User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
If A Tree Can Survive, So Can We
Surviving Tree, 9/11 Memorial, NYC (8/19/2019)
Author: craigcrawford
Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.
View all posts by craigcrawford
President Trump’s online insults directed at me on Monday were predictable after I publicly said that he’s unfit for office. The tenor of his abuse only reinforces my thinking: I can no longer in good conscience support the president’s reelection.
This isn’t a Road to Damascus moment; my concerns have been building publicly for a while. And I’m not seeking absolution. I just want to be part of the solution. The negatives of Trump’s demagoguery now clearly outweigh the positives of his leadership, and it is imperative that Americans unite to prevent him from serving another four years in office.
[…]
While it’s difficult and embarrassing to admit my errors in judgment, I believe I still have the ability to make amends.
I’ve been accused of turning on Trump only because he turned on me. If that were the case, the time to be vindictive would have been after I agreed to sell my company to serve in the administration, only to be used as a hatchet man and then summarily fired after 11 days as White House communications director simply because I used naughty words to tell a reporter, whom I had mistakenly trusted, the truth about bad people.
I broke from Trump because not only has his behavior become more erratic and his rhetoric more inflammatory, but also because, like all demagogues, he is incapable of handling constructive criticism. As we lie on the bed of nails Trump has made, it’s often difficult to see how much the paradigm of acceptable conduct has shifted. For the Republican Party, it’s now a question of whether we want to start cleaning up the mess or continue papering over the cracks.
I challenge my fellow Republicans to summon the nerve to speak out on the record against Trump. Defy the culture of fear he has created, and go public with the concerns you readily express in private. Hold on to your patriotism, and help save the country from his depredations. And to members of the so-called resistance, please leave room on the off-ramp for those willing to admit their mistakes.
My personal odyssey took longer than it should have, but I’m not concerned with being on the right side of history — I’m determined to ensure that good people are the ones who end up writing it.
before you begin bashing the above, think of it as a first step, a tiny hint of a turnover and remember desmond tutu’s words on reconciliation:
Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.
and
True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know.
Jamie, a mighty protest poster indeed. I hope it begets many more posters like it across the nation and especially in the halls of critterville, particularly outside mitch’s door.
In the late 1940s the perceived threat of bombers attacking from the Soviet Union was so real that Nike missile bases were built around our key cities. There was a massive air-raid siren erected atop the elementary school that I attended. At the hint of an attack, little children marched themselves to the wall of the nearest inside hallway then crouched down, head towards the wall, and arms folded to protect their neck. If there was any thought of cost, it didn’t make our newspapers.
We can protect the hallways of our schools against the threats that now exist. Spend the damned money.
We can ban the combat-style automatic weapons carried by the kooks. Damn the Republican leadership, do it.
These remedial steps to protect our society from nuts bearing sophisticated military-style weapons need not infringe on the 2nd Amendment rights that I enjoy.
Screw the NRA
“We need to be able to hurl our spears while remaining further away from the beast.”
The first step was “sharpen the end of your club.” Then came “We need longer clubs.”
Of course it survived, it is a cockroach pretending to be a tree. Missouri has them on it’s list of invasive species
BTW that tree is ready for the next heavy snow storm at which time it will split and break apart but don’t worry it will comeback from the stump.
Bradfords are beautiful spring trees they just don’t stay that way.
Jack
On gun ownership, I think we need to change our terminology. After all the “ban” on assault rifles was never a ban on those rifles it was just a halt to importation and production.
Maybe it is time to talk about regulation and what proper regulation should looks like.
Regulation is part of the second amendment too and if we don’t start pushing it out in the for front the current Supreme court could just make it disappear.
Jack
Sturge
They are just lucky New York is too far north for mimosas. Not only would they have the tree but back where they left roots in the ground more trees would be breaking through the concrete. I got rid of one that grew up in the fence by diligently digging it up for several years and I never found a brush killer that worked. Tordon a stump treatment that kills everything didn’t even slow it down.
