article that got me on this topic about India, and the often dramatic changes within Indian society that we here in the west are seeing from afar, and often likely do not entirely understand:

India Rules Sex With a Child Bride Is Always Rape in a Massive Win for Girls’ Rights It’s a landmark change to India’s marital rape laws.by Imogen Calderwood  OCT. 11, 2017:

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/india-child-marriage-rape-court-outlawed/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=au&utm_campaign=general-content&linkId=53500499&fbclid=IwAR3MP12hDsAZQf9CpkiUoyu4xxj_e1L4YFGr8ime6pZPbyoojapptvydh9A

Fake President Donald Trump & Fake Professional Wrestling: Tied Together & Reflections of One Another in So Many Ways

Here's the thing which, just like Donald Trump himself being a fraud, should be blatantly obvious to one and all: wrestling is not real. No 'yeah, but's" or "well, here's the thing about that" or whatever else you want to say. What is called professional wrestling here in the United States is not real. Period. End of story. 

It is entertainment. That fact is perfectly obvious, even more so than when I was a kid watching pro-wrestling every weekend, when it was still over the top, yet pales in comparison to how ludicrous and over the top today's pro-wrestling has become. Back then, it was known as the WWF - the World Wrestling Federation. But it legally had to change it's name, and so it became the WWE - World Wrestling Entertainment.

Entertainment. Not reality. Not actual drama, and not an actual competitive sport in the mold of other competitive sports. This does not have the dignity of the ideal of the Olympics, or the World Cup, or the major North American sports leagues. Those are about big money, which have corrupted the ideal, to be sure. Yet, there is a certain undeniable reality to those sports that "professional wrestling" simply does not have. This is Vince McMahon yelling and screaming, this is over the top heroes and villains giving an act to build up their rivalries (and obviously, generate revenue in so doing), and then stepping into the ring for staged, predetermined matches. Not actual, real competitive matches, in other words. If those guys actually did dish out the punishment on each other the way that it appears that they do when you watch wrestling, they would be visiting the hospital literally after every single match, and they would not be heading off to the next city for yet another match against the same opponent in another day or two or three. What they have the audience believe that they are doing would probably kill most people, or at least seriously hurt them. Pile drivers would break people's necks. Severe beatings would seriously damage someone's health, and they surely would not be wrestling again within a few days or weeks. All of the punches and surprise attacks and beatings and close lines and choking and foreign objects being used would do incredible damage, yet these wrestlers are right back at it within a few days? It does not take a genius to understand that it is not real. Hell, the wrestlers themselves have admitted to it not being real.

So how is it that so many people still seem so damn convinced that there is something more real, more substantive, to it? Why do so many people take it so seriously?

Yes, wrestlers have a point in saying that it takes athletic ability to do what they do, and yes, they definitely really get hurt. No arguments from me on any of those points. But at the end of the day, I agree with what NFL commentator Terry Bradshaw once said about former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, suggesting that he had come from "phony baloney" wrestling. Wrestling might cause serious injuries, and the athletes who participate in it are often physical specimens capable of doing many things that most ordinary people can only dream of. But that does not lend any more reality to what "professional wrestling" is, ultimately. What it is is fake. Merely entertainment, and nothing more.

It is to sports what Trump was to business, and what he now is to politics: all show and a considerable machine of hype. A kind of modern day version of smoke and mirrors, but with  rather pathetic man once you pull the curtains. Unfortunately, too few people seem to want to pull the curtains these days for what seems, to me, an obvious fraud. There is nothing sincere or even real about Trump and his public persona. Yet, his supporters refuse to believe anything but their desired belief that this man was sent to this country by God Himself, that he can almost walk on water, and that, for all intents and purposes, he can do no wrong.

Truly scary to think that some people can look at Trump and see those kinds of things, yet clearly, some people do. Or, perhaps they at least claim to, which is worse in some ways, because it is so intellectually and morally dishonest.

The mystery with wrestling last perhaps longer than it should have. There is always that sliver of doubt, and so it seemed that there was enough of a mystery that doubts about whether it was fake or not persisted. Perhaps this was reinforced by the emotional reaction by some in the wrestling profession, most notably the infamous interview by John Stossel of "Dr. D. David Shultz, who famously slapped Stossel to the ground, twice, and apparently caused some permanent hearing loss. That might have been a seemingly convincing emotional backlash, but in time, professional wrestling did concede the point of being fake. Yes, injuries happen, and some of those guys who participate have a long list of injuries and scars and such. Still, that does not make the end result any more real. At the end of the day, professional wrestling is fake, it is pre-scripted, as it would kind of have to be. It is mere entertainment, and not an actual competitive sport.

If there is a mystery with Donald Trump, then it seems that only his loyal supporters are still convinced by it. For most of us, this man is shallow as a drop of spit, and his narcissism knows no bounds. He is a megalomaniac on a scale not seen before. Like wrestling, he tries to exaggerate his own accomplishments, and to come across as being real and sincere, and producing incredible results that, at least to his supporters, are highly entertaining as well. But like with wrestling, you really only have to dig a little - if even that, because it really just is something that most people know instinctively in their gut - that this man is an absolute an complete fraud. The tragedy regarding this man is that he has always managed to master the art of scamming people. And right now, he pulled off his biggest scam ever, convincing one-third of the American voting population that he is fit for office, and can produce miracles. Most of us understand that he would sell us snake oil along with all of that, to boot. 

Some people are convinced that Trump is a real hero, much like some people are convinced that wrestling is real, despite all of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. For the most part, these people have suspended their disbelief simply because they want to. And perhaps that is okay with wrestling, to some degree. But it is not okay with actually electing someone who is supposed to be a statesman. I have continually suggested that it is a joke, but given the actual tragic results of this presidency, that does not exactly feel right. This is a crime, an insult to our nation's collective intelligence, and the most dangerous White House administration in history.

Trump wants to pass himself as a serious and legitimate president, just like wrestling tried, and perhaps to some degree still tries, to pass itself off as a real sport. But Trump is not a real president, and he is far from the "very stable genius" that he claims himself to be. And the irony is that, like wrestling trying to pass itself off as real, Trump actually discredits himself even more every time that he goes over the top in trying to convince everyone of just how much of a genius and a God-send he actually is.

