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0 Science and Society: An Overview SS-0.0 Introduction "The origin of science is the desire to know causes; and the origin of all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false cause rather than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge our own ignorance." William Hazlitt (1778e1830), British writer, drama critic, social commentator, philosopher, and painter. "It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it would be." Isaac Asimov (1920e92), professor of biochemistry, writer. The connection of science with society began when the hunter-gatherers began to settle into communities called villages. These early settlers had to learn how to grow their own food: when to plant, how to take care of the crops, and when to harvest. Thus was the humble beginning of the science of agriculture. As society evolved over the years, the knowledge gained through experimentation in agriculture allowed more people to expand into other areas that benefited the community. Those who grew the crops and raised animals for food were the farmers who fed the community. This meant that others in the community could pursue other lines of work that could benefit the community. The members of a community began to specialize. Mechanical devices were invented to make the hard work a little bit easier. The infrastructure of water systems and roadways were constructed. In the ancient civilizations science played another role in society. Science became the bridge between religion and politics. The reign of rulers depended on their ability to communicate with the gods to provide the waters for cultivating the crops that feed the people. Hungry people are angry people. It was the skywatchers who determined the lengths of the seasons, and therefore the best time to plant crops. The reach of science now extended from the soil to the heavens. Technology advanced with knowledge; the increasing understanding of processes. Technology provided the diversity of application to the fundamental principles in science. Almost 2000 years ago, Hero of Alexandria invented a description of the steam-powered device called the aeolipile (comes from the Greek word "Aiolos"dthe Greek god of the winds). The simple principle that steam transfers energy from boiling water to mechanical work has led to inventions such as steam-driven automobiles (the Stanley Steamer), train engines, rockets, and other devices that perform work. The application of Faraday’s laws of electricity and Maxwell’s relationships between electric and magnetic fields has given us electrical motors and generators that supply electrical energy to run all of our home appliances.
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The science behind space exploration and the funding of space projects has made demands on technology to insure a successful completion of the space-related projects. In going from the Earth to the Moon there are several fundamental obstacles to overcome. How must the food be prepared to reduce the weight? What tools are needed? How does one communicate between the astronauts and the support personnel on Earth? The science itself does not affect the society. The underlying scientific principles on how the Universe works are fairly complete. At this point in time, there are two theoretical approaches to unlock the mysteries of Nature at the extremes. Quantum mechanics is the theory that describes the small and the light particles, such as atoms, molecules, electrons, and subatomic particles. All of chemistry is subject to the mathematics of quantum theory, and all of biology is subject to the laws of chemistry. At the other extreme of large and massive, Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity describes gravity at the extremes of massive objects over long distances. Among the massive objects are black holes and neutron stars, and the geometry of space. Thermodynamics is that branch of science that describes the energy content of a system and how that energy is redistributed when external forces are applied. The mathematical foundations of the theories in are of no consequence to society as a whole. In fact, many scientists do not understand the complex mathematics of these theories, which include multidimensional partial derivatives and matrices. However, the layperson and most scientists are aware of some of the results of these theories through experience, television, and the movies. Everyday experience tells one that if a pipe is heated at one end, the heat spreads out along the pipe as it travels toward the other end. This observation is quantified as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. One fundamental principle in quantum theory that has no analogue in classical physics is the superposition of wave functions. One interpretation of this principle is that a system can be in all possible states at once. While this principle does not come up in a conversation between pool players in a bar, it nonetheless the consequences of this principle is illustrated in an episode of Star Trek Voyager. The episode is "Tuvix" (Season 2, Episode 24, first televised on May 6, 1996). Crew members Nelix and Tuvok were sent to a Class M planet to collect biological samples, in particular orchiaceae. The two crew members plus their sample were transported back to the Voyager. The transporter malfunctioned and the molecules were mixed. Instead of two people with a sample, there was only one person emerged who contained the molecules of both. The superposition of Nelix and Tuvok became onedTuvix. Although the general public and many scientists cannot do the mathematics in Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, most are familiar with the terms "black hole" and "worm hole" through the entertainment media. What does affect society is the technology that is based on scientific concepts. Quantum theory explains the behavior of semiconductors, and semiconductors are the electronic switches of all digital devices. General relativity corrects for the time difference within a gravitational field, and correction of the time difference in a satellite circling the Earth and that on the Earth gives us the GPS (global positioning system) that we use in automobiles to find our way from one location to another. Since the Industrial Revolution, technological advances have greatly changed our society. Technology is the amplifier of scientific results. The human life span has increased due to advances in equipment that enabled advances in medicine and diet. The automobile has replaced the horse for transportation. Refrigerators have replaced the ice box. While technological advances have eliminated most of the hardships associated with society in the past, technology has also been
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an opiate that calms the brain with an antidepressing effect. Deep down inside, everyone knows the comforts of society must come to an end because the natural resources that fuel our comforts are limited. Many in society have become complacent to the damage being caused to our surroundings, to our thinking and reasoning abilities, and to each other. What emerged in society are the technological fundamentalists who press others with their "Religion of Technology." Wes Jackson, founder of The Land Institute located in Salina, Kansas, gives the following definition (personal communication): "A technological fundamentalist is one who believes that we will somehow invent our way out of the countless global and local problems rather than feature cultural changes which require social, economic, [and] political transformation." Science teaches us that nothing in the Universe experiences unending growth. The size of a planet or a star can only grow if there is "space stuff" on which they can feed. Technology is limited because resources and human ingenuity are limited. Even that which we build will perish, as with those structures built by King Ozymandias, as in Percy Bysshe Shelly’s poem Ozymandias; "I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. near them, on the sand Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing besides remains, Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away."’ Particle physics tells us that the Universe will decay to nothingness as the last proton decays to pure energy. Cosmology tells us that the Earth will be consumed by our expanding Sun 5 billion years from now as it burns up its remaining nuclear fuel. Archeology tells us that civilizations have become extinct as evidenced by the ruins of their cities. History tells us that our civilization too will pass into the archives of Earth’s achievements. Technology has hardened the heart to the frailty of the natural ecology that sustains life. Our civilization will expiredbut why rush it?
SS-1.0 Earth Is a Paludarium Our home called Earth is a paludarium, viz, a closed system of both terrestrial and aquatic elements. The ability of Earth to support life is therefore limited by the cleanliness of the air to breathe, the amount of potable water to drink, and the availability of soil to produce food. Our Earth is at the "Goldilocks’ distance from the Sun," which means that water can exist in
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the three states: vapor, liquid, and solid. The vapor phase allows water to be transported to various places on Earth to fall as much needed rain to grow crops. Liquid water provides the habitats for fish and water birds; streams and rivers transport needed nutrients and carry away waste and toxic materials. Glaciers, the solid form of water, are the reservoirs of winter water for summer usage to grow crops in arid regions. Glaciers also serve to grind and transport rocks that make up fertile soil to grow crops. All three forms of water are continually shaping Mother Earth, and life is the beneficiary of these activities. Water is the life blood of the Earth and its inhabitants. Humans can survive only three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Yet in today’s society, human activity is threatening its own existence by pollution of the air, water, and soil, and in addition the rapid depletion of natural resources to meet the demands of a growing global population. Is there an example in the past that may be used as a guide to the fate of all mankind if current practices that alter the ecosphere are continued? The answer is yes, the island Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island.
SS-1.1 Discovery of Easter Island The island of Rapa Nui was given the name "Easter Island" by Jacob Roggeveen when he discovered it on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722. The coordinates of Eastern Island are 27 70 S and 109 220 W in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. It is isolated, approximately 1300 miles from the nearest inhabited Pitcairn Island and 2150 miles west of South America. The area of Easter Island is about 63 square miles. Easter Island is perhaps best known by the general public for its massive stone statues called moai. Easter Island became populated when the Polynesian people made the long 2000 mile ocean crossing in canoes between 700 and 1100 CE. The island itself was not conducive to supporting large populations. It had a modest landscape, no permanent streams that could be used for crop irrigation, moderate but irregular rainfall patterns, and relatively poor soil. Average conditions brought winds of from 5 to 35 miles per hour over a period of days, sometimes reaching hurricane speeds of over 74 miles per hour. As the population grew, trees were cut down to provide more land to grow crops. Removal of the trees had the unintended effect of allowing increased wind velocity, which meant more evaporation of water from the soil and the burning effect of salt from the ocean. The people of Rapa Nui were resourceful. To protect the crops they built a large number of manavai, which are rock-walled structures with enclosed areas. These structures protected the crops from the wind, and also the practice of lithic mulching (addition of rocks to the areas of cultivation) stabilized the temperature within the manavai. Hunt and Lipo noted that the settlers of Rapa Nui were excellent environmental stewards (Hunt and Lipo, 2012, p. 37): "The environment is so impoverished, in fact, that rather than seeing the islanders as environmental destroyers, we would argue that they should be seen as ingenious environmental stewards. They might well have succumbed to the island’s impoverishment of resources."
SS-1.2 Decline of Easter Island Approximately a century before the arrival of the Dutch explorers in 1722 the population of Easter Island reached a peak of about 15,000. By 1722 the population dropped to 2000e3000. There were 21 remaining species of trees; most species of land birds had become extinct. The forest was
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largely gone, with no trees 10 feet or greater in height. The island’s finite resources are what led to the decline in the population of Rapa Nui, as well as visitations by European explorers over the years. Without livestock previously on the island, the foreigners brought to the island sheep and cattle. Without immunity to diseases associated with livestock, many natives acquired the deadly diseases of small pox, measles, influenza, and cholera. At one point in their history, the Rapa Nui became prisoners and slaves in their own island. A census taken in 1882 gave a total number of native men as 68, women as 43, 17 boys and 27 girls under the age of 15 (Hunt and Lipo, 2012, p. 171). Chile annexed Rapa Nui on September 9, 1888. In 1965 the Rapa Nui won their independence. However, the growing population of Raga Nui benefited from the Chilean economy and a growing tourist trade. But the tourism trade posed threats to the environment, such as the pollution of groundwater due to sewage.
SS-1.3 The Future of Easter Island What about the future of Rapa Nui? It all depends on choices made by the residents (Hunt and Lipo, 2012, pp. 179e180): "Choices in Rapa Nui must still always be made with an eye to the island’s finite land and food sources. And the people still make those choices knowing they are family matters: everyone on the island can trace family connections to almost everyone else. They of course have their quarrels, but greater direct conflicts are assiduously avoided." The parallel with Rapa Nui and our problems with Mother Earth are summarized (Hunt and Lipo, 2012, p. 180): "Given the worries about the environment, resource scarcity, increasing conflicts, and growing populations, the lessons learned by the prehistoric Eastern Islanders have never had greater significance. More than ever, we face a series of choices that require us to balance considerations of short-term benefits and long-term stability. Estimates are that our populations will continue to grow and our resources will become more limited, making these choices perhaps the most important issue of our times. We hope that the history of Rapa Nui can be an inspiring vision of human ingenuity in facing such challenges and human resilience."
SS-1.4 Easter Island and EarthdA Comparison Can, in fact, the resilience of Rapa Nui serve as a model for Earth? Shown in Figure SS-1.1 is a comparison of the isolation of Earth in the Solar System and Rapa Nui with respect to the larger continents. How, in fact, did Rapa Nui survive through such isolation when the ecology was too poor to support a sustainable supply of animals and plants? The answer is (Hunt and Lipo, 2012, p. 179): "Rather than maintaining a subsistence level of food supplies, capable of tolerating periodic shortfalls, as was achieved for so many years, the island’s population now relies almost exclusively on its link to the larger world economy, and while it has never been more connected to the rest of the world, it has never been at worse risk."
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FIGURE SS-1.1
Paludariums: Earth and Easter Island. Top Left: photograph was taken from Voyager 1 when it was outside the orbit of Pluto, a distance of more than 4 billion miles from Earth and 32 degrees above the ecliptic. This "portrait of the Solar System" shows Earth as a "pale blue dot" whose location is in the center of the red circle and at the tip of the red arrow. Credit: NASA/JPL. The top right photograph of the Earth was taken from the Moon. Credit: NASA. The bottom left image of Easter Island and bottom right image of Earth was from MathematicaÒ.
Unfortunately, there is no extraterrestrial life to come to our rescue if the Earth cannot sustain its population. Our Home the Earth is a true paludarium because there is no larger solar system economy on which the societies on the Earth can tap. To paraphrase a famous saying about Las Vegas: What is done on the Earth stays on the Earth.
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SS-2.0 Science and Technology: A Change in Society "The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological - technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science." Stephen Hawking In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus (1766e1843) wrote a book titled Essay on the Principle of Population. Malthus observed that as food production increased, so did the population. The reason was the improvement of the well-being of the population. Malthus reasoned that this was a temporary improvement because it led to a growth in population. But the increase in population was limited to the availability of the food supply. Since the population increased exponentially and the food supply increased in a linear fashion, a continued increase in population was not sustainable. Famine and diseases would thus ensue, and the population would level off or decrease. Beginning with 1900, human civilization experienced an explosion in knowledge and advancements in technology not seen in any previous period of time. The quantum theory initiated by Max Planck in 1900 and the Theory of General Relativity published by Albert Einstein in 1915 have provided the microscope and telescope to expand our understanding of the very tiny and the very large. The new paradigms of these two world views have spawned new discoveries in all fields of science and engineering. These have led to drastic changes in the cultures of the world. In 1900, idealized families ate home-cooked meals at the dinner table and engaged in conversation. This changed with the invention of televisions, TV trays, and frozen dinners in the mid-20th century. In the area of transportation, we have progressed from horse-drawn buggies to landing on the Moon within 70 years. Inventions that came from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Apollo 11 Moon landing include CAT scanner (to find imperfections in space components), the computer microchip (integrated circuits used in the Apollo Guidance Computer), cordless tools (to drill the Moon for samples), freeze-dried food (to decrease weight and increase shelf life with minimal sacrifice of nutritional values), insulation (reflective material to protect the spacecraft from radiation), joystick (used on the Apollo Lunar Lander), satellite television (fix errors in spacecraft signals), shoe insoles (adapted space boot design to lessen impact by adding spring and ventilation), smoke detectors (adjustable smoke detector with sensitivity levels to prevent false alarms), and water filters (technique pioneered to kill bacteria in water taken into space) (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/ 5893387/Apollo-11-moon-landing-top-15-Nasa-inventions.html). The advances in science and technology had a profound affect on the Malthus theory of population growth. As World Was II drew to a close, the companies that made explosives in the war effort convinced the government that the explosive makers could become fertilizer makers to increase the food production for a growing population. Running in concert with the use of chemicals to increase the productivity of the crops was the development of farm machinery to meet the increase in the amount of land devoted to farming. Thus industrial farming became big business. Science and technology had changed the food production from a linear relationship to an exponential growth. Food production and population growth were in concert. As a consequence of population growth, there was also an increase in the production of energy, which spawned the petroleum and utilities industries. Advances in electronics and digital equipment gave rise to new industries. Some companies merged to form global corporations. The growth of industries
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and corporations to satisfy the needs and desires of the growing population meant that the raw materials and resources were being used up at a rapid rate. An added effect of technological advances was that the prices of manufactured items used in the household dropped considerably. Because things were cheaper to buy than repair, we went from a "return and repair" society" to a "throw away" society. Even though science and technology changed food production to a current exponential growth, continued reliance on natural resources inevitably will lead to the unsustainable condition of Easter Island. Some skeptical economists hold on to the belief that science and technology will again come to the rescue to avoid the repletion of resources, such as fossil fuels. But science and technology has introduced factors that were not present on Easter Island: the irresponsible practices of corporations. Corporations exist for one reason and one reason only: profits. Higher profits make investors happy because they get a bigger dividend. Those who run corporations are not concerned with the environment, the pollution in the air, and the toxic waste washed away for their corporate plants by the rivers, or the contamination of the land. These irresponsible practices affect the health and welfare of the citizens and lead to the destruction of the environment as we know it. There are, however, a growing number of people who are concerned about the changes in the environment and the toxic contamination of air, water, and land. Although there have been news reports on oil spills and toxic chemicals found in drinking water for several years, most people don’t take much notice because these are considered to be "human errors." But weather is different. On December 28, 2009, David Letterman had as guest on the Late Show with David Letterman James Hansen, who testified in Congress to the perils of climate change. Letterman said to Hansen: "If a dumb guy like me understands the things are not the way there were 30 years ago, you would think that dumb guys all over the country would understand that. And not so much worried for myself because it is way too late. But I have a child." As time goes on, most people might forget how things were 30 years ago. But most people should remember how things were 2, 5, or 10 years ago. Severe weather and record high temperatures have been reported in the news, by both weather reporters and news commentators, for the past few years. It should be obvious that changes in the atmosphere have resulted in changes in the weather patterns and intensity.
SS-2.1 The "Save The ....." Syndrome A syndrome is defined on the Internet as a group of symptoms that consistently occur together or a condition characterized by a set of associated symptoms. Over the past several decades there have been noticeable changes in the environment and related social issues. It is well-documented that glaciers are melting at an astonishing rate. Weather patterns have changed so dramatically since 1990 that the phrase "severe weather" commonly occurs in television weather reports. Record high temperatures are almost an annual event since 2005. Warnings are given not to mow the lawn because of air pollution reports on the high levels of ozone. Face masks are more common when out in the public to protect from breathing air polluted with particulate matter. Bottled
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drinking water is a booming business because of drinking water obtained from the faucets may be polluted with toxic chemicals. Within the context of Earth as a paludarium and the discussion of the history of Easter Island, there are many groups and individuals that have the "Save The.." syndrome, such as: Save The Polar Bears; Save The Bees; Save The Environment; Save The Planet; and Save The Earth. What is so important about saving polar bears when the only time most people are aware of their existence is at zoos? And bees sting! Why save the bees? The message of these "Save The.." comments are misunderstood. For example, in his routine "Saving the Planet," comedian George Carlin pointed out that the planet has gone through worst times than now. A Letter to the Editor titled "Polar Bears vs. People" in the February 11, 2008, issue of The Kansas City Star in which it was stated, in regard to Congressional representative Emanuel Cleaver’s concern for polar bears, "I would suggest he remain in Washington, consider all sides of the issue, not just the liberal side that pushes the warming scam, and vote for more oil exploration to help his constituents. Aren’t the voters in his district the ones he should be worrying about? Bears don’t vote." It is, of course, true that the Planet Earth has gone through worse times than now. This is the mantra of the "climate deniers" and the merchants of doubt. In fact, the Earth will exist whether or not humans exist. It is, of course, true that polar bears don’t vote. The message of the polar bears and bees means that if their habitat is threatened, then our habitat is threatened. All of the objects associated with the "Save The." statements are components of the (mostly) unspoken message: Save Our Society. The italicized emphasis Our Society has the implication of maintaining or improving our standard of living and quality of life. We all want our children to be better off, just as we are better off than our parents. But in today’s world, our children are worse off than their parents. If polar bears disappear it is because Homo sapiens have changed the climate by burning fossil fuels. If bees become extinct it is because H. sapiens over extended the use of pesticides and herbicides that can also affect humans through the absence of pollination of plants and crops. If the Earth is changing, it is because H. sapiens have polluted the ground and water with toxic chemicals used in industry. If the quality of air makes breathing difficult, it is because H. sapiens have built factories and power plants with chimneys that deliver billowing smoke to the atmosphere. If our children are worse off, it is because H. sapiens have changed the fundamental basis of social structure. Corporations, special interest groups, and politicians have attempted to instill in the minds of the general public that any change in the way things are done will affect the economy and jobs. They, too, want to "Save Our Society" by maintaining the status quo within the society. But, as a paludarium, the "status quo" approach is not sustainable over the long haul. The ultimate question facing society today is whether "the future" means in the short run of decades or the long run of centuries. How can we "Save Our Society" for the future? First and foremost is population control. An increase in population means an increase in the depletion of resources and an uncontrollable increase in pollution and loss of land use. There will always be a need for energy. Since fossil fuels are limited resources, it is necessary to explore and develop sustainable forms of energy, such as solar energy. But this does not eliminate altogether the use of fossil fuels. The are two
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books of note that discuss, in some detail, what individuals, businesses, and cities can do to avoid the "climate and health crises" brought on by the burning of fossil fuels: Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet, by Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope; and Drawdown, by Paul Hawken. But the hope of the future does not reside in carbon fuels alone. There are the irresponsible practices of corporations. Borrowing from the business book of corporations that new explorations are pursued only when financially feasible, fines and penalties for destroying and contaminating the environment should be large enough that it is a financial advantage to clean up their act. The direction that a society takes is intimately linked to the leadership within the society, and the leadership of the government. What follows from this point is directed to the history and influence of the United States. Similar events occur in other countries and similar statements may be made regarding other countries because the links between science and society are universal in a global economy. The United States has had global influence on world affairs for several decades. But that leadership is waning because elected officials have lost sight of the visions of promise to the American people laid out by our Founding Fathers. What follows in the next few sections is a brief historical thread from the Founding Fathers to present day American society and the contributions and leadership of selected presidents along the way.
