Friday, December 29, 2017

Kick Ass: Dump Trump

Why are we not seeing signs like "Kick Ass: Dump Trump" everywhere? At least on a few lawns and windows?

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Counties covered by US District Court Eastern District of North Caorlina

The counties a potential Judge FARR would serve https://democracync.org/farrout/

Tell the Senate Judiciary: Oppose Thomas Farr for Federal Judge

Take action! And go beyond the committee with targeted messages to Senators who may have someone close to them who could make the better argument.

Thomas Farr, Trump judicial nominee for NC, questioned on Jesse Helms postcards | News & Observer

More on this nominee.

William Barber II: Trump’s Terrible Choice for Judge - The New York Times

These are lifetime appointments and we all need to put in much extra effort in North Carolina and with the rest of the US Senate to defeat him.

About Us – Maguire Foundation

We share a number of things with far less money and no involvement with the Roman Catholic church. James MAGUIRE and my grandmother were born in the same part of Philadelphia (Germantown), probably 50 years or so apart.

Why Trump isn't getting the credit he thinks he deserves - CNNPolitics

This is an excellent analysis of where the nation stands with the Trump administration.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Spectrum

Why don't you convene community meetings all over NC to explain how you plan to use your newly-won freedom from the TRUMP FCC?

Sens TILLIS and BURR

Why don't you agree - for whatever time you continue to serve in the US Senate - to forego all health coverage there for you and your family so that you can speak with knowledge about what it means to lose health care? Now, that would be impressive and that's why you will not do it!

Saturday, December 02, 2017

Saturday, November 25, 2017

The Coast Guard’s ‘Floating Guantánamos’ - The New York Times

This reflects so poorly on the Coast Guard, where I spent 3 years and 4 months of my life as an officer.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Food — Delicious Science | Shows | PBS Food

Neat.

Franken Should Go - The New York Times

If ever you need an example of rash judgment, this is one of the best I've ever seen.

Friday, November 10, 2017

Just say too many!

The Mayor of Chapel Hill, NC refuses to say there are too many guns in Chapel Hill and urge citizens to reduce the number. When you see a story like this one, it makes her refusal even more irritating, disappointing and risky.

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer - The New York Times

About as compelling as anything could be for making the case that we simply have too many guns in America.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Nice

Vue générale de Nice.

This is one of the views from the hill on which our Nice home sits. The photo is not mine; it comes from the local newspaper, Nice-Matin.
Nice is my most special place not because of beaches, tourists or the vague notion of a ritzy French Riviera. No, my Nice is, as I have often told others, a real place full of wonder, problem, beauty, challenges, and diversity from the mind to the stomach.
TO BE COMPLETED.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Honor the Truth, John Kelly - The New York Times

This is despicable and he owes us all an apology and perhaps a resignation.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Saturday, October 21, 2017

US warnings

People need to be warned about coming to a country that could have elected such a putrid president.

Texas City Gives Hurricane Aid If You Don't Boycott Israel | Time.com

Texas is so often a place a bad things like this one.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Psychiatrists Can’t Stop Mass Killers - The New York Times

This makes sense, and I completely agree on the firearms argument. Where I have some uncertainty, however, is to imagine someone committing one of these awful crimes who does not have a mental incapacity of some sort. Surely, those flaws are detectable somewhere along the line?

Saturday, October 07, 2017

A German Who Explains Trump - The New York Times

Not sure what to make of this, but I think it is good to read the piece.

Monday, October 02, 2017

Preventing Mass Shootings Like the Vegas Strip Attack - The New York Times

We have too many guns in the US and we need politicians to start both saying so and setting gun number reduction objectives and meeting them. Surely, if we can bar cigarettes from the hands of some because it might kill them and others, why cannot we do the same for guns. It took a long while to get "here" on tobacco and let's not keep delaying what we need to do to start the graph headed down on number of guns in the US. The US has three times the guns per capita than where I am now in France. THREE TIMES. Why don't we set a goal to beat France? I would be a skeptical we can push Tunisia out of first place. Their gun ownership per capita is ONE ONE THOUSANDTH of what it is in the US. Yes, One One Thousandth of what it is in the US.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Global Citizen

I will try to pay more attention to this group. Seems impressive.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

La classe inversée — Université de Namur

Super program profiled today on Belgian TV news.