Jack
Mimosas…..oy, dun get me stahted
they love to grow where the lines run out from the septic tank…..they are evil. Lucky for me I no longer have to deal with trees and grass and all that other flora crap.
they’re already there and it’s only a matter of time, jack, before the kudzu, armadillos and fire ants join them in a glass or two. if they haven’t already. sainte, prost, skal and cheers!
oh, the tree kind? they’re here in KY in all their glory. and there and there and probably there…
This kind of misses the point, but we get lots of different volunteers up here – maples & yellow poplars in our yard mostly. And some woody weeds I couldn’t begin to identify – trash trees is what I call them. Can’t stand the damn things.
Pogo
I love the soft maples that send down millions of the helicopters seeds so that when you are slow cleaning the gutters out you look up and see million tree forest growing in the gutters.
Truth is any flowering tree is 99% of the time a weed, it is that other 1% that we want. Also the only trees you can plant that aren’t weeds won’t grow past head high in your lifetime or so it seems.
I’ve been thinking a lot about trees for the park. We need some fast growing trees to provide shade but I want some grand slow growing trees that someone a 100 years from now will admire and love. We have a local park over in what we call Old Northeast that is over 100 years old. It has some great massive burr oaks. The limbs are as big around as some trees. Burr Oaks have an acorn the size of a tennis ball. That is what I want my legacy to be.
Jack
Ya know there is something to be said about winter. Down in southern Florida I saw some of my potted plants that were taking over whole forests.
Here we have bush honey suckle that has take over the wooded areas of out parks and green spaces. It is aggressive hard to kill and shades out all native species. Nothing grows under it. When you cut it and chop the root out it takes several years for the area to recover. One of the worst imported invasive species we have around here.
Jack
Every once in a while you will see some no nothing NRA person posting a picture in praise of two Swiss girls bicycling with assault rifles on their backs. They would come totally unglued if they had to follow Swiss laws to keep their guns.
Jack, my dad would agree but he never would chop that bastard down. It’s probably still there in a little grove of silver leaf maples. I’ll look next time I’m over there.
Jamie
True, Those girls have to account for every bullet they own. The swiss are gun owners but highly regulated. They also have the highest rate of gun death in Europe. Fact is, it is the guns.
Jack
ha, I thought survivor tree deserved some respect. The sunlight and rainbow in my pic is nifty. Train home was late last night, so late there were no cabs and metro was closed. Thanks to Uber we weren’t stranded. Amtrak is a mess, but we knew that already.
It is a felony to carry a loaded gun in public. All guns must be registered. Strict background checks and paperwork. Required male military or civilian service (women can volunteer). Plus lots of other bells and whistles just to keep the gun. Their homicide death rate is .50 per 100,000 as opposed to 94 per 100,000 in US. The accidental and suicide rate in US is much, much higher.
while you guys are trashing trash trees, consider this:
“On average, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four.” —Canada’s environmental agency, Environment Canada.
I had a couple of big old silver maples. They were wonderful trees, ‘cuz they kept dropping chunks of firewood, without my having to climb and prune, every time there was a rainstorm. They also had lots of holes for owls, wrens, swifts, and such. The nuthatchs were constantly cruising down the trunk, meeting brown creepers on the way up. They were truly giving trees.
I have a wonderful variety of trees–dozens of them. And, because we made Kumcho’s woods a bonafide habitat, we cut and trim virtually nothing unless a hazard is presented. Varieties you ask? Hickory, Birch, Pine, Oak, Maple and funny looking things.
Shortly after we moved here (in Dec, 97) we planted several apple trees around the house. We weren’t surprised when they didn’t work out. The real treasure is the willow oak that we purchased at the PX in ’99. It is in our side yard close to the street. It is now about 50+ feet tall and wonderfully symetrical. In front of the house we have a flowering cherry, flowering dogwood, and two Korean maples along with marvelous flower beds. I never complain about cutting the grass.