SS-3.0 The United States: An Experiment in Government "The preservation of the sacred fire of Liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789, Presidential Wit & Wisdom, 2015, edited by Charlotte Lee Gross, Appleseed Press Book Publishers, LLC, p. 68. [To the Reader: The reference to "Republican" is to the form of government referred to as a republic. A republic is defined as a state in which the people and their representatives have the supreme power of government, and an elected president rather than a monarch.] The United States was born from the protests of the patriots to the tea tax of England: "No taxation without representation" was the slogan, and the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, was the manifestation of the political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston. From that day on, to protest has become an American traditiondan avenue of social change that made America great. The United States is founded on two documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. The Declaration of Independence that was adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, begins with the words; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Note that "Life" and "Liberty" are to be something that all people should have, whereas it is the "pursuit" and not "Happiness" itself that is to be guaranteed.
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The second document is the Constitution of the United States. It is explicitly stated in the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States that the United States belongs to the people; "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Unites States of America." The Constitution of the United States divides the federal government into three independent branches as a means of checks and balances: the Legislative branch that makes the laws, the Executive branch that carries out the laws, and the Judicial branch that interprets the laws. The Legislative and Executive branches are composed of elected officials, and the members of the Supreme Court are appointed positions. Our Founding Fathers, because of their participation in the American Revolution, thus have had direct contact with tyranny, established a set of Articles to insure a democratic government and a Bill of Rights to limit the power of the government to safeguard individual rights. Ideally, elected officials should be working for the interests of the citizens who elected them. The elected officials represent the constituency of their respective states. In this regard the United States is a democracy when it comes to electing the representatives and is also a republic in that the elected officials act on behalf of the citizens of the respective state.
SS-4.0 Notable Presidents Whose Leadership Helped Make America Great "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King, Jr. The Office of the President is one of the most powerful offices on this globe. Perhaps because they lived during the American Revolution, the early Presidents directed their energies to advancing a democratic government. The election of the President is carried out in two steps. First, there is a general election to determine the "most popular" candidate in each state. This is then followed by an "official count" by the members of the Electoral College. The Electoral College was established by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between votes in Congress and by the popular vote of qualified citizens. The way the members of the Electoral College are selected is dependent on the state. The movie title "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" by Ang Lee comes from a Chinese aphorism about hidden strength. There are times in history that someone with hidden strength must come forward to meet a crisis. This is the basis for the choices of notable presidents in this section, with a brief description of their accomplishments.
The Big Four on Mount Rushmore A brief history of Mount Rushmore and the excitement of a visit to the monument were captured in an article in The New York Times by Sam Anderson (2017). The following is based on that article. Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. To the Plains Indians, the Black Hills was a sacred place in which powerful spirits resided. It had magic caves, special treesdstrong and tall ponderosa pine they used for lodgepoles (a pole used to construct a lodge).
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The Black Hills had raging storms that would suddenly appear. It was not a place for white civilization to travel because of the rugged landscape and remote location. That is, until George Armstrong Custer arrived. As noted by Anderson, a page of history was ripped from today’s headlinesdthe Custer expedition met their Indian Guide, Maga, at Standing Rock. The Custer expedition discovered gold, and all of a sudden the location was not so remote and the terrain was not that difficult. Nature was changed forever. After the mining towns became ghost towns and the economy sagged, an idea was born. Why not carve a monument to American history in the rock? Only one person was up to the project of writing American history in stone: John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum, the son of a Danish immigrant. John Borglum was working on another monument chiseled into the front of a mountain in Georgia, a tribute to the heroes of the Confederacy: Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. Borglum was hooked when he visited the Black Hills. The presidents that Borglum chose were: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. According to Anderson, Borglum was impressed by the size of America and chose four presidents because of their role in American expansion. George Washington was an obvious choice since he was the first President of the United States. Thomas Jefferson expanded the United States via the Louisiana Purchase. Teddy Roosevelt because of the creation of the Panama Canal, in which America’s global outreach was increased. There was no reason given in his article for the choice of Lincoln. The National Park Service mentions that these four presidents represent four characteristics of American history: founding, growth, development, and preservation (nps, https://www.nps. gov/moru/learn/historyculture/why-these-four-presidents.htm). George Washington, placed prominently on the mountain side to represent the birth of the United States, was chosen because he was the father of the new country and laid the foundation of democracy in the United States; Thomas Jefferson was chosen to represent the growth of the United States, as manifested in the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the size of the United States; Theodore Roosevelt provided leadership through the economic growth of the United States, trust busting, and ensure the rights of the common working man; and Abraham Lincoln was chosen to represent the preservation of the United States because he had a firm commitment to preserve the union by abolishing slavery. The project was originally undertaken to increase the tourism in South Dakota. The project eventually received Congressional approval after negotiations with a Congressional delegation and President Calvin Coolidge. Gutzon Borglum, with his son Lincoln, directed 400 workers for the project, which went from October 4, 1927 to October 31, 1941. Mount Rushmore is shown in Figure SS-4.1.
List of Notable Presidents Extended Beyond the Big Four Continuing the theme of what presidents provided the leadership to help make America great, the following presidents, with a partial list of their accomplishments, are added to the four presidents of Borglum. The first edition is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR established federal work programs to help Americans come out of the Great Depression. He also protected laborers and farmworkers, and established social security. FDR lead America in the early stages of World War II. The next is Harry S. Truman, whose leadership helped end World War II. He also fought for civil rights and conservation, and the Fair Deal program. Dwight David Eisenhower improved the intrastructure of the United States with an Interstate Highway system, set up the NASA, and established a strong program in science education. The last addition is John F. Kennedy, who was
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FIGURE SS-4.1 Mount Rushmore. Source: National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm.
confronted with the Cuban Crisis and adverted possible nuclear war. He was involved with domestic programs such as the New Frontier, laid ground work for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, initiated Project Apollo, and asked Congress to create the Peace Corps. What follows is a brief history of the background and selected accomplishments of these important presidents.
SS-4.1 First President: George Washington (1732e99) "No country upon earth had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass." George Washington, Letter to Benjamin Lincoln, June 29, 1788, Presidential Wit & Wisdom, 2015, edited by Charlotte Lee Gross, Appleseed Press Book Publishers, LLC, p. 147. George Washington was an American politician who served as commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. As a driving force behind the establishment of our nation, Washington is identified as the "father of the country." Washington had strong leadership qualities. The Electoral College unanimously voted for George Washington to serve as the first President of the newly formed United States. He ushered in the Bill of Rights and Residence Act. It was George Washington who set the tradition that the President serves a maximum of 2 years. George Washington served as President of the United States from 1789 to 1797.
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SS-4.2 Third President: Thomas Jefferson (1743e1826) "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people.They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html. Thomas Jefferson was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, which contained these immortal words that defined America. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness - That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That when any form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying the foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." As a member of the Virginia State Legislature and then Governor of Virginia, Jefferson helped finalize the state constitution and revising the state’s laws. After being defeated by John Adams for the second presidency by only three electoral votes, Thomas Jefferson became the third President of the United States; this was the first peaceful transfer of authority. On the basis of national security for the United States and an impractical control of the territory by the French military, Jefferson nearly doubled the size of the United States when he purchased 827,987 square miles from Napoleon for $15 milliondthe Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson appointed US Army Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to survey the territory. From May 1804 to September 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition collected considerable scientific and geological knowledge as well as information of many Indian tribes. After his retirement from public service, Jefferson pursued his interests in education. It was his belief that an educated citizenry secured a stable society. Hence the schools should be publically funded and made accessible to students from all society. The university should be independent of religious influence and offer classes not found in other universities. Jefferson founded the University of Virginia and became the first rector upon its opening in 1825. Thomas Jefferson served as President of the United States from 1801 to 1809.
SS-4.3 Sixteenth President: Abraham Lincoln (1809e65) "I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal." Abraham Lincoln, July 10, 1858, speech at Chicago, Illinois, http://www.abrahamlindolnonline.org/Lincoln/speeches/quotes.htm. More than any other president to date, Abraham Lincoln changed the American society in both a moral and a legal way in regard to human rights, state rights, and the preservation of a Nation. Along the way he reiterated the importance of people when it comes to the obligations of the federal government.
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Abraham Lincoln served in the House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849, the only Whig in the Illinois delegation. In collaboration with Congressman Joshua Giddings, an abolitionist, he wrote a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia which compensated the owners. He abandoned the bill when it failed a sufficient number of Whig supporters. Lincoln returned to the practice of law. One of his more notable cases was in 1851 when he represented the Alton and Sangamon railroad in a dispute of one of its shareholdersdJames Barret. Barret refused to pay his pledge to buy shares in the railroad when the company changed its original train route. The charter was amended in the public interestda superior and cheaper route. Lincoln successfully argued that at the time of the pledge, the railroad was not bound by its original charter. The Illinois Supreme Court decision was cited in several other courts. In all, Lincoln appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court 175 times. Of the 51 cases in which he was sole counsel, he won 31 decisions. It was his reputation with clients that resulted in the moniker "Honest Abe." A notable criminal case occurred in 1858 when Lincoln defended William "Duff" Armstrong of the murder of James Preston Metzker. A witness testified seeing the defendant committing the crime on a moonlight night. Consulting a Farmer’s Almanac, Lincoln pointed out that the moon was at a low angle and therefore the visibility was greatly reduced. This "scientific evidence" that the witness could not possibly have a clear view of the murder resulted in an acquittal of Armstrong. Lincoln disapproved of slavery and opposed its spread to new territories in the west. He returned to politics to oppose the KansasdNebraska Act (1854). Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois incorporated "popular sovereignty" into the Act which left it up to local officials as to whether or not slavery is allowed. Lincoln was instrumental in shaping the new Republican Party dedicated to antislavery. In the 1856 Republican National Convention, Lincoln came in second in the contest to be its candidate for vice president. Also in the year 1856 an important case was brought before the US Supreme Court: Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford. Because of the existence of free and slave states during this period in US history, the pathway to the Supreme Court was long and tortuous, filled with many pitfalls and happenstances.
The Dred Scott Ordeal Dred Scott was born in 1795 in Virginia to owner Peter Blow. Blow moved to Alabama in 1818 and then to St. Louis in 1830. Scott was sold to US Army Surgeon Dr. John Emerson. Emerson was transferred to Fort Armstrong in Illinois, which was a free state. Illinois prohibited slavery in its constitution in 1819. In 1836, Emerson went to Fort Snelling in the Wisconsin Territory. The US Congress prohibited slavery in the Wisconsin Territory under the Missouri Compromise. It is here that Scott married Harriet Robinson, slave of an Indian agent. Emerson was ordered to go to Jefferson Barracks Military Post, south of St. Louis. Emerson left Scott and his wife at Fort Snelling and leased their services out for profit. The hiring out of the Scotts effectively brought slavery into the Wisconsin Territory, which violated the Missouri Compromise, the Northwest Ordinance, and the Wisconsin Enabling Act. Near the end of 1837, Emerson was sent to Fort Jesup in Louisiana. In February 1838, Emerson married Eliza Irene Sanford. Emerson then sent for Dred and Harriet. Along their way to Louisiana, Scott’s daughter Eliza was born while on a steamboat along the Mississippi River between Illinois and the future Iowa. Since this is free territory, Eliza was technically a free person under both federal and state laws. When the Scotts entered Louisiana they could have sued for their freedom, but they did not.
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Emerson was assigned to Fort Snelling toward the end of 1838. Irene, Emerson’s wife, returned to St. Louis by 1840, with the slaves. Eliza proceeded to hire out the slaves. Emerson left the army in 1842 and died in 1843. Having inherited the family Scotts, Irene continued to lease them out. In 1846, Scott attempted to purchase his and his family’s freedom, but Irene refused. Scott had no choice but to take legal action in Missouri on the doctrine in state courtsd"once freedalways free." If one was an enslaved person held in free territory such as Wisconsin, then you should be free even in a slave state like Missouri. The lengthy trial was lost on a technicality. Grocer Samuel Russell testified that he was leasing Scott from Irene, but on cross examination it was discovered that the arrangements were actually made by his wife Adeline. Therefore Russell’s testimony amounted to hearsay, and the jury returned a verdict for Emerson. The "irony" of this trial is that there was no direct evidence that Scott was treated as a slave so therefore he could not be granted freedom from his owner. In other words, if one cannot prove one is married to a spouse then one cannot be declared an unmarried person. In 1847, Scott was granted a new trial because of the technicality, which was appealed by Irene to the Supreme Court of Missouri. In 1848 the Supreme Court of Missouri upheld the trial court order. But then it was postponed to January 1850 because of a fire, a cholera epidemic, and two continuances. During this delay period, Scot and his family were placed in custody of the St. Louis County Sheriff. Scott and his family were continued to be leased until there was a resolution of the case, the money being held in escrow to be paid to the owner or to Scott. Eventually a deposition was obtained from Adeline Russell, stating that she leased the Scotts from Irene. The Jury found in favor of Scott. But Irene did not want to lose four slaves and the escrow, so she appealed to the Supreme Court in Missouri. To make a difficult situation more complicated, Irene moved to Massachusetts and transferred ownership of the Scotts to her brother, John F.A. Sandford. In 1852 the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the trial court decisiondthe Scotts were slaves again. The St. Louis Courthouse of the Dred Scott case is shown in Figure SS-4.2.
A FIGURE SS-4.2 Historic Dred Scott case. A: St. Louis Courthouse in which the trial took place. B: Stature of Dred Scott and his wife Harriet. C: Plaque at base of the stature.
B
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With resilience of unknown source, in 1853, Scott sued Sandford in a New York federal court. At the trial in 1854, Judge Robert William Wells directed the jury to rely on a Missouri lawdScott remained a slave. Scott then appealed to the US Supreme Court. Now President elect James Buchanan stepped in. Buchanan wrote to his friend, US Supreme Court Associate Justice John Catron, asking if the Dred Scott case would be decided before his inauguration in March 1857. Buchanan hoped the decision would quell the slavery issue by issuing a ruling that put future slavery beyond possible political debate. Buchanan’s Inaugural Address was given on March 4, 1857. The US Supreme Court Decision of Dred Scott v. Sandford was given on March 6, 1857. The 7e2 decision was against Dred Scott. The decision was based on an interpretation of US Constitution Article III, Section 2, Clause 1. The Supreme Court ruling was: • Blacks did not have rights in federal courts as federal citizens • Slave states no longer have to honor "once free - always free" doctrine • Congress never should have prohibited slavery in the Wisconsin Territory in the first place or any other territory The children of Scott’s original owner helped to fund Scott’s court case. In 1857, they bought the Scott family and set them free. Dred Scott lived his last year as a free man, and this family lived free the rest of their lives.
The LincolndDouglas Debates The LincolndDouglas Debates of 1858 drew crowds of thousands. In all, there were seven debates for the Senate seat. Lincoln argued that slavery was threatening the values of republicanism, that Douglas’ "popular sovereignty" was a threat to the nation’s morality, and distorted the values of the Founding Fathers that all men are created equal. Douglas argued that local settlers were free to choose slavery or not, that Lincoln joined the abolitionists, and that Lincoln was defying the authority of the US Supreme Court and the Dred Scott decision. Lincoln lost the debates, and Douglas was reelected to the Senate.
Cooper Union Speech New York party leaders invited Lincoln to give a speech to a group of powerful Republicans on February 27, 1860. The elegance of his speech far outweighed any negative impression of his physical appearance and awkwardness. Lincoln argued that the Founding Fathers had little use of popular sovereignty and repeatedly sought the restriction of slavery. Lincoln turned the subject of slavery into a moral issue, and not something that lies between right and wrong. The Republican leaders were impressed with his intellectual leadership. Lincoln was on his way to the Republican presidential nomination.
1860d"The Rail Candidate" Lincoln received his first endorsement to run for the presidency during the Illinois republican State Convention held in Decatur on May 9e10, 1860. Exploitation of his frontier days clearing the land with his father by splitting fence rails with an axe, Lincoln was dubbed "The Rail Candidate" by his supporters. Lincoln ran on his reputation as a moderate on slavery, strong support for Whiggish programs of internal improvements, and a protective tariff. Lincoln’s campaign
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cultivated the young adult organization the Wide Awakes, who helped spearhead voter registration drives and support young political parties. Knowing that Southern States would vote against Lincoln because of his views on slavery, the Northern States took action to rally support for Lincoln. Rallies focused on two things: the party platform and the childhood poverty of Lincoln.
The Civil War Lincoln said in his inaugural address that he had no intention to abolish slavery in the Southern States. But apprehension is a strong emotion to resist: endangerment of personal property, peace, and security by a Republican Administration. Even before Lincoln was elected, secessionist set the wheels in motion. South Carolina was first, followed by Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The first salvo was delivered on April 12, 1861, when Confederate Troops fired on Union Troops at Fort Sumter. The primary objective of Lincoln was to preserve the Union. The slavery issue was not part of that goal. Lincoln stayed within the boundaries of the US Constitution when it came to slavery. Slavery was an issue of the individual states. Lincoln wanted the states to accept compensated emancipation if they would prohibit slavery. The US government issued a series of warnings under the Second Confiscation Act of 1862. Under this act, the Southern Confederacy was given 60 days to surrender or else land and slaves would be confiscated. Reconstruction started during the war. To pay for the Union expenses during the Civil War, Lincoln created the first income tax.
Emancipation Proclamation The slavery issue became a military objective. An executive order, the Emancipation Proclamation, was issued as a war measure on September 22, 1862. It was to take effect on January 1, 1863. Slaves that escaped the control of the Confederate government, by either fleeing the states or through advances of the federal troops, became legally free (freedmen). However, because it was issued to suppress rebellion under the authority of the president’s authority as commander in chief of the armed forces, the Emancipation Proclamation did not affect those regions not in rebellion. This included Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri. Under the Proclamation, owners would not be compensated, slavery was not outlawed, and the freedmen were not given citizenship.
Gettysburg Address On November 19, 1863, Lincoln gave a speech that lasted a little over 2 minutes. The occasion was the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lincoln redefined the Civil War as not only the preservation of the Union, but also for the principle of human equality as stated in the well-known opening sentence of the Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago our father brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Lincoln asserted that the birth of the United States was in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, not in 1789 with the Constitution ("Four score and seven years ago" is 1863 87 ¼ 1776). The reason that Lincoln gave 1776 as the birth date the new nation was to emphasize that "all
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men" was in reference to a Creator and not the limited meaning in the US Constitution, which is clear in the Declaration of Independence, viz, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." It is feasible that Lincoln had in mind the Dred Scott case by citing the Declaration of Independence instead of the Constitution when it came to the freedom and protection by the law.
Amendment to the United States Constitution It may be said that Lincoln took a risk by citing the Declaration of Independence for a definition of "all men" because this document has no legal weight. This was corrected with an amendment to the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.
Lincoln’s Two Dreams On June 16, 1858, Lincoln gave what is now referred to as the "House Divided Speech." It was his dream to bring the country together by the elimination of slavery. Lincoln’s second dream began with a number of invisible mourners weeping. He went from one room to another in the White House and could see no one but still heard the sobbing. Upon entering the East Room he saw a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments, and standing around the corpse were soldiers acting as guards. Not able to see the face of the corpse, he asked who was dead. One of the soldiers said it was the Presidentdkilled by an assassin. In getting ready to attend the theater, Lincoln told his bodyguard, William H. Crook, of the dream he had for three straight nights. Crook advised Lincoln not to go to the theater, but Lincoln said he promised his wife they would go. As Lincoln left for the theater, he turned to Crook and said "Goodbye, Crook." The date was April 14, 1865. The play was "Our American Cousin." The Theater was Ford’s Theater. The assassin was John Wilkes Booth. Crook later recalled that it was the first time President Lincoln said "Goodbye, Crook"dLincoln usually said "Good Night." Abraham Lincoln served as President of the United States from 1861 to 1865.
SS-4.4 Twenty-Sixth President: Theodore Roosevelt (1858e1919) "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt, Presidential Wit & Wisdom, 2015, edited by Charlotte Lee Gross, Appleseed Press Book Publishers, LLC, p. 61. Theodore Roosevelt suffered from debilitating asthma as a child, which was overcome by a strenuous lifestyle. This is one factor that led Roosevelt to become a conservationist and a lifelong love of Nature. Being mostly home schooled, his education was unevendstruggling in mathematics
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and classical languages. At Harvard, Roosevelt did well in science, philosophy, and rhetoric courses but still had problems with Greek and Latin. Keeping with his exercise regime, Roosevelt participated in boxing and rowing. While at Harvard, Roosevelt began a project on the role played by the US Navy in the War of 1812. This led to the publication of The Naval War of 1812 after graduation from Harvard. Roosevelt studied law for a while, but found it irrational. He then decided to enter politics. As a member of the New York State Assembly, Roosevelt began making his mark to fight corporate corruption. He won reelection in 1882 by a margin greater than two-to-one. As Chairman of the Committee on Affairs of Cities, in his last year he wrote more bills than any other legislator. After the presidential election of 1884, Roosevelt built a ranch in North Dakota, where he learned "the western ways" of a cowboy. There he addressed common interests of citizens: organize ranchers about overgrazing (led to the formation of the Little Missouri Stockman’s Association) and conservation of large animals and their habitats. The severe winter of 1886e87 wiped out his and his competitors’ herds of cattle. Roosevelt returned to public life.