And here's something else, also: it is not intelligent. So, it is not real, and not intelligent. Which makes it fitting that Donald Trump should have a bit of a background in it, since he personifies both of those "qualities."

Both enjoy a certain niche popularity, and both kind of help define a certain crass underbelly of American society, one that people who probably feel superior to it often pretended like it did not exist. Many of those people thought that the possibility of a Trump presidency was non-existent, until he actually won the 2016 election. Now, I knew that these elements - the pro-wrestling and pro-Trump crowd, and let us not pretend that many of them are one and the same - not only existed, but have tremendous influence and a certain undeniable political power in this country. Again, though, neither defines reality, as much as they would like to. In fact, they are both as far from reality as you can get. And until we as a nation begin to treat them both as the utter, over-the-top nonsense that they are, we will continue to be laughed at, with good reason, by the rest of the world. 

Mexico has an answer to the generally pro-Trump aspects of American "professional wrestling!"

This wrestling villain praises Hillary and invokes Obamacare. Meet the Progressive Liberal, who’s body-slamming his way through Trump country By JEFFREY FLEISHMAN NOV 04, 2018:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-progressive-liberal-wrestler-20181104-story.html



In Mexico, The Crowd Loves To Hate Pro Wrestler Who Plays Trump Supporter 3:57 DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT February 7, 20172:43 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered JAMES FREDRICK

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/02/07/513883586/in-mexico-the-crowd-loves-to-hate-pro-wrestler-who-plays-trump-supporter

Why is the Climate Not a Bigger Discussion By Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Thus Far?

Some people have reacted very strongly to the Democratic presidential debates from earlier this week. There were some iconic moments, with probably the biggest one being when Kamala Harris essentially put Joe Biden to shame. It was apparently so bad, that I saw one guy post something on Facebook where Kamala Harris was forcing Biden to refer to himself as Reek (I am assuming someone will get that Game of Thrones reference).

In any case, one thing that has been largely absent among the Democratic nominees heading into these debates was any serious discussion in climate change. And once again, we have to ask ourselves why that is, and how this could be. After all, it is yet one more in a long list of things that Republicans seem to control the debate over, and the Republican stance, predictably after several decades, is simply to deny that it exists or is a pressing problem that we need to address. 

This feels like another predictable concession to just how far the Republican extremists have managed to push the debate in this country. While the whole rest of the world - literally, every country but the United States - has officially acknowledged that climate change is a serious problem that needs to be addressed - we here in the United States have elected a leader who is on record as saying that he believes it is a hoax invented by the Chinese to hurt the American economy. You literally have to believe in wild conspiracy theories to believe that so many countries in the world are dishing out for expensive clean energy solutions, and that scientists are all in on this hoax, all just to hurt the American economy. Oh, and the climate change projections also happen to be going exactly as scientists predicted. That is a mighty huge job of ignoring basic facts, but the Republicans, and their brainwashed masses, seem to be completely and unquestioningly convinced. It's quite pathetic, frankly. 

No wonder the Republican party is the only major political party in the entire world that denies the existence of climate change. Yet, they dictate the conversation far too often, and that is how we now have a President who pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accord on the basis that we do not believe in science. We stand with the dubious distinction as the only nation in the world not to be a part of this accord on the basis that we reject science. 

Of course, this would not be able to happen without the complicit approval of the Democrats, who remain hesitant to go too far with any action or professed belief that climate change is as real as scientists and the rest of the world is warning, lest they be labeled extremists by some prospective political opponents, and especially by potential campaign donors.

Truly pathetic, sad days in this country.

Here is the link to an article that got me onto this topic in the first place, about the not all that mysterious absence of climate change as a major topic among the establishment Democratic candidates, who constitute a clear majority, and who only pay lip service and have token climate change platforms for what should be a much, much more pressing and urgent issues from all candidates, Democratic and Republican alike:

Florida Is Burning. The Midwest Is Flooding. Why Aren't Democrats Debating Climate? Miami hit its highest temperature ever recorded in the same week Democrats arrived for the first presidential debate. This isn't rocket science.  byKarthik Ganapathy, June 25, 2019:


https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/06/25/florida-burning-midwest-flooding-why-arent-democrats-debating-climate?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2UQ1nqUIhEMclUZYpMa0FEetbzbSwX5pRiedtsvouQ3GnH1SKkAXVJvrE

⚽️ ⚽️ France Knocked Out of World Cup That It Was Hosting ⚽️ ⚽️

Yes, it is officially over for Les Bleus.

They went up against the top team in women's football, the top-ranked and the most accomplished national team, with three World Cup championships to their name. They are favored to win a fourth this year.

France and the United States were considered the top two teams of the tournament, and it is a shame that they met as early as the quarterfinal round. Even the commentators were saying that this felt more like a final, the intensity level was so high. 

To their credit, the American women were opportunistic, and took advantage of their opportunities, even though France actually held a slight advantage in terms of possession and shots on goal. But the Americans obviously found the back of the net more often.

Megan Rapinoe got the United States up early with a goal in the 5th minute. A very tough American effort on defense managed to keep that lead and make Rapinoe's goal stand throughout the first half, and well into the second.

Rapinoe added another one in the 65th minute, putting enormous pressure on a deflated and highly frustrated French side. In fact, the Americans scored a third goal, or seemed to, but it was disallowed because of an offside. Had it stood, it would have iced the game considerably earlier.

The French side did answer, eventually. as the tallest played on the field, Wendie Renard, in the 81st minute, giving France a ray of hope.

But the American defense became solid once again, and the American women managed to ilk the clock. That combination iced it for the Americans, who made it to the semifinal round again, which they have never failed to reach before. The French women, meanwhile, had never gotten past the quarterfinal round, and they will have to wait another four years for the opportunity to get past that point in the next Women's World Cup. 

Trump Supporters Baffling Loyalty to & Adoration of Their Supreme Leader Explained

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Donald Trump, champion and avatar of the shallow state, has won power because his supporters are threatened by what they don’t understand, and what they don’t understand is almost everything. Indeed, from evolution to data about our economy to the science of vaccines to the threats we face in the world, they reject vast subjects rooted in fact in order to have reality conform to their worldviews. They don’t dig for truth; they skim the media for anything that makes them feel better about themselves. To many of them, knowledge is not a useful tool but a cunning barrier elites have created to keep power from the average man and woman. The same is true for experience, skills, and know-how. These things require time and work and study and often challenge our systems of belief. Truth is hard; shallowness is easy.