Wind broke one of our silver maples. It landed on the roof. Insurance adjuster was there instantly and quite fair. He saw the array of equipment and workers that responded to the incident; he was impressed. All-in-all, South Carolina, except for being incredibly lonely without my irreplaceable Kumcho, has been remarkably nice; we made a good choice.
Speaking of cherries, the trees behind us have a lot of fruit ripening, and robins, orioles, catbirds, blue jays, and vireos trying their best to prevent them from getting too ripe.
A thought about planting trees and things. If it is a civic associated thing, check with the various universities and research groups bringing disease and pest resistant species to the public. You might only get one or two trees, but it would be worth it to repopulate the lands. The spaces where hickories and elms of old used to live need replacing.
And in a different . . .
I see the low intelligence, some say syphilitic, SFB is floating a “tax cut” for wage earners. The greedy old perverts are going to cut all taxes and there will be nothing to pay the debts. Hopefully, Speaker Pelosi will take action.
Fortunately, tax bills begin in the House.
I propose an FICA that takes 6% from every non-welfare $ made from every source, including capital gains. This would lower FICA for the great majority of people, while raising money from everyone getting more than $250K per years.
Today I visited my local social security office. First of all they search you. Then on the screen announcing which number they are serving – they keep saying it’s a felony to attack a federal worker.
I was there because I need a copy of my social security card for California’s real id. The soc sec web site says you need your birth certificate. Which was a big giant pain in the ass to get. But it turns out I didn’t need it. I can see why people resort to violence
pogo & X-R, the twit himself is wallowing in anti-semitism according to this in the guardian:
“Where has the Democratic party gone?” Trump asked reporters at the White House. He then went on to apparently refer to Jewish Americans’ supposed loyalties to Israel and how voting Democratic was disloyal to the country. “Where have they gone, where they’re defending these two people over the state of Israel? And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
Accusing Jewish Americans of having dual loyalties to America and Israel is widely seen as an antisemitic trope.
Omar herself has faced accusations of antisemitism for raising the issue of Jewish Americans’ relations to Israel as a dual loyalty.
survivor tree: “what do you mean WE, you oxygen breathing bipeds?”
wapo op ed today by the mooch:
before you begin bashing the above, think of it as a first step, a tiny hint of a turnover and remember desmond tutu’s words on reconciliation:
Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.
and
True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Now this is a protest sign
Jamie, a mighty protest poster indeed. I hope it begets many more posters like it across the nation and especially in the halls of critterville, particularly outside mitch’s door.
In the late 1940s the perceived threat of bombers attacking from the Soviet Union was so real that Nike missile bases were built around our key cities. There was a massive air-raid siren erected atop the elementary school that I attended. At the hint of an attack, little children marched themselves to the wall of the nearest inside hallway then crouched down, head towards the wall, and arms folded to protect their neck. If there was any thought of cost, it didn’t make our newspapers.
We can protect the hallways of our schools against the threats that now exist. Spend the damned money.
We can ban the combat-style automatic weapons carried by the kooks. Damn the Republican leadership, do it.
These remedial steps to protect our society from nuts bearing sophisticated military-style weapons need not infringe on the 2nd Amendment rights that I enjoy.
Screw the NRA
It can be done, because it has been done. Try to purchase a Tommy Gun, for instance. Or saw off your shotgun and carry it around in public.
“We need to be able to hurl our spears while remaining further away from the beast.”
The first step was “sharpen the end of your club.” Then came “We need longer clubs.”
Of course it survived, it is a cockroach pretending to be a tree. Missouri has them on it’s list of invasive species
BTW that tree is ready for the next heavy snow storm at which time it will split and break apart but don’t worry it will comeback from the stump.
Bradfords are beautiful spring trees they just don’t stay that way.
Jack
Yeah, just try and kill a sycamore.
On gun ownership, I think we need to change our terminology. After all the “ban” on assault rifles was never a ban on those rifles it was just a halt to importation and production.
