It is April 10^thand I am on my “constitutional,” a three to four mile walk around the Cleveland Park neighborhood in Washington where Embry and I have lived for almost 50 years. I try to “get in my steps” four or five times a week. Today I am especially stunned by the beauty of the Washington spring. It has been a wet and cool spring this year, and plants love it. Today the temperature is in the mid 60s with low humidity and a gentle breeze. Because spring was late in coming, everything seems to be blooming at once. Daffodils and forsythia are still around, joined now by red, yellow, and orange tulips and pansies of all kinds of colors. The ethereal, Japanese cherry trees have started to pale and wilt, but bright, pink ornamental cherry trees are replacing them, and lavender redbud trees seem to be in every yard. The ivory colored blooms of dogwoods are just starting to peep out. Azaleas will not be far behind. Tiny green buds are on every tree. The Carolina blue sky is cloudless. 

I am speechless.

I take a deep breath and say a short prayer, “Thank you God for most this amazing day…” a line you may remember from one of ee cummings’s best poems. I ask myself if any place in the vast universe could top this. Did someone once say that if God did not exist, humans would have to invent Him? Do some say that now?

I say do not even begin to think that we humans can figure all this out. Just breathe in the fresh air, marvel at the colors all around you, smell the perfume of the flowers, and give thanks that you are alive.

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I just learned that 77 is actually a sacred number, which leads to a serious blog post. No fake news today.

Seventy-seven years ago at something like 12:15 in the morning I was born on April Fools Day in Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. According to my mother, it was all Roosevelt’s fault—one of his many–for putting in daylight savings time. I have suffered ever since from being an April Fool.

Not really. In fact not at all. As I look back, as I suppose is natural for someone beginning a 78^thyear of life on the planet Earth, I can’t help reflecting upon what it all means. What I can say is that I am profoundly grateful. I have been, as they say, blessed. Blessed for having a strong marriage to a strong woman, two children who make me proud (and their spouses!), four grandchildren, who exceed grandparent superlatives (like all grandchildren I suppose, but no, ours are special!) and deep and lasting friendships. These include first cousins, nieces, nephews and other friends we are close to. I mention these blessings first for a reason: they are what are most important.

Right up there near the top of the list , of course, is health. I have often said that life is a matter of inches, meaning an inch here or an inch there, and the story would be very different. My first “inch” had to do with the year I was born, 1942. If I had been born in, say, 1900 my life expectancy at birth (white male) would have been 47.  We take so much for granted in 2019, but just think: penicillin was not discovered/invented until 1928. Before that infections and infectious diseases often meant a death sentence. And just think of what it must have been like to have a tooth pulled in the early part of the last century.

 In my case I would have been dead by my early 20s had it not been for a new operation called a “spinal fusion,” developed only a couple of years earlier to correct severe curvature of the spine. In1952 I had had a pretty severe case of polio, which due to paralyzed stomach muscles resulted two years later in a backbone that looked like the letter “C.” If I had been born a decade before, my parents would have watched in horror knowing that my organs were getting all mixed up, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Few in this condition would have survived past their early twenties. Close call. Another close call was in my forties when I  “dodged a bullet,” words of my dermatologist, when he removed a melanoma mole, just before it spread to my lymph nodes. Let’s hear it for medical advances that have made such a difference in years lived and quality of life! My guess is that most of us who have reached the ripe old age of 77 have had our share of close calls. That we got past them is reason for thanksgiving.

Perhaps due to my polio experience and being on the sidelines for a long time during my youth, I have been a bit of an exercise fanatic my entire adult life. I was a serious runner—not very good but very serious—through my forties and mid fifties; and when knee issues began in the mid 90s, I became a serious walker and lap swimmer. Now with a new knee I am walking long(ish) distances again and am grateful for that. I am also grateful for the running partners I have had over the years. Generally speaking my health overall has been pretty good, probably exceptionally good when you take into account the fact that a large percentage of polio victims have experienced “post polio syndrome,” often resulting in paralysis which they thought they had left behind years earlier.

I recall in my fifties receiving a letter from a research organization asking me whether I had enough problems to qualify for a study on post polio. I responded by saying,  “Absolutely. I have cut down my running from five miles a day to three and now play tennis only twice a week.” I realize now what a crude and insensitive remark this was and can only say that I am grateful that I dodged the PPS bullet. I was not selected to participate in the study. 

Over the course of 77 years it is impossible to get by without experiencing hardships, disappointments, and for too many in our world, real suffering. Such is life on this lonely planet. For Embry and me the loss of our first child, Katherine, just before her first birthday was cause for much sorrow. She was born with a heart defect and did not survive what we understood was supposed to be a “routine, relatively low risk” heart operation in Chapel Hill in 1969. 

Nor is it possible to get by without making mistakes and doing really stupid things. All I can say about this—and there are way too many to begin to list here—is Lord have mercy.

There are so many other things to be thankful for. I think first of work. Think about how much of our lives are spent working. Think about how many people work very hard for very low pay and others who have bad jobs or jobs they hate. Think about those who want to work but can’t find jobs. Think about the difference between a job and a career. I was lucky to stumble upon a career that I loved: a professional in the field of real estate development with a specialty in developing seniors housing and affordable housing. I proudly consider founding and keeping Howell Associates going for 20 years a personal accomplishment, and being able to actually sell the company when I was in my late fifties is nothing less than de facto proof of a benign deity. I loved the work and the many wonderful people who worked with me at Howell Associates. I am also grateful that I am still able to keep an oar in the water by serving on several nonprofit boards that develop and own seniors or affordable housing.  While doing some of the same work, I write checks rather than receive them but only occasionally ask what is wrong with this picture. I am glad I have this opportunity.

Second, I think of extracurricular pursuits.  For me this includes writing, photography, sailing, and traveling. I still think how fortunate I was that after receiving five rejections from potential publishers of Hard Living on Clay Street, the last shot, Doubleday, came through; and the book has been in continuous print since 1973. I was not so lucky with Civil Rights Journey, which I ended up self publishing, but I am still proud of the book and the reception it has received. Photography remains a passion as may be apparent since you are reading this blog on my photography website, and I am still cruising  and racing a sailboat after all these years. You can’t find better sailing waters than the Chesapeake Bay, and also owning a charter boat in the Sunsail fleet in the British Virgin Islands has allowed Embry and me and friends to cruise in fabulous spots all over the world—the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Puget Sound, the South Pacific (Tahiti) and the Adriatic. 