- David Rothkopf, Professor of International Relations and Political Science 

This is something that I have said for a long time, but I will say it again: I long suspected that somebody like Trump would get into power in this country. A nationalist populist who would make Americans feel more comfortable with their prejudices than they have been allowed to be in a very long time. I imagined not so much another Hitler or a similar clone, outright, as so many people seem to expect. No, not like that. More perhaps like Stephen King's villainous "leader of the people" kind of guy, Greg Stillson, from "The Dead Zone."

Yes, somebody like that. Someone who would talk and treat his supporters and prospective supporters like a friend, but who would be so self-absorbed and arrogant, that he would act against their best interests in every way, even though he would be masterful either at disguising this fact, or even in portraying these acts as in the best interests of "his"people.

So, it was not entirely a surprise that the United States voted a man very much in the mold of the fictional Greg Stillson in 2016, and that many Americans would react in very alarmed fashion, and that the signs of a clear erosion of our democracy were more evident,and even transparent, than they had ever been before.

Fairly early into the 2016 presidential elections, I posted something on "The Charbor Chronicles" that included a description of Trump, an opinion from outside of the United States, that truly best personified any other summary that I had heard or read about this man before. That would be Paul Thomas of the New Zealand Herald and, just in case you missed it, here is what he said back in 2015, well before Trump's rise to the presidency was a reality, and looked anything but a foregone conclusion:

“Trump personifies everything the rest of the world despises about America: casual racism, crass materialism, relentless self-aggrandizement, vulgarity on an epic scale. He is the Ugly American in excelsis.”

Then earlier this year, I read something about a British writer who had said some interesting and revealing things about Trump. Yes, Nate White, a comedian, had a most hilarious response to the question, "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"

Perhaps the best line from this rather lengthy piece was when White suggested that Trump was a "Jabba the Hut of privileges."

Yet, that was not all that he said about Trump. It goes on, and is fairly lengthy. It is not a quick two or three line read, like that quote from Thomas. But here are some short quotes of White's description of Trump (my personal favorite, that Trump is a "Jabba the Hut of privilege," was something that I already used in the title of this particular blog entry):

"He is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit." 

Yup. And here's White describing how the British cannot appreciate what passes as Trump's humour (had to use the British spelling):

"We like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever."

White goes on:

"He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty." 

Pretty much right on target, eh?

Then, when you keep in mind that both Australian and British comedians have done some pretty famous renditions of Trump, and that there was a gigantic balloon portraying Trump as a crying, overly privileged baby, and then you see that Trump's image was featured (negatively) in parade floats across Europe and in Asia, and that Trump was outright laughed at by world leaders assembled at the United Nations once he began to act like it was a Trump rally, and started praising himself as one of the most accomplished presidents in American history, to say nothing of other incidents that portrayed this man as a joke, and it becomes clear that he is seen as basically a joke throughout most of the rest of the world.

Just not in red state America, however, where it probably matters the most.

Keep in mind that all of this was from a foreign perspective, which contradicted Trump's own assertions that the rest of the world would respect the United States once he was in office and set things right, as he basically promised to do.

Yet one more broken promise.

If all of this is true of Trump himself - and it pretty much is - then what can we say about Trump supporters. After all, Trump the man is a terrible person, and an even worse so-called leader. That much is almost beyond dispute. However, Trump would not be in the news headlines constantly the way that he is if he did not have tens of millions of people who seem to blindly support him, no matter what he says or does, and no matter how little what he promises bears any resemblance to what he delivers.

Is there a way to more or less encapsulate them, and their apparently confused mindset?

Well, the quote at the very top, which I actually got from my mom's Facebook page, comes pretty close to doing just that.

Here, we have someone who is able to reveal what it is about Trump the man that appeals to Trump supporters, and how they refuse to believe that this one man is not everything that they hope and believe him to be, even though for the rest of us, it is blatantly obvious that he falls far short of the mark of being what he pretends to be. A very stable genius? Then why does he sound and act like a complete imbecile? Is it to serve as some kind of cover to make people underestimate him? Closer to the truth is that he really is as much of a moron as he appears to be. So, is it that he is the arbiter of truth, as he proclaims? This man lies so much, that even political allies acknowledge that he plays fast and loose with the truth. As for his campaign promises, he never delivered on some key promises, such as forcing Mexico to pay for the wall, or defeating ISIS within one month, or creating a healthcare system that would be cheaper and more affordable for everyone, and which would cover everyone. None of that came to pass, and neither did that forced respect from the rest of the world that he promised, and which I made mention of earlier.

So, what the hell is it about him that his supporters just love so much? Is it really just that he manages to piss off liberals so much, and they love it so much when he does that? Has the standard of a so-called leader sunk so low, that pissing people off is the mark of a successful presidency? Really?

Well, David Rothkopf, the author of the article on foreign policy from which I took the above used quote about Trump supporters, has some fairly deep analysis about what it is, precisely, that makes Trump supporters so sure of themselves, and of their man. When you see Trump supporters, they blindly support their man come what may. He infamously once suggested during the campaign that he could shoot someone in the streets of New York City during broad daylight, and still not lose any support. The sad truth is that he was probably right. There has been so much buffoonery and predictably disgusting behavior and actions, and yet they love him and refuse to yield an inch to those of us who try and argue that this man is nowhere near as great as they think, much less as great as he himself proclaims to be. They just keep on giving their unconditional support, and the country keeps growing less democratic, and is viewed by the rest of the world as a greater threat than it has ever really been regarded as before.

Here is the fuller quote, which is actually only a part of the overall article that he has written on what he refers to as "the shallow state." That seems as appropriate a label for the government under President Trump as I have heard, frankly. Here is the quote:

The shallow state, on the other hand, is unsettling because not only are the signs of it ever more visible but because its influence is clearly growing. It is made scarier still because it not only actively eschews experience, knowledge, relationships, insight, craft, special skills, tradition, and shared values but because it celebrates its ignorance of and disdain for those things. Donald Trump, champion and avatar of the shallow state, has won power because his supporters are threatened by what they don’t understand, and what they don’t understand is almost everything. Indeed, from evolution to data about our economy to the science of vaccines to the threats we face in the world, they reject vast subjects rooted in fact in order to have reality conform to their worldviews. They don’t dig for truth; they skim the media for anything that makes them feel better about themselves. To many of them, knowledge is not a useful tool but a cunning barrier elites have created to keep power from the average man and woman. The same is true for experience, skills, and know-how. These things require time and work and study and often challenge our systems of belief. Truth is hard; shallowness is easy.

