Amateur Hour

 Revelations about the use of the Signal chat app by Hegseth and other high-level security officials is a good example of what results from putting unqualified people into positions of authority over critical missions.

Trump characterized the incident as a "glitch".  What happens when a similar glitch shows up in the management of nuclear weapons during a crisis?

What other insecure and unauthorized platforms are used by the people involved in the Signal incident?

What was the purpose behind inviting the Editor of The Atlantic magazine to join the conversation on Signal?

There are a lot of questions that need answers.

For an overview of the incident see the opinion piece in the NY Times by former JAG lawyer David French, The Worst Part of Pete Hegseth’s Group Chat Debacle.

Barbra

I had scanned the books in half a dozen library aisles when I was surprised to come across Barbra Streisand's autobiography, My Name is Barbra. I had read a couple reviews, so I decided to check out the book.

I remember when I first became aware of Barbra Streisand's appearance in the media in 1960s New York.  My girlfriend at the time - also born with the name Barbara and also from Brooklyn - dismissed Streisand as just another singer among many ambitious little Jewish girls from Brooklyn at the time.  That turned out to be quite an underestimation.

I was never a fan of the kind of Broadway-style songs that Streisand favored and being essentially amusical I found it easy to ignore her career for sixty years until I came across her book. After reading the book I now count myself a fan, more for her writing than her singing perhaps, though I have now taken the time to actually see and appreciate some of her performances online.

In the book's 970 pages Streisand tells a really captivating story of talent, crativity and tenacity, and she does so with a very east-to-read, conversational writing style. She spent ten years pulling together the story from her journals, detailing her early successes as a singer and the achievement of her dream of becoming an actor, and then moving on to being a writer, producer and director of films.  Along the way she meets and often works with every famous person you ever heard of.

Among the performances I found on Youtube, the one I liked best was from the live concert in Anaheim in July 1994. In that she sings many of the songs she talks about in her book.

Misguided Liberties

 I saw recently that The Nation has brought a new voice to its lineup of columnists, that of Zephyr Teachout.  Her most recent column asserts convincingly that "America Needs a New Free Speech Movement".  In the process of that article she presents some relevant omissions in the '60's understanding of the issues as well as some misguided policies of the American Civil Liberties Union, which I formerly supported without reservations.

For instance, she points out that the ACLU "has repeatedly filed briefs on behalf of Big Tech, defending Silicon Valley’s freedom to act as unaccountable monopolists, claiming that the state has no right to regulate the design of big tech, even if that regulation would make it more content-neutral."

Even more shocking to me: The ACLU "was also a strong supporter of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, filing a brief stating that corporations should have the right to spend unlimited money in elections."  That is certainly out of step with an informed understanding of the roll of money in politics, and a guarantee that the ACLU will get no more support from me in the absence of a clear course correction.

Nature

   The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is just a couple blocks from our house in Albuquerque.  I go there often on Wednesdays as admission is free then for old guys.  There is quite a variety of exhibits and programs including a celestial observatory.  I always stop by the windowed workshop where the preparators are patiently chipping away rock to reveal the fossilized remains of ancient creatures. 

Another favorite stop is the room devoted to small native animals including live snakes, fish,spiders,and turtles, some of which can be handled by visitors with the help of museum volunteers.

Cate and a beaver

    For several months a sign on the door says that the live animal facility is "temporarily closed".  The room lights are off, but it appears the animal exhibits are being maintained.  I suspect the delay in reopening the live animal exhibit is due to the need to devote a large amount of resources to a new chronologically organized exhibit of fossils found in New Mexico.  Also, the biologist who oversaw the live exhibit retired some time ago and has not been replaced.

    All of the above suggests to me that there is a need to review the priorities of the State-owned institution.  The space devoted to fossils, geology and space exploration dwarfs the size of the exhibit of present day animal life, which to me really seems a more important educational component of natural history. The emphasis on exhibits featuring dinosaurs very likely is important in attracting children and their parents to the museum, but the overwhelming space devoted to that subject may have less to do with educational value and more to do with commercially based values in our society. That idea was suggested to me recently by an article in The Guardian by Isabel Losada, Enough with unicorns and dinosaurs – show children the magic of real, living animals instead.

Nothing New

 Trump spent nearly two hours going through his usual list of lies and distortions.  He provided no coherent plan for changing -- let alone bettering -- the economy. The stories he made up about Social Security fraud were preposterous.  He had nothing new to say about Gaza or Ukraine; which is not surprising as his recent initiatives have gone nowhere.

The biggest  howler: Trumps dramatic assertion that the era of unelected bureaucrats running the government is over, as Musk smirked from the balcony.

Trump's purpose in proposing massive tariffs has no real economic intent, but rather is aimed at creating opportunities to extract random concessions from foreign leaders which he can then claim as some kind of victory, even though the net economic effects will be negative.

See the Jacobin dissection of Trump's speech and the Democrats' response:

In Responding to Trump’s Speech, Democrats Tacked Right

See Bernie's response to Trump's speech to Congress:

Bernie Responds to Trump’s State of the Union Address

FEALTY Definition & Meaning...

a: the fidelity of a vassal or feudal tenant to his lord 

b: the obligation of such fidelity 

The vassal vowed fealty to the king.

- Merriam-Webster

Trump and Vance berated Zelenskyy in today's Whitehouse meeting because he was not exhibiting the proper amount of deference or fealty to his benefactors.  It did not seem like that was a pre-planned reaction.  It seemed like Trump was just stumbling around in his objections to having his buddy Putin characterized as an untrustworthy participant in negotiations. Vance jumped in to smooth over Trump's inarticulate sputtering.  Lost in the exchange was Trump's own objective of the meeting to establish an agreement over control of Ukrainian mineral resources as a condition of some continued support for Ukraine.

Migration As An Economic Stimulant

 U.S. border policies and their enforcement are almost wholly based on the ideas that migrants are a threat to safety and economic prosperity.  I don't expect any near-term changes in either those policies or their underlying attitudes.  However, not every country is dominated by such distortions, and it is possible to see alternatives in action elsewhere.

Spain, for instance, is outpacing the rest of Europe in regard to GDP growth, largely thanks to a thriving tourist industry staffed mostly with recent migrants to the country.  The migrants' entry into the workforce is facilitated by supportive housing and training services such as language instruction. The result has been that Spain's economic growth now exceeds that of Germany, France, Italy and England, and unemployment has fallen to its lowest level since 2008.

All of the above is nicely explained in a recent Guardian article, How Spain’s radically different approach to migration helped its economy soar.