Travel has also been an important activity, and all the credit goes to erstwhile travel agent and companion, Embry Howell. She plans. I tag along. But I have truly enjoyed these adventures in some 50 plus countries around the globe. The around-the-world adventure-no-airplanes, was probably the best, and you may have followed us on this website for this trip and some of the others.

So on my 77^thbirthday, I think I can honestly say that I could not have asked for much more. I am also aware of the fact that the pathway I have followed was prepared by a lot of people ahead of me.  I am aware that compared to a lot of pathways mine was pretty smooth. Others can be–and often are– pretty steep and rocky. I was born into a loving family. I am aware that many privileges come from being white. I live in a wealthy country. I was able to attend terrific schools. I had mentors to follow. I have not had to worry too much about financial security. All these factors made for a pretty easy path to follow though not without a few hills and rough spots along the way. But make no mistake: we humans are what we are because of a lot of factors that we are not in control of, not just because of what we do on our own.

But even as we  77ers are in the countdown stage our lives, I can’t help thinking about the future. Those who have been following my blog know how much I hate Trump. However, Trump is not so much  a cause as a symptom of something out of kilter that goes much deeper. Globalization has created winners and losers, and the losers are angry and are fighting back. Trump has exploited this phenomenon, and nobody really knows how we will get through it. And it is not just a U.S. problem. The whole world is affected. Turkey, Poland, and Hungary have all turned toward dictators, and Brexit looks to me like a suicide wish by the Brits. Inequality in wages and income persists and is getting worse, not better.

And lurking over all of this is climate change, the number one issue for us  humans on the planet Earth. Scientists tell us that by 2050 if we are not on a solid path to significantly reducing carbon emissions–not just reducing the rate of increase– we are looking at sea level increases of 30 to 40 feet within the next century or two. And let me tell you: 77 years goes by pretty fast. Two hundred years is a mere blip on the human history timeline. By the turn of the century the planet could be spiraling out of control, and no one will be able to change its course. My grandchildren will probably still be alive then. What will happen to them and to their children? 

But this blog post is mainly about looking back, not forward. It has been a great 77 years. I was born before World War II was over but remember nothing about it. My father, who was aboard a Navy LST most of the time, survived. America prospered and became the dominant country on the planet. Since then we have fought wars, but they have been far away. Following the Vietnam War, the wars were all fought by volunteers. But I can’t help asking why must wars continue. And we tend to forget that lots of countries have nuclear weapons. We have the ability to destroy life on Earth as we know it in a matter of seconds.

A lot of changes occurred during this time, some good, some not so good. I put the Civil Rights Movement right up there at the top, and to be able to be part of the this movement is one of the parts of my life I am most proud of. The Women’s Movement and Gay Rights Movement have also changed our society for the better. But my generation also has suffered through the assassination of two Kennedys and Martin Luther King. And we are now in the era of Trump.

When I was born there was no such thing as a television set or a jet airplane or even a simple computer. The idea of sending a man to the moon was unthinkable. For my birthday, Embry gave me an Apple Watch. Dick Tracy, baby. Who would have ever thought…?

Though our history has been mixed, the last 77 years has been a good time to be alive. The short time allotted to me has been good.

Some call this luck. Certainly I am one of the lucky ones.

Others call this by the grace of God. I am certainly a beneficiary of God’s grace.

Whatever you want to call it, I am grateful to be alive and grateful for the 77 years I have had (so far) on this small, blue planet located in a run-of-the-mill galaxy in a universe of billions of galaxies and trillions of stars. 

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The editors of Faux News were tricked. The copy of the Mueller Report that was delivered secretly to us was actually the Comey report on Hillary Clinton’s alleged “illegal and traitorous” emails, not the actual Mueller report, which no one except Barr and Rosenstein have seen, and no one else probably ever will see according to our inside sources. They tricked us by adding a couple of pages at the beginning to make us think it was the real Mueller report. We fell for it. Shame on us!

But that does not mean that we are defeated. We have our own journalistic arsenal of weapons, the most important being the cadre of so-called “White House servants,” who are actually our spies, and they are wired. These are the people who bring coffee and donuts to the subjects of our secret investigations. Here is the latest taped conversation that occurred on Thursday, March 28, in Attorney General Barr’s office with key Trump advisors, Mike Mulvaney, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kellyanne Conway, Rudy Giuliani, and Stephen Miller:

Mulvaney: I have called you to this meeting at the office of the Attorney General to discuss next steps for our revered president and where we go from here now that Mueller has completely exonerated him. By the way, Billy, great show! Terrific job! We knew you could do.

Barr: Glad to help out. 

Mulvaney: Just to be clear, it is over, right? The Mueller report gets deep-sixed and no one sees it? Never will see the light of day. Right?

Barr: Was there ever any doubt?  Sure, we will have to release some of it to keep the dogs at bay, but it will be harmless. No collusion, no obstruction. Remember, it is unconstitutional to question the absolute right of any sitting president to do what he wants, where he wants and when he wants. Certainly not our “Exalted One.” Game over.

Giuliani: Thank you, Jesus!

Barr: Who?

Giuliani: Not you, Billy, just a saying.

Mulvaney: But I was just wondering, first, did you actually read the report, and second is there er, I mean, er, well…is there anything in it that might be, you know, kinda bad for the president?

Barr: Of course I read it.

Sanders: I am sure you did and I do not question you. But with all due respect, Mr. Attorney General, it was over 300 pages, and you issued your conclusions in only a few hours.

Barr: I am a speed-reader, ok? Well, since I am among friends sworn to secrecy, I do admit I might have skimmed part of it. But the real question is why should I read any of it in the first place? It is a waste of time. Read my famous treatise on the presidency. Presidents are above the law. They make the law. What they do is the law.

In any event I will swear under oath that I did not personally read a single sentence that was critical of the president or leave open any doubt as to his complete innocence, which when you think about it is pretty clever since I skipped over those parts. 

Giuliani: Brilliant! So what happens next?

Sanders: Yes, what do I tell the press?