A Reluctant Vice Presidentd1900 In 1899, Vice President Garret Hobart died of heart failure. The Republican Party needed a new vice president to be on the ticket with President McKinley. Although encouraged by some, including Henry Cabot Lodge, to run for the vice president position, Roosevelt declined because he thought it to be a powerless position. Furthermore, President McKinley did not consider him for the vice president position because of Roosevelt’s actions prior to the SpanisheAmerican War. But a newspaper campaign began by Thomas C. Platt led Roosevelt to bargain with him: if the 1900 Republican National Convention offered the vice presidency to him, he would accept; but otherwise would serve another term as Governor of New York. Roosevelt did not serve another term as Governor of New York.
Presidentd1901 President McKinley was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. On September 6 an anarchist shot him. Roosevelt traveled from Vermont, where he was vacationing, to visit McKinley. Since it appeared McKinley was recovering, Roosevelt resumed his vacation in the Adirondacks. But McKinley’s condition worsened. McKinley died on September 14. Roosevelt returned to Buffalo and was sworn in as president. Roosevelt assured party leaders that he would adhere to President McKinley’s policies and retained President McKinley’s Cabinet. However, Roosevelt sought to become the party’s undisputed leader, with his sights on the 1904 election.
Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidency When Roosevelt became president in 1901, he began to shift the Republican Party to a more populist one: a party that looked out for the people. As Governor of New York, Roosevelt sympathized with the public concern over corporate monopolies. As President, Roosevelt knew that big business was a necessary part of the American economy; he went after "bad" companies. He broke up Northern Securities Company, the largest railroad monopoly. He put regulations on Standard Oil, the largest oil and refinery company. In all, he brought up 44 antitrust suits. Theodore Roosevelt became known as a "trust buster."
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In 1902, President Roosevelt participated in a trip to hunt bears in Mississippi. While on this trip Roosevelt refused to kill a bear that the hunters captured. He said the hunters were "unsportsmanlike" in their behavior. When news got around, so did political cartoons of "Teddy" and the "bear." Morris Michtom and his wife picked up on these cartoons, and made plush, stuffed bears and placed them in the window of their shop. Roosevelt gave them permission to name the stuffed bears "Teddy Bears." Roosevelt developed the "Square Deal" formed around conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection rights. The Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Acts were passed during the Roosevelt Administration. This acts regulated food production and labeling to protect the public. Roosevelt promoted the conservation movement. His conservation legacy is the setting aside of 230 million acres of public lands, 150 million acres of which are national forests. The United States Forest Service was created in 1905 as an organization within the Department of Agriculture. These lands were to be of continued use, and Roosevelt wanted to insure the sustainability of these resources. Roosevelt helped create five new National Parks that was approved by an act of Congress. These National Parks are Crater Lake National Park (Oregon, 1902); Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota, 1903); Sullys Hill (North Dakota, 1904); Platt National Park (Oklahoma, 1906dnow Chickasaw National Recreation Area); and Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado, 1906) (https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/Theodore-roosevelt-andconservation.htm). Roosevelt also established national monuments through the Antiquities Act (National Monuments Act), which do not require any action of Congress. The 18 national monuments established by Roosevelt include Devil’s Tower (Wyoming, 1906); Petrified Forest (Arizona, 1906); Chaco Canyon (New Mexico, 1907); and Muir Woods (California, 1908). Roosevelt was the first president to create a Federal Bird Reserve (51 during his administration). These later became the national wildlife refuges, managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. President Theodore Roosevelt is known as the "conservation president." Theodore Roosevelt served as President of the United States from 1901 to 1909.
SS-4.5 Thirty-Second President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882e1945) "Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education." Franklin Delano Roosevelt, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/franklin_d_roosevelt.html. The parents of Franklin Delano Roosevelt were sixth cousins of wealthy families; James Roosevelt I was of Dutch ancestry and Sara Ann Delano could be traced to the 17th-century French Huguenot immigration. Perhaps because of her ancestral lineage, Sara once declared that Franklin was a Delano, not a Roosevelt. Franklin was named after Sara’s uncle Franklin Hughes Delano. Franklin attended Groton School, an Episcopal boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts, in which the families of 90% of the students were on the social register. It was at Groton that Franklin was strongly influenced by the headmaster Endicott Peabody, who preached that it was the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and to enter public service. While at Harvard, Franklin’s fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became president. Teddy became a role model for Franklin. However, Franklin remained a Democrat and campaigned for William Jennings Bryan, the opponent of "Teddy."
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Franklin ran for the New York State Senate from the district around Hyde Park in Dutchess County. This county was strongly Republican; hence the local party chose Franklin as a "paper candidate" for publicity purposes since Theodore was still a prominent politician. Also, Franklin would "pay his own way" in the campaign. Roosevelt’s name and an aggressive and effective campaign won the election for Franklin.
Polio Franklin was diagnosed to have polio in 1921. He was paralyzed from the waist down. He turned away from politics toward his legal practice for several years. He was in denial that he was permanently paralyzed and explored a wide range of therapies. In 1938, FDR founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which is now known as the March of Dimes.
1932 Presidential Election In 1932, FDR was nominated by the Democratic Party to be their presidential candidate. The United States was in the midst of the Great Depression. In his acceptance speech for presidential candidate, Roosevelt promised a "New Deal" for the American people. The poor, organized labor, ethnic minorities, urbanites, and Southern whites (African-Americans in the South were still disfranchised) were mobilized to support FDR. Franklin won the election by 57% of the vote and carried all but six states.
The Great DepressiondThe Road to Recovery When FDR took office, the United States was at the bottom of the Great Depression. Farm prices fell by 60%. Industrial production was down by more than half since 1929. The number of homeless persons was about 2 million. Several banks were closed in 32 of the 48 states, plus the District of Columbia. Starting with his Inaugural Address, FDR placed the blame of the economic crisis on bankers and financiers in their quest for profit and the self-interest of capitalism. FDR initiated his "fireside chats" to inform the American people of his proposals. It was with these fireside chats that the First 100 Days of the Presidency became a standard of measurement of the accomplishments of presidents. The first step to recovery was the Emergency Banking Act. To restore American confidence in the banks, FDR signed the GlasseSteagall Act that created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to underwrite savings deposits. FDR continued Hoover’s major relief plan for the unemployed, with the new name Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) took from the unemployment roll 250,000 young men to work on rural local projects. Congress gave new regulatory powers to the Federal Trade Commission and provided mortgage relief to millions of farmers and homeowners. The first Agricultural Adjustment Administration paid farmers to take land out of crop production and to cut herds in an effort to raise the prices for commodities. The 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) attempted to end cutthroat competition by regulating industry and to raise wages. The NIRA included $3.3 billion to the Public Works Program to stimulate the economy. Working with Republican Senator George Norris, the largest government-owned industrial project was created: the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The TVA built dams and power stations, controlled floods, and modernized conditions for agriculture and homes in the poverty areas of the Tennessee Valley. In 1934 the Securities and Exchange Commission was created to regulate Wall Street.
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The 1934 election gave Roosevelt large majorities in both house of Congress. This led to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in late 1937 that employed 2 million people and the Social Security Act which established Social Security that promised security for the elderly, the poor, and the sick. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 created the minimum wage for workers.
FDR, the Environment, and Conservation Although TR was the outdoorsman, FDR always had an interest in the environment and conservation. This interest began as a youth on his family estate. FDR created 140 national wildlife refuges, established 29 national forests, and 29 national parks and monuments. Most of the time of the CCC was spent on environmental projects; they built 13,000 miles of trails, planted 2 billion trees, and upgraded 125,000 miles of dirt roads.
World War II The aggressiveness of Hitler after 1933 gave hints of war. Wanting to remain neutral, Congress passed a stringent Neutrality Act in 1937. In 1937, Roosevelt gave his Quarantine Speech in which he likened warmongering nations as a health menacedto be quarantined. But he recognized that France and Britain were "America’s first line of defense" and needed American aid. In 1940, FDR appointed Henry L. Stimson and Frank Knox, both Republicans, as Secretaries of War and the Navy, respectively. Although both parties supported a plan for rapid buildup of the military, isolationists warned that the nation might get into an unnecessary war with Germany. When FDR passed the Destroyers for Bases Agreement on September 2, 1940, he openly defied the Neutrality Act. In the agreement, the United States was to have military right in the British Caribbean Islands in exchange for 50 World War I destroyers. This agreement led to the Lend-Lease agreement in 1941, to give military and economic aid to Britain, the Republic of China, and the Soviet Union. The United States still remained as a "neutral" country. In response to the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, Hitler and Mussolini joined with Japan in the Tripartite Pact.
A Warning From the Scientists In December 1938, in Nazi Germany, Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann made a discovery that was explained theoretically in January 1939 by Lise Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch: the splitting of the atom. Meitner named this process "fission," after the biological process of splitting the cells. When the Hungarian physicist Leo´ Szila´rd learned of this discovery, he realized that a chain reaction, which he foresaw as neutron induced as early as 1933, would result in a massive release of energydan atomic bomb. Szila´rd and fellow Hungarian refugees Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner thought the Germans might develop an atomic bomb. They sought Einstein, the most well-known and respected scientist of the day, to write a letter to President Roosevelt in 1939 of the possibility of a uranium bomb. FDR ordered a scientific committee to be formed to oversee the uranium work.
1940 Election FDR served two terms. Ever since Washington refused to run for a third term, the tradition was a two-term limit for presidents. But as a tradition and not a law, there was no reason not to run for a third term. Ulysses S. Grant considered it, but then decided not to run again. Theodore Roosevelt
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might have had a "third" term when he ran in 1912, if one counts becoming president after the assassination of McKinley. As for a third term, FDR left it up to the people. FDR had strong support at national convention, and the opposition was poorly organized. Roosevelt tactically stated at the convention that he would not run unless drafted, and the delegates could vote for anyone they wanted. Then over the loud speaker was the message: "We want Roosevelt.The world wants Roosevelt." The Vice President on the ticket became Henry Agard Wallace. FDR campaigned on his proven record and the promise to do everything possible to keep America out of any foreign war. The voters approved: 55% of popular vote, 38 of 48 states, and 449 to 82 of the electoral vote (almost 85%). FDR became the first three-term president in American history. On June 28, 1941, the Office of Scientific Research and Development was formed. It was to take over the study of a uranium bomb. In 1942 an all-out effort to make the atomic bomb ensued and was taken over by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1943. Thus was born the Manhattan Project.
The Day of Infamy On December 8, 1941, at 12:30 pm, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a speech to a joint session of Congress which began, "Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." On December 11, 1941, Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States. The United States was no longer a neutral country in World War II. It was clear in late 1943 that the Allies would defeat the European enemies. The United States was still at war with Japan. In 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for a fourth term as president. Part of his campaign argument was the message "don’t change horses midstream." Roosevelt decided to have Harry S. Truman as his vice president running mate. Because of his involvement with finding a cure of infantile paralysis and the founder of the March of Dimes, the profile of Franklin Delano Roosevelt is on the dime. Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as President of the United States from 1933 to 1945.
SS-4.6 Thirty-Third President: Harry S Truman (1884e1972) "We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the nation." Harry S. Truman, https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/203941.Harry_Truman. Harry S. Truman had just adjourned a session with the Senate, over which he presided, and going to House Speaker Sam Rayburn’s office to have a drink. Truman received an urgent message to
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go immediately to the White House. Truman thought President F. D. Roosevelt wanted to talk with him. Instead, it was Eleanor Roosevelt who informed Truman of the news. Mrs. Roosevelt: "Harry, The president is dead." Truman: "Is there anything I can do for you?" Mrs. Roosevelt: Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now." From a video documentary in The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.
Harry S. Truman expressed no interest in the vice presidency in the 1944 election. However, the Democratic Party leaders (Frank Walker, Edwin Pauley, Ed Flynn, Edward Joseph Kelly, and lobbyist George Allen) knew that they would be choosing not the vice president, but the next president. The party leaders did not want the next president to be the Henry Wallace, the current vice president to Roosevelt. Truman seemed to be the right choice: he was a party loyalist from a border state; he had southern roots, and had ties with labor. Roosevelt supported the choice of Truman but showed little enthusiasm.
The Road to the Presidency Harry S. Truman was born in the rural town of Lamar, Missouri. The middle initial "S" did not stand for a name, but was chosen by his parents to honor both grandfathers; Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. Truman graduated from Independence High School in 1901. He then attended Spalding’s Commercial College, a business school in Kansas City. Truman took on a variety of jobs in Kansas City. In 1906, Truman returned to the family’s 600-acre farm in Grandview, where a typical work day was 14 hours. Truman could not afford college tuition, so he applied to United States Military Academy at West Point for a free education. He was turned down because of poor eyesight (20/50 in the right eye and 20/400 in the left eyedpast legal standard for blindness). He was also turned down in his first attempt to enlist in the Missouri Army National Guard. He was accepted in 1905 on his second attempt because he memorized the eye chart. Truman served until 1911, attaining the rank of corporal. Truman rejoined the Missouri Army National Guard when World War I broke out. Before deployment to France, Truman was sent to Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill (Oklahoma). It was at Fort Sill that Truman met Lieutenant James M. Pendergast, nephew of the Kansas City political boss Thomas Joseph (Tom) Pendergast. The Pendergast Machine helped Truman be elected as the County Court Judge of Jackson County’s eastern district in 1922. This was an administrative position. Having lost the reelection in 1924, Truman was elected for the post of Presiding Judge of the County Court. During this campaign he had to travel on poorly constructed roads. Since the automobile was "coming of age" in the 1920s, Truman successfully persuaded the voters to support his plan for road construction. Even though Pendergast was in the concrete business, Truman made sure it was an open bid for the construction of the roads. The contract was awarded to a South Dakota company (HSTL, 2009). As the Presiding Judge, Truman was the overseer of building an extensive system of paved roads, construction of the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City, and the extensive renovation of the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence. In 1934, Truman wanted to run for Congress. With reluctance, Pendergast backed Truman. Truman was not a good speaker. But he was a farmer. Pendergast and Truman thus complemented each other in the election effort: Truman "talked farming" in the rural towns of Missouri, and
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Pendergast was the machinery running the cities. Truman was elected as Senator from Missouri in 1935. But because of the influence of Pendergast, in Washington Truman was known as "the Senator from Pendergast." However, Truman was not a pawn of Pendergast. In his first term as Senator, Truman spoke out against corporate greed, the dangers of speculators on Wall Street, and the influence of moneyed special interest groups in national affairs. Truman suggested an investigation of waste and profiteering during visits to military bases while he was the subcommittee chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. The Truman Committee was set up by Roosevelt. The Truman Committee had a wide range of activities, including shoddy construction of housing for war workers in New Jersey and ineffective "dollar-a-year-men" hired by the government. The activities of the Truman Committee, which saved about $15 billion, brought Truman to the limelight of the American People and put him on the cover of Time magazine. Truman no longer had the public image of an "errand runner" for Kansas City politicians but now had the reputation of being an honest politician (Diogenes would be proud!).
The Presidency and Responsibility Truman kept Roosevelt’s cabinet intact. Truman had a double-sided sign mounted on a walnut " and the other side had base on his Oval Office desk. On one side was the saying " These two mottos underscored the central principle of Truman’s the inscription " administration: he would be the one making the decisions and the administration was to support " was given to Truman by his friend Fred Canfil, a United States him. The sign " Marshal for the Western District of Missouri, who saw a similar sign while visiting the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Oklahoma. Truman made reference to this sign in several of his speeches. [To the Reader: The phrase "buck stops here" refers to the notion that the President has to make decisions and accept the responsibility for those decisions. It derives from the phrase "passing the buck" in card games in which a buck, or marker, identifies the dealer. When the buck is passed to the next player, it means that the responsibility of dealing is also passed to the next player.]
The End of World War II Shortly after becoming President, Truman learned of the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. Secretary of War Henry Stimson told Truman the details on April 25. The Allies demanded that Japan unconditionally surrender in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration or face utter destruction. Japan refused. Truman had a decision to make. The motivation of the scientists in building an atomic weapon was out of fear that Germany would produce it first. When it was found out later that Germany was not working on an atomic weapon, then that motivation disappeared. Many of the scientists urged that the Japanese be invited to observe a test of its destructive power. Eisenhower argued that the bomb should not be used because Japan was ready to surrender and did not want the United States to be the first country to use such a terrible weapon. Truman wrote in his diary on June 17, 1945; ".I have to decide Japanese strategy - shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I’ll make it when I have all the facts." Keyes (2012, p. 123).
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This entry defines two choices that Truman had in regard to Japan: (1) invasion and (2) conventional bombing and blockade. A third option was a demonstration of the atomic bomb in an unpopulated area, as suggested by the scientists, and a fourth option was to use the atomic bomb in a populated area (Truman, nps). Invasion was ruled out because although defeat of Japan was a likely outcome, experience had shown that the Japanese soldiers did not easily surrender, based on the way they fought for smaller islands such as Iwo Jima. The Japanese would fight even harder for their homeland. Truman may have recalled the lives lost in the Invasion of Normandy and how Germany pursued an aggressive build up of forces in their country near the end of the war. Similarly, conventional bombing was ruled out based on previous experience. An example is the firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945 in which 80,000 people were killed. The third option was ruled out for several reasons, such as who Japan would send to view the demonstration. An important factor was the possibility the demonstration would be a dud. How would Japan and the world react if the nuclear device did not work? Would the Japanese fight even harder? In May 1945, Truman formed an Interim Committee to advise the president on the use of nuclear energy and weapons. After much debate, Truman received the following report (Truman, nps): "We can propose no technical demonstration likely to bring an end to the war. We can see no acceptable alternative to direct military use." The Potsdam Conference was held in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945. The "Big Three" were the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the US President Harry Truman. Truman was informed that the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in New Mexico at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945. On July 24, Truman mentioned to Stalin that the United States "...had a new weapon of unusual destructive force." Stalin showed no special interest, but said he hoped the US would make "good use of it against Japan." There are several accounts of this incident by those who were present: did Stalin already know of the existence of the atomic bomb, or did Stalin not understand the significance of Truman’s comment? The account by Soviet Marshal Georgii Zhukov was that, after the meeting and in his presence, Stalin told Molotov about his conversation with Truman, and Mototov responded that they have to tell Kurchatov to speed things up. The Cold War with Russia began. Truman wrote in his diary on July 25, 1945: ".We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be he fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark.. .He & I [Secretary of War Stimson] are in accord. The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement asking the Japs to surrender and save lives. I’m sure they will not do that, but we will have given them a chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler’s crowd or Stalin’s did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful." Keyes (2012, pp. 123e124).
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When the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in New Mexico at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945, J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhattan Project, remarked that it brought to mind the words from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." On August 6 the uranium gun-type atomic bomb named "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima; on August 9 the plutonium implosion-type atomic bomb named "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki. In response to critics that these bombs should not have been dropped, Truman defended this action by stating many more lives would have been lost if there was an invasion of Japan. These lives included the members of the Allied forces as well as the Japanese. As a point of comparison, the loss of life in Hiroshima were between 90,000 to 146,000 while there were about 80,000 lives lost through conventional firebombing of Tokyo. The difference is that conventional firebombing did not play a role in ending the war. The total number of casualties in World War II was between 50 and 85 million (Truman, nps). But what also came about through the Manhattan Project was knowledge on how to control a nuclear chain reaction which could "...be made the most useful." It made possible nuclear power plants to help satisfy the global thirst for energy. After World War II, the United StateseRussian relationship began to deterioratedthe beginning of the Cold War. Truman wanted to contain the spread of Communism. This resulted in the Truman Doctrine, to provide aid to Greece and Turkey, and the Marshall Plan, which gave billions of dollars in aid to stimulate economic recovery in Europe. After World War II, Britain, France, Russia, and the United States partitioned Germany and the capital city of Berlin, which was entirely within the Russian zone. In 1948, Russia closed off overland access to the City of Berlin, leaving completely isolated the Western Allies portions of the city. Truman decided not to give up Berlin to Russian influence, which could have meant war. But a war was avoided when the Western Allies organized a Berlin Airlift, which provided up to 8893 tons of food, fuel, and other necessities per day. In 1949, Russia lifted the Berlin Blockade. Truman was the first president to address the NAACP and sent a message to Congress to pass Civil Rights legislation to protect the nation’s minorities. Truman ordered the desegregation of the armed forces.