Maybe it is time to talk about regulation and what proper regulation should looks like.
Regulation is part of the second amendment too and if we don’t start pushing it out in the for front the current Supreme court could just make it disappear.
Jack
Sturge
They are just lucky New York is too far north for mimosas. Not only would they have the tree but back where they left roots in the ground more trees would be breaking through the concrete. I got rid of one that grew up in the fence by diligently digging it up for several years and I never found a brush killer that worked. Tordon a stump treatment that kills everything didn’t even slow it down.
Jack
Mimosas…..oy, dun get me stahted
they love to grow where the lines run out from the septic tank…..they are evil. Lucky for me I no longer have to deal with trees and grass and all that other flora crap.
Not to bad-rap those hard working little Hondurians, but these folks make a mighty nice hammock.
https://pawleysislandhammocks.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwtO7qBRBQEiwAl5WC25_eXSWK0ppLXA3jsAjTzqwj73T4LK_QRWu0Cxa0PWtnvSrxBSg7FRoCQVMQAvD_BwE
Some days I think Monty Python explains it all.
they’re already there and it’s only a matter of time, jack, before the kudzu, armadillos and fire ants join them in a glass or two. if they haven’t already. sainte, prost, skal and cheers!
oh, the tree kind? they’re here in KY in all their glory. and there and there and probably there…
Haha…..Brian ……always reminds me of Bob Dylan trying to escape the Folkies.
This kind of misses the point, but we get lots of different volunteers up here – maples & yellow poplars in our yard mostly. And some woody weeds I couldn’t begin to identify – trash trees is what I call them. Can’t stand the damn things.
By golly, Jack… I think you’ve nailed it! The masses will believe anything…. and if there is no “explanation”, they’ll just make one up.
Silver leaf maple……a most tenacious predator. One tough customer.
Pogo
I love the soft maples that send down millions of the helicopters seeds so that when you are slow cleaning the gutters out you look up and see million tree forest growing in the gutters.
Truth is any flowering tree is 99% of the time a weed, it is that other 1% that we want. Also the only trees you can plant that aren’t weeds won’t grow past head high in your lifetime or so it seems.
I’ve been thinking a lot about trees for the park. We need some fast growing trees to provide shade but I want some grand slow growing trees that someone a 100 years from now will admire and love. We have a local park over in what we call Old Northeast that is over 100 years old. It has some great massive burr oaks. The limbs are as big around as some trees. Burr Oaks have an acorn the size of a tennis ball. That is what I want my legacy to be.
Jack
Sturge
That has to be the most useless tree there is.
Jack
Renee
That is such a pessimistic take on mankind. But given the times…….
Jack
Ya know there is something to be said about winter. Down in southern Florida I saw some of my potted plants that were taking over whole forests.
Here we have bush honey suckle that has take over the wooded areas of out parks and green spaces. It is aggressive hard to kill and shades out all native species. Nothing grows under it. When you cut it and chop the root out it takes several years for the area to recover. One of the worst imported invasive species we have around here.
Jack
Every once in a while you will see some no nothing NRA person posting a picture in praise of two Swiss girls bicycling with assault rifles on their backs. They would come totally unglued if they had to follow Swiss laws to keep their guns.
OK I’m in a chatty mood it seems, time to take a break and let the rest of you catch up };-0
Jack
Jack, my dad would agree but he never would chop that bastard down. It’s probably still there in a little grove of silver leaf maples. I’ll look next time I’m over there.
Jamie
True, Those girls have to account for every bullet they own. The swiss are gun owners but highly regulated. They also have the highest rate of gun death in Europe. Fact is, it is the guns.
Jack
ha, I thought survivor tree deserved some respect. The sunlight and rainbow in my pic is nifty. Train home was late last night, so late there were no cabs and metro was closed. Thanks to Uber we weren’t stranded. Amtrak is a mess, but we knew that already.