Conway: You tell them how great the president is, how he is loved and respected by the American people, how he has made America great again, and is feared by the entire world. And how he is now vindicated, exonerated and completely innocent, how this proves he has never lied or done anything wrong, ever, and what a great day it is for the United States. And, oh yes, how he has been maligned and deeply hurt by irresponsible people who have committed treasonous acts.

Sanders: Will do. Thank you, Kellyanne. No one knows our president better than you do.

Giuliani: But this is just the start. We now go after his enemies, the enemies of the people. They have falsely accused the president, and this falls into the category of treason, like Kellyanne says. They are traitors and must be brought to justice.

Sanders: Who are they?

Giuliani: The usual suspects. You know, Sessions, Comey, Flake, Corker, Cohen, the no good rat, everyone else who copped pleas and told lies, John McCain…

Sanders: I thought McCain was dead.

Giuliani: Okay, check that one off the list. And, of course, all the fake journalists and so called pundits– everyone at CNN and MSNBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post every Democrat in the House and Senate and every Democrat running for office…And, of course, Mueller, and everyone in the FBI and Justice Department who worked on the report. And—how could I have not put her first– Hillary. Very long list. Hang ‘em all! 

Sanders: I thought that they now use lethal injection.

Giuliani: Whatever.

Conway: But I thought that the Mueller report totally exonerated the president. Why hang Mueller and all the people who worked on the report that were on Mueller’s team?

Giuliani: Oh yeah, check those people off the list, but as a practical matter, do we really know what is actually in the report? He could have said some bad things. Oh, never mind. Not that important…

Miller: Fine, fine. It is a great day for the president and for our country and for the world. But you people are missing something. Now that the president has been completely cleared from any wrongdoing and has been shown to be honorable in every respect, like George Washington, never having told a lie….

Sanders: Stephen, don’t get too carried away.

Miller: Hear me out. This is our chance to strike back legislatively. This is our opening for the policy agenda that we have had in our tool kit, just waiting for the right opportunity. Now that the traitorous accusations about collusion and obstruction are behind us, it is time to open the tool kit. It is our chance to change the world forever!

Sanders: So what is in the tool kit?

Miller: A lot. So pay attention. The first is to pull the plug out of the life support system keeping the hideous ACA alive. We will kill it, using the courts this time. We have the votes on the Supreme Court, so it is just a matter of time. I am sure Roberts will come around. But in the meantime we go on a full court press to convince the American people that Obamacare is the worst thing to ever happen to them and must be stopped.

Conway: But Steve, you know that many in America like it. We have been telling the American people how bad it is  for almost ten years, but that story line does not stick. That is what the polls show. Over 170 million Americans will be affected if Obamacare is declared unconstitutional without a replacement. Over 20 million will lose all insurance.

Miller: So what? They won’t like Obamacare after we hit them with the most aggressive PR campaign of all time, and it is already funded by big donors, who, of course, will remain anonymous. We are talking billions of dollars for ads and PR here. Plus aggressive social media. Don’t think we didn’t learn anything from the Russians. And think of the money the U.S. tax payers will save when 20 million deadbeats come off the Medicaid rolls and tens of billions more dollars are saved from the other failed health care programs.

Sanders: But will we have a plan to replace it?

Miller: That is not the point. The point is to brainwash the American public…

Conway: Steve, do not use that word.

Miller: Okay, “convince” the American public that this is the right thing, the American Way. But actually we do have a plan. The plan is let the private sector do what it does best and for the government to get the hell out of the way.

Sanders: It may be hard to sell that, but if all the reporters and fake news people are locked up….

Miller: Exactly. And that feeds into my second point. Curtailing irresponsible free speech and not allowing any treasonous talk or action to happen again. I believe that the five votes in our pocket on the Court will come through on this as well. The First Amendment will be transformed, and this is essential if we are to achieve our Big Goal, which I will get to shortly.

Giuliani: So far so good. Roberts could be a problem there as well, but as you say, he will probably come around when he realizes what is at stake. What else you got for us?

Miller: Climate change. This is a hoax and the president knows it, and Trump’s base knows it. Using social media and a new “public information” campaign  financed by anonymous, deep pocket donors from coal and oil companies, we will kill most of the EPA’s onerous regs and the whole agency too. Just a matter of time, and this means jobs for oil and coal workers. The president’s base will love it. We are prepared to fight the world on this one.

Giuliani: Keep going. This is wonderful.

Miller: The so called safety net and all the bullshit about equality? People aren’t equal. Never have been and never will be. The U.S. spends too much money funding deadbeats and losers. Failed programs like Medicaid, food stamps, aid for poor kids, and even Medicare and Social Security. Money down the tubes. Yeah, I know there may be some pushback from Democrats, but Republicans are now lap dogs of the president and will support anything we do. We say jump, they ask how high. There is no longer a Republican Party anyway. It is now the Party of Trump.

Giuliani: Steve, you are a genius. But what about the Democrats? You know they will go crazy.

Miller: I have another tool for that. We have already been using it. Curtail the irresponsible, loose voting rights that are now way too prevalent. The founding fathers never intended for everyone to vote. Slaves could not vote, women could not vote. Hell, for a long time men who did not own real property could not vote. We have got to get back to the basics and the original intent of the founders and keep people who not deserve to vote from voting. And we all know they are mostly Democrats. This will take time, but with five  Supreme Court Justices in our pocket, it will happen. And you can bet we will use all the firepower we have—social media, advertising, PR. Already funded by the Koch brothers.

Giuliani: I get happier with every word you speak.

Miller: And, finally, immigrants. Build the entire wall and get ICE to lock up or deport the 11 million illegals, and do it now. It will mean adding about 500 times as many officers–a small army, really–but that will also mean jobs for supporters of the president. We will need about a hundred more private prisons, and think of the construction jobs this will create. Trump’s base will love it. We will pay for it by cutting off the deadbeats using Medicaid.

Conway: Got anything else in that kit?

Miller: Yeah, the Big One. Put on your seatbelts for this one. What we really need in this county is long term stability. Two term limits are not enough when you have a truly great president like Donald Trump. I have a plan to change that once and for all and am sure it will work.

Giuliani: Can you tell us more?