The Presidency: The Second Term On the home front, President Truman set forth a social reform agenda, known as the Fair Deal. Being a farmer at heart, and coming from a poor background, Truman had firsthand knowledge of the problems associated with the working class. Truman pushed for a higher minimum wage, national medical insurance, a federal housing program, assistance to farmers, increase in Social Security, and civil rights reform, among other things. It was during this term that the US Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin said that the Truman administration and other organizations had been infiltrated with Communist spies.
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On the international stage, Truman supported the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance of democratic nations with General Dwight Eisenhower as its first commander. North Korea became a problem when they invaded South Korea. Truman sent planes, ships, and ground troops to help the South Koreans. Perhaps because Truman served as the Shabbos goy for his Jewish neighbors in his younger days, Truman recognized the State of Israel in 1948. (A Shabbos goy is a non-Jew who does work for Jews that is prohibited by Jewish Law to be performed on the Sabbath.)
Ghosts in the White House and "Harry the Builder" The White House has a reputation of being haunted by ghosts. Mary Todd Lincoln strongly believed in the occult and told friends of the stomping and swearing of Jackson through the halls of the White House. Grace Coolidge (wife of President Coolidge) was the first to see Lincoln’s ghost, who was looking out the window. Other reported sightings of Lincoln’s ghost include Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and British Prime Minister Winton Churchill. In June 1945, Harry wrote to his wife Bess, "Dear Bess June 12, 1945 Just two months ago today, I was reasonably happy and contented vice president. Maybe you can remember that far back to. But things have changed so much it hardly seems real. I sit here in this old house and work on foreign affairs, read reports, and work on speeches - all the while listening to the ghosts walk up and down the hallway and even right in here the study. The floors pop and the drapes move back and forth - I can just imagine old Andy and Teddy having an argument over Franklin. Or James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce deciding which was the more useless to the country. And when Millard Fillmore and Chester Arthur join in for place and show the din is almost unbearable. But I still get some work done." Keyes (2012, p. 108).
[To the Reader: Andy is Andrew Jackson, Teddy is Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin is Franklin Delano Roosevelt.] Although other "ghost stories" may lack an explanation, the sounds heard by Harry Truman have an explanation: structural condition of the White House. Verification of these suspicions was when Margaret Truman’s piano broke through the floor of her sitting room. Truman wrote to Bess on August 26, 1948, a letter which contained the following comment: "Wouldn’t it have been nice sometime when your ma was having the DAR’s or the lady Elks and Eagles for me to have dropped in informally in my marble bathtub? Would have gotten a headline to say the least don’t you think." The Truman Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri. Truman felt strongly that the outer walls should be saved and to rebuild the mansion so that it would be structurally sound in the generations to come. Added to the White House was the "Truman balcony." While the White House was being renovated, the Trumans stayed at the Blair House across the street.
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The Truman Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri When Truman retired, he returned home to Independence. One thing that Truman wanted was that his papers be available for public scrutiny and available for research for people of all ages to learn about their history and their government. A museum was to have exhibits that focused on the institution of the presidency, and not simply a memorial to Truman. The Truman Library was dedicated on July 6, 1957. Hanging on the wall in the Harry S. Truman Library is the following statement regarding Truman: "When he left the presidency in 1953, Harry Truman had no Secret Service detail, no presidential pension, and no job. He had some savings, some investments, and a small pension from his military service in the First World War. He might have joined corporate boards, given lectures for large fees, or even sold his presidential papers and state gifts. But that seemed to him like trading on the office of the presidency. Instead, he created the Harry S. Truman Library and a new direction for his life’s work." How many presidents since Truman can post the above in their presidential library? Truman’s early life molded his views that he took to the Presidency. His mother Martha said of Harry after he won the Senate seat: "I knew that my boy would amount to something from the time he was nine years old. He could ploy the straightest row of corn in the county." Keyes (2012, p. 64). Even in the army he took care of those who were struggling in life. Truman let a soldier of lesser rank with a sore ankle ride his horse while Truman walked. A colonel passing by ordered the infantryman to dismount so Truman could ride, Truman responded: "You can take these bars off my shoulders, but as long as I’m in charge of this battery the man’s going to stay on that horse." Keyes (2012, p. 67). which he It is no wonder when he was given the sign with the inscription " proudly displayed it on the desk in the Oval Office, or that his major accomplishments while in the White House were to help the workers fulfill their needs. Truman clearly was the President for the People. Photos of a replica of Truman’s Oval Office, the sign that was prominently placed on his desk in the Oval Office, and the grave sites of Harry and Bess are shown in Figure SS-4.3. Harry S. Truman was the President of the United States from 1945 to 1953.
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FIGURE SS-4.3 Truman Presidential Library. A - Replica of Truman’s Oval Office as President. B - Signs on Truman’s desk in Oval Office. C - Courtyard at Truman Library with burial sites. D - Harry and Bess Trumans’ grave sites.
SS-4.7 Thirty-Fourth President: Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (1890e1969) "A sound nation is built of individuals sound in body and mind and spirit. Government dares not ignore the individual citizen." Dwight David Eisenhower, address at a Rally in the Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio, October 1, 1956, https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/all_about_ike/quotes.html. David Jacob Eisenhower, of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, was a college educated engineer, who broke from the family tradition of farming. He married Ida Elizabeth Stover, born in Virginia of German Protestant ancestry, on September 23, 1885, in Lecompton, Kansas. David owned a general store in Hope, Kansas, which failed because of economic conditions. Dwight David Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texasdthe third of seven boys. The Eisenhower family moved to Abilene, Kansas, in 1892, which Dwight considered to be his home. By 1898 the parents made a decent living to support their large family. Dwight had developed the "normal" interests of one raised in a small town: exploring the outdoors, hunting and fishing, cooking, and card playing
West Point Dwight and his brother Edgar wanted to attend college, but they did not have the funds. They agreed that they would go during alternate years, while one attended college the other worked.
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Edgar went to college first while Dwight worked as a night supervisor at the Belle Springs Creamery. Edgar asked for a second year, and Dwight agreed. Ida, Dwight David’s mother, was born a Lutheran, was married as a River Bretheren and then converted to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although she was against war, she did have a collection of history books that sparked Dwight’s interest in military history. When his friend "Swede" Hazlett was applying for the Naval Academy, he encouraged Dwight to apply to either Annapolis or West Point because the education was free. Although he passed the entrance exam to the Naval Academy, he was too old to attend. In 1911, Dwight entered West Point. While at West Point, Dwight liked the emphasis on traditions and sports. He enjoyed the engineering of science and mathematics. His best subject was English. In sports, he did not make the baseball team but was a starter as running back and linebacker on the football team. Dwight did not like the more detailed regulations and was a regular violator. Dwight graduated from West Point in 1915, with a "less than stellar" discipline rating. Eisenhower was ranked 61st academically and 125th in discipline out of a total of 164. The 1915 class was remarkable because 59 members of the class were to become generals.
World War I Shortly after the United States entered World War I, Eisenhower was promoted to Captain. He was given command of the newly formed Tank Corps National Army in March 1918 and was promoted to Major the following month. Eisenhower received the Distinguished Service Medal for his performance on this assignment. In October 1918, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and received orders to take the tanks to France, but before they could sail the war ended. He was transferred to Camp Dix until December.
Between World WarsdThe Highlights In 1919, Eisenhower was assigned to the Motor Transport Corps convoy to test the road system for the transport of military from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. The test convoy averaged about 5 mph, or approximately 2815/5 ¼ 563 hours ¼ 23.5 days. Due to a postwar reduction of the Army, Eisenhower returned to the rank of Captain but was promoted to Major in 1920 before assuming duties at Camp Meade. Eisenhower worked under General Fox Conner, General John J. Pershing, General Douglas MacArthur, and General George Marshall. General Conner wanted Eisenhower to serve as his executive officer in the Panama Canal Zone. This assignment saved Eisenhower from a court-martial and possible dismissal and imprisonment for having improperly received $251 in housing allowance. For 3 years General Conner tutored Eisenhower on military history and theory and recommended to Eisenhower to attend Commander and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1926, Eisenhower graduated first in the class of 275. Eisenhower was again helped by General Conner to be reassigned to the American Battle Monuments Commission directed by General Pershing. Eisenhower wrote A Guide to the American Battle Fields in Europe, which was a review of World War I participation of the United States. General Conner again helped Eisenhower to obtain his next assignment at the Army War College, where in 1928 Eisenhower graduated first in his class. The Army recognized Eisenhower as a future leading officer.
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In 1933, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower graduated form the Army Industrial College in Washington, D.C. The Army Industrial College was established in 1924 because of the mobilization problems encountered in World War I. He later served on the faculty. The name was changed in 2012 to the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. In 1935, Eisenhower accompanied General MacArthur to the Philippines as advisors to develop their army. Eisenhower disagreed with MacArthur on some points, but it did not affect their relationship. This assignment helped Eisenhower in dealing with difficult personalities, such as Winston Churchill and George S. Patton during World War II. The West Point class of 1936 was promoted in March to Lieutenant Colonel. In 1941, Eisenhower participated in the Louisiana Maneuvers and received a temporary promotion to brigadier general in October.
World War II After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Eisenhower was not considered to be a commander of major operations because he never had an active command. Eisenhower was assigned to the General Staff with the responsibility to create the major war plan to defeat Japan and Germany. His appointment was that of Assistant Chief of Staff in charge of the new Operations Division under Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall. Marshall noted the talent of Eisenhower and promoted him accordingly. At the end of May 1942, Eisenhower accompanied Lieutenant General Henry H. Arnold to London to assess the effectiveness of Major General James E. Chaney, the commander in England. Eisenhower had an "uneasy feeling" and gave a pessimistic view about Chaney. On June 23, 1942, Eisenhower returned to London as the Commanding General, European Theater Operations United States Army (ETOUSA). Eisenhower was promoted to a temporary rank of Lieutenant General in July. In November, Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander Allied Forces of the North African Theater of Operations United Sates Army (NATOUSA). In February 1943, Eisenhower’s authority extended to commander of the Allied Force Headquarters, the AFHQ, across the Mediterranean basin. He was promoted to the temporary rank of General. He completed the invasion of North Africa (May) and in July directed the invasion of Sicily (July and August). Eisenhower was promoted to the permanent ranks of Brigadier General (one star) and Major General (two stars) on August 30. In December 1943, President Roosevelt decided to make Eisenhower the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. In January 1944, Eisenhower resumed command of ETOUSA and was officially designated in February as the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). In these positions Eisenhower was planning the Normandy Invasion in June 1944 under the code name Operation Overlord. The Normandy landings took place on June 6, 1944 (DdDay). It was very costly but successful. Two months later the Invasion of Southern France took place. In December 1944, Eisenhower was promoted to General of the Army (five stars). After the invasion of Normandy and liberation of Southern France, many thought the war would end that summer. But the Germans fought on relentlessly. The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. Throughout the war, Eisenhower was ever mindful of the suffering the troops would experience on an individual level. Eisenhower made it a point of visiting every division under his command that was involved in the invasion.
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Eisenhower and Responsibility As Eisenhower was aware, the outcome of any war is uncertain. He knew that his war time decisions would affect all of the soldiers and there families, whether the war was won or not. Eisenhower’s sense of responsibility was captured in a draft of a speech to be issued if the invasion failed. William Safire included this "speech that was never given" in his book Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History: "Our landings in the Cherbourg - Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." Safire (2004, p. 1143).
Eisenhower and the Nazi Camps General Eisenhower mandated that the soldiers take German citizens on a tour of the Nazi Concentration Camps to inform them of the crimes of the Nazi regime. He wanted these crimes to be stuck in the cultural mindset of German citizens. Eisenhower also anticipated future denials of the Holocaust by having a considerable number of still photos and movies taken for a historical record of the tortures and deaths of millions of people.
The Presidency of Columbia UniversitydDemocracy Through Education In 1948, Eisenhower did not run for the Presidency of the United States because he did not believe a soldier should seek a high political office. When the Board of Trustees at Columbia University offered him the presidency of the university, Eisenhower told them that he would accept the offer to promote democracy through education. The idea was to bring together professional and business leaders to discuss and draw conclusions "concerning problems of social and political importance." These meetings also educated Eisenhower on politics because he had to prioritize a wide range of educational, administrative, and financial demands that are associated with universities. Eisenhower founded the American Assembly as a public policy institute in 1950. The idea was conceived with his concerns about how the nation was to resolve social, economic, and political problems brought on by World War II. The concept was a "think tank" that encouraged nonpartisan public policy discussions. Eisenhower traveled around the country to build financial support for the American Assembly. Eisenhower was still called upon as a government advisor. United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal sought advice on the unification of the armed forces. Eisenhower also became the informal Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Many of the faculty members of Columbia University were upset about the continued absence of Eisenhower. This issue was settled when Eisenhower became the President of the United States in January 1953.
The Eisenhower Tree In April 1948, Chairman of the Masters Tournament, Clifford Roberts, invited Eisenhower and his wife Mamie to visit Augusta in April 1948. Both were impressed by the Augusta National
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Golf course that was designed and developed by the most famous golf amateur of all times, Bobby Jones. Eisenhower did not meet Bobby Jones but did play golf during the day and played bridge at night. Six months later, Eisenhower joined the private club. There was a native loblolly pine tree on the left side of the 17th fairway that stood about 65 feet tall and wider than usual for that type of tree. It was about 210 yards from the tee box. Whenever Eisenhower played golf at the Augusta National, he invariably hit that tree. At a club meeting in 1956, Eisenhower proposed that this tree be cut down. Cliff Roberts immediately closed the meeting, not wanting to reject the request. Being located at the dogleg of the 17th hole, the Eisenhower tree played an important role in Masters Golf tournaments for golfers who wanted to shorten the length of the hole by cutting through the dogleg. One story is that golfer Tommy Aaron "lost" a golf ball and had to take a drop. The next day, according to Aaron, the golf ball fell from its perch in the tree. In 2014 the Eisenhower tree suffered damage during a major ice storm and was removed.
Eisenhower as President of the United States Eisenhower decided to run for President of the United States in 1952 as a Republican to prevent Robert A. Taft’s noninterventionism from becoming public policy (such as opposition to NATO). Eisenhower described himself as a "progressive conservative." He wanted to continue the New Deal programs. The campaign slogan was three little words: "I like Ike." Eisenhower ran against Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and again in 1956. In 1952, Eisenhower received 33,936,234 popular votes to Stevenson’s 27,314,992, and 442 electoral votes to Stevenson’s 89. Eisenhower did better in 1956 with 35,590,472 popular votes to Stevenson’s 26,022,752, and 457 electoral votes to Stevenson’s 73. Eisenhower was the first president to be limited to two terms by the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, ratified by the states on February 27, 1951. Eisenhower considered himself to be a Christian, but he did not belong to any religious organization. When criticized on this subject during his first presidential campaign, he said he would get around to it. On February 1, 1953, Eisenhower was baptized at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Eisenhower was a political outsiderda military general with no political experience. Eisenhower disliked partisanship and left the rebuilding of the Republican Party to his Vice President, Richard M. Nixon.
The Cabinet of "Eight Millionaires and a Plumber" Eisenhower chose his cabinet members with his goal of preservation of past social programs while holding the line to prevent expansion of the government. Eisenhower created a new Cabinet-level agency: the Department of Health Education and Welfare. Eisenhower’s Cabinet choices reflected his nonpartisan views regarding the government. Eisenhower chose Martin P. Durkin, a Democrat, as his Secretary of Labor. Eisenhower believed that those who were successful in business could also be successful in government positions. Eisenhower’s Cabinet was composed of largely pragmatic millionaire businessmen with one exception: Durkin was president of the plumbers and steamfitters union. Because of the composition of the Cabinet, Eisenhower’s Cabinet was referred to as "eight millionaires and a plumber" (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47532231).
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Eisenhower’s Cabinet was notable because there were no personal friends in the Cabinet, nor were there office seekers, nor experienced government administrators.
Relationship With the Press Eisenhower saw value in keeping a good relationship with the press. He viewed the press as a means of direct communication with the American people. Over his two terms in office, Eisenhower held over 200 press conferencesdmore than any previous President.
Eisenhower on Nuclear Weapons Eisenhower’s campaign pledges were to end the war in Korea and to stop the spread of Communism. Eisenhower believed that a nuclear arsenal could be used as a deterrent of war. Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons to end the war in Korea. Eisenhower also threatened China with the use of nuclear weapons and authorized a series of nuclear bomb tests (Operation Teapot) to drive a wedge between China and Russia. The United States had dropped atomic bombs on August 6 and 8 of 1945 on Japan. The Soviet Union tested an implosion nuclear device on August 29, 1949. The United States tested the first hydrogen bomb on November 1, 1952, and the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb on August 20, 1953. Eisenhower attempted to forestall any nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union in his "Atoms for Peace" speech given to the 470th Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on December 8, 1953 (IAEA, https). In that speech Eisenhower acknowledged the buildup of nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia, and that in the future other nations, perhaps all nations, will likewise have nuclear weapons. The proposal was that an international atomic agency be set up in which nations contribute stockpiles of normal uranium and fissionable materials. In addition to collecting, storing, and protecting the fissionable material, the atomic energy agency would also have the responsibility of deciding its use (IAEA, https). "The more important responsibility of this atomic energy agency would be to devise methods whereby this fissionable material would be allocated to serve the peaceful pursuits of mankind. Experts would be mobilized to apply atomic energy to the needs of agriculture, medicine and other peaceful activities. A special purpose would be to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world." The Soviet Union noted that the United States had the greater stockpile of nuclear weapons, and thus did not act upon Eisenhower’s speech. To encourage the peaceful use of atomic energy by means of nuclear power, in 1954, Eisenhower amended the Atomic Energy Act of 1946.
Suppression of the Spread of Communism: "Under God" One of Eisenhower’s pledges on the campaign trail was to suppress the spread of Communism. He was the first to articulate the "domino theory" of Communism expansion in 1954. On February 7, 1954, Eisenhower was listening to a sermon by the Reverend George M. Docherty. In that sermon, Docherty said that what was missing in the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States was a characteristic of the American life. As it stood at that time, the Pledge of Allegiance could apply, as Reverend Docherty pointed out, to Muscovites in Moscow with equal solemnity.
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The next day, US Representative Charles Oakman (Michigan) introduced the Joint Resolution (H. J. Res 371) to add "Under God" to the pledge, with the justification: "Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Docherty hit the nail squarely on the head. One of the most fundamental differences between us and the Communists is our belief in God." https://wallbuilder.com/president-eisenhowers-one-nation-god/. The resolution was passed and on June 14, 1954 (Flag Day), Eisenhower signed the bill into law. The statement by Eisenhower regarding this law was "From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country’s true meaning. Especially is this meaning as we regard today’s world. Over the globe, mankind has been cruelly torn by violence and brutality and, by the millions, deadened in mind and soul by a materialistic philosophy of life. Man everywhere is appalled by the prospect of atomic war. In this somber setting, this law and its effects today have profound meaning. In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource, in peace or war." http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid[9920. [To the Reader: Eisenhower’s statement can be misconstrued because of the use of metaphors and innuendos. The intent of the addition of "Under God", and hence the statement, is to point out one major difference between Russia and America. America is explicitly referenced. Russia is indirectly referenced by the phrase "materialistic philosophy of life." A "materialistic philosophy of life" means a system that has no supernatural content, which in the Eisenhower statement is in reference to atheism and thus indirectly a reference to Russia. This interpretation is consistent with Eisenhower’s pledge to stop the spread of Communism by coupling the "materialistic philosophy of life" with the phrase "violence and brutality." However, it is not true that materialism always begets violence and brutality as implied. For example, humanism is also a "materialistic philosophy of life" because it emphasizes the importance of humans rather than divine or supernatural matters. Are humanists in America prone to violence and brutality? The answer is an emphatic "no" because humans would then not be of importance. The phrases "dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty" and "transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future" are subject to misinterpretation. Many people of the Christian faith believe that America was founded on Christian principles. It is conceivable that they may quote these phrases as evidence for their views. However, neither the noun "dedication" nor the adjective "religiously" means that the United States was founded on religious principles, let alone Christian principles. One can have a "religious dedication" to the sport of baseball, but that does not mean that baseball is based on a religion, Christian or not. Likewise, to have "religious faith in America’s heritage and future" does not suggest that the American heritage and future is based on a religion. Furthermore, the added phrase
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"Under God" is not restrictive to the Christian religion. The God of the Christian religion is the same God of Judaism and the Islamic religion. The correct interpretation of the phrase "Under God" is that given by Reverend George M. Docherty: simply to distinguish America from Russia.]