This, to me, feel quite a bit like the truth. What Trump supporters clearly seem keen on avoiding is too much nuance. They seem to want easy answers to what are actually very complex questions, and my own belief is that what attracted them to Donald Trump in the first place is the self-assured, easy and convenient answers to what ails the country. Trump was masterful at incorporating grains of truth to fit into what is either his worldview, or if not his worldview, then the worldview of the majority of his most enthusiastic supporters. One example of this would be suggesting that the system is rigged, which it is. But to portray himself as a victim of this system, when he is, in fact, a poster child of the very privileges and false sense of entitlement that the major beneficiaries of this rigged system have become, is more than a little disingenuous. Again, it seems to blatantly obvious that this man is a pampered jackass and megalomaniac, who's narcissism has truly reached epic proportions, that it makes most people wonder how so many people seem to have missed this glaringly obvious fact about him.

Please do yourself a favor and read this article. This is very important, and he raises many interesting points, even beyond this one part about Trump supporters, and their desire for superficially easy answers to the complexities of a world that, it often feels, is spinning out of control. Please click on the link below and give Mr. Rothkopf's article a look:

The Shallow State Forget the conspiracy theories. Something much more dangerous is seeking to gut our government and change the character of our society. By David Rothkopf | February 22, 2017:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/22/the-shallow-state-trump/

France Gets Distinction as First Country to Ban All of the Deadliest Pesticides Linked to Bee Deaths

Einstein once famously said that human beings would disappear from the face of the Earth four years after bees went extinct. 

Well, that was a long time ago. And I am not convinced that this was only about bees. There are plenty of species out there that, if they were to go extinct, would eventually seriously affect us. After all, even if we cannot make the immediate connections to them and our own survival, there definitely has to be an impact, and it is likely to be much more important than we initially recognized. That always seems to be the way that we do things.

In recent years, we began to notice that bee populations seemed to be disappearing. This was alarming, as people remembered that quote by Einstein. But nobody seemed to be certain about what, specifically, was causing it. But there was widespread suspicion that it was related to pesticides, which, when you think about it, makes sense. 

Nothing happened in some, perhaps even most countries. After all, in a country where climate-denying politicians keep getting elected, like in the United States, you cannot expect anything like this to be taken seriously.

Yet, it was taken seriously elsewhere, particularly in Europe. Action was taken, and legislation was passed to ban some of the pesticides believed to be killing the bees. And France, in particular, is going a bit farther still, outright attempting to ban all such pesticides:

In May 2018 the EU banned three of the significant pesticides implicated in the collapse of bee populations. Clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam are now prohibited for use on crops.

However France has gone a step further and set the high bar in the effort to save the bees. Given the importance of pollinators to nature and the survival of the biosphere, this could not happen too soon!

So, while that makes me proud as a dual citizen of France and the United States, it should be noted that this was not static. It did not simply happen to be France, of all countries, that took this action. Read this:

There is a reason why France is ahead of the field in this regard: The “bee killing” pesticides were tested first on French fields in the 1990’s – and the French farmers witnessed first-hand the catastrophic effects that occurred in 1994; describing “a carpet of dead bees”. 400,000 bee colonies died within days – yet the story was buried under a layer of corruption and distorted science.

So, this came at a cost. But I still am glad that France is taking this step, as it shows that we can indeed accept our past mistakes and faulty thinking, and come to terms with it and, most importantly, at least try to take some corrective measures to at least address, if not outright fix, some past mistakes. It sometimes feels to me that the United States, by contrast, sticks doggedly on a collective basis to this silly notion that it never made mistakes, and thus has no problems to fix. We all make mistakes, and the key, after falling, is to get and keep fighting, not to give up or pretend that there is no problem. In this case, France made a big mistake in ignoring this story in the mid-nineties, but it is now, finally, doing something about it. For that, I applaud this action by France, and wish that Americans could take some hints from this, and other actions by other countries in at least trying to confront our detrimental impact on this planet head-on, and try, at least, to minimize the damage. 

Below is the link to the article that I got this story from, and from which I obtained all of the quotes used above:

France Becomes The First Country To Ban All Five Pesticides Linked To Bee Deaths

http://www.herbs-info.com/blog/france-becomes-the-first-country-to-ban-all-five-pesticides-linked-to-bee-deaths/?i=rd&fbclid=IwAR3ubDjo8qyck8v2qB3lT6jZ768f16MJmmEl_vtt7aMg54B9GldjG3C_Hcg

Trump & the Uniquely American Addiction to Entertainment Now Literally Threatening the World

Image courtesy of mccauleys-corner Flickr page - Tump.Flag: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mccauleys-corner/32411091426/in/photolist-Ro4ji9-RRxBWN-VUVmHe-SQ4sfx-SwEKQS-SGN2w1-Sz6faX-W8um93-PJAfwL-UXsmdk-VW5eh7-VZnxLi-X8Y2Do-SMCacY-2eSQ5Vj-RKShTx-SGMZaC-SL3a2b-21TRfWN-SZPRER-ThwnZP-5sXtyY-Tfbdgy-5sT5hx-5sT6qF-UXpj7H-S8nHmo-5sXtgC-SqCXJm-5sXuiE-5sXv9h-5sT4PR-STZ6ZA-21TQC5w-5sXsYo-2echE2r-21RK7do-H16JjR-SPh9ys-YkNMHL-23SnuLM-21RJXay-St5vGB-St5934-Sq1Yjd-2cNo4Q8-SMCuKA-SLoAKt-24kX64Z-RJRWTE

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After Trump was elected, and before I decided that trying to talk to the vast majority of Trump supporters was a complete and utter waste of time, I took to asking them what, specifically, they liked about this man. Almost everyone would blast either Hillary or Obama, but I would try and rein that nonsense in, and get them back on point. No, no, that's now what I asked. What is it about this man that you like so much?