Miller: Not now. Got to run. Meeting with the president. May have to involve the military, but other countries have done this before, and we can too, but this will have to wait for later….By the way, I have presented this agenda to the president and he is on board 100%. The treason stuff is already happening.

Giuliani: Brilliant!

Mulvaney: Okay, everyone back to work. Fabulous meeting! And thanks again, Billy, for your excellent, in-depth summary of the Mueller report. A great day for America and a bright future for us and for the world. Long live President Trump!

Others (in unison): Long live President Trump!

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In another stunning journalistic coup, Faux News has been able to secure a complete copy of the entire Mueller Report. The report is 575 pages long and deals extensively with all aspects of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. In fact only the first seven pages actually deal with the Trump collusion question and only one page with the obstruction of justice question. Mueller concludes that Trump was “too stupid to collude with anyone, especially Russia,” and that was the end of the investigation. As to obstruction Mueller concluded, “We have no idea about this. Somebody else has to figure it out.”

When asked why he spent over 500 pages dealing with the Clinton email scandal and only eight pages on Trump’s alleged misdoings, Mueller commented that the email scandal was far more serious since there is no telling who has been able to read what she wrote using her unsecured email server. Also since former FBI director James Comey left the question unanswered, Mueller felt the Special Counsel had to set the record straight once and for all. Mueller’s conclusion was that there was not enough evidence to come to any conclusions about Hillary and that another Special Counsel investigation was probably warranted.

Since reports of the Mueller report’s detailed findings have leaked out, the president has claimed complete exoneration and is calling for “Lock Her Up” rallies to be held all across the nation starting this weekend and continuing unabated until the Monday before election day 2020. The rallies have already begun with Senator Lindsay Graham leading “lock her up” chants at Mar-A-Lago this past weekend.  Trump’s devoted base has in the words of Senator Graham, “gone ape-shit,” and there are already reports of marches in cities across the country with people carrying signs saying on one side “No Collusion” and on the other “Lock Her Up!” and others that say “McCain Sucks!” Trump’s approval rating has sky rocketed from 41% to 42%, and most pundits on Fox News are predicting a landslide victory for the president in 2020. 

When someone pointed out to the president that Hillary Clinton is not planning to run in 2020 and that John McCain is dead, he replied, “You never know. We will see what happens.”

Democrats, while declaring that they are overjoyed the Special Counsel did not indict Hillary Clinton with serious crimes, are at a loss to figure out what to do next. Of the 42 candidates that have already announced that they are running for president, every one has expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that such a small part of the report actually focused on Trump. The Special Counsel’s office has responded by noting that almost 40 indictments have been issued with dozens convicted or who have pleaded guilty. They say they believed there was no need to put this in the report since it was apparent that the nation was primarily concerned about Hillary Clinton’s misuse of emails. 

Most experts agree that instead of settling the matter of Trump’s guilt or innocence once and for all, all the Mueller investigation has done is to solidify the two warring camps, those supporting the president and those who support the 42 announced Democratic candidates or “any grownup in the room whose name is not Trump.” The House investigations of Trump’s misdeeds will continue in earnest and are likely to suck a lot of energy away from passing progressive legislation regarding expanding health care and making it more affordable and addressing infrastructure, income inequality, immigration reform, climate change and sane foreign policy. Trump will continue to fight back and rally his base. His recent tweets have become even more enlivened, claiming he never knew anyone by the name of Stormy Daniels, never contemplated building a hotel in Moscow and never told a lie or associated with anyone who did. “The only big lie we have to worry about,” he tweeted “is climate change. Biggest lie of all. Not happening, never will.”

And so goes the new normal in our nation’s capital.

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In an unusual and extraordinary journalistic coup, our reporter-on-the-spot was able to get up to the Pearly Gates and return with this exclusive interview with God. Unfortunately for some unknown reason God’s comments did not come through on the tape recorder, so what you read below is a verbatim transcript of only one side of the interview:

Okay, God. Thanks for agreeing to the interview, and I want to get straight to the point. First of all, you are all powerful, right? I mean you created the world and all the planets and the stars, galaxies and the whole universe and everything in it, right?

Silence

Yes, I can imagine that it was a lot of hard work, but if you are powerful as surely you must be if you did all this stuff, then how come you allowed the gunman in New Zealand to kill all those innocent people yesterday?

Silence

Yes, I understand that you have decided to take a hands-off approach like a loving parent who watches a wayward child so that the child can learn on his own. I know you aren’t a helicopter parent, but still….

Silence

I know that it is not right for a mere Earthling to question your motives. You have got your reasons, but still you have also got to admit that your hands-off approach has its problems. A lot of really bad people have messed things up big time. You know who they are—Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam, Mao, and so many other dictators and so many just bad people, like the gunman in New Zealand—and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Silence

Okay, I can see why you are disappointed about how we humans turned out on the planet Earth. I can surely understand that. And I can understand that that makes you sad.

Silence

Yes, I do feel sorry for you and know that it must hurt to see the way it has turned out down there, but what I am asking is why you haven’t done something about it.

Silence

All right, I will accept your answer about free will and all that, and I suppose you have your reasons for setting it up this way. And I also really appreciate it when you do step in and help ordinary people when we experience horrible things and challenges. I know a lot of people who have personally benefited as indeed as I have, so I would like to say thanks for what you do, but I am just wondering if you maybe could do more….

Silence

Yes, I agree that there is a lot that I do not know about. And I also want to thank you for, as you say, “giving us a glimpse” every now and then.

Silence

Yes, I do call myself a Christian and appreciate that you sent Jesus to give us a clue, along with other holy people. And I also agree that it is too bad that most of the time we humans just don’t get it. So thanks for doing that. It does help, but you need to know that there are a lot of us down there on Earth who will never get it and need more clues….

Silence

Really? You will take that under advisement? 

Silence

What do you mean, “But if I paid more attention, I would realize that it is already happening all the time”?

Silence

Okay, I will try to pay better attention. But what about the natural disasters and the “acts of God” that insurance policies don’t reimburse people for? I know that every year there are a bunch of legal cases suing the National Council of Churches for “acts of God” that aren’t covered by insurance, but none of these has held up in court. What are all these natural disasters, plagues, famines, floods, and calamities all about?

