Diverse Unity

The United States of America began marching in the opposite direction yesterday from the past four years. From South to North, from Florida to Delaware! Trump’s efforts to fan the Confederate embers of the Civil War are being extinguished as he returns to hopefully private life perhaps behind bars (Lock Him Up!)

The Biden-Harris administration took power yesterday by emphasizing diversity to represent all Americans as well as coming together in unity. Leaving not minute to waste, President Biden signed 15 Executive Orders (see AP) including fighting the pandemic, ending construction on the Border Wall and Keystone oil pipeline, and rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO). When he gave the oath of office to over 1000 political appointees, President Biden insisted they must treat everyone with decency and respect or be fired on the spot, no if’s, and’s, or buts! As a federal scientist working in the Trump Administration for over one year, that would have been great to feel the President had our back instead of bullying us for corrupt loyalty and suppressing scientific inquiry.

What an amazing turnaround! Vice President Harris, the first woman to become VP fulfilled her duties as President of the Senate to swear in three new Democratic Senators, all three with diverse backgrounds. Now the Senate is divided 50-50 for Democrats and Republicans with Harris providing the tie breaking vote. Can these diverse ideas move forward to make progress that will save America?

What a feeling of relief after the past two months of watching Trump and his supporters spread the Big Lie that he did not lose the election (“Stop the Steal”) which escalated to the explosive, white supremist mob breaking into the Capitol trying to disrupt election certification. The fear of more uprisings resulted in 25,000 National Guards in D.C for the inauguration! I’ve been in a state of shock and vulnerability not felt since 9-11 when I worked in the D.C. metro area witnessing first hand the tragic events by supporting the federal responses to terrorism. I will never understand how 74 million Americans (47%) voted in 2020 for continuing Trump’s delusionary dismantling government institutions, human rights, and environmental protections. If they are so disappointed with the loss of a dictator, maybe they should move to Russia.

Before we can have unity there needs to be accountability for anyone who instigated insurrection to overthrow our democratic government. It’s Time to Heal which requires purging the poison of lies and corruption in all areas of public and private life. We need diversity of cultures, ethnicities and ideas based on scientific evidence and respect for spiritual beliefs. We can all make a difference in the world by making positive changes and demanding honesty and transparency. The past three presidents discussed the peaceful transition of power that defines our democracy!

Joyful expressions of diverse unity came through amazing performances of poetry and music. Here are three that touched our hearts:

Amanda Gorman The Hill We Climb

Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard Undivided

Bruce Springsteen Land of Hope and Dreams

Vote and Yell If You Can for America to Survive!

Not only are Republicans and Democrats sharply divided, our American republic and democratic systems are in crisis. In theory, we are a republic by democratically electing officials who represent our views and vote for us on legislation. Being able to freely cast ballots is fundamental to our system. Will the great American experiment survive or implode as is being witnessed in several primary elections?

The reality TV star President, previously famous for casinos and “The Apprentice: You're Fired!” who presides over massive unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, protests against police brutality and stoking the flames of race wars, is creating a Fall Blockbuster Special like the world has never seen before! Much more needs to be revealed about the bogus Russian-backed 2016 election but for now we need to proactively have our eyes wide open for November 2020.

Wisconsin forcing people to vote on April 7 during the Covid-19 pandemic caused voters and poll workers to put their lives in jeopardy. The Center for American Progress.org states:

“Only six states—California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Utah, and Washington—have infrastructure capabilities and critical election policies, such as no-excuse absentee voting, online and same-day registration, and early voting, that leave them well-positioned to respond to COVID-19. Another three states—Arizona, Montana, and Oregon—are also relatively well-situated for conducting elections during the pandemic, as they have most of the necessary policies and infrastructure to support mass reliance on vote by mail.”

The voting process in America is in turmoil due to lack of preparation of voting options. According to Politico, the Republican National Party is suing the California Democratic Governor for trying to require vote by mail. President Trump is hypocritically condemning vote by mail when many states like Florida which is how Trump voted in the March 17 election. Arizona and Georgia leaders appear to be supportive of vote by mail. What happened in Georgia this Tuesday with some people having to wait in line for five hours?

