Sleight of Hand Done Poorly

The infidelities of the President and his attempts at keeping them under wraps are doing exactly what he wants them to do: distract.  Seemingly, every time there's a serious charge leveled against this President, something trivial is exposed which then dominates the easily distracted news media, desperate to report anything that would besmirch the man's already less-than-stellar reputation.

For the Trump team the play is now: distract from disastrous economic and foreign policy by instructing your "fixer" to play the role one last time.  Serve your master and release the tapes! Amazing that, as we learn more about Russian influence in our collective political sphere, Cohen (through his lawyer) releases a tape with a recording so ambiguous that both the extreme left and paranoid right claim that it proves their point/s.

Pay no attention to the meeting with Putin or the admission that Russia acted as a bad international agent in our political lives...they didn't, they did, they didn't again, they did but in the favor of the Dems.  Trump's constantly changing allegiances stems from the fact that he's a single puppet being used by so many ill-intentioned puppeteers.  What, I've said too much?  Change the subject!!! Russian spy who slept with ugly NRA members caught? RELEASE THE TAPE and watch the media swarm all over it for days using every word in Webster's dictionary and saying nothing.

Butina, like communism, is just a red herring.

While this administration dismantles our education system, our environmental restrictions (see: clean air, endangered species list, reclamation of national monuments for profiteering), puts money back into the pockets of the filthy rich while condemning our national debt to drop like school child hit by an AR-15 round, the media is frothing over the fact that our President paid $250,000 to get laid twice!  Great businessman indeed!  #notnews #bankruptethics (see: Atlantic City, NJ)

Look, how many American born traveling abroad were captured by an oppressive nation that then claimed they were spies?  Working in full view of anyone caring to pay attention, Butina does qualify as acting suspiciously, more because of her ability to win both games: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and Six Degrees of Vladimir Putin in three or less connections.  Still, she wasn't hiding! Anything!  Have at her CNN, MSNBC, WashPo...and while you're distracted let's really eff things up. 

Enter Betsy DeVos stage right.  She's wearing a coordinated business skirt-suit and her traditional wireframe glasses.  She walks to the podium in the center of the stage and begins speaking in a whisper:

BETSY [muttering]: "students taken advantage of by colleges will no longer be able to find loan relief from the Federal Government..."
MEDIA [collectively]: "SPEAK UP!"
BETSY: "Release the footage of my boat."
MEDIA: "Hey, look what they did to Betsy's boat!  Our top story tonight, billionaire Betsy DeVos may find herself in an insurance pickle as someone undocked her $40 million yacht which then sustained...wait for it...you're not going to believe it, between $5,000 and $10,000 in damages."
MEDIA: "RUN THIS ON ALL CHANNELS FOR 10 HOURS STRAIGHT!!!"

End scene, except it's not.

I'm not saying that stories about how Trump campaign funds were used as hush money for exotic dancers and playmates aren't peripherally important.  What I am saying is that Cohen, Daniels, McDougal, Butina are nothing better than media fodder.  Ask Clinton.  Ask JFK.  While infidelity sells, it's hardly the most important story about what our President and his administration are doing to this country, and it makes the progenitor of these slight-of-hand stories seem, to quote Ray Stantz, Ghostbuster, 1984, "either the architect [of these distracting news stories] was a certified genius, or an authentic whacko!"

All of the above is to say: stay focused on attacks of actual policy that impact our citizenry (Farmers, this is you!) Make no mistake, the 24hr "news" headlines are being used, on purpose or inadvertently, to distract us from real policy change and legislation meant to promote the agenda of our puppet-in-chief, who, with all the hands up there, is bound to get ripped a new one...eventually.  Paging Dr. Mueller...Dr. Mueller, it's time for a political caputque abscisum.

Alaskan Straws

It's been two weeks since I've written here because, last week and the week before, my family took a trip from the great state of NJ to Alaska by way of Seattle.  You may think that this is a "sky is falling" point of view, but the intent was to get our kids to see a glacier before it was gone.  I don't care if you believe in global warming, but the glaciers do, and they're receding at an unprecedented state.  That's math and that's science and it's measurable and shut-up.  Hell, the latest trend, and I fully support it, is the removal of the defalt, non-compostable, plastic straw.  Unless you're differently abled, you will survive without them.  Trust me.  It'll be OK.

Other goals on this trip that were vocalized by the kids and us was to: pan for gold, cuddle with sled-dog puppies, and see orcas.  Based on the time of year and the geography of the region we were covering, none of these things were out of the realm of possibility.  And off we went.

I'll start by saying that we're not a cruise family.  We tend to enjoy the potential of stops/visits that weren't planned.  For instance, we stumbled upon the Henry Cowell State Park in California on our last day as we traveled back to San Francisco from Monterey Bay a couple years ago.  That park was amazing.  So, you can imagine that the boat, at times, felt constraining.  The kids felt it too, though, less so as they were more likely to brave the 60 degree temps and hit the (slightly) heated pools on the top deck. 

However, as you can imagine, the best parts were when we were off the ship.  Excursions, though overpriced, were rewarding.  The kids got their sled-dog puppy cuddling time and visited with dogs that ran the iditarod.  Cool.  We did pan for gold, and after spending $130 for the honor, we made about $32 back in found gold flakes.  The orca hunt was less successful.  Didn't see a one.  I'm sure they were there, smiling as we looked the wrong way...or maybe it was because we were so distracted with the humpbacks. 

Oh yes.  By far, my best time was on a small 12-person boat in the Inner Passage with guide, captain and other guests, searching the surf for surfacing whales (say that 5 times fast).  And we hit the jackpot.  After chasing a very specific whale for about 30 minutes, our captain moved further south where she guessed others would be...and how!  For about an hour, we witnessed approximately 10 whales, together, surfacing and spouting, and diving.  My pictures won't/don't do the experience justice, mostly because, what made the moment special was the knowledge shared by our guide during the trip.  Jim was an expert and a photographer and a gear-head, and it was an absolute pleasure having him lead our group for the 6 hours we were together.

But, towards the end of the trip, Jim's patter started matching my own message I was trying to deliver to the kids: this stuff is disappearing.  Why are the whales there?  Because herring are abundant.  Why are herring abundant?  Because krill is abundant.  And, why is krill abundant?  Because of the nutrients found in the waters in that part of the world.  And, where do those nutrients come from?  Minerals smashed during the process of glacial ice movement towards the sea and the eventual mixing of the fresh and salt waters combined with rich mineral deposits.

And where are the glaciers going?

This is not trivial stuff...because, the more whales thrive, the more species thrive that feed on either whales (read: sharks, crabs, bottom feeders, etc.) or whale poop (read: kelp, krill, more shellfish and bottom feeders).  When the whales disappear or even diminish in numbers, other species will become unsustainable...which will eventually mean that our food sources from the oceans will go with them.  This is not alarmist, this is scientific proven fact.  The human species is messing with the food-chain and the natural order of the world can't correct it quickly enough.

My hope is that, in 10 or 20 years, my kids will remember this trip enough to say: "Yes, I was able to see the glaciers and the whales before they disappeared...and do you really need that disposable plastic straw?"