That was a tough question to answer. Some of the answers? One guy actually agreed that Trump was a bully, but said that this was what he liked about him. Another said that Trump had done what he said, had kept his promises. I asked him if he remembered some of Trump's key promises during the campaign, such as making Mexico pay for that wall, or defeating ISIS within one month of being in office, or promising to drain the swamp, or completely get rid of Obamacare and create a system where everyone was covered.

Things like that. You know, campaign promises that he made. Had he delivered on them? The answer was that his presidency was not over, and that he would fulfill them. Once again, someone who believed that this man should be taken seriously, but not literally.

It is going on three years into this ridiculous and laughable presidency, and none of those promises seem any neared to being fulfilled.

By and large, those were the most substantive responses that I got. Some suggested that they simply had loathed the Obama years and/or could not bring themselves to voting for Hillary. So, Trump it was.

But when I pressed, and said what was it about Trump that they liked enough to vote for him, and in the case of his more enthusiastic supporters, what was it that they liked about this man in particular, the response was often annoyed. The more I probed and explored why some of these people specifically had supported Trump, and not what they did not like about Hillary or Obama, the more annoyed these people got. It almost seemed like, to a one, they could not come up with anything about this man that they actually really liked and appreciated.

Yet, there was one answer that I got, and repeatedly. Most of them felt that he had entertainment value. Most of them - but by no means all of them - kind of rushed to beat the inevitable retort by that point, usually racing to say that this was not, of course, the only reason that they had voted for him. But they would usually word it as "at least he will be entertaining."

Now, I will be honest: there was not one time that I can recall, either before he won the presidency, or since, that I found this man to be entertaining. Perhaps my idea of entertainment differs than most, but I never found this overgrown child with a false sense of entitlement to be entertaining. He was not funny, and the only sense of humor that he had seemed to be when he was insulting people, and that usually was unintentional, because he was actually serious about his ranting and raving. Of course, when you turned the table on him to check if he could take it like he could dish it, he typically melted down like a spoiled little child, and then unleashed even fiercer, mean-spirited tweets. If that is what passes for entertainment, then I guess you could make the argument that he is entertaining. That, and presumably, some of the off the cuff things that he says, maybe. Perhaps some of these people are not so much embarrassed, as entertained, when he refers to literally dozens of other countries as "shithole nations." Or when he seems unable to criticize white supremacists and outright Nazis. Or when he threatens to wipe another nation from the face of the Earth. Or when he gets laughed at, quite literally, before assembled world leaders at the United Nations after boasting that he is the most accomplished president in American history. Or any of the hundreds of other instances where this man made international headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

Yup. This is what you get when you elect someone based on how "entertaining" he is. 

And the problem is this: he seems completely unfazed by it. There literally seems to be no shame for this man. He says and does countless idiotic things that most - almost everyone else - would be completely humiliated by, but he gets busy with the next such instance. He lies, he says stupid things, and time and again, nothing happens. People get disgusted for a while, and then it is on to the next outrageous thing that he says or does. Some people get angry at specific things, and some people are disgusted at pretty much everything this man does and represents.  

One thing is certain, however: this man will continue doing exactly what he has been doing from the beginning. If this is entertainment, then we are all forced to watch this stupid program again and again, whether we like it or not.  And even many of his staunch supporters are, at best, only luke warm about his tweets. But absurd as those tweets are, they keep coming, fast and furious and utterly ridiculous. 

All of this does not speak well about the mindset of Americans, political or otherwise. We collectively seem to have mistaken entertainment as somehow encompassing everything. So short have our collective attention span gotten, that we need everything to be packaged as "entertainment," or else we cannot be bothered to pay it any mind. Probably, I am guessing that accounts for much of the skepticism around climate change. Who wants to hear that the way that we have been living is irresponsible, and that if we continue, we will actually literally wipe out life as we know it? What fun is that? Who wants to hear that the income gap between wealthy and poor has never been greater than it is now, and that it actually resembles the gap seen in France just before the revolution? Or that we have more people behind bars than any other country in the world, and it is not even close? Or that we spend more on healthcare than any other country in the world, and we get less out of it than any other industrialized nation, thus underscoring just how badly this system is failing us? Or that the costs of college education just keep spiraling out of control and, once again, are far more than they are in any other country? Or that we spend more on military expenditures than the next ten leading countries combined, which seems to confirm that we have given into the the very same military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about? Or that we have grown to be distrusted, and in many cases outright hated, in much of the rest of the world?

Who wants to hear those things? Things like that are just bummers, man. 

Let's elect Trump instead! He's entertaining, right?

More "entertainment" from this unhinged president today. Of course.

We have all seen the ridiculous back and forth between him and Iran. Hell, we can hardly ignore it, as it has become the latest thing to dominate the headlines. Trump and his administration took a hard stance, with the fake president suggesting that an actual war would result in the official end of Iran. Then he blasted the Iran Nuclear Deal, and demanded a better deal. Iran matched his bet and raised him, suggesting that they were pursuing certain things that would enable them to develop nuclear weapons. It seemed that the Trump administration was divided, with some hawks favoring war, while others - most notably apparently Trump himself - not too enthusiastic about the prospects of a war - being much less certain. Apparently, a military strike was ordered, and it was Trump himself who backed out of it, perhaps remembering one campaign promise that his supporters tended to really take seriously: not getting involved in more wars in the Middle East. Iran insulted the United States and it's president again, and the Nuclear Deal seemed dead. Indeed, Iran was apparently pursuing nuclear weapons. Trump said that this could not happen, and then imposed very strict economic sanctions, but offered them an olive branch of sorts, saying that he was always open to meet with them, much like he did with the leader of North Korea. Iran responded that there would be absolutely no negotiating with the Trump administration, and they went as far as to suggested that Trump had "mental retardation."

Obviously, things had sunk very low. 

Not low enough for the ratings, however. And the man who always is concerned about his own ratings could not help himself: he needed to one up the Iranians. Of course he did. He clearly felt personally insulted, and is now apparently willing to risk a huge war to vent his frustrations, just like world leaders centuries ago used to do.

Mr Trump tweeted earlier this morning:

"Iran’s very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality. Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!"

So, if this leads to war, surely his supporters will finally have reservations about this huckster, and see him as the fraud that he is, right?