"In God We Trust" The phrase "In God We Trust" does have a religious beginning. Because of the increased religious sentiment during the Civil War, the motto "In God We Trust" was placed on coins, which was allowed by an Act of Congress dated January 18, 1837. An Act of Congress dated April 22, 1864, allowed the Mint to add this motto to the one-cent and two-cent coins (https://www. treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx). Since 1938 this motto appeared on all coins. Two days after the resolution by Charles Oakman was presented (see previous subsection), Senator Homer Ferguson (Michigan) introduced the Senate Joint Resolution to place this motto on paper money as well, with the explanation: "Our nation is founded on a fundamental belief in God, and the first and most important reason for the existence of our government is to protect the God-given rights of our citizens. Indeed, Mr. President, over one of the doorways to this very Chamber inscribed in the marble are the words ’In God We Trust.’ Unless those words amount to more than a carving in stone, our country will never be able to defend itself." https://wallbuilder.com/president-eisenhowers-one-nation-god/. On July 30, 1956, Eisenhower signed the bill to put the motto on paper money, appearing for the first time in 1937. [To the Reader: The founding of the United States of America as expressed in the Declaration of Independence stated that all men are created by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. What the Declaration of Independence declares is that the United States is founded on the principle that all men are equal in the eyes of their Creator and therefore have "Creator given" rights. This is not the same as saying that the United States is founded on Christian principles. An unalienable right bestowed upon their Creator means that they have the freedom to worship their Creator, which is not necessarily the Christian creator. The Reader should ponder the following point. When John F. Kennedy was running for president, there was concern about him being of the Catholic faith. Since Catholicism is a Christian religion, then why the concern if the United States is founded in the Christian religion? ]
Eisenhower on Space Science After World War II the Department of Defense wanted to insure American leadership in technology by pushing the exploration of the upper atmosphere and rocketry. President Eisenhower endorsed this effort to put a satellite in orbit as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) for the period July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958. The Soviet Union likewise announced
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that they would put their own satellite in orbit. (https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/ research/online_documents/nasa.html). On October 4, 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik Idbeating the United States to outer space. Sputnik II was launched on November 3, 1957. American was behind in space science. Although it was believed that the United States was ahead of Russia in electronics, it was not certain which country was ahead in rocketry. A President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) was formed to consider how best the United States would organize the space program. Meanwhile the Department of Defense Committee chose the US Naval Research Laboratory’s Project Vanguard over the Army Ballistic Missile Agency’s (ABMA) modification of the Redstone ballistic missile to launch the first American satellite. The ABMA was ordered to stop working on launchers and continue with military ballistics missiles. Failure of the Vanguard TV-3 rocket, which lifted only a few feet above round before exploded, gave impetus to the PSAC program. Many scientists opposed the notion that it be under the control of the Department of Defense because of the possibility space would be used strictly for military purposes. Meanwhile, the development of a rocket to launch satellites was underway. The Redstone rocket was a direct descendent of the V-2 rocket developed by Werner von Braun and his team in Germany. Now in the United States, Von Braun continued to work on a rocket design which would eventually become the Jupiter-C IRBM (intermediate range ballistics missile). The Jupiter-C was used in the Explorer satellite program of the ABMA. On January 31, 1958, Explorer I lifted off on top of a Jupiter-C rocket, to give America its first confirmed satellite orbit. On March 17, 1958, Vanguard 1 was successfully launchedda test of the three-stage launch vehicle. The Vanguard 1 satellite, the second of the United States, was the world’s first solar powered satellite. On May 1, 1958, James Van Allen announced that Explorer I and Explorer III detected high levels of radiation at certain points in their orbit. The detection of the Van Allen Belts was the first major discovery in America’s space exploration program. The House NASA bill was passed on June 2 and the Senate version on June 16. The two bills differed in the composition of the advisory committee for the agency’s director. The Senate bill had a strong seven-member panel, whereas the House version favored a weaker seventeenmember board. Eisenhower favored the House proposal. A bipartisan committee of 19member blue ribbon panel, chaired by Lyndon Johnson, produced a version that retained a strong policy board. Eisenhower favored the House version because the Senate version would usurp presidential authority. A meeting with Johnson at the White House on July 7 broke the impasse: Eisenhower would serve as chair of the advisory board. On July 29, 1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. This Act established the NASA, which replaced the previous National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) on October 1, 1958.
Science and Technology The successful launching of Sputnik caught America off guard. In response to the Russian success, Eisenhower created the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in February 1958. The mission of DARPA was to insure that the United States would not be caught in further technological surprises. The mode of operation was that DARPA would formulate and execute projects that expanded science and technology in collaboration with universities, industries,
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and government partners. The projects were not limited to those on military interests. Coming out of this program was computer networking and graphical user interfaces. The National Defense Education Act of 1958 was to strengthen national defense and improve educational programs in science. Under this Act, schools received funding to improve their education programs to meet the demands of national security needs. Of particular concern was to increase the ability of the United States to compete with the Soviet Union in science and technology.
Domestic Programs The Interstate Highway System was created on the basis of the test convoy that Eisenhower participated in 1919 in moving troops across the nation. The justification of the Interstate Highway System project through the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was for the American security during the Cold War. Should there be an attack on the large cities, a highway system would be essential to evacuate the cities and for the ease of military maneuvers. In 1957 and 1960, Eisenhower signed civil rights legislation to protect the right to vote by African-Americans. In 1955 the Fair Labor Standards Act was amended to raise the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 per hour. Eisenhower contributed to the end of McCarthyism by invoking an expanded version of executive privilege. Eisenhower appointed five judges to the Supreme Court of the United States. Following his nonpartisan philosophy, he appointed William Brennan in 1956, a liberal Democrat. For the Chief Justice, Eisenhower looked for someone who could appeal to liberals as well as conservatives. The candidate had to have a national reputation for integrity and courage, and represent the kind of political, social, and economic thinking that Eisenhower believed to be necessary in the Supreme Court. Eisenhower chose Earl Warren in 1953. Eisenhower also appointed 45 judges to the United States Court of Appeals and 129 judges to United States District Courts.
MilitarydIndustrial Complex Speech General Andrew Goodpaster, President Eisenhower’s national security aid, told Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Ike Eisenhower, the following story (Eisenhower, 2012). General Goodpaster was standing in the oval office when Ike was reviewing the proposed budget of the Department of Defense. Ike was going through the budget line by line with a red pen in hand, crossing out the items he deemed unnecessary. With his experience in the military that spanned several decades, he knew what was needed for the defense of the country and could identify programs that were inconsistent with the administration’s national security policy. Ike paused and said to General Goodpaster: "God help this country when we have a man sitting at this desk who doesn’t know as much about the military as I do." Eisenhower’s last speech as President of the United States was given on January 17, 1961. The speech summarized the goals and accomplishments of his administration in the global arena.
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This speech also had a warning about military spending, which is why it has been referred to as the "Military-Industrial Complex Speech." Eisenhower made the warning: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic process." Dwight D. Eisenhower, Military-Industrial Complex Speech, 1961, http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/whst306/documents/indust.html. This part of the speech was given in the documentary "Why We Fight" in which Senator John McCain made the comment regarding truth of Ike’s statement: "President Eisenhower’s concern about the military-industrial complex. His words have unfortunately come true. He was worried that priorities are set by what benefits corporations as opposed to what benefits the country." Senator John McCain, from the documentary "Why We Fight." Dwight David (Ike) Eisenhower was the President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
SS-4.8 Thirty-Fifth President: John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (1917e63) "It is the course of wisdom to set aside an ample portion of our natural resources as national parks and reserves, thus ensuring that future generations may know the majesty of the earth as we know it today." John F. Kennedy, Presidential Wit & Wisdom, 2015, edited by Charlotte Lee Gross, Appleseed Press Book Publishers, LLC, p. 161. Another President of the United States who set out a mission to explore new territories was the 35th President John F. Kennedy (JFK). JFK served in the US House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 and the US Senate from 1953 to 1960. On July 15, 1960, at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, JFK gave his Democratic National Convention Nomination Acceptance Address, with the title "The New Frontier" (Kennedy, 1960). In this speech Kennedy reiterated the concerns of Jefferson that were part of the Democratic Platform: "Pledges which are made so eloquently are made to be kept. ’The Rights of Man’ - the civil and economic rights essential to the human dignity of all men - are indeed out goal and are indeed our first principle. This is a Platform on which I can run with enthusiasm and with conviction." Kennedy was a Catholic, so naturally there was concern that his religious views might influence the way he carried out his term in office. He squelched these criticisms in "The New Frontier" speech by again reiterating the views of Jefferson: "To uphold the Constitution and my oath of office, to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that might directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the Presidency in the national interest. My record of fourteen years in supporting public education, supporting complete separation of Church and State and resisting pressure from sources of any kind should be clear by now to everyone."
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To the Moon After the launch of Sputnik in 1957 by Russia, the United States was in for another shock: on April 12, 1961, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in the Vostok 1 spacecraft. The duration of his flight was 108 minutes. Astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in outer space on May 5, 1961 in the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7. On September 12, 1962, John F. Kennedy gave his "We chose to go to the Moon" speech at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort. This speech addressed an expansion into new territory, similar to the expansion into the Louisiana Territory and the challenges of Lewis and Clark. The challenge of space was summarized in perhaps the most quoted portion of the "Moon Speech" (Kennedy, 1962): "We choose to go to the Moon! [applause]. We chose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skill, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win. On Friday, November 22, 1963, JFK was in a motorcade through downtown Dallas. Kennedy came to Dallas on a political trip to smooth over difference between party liberals Ralph Yarborough and Don Yarborough (not related) and conservative John Connally. At 12:30 pm Central Standard Time, two shots rang out, one bullet in the back that exited through the throat and one in the head. Taken to Parkland Hospital for emergency treatment, JFK was pronounced dead at 1:00 pm. President Kennedy did not live to see his dream come true; to reach the Moon within the decade. On July 20, 1969, the Eagle spacecraft of Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder, and as he set foot on the Moon he uttered the words: "That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy served as President of the United States from 1961 to 1963.
SS-5.0 The Jefferson Nickel and the Kennedy Half Dollar "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." John F. Kennedy at a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners of the Western Hemisphere, Presidential Wit & Wisdom, 2015, edited by Charlotte Lee Gross, Appleseed Press Book Publishers, LLC, p. 131. Of all the presidents in the past and in the future, two stand out as instrumental in expanding the United States, for the first time, into new frontiers: Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy Look at a current nickel. Is there anything unusual about Jefferson’s face? One can see both eyes, whereas on other coins the presidents are shown in profile. The reason that one can see both eyes of Jefferson is to signify that Jefferson was a forward looking President. With the Louisiana
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Purchase, Jefferson increased the beauty of the United States, such as the snowcapped mountains, the Great Plains, the Grand Canyon, the painted deserts, and the great forests. John Fitzgerald Kennedy opened up the beauty of outer space. The Earthrise photograph of the Earth and parts of the Moon taken by astronaut William Anders on the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 is literally breathtaking. This is a photograph of our home! The Voyager missions have given us pictures of our neighboring planets, in addition to scientific information regarding the nature of the planets. The planet Jupiter was specifically visited by the spacecraft, and the spacecraft Cassini studied Saturn and its moons and its hitchhiker Huygens studied the surface of Saturn. The mission of the spacecraft New Horizons was to help us understand the outer reaches of our solar system, formation of the Pluto system, the Kuiper belt, and the transformation of the early Solar System. Aboard the spacecraft were placed some ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, a Kansas country boy who discovered Pluto on February 18, 1930. To commemorate the achievements of Jefferson and Kennedy, the Jefferson nickel and the 1969 Kennedy half dollar are shown in Figure SS-5.1. Representing the opening of the new frontiers
A
B
FIGURE SS-5.1 New Frontiers of Jefferson and Kennedy. A - Top Statue of US Army Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the Mississippi River, the starting point of their expedition to explore the land obtained by Jefferson in the Louisiana Purchase. A - Bottom Jefferson Nickel in which the full face shown is symbolic of Jefferson being a "forward looking President." B - Top "Earthrise" photo taken by astronaut William Andrews in 1968 during the Apollo 8 Mission. (Courtesy: NASA) B - Bottom John F. Kennedy half dollar, 1969, in commemoration of his 1962 dream of a successful Moon landing, which occurred with landing of the Eagle spacecraft of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969.
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by Jefferson and Kennedy, also shown is a statue of Lewis and Clark departing from St. Louis on their Louisiana Purchase expedition and the Earthrise photo taken by astronaut William Andrews in 1968 during the Apollo 8 Mission.
SS-6.0 How Mammals Learn All mammals come into this world with certain innate traits. They learn of their surroundings by the five senses: touching, hearing, tasting, smelling, and seeing. There are certain motor operating that are not taught. Put a nipple in the mouth of the newborn, and the response is a sucking motion if the baby is hungry. The babies are very activedto exercise the muscles. Babies do not have to be taught what is hot or cold, what tastes good or bad, that very loud sounds are annoying, that light is important to avoid bumping into things. As the babies mature, they become curious about their environment. They also learn how to communicate through sound. The cat purrs when happy, a house cat screeches when angry, and a big cat like a lion growls. Other species, such as birds, screech when angry. Similarly, members of the species H. sapiens also purr and screech. There is an emotional bond between the young and parents: the warmth of a cuddle. The parents begin to teach the young about the surrounding world, such as where to hunt and how to hunt for food. Some animals, such as wolves, have evolved to hunt in packs. In the act of playing, siblings teach each other how to fight. All mammals develop some degree of prejudice for one reason: fear. Prejudice is a learned trait of all animals. If the numbers of antelope in a herd of antelope becomes smaller in the presence of a pride of lions, the antelope develops a prejudice against the lion because of the fear of attack and the undesirable invitation to dinner. A society is defined by the members of the society. The evolution of a society as a whole is a result of the evolution of members within the society and how those members interact. The human society is more complex than other mammalian societies for one reason: the development of a brain. The early learning process is largely emotional that it is developed through growing-up experiences influenced by family, friends, and others in the local community. An operational model of a child’s brain is an empty house. Houses come in various shapes and sizes. Every house has a basic set of furniture: beds, chairs, tables, etc. There are also basic rooms in a house: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc. A house can also have rooms and furniture that reflects the interests of the ownerdsuch as a library, a recreational area, etc. Over time, new furniture replaces old, and rooms are redecorated. There is also the possibility of room additions. A newborn child has a minimal set of valuable information: to know when hungry and to know to cry to get attention and comfort when injured. What a child learns through parents creates a base of information that is hard to overcome in latter life. But what kind of information is being taught the child? The parents teach their child "filtered" information that they have learned through their growing up. The acquired information of the parents is a culmination of the filtered information their parents taught them plus information learned through subsequent years from observations and interactions with other members of their social circles. This acquired information becomes filtered information in the form of a variety of prejudices. The word "prejudice" in this context is defined as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. A prejudice is thus associated with a mode of thinking. Prejudices can be harmless, such as preferring Mozart over Beethoven, living in Seattle over living in Miami, and liking the St. Louis Cardinals over the Chicago Cubs. Prejudices can also be harmful or meaningless. Prejudices can be family localized, such as the legendary feud between the Hatfields and McCoys that has become synonymous with family honor, justice, and revenge. Prejudices can also infect society. Examples of infected
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prejudices can be found in the relative roles of men and women in society: the man was the breadwinner and the woman took care of the home; boys studied math and science and girls played with dolls. [To the Reader: The word "diversity" is used in different ways in the following discourse. The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of diversity is: diversity: 1) the condition of having or being composed of differing elements; (variety) especially: the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization - programs to promote diversity in schools. 2) an instance of being composed of differing elements or qualities: an instance of being diverse - a diversity of opinion. Unless otherwise stated, definition 2) is the general definition of diversity in what follows, while the qualifier social, as in social diversity, uses definition 1).] Many prejudices learned when young are hard to overcome as one grows older. The basis of this statement is that many prejudices are emotion based. The Declaration of Independence states that the equality of all men is self-evident and the all men have unalienable rights. These statements are from the intellectdthe mind. In the recent past, universities and other organizations have emphasized acceptance of diversity in the American workforce. Diversity in a social context includes ethnic origin, sexual preference, and religious beliefs. Unfortunately, diversity in the social context is also the driver of discrimination. After more than 200 years, some citizens are not treated as equals, and certain unalienable rights have been denied to some of the citizens. These discriminatory actions are from the emotions. The following poem expresses this sentiment; Emotion Emotion lies in the hearts of all men And dominates the course of their action; From happiness, sorrow, ecstasy, sin which tends toward total satisfaction. Emotion leads a man through his life As though it were the blind leading the blind. Emotion alone results in great strife. Oh, for emotion’s control by the mind! Written in 1965 by an anonymous poet.
SS-7.0 Logical and Intuitive Responses The brain can be considered to be a collection of neuroelectrical processes that control the functions of the body, including how one responds to external stimuli. Any activity within the brain is not localized in any one region. The process of thinking involves a retrieval of information from both long-term and short-term memories that are then actively processed as "working" memory. Each of these activities has specific locations in the brain. Working memory is in the frontal lobe, longer term memory in the hippocampus, habits and skills in the cerebellum, and emotional memory in the amygdale (Sweeney, 2011, p. 100). All of the sections of the brain are connected by a collection of billions of neurons in which electrochemical reactions are correlated to perform the designated task. Shown in Figure SS-7.1 is a cutaway of the human brain showing the sections related to emotion.
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Cingulate gyrus
Thalamus
Nucleus accumbens Prefrontal cortex
Amygdala
Hippocampus
Hypothalamus
FIGURE SS-7.1 Braindemotions and thoughts. Cingulate gyrus: active when a person feels frustration or expresses some kind of emotion. Thalamus: part of limbic systemdclusters of neurons manage overall traffic of neural signals. Hippocampus: limbic system involved mainly in process of memory. Amygdala: conveys information to other brain regionsdexperiences with emotional content. Hypothalamus: regulatory centerdorders physical responses to emotions. Nucleus accumbens: brain reward systemdactivates neural system with pleasurable experiences. Prefrontal cortex: seat of "higher mental functions"dreasoning and judgment. The above clay image of the brain was patterned after information in Concise Encyclopedia of the Human Body, 2015, Red Lemon Press, Kings Road Publishing, London, p. 115. Patterned after information in Concise Encyclopedia of the Human Body.
In terms of decision-making processes, thinking can be broadly partitioned into two distinct classes: logical and intuitive. Intuitive thinking, in turn, can involve conscious or subconscious thought processes. In general, decisions are made by means of a combination of both classes. Logical thinking is defined, in this context, as a critical assessment of information leading to a logical conclusion. Conclusions are drawn from external information by scanning the memory banks in the brain of past experiences. Intuitive thinking can be short term or long term. In this context, short-term intuitive thinking, or an immediate response, is a subconscious assessment of incoming (new) information. An example is found in a game of baseball. A foul ball hit by a batter heads towards a fan in the seats behind home plate. The incoming information is the visualization of a ball heading toward the fan, and the response is spontaneous with two choices. One choice is to duck out of the way, and the second choice is to try to catch the baseball. But the fan
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does not sit and think about which choice to makedthere is a spontaneous reflex governed by the subconscious as to which response the fan takes. Long-term intuitive thinking involves a conscious critical assessment of information that leads to more than one possible conclusion. In other words, long-term intuitive thinking is preceded by logical thinking which has reached a crossroad, or a branch point. As an example of long-term thinking that involves a conscious intuitive thought process is an automobile stuck on the train tracks as the train is approaching. The intuition comes in making the decision which branch point to follow. Does the driver stay with the car with hopes of getting the car off the tracks in time, or does the intuition saydget out now? Logical thinking does not always occur at the conscious level of the brain. Even when asleep, the brain may be "grinding its gears" to find an answer. An example is an algebra problem whose solution is "dreamed up" while asleep, and the answer is immediately written down when the brain wakes up the sleeper. Jules Henri Poinca´re, considered one of the last universal mathematicians, said of mathematical discoveries: "Mathematical discoveries, small or great, are never born of spontaneous generation. They always presuppose a soil seeded with preliminary knowledge and well prepared by labour, both conscious and subconscious." http://www.resonancepub.com/mathematics.htm. James Clerk Maxwell, whose equations united electricity and magnetism, also believed in the power of the subconscious, as reflected in the following poem that Maxwell wrote (Mahon, 2004. pp. 94e95): "There are powers and thoughts within us, that we know not till they rise Through the stream of conscious action from where Self in secret lies. But where will and sense are silent, by the thoughts that come and go We may trace the rocks and eddies in the hidden depths below." The subconscious mind can exert a powerful influence on conscious behavior. The subconscious mind can leave memories in the brain as well as the conscious mind. The following quotation suggests such behavior. Clarence Foxe: "Now, your subconscious mind can make your hand slip. And cut yourself. It can make you jaywalk in the street. And maybe get run over. In other words, each of us can be the victim of ourselves." From Episode 18 of Season 1 of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, titled "Shopping for Death," first televised on January 29, 1956.