Luckily, here in Colorado we enjoy vote by mail which is not perfect but has great advantages especially during the pandemic! Mail in ballots just arrived yesterday.

We already know what Mr. Trump and his minions think about our sacred Constitution and one only needs to replay events of last Monday in Lafayette Square to see how he abolishes citizen’s First Amendment Rights of peaceful protests! Now he is remotely trying to do the same thing in Seattle. Listen to Fox New interviewing Trump, which aired this morning, gently pushing back on his statement “when there is looting there will be shooting” as well as the Administration’s walk to historic St. John's Church which Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley now regrets. Notice how Fox News cut the video of how they cleared out the protesters, ordered by Attorney General Barr - the same person who shut down the 2016 Russian interference report, as can be clearly seen on the USA Today video. There were several shocking statements that Trump told to Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner (a Black mother) that she did not challenge including:

“I think it was a beautiful picture,” Trump told Fox News. “And I’ll tell you, I think Christians think it was a beautiful picture.”

What? Think again as apparently he and many people need to read about the reactions to Trump’s photo op to hold the Bible in Christianity Today!

VOTE and YELL EARLY AND OFTEN for AMERICA TO SURVIVE !!!

Update 6/17/2020

Vote , Pray, Yell for America to Survive!

According to the Christian Post, “a new book consisting of essays by 30 evangelical Christians of different political and professional stripes is calling on white evangelicals to rethink their support for President Donald Trump in 2020 and warns the president is damaging the broader culture’s perception of evangelical Christianity.

The new book, The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump: 30 Evangelical Christians on Justice, Truth, and Moral Integrity, was released last Monday by Wipf and Stock Publishers.

“Our plea is to white evangelicals to please take another look and ask, ‘Does this person measure up to biblical norms?’” Ron Sider, founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, told The Christian Post. “We are not telling you what to include. But please prayerfully think about that. Even if you think the book will make you mad, given the title, I challenge you to read it and decide for yourself if there are any valid points that we are making there.”

Dividing the Earth

With his divide and conquer, scorched Earth rhetoric, President Donald Trump likely would take credit for plate tectonics if he could. He would boast at how oil and gas companies introduced ideas of continental drift in the 1960’s that made America great. How Big Oil discovered several features of the Earth using evidence like similar fossils found on different sides of the Atlantic Ocean and magnetic changes in basaltic rocks that showed how continents were once together have been moving apart.

However, President Trump would not give much detail to his claims because it’s just a scientific theory that may have begun over three billion years ago as the Earth cools, driven by heat released into the crust, with a similar relative thickness as a peach skin, from the deeper mantle and core (with respective thicknesses of the peach fruit and pit to follow the analogy). But this takes an understanding and trust in the scientific method which obviously is antithetical to Trump and his millions of ignorant supporters who prefer Nazi tactics, as former Trump Defense Secretary General Mattis eloquently stated this week.

To further divide and conquer America, and perhaps as an insult to World Environment Day celebrations by the United Nations since 1974, the lawless Mr. Trump signed an Executive Order three days ago to reverse existing environmental laws and hard fought court battles that have taken place for over 50 years! This is the latest rollback despite Trump claiming to be an Environmental president by using the Covid-19 pandemic and economic disaster, according to the NY Times as reasons to “streamline” environmental laws including Clean Air and Water Acts, NEPA and ESA, Talk about draining the swamp? Do you recall as do I the “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” campaign on caring about clean air and water? Here’s documentation about one year ago from the LA Times that fact-checks Trump’s claim:

“From day one, my administration has made it a top priority to ensure that America has among the very cleanest air and cleanest water on the planet.”

Actions speak louder than words! The list of regulatory changes is being tracked by Harvard Law school’s Environmental and Energy Law Program.

Working in the Trump Administration until 13 months ago, here are a few of the big projects that I heard people talking about inside and outside the government:

Oil and Gas Drilling and Pipelines running through National Parks

Uranium Mining expanded by the Grand Canyon National Park

Uranium Mining on or near Native American lands including former Bears Ears National Monument

Nuclear Power without dealing with Nuclear Waste Spent Fuel

Coal Mining and Power Plants

Burning More Gasoline by reducing fuel economy standards

The list goes on and on. As a student geologist about 40 years ago, we learned a term that when rocks undergo so much change features are not recognizable, such as metamorphic folds in many directions. We called this type of rock: FUBARITE which stands for F***ed Up Beyond Recognition.