Whoa there! Not so fast! There are things that clearly matter to them, that they rail against, and scream about how much they hate them, until someone that they like is in office. Suddenly, they grow very quiet about these very same things. When Obama borrowed money to get the country out of a financial crisis early in his presidency, they cried foul that he added trillions to the national debt. Now well out of any crisis, they remain dead silent when Trump adds three trillion dollars to our national debt in less than three years in the White House. When Obama cannot come close to balancing the budget, they yell and scream bloody murder. When Trump fails to do this, and actually greatly inflates the budget, no real problems emerge. When Obama works on a national healthcare plan that will at least curb the worst excesses of the system, there is bloody outrage, and some people slapped Hitler mustaches on images of Obama. When Trump brings back those horrific excesses, they seem fine with it. When Obama uses executive actions, he is the next Stalin or Hitler. When Trump does it, crickets. When Obama attacks Libya, there is incredible outrage. Bengazi! When Trump attacks Syria, and threatens to wipe out North Korea and/or Iran? You guessed it. No criticism.

So, are we headed to war against Iran? 

Maybe, maybe not. Look at another thing that Trump recently stated, and see if you can get a clear message from it:

“I’m not looking for war and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that."

What does that mean? He does not want a war. But if there is a war, baby, he's all in, and he does not care about how destructive it is, or how this might seem to portray him as a monster to much of the world. In other words, he wants peace, but if he cannot have peace, then he will unleash a rain of destruction unlike anything seen before. 

Got it?

What about other countries? What about the European nations who have tried to hold the fragile Iran Nuclear deal together? Trump is quite clear on that, too:

“I don’t care about the Europeans,” he said. “The Europeans are going out and making a lot of money … In France, they’re selling cars to Iran. They’re doing other things.

"And let me tell you, we’re very good to Europe. We take care of them. NATO, we spend a tremendous amount ... On trade, the European Union’s taken, really, they have really taken advantage of us for a long time.”

In other words, some typical messages. Of all of the things, including the inconsistencies and incoherent, often conflicting messages, Trump has remained on point about certain things: thank God for the United States. And especially thank God for Donald Trump. 

Right.

But back to his supporters. Are they getting a bit annoyed with all of this talk about a possible war? And what about Trump's own assertion that, if it comes to it, this war will be more destructive than anything we have ever seen before?

Personally, I would not count on any kind of backlash. After all, a recent Newsweek article revealed that fully one-third of Americans would support a nuclear war with North Korea. Of course, a nuclear war with North Korea would surely force a response from neighboring China, which then would very likely spur World War III, the very same World War III that Trump detractors feared as a worst case scenario. And his supporters allegedly are dead set against another war, right? Yet, they support an outright nuclear war with North Korea. And that one-third of Americans more or less corresponds with the percentage of Trump supporters in the country, doesn't it?

That one-third of Americans were not overly concerned when asked if it meant that one million North Koreans would die. Do you think they will suddenly care if you replace North Korea, and North Koreans, with Iran, and Iranians? My guess is that it would not. Just more American wars in places that most Americans cannot properly pronounce the names of, and which most Americans could not point to on an unlabeled world map.

You might think that this would be disqualifying for them to chime in. But then again, they brought us Donald Trump, and he is in the White House. And he is threatening exactly this kind of a war. And I would be willing to bet that his supporters will not waver.

We are literally almost playing with fire at this point, and we have a childish and unhinged so-called leader literally calling the shots. 

In the United States today, we have a White House that is grabbing more and more power, stomping on the constitution in the process. Yes, the same constitution that his supporters claim to love when it comes to the second amendment. We have built concentration camps again, and we are separating children from their families in these camps. Some children have died in these camps. Yet his supporters will always find the "but" when confronted with this, claiming that they are "illegals." This president does not want a war, but threatens the deadliest war possible if Iran continues to insult him, basically. Oh, and he does not care what Europeans, or anyone else, thinks or has to say about it.

Then, of course we wonder why so much of the world distrusts us, and much of the rest of the world is beginning to hate us, right? 

Are you not entertained?

Trump threatens ‘ignorant and insulting’ Iran with ‘obliteration’ by ‘most powerful military force in world’ 'Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force,' president tweets  Chris Riotta New York  @chrisriotta 1 hour ago

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-twitter-war-attack-sanctions-rouhani-response-latest-news-a8974201.html?fbclid=IwAR1GDDVLB4k5Z8ts-m9VP3rAS_WtjWRgU6Ut0wvZ4vGtS7cicn8A4LUTBJE

Trump says 'I don't care about the Europeans' after questions on Iran crisis 'I have so many targets you wouldn’t believe,’ president warns Tehran in new interview  Adam Forrest, June 24, 2019:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-crisis-drone-europeans-nbc-interview-a8971141.html




ONE-THIRD OF U.S. SUPPORTS NUCLEAR WAR ON NORTH KOREA, KNOWING IT WOULD KILL ONE MILLION, REPORT SHOWS BY TOM O'CONNOR ON 6/24/19:

https://www.newsweek.com/us-support-north-korea-nuclear-war-one-million-dead-1445578?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=NewsweekTwitter&fbclid=IwAR0zdIi3D0pLeM6i8hMzsHt8nJ0UmW31Je0fhUHeSPnHQimEmxnUaUrH76w

⚜ ⚜ ⚜ Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day / La Fête nationale in Québec ⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Photo courtesy of Kyle MacDonald - Quebec_flag: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemacdonald/66650789/in/photolist-6TAXx-6PByUt-o8KnGq-4qPhBC-5ayiie-dCfaHU-4YWgTR-6PBuWD-6PBv3k-8874k4-36C9nK-4Z1xFE-7VsSSh-5CVqmf-qnS9jk-3nYz4N-5uNoVP-8bGnfH-cqskgq-5pjedd-dfMmsL-4UK1Et-9t8Dvq-6ZxwKV-brZuEu-6zaCBc-5iPhim-9Qpwe1-4q3mX4-5Crg5U-3Da8ic-4sAr6C-8f6xSg-5hF28N-6BXydy-5huVVF-wwDQK-fwsa8H-5H9Tr5-5aCvVE-5ayg9T-5aCvBs-6Qskwq-cGmdvJ-4zYTWw-bDn7n-4qLneS-3bx179-ajGUD1-8acMDC
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Today, June 24th, is Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, which is celebrated in certain parts of French Canada, particularly in Québec. It is the feast day honoring St. John the Baptist. He was the Jewish preacher who baptized Jesus.