Silence

Yes, I admit that there are things that if you told me, I would not be able to understand. So I will accept your refusal to answer, but I can’t help asking if you might have messed up a time or two when you were creating everything from scratch and setting up all the ground rules. I can’t help asking that if you had to do it all over again, if you would have done it differently.

Silence

Yes, I do accept that you have only one shot at creating a universe and what is, is. I agree that you did the best you could under the circumstances. You have to let the chips fall and let what happens, happen. Don’t feel too bad about this. We all make mistakes, and there is no need to “shed a tear,” as you say.

Silence

What’s that? You say you are shedding tears, but are not shedding tears about the universe so much as about something else? What is that, God, why all of a sudden do you seem so upset?

Silence

You are watching one of your prize creations do what?

Very Long Silence

You mean the planet Earth? You are watching us self-destruct? Go down the tubes? And that is the reason you granted the interview? So someone with a face-to-face interview– though of course I really do not mean this literally because all I can do is hear you–but so someone like me can let others on Earth know how you feel? That is why you gave Faux News an exclusive?

Silence

Of course, I hear how distressed you are. You put such faith in us. As you say, there aren’t that many places in the universe quite like us. We had such potential and now we are destroying what you made. I can see why you are so upset, but can’t you just step in and do something about it?

Silence

Yes, yes. I know, I know. This is just not the way you work. I have to tell you that if you ask me, I think you could have given yourself a better job description, but as you say, what is, is.

Silence

What’s that, God? Not much time? How much? Decades, centuries, millennia? How much, if we don’t change our ways?

Silence

Okay, God. I know that it all depends. Rest assured. I will be sure people down there on Earth know you have added your name to the “Concerned About Climate Change” list. But I wish I could say it would make a difference. I know how hard it is for us humans when you lose something you love so much. It must be even harder for you—especially if you are talking about a planet which is so special. Okay, God, I will spread the word. And, God, thanks so much for the interview. I know how busy you are. So, I guess I will head back down. I will see you later….

Short Silence

What do you mean, “Don’t count your chickens….?” That’s a joke, right?

Very Short Silence

Okay, God. Understood. I get it. The stakes are high.Thanks again! See you around….

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This is a very important book, and having just finished it. I feel compelled to run to the nearest bookstore and buy copies for everyone I know. I’m not sure who will read it, as it’s pretty harrowing stuff. But as fantastical as the author’s claims about the threats facing humanity may seem, I am fully persuaded by them. Life on earth is staring down the barrel of massive climate-related disruption and suffering — this is supported by a vast body of research: and while the destruction has already affected many species on the planet, it is on the verge of engulfing our own, probably sooner than most people suspect.

The problem with most academic, scientific writing is that scientists are very cautious about over-stating their conclusions, as they should be, and tend to couch their views in degrees of certainty, clouded by the language of statistics. They also tend to over-specialize, making it hard to synthesize conclusions across a broad body of related research. Institutions such as the IPCC try to step in and play the role of collating knowledge, but these bodies tend to get bogged down with massive teams of co-authors, beset by political considerations that blunt their arguments.

This leaves a very important role for the science writer who can bring it all together and say, in direct and clear terms, what it all means, “to the best of our understanding”. Occasionally academics can do this effectively, but writers with a journalistic background who have truly done the work can be effective, and here David Wallace-Wells has done the best job of anyone I have read (eclipsing Elizabeth Kolbert) at getting to the brutal, devastating crux of the matter.

I have been listening to the audiobook over the past couple of weeks during my commute into New York City, and cannot shake the sensation, as I pass through a panorama of glass and steel buildings on my way to work, of being surrounded by ghosts–that this all may be emptied or destroyed in no more than a generation or two. This is, of course, imagery already captured effectively by Hollywood.

Is it possible that the author overstates the risks here — overly focusing on the most negative outcomes? On the whole, I find this to be a well-balanced work, and hardly the “propaganda” that some reviewers claim. However two points did occur to me that Wallace-Wells does not devote as much time to as I think he should. The first is a geographic reality: the fact that there is a lot of landmass in the upper latitudes of the northern hemisphere — Russia, Canada, Scandinavia and Greenland — that presumably will not be rendered uninhabitable by climate change and could potentially become much more habitable, with longer warm seasons and higher soil fertility. That fact does not preclude massive disruption and suffering, as relocating the mass of the world’s population is not easily done (and may not be possible at all) — but it is an element that the author should consider, and explore.

A second point is over the potential for technology to help in our dilemma. Wallace-Wells treats this “techno-saviorism” dismissively, and I think he is right to challenge the assumption that “technology will always bail us out.” Yes, this is far from certain, and indeed technology is in a sense the source of the very problem we face. But recent advances, for example, in carbon capture technology allowing carbon to be restored to solid form do provide some glimmer of a hope.  Yes, it is still far from being practical, but can we really dismiss the possibility that technology can ultimately prove transformational?”

Andrew Howell is a strategist at Citi Group in New York where he heads up the Frontier Markets group. He lives in Maplewood, NJ, with his wife, Karen, a public defender in Newark, and two or our four grandchildren.

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The Manafort sentencing last Thursday has gotten a lot of news coverage with many expressing outrage for the light sentence he received and others expressing support for him. Just like everything else at this time in our divided nation, the mood is split down the middle, sparking a national conversation about justice and fairness. Here is a conversation between two old friends overheard by our reporter at a diner in Washington on Saturday:

Con: Can you believe Manafort got off with less than four years?

Pro: Yes, it was a fair sentence. He made a few mistakes but worked hard and is not a danger to anyone. Besides, four years is a long time for someone who is 70. Big fine too. Plus he has got something wrong with his foot. Was in a wheelchair, I read in the news.

Con: Hey, he stole $55 million and cheated the IRS out of $6 million. Plus the recommended sentence was 19-25 years. He lied repeatedly to the Special Prosecutor.

Pro: Yeah, but the sentence he got is about average for an activity like this. The sentencing guidelines are excessive for someone like him who worked hard and was a very successful person, and who made a lot of money. I think the judge said something like, except for this, he lived an exemplary life.

Con: But that is the point. White collar criminals like Manafort get off with a slap on the wrist while poor people and people of color get long sentences for much less. 

Pro: The judge showed compassion. What Manafort did was a lot different than what the typical criminal does.