Perhaps that can be added to Trump’s Four More Year’s Dictatorial Campaign: The FUBAR President!

Update 6/17/2020

Axios reported yesterday that a Supreme Court ruling is a boon to natural gas pipelines, “At issue was what federal agency controls the land the pipeline would traverse, the U.S. Forest Service or the Interior Department's National Park Service….Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said under the lower court ruling that Monday’s decision overturned, any pipeline crossing at similar "footpaths" controlled by the Park Service would need an act of Congress for approval.”

American Opulence Causing Crises?

This motorcade scene in D.C. is posted on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director’s blog showing a GM Cadillac. The informal definition of cadillac is, “something that is the most luxurious or highest quality of its kind.” The luxury automobile, a symbol of American opulence, is rated to get below 20 mpg in the city and fits the definition of a “gas guzzler,” a term which originally came into use in the US when Congress established Gas Guzzler Tax provisions in the Energy Tax Act of 1978 to discourage the production and purchase of fuel-inefficient vehicles according to Wikipedia.

However, the Gas Guzzler tax got removed in 2016 as can be seen on the EPA website. The current American President is the symbol of opulence who branded his name on many buildings shining in gold. Do you agree that many of his supporters thought (and some still seem to think that) he would make them rich too by cutting taxes, creating manufacturing jobs, kicking out immigrants, and boosting the stock market?

Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water describes how cities built in the desert have grown by converting rivers into hydroelectric dams causing economic and environmental crises. The most cost effective way we can reduce our demand on water resources and lower our utility bills is through conservation.

I lived in the D.C. area working for the federal government during the 9/11 attack on America. Everyone old enough probably remembers where they were on that tragic day. About 3,000 people died in planes crashing into two World Trade Center towers in New York city, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania that was bound for D.C. Why would anyone be willing to plan out a suicide attack to hurt innocent people? According to The Ohio State University history professor Peter Hahn, “after contesting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Saudi nationalist Osama bin Laden organized a network of unconventional combatants known as Al-Qaida. Bin Laden believed that the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War of 1990-91 violated the sacred spaces around Mecca and Medina, and in 1996, he essentially declared war on the United States.”

So the U.S. protecting oil interests in Saudi Arabia as well as our opulent lifestyle, such as needing oil to drive gas guzzlers, were major factors into the 9/11 attacks. I found other reports stating the terrorists spent about a half a million dollars while it cost the U.S. trillions of dollars fighting two wars and over 800,000 people have died in the region according to Brown University.

The climate change crisis is directly related to carbon emissions from fossil fuels and the U.S. emits the largest amount of CO2 per capita according to World Bank data posted on economicshelp.org. We only have a few short years left to avoid cascading tipping points, as described by Yale University, where we cannot reverse the damage caused by global warming. We need radical changes to our opulent lifestyle through boycotts, cutting costs, and conserving more. Climate change is costing lives and property damage despite misinformation from opulent oil companies and politicians.

There are many causes of the Covid-19 pandemic as have been discussed in previous blogs. It’s becoming clear that the U.S. reopened too soon in an attempt to revive the economy and is now tragically leading the world in cases and deaths. Compare this CNN graph of Covid-19 cases US vs EU to see why there is now a travel ban! This is the time to change our ways! Bike sales are booming! People are eating more at home. Working from home is more possible for many people. Wearing a mask in public should become the new normal.

Social change is happening through groups like Black Lives Matter fighting police brutality and injustice. This fight includes environmental justice, racism, and economic disparities that must be corrected. What would Robin Hood do - increase taxes for more social welfare programs? If the US cares so much about the economy, why kick out international students who contribute $41B?

According to Wikiquote, 19th century Italian philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Things will never return back to “normal” which has not been great for the environment or for many people. Say No to Opulent lifestyles, separate basic needs from wants, appreciate God’s many blessings, and sign up for the Conserve & Pro$per challenge!