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Under ‘Observation,’ Some Hospital Patients Face Big Bills - The New York Times

This sure seems important - imagine the dollars at stake for so many patients.

NC small towns see drastic population decline :: The Daily Tar Heel

I think this is a much bigger problem than we might otherwise imagine. Where does the trend lead us?

Retrofitting a Long Island Lighthouse for a Second Act - The New York Times

Save the lighthouses!

Monday, September 04, 2017

TRUMP, the international embarassment

So he is...The Economist captures the worst on its cover.

Friday, September 01, 2017

Trump Pledges $1 Million Donation to Harvey’s Victims - The New York Times

Let's give him a day or two to decide and then mercilessly insist that he make the donation without delay.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Protesters in Durham Topple a Confederate Monument - The New York Times

I cannot condone destruction of public property. It's a crime and should be punished as such. The way to get rid of the offensive monument is to use the democratic tools that may be less exciting, but are the right way to correct wrongs, such as this statue.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Trump Attacks Merck Chief Kenneth Frazier for Quitting Advisory Panel - The New York Times

I am so ashamed to have to admit to people that this bad person is the President of the USA.

Friday, August 04, 2017

An Ally Is Set to Execute Critics. Will Mr. Trump Be Silent? - The New York Times

TRUMP is turning the USA into an awful country, lacking principles and the backbone to stand up for what is clearly right.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Hmm

Pieces like this often seem like they were conceived on a toilet.

Friday, July 21, 2017

NC public school enrollment falls as more choose other options | News & Observer

This is all very bad in every respect except for the ego of some parents. Well, it's not even "good" for that!

President Trump’s Contempt for the Rule of Law - The New York Times

A great editorial that is only shocking in its necessity.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

The Immense, Eternal Footprint Humanity Leaves on Earth: Plastics - The New York Times

Among the world's most intractible problems, this is surely one we can improve dramatically starting right now.

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Hobbyism

Lots of meat here to consider.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Friday, June 16, 2017

Amazon Deal Intensifies Competition Among Food Sellers - The New York Times

It's hard to imagine a more exciting combination than Amazon, the Washington Post and Whole Foods!

Monday, June 12, 2017

Delta Air Lines and Bank of America Won’t Back Trump-Like ‘Julius Caesar’ - The New York Times

Great opportunity to speak up and express opinion toward these companies by what we buy and use - and tell that we are doing so because of this. It's hard not to have an opinion about this and each of us - regardless of whether it is support or opposition - ought to speak up with our pocketbooks.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

nat turner descendants - Google Search

As to be expected, there is much more to the story.

Descendants of Nat Turner honored in Gary - Post-Tribune

I just saw the film and wondered about descendants.

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Paris climate agreeement

Below is a list of the companies that appear to have signed on in favor of the Paris climate agreement, urging the President not to pull out. These are companies that will get my customer and investment support; the others will get only questions from me whenever I can leave them out of my life. Where are the others?
Those who signed:
Adobe (ADBE) 
Allianz (ALIZF) 
BP (BP) 
DuPont (DD) 
eBay (EBAY) 
General Mills (GIS) 
Hilton (HGV) 
Intel (INTCTech30) 
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 
Kellogg Company (K) 
Monsanto (MON) 
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) 
Salesforce (CRMTech30) 
Staples (SPLS) 
Symantec (SYMC) 
Tesla (TSLA) 
Dow Chemical Company (DOW) 
Tiffany & Co. (TIF) 
Unilever (UL)

Friday, May 26, 2017

Did the Turkish President’s Security Detail Attack Protesters in Washington? What the Video Shows - The New York Times

This is what a great newspaper does. We should all give thanks, and while doing that, ask the DC Police why no one has been charged?