Con: It was the same judge who sentenced Congressman William Jefferson from Louisiana to 13 years for a similar, white collar crime, and he stole much less–only $100,000. Jefferson was black.

Pro: Race has nothing do to with it. You bleeding hearts always pull the race card.Jefferson deserved what he got. He was a scoundrel.

Con: What about the black guy that got a long sentence for stealing $100 from the laundry room or the African American lady who got five years for trying to vote with a criminal record, not knowing it was against the law? What about all the mandatory drug laws that lock people up for decades–a disproportionate number being people of color — for selling an illegal substance? And the fact that studies show blacks get 20% more time in jail than white people who commit the same crimes?

Pro: You know, what really pisses me off about you bleeding hearts is that you are always sticking up for a bunch of scoundrels– convicts, robbers, panhandlers, low-life types. Why don’t they just go out and get a job? If you ask me, it is their own fault and they get what they deserve. You make your bed, you lie in it.

Con: You don’t see any injustice in our society?

Pro: If you work hard and play by the rules, you get ahead. This is America, and I am proud to call myself an American. This is the American Way, land of the free. Opportunity for all. You work hard in legitimate, productive jobs. That is what successful people do. That is what I do and what you do. We don’t whine and complain and want a government handout. There are already too many handouts by the government, doing away with work incentives. That is the problem in America. Too many not willing to work. Welfare Queens. People who want a free ride. And, yes, a lot of them are black, so what does that tell you?

Con: Excuse me? I believe your parents were wealthy and sent you to a fancy prep school and an elite college.

Pro: Well? Yours did too.

Con: Wouldn’t you say that gave you–and me–a head start so to speak?

Pro: I did quite well in prep school and college, thank you. I did this on my own. My parents did not take any tests for me. And, yes, I make a lot of money. I work very hard for this money, and I also pay a lot of taxes. A lot of my taxes go to failed government programs that are supposed to help these poor people. Count the tax dollars. I am doing more than most; and besides, it is not my fault if people are poor. 

Con: It is not that poor people, black, brown and white, are not working. It is that they do not make a living wage. A lot of people work in service jobs in the Washington area for under $10/hour. Like dishwashers, housekeepers, food service workers, nursing assistants, day care workers and many more. And they work hard, often in thankless jobs, though these jobs are very important ones and make all our lives a bit easier. That comes to around $20,000/year. How does anyone live on that? Rents in even the worst neighborhoods in Washington start at around $1,000/month. Add to that the basics like food, clothing, transportation and health care. How do you expect them to get by?

Pro: Their problem, not mine. It is their own fault if they can’t figure it out, and do not give me all that BS about hardship. They should have studied harder in school, gone to college. If they can’t get by on one job, they should get a second job.

Con: Many already do work more than one job, and can you imagine the stress that puts on a family, especially a single parent family? 

Pro: Should never have had kids. Probably out of wedlock too. Whatever became of personal responsibility?

Con:And there are a lot of other obstacles–bad schools, lousy housing, dangerous neighborhoods, poor access to health care…

Pro: Please! Enough, enough. I see your point. I just don’t agree.

Con: We do not seem to be getting anywhere. We both are white, grew up in a wealthy suburb and were born into two-parent, loving families with plenty of money to get by. We went to good schools and got good educations. Because of our skin color, we have never had to experience discrimination. Yes, we have done well, but we have others to thank for that, not just ourselves. The deck is stacked against a lot of people in this country and not just African Americans, immigrants, and Latinos. A lot of white people are struggling too. I think that we all have a responsibility to level the playing field so that the American Dream is accessible to all.

Pro: This is something I totally agree with you on: you are right! We are not getting anywhere. And we probably never will.

Con: But we will remain friends, right?

Pro: Of course. Though I have got to say that differences like ours are ripping our country apart.

Con: And we haven’t even talked about Trump.

Pro: Thank God.

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We do not know how the Mueller investigation will turn out or if there is compelling evidence of collusion with Russia. We do not know whether it will even make a twit of difference with Republican senators whose votes will be needed to convict, following an impeachment vote by the House. We do not know what the attorneys of the Southern District of New York will come up with involving Trump’s overt criminal activity or whether compelling evidence will change one Republican vote required for impeachment or make one staunch member of Trump’s hallowed “base” abandon him. After all, following the televised Cohen testimony, Trump’s approval rating actually went up.

But what we do know is this: Trump is the worst president in the history of the Republic and the most dangerous. As long as he is president, we will be in deep trouble. We have got to replace him.

On come the Democrat contenders for 2020. As of today there are twelve who have officially declared, three more who have formed “exploratory committees,” and another six or seven who are likely to throw their hats in the ring. During the course of the next 12 months, we could be faced with having to choose the best candidate among 20 or so contenders. How do we choose? How do we know who will be best? Will it make a difference? 

The answer is simple: we need the candidate who has the best chance of beating Trump. And make no mistake. Electing a Democrat is far from a shoe-in. Trump starts off with at least 40 percent of the vote. If the election were an up or down vote, Trump would lose. A solid majority of voters detest him. But that is not the way it works. It will be a choice between two candidates, Trump versus someone else. The “someone else” makes all the difference. We surely learned this in 2016. The stakes could not be higher.

Much is being made about the new, far left progressives, who are transforming the Democratic party and moving the bar in their direction. If you know me, you know that I am a quintessential, bleeding heart Democrat. I go along with most of   the ‘’’socialist” stuff that Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and some of the others are promoting—affordable health care for all, more income equality, higher taxes on the rich, a guaranteed living wage, fairer elections, affordable housing, welcoming immigrants, and a much stronger safety net. To nominate someone who could be readily labeled “a socialist” by the Republicans, however, would be a disaster. We would lose. Democrats must nominate a center-left candidate, if we have any chance of dethroning the orange-haired-narcissist called Trump. We have got to appeal to the Independent moderates, disillusioned, traditional Republicans, and suburban, formerly Republican, women, all of whom  helped deliver the House to the Democrats in 2018.