It is know as La fête nationale in Québec province, having been given a nationalistic flavor. For pro-independent nationalists, it is almost equivalent to Independence Day (the 4th of July) in the United States. It has become an expression of francophone pride, often taking the form of flag waving, much like in the United States. For many Québecois, it is essentially their answer to the Canada Day festivities a week later, on July 1st. For other French Canadians who want to remain part of greater Canada, it is still a holiday to be enjoyed. Businesses are closed and people are off from work, much like the rest of Canada on Canada Day, or like Americans on Independence Day. It is a day of barbecue and parades and public shows of patriotism, perhaps concerts or other festivities, all ending with a grand fireworks show at night.

I was blessed to be in Québec City once for this holiday, and it was very exciting! This was back in 2008, when that city was celebrating it's 400th anniversary. It was incredibly crowded, and we had our very young son with us. He was not yet three years old, and the crowds were a bit too much (which was the main reason that I would not fight hard to get a good spot at the Paul McCartney concert that he gave in Québec City to honor it's 400th anniversary a little less than a month later.

To any Québecois and other French Canadians out there who celebrate the holiday, enjoy this Saint-Jean Baptiste Day/ Fête de la St Jean-Baptiste/ bonne fête nationale!

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⚽️ ⚽️ France Outlasts Tough Brazilian Side to Advance to Quarterfinals ⚽️ ⚽️

When you think of football/soccer, there is one country that stands out more than any other nation in the sport, in terms of the accomplishments of the national team, as well as the individual players.  

France Outlasts Tough Brazilian Side to Advance to Quarterfinals           

The host nation, France, was widely considered the favorites to defeat the Brazilians in this first elimination round game for both squads.           

However, Brazil played a very physical, tough game, and it was clear that their strategy was basically to slow the game down, and effectively kills whatever momentum the more talented French side could muster.           

The result was a slow-paced contest, and an uncertain outcome. While most expected that France was the better team and that they would go on to win the game, it seemed that opportunities were few and far between.           

France actually scored a goal that was disallowed. French forward Valérie Gauvin and Brazilian keeper Bárbara raced towards the ball in the 24th minute, and Gauvin was able to beat her and get the ball to the back of the net. But after reviewing it, the refs decided to call it a no goal, and the game went back to 0-0. Obviously, that was a disappointing result for France.           

However, they did recover, and she was able to get another opportunity. It was Valérie Gauvin again who got another chance in the 52nd minute, and she punched it through to finally give France the goal that it felt it should have had half an hour earlier. This time, the goal counted, and France was up, 1-0. It showed real character to overcome that initial disappointment and stay with it.       

Yet, Brazil was resilient and opportunistic throughout this game, and they did manage to respond. Brazil’s Thaisa Moreno tied it in the 64th minute. That meant that the two sides were tied up at 1-1.

And then the game became stalemate. Clearly, this was not going to be a lopsided win for either team. France played tough defensively, even though Brazil had some opportunities. Quite possibly, they had the better opportunities.           

The game went to overtime, and very late in the first overtime, Brazil almost took an important lead with a near goal by Debinha in the final minute of the first session of extra time (the 104th minute). She actually had French keeper Sarah Bouhaddi beaten, but absolutely brilliant defending Griedge Mbock Bathy prevented the otherwise sure goal. It was a brilliant save to avoid what would otherwise have been a huge goal that might have completely altered the momentum in the game. It very well might have saved France from what would have been a shocking and, frankly, very disappointing early exit. 

After that, France finally took advantage of one brilliant opportunity. Captain Amandine Henry scored what turned out to be the game-winner in the 107th minute. She knocked it in, and just like that, France was back up, 2-1. France actually had a couple of good chances after that to put the thing on ice, but none of them quite went in.           

Brazil began to focus a lot less on defense, and much more on offense. But the French defense, which had been stellar for most of the game, held up. They made the lead stand, and the French side was able to stall and kill time enough for the window of opportunity to finally close on Brazil, once and for all.

Some of the Brazilian players sank down to the ground in crushing disappointment, sensing that this was a huge opportunity missed to knock out a heavy favorite, as well as the host nation. Clearly, they had a chance to pull off what would have been a truly huge win.

There are revealing statistics that show just how close this game was. The possession was split evenly between the two sides at 50/50. But in some ways, the French side enjoyed decisive advantages that likely underscored why they managed to win. France had nine goal attempts, to merely three for Brazil.  There were 18 fouls by Brazil, to only 8 by the French. It was a very physical game, and Brazil took chances in playing physically, almost to a fault, at times. It clearly slowed France down.

Brazil is an older team, and they were not expected to be able to keep up with the fresher legs of France. They did everything that they had to in order to give themselves a chance, and for that, they deserve credit. But France, also to their credit, remained patient. It was a frustrating game, one in which they clearly did not shine as brightly as most people believed they were capable of. Still, they hung in there, and in the end, they managed to pull off an important win that keeps them in the tournament. Tougher challenges may lay ahead, but this was a win when they were not playing at their best, and allows them to remain in a tournament that they are hosting, and which expectations for them remain high. It should help boost their confidence, and it is a testament to their demeanor to have kept their cool while constantly being smothered and fouled by the Brazilian team. A solid win, and one which France deserved, even if it did not come as easily or as convincingly as so many people seemed to believe that France would be able to achieve on this day.       

Yes, Brazil managed to keep within reach until the end, but ultimately, France manages to survive, at least until the next round. They now await the winner of the United States and Spain, which will take place later on today.           

In the other elimination round game yesterday, England defeated Ghana, 3-0, but the results were largely overshadowed by a reaction from Cameroon's players and the coach which many have been highly critical of, and many have suggested was very unsportsmanlike. Alexi Lalas pointed out some of these excesses, which included meetings on the field that actually delayed the game, spitting on an opponent, yelling at injured opponents, an unintentional elbow to the face, and a couple of penalties that Cameroon actually got away with which Lalas suggested could "easily have been red cards."

Here is his take on the game:

In a postgame interview with FOX Sports, England’s coach Phil Neville actually talked more about that, then about anything that happened on the field. He talked about the bigger picture, and suggested that his team had handled the adverse situation quite well. He was disappointed that this behavior overshadowed his team’s effort.           