Friday, May 19, 2017

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Turkey

We should withdraw all landing rights for Turkish Airlines in the US until a formal apology is issued and the bodyguards are returned to the US for trial. If that results in canceled US airline flights to Turkey it is a tiny societal price to pay for the protection of such fundamental rights and liberties. We cannot allow this to plass with a wet noodle slap on the wrist.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Trillions of Plastic Bits, Swept Up by Current, Are Littering Arctic Waters - The New York Times

We should all be so ashamed and, more important, we should all do something about this. Both at home and in business and on the web. Increase the guilt when it comes to discarded plastic, anywhere!

First: Aid – Conscience Magazine

Very nice, but I am hardly a disinterested reader!

Monday, April 03, 2017

The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia

Don't we all expect to be manipulated, mentally, all the time?

Sunday, April 02, 2017

Why Is This Hate Different From All Other Hate? - The New York Times

I think she is on the right track here. It is refreshing, if I read this correctly, to find anti-semitisim put in its proper place as just one of the many pieces of the awful discriminaiton pie we are witnessing int he US and around the world.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Those Indecipherable Medical Bills? They’re One Reason Health Care Costs So Much. - The New York Times

My concern with this is that patients are simply precluded by all this from playing a meaningful role in the management of their health care.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

- Actu - Télématin - France 2

Important for us all to understand better!

Equality

There sure is a lot of meat here.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Sunday, March 12, 2017

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it: My Shop: Why did the chicken restaurant cross the road? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39230746
I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it: World wide web creator Tim Berners-Lee targets fake news - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39246810

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Hyphen-Nation - NYTimes.com

Great piece.

Reinvention

Hundreds of years ago, someone in what is now Germany, I think, came up with a great idea and executed on it. The need to be filled was getting a thing from point A to point B without taking it there yourself. The answer was a postal service. We have come a long way since then but have reached not a simple turn in the road, but a full U-turn.

This clip - available online only in France - talks about the problem of dealing with so many orders on the internet, and how stores are confronted with the challenge of how best to get the purchased products (and services) to the cusotmer. The example cited is the store FNAC, a chain carrying many different products, mostly oriented toward technology.

In order to help customers and encourage them to pick up purchases in the store, the customers receive a number and a code on their phones after purchase. That takes them to the door of a box in the FNAC store wall where using code opens the door and, voila, the purchase is at hand.

Sort of makes me think of how mailboxes in post offices used to work, non? Haven't we sped ahead and made a U-turn?

Thursday, February 09, 2017

California Farmers Backed Trump, but Now Fear Losing Field Workers - The New York Times

This group is going to grow.

Trump falsely accuses senator of misrepresenting Gorsuch criticism - CNNPolitics.com

Do we have to fall to TRUMP's level and answer things like this with facts about TRUMP lies? Why should we allow him to send us that low?

Thursday, February 02, 2017

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Sunday, January 22, 2017

After the US, far right says 2017 will be the year Europe wakes up | World news | The Guardian

We have to keep a global perspective on all of this as the fringe is weaving itself together.

Carla Hayden Thinks Libraries Are a Key to Freedom - The New York Times

Super!

Rohrsbach test!


I love the idea of asking readers how they react to this! One can see almost anything!

Magazine Cover

Friday, January 20, 2017

Monday, January 09, 2017

Illinois Congressman: Poverty Plays A Large Role In Chicago Gun Violence : NPR

I want to write more about this in support of his point that there are just too many guns.

Saturday, January 07, 2017

‘James Bond of Philanthropy’ Gives Away the Last of His Fortune - The New York Times

I think he accomplished great things and saw all of them happen while still alive!