Enter Jay Inslee. Now I had never heard of this guy until   a few weeks ago. He is the governor of the State of Washington now serving a second term and a former congressman. Last week a good, very progressive, far left, friend who is now an Inslee supporter, sent a link to an interview with him by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. I was blown away. Here is the link (It may take two clicks to work):

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/inslee-builds-2020-presidential-campaign-on-climate-change-agenda-1452125763516

Now I know that we are still a year away from the first primary and a lot of water will flow under the bridge between now and then, but the interview with Maddow gave me a flicker of hope. He could be the candidate we need to beat Trump.

What appealed to me most about Inslee besides his  progressive record, his strong experience in actually governing, and his popularity in his state with both parties , is his message about climate change. 

Hello! Come on, people, this is the elephant in the room, the one, over-riding issue of our time. We are only talking about the survival of the planet Earth, as we know it. Yes, the issues of more equality, fairness, and a better safety net are important, but everything pales when compared to the climate change issue. 

The ironic thing is that Inslee is being written off by most pundits as an also-ran because of his low visibility on a national scale and the fact that he is a one-issue candidate. The Maddow interview shows that he is more than a one-issue candidate. His track record in Washington State is very impressive from a progressive perspective, but he has got his basic message exactly where it should be: Wake up, America, the time frame we have for averting world-wide catastrophe is very short! Every day that passes that we do not take the lead in aggressively tackling this issue is a day lost. 

Scientists tell us that at some point in the relatively near future, we may find ourselves on a pathway of no return. All it will take is the melting of the Greenland ice cap or the Antarctic ice pack or a combination of other factors like less snow to reflect heat from the sun. We will then be en route to a 20-30  foot rise in sea levels, more droughts, wild fires, mega storms, and  massive human displacement; and there will be nothing we can do about it. No one knows when the irreversible tipping point will be triggered. Some scientists say by mid century if we do not take significant action now. Sure, actual doomsday may not happen until a century or so from now, and it probably will happen slowly. But unless we humans on the planet Earth change our behavior and reliance on fossil fuels, many experts believe doomsday is inevitable. Read The Uninhabitable Earth, a new book by David Wallace-Wells. If this does not scare the bejesus out of you, nothing will.

There is hope, however. Our son-in-law, Peter  Ellis, is a scientist at the Nature Conservancy and an expert on climate change, particularly issues related to trees and forestation. He firmly believes that we now have the knowledge and technology to slow down the increase of carbon in the atmosphere by moving away aggressively from fossil fuels to solar, wind power, nuclear, and geothermal energy. This action, along with forest preservation and better practices for harvesting trees, could buy time for us humans on Earth to figure out and implement a lasting solution to the human causes of global warming.  It is not a technological challenge but rather a political one.

Skeptics point out that the United States is just one country and that it will require a world-wide effort with China and India, among others, as equal partners, which they believe is a pipe dream. This implies an attitude of hopeless surrender. Just let the chips fall. Besides, they point out, we will all be dead by then anyway. Why bother? 

But what about our grandchildren, great grandchildren and their children?

Inslee does not believe that failure and hopelessness are foregone conclusions. Look at the interview. He is an  optimist and a fighter. He may not stand a chance, but let’s hope he hangs in there and continues to remind us of the elephant in the room. He now is my candidate though I realize that it is very early in the nominating process and the winnowing down has not yet even started. If Trump is able to remain in power for six more years, God help us all. Inslee could be our ticket for assuring this will not happen. Six more years of Trump, the climate change denier-in chief, would hasten our demise. The stakes have never been higher.

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Disappearing like thieves in the night, our Afghan/Iranian refugee family is gone. Off to Columbus, Ohio. Greener pastures. Hope for a better future.

Last week, Embry spent a day with them helping them cram the last few pieces of furniture and assorted stuff into their car and rental truck, which towed the car the next day all the way to Columbus. The wife and two kids rode in the towed car while her husband drove the truck. The evening before, our daughter, Jessica, and husband, Peter, hosted a neighborhood goodbye party at their house attended by 25 or 30 people, with great food, toasts, speeches, hugs (no hugs by men with the mother, of course), and a few tears. Pure Americana 2019, I thought as I looked around and saw a mix of people with various shades of skin color and a broad range of ages. Another immigrant family from Mexico/Honduras was there as well with their seven-year-old son. The father, a DACA recipient, has built up a very successful business as a builder/contractor, and they are now pillars of this mixed race/income community.

Only in America, I thought. As bad as things are at the national level in the Era of Trump, on the ground in neighborhoods all across America, immigrants and refugees are accepted and welcomed and become  “ordinary Americans.” This is who we are– a nation of immigrants, of people who took great risks and pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps against almost insurmountable odds. 

Consider this refugee family. They moved into Jessica and Peter’s basement apartment about two years ago with not much more than what they were wearing. The father fled years ago from death threats by the Taliban, ending up in Iran, where he married his now wife. Two years later they both escaped death threats again, this time from his wife’s irate father. With a toddler in tow they hiked for several days climbing mountains and crossing streams ending up in Turkey where they spent five years in internment camps and temporary housing before they gained official UN refugee status and were awarded a coveted refugee visa. Then they finally ended up in the Promised Land, speaking almost no English, having few skills, and knowing no one. 

And it turns out the Promised Land is not all milk and honey. The refugee agencies help a little by providing a small, temporary stipend, Medicaid, and hand holding, but it is still up to the refugees to figure things out, to get a job that pays enough money to cover rent and the basics, to get their kids in school, to learn a new language, to find a doctor, and to make friends—in other words to start a new life. Much credit goes to our daughter’s family and to Embry for stepping up to the plate. Were it not for them, and others like them providing a helping hand for other refugee families, I do not see how they–or any refugee family without the ability to read or write English, with minimal education, and few job skills–could have made it. But this is America, and we Americans do step up. In neighborhoods throughout the country this is happening despite what we hear from the White House.