SS-8.0 Logic and the Complexity of a System: The Metaphor of Checkers and Chess "Most young people don’t have the concentration to play at a high level, so please don’t get your hopes up." Resident chess master to a young Bobby Fischer in the 2014 movie Pawn Sacrifice. Writing a book, either fiction or nonfiction, takes considerable concentration over a long period of time. It took J. K. Rowling 5 years to write her first Harry Potter book (http://gkic.com/blog/ creativity/the-surprising-answer-to-how-long-it-should-take-to-write-a-book/). Five years is
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about the same number of years it took Einstein between the publication of Special Relativity for uniform motion (1905) and the first paper on General Relativity to include accelerated motion (1911). Over their respective 5-year period, both Rowling and Einstein wrestled with the logic and coherence of the material in their respective projects. However, the complexity of the two subjects differed greatly. In the Harry Potter story, Rowling was concerned with internal consistency of an imaginary world of wizards. In the Theory of General Relativity, Einstein had to make sure his theory was logically consistent with other theoretical principles and in agreement with experimental observations. To illustrate the difference in complexities of two subjects of equal merit, consider the games of checkers and chess. Both games are played on a board with an 8 8 arrangement of alternative dark and light squares. Let this game board be the "field of logic" and the checker and chess pieces represent the complexities of the system. By comparison, the game of checkers is relatively easier to understand than chess. The beginning arrangements of checkers and chess pieces are shown in Figure SS-8.1.
CHECKERS
CHESS
FIGURE SS-8.1 Starting positions of checkers and chess.
The Game of Checkers In the game of checkers, each side has 12 identical pieces. The game begins with checkers placed on the dark squares, being three rows of four checkers each for each side. The pieces are confined to the dark squares, which limits the moves to diagonal moves in the forward direction. A capturing move is a diagonal jump over an opponent’s checker, landing on an unoccupied dark square, and subsequent removal of the opponent’s checker. When a piece reaches the farthest row, it becomes a "king" which is designated by placing another checker on top of the original checker. Only kings can move backwards, but still confined to move along the diagonal.
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The Game of Chess In the game of chess, each player has 16 pieces; 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, a queen, and a king. The back row, starting from either side, consists of, in order, the rook, knight, and bishop in that order. The queen is placed on its color square and the king next to the queen. The eight pawns are placed in the second row. This arrangement has each piece facing its counterpart in each of the columns. The pawns advance forward one square at a time and can capture any of the opponent’s pieces in a diagonal move by replacing the captured piece. The rooks are confined to move forward or backward in a row or column but not in a diagonal motion. The bishops can only move along the diagonal, when means the bishops remain on squares of the original color. Knights are the only pieces that can jump over other pieces (not a capture move). The knight’s move takes the form of an "L," such as a combination of two squares in a column followed by one square in a row. Kings can move only one square to any of the eight adjacent squares. The queen is the most powerful piece when it comes to movesdany number of squares along the diagonal, the column, or the row.
The Objectives of Checkers and Chess The objectives of the two games are quite different. The objective in checkers is to capture all of the opponent’s checkers, whereas in chess the objective is to capture the opponent’s king. In chess the possibility of capturing a piece represents a threat, whereas in checkers captures are mandatory moves. Consider now the complexity of moves to achieve these goals. By limiting the pieces to the dark squares, checkers uses only half the squares in the field of logic. In contrast, all 64 squares are in play in chess. Interchange of any two checkers of the same color does not affect the play because the situation on the board has not changed. If the situation on the board was not to change upon interchange of two pieces, the two pieces must not only be the same color but also the same type. An interchange of a pawn and knight results in an entirely different game, with a change in the strategy. Because of the variety of moves and diversity of pieces, the game of chess is more complex than the game of checkers.
SS-8.1 Complexity of the Brain, Supercomputers, and Chess In 1938, Eddington estimated the number of protons in the visible Universe to be 1080 (https:// en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_number). How does this number compare with the complexity of the brain, supercomputer, and chess?
The Brain The brain is a complex system which controls the action of our bodies, where each action is not localized but involves several sections of the brain working in unison. The brain has to acquire information, store information, and use information to make decisions. All of the sections of the brain are connected by a collection of billions of neurons in which electrochemical reactions are correlated to perform the designated task. There are about 100 trillion (1014) connections in the brain (Zimmer, 2011).
The Supercomputers A supercomputer is a high-performance computer. The early supercomputers of the 1960s were designed to perform high-speed calculations on data. At that time the performance of a
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supercomputer was measured in terms of floating-point operations per second (FLOPS). One obstacle to overcome was the heat produced through the flipping of switches during the processing period. The 1964 CDC 6600 used silicon transistors and introduced refrigeration to solve the heating problem. The heat problem is now solved by many methods, such as a hybrid liquid-air cooling system or air cooling as in air conditioning units. The basic architecture of a supercomputer is a main memory section, a large number of processors, and a means of keeping track of what is going on. The number of processors runs to about 100,000, which are connected by fast connections. One way to think of the sharing of information between the processors is a conference call. There is a central management unit that correlates what is going on in a computer cluster. There may be processors in the cluster that have a specific application. The fastest supercomputer to date is a Chinese supercomputer at 33.86 petaflops (a petaflop is 1015 floating-point operations per second).
The Game of Chess What about the complexity in chess in regard to the number of possible outcomes? In 1949, Claude Shannon calculated that the conservative lower bound for the complexity of the game tree of chess is about 10120 (Shannon, 1950). Keep in mind that the number 10120 represents the number of outcomes and not the number of connections. A connection in this context represents one step in the pathway to an outcome.
SS-8.2 Deep Blue Plays Garry Kasparov in a Chess Match Garry Kasparov became a Chess Master in 1978 at the age of 15, and in that same year he qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship, the youngest qualifier ever at that level. In 1980, Kasparov won the World Junior Chess Championship and later that year became a Grandmaster. He became the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the tender age of 22. Kasparov was the World Champion from 1985 to 2000. Kasparov participated in the 2017 Rapid & Blitz Tournament held at the Chess Club in St. Louis over the period August 14e19. Shown in Figure SS-8.2 is Kasparov signing a chessboard of a fan and during the first match with his opponent Sergey Karjakin.
Deep Blue Deep Blue is the end result of the Chip Test project that began in 1985 at Carnegie Mellon University. When it became Deep Thought, the developing team was hired by IBM in 1989. After a match with Garry Kasparov in 1989, IBM ran a contest to rename the project, hence the name Deep Blue (IBM’s nickname is "Big Blue"). Baseball now has a parallel with chess. In past years in baseball, a starting pitcher usually pitched the entire nine innings, or more if necessary. The longest game played with both starting pitchers was on July 2, 1963. Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants outdueled Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves in a 16 inning, 1 to 0 victory. A relief pitcher had a secondary role relative to a starting pitcher. Nowadays baseball has three categories of pitcher: starting pitcher, a middle game relief pitcher, and a stopper. Managers keep track of the number of pitches the starting pitcher throws. When that number approaches 100, the manager may bring in a middle game relief pitcher. If it is the ninth inning and the game is close, the manager may bring in the stopper,
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FIGURE SS-8.2 Garry Kasparov at the Rapid & Blitz Chess Tournament in St. Louis. Rapid & Blitz Tournament held at the Chess Club in St. Louis over the period August 14e19, 2017. A: Garry Kasparov signing a chessboard of a fan. B: Garry Kasparov playing the first match with his opponent Sergey Karjakin.
even if for only one pitch. Chess likewise has three parts: the opening, the middle game, and the endgame. The strategy is different for these three categories. Hsu and Campbell, who joined IBM in 1989, decided that Grandmaster Joel Benjamin was to develop the Opening Book for Deep Blue and to also assist with the preparations to play Kasparov.
Deep Blue Versus Kasparov The first match of Deep Blue versus Kasparov began on February 10, 1996. Deep Blue won the opening game, thus becoming the first computer to win a chess game against a reigning champion. Kasparov then won three games and tied two games, for a Kasparov win of 4e2 for the match. A second match was planned for May in 1997. Deep Blue was "upgraded" for this match to the "brute force" level. It was a massive parallel system with 30 nodes, with each node containing a 120-MHz P2Sc microprocessor. Deep Blue was capable of evaluating 200 million positions per second. Thousands of master games were used to optimize parameters for various situations. The opening book contained over 4,000 positions along with 700,000 grandmaster games. The endgame book contained many six-piece endgames. Deep Blue planned five moves in advance. Kasparov requested that he be allowed to study other games played by Deep Blue, but was denied. To study previous games provides information of how Deep Blue is programmed to think in a chess game. [To the Reader: Horse racing and professional poker have one thing in common with chess: the need to know past performances. In regard to horse racing, it is of value to know if the horse runs well on a muddy track, the finish when the horse starts on the rail and the outside, the record of wins for the horse and the jockey, etc. Comparison of these numbers for all of the horses in a race gives the bettor needed information to
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pick a probable winner. In the professional game of poker, the player does not only play the hands that are dealt, but also the players. How often does a player bluff when holding certain cards? Does conversation distract a player? Serious chess players constantly study past chess matches. Many moves in chess are named. The Oxford Companion to Chess lists 1,327 named openings and their variants. If an opponent has a favorite opening, then knowing that bit of information is valuable in planning a strategy.] Deep Blue won the second match against Kasparov. The result was 3e1/2 for Deep Blue and 2e1/2 for Kasparov. Kasparov resigned after 62 minutes into the last game, which gave Deep Blue the victory. The reason that Kasparov resigned was out of frustration over the secrecy of the IBM team. Kasparov felt that there was something "very human" about the machines strategy. A New York Times reporter reported that additional Grandmasters were hired to advise the IBM team (Fine, 1997).
The Aftermath Wikipedia reports that the ".1997 match was the first defeat of a reigning world chess champion by a computer under tournament conditions" (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_ versus_Garry_Kasparov). This statement is not true because "under the rules of competitive chess the computer would have to make its previous games available to other players and agree not to tweak the machine throughout the course of the matchdsomething it was allowed to do in this showdown." (Fine, 1997). What Kasparov accomplished up to the last game was to beat Deep Blue the first match and tie Deep Blue the first five games of the second match (2e1/2 to 2e1/2). Based on past performances, Kasparov could have won the sixth game if it were not for the distraction during the sixth game that led Kasparov to resign and give the math to Deep Blue. The implication is that the human brain is more than a match for supercomputers and therefore AI (artificial intelligence) when it comes to reasoning based on past information.
SS-8.3 Watson Plays Jennings and Rutter in a Game of Jeopardy! Having "beaten" Garry Kasparov with Deep Blue, IBM sought other lands to conquer. The choice was the quiz show Jeopardy! The opponents were to be Jeopardy! winners Ken Jennings (record of 74 consecutive wins) and Brad Rutter (record money winning of $4,455,102).
Watson Watson was specifically designed by an IBM team led by David Ferrucci to perform on the game show Jeopardy! The primary challenge was voice recognition. Watson had to interpret what was said in stating the clue and then decide within a few seconds whether or not to respond. Watson had access to 200 million pages of information that was structured and unstructured, which was stored in 4 terabytes of disk storage. Sources of information included all of Wikipedia, dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, literary works, and newswire articles. Watson had to simultaneously execute hundreds of language analysis algorithms in a search of the database.
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A "correct" answer was determined by the frequency of an answer and then to ascertain if that answer made sense. A light was used to notify the humans when to respond, and an electronic signal was sent to Watson. In practice runs, Watson’s reaction time was faster than the human response time, except when the human brain anticipated the ready signal.
The Outcome In the first round of Jeopardy! Watson was second in the competition because of an incorrect answer to the Daily Double clue. The final tally had Watson at $77,147, Jennings at $24,000, and Rutter at $21,600. Ken Jennings said of Watson’s operation: "The computer’s techniques for unraveling Jeopardy! clues sounded just like mine. That machine zeroes in on key words in a clue, then combs its memory (in Watson’s case, a 15-terabyte data bank of human knowledge) for clusters of associations with those words. It rigorously checks the top hits against all the contextual information it can muster: the category name; the kind of answer being sought; the time, place, and gender hinted at in the clue; and so on. And when it feels ’sure’ enough, it decides to buzz. This is all an intuitive process for a human Jeopardy! player, but I felt convinced that under the hood my brain was doing more or less the same thing." Ken Jennings, from: Watson (computer) Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer).
SS-9.0 Can Something "Hard" Capture the Attention of the General Public? "Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion?’ Oliver Heaviside (1850e1925), English physicist. According to the Pew report (Pew, 2013), 46% of those surveyed say that science is too hard to understand, 22% say that science is not useful for their career, and 20% think science is boring. These three opinions and/or experiences may be based on a misrepresentation of what science is and what science does, because not one day goes by in which one does not encounter some aspect of science. Chemistry is revealed in cooking. When you follow a recipe to fix your favorite dish, do you ever think of the "why" behind that recipe? Why, for example, does a recipe require meats to soak in salt water, a process known as brining? Isn’t too much salt bad for you? The basic principle is a balance of material through diffusion and osmosis through the cell walls. The net effect of additional water and salt in the cell is to rearrange the protein molecules, the "muscle" part of the meat, to where the meat is juicier and tenderer. Biology is the food we eat, the flowers, we grow, and the plants we raise, and what attracts bees for the necessary pollination for new plants. When plants grow, why do they seem to face the Sun? What about the stars? Mathematics is in the morning and evening, the rise of the Sun and the coming out of the stars. Where do the stars get their energy that allows them to shine for billions of years? Have the elements always been around, and if not, how were they made? What causes weather patterns, and why does it rain? Weather patterns are governed by the everyday experience of the physics of hot flowing to cold, high pressure moving to low pressure. And basic science also is the underlying factor of current issues of political embrace that can affect the future of us all, and beyond.
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SS-9.1 The Chess Craze of 1972 How does one motivate the general public to learn more about something considered to be "hard" but yet occupied much of the time of the general public? One example occurred in 1972, which stimulated the interest of the general publicdand it was not science. In 1972, representatives of the United States and Russia met in what was perceived as another "cold war" event. The event took place in the Laugardalsho¨ll arena in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was the 1972 World Chess Championship with challenger Bobby Fischer to play against the World Chess Champion Boris Spassky. There was worldwide coverage of the event because Russia dominated this event for decades, and now there was an American in the deciding match. There was a "chess frenzy" that quickly spread throughout the United States. For those who played chess, coffee houses provided chess games to play while one enjoyed a cup of coffee. It was not necessary to understand the rules of chess or recognize the complexity of the game. The general appeal of this championship match is that it represented the United States against Russia during the Cold War. Bobby Fischer long suspected that the Russians did not play faird that there was a collusion to advance Russian participants. Two books that reflect this view are White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War was Fought on the Chessboard by Daniel Johnson and Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How One Lone American Star Defeated the Soviet Chess Machine by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. But to the general public part of the appeal of the FischereSpassky match was the "outlandish" behavior of Bobby Fischer. He challenged authority. The following is from Bill Wall’s account (Wall, 2014). Fischer did not attend the opening ceremony because he left for Iceland late. Fischer held out for an increase in the gate receipts for both him and Spassky. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger called Fischer, asking him to play. Fischer ignored the reception of Iceland dignitaries when he arrived in Reykjavik and went to a waiting car. Fischer was 7 minutes late for the first game. He protested the presence of television cameras and filming cameras, in violation of an agreement that allowed recording of the match. Fischer forfeited game 2 by not showing up. On July 16, Fischer booked himself on a flight to Greenland, but his delegation persuaded him to return and play chess. Game 3 was played on July 16, but in a small closed playing area. Game 4 resumed in the main auditorium. Of the 21 games played in the Reykjavik tournament, Fischer was late for every game except one. Fischer won the match with a score of 12.2 to 8.5, to become the 11th World Chess Champion. In addition to becoming the Chess World Championship in 1972, Bobby Fischer also tried to make changes in the rules of the tournament. After winning the match in 1972, Fischer refused to defend his championship in 1975 because he was unhappy with the format of the World Championship. The format, which was the same as in 1972, counted draws as a half-point each in a match of 24 games. The first to reach 12.5 points was the winner. But the system also allowed a tie of 12e12, in which case the match was a tie, the prize money split, and the champion retained the title. [To the Reader: To put Fischer’s objection to the format of the World Chess Championship format as the best of 24 games, let us consider the World Series in baseball. Let the number of innings in the playoff match be limited to 9 innings. If the game is tied at the end of the 9th inning, then each team would be given credit of winning 1/2 game. It is therefore possible that both teams can have 3.5 wins after 7 games. In this case the World Series purse would be equally divided, and the league that won the World Series the previous year would be declared the World Series Champion. Think of what this would have meant for the 2016 World Series between the National League Chicago Cubs and
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the American League Cleveland Indians. If each team received 3.5 wins, then the World Series Championship would go to the Cleveland Indians because the American League Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015.] Fischer wanted the match winner to be the first player to 10 wins. This proposal was rejected, and Fischer did not play again until 1992 when a sponsor was found to fund the FischereSpassky rematch. The rematch was held in Yugoslavia, which at that time was under a United Nations embargo. Fischer was thus in trouble with the United States, for he violated President George H. W. Bush’s executive order not to have business dealings with Yugoslavia. By participating in the 1992 rematch, Fischer, once an American hero in the Cold War period, became an embarrassment to the United States. Fischer won the rematch. The United States sought income tax on his winnings and eventually put out an arrest warrant and revoked his passport. Iceland, where the 1972 match was held, was kinder to Fischer and offered him citizenship and an Icelandic passport. Bobby Fischer died in Iceland on January 17, 2008, at the age of 64 years. The Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis held an exhibition honoring Bobby Fischer, A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer, during the period July 24, 2014, to June 7, 2015 (Figure SS-8.3).
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FIGURE SS-8.3 Chess Hall of Fame exhibit honoring Bobby Fischer. An exhibit over the period July 24, 2014, to June 7, 2015, honoring Bobby Fischer: A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer. A: The Chess Hall of Fame with its characteristic giant king piece. B: Photo of Bobby Fischer in his prime.
SS-9.2 To Be Excited About the Science That Affects the Future If the American people can get excited about the Bobby FischereBoris Spassky chess match that represented a victory in the politics of a Cold War, then should there not be an excitement over decisions made at the political level that can affect the future of life on Earth? Even if many citizens believe science to be too hard, too boring, or not relevant. As noted by Lawrence Krause (Krause, 2016) and Shaun Otto (Otto, 2016b), the 2016 Presidential election has given us an
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administration that is poised to attack the fundamental idea that there are objective facts that can be discovered, and that facts are the fairest and most just basis for public policy, and therefore the preservation of a democracy. Pseudofacts that global warming is a hoax do not trump the scientific facts that global warming is real. The Laws of Nature are not subject to repeal by any political vote.
SS-10.0 Body Parts and Decision Making: Head, Gut, Heart, and Sex Organs Although all humans have the same general traits that qualify them to be in the species category of H. sapiens, there is a great diversity in the details of a physical description, such as height, weight, hair color, etc. Likewise the brains of H. sapiens are physically similar. The paths of all the electrical impulses in the brain that arise from observation, memory recall, pain and pleasure, hunger and thirst are virtually the same. But the ability to process these signals to form thoughts and opinions differs from person to person. To categorize all thought and emotional impulses as one categorizes chess moves would results in a quite complex catalogue. Fortunately, there is a much simpler way to categorize how individuals respond to external information and the processing of that information. Randy Olson is a scientist-turned-filmmaker. He received the doctoral degree in biology from Harvard in 1984 and joined the faculty at the University of New Hampshire as a marine biologist. After being granted tenure in 1994, Olson resigned this tenured position to attend film school at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television (now University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts). It was at this university that he earned the Master of Fine Arts in 1997. Olson did not abandon science; in 2001, he teamed up with coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson of Scripts Institution of Oceanography on the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project. Drawing on his evolutionary biology background and growing up in Kansas, Olson produced a documentary of the attempts of proponents of Intelligent Design to change the Kansas Science Standards. The documentary, Flock of Dodos: The EvolutiondIntelligent Design Circus, premiered in 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Olson pointed out in Flock of Dodos that over the last 50 years there was a drastic culture change in communication due to an exponential increase in information and knowledge. This knowledge was not given to the general public in depth, but in the form of "sound bites" and "slogans" generated by public relation firms, as noted in the following two quotations from Flock of Dodos: "Public relation firms have figured out the need for simple slogans, and instead of wasting time explaining entire stories to the general public, they know how to jump to the conclusions and provide followers with what is commonly known as the talking points." "So in America today we have two voices for evolution. The first voice, that of academics, is handicapped by their blind obsession by the truth. The second voice, emerging from public relations firms, understands the need to tell simple, clean stories not constrained by the truth." Perhaps spurred on by his findings regarding the communication of science to the general public in Flock of Dodos, Randy Olson wrote about mass communication in his book Don’t be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style (Olson, 2009). The "substance" is the "what" and the "style" is the "how" of communication.