Video shows many of the players freaking out and reacting in a very emotional manner. It should be noted that one of Cameroons goals was disallowed, even though it appears to  many that it was indeed a legitimate goal, and that Cameroon may have been robbed. It is unfortunate, although the reaction was quite excessive and unjustified. 

⚽️ ⚽️ France & Brazil Set to Square Off in 1st Round Elimination Game ⚽️ ⚽️

When you think of football/soccer, there is one country that stands out more than any other nation in the sport, in terms of the accomplishments of the national team, as well as the individual players.  

That country is Brazil. The stars that have donned the gold jerseys and blue shorts, and have led the national team to some considerable success – often championship success at the highest levels – almost feel synonymous with the greatest legends that the sport has ever known. Pelé. Garrincha. Ronaldo. Zico. Sócrates. Romário. Neymar.              

Quite a few of those names featured prominently in some of Brazil’s most impressive World Cup runs, which includes seven appearances in the final, and five world championships. Pelé himself was the biggest and most readily identifiable star during the greatest era of Brazilian football, when the national team won three World Cup titles out of the four that were played during a 12-year span.              

Besides those glory years from 1958 through 1970, with the brilliance of their play, led by Pelé, Brazil has enjoyed top-level success at other points, as well. They were widely expected to win in 1950, the first time that Brazil hosted the World Cup tournament, although they were stunned by neighboring Uruguay in the final, a loss that still stings to this day. They made it to the semifinal round numerous other times as well, including the last time that they hosted, in 2014, when they were again embarrassed before their home crowd in a 7-1 drubbing by eventual champions Germany, and then lost the third place consolation game convincingly as well, 3-0 to Netherlands.              

However, Brazil went to three straight World Cup finals, from 1994 to 2002. They won it all in 1994 in the United States, and won it all again in 2002, defeating Germany in the final.              

In between those two, however, Brazil was soundly beaten by France in the final at the Stade de France in St. Denis, a suburb just outside of Paris, and within easy walking distance of the capital. Yes, Brazil made it to the final, and were generally considered the favorites to defeat France. But they lost convincingly, as France blanked Brazil and dominated them en route to a 3-0 win.

Nor was that the first time, nor the last time, that France knocked Brazil out of the biggest sports tournament. They had managed to hold Brazil off in a 1986 in the 1986 quarterfinal, handing Brazil a defeat by winning 4-3 on penalty kicks after the two teams fought to a 1-1 tie during play.

And in 2006, eight years after France had knocked Brazil out for their first ever World Cup title, thee French side again blanked Brazil in the quarterfinals, as France would go on to win, 1-0, en route to a second ever World Cup final appearance (although this time they fell just short against Italy).

So, France has a surprisingly rich history against Brazil, despite Brazil being the historically dominant national team in the sport. 

Later today, France and Brazil meet again, although this time, it will be different. It will be the French women's side versus the Brazilian women. While the men's national teams of the two countries have been to a combined ten World Cup finals, and have won seven world titles between them, both of the women's sides for these two nations have yet to win it all. The Brazilians came the closest, making it to the final in 2007, but ultimately losing to Germany.

The French women, historically, enjoyed their best tournament in 2011, pacing fourth overall.

It should be another interesting meeting between these two nations in the most popular sport in the world. Yet, the women should add a very different dimension to what may be shaping up to be an interesting, and perhaps unpredictable, rivalry between the two nations in this biggest of all sports.

I will go ahead and make this prediction: the French side will find a way to defeat the Brazilians and advance as the hosts in this tournament. 

Brown Snake Encounter During Saturday Morning Hiking

I cannot remember ever having seen a large brown snake in the wilderness of New Jersey before today's hike.

Yet,  that was what my son and I encountered earlier today while hiking.

In fact,  I almost stepped on it.  Not paying close enough attention to where I was walking,  it suddenly seemed like the stick next to my foot moved.  I instinctively moved away,  and saw a large (large for this part of the country,  anyway) brown snake raising it's head as if to strike.

Here are some pictures of our memorable experience:

Alabama Governor Signs Law Allowing Churches to Have Their Own Police Force

Alabama 
You got the weight on your shoulders 
That's breaking your back 
Your Cadillac 
Has got a wheel in the ditch 
And a wheel on the track  

Oh, Alabama 
Can I see you and shake your hand? 
Make friends down in Alabama 
I'm from a new land 
I come to you and see all this ruin 
What are you doing, Alabama? 
You got the rest of the Union 
To help you along 
What's going wrong?

- Neil Young, 1971

In recent months, we have begun to see the fuller effects of years, and even decades, of politicians being able to select their voters, rather than the other way around, through that uniquely American political invention known as gerrymandering.

We have some red states that are passing incredibly invasive, and some have suggested racist, anti-immigration laws, such as the one that Arizona first passed (quickly followed by other states, including Alabama, of course) some years ago.

Then, more recently, we had a number of states, again including Alabama, pass brand new, very restrictive anti-abortion laws. Some states, once again including Alabama, do not even make an exception for victims of rape. Missouri closed all of their abortion clinics, although they claimed that it was not an anti-abortion measure, but that it was based on concern for the health of the woman. 

Yeah, right. Sure.

Most of the other hard red states that passed sweeping anti-abortion laws were content  - for now - to close almost all of their clinics, and to make abortion very, very difficult, even nary impossible, to obtain within their state borders.

And now, instead of merely being content to follow the crowd of other states towards backward, repressive laws and policies that show that the old days of Jim Crow might not be as dead as they had once appeared to be in the Deep South, Alabama's governor just signed into law yet another jaw-dropping bill. This one allows a church to have it's own police force.

Yes, apparently everyone is encouraged to accept Jesus into their lives, but the Republican Jesus police are there to make sure that only the most desirable people get in for the privilege. 

The Barack Obama President Facebook Page (not from the real Barack Obama, I do not believe) , responded with this:

I wonder where her Klan hood is? The South should have been allowed to secede. We could have walled it off.

Ah, Alabama. What a state! The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Stay classy, Alabama.

Alabama governor signs law allowing church to have its own police force  Owen Daugherty, June 21, 2019:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/alabama-governor-signs-law-allowing-church-to-have-its-own-police-force/ar-AADbRd6?ocid=spartanntp&fbclid=IwAR12BtsMg7aHdAdSeIELtaBWdWA7PWTlB2zpjQgWPqc5UUiH88Y8L0r5rWk