Of course, a successful resettlement ultimately depends most on the refugee family. This is what this family has accomplished during their first two years here: Husband and wife have both gotten driver’s licenses, and both now drive. They acquired two cars, one a brand new SUV. The other, a gift from our church, they just sold for $800 before they left. Within a few weeks after their arrival the father landed a job without help from anyone as a welder paying $14/hour with lots of overtime. A year ago they found and moved into a new, larger apartment on their own and have a wide screen TV that is almost the size of the wall it is mounted on. The mother has made additional income by cooking for others, house cleaning and chauffeuring another Afghan child to and from school. Their two girls are in school and preschool. They have made friends. They have paid their bills (with Embry’s help doing the paper work.) They have been to the doctor many times and appear to have gotten their health problems addressed—and there are many. The most important was getting the father’s eyesight restored in one eye with a special contact lens. This all happened because the Wilmer Eye Clinic at John Hopkins Medical Center is the best in the world and happens to be only an hour’s drive away. And now they have moved to Columbus where they have a better apartment for lower rent in a nicer neighborhood and where the father now has his dream job, a driver of big trucks transporting goods across the country. 

The two years have not been easy, for them or for us, but the progress they have made is, in my view, remarkable. Others who know more than I do about immigrants and refugees would probably say their story is pretty typical. Their grit and determination are beyond anything I have ever seen. They simply refuse to take no for an answer and charge ahead, let the rules be damned. I never thought that they would get a drivers license, that they would qualify financially for a larger, more expensive apartment, that the father also would get a commercial  drivers license permitting him to become a truck driver, or that he would quickly land a job as a trucker. But they set their eye on a goal and go for it, kind of like the proverbial junkyard dog that hangs onto your leg and does not let go until he gets his bone.

Is all going to be well in Columbus? Of course not. They know people there, so hopefully that will help with the transition, but still it will be hard. That is the way it is with first generation immigrants and refugees. It is never going to be easy. The parents really need to improve their English. Doing routine paper work and paying bills will be a challenge. They have to find new doctors. There are already desperate text messages from the mother about needing help enrolling their kids in school. (We have contacted four churches in the area with pleas for assistance but have not been able to get any of them to call back or email.) But will they get through this next challenge? Of course they will. Their grit, courage and determination will get them through it.

Before we had actually met the family, we asked Josie, our 10-year old granddaughter, how it was going with the refugee family living in their basement apartment. She said with a twinkle in her eye, “Well, we love them, but they’re a handful!”

Yes, a handful, but we will miss them and wish them well on the next leg of their American journey.

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In a hastily called rally in the  small hamlet of Jefferson Davis, Alabama, Trump held a nationally televised rally,  packed with 20,000 supporters, all jammed into  a high school basketball gymnasium designed to hold only 500 people. Tens of  thousands of other supporters waited in line outside in the rain. His supporters, all sporting new, red baseball caps with the words “WALL NOW” inscribed on the front, screamed and hollered at every word. At multiple times the National Guard had to be brought in to restore order.

As the president took the podium, more than two hours were required to bring order to the event, forcing television stations throughout the country to run continuous commercials of Viagra and Bud Light. Here is the exact transcription of what the president said during his brief appearance:

“Friends and supporters and those who love and respect law and order, who hate immigrants, and most of all who love me, thank you for your support.”

Another pause of 16 minutes while the crowd goes wild.

“I am pleased to say I have accomplished more today  than any human in the history of the world has accomplished. Everyone combined. I have stopped the greatest, Emergency Crisis the world has ever known or will know, and I have done it on my own without any help from anyone, least of all the Democratic controlled House. I have stopped the massive invasion of the United States by marauding bands of rapists, murderers, robbers, drug dealers, and known terrorists whose only goal is to take over and destroy the United States. I have overruled the Democrats, the weaklings and cowards, who are a disgrace to the country, and I have started the Wall I promised you. It is happening now!”

More cheers lasting 23 minutes requiring National Guard intervention.

“Now that I have started the Wall with  billions I am taking from wasteful and unnecessary programs like the military and disaster relief, we are now safe. The world is safe.” 

More cheers

“Now that the Wall  construction has begun, this concrete, massive, beautiful, gigantic, incredible structure, it will be completed in record time. And it will be beautiful and high. Maybe 20-30 stories, and no one will get through. Ever. There will be no doors. I am sending 250,000 troops, whom I am removing from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and other shithole countries and putting them on the job. It will be finished so soon and so quickly, and it will be so beautiful. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day but soon, very soon. Incredibly soon and beautiful. And if the 250,000 soldiers can’t get the job done, I will bring in more from other shithole countries. There are a lot of shithole countries where we do not belong. Take Germany for instance. Enemy. Merkel is a dog face. We don’t need troops there or anywhere in Europe to defend us from our friend and ally, Russia. I don’t know if we have any troops in England, but if we do, I will remove them. May is another dog face.

“And I want to thank my faithful Republican friends in the Senate for standing behind me and supporting my actions. They are the greatest. And as for the few Republican defectors, you are history. We will destroy you in the primaries. You might as well quit now like the flake Flake, and the midget, peanut brain, Corker. You defectors are toast.

More cheers

“Now some traitor Democrats have talked about taking my action to the courts. “

Boos continue for 17 minutes before order is restored.

“This will never happen. Won’t happen. When it gets to the Supreme Court, I’ve got five votes in my pocket and everyone knows that. I own them. Whatever legal action I want, I get and it makes no difference what the Democrats do.”

More cheers. Trump asks for quiet.

Now what the American people need to know is that this is not the only national emergency we face right now. There are many others. Take the so called “Dreamers” who came here illegally and were given a reprieve by the Fake President Obama, who was not even born in this country. They too are trying to destroy our country and take it over . We know who they are and where they live. Low hanging fruit. Get ‘em. 

Audience goes crazy.

And there  are a lot more of these lowlifes, almost  20 million illegal immigrants. Now I know that some say only 11 million, but I know there are 20 million, and until each and every one is locked up and put in jail, America won’t be safe. We will continue to be in a state of National Emergency unlike anything the world has seen, and it is going to stay that way until all these no good , illegal immigrants  are out of the country or locked up. All of them. That is why I am recalling almost all of our military who are wasting their time overseas in shithole countries supposedly defending our country against a friend like Russia or North Korea. They will return home, build new prisons,  and lock these people up. I am  transferring another $500 billion from worthless agencies like EPA, HHS, and HUD for this purpose. In fact because of the emergency I am closing them down.” 

More cheers

So this is a great day for America and a great day for me, the greatest president of the United States, ever. I will fight and fight and fight until all national emergencies are over, and that is likely to take a very long, long time.

Thank you. 

Joyous bedlam erupts. Chants of “lock her up, lock her up, lock her up.” National Guard moves in.

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