Jack
It is a felony to carry a loaded gun in public. All guns must be registered. Strict background checks and paperwork. Required male military or civilian service (women can volunteer). Plus lots of other bells and whistles just to keep the gun. Their homicide death rate is .50 per 100,000 as opposed to 94 per 100,000 in US. The accidental and suicide rate in US is much, much higher.
Qualifiers for the September Democratic Debates. Thos who haven’t qualified have 8 more days to make it happen.
Cherry trees grow quickly, Jack, although they’re somewhat sensitive to disease.
while you guys are trashing trash trees, consider this:
“On average, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four.” —Canada’s environmental agency, Environment Canada.
I had a couple of big old silver maples. They were wonderful trees, ‘cuz they kept dropping chunks of firewood, without my having to climb and prune, every time there was a rainstorm. They also had lots of holes for owls, wrens, swifts, and such. The nuthatchs were constantly cruising down the trunk, meeting brown creepers on the way up. They were truly giving trees.
Oh, and they were great for smoking beef and lamb, too. Yum.
I have a wonderful variety of trees–dozens of them. And, because we made Kumcho’s woods a bonafide habitat, we cut and trim virtually nothing unless a hazard is presented. Varieties you ask? Hickory, Birch, Pine, Oak, Maple and funny looking things.
Shortly after we moved here (in Dec, 97) we planted several apple trees around the house. We weren’t surprised when they didn’t work out. The real treasure is the willow oak that we purchased at the PX in ’99. It is in our side yard close to the street. It is now about 50+ feet tall and wonderfully symetrical. In front of the house we have a flowering cherry, flowering dogwood, and two Korean maples along with marvelous flower beds. I never complain about cutting the grass.
Wind broke one of our silver maples. It landed on the roof. Insurance adjuster was there instantly and quite fair. He saw the array of equipment and workers that responded to the incident; he was impressed. All-in-all, South Carolina, except for being incredibly lonely without my irreplaceable Kumcho, has been remarkably nice; we made a good choice.
SC was lucky to get you two, Mr Flatus.
Speaking of cherries, the trees behind us have a lot of fruit ripening, and robins, orioles, catbirds, blue jays, and vireos trying their best to prevent them from getting too ripe.
A thought about planting trees and things. If it is a civic associated thing, check with the various universities and research groups bringing disease and pest resistant species to the public. You might only get one or two trees, but it would be worth it to repopulate the lands. The spaces where hickories and elms of old used to live need replacing.
And in a different . . .
I see the low intelligence, some say syphilitic, SFB is floating a “tax cut” for wage earners. The greedy old perverts are going to cut all taxes and there will be nothing to pay the debts. Hopefully, Speaker Pelosi will take action.
Fortunately, tax bills begin in the House.
I propose an FICA that takes 6% from every non-welfare $ made from every source, including capital gains. This would lower FICA for the great majority of people, while raising money from everyone getting more than $250K per years.
Today I visited my local social security office. First of all they search you. Then on the screen announcing which number they are serving – they keep saying it’s a felony to attack a federal worker.
I was there because I need a copy of my social security card for California’s real id. The soc sec web site says you need your birth certificate. Which was a big giant pain in the ass to get. But it turns out I didn’t need it. I can see why people resort to violence
The most useful piece of ID (that I always carry) is my passport.
trump calls Jewish Democrats disloyal. Death Camps next ?
Disloyal? To who or what pray tell?
pogo & X-R, the twit himself is wallowing in anti-semitism according to this in the guardian:
“Where has the Democratic party gone?” Trump asked reporters at the White House. He then went on to apparently refer to Jewish Americans’ supposed loyalties to Israel and how voting Democratic was disloyal to the country. “Where have they gone, where they’re defending these two people over the state of Israel? And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
Accusing Jewish Americans of having dual loyalties to America and Israel is widely seen as an antisemitic trope.
Omar herself has faced accusations of antisemitism for raising the issue of Jewish Americans’ relations to Israel as a dual loyalty.
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