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Olson begins Don’t be Such a Scientist with his eye-awakening experience at USC School of Cinema-Television when he signed up for an acting class. Olson recalls what the teacher said of his acting, in which he failed to express what he was feeling: (Olson, 2009, p. 3) "You cannot, I repeat, cannot come into this classroom and have no feelings. You can be sad, you can be glad, you can be mad, but the one thing you cannot do is tell us you’ve thought things through and have no feelings. That’s what intellectuals do. They intellectualize the world. They move it all into their heads. They suck the life out of life. And that’s why nobody wants to watch and intellectual act. Actors act. They actually do things. Intellectuals don’t act, they think and talk." The above quotation explicitly points out that there are different modes of thinking about a subject. The different roads are characterized by four modes of thinking that are represented by body parts (Olson, 2009, pp. 18e22): • The head is characterized by logic and analysis with little, if any, contradictions. • The heart embraces passion, is very emotional and deeply connected with the feelings, is prone to sentimentality, and susceptible to melodrama. • The gut is characterized by spontaneity, impulse, instinct, and prone to contraction. • The sex organs, are characterized as chaos - the lack of any form of logic. The four modes of thinking are not independent, but are consciously and/or subconsciously undergoing a tug-of-war. The tug-of-war thinking can involve two or more modes of thinking or be within one mode of thinking when two or more outcomes are possible. This is what makes society, as a whole, very complex and very diverse as a social community. Everyone makes decisions on a daily basis that involves various combinations of the gut, the head, and the heart modes of thinking. Decisions usually, but not always, involve all-or-none propositions. An example of a heart versus heart decision is Do I go to a baseball game with my daughter or do I go to a concert with my son? There are two implicit assumptions in this statement: it is a certainty that the daughter goes to the baseball game and the son goes to the concert; and both events occur at the same time. The set up of the dilemma is that the parent goes to one event or the other event. But what if the two events are located close to each other such that the parent can watch the first half of the baseball game with the daughter and then go listen to the second half of the concert with the son? This "compromise" may satisfy the parent’s obligation to spend time with both offspring but is less of a fulfillment of each child to spend time with the parent. Scientists are part of society, so this fraction of society also faces similar decisions involving the head and the heart/gut decisions.
SS-10.1 Head Versus Heart Decisions Charles Darwin compiled two lists, one being the advantages of marriage and the other the disadvantages of being married. These lists form the basis of a head decisiondone of logic. On the disadvantage list was the loss of freedom to go where he wanted to go, and less money for books and less time to read them. On the advantage list was someone to talk with and someone to take care of the house. Darwin concluded that a wife would be better than a dog anyway, so he married his first cousin Emma Wedgewood.
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[To the Reader: Why was the decision to marry a decision to be made between the head and the heart? If Darwin and Emma were in love, should not love (the heart) win out over the disadvantage list (composed by the head) in making a decision of marriage? Decisions of marriage of this type are made all the time. Consider, for example, a prenuptial agreement between two people who profess their love for each other.]
SS-10.2 Head Versus Gut Decisions Albert Einstein is recognized as one of the greatest philosophical thinkers in the field of physics. Einstein was fond of using gedanken experiments (thought experiments) when he investigated natural phenomena. At this stage of development, Einstein had a "gut feeling" that his "logic" was correct. The next step was to work out the underlying mathematics; the "head" decisions. An example is the Theory of General Relativity. His "happiest thought" was that of a falling person in which Einstein drew the equivalence of acceleration in free space with gravity on Earth. Once this "gut feeling" was put into "head logic" through equations developed by Einstein and others, conclusions could be drawn about the Nature of the cosmos. But sometimes the "gut feeling" of Einstein led to the wrong conclusion. Einstein made significant contributions in the field of quantum theory, giving it a jump start with his theory of light to explain the photoelectric effect. But then something happened in the mid-1920s: the general mathematical structure of quantum mechanics took the form of a wave equation with a wave function associated with the particle. Led by Max Born and Niels Bohr, the theory of quantum mechanics became one of a probability theory of how Nature works, as measured by the square of the wave function. Einstein’s philosophy that led to relativity was that the Laws of Nature are deterministic laws. The EinsteineBohr debates on the interpretation of quantum theory are legend. Einstein said to Bohr: God does not play dice. Bohr responded to Einstein: Don’t tell God what to do. The head thinking of Einstein (Nature is quantized) was in conflict with the gut thinking of Einstein (the theory of quantum mechanics is incomplete). In Einstein’s case, the gut thinking won. Einstein did not make any major contributions to the field of quantum mechanics after his paper of absorption/emission of light in 1917.
SS-11.0 Structure of Society It is shown throughout history that the stability of a society is dependent on the interplay between three basic concepts: there is leadership to guide the people (government), there is science to provide the needs of the people, and there is religion to reinforce the hope of the people. These three basic concepts must work in concert to have a stable society. An example is ancient Egypt. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt depended upon the scribes (scientists) to inform them of the cycles of natural events (associated with the gods) for the planting of crops (the needs of the people). Government, science, and religion not only play an important role in the internal stability of a society but also contribute to the relationships between societies of different countries. For example, science participated in conflicts as exemplified with the war machines of Archimedes in the attack of Syracuse by the Romans under the leadership of Marcellus during the period 214e212 BCE.
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SS-11.1 Common Endeavor of the Scientific Community "What is so remarkable [about science] is that there are no barriers of nationality, race, religion, or ideology in the common endeavor." Sir Hermann Bondi, Mathematician and Cosmologist. The community of scientists is global, spanning the centuries of time and the vastness of location. Perhaps implied by the broad range within each category listed by Bondi is the fact that science also has no barriers to gender or status in society. The following is a partial list of the diversity of contributors to the many fields in science.
No Barriers Between People and Religion Alhazen (Arab, 965e1040) was the first to advocate what is now known as the scientific method: make an observation, hypothesize as to the mechanism, experiment to test the mechanism, revise the hypothesis, and repeat. He made significant contributions to optics. In his day it was believed that sight was a result of rays emanating from the eyes. Alhazen had the correct view that light reflected from the Sun or other sources was the reason people saw objects. Alhazen also correctly explained how the lens of the eye worked. Alhazen’s work had a strong influence on the astronomer Johann Kepler (Germany, 1571e1630), who showed that the orbits of planets about the Sun are elliptical. James Prescott Joule (English, 1818e89), brewer with little formal education, discovered that energy was conserved, which was not well received by the scientific community until 23-year-old William Thompson (ScotsdIrish, 1824e1907, also known as Lord Kelvin) pointed out the importance of Joule’s work. Emmy Noether (Germany, 1882e1935) made progress in abstract algebra and theoretical physics. Noether’s First Theorem states that for every differentiable symmetry of the action of a physical system there is a corresponding conservation law. Michael Faraday (English, 1791e1867), who was raised in a poor family, apprenticed to a bookbinder, and self-taught, managed to obtain a laboratory job working for Sir Humphry Davy (English, 1778e1829). Faraday’s work eventually established the field of electrochemistry and introduced the concept of a "field" based on his studies on electricity and magnetism. Faraday’s work on the relationship between electricity and magnetism was summarized in the four equations of James Clerk Maxwell (Scotland, 1831e79). The works of Faraday and Maxwell strongly influenced a patent office clerk with no doctoral degree. The patent office clerk published five seminal papers in 1905 that changed the philosophical views of the scientific community. That patent clerk was Albert Einstein (German, 1879e1955), who was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. Satyendra Nath Bose (India, 1894e1974), the son of an accountant and educated in Presidency College in Calcutta, published a paper in 1924 that caught the attention of Einstein. Impressed with the paper by Bose on the use of Planck’s quantum theory, Einstein generalized the results, which became the BoseeEinstein statistics of quantum mechanics. Marie Curie (Poland, 1867e1934), born in poverty, discovered polonium, named after her homeland of Poland, and radium. She is the only woman to receive two Nobel Prizes: the 1903 Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre for their work on radioactivity and the 1911 Prize in Chemistry for a means of measuring radioactivity. George Washington Carver (African-American, 1860se1943) was born into slavery, owned by a German immigrant. He was a pioneer in convincing the farmers of the South to enrich the soil by planting peanuts and sweet potatoes. A chemist par excellence, Carver developed some 300 types of synthetic materials from the peanut. Hideki Yukawa (Japan, 1907e81) proposed a theory for the "nuclear force" that held the nuclei of atoms together. The nuclear force was manifested as particles of mass about 200 times that of the electron and had a range only on
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the order of the diameter of a nucleus. Yukawa was the first Japanese to receive the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics. Australian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner (1878e1968) interpreted the unusual results of Hahn and Strassmann as a splitting of the atom by neutrons. By analogy of the division of biological cells, Meitner "borrowed" the word "fission" for the splitting of the atom by the artificial means of neutron capture. Ernst Rutherford (New Zealand, 1871e1937) discovered that most of the mass of the nucleus was in a very tiny region at its center. Rutherford was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Niels Bohr (Denmark, 1885e1962), working in Rutherford’s lab in England at the time, proposed a quantized model of the atom. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Molecular biologist Barbara McClintock (American, 1902e92) discovered that genes could jump from one location to another. She won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. The astrophysicist Susan Jocelin Bell Burnell (Ireland, 1943e), as a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, discovered the first pulsar. Pavel Cherenkov (Russia, 1904e90) observed blue light from a bottle of water subjected to radioactive bombardment. This phenomenon was associated with particles moving faster than the speed of light in the medium. This discovery, called the Cherenkov Effect, is of experimental importance in the study of cosmic rays. He was awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics. It is also noted that Pavel Cherenkov was the inspiration of the Star Trek character Pavel Chekov and that in Starship Troopers in which spaceships traveled faster than the speed of light using the Cherenkov Drive.
No Barriers Between People and Religion Although World War I created a barrier between the citizens of England and Germany, there were no barriers between the scientists of these countries. As noted by Robert Lawson, physicist, on the reception of the confirmation of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity by the English expedition of 1919 to test the theory: "The fact that a German’s theory has been confirmed by the English has, as is daily becoming more evident, brought the chance for collaboration between these scientific nations far closer. Thereby Einstein has done an inestimable service to mankind, leaving wuite aside the high scientific value of his ingenious theory." From The New Quotable Einstein, 2005m edited by Alice Calaprice, Princeton University Press, p. 312.
The Common Endeavor The statement of Bondi that in science "..there are no barriers of nationality, race, religion, or ideology" is clearly supported in the above paragraphs. But what is ".the common endeavor" to which he refers? The common endeavor is the discovery of how the Universe works through the Laws of Nature. The physical and chemical Laws of Nature operated long before life on Earth existed. If humans did not exist then society could not exist; but the Laws of Nature would still be manifested in the dynamics and structure of the Universe because the Universe would exist. The Laws of Nature are outside of society. This does not mean, however, that scientists agree on everything. They argued among themselves and even held grudges in regard to the meaning and notation of scientific findings. Perhaps most famous is the EinsteineBohr debate on the interpretation of quantum mechanics, which has reached the bookshelves of popular bookstores with layperson books such as Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality (2011) by Manjit Kumar.
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SS-11.2 The Diversity of Views in Government There are many types of governments, such as democracy, oligarchy, plutocracy, monarchy, authoritarian, and totalitarianism. These general categories are subdivided into smaller groups. Fascism, for example, is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism in which a dictator is in power and characterized by forcible suppression of opposition, and control of industry and commerce. The first fascist government was Italy under Mussolini. Nazi Germany is a period in German history when it was a totalitarian state under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. The Nazi party controlled all aspects of life. Communism was a political form of government derived from the writings of Karl Marx. Under Communism, all property is publically owned and a class system is set up in which workers are paid according to their abilities and needs. A socialistic government embraces a range of economic and social systems. It is characterized by social ownership, with a means of production under democratic control. A monarchy is a form of government in which sovereign power is granted to one person. A monarchy can be absolute or limited. Generally a family representing a dynasty is the embodiment of the national identity of the country. The power of the monarch may be purely symbolic (crowned republic), partial and restrictive (constitutional monarchy), or completely autocratic (absolute monarchy). A democratic government is one in which the power is vested in the people. Elections are held to determine the leaders of the country. Governments can be a mixture of forms of government. In England, for example, the Parliament is a democratic institution within the monarchy represented by the king or queen. In the United States the democratic form of government is a mixture with the republic form of government. A republic government is one in which the people exercise their power through elected officials.
SS-11.3 The Diversity of Views in Religion Within the world of religions, one can define sets based on the number of supernatural beings, or gods, which are worshiped. Since the number of supernatural beings cannot be known in the natural world, head thinking (logic) must allow the number of gods in a religion to be 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. The number of gods in a religion thus becomes the basis for further partitioning religious views. Since atheists do not believe in a supernatural being, Atheism is identified as the religion that occupies the null set of religions. For simplicity of illustration, two other sets are introduced: religions with one god (monotheism) and religions with more than one god (polytheism). Not all of the members in a set have the same religious views. For example, in the monotheistic set the major religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. These three religions worship the same God but have different religious views of worship. In other words, there are points of overlap between the different religious views. Even within a particular religious view there are differences in the forms of worship. An example is Christianity, which comprises Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Catholics, Latter Day Saints, etc.
SS-11.4 The Diversity of Views in Society There will always be a diversity of views in a society on religious preference, method of education, form of government, food choices, the science of environmental issues, reproductive rights, and so forth. There are two things to keep in mind regarding diversity in society: • Diversity can be a good thing in society because different views and opinions are expressed. • Diversity can be a bad thing in society because different views and opinions are expressed.
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The reason that diversity can be either good or bad for society is that all four modes of thinking contribute to the structure of society: head, heart, gut, and sexual organs thinking. When the gut, heart, and head modes of thinking are in unison, the diversity is good. An example for the American society is the space program of President Kennedy. The head benefited society because of the advances in technology, the gut benefited society with the belief it can be done, and the heart benefited society because it was a race to space with the Russians. Diversity can also be bad for society because any one or more groups can focus their efforts to change a society to their point of view. In other words, use diversity to eliminate diversity. An example is the Intelligent Design movement in the late 1990s to 2006. The plan is outlined in the Wedge Document of the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington. The plan was to first get Intelligent Design as the dominant perspective in science, in such fields as molecular biology, biochemistry, cosmology, etc. The next step was to get Intelligent Design into the humanities, politics, fine arts, etc. The ultimate goal was to see design theory penetrate our religious, cultural, moral, and political life. The bad thing about diversity in views is that it allows erroneous views, fake facts, and personal opinions and lifestyles to permeate society with potentially devastating results.
SS-11.5 The Structure of Society: A Venn Diagram Even though scientists have a common endeavor when it comes to the desire to understand how Nature works, scientists are no different from nonscientists when it comes to matters concerning government and religion. In fact, there is not universal agreement with the interpretation of scientific theories and data. In this regard, gut and heart thinking are as common among scientists as with anyone else. A case in point is the EinsteineLenard confrontation. Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard (1862e1947) was an experimental scientist who worked on cathode rays and the photoelectric effect. Lenard received the Nobel Prize in 1905 for his research. It was Lenard’s work on the photoelectric effect that was explained by Einstein in his 1905 paper that light came in "bundles of energy" later called photons. It was the photoelectric effect for which Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921. Although Lenard did not dispute Einstein’s interpretation of the photoelectric effect, he was highly skeptical of the work on relativity. Not being endowed with mathematical ability to understand the relativity theories of Einstein, he began to attack them as early as 1910. Lenard was also a staunch nationalist. During the Nazi regime, Lenard was outspoken on the idea that Germany should only accept German Physics, Deutche Physik and that Germany should ignore the deliberately misleading and fallacious ideas of "Jewish physics." Lenard became an advisor to Hitler and Chief of Aryan physics under the Nazis. According to Phillip Ball (Ball, 2015): "He lamented the encroachment of technology in modern life: an expression, he said, of the kind of materialism that infected both Communism and the Jewish spirit, the twin enemies of German greatness. Materialistic natural science had eclipsed the ’spiritual sciences,’ giving them the ‘arrogant delusion’ that humankind can achieve the ‘mastery of nature.’ " In 1920, Einstein and Lenard came head-to-head in a debate about relativity at a meeting of the Society of German Scientists and Physicians in Bad Nauheim. The debate was covered by scientists, journalists, and curious onlookers. Accounts differ, but those that mention Planck as moderator having to intervene as hecklers interrupted Einstein are probably accurate. Einstein regretted participating in such a debate. According to Ball (Ball, 2015): "While the Aryan physicists were incapable of mounting a credible assault on Einstein’s relativity in scientific terms, Deutsche Physik offered a new line of attack: relativity threatened to undermine the very essence of the Germanic world view."
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There is an ironic outcome of the above incidents. The attack on the "Jewish science" of Einstein may have prevented Hitler from pursuing the atomic bomb, which is based on the masseenergy equivalence expression, E ¼ mc2, derived by Einstein. There are no such terms or phrases in the arena of science with political or religious mantles: "Jewish science," "Christian science," "Atheistic science," "German science," etc. Science has no bounds and embraces all contributions to the advancement of understanding Nature. What are the important aspects of any society in which there can be differences in points of view that can affect society if one point of view dominates over the other points of view? Human rights are one example. The United States fought the Civil War over human rights, and racism still survives in the form of White Supremacy today. Reproductive rights of women are also an issue in the science of birthdwhen does life begin? Is industrial farming taking away the rights of farmers to own their own seed and protect their crops from the migration of pesticides through water and air, neither of which can be contained to one location? Can the consumer eat free-range chickens or will the family farm become extinct because of the practices of the industrial farms. Will federal funds for public education be diverted to private profit-driven education factories? All of the above issues, and more, are always in dynamic flux; constantly changing as the basic principles of society changes. It is important that the citizens of a society pay attention to the directions the governing body takes due to the influence of special interest groups. A Venn diagram of Society is illustrated in Figure SS-11.1. The named items (education, economy, food
society economy human rights
Laws of Nature common endeavor
education
science
environment food preferences reproductive rights government religion
FIGURE SS-11.1 The diversity of a society. Society is the background blue circle, and the smaller colored circles represent groups of people who share the same views on the characteristic traits of a society, such as "economy," "education," etc. The relative sizes of the color circles change to reflect the change in the number of people who share those beliefs. The red square marked "science" encompasses all persons who study how Nature works, where the common endeavor is to discover the Laws of Nature. The Laws of Nature are symbolically outside of the circle of society because they are independent of the existence of society.
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preferences, reproductive rights, etc.) are topics with a diversity of opinions. The colored circles represent a group of people with similar views on a topic. For example, the red circle may represent Evangelicals with common views on education, or it might represent Muslims with common views on education, or educators with a common view on a political system. Since the population of any groups changes in time, which view dominates society will also change in time. Notice that the "common endeavor" of people in science, to study the laws of Nature, remains if society disappears.
SS-11.6 Society as a Three-Legged Stool The stability of a society is thus like a three-legged stool with science, government, and religion representing each of the legs, as shown in Figure SS-11.2. Science can be divided into two main parts: pure science is the discovery of the Laws of Nature and how Nature works; applied science is the technological application of those laws. Science therefore serves society. Although breakthroughs in science may serendipitously be founded in gut and heart thinking, the structure of science is a result of the head thinking of logical systems because the Natural Laws upon which scientific theories are based must be consistent in all fields of science. Science is a manifestation of head thinking, or logic. Science is the source of evidence-based decisions made in society. If people do not accept the science of a topic, then they are the worse off because Nature does not recognize desires and hopes of people. Government is the leg that guides and monitors society functions. Decisions made in government are best when they are evidence-based decisions. These decisions are head thinking decisions. Government decisions are thus first from the head and then from gut and heart thinking. But sometimes the science is partial, or nonexistent. Decisions in the government are then made from gut and heart thinking. The success or failure of a governmental system is dependent upon the feedback from the people. If the people do not agree with a political regime, then the people can change the government. Religion is the "faith" leg of the three-legged stool. The observation that there are so many varieties of religions suggests that head thinking is not an important factor in religion, although it
SOCIETY
RELIGION
SCIENCE POLITICS
FIGURE SS-11.2 Society as a three-legged stool. A stable society is founded on science, politics, and religion.
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could be a factor at the individual level. If people do not agree with the teaching within their religious affiliation, then they can start a new religion more suited to their beliefs. Martin Luther, a German professor of theology, rejected many of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. One objection was the use of indulgences, where one could avoid God’s judgment of punishment by paying a sum of money to the Church. Luther believed that forgiveness was a gift through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ as the redeemer of sins. For the three-legged stool to be stable and function as a stool, the three legs must be of equal length and independent. If religious views dominate government decisions with of omission of science-based evidence, then the three legs are unequal and the society is no longer on a level field: its usefulness as a stool is lost. Those of religious faith that were not part of the religion that dominates the government could be persecuted on the basis of not being patriotic. Faith-based government that castrates science from its role in decision making can only weaken the society. Not every member of society is directly associated with any one of the three legs of society. Most people do not run for a political office, but they do vote for a representative. Most people do not study science, but they do take advantage of the discoveries in science. Most people do not seek ordainment certification in a particular faith, but they do follow the teachings of a religion of their choice. Turn to the Venn diagram shown in Figure SS-11.1. An increase in the population of any one of the colored circles can have a very significant effect on the government of a society through changes in views on human rights, education, government, the environment, and so forth.
SS-12.0 Metaphor of Science in Society: The Lone Ranger Episode 100 "The Devil’s Bog" The three-legged stool image of society is reflected in the 100th episode of popular television series The Lone Ranger, titled "The Devil’s Bog" first aired on February 5, 1953. The unfolding of events in "The Devi’s Bog" parallels the current relationships between the findings of science, the politics of making policy, the weighing of economics with the benefits of the solution to the community, the influence of special interest groups, and the attempts to sway public opinions. A summary of what took place does not capture the atmosphere of the discussion. The conversations are quoted with comments of how the discussion relates to current events are isolated by italics inside square brackets, [italics]. The Reader should reflect on what is being said between the participants. But first some background for the Reader not familiar with the series.
SS-12.1 Who Was That Masked Man? Who was The Lone Ranger, and what did he stand for? The character of The Lone Ranger was inspired by a dedication by Zane Grey in 1915 to Texas ranger Captain John R. Hughes in the book The Lone Star Ranger. It was in 1933 that The Lone Ranger first appeared on radio, the creation of either George W. Trendle, owner of WXYZ radio station in Detroit or writer Fran Striker. In 1949, The Lone Ranger first appeared as a television series, along with the other western series Hopalong Cassidy and The Cisco Kid. In 1951, the Roy Rogers Show joined the western genre. What sets The Lone ranger apart from the ranch owners Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy and the wandering Cisco Kid and Pancho, who are O. Henry’s "Robin Hood" of the Old West, is that they do not have a secret identity, an alter ego. In contrast, The Lone Ranger only appears as the alter egodthe secret identitydof a man whose last name is Reid. The Lone Ranger’s real
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name is never mentioned in either the radio or television series. In the television series he is identified as brother to Captain Dan Reid in the Texas Rangers and is the uncle to Dan Reid, Jr. Some sources identify The Lone Ranger as John Reid, serving under his older bother Captain Dan Reid in the Texas Rangers and their father is Captain James Reid. The series takes place when the West was being settled. It was a period when "might makes right and the best man is the best shot" and the Texas Rangers were formed to fight for law and order. In the pilot episode, six Texas Rangers, led by Captain Reed, were in search of the Cavendish gang. The Rangers were led into an ambush, and only one survived, but was badly wounded and taken for dead by the gang. Later, a lone Indian, Tonto, happened to be traveling through the pass and saw the wounded Texas Ranger near a spring. Tonto noticed the Ranger had a ring that Tonto, as a youth, had given to a friend who saved him when his family was massacred by a band of renegade Indians. Tonto nursed the wounded Ranger back to health. To prevent the Cavendish gang from looking for the survivor, a sixth grave was dug to make it appear as if all six Rangers were killed in the ambush. Because the surviving Ranger wanted to keep his identity hidden to fight for law and order, Tonto suggested that the Ranger be known as The Lone Ranger. Tonto also made a mask to hide The Lone Ranger’s face. The mask was made from the vest of Captain Reed, the brother of The Lone Ranger. Needing a horse, the Lone Ranger and Tonto ventured into a valley known to have wild horses. The Lone Ranger saved a white stallion from an attacking bison, and Tonto suggested that the horse be named Silver. The Lone Ranger vowed never to kill anyone. Rather than use lead bullets, The Lone Ranger used silver bullets made from silver ore from a mine that he and his brother owned. His friend Jim Blaine worked in the mine and purified the silver. The silver bullets would be his trademark that sent fear in the outlaws of the Old West.
SS-12.2 Episode 100: "The Devil’s Bog" The story of the Devil’s Bog begins with Grant Huston murdering his business partner Jim Arnold, because Arnold suspected Huston of doctoring the books. Huston and his partner in crime, Bill Adams, bury the body in Powder Hill near Devil’s Bog. The scene shifts to the camp of The Lone Ranger and Tonto, where Tonto has come down with a fever. The Lone Ranger gets the local doctor, Doc Mervin Robbins, to treat Tonto. At his home, Doc Robbins tells The Lone Ranger and Tonto that there were six cases of the fever so far. Doc Robbins said that the outbreak of the fever comes each year during the time the melting ice from the mountains fills Devil’s Bog and noted that this is where mosquitoes breed. Doc Robbins tells The Lone Ranger and Tonto of his theory that a bite from a mosquito is responsible for the fever, which could lead to death. The Lone Ranger takes interest in this theory. When the Lone Ranger asked if he tried to convince the town citizens to fill Devil’s Bog to prevent an epidemic, Doc Robbins replied that he did, and said of their response: Doc Robbins: "But, they don’t seem to realize that disease is just as dangerous as an enemy." The Lone Ranger says that the doctor needs evidence to support his theory, and tells the doctor of a study done by the Army on a similar circumstance, and a report written by the US Army Surgeon General. Now fast forward to the meeting of Doc Robbins, The Lone Ranger and Tonto with Mayor Clyde Hudkins and Jed Wells meet at the doctor’s house. The subject of the conversation
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is filling in Devil’s Bog with dirt from the nearby Powder Hill. The action takes place after Wells reads the report of the Surgeon General. Wells: "There might be something to this mosquito theory, Clyde." Mayor Hudkins: "Well, I just can’t get it through my head that anything as small as a mosquito can make a grown man sick." Lone Ranger: "There are things smaller than a mosquito that can make a man ill, Mayor Hudkins. Scientists taught us that." [To the Reader: The concentration of carbon dioxide is now 400 parts per million (0.04%). There are some who believe this concentration is so small that the burning of fossil fuels has no effect on the climate. How carbon dioxide maintains the temperature of the Earth is discussed in Chapter 3 ("Geosciences") and how changes in the concentration can affect the climate is examined in Chapter 5 ("Ecology").] Mayor Hudkins: "Just what so you want us to do, Doc?" Doc Robbins: "I want this town to fill that bog." Mayor Hudkins: "That would cost a lot of money." Doc Robbins: "If you and Jim Wells insist on it, the City Council will appropriate the money." [To the Reader: A common argument against changes to protect the environment is how the economy will be affected - the cost is too much. In the Devil’s Bog story the incident is with mosquitoes and the cost to eliminate the problem. Recently there was an incident in Flint, Michigan with lead contamination of the city water supply. The blame is given to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality: "The agency failed to address the water’s corrosiveness after switching the city’s water source to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure in 2014" (Huffington Post, 2016). Mosquitoes cause disease lead poisoning causes brain damage.] Mayor Hudkins: "Suppose your theory is wrong. I would look kinda foolish, wouldn’t I? And there’s an election coming up this Fall." Doc Robbins: "I’d hate to think that would influence your decision, Clyde." Lone Ranger: "If the doctor’s theory is right, you’d win the election hands down." [To the Reader: In 2008, reporter Katie Couric interviewed Presidential candidates on several issues - one being climate change. Most of the candidates responded with caution regarding climate change. However, Senator John McCain mentioned that he believes climate is real based on his world travels. McCain advocated green technology to combat global warming. He continued with two possible outcomes. If green technology was adopted and he was wrong about climate change, then "we have just left our kids a better world." If he were right about climate change and "we do nothing, then what kind of planet have we handed to our children?"] Huston enters the house, even though it was stated that he was not invited for the discussion. Huston interrupts the discussion. Huston: "No, but I understand you are discussing something of interest to me as a citizen of this town." Mayor Hudkins: "Oh, you’ve heard about the mosquito theory of Doc."
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Huston: "Oh, yes, and frankly, I find it quite amusing." Doc Robbins: "Your opinion doesn’t interest me." Huston: "No. But, ah, perhaps it will interest the Mayor. After all, I’m a taxpayer. And a voter." [To the Reader: Current environmental issues are of interest to the general public, and these opinions should be expressed. But Nature does not respond to personal opinions which are founded on economic arguments that run counter to Natural Laws. Most elected officials are not versed in the sciences, as surveys have shown. Politicians respond to public opinions. A case in point is a Letter to the Editor in the Kansas City Star to Congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s stand to protect the environment of the polar bears. The Letter stated: "Polar Bears don’t vote." The issue of the polar bears is the preservation of their environmentdthe sea ice. The sea ice is also the source of the Inuit economy and their survival. The take home lesson is that destruction of the environment has serious consequences - both physical and economical - in regard to survival.] Mayor Hudkins:" He’s right, Doc. Huston has a right to his opinion. What do you think of the idea of digging up Powder Hill and filling in Devil’s Bog?" Huston: "I think it’s nonsense. And I’m against the city’s spending the taxpayer’s money for such a scatterbrain scheme." Lone Ranger: "If you block this plan Huston, hundreds of people might suffer." [To the Reader: Huston has a clear agenda for not wanting Devil’s Bog to be filled - digging up Powder Hill will reveal a secret. Special interest groups have argued that to counter climate change would cost too much of the taxpayers money, and organizations have paid scientists to specifically speak out against the "nonsense" of "scatterbrained" suggestions to counter the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to burning of fossil fuels. According to a recent investigation from InsideClimateNews (Hall, 2015), "Exxon was aware of climate change, as early as 1977, 11 years before it became a public issue." Huston, your buried secret on Powder Hill has been exposed!] Huston: "Assuming that the doctor’s theory is correct. And, ah, I don’t believe it is. You say these mosquitoes are responsible for the fever. Is that right?" Doc Robbins: "That’s right." Huston: "Very well. There’s a simple way to test you theory." Huston produces a jar with a mosquito and allows it to bite him on the forearm. Huston: "Alright Doc. I’ve been bitten. Do I have the fever?" Doc Robbins: "Of course not. You don’t take down with it instantly. It takes several days." [To the Reader: On February 26, 2015, Senator Inhofe brought a snowball into the Senate, raised his hand holding the snowball, asked the President of the Senate if he knew what this was, and then tossed the snowball to the Senate President. Senator Inhofe stated that the weather was "unseasonably cold." This action by Senator Inhofe stimulated the satire of Jon Stewart (Gray, 2015) and many tongue-in-cheek headlines, such as the report by The Washington Post (Bump, 2015): "Jim Inhofe’s snowball has disproven climate change once and for all."
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It was noted in the Bump article that February is in the winter season in which it is expected to be cold in Washington, and this assertion was backed up with a chart of the average temperature in February in Washington from the year 1978. Five years earlier the Inhofe family built an igloo and called it "Al Gore’s New Home." That Senator Inhofe is former Chairperson of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee is unsettling if he does not understand the difference between weather and climate. To illustrate this difference, consider the batting average in our national sport of baseball. If a player has a bating average of 0.333, it does not mean that every third time at bat the player gets a hit. If this player goes 0-for-3 in a game does not mean the player is washed up. The player may be in a hitting slump and not get a hit for several games. Perhaps in one game the player has five hits in five times at bat, or hits for the cycle (single, double, triple, and home run in one game). What does "unseasonably cold" mean? Granted, Washington D.C. has relatively mild temperatures for the area. According to the National Weather Service, for the day February 26 the record high was 74 F in 1950 and the record low was 12 F in 1970, and the normal high for this day is 50 F and the normal low is 33 F (http://www. weather.gov/lwx/dcanme). Apparently Inhofe is referring to the "normal", or "average", weather conditions of the past 100 years. Change in Nature takes a long time relative to human events. Climate change is a long-time average of a change in weather. To say one event on a single day in which the records show that the temperature has gone as low as 12 F does not mean climate change is not happening.] Huston: "Well, gentlemen. I offered myself as a guinea pig. And suggest you postpone action on the doctor’s plan until such a time, as I come down with the fever." Doc Robbins; "That won’t prove anything. We don’t know if all mosquitoes are infected. You might not even get the fever." Huston: "Oh, so not all mosquitoes are dangerous. And tell me, just how to tell them apart. By asking them questions?" Doc Robbins: "That’s ridiculous. You know very well." Mayor Hudkins: "Huston here has put himself on the spot. Seems to me the only thing we can do now is wait." [To the Reader: Whenever a politician is confronted with evidence that may affect the economy, the response is usually along the lines of "we do not know with certainty," "more research needs to be done," "we don’t know if this is a cyclic thing," and "extremists want to drastic things to our economy before we have the answers." These are parts of the answer to Katie Couric by Fred Thompson in her 2008 Presidential Candidate interview. The problem with waiting is that the wait may be too long. If one is in a car stuck on the tracks and a train is coming, does one stay in the car trying to get it started until it is too late? In this example, one can see the train coming and can judge the "tipping point" as to when to leave the car. In Nature, however, the trains in Nature are not visible. In issues on the environment in which the tipping point is unknown, action is preferable to inaction which may be too late for reaction.] Wells: "Well, at least we understand one thing Doc. You have the interests of the community at heart." Doc Robbins: "Thanks. Good night."
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[To the Reader: Almost to the person, the primary concern of climate scientists and environmentalists is for the future of their children and grandchildren. The activists are willing to participate in civil disobedience for the sake of future generations.] As the episode unfolds, the body of Jim Arnold is discovered. Huston and his partner in crime Bill Adams are confronted by The Lone Ranger and Tonto, and Huston contracts the fever. The last scene is in the doctor’s house, where Mayor Hudkins and Wells acknowledge the doctor’s theory and assure Doc Robbins that Devil’s Bog will be filled. The Lone Ranger and Tonto ride off for their next adventure: "Hi-Ho Silver, Away!" By the way, Huston did contract the fever.
SS-12.3 "Devil’s Bog" Is a Taste of Reality As indicated in the To the Reader comments, there is a real "Devil’s Bog" in today’s world. There are, in fact, many variations of "The Devil’s Bog" scenario. Scientific findings related to environmental and health issues are met with opposition from corporations and special interest groups, with the hesitancy of action by elected government representatives, and with the misinformation given to the general public on the tug-of-war between the conveniences of today versus the future generations of tomorrow. The mosquito will always cause havoc on the health scene. In January 2016 the Zika virus was "explosively expanding" from the epicenter of Brazil to two dozen countries in the Americas. The Zika virus is linked to microcephaly, a condition that results in abnormally small heads and brains in newborns. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Zika virus as a worldwide public health emergency, an action taken only three times in the past. The spread of the virus may be through a sexual partner who was exposed or a blood transfusion.
SS-13.0 Intertwinement of Science and Society In 1973 Jacob Bronowski hosted a 13-part BBC series titled The Ascent of Man: A Personal View. Through world travels, Bronowski presented his personal view on how human society developed through the centuries through its understanding of science. In 1978 the 10-episode BBC television series Connections: Alternative View of Change was hosted by its creator James Burke. It was proposed in this series that various discoveries, scientific achievements, and world events were intertwined: "Burke contends that one cannot consider the development of any particular piece of the modern world in isolation. Rather, the entire gestalt of the modern world is the result of a web of interconnected events, each one consisting of a person or group acting for reasons of their own motivation (e. g., profit, curiosity, religious) with no concept of the final, modern result to which the actions of wither they or their contemporaries would lead." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series).
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One example is the concern of French monks about the rearing of sheep that eventually led to the computer. But there was another change in society that occurred in the 1700s. The added dimension is the social responsibilities of science, as stated by Bronowski: "We take it for granted now that science has a social responsibility. That idea would not have occurred to Newton or to Galileo. They thought of science as an account of the world as it is. The responsibility that they acknowledged was to tell the truth. The idea that science is a social enterprise is modern. It begins at the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is a long train of changes starting about seventeen hundred and sixty. It was not alone. It forms one of the triad of revolutions, of which the other two are the American Revolution that started in seventeen hundred and seventy five, and the French Revolution that started in seventeen hundred and eighty nine. It may seem strange to put in the same packet an industrial revolution and two political revolutions. But the fact is that they were all social revolutions." J. Bronowski, 1973, The Ascent of Man: A Personal View, Volume 8. The issues in society include, but are not limited to, human rights, economy, education, abortion, food preferences, environmental issues, religion, and forms of government. The form and members of a government sets up the rules of the society, and therefore the issues of importance that characterizes a society. Those issues considered important change when the members of the government changes. What this means is that there can be no common endeavor in society because there is no common foundation of the members within the society. Scientists are a subgroup of society and therefore face the same issues of society that other members face. Corporations have the resources to do wonderful things, and they carry out beneficial activities. Any group that takes a stand on anything is, by definition, a special interest group. Special interests groups are of all kinds. Any argument put forth for any political position should not solely be founded in opinions or conclusions drawn from "gut feelings" about the way things are. The layperson must be able to distinguish statements based on scientific studies from statements founded in pseudoscientific declarations. Misrepresentation (or fabrication) of facts is a common way to sway the general public. This is especially true if there is no mechanism by which the layperson can check if a "stated fact" is true or not. Is the statement "four out of five people prefer.." a true fact or a fake fact? There are many examples in which scientific evidence runs contrary to the goals of special interest groups. In some cases the results are positive, such as the elimination of the use of chlorofluorocarbons that destroy the protective ozone layer. In recent years, and continuing to years to come, is the use of fossil fuels and their effect on the climate.
SS-13.1 Spectrum of Views in Society Regarding Scientific Conclusions That Affect Society Television ads try to convince the potential buyer that their product should be purchased instead of their competitor’s product. One way to convince the viewer is to mention a "scientific study" in which the results are in favor of the product being advertised. Another ploy used by advertisers to entice the general public to purchase a product is an endorsement by an "average" person, whom the ad explicitly describes as "not an actor." Similar tools of the verbal trade are used to address the general public when it comes to scientific studies that can influence the future of society.
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Suppose that a conclusion is drawn from a scientific study that an established practice must be changed because to continue that practice will greatly alter the environment and the future of the human species. The public is presented with words of warnings from the scientific community and with words of doubt from those persons and special interests groups in which their way of life and/or profits will be affected. This has led to a vocabulary that may not describe the majority of the general public. A case in point is the 2008 Presidential election in which Katie Couric interviewed the candidates. One of the questions was on climate change, and what they would do about it. Fred Thompson, the actor who played the District Attorney on the popular television show Law and Order, pointed to the "extremists"; "The extremists, I think, are the ones who want us to do drastic things to our economy before we have more answers as to how much good we can do." The climate scientists and environmentalist refer to those who do not accept humans can affect the climate are called "deniers" of climate change. It is unfortunate that the words "extremists" and "deniers" have entered the literature as accepted terms to label the two camps of thought on the subject. One can believe that humans do not affect the climate, but does not like to be called "climate denier." However, for continuity with existing literature on the top of climate change, these terms are retained as the extremes of the spectrum of views on climate change. Just as there is a large number of people who are not sure that toothpaste A is better than toothpaste B because 8 out of 10 dentists say so, there is a large number of people who are not certain if human activity can affect the climate. This confusion arises because special interest groups present a set of scientists who state that human activity cannot affect the climate. The confusion set up by special interest groups is not limited to climate change, but embraces all scientific studies that are in opposition of industrial practices. Several examples are given in the book Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Oreskes and Conway (Oreskes and Conway, 2010). If a person does not understand the science behind any issue, then which of the two groups of scientists are to be believe: the scientists who brought the issue to the public (the pro side of the study) or the scientists who defend the operations of industry (the con side of the study)? A new vocabulary is proposed to identify the degree at which people respond to the conclusions drawn from the study, as illustrated in Figure SS-13.1. At the extremes of the spectrum of views, the terms "extremists" and "deniers" are retained. However, the current meanings of theses terms are ambiguous. In this new frame of identities, the extremists are defined as those who believe that immediate action is needed because disaster is lurking around the corner. The deniers are defined by those respond to an issue through purely "gut" thinking, either because there is a lack of understanding of the scientific arguments or there is some emotional attachment to the issue. An example is the burning of fossil fuels, something we are all attached to because we love our automobiles. How many people know the importance of carbon dioxide in maintaining the temperature on Earth? A "denier" of anthropogenic climate change (human induced) might argue that there simply is not enough carbon dioxide to affect the change in climate, no matter how much carbon dioxide is dumped into the atmosphere by human activity. In other words, a "denier" can accept there is a change in climate, but only because the change is part of a natural cycle. There is no evidence to support their view other than this is the way it always was. Return now to the general definitions. The "activists" know that the inevitable will happen as indicated
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extremists - current practices must be stopped immediately even though no alternatives are in place
pro
activists - current practices must be phased out while alternatives are being developed doubters - current practices should be phased out because of limited resources , but wait for more evidence to accumulate disbelievers - current practices should continue because it is unlikely humans can change anything a big as Nature.
con
skeptics - continue current practices because technology will solve all of the problems deniers - all is part of a natural cycle and human activity cannot affect Nature FIGURE SS-13.1 Spectrum of pros and cons acceptance of science-based conclusions.
by the science, but there is time for society to make a gradual adjustment. The "skeptics" may or may not base their view on science, because they have faith in the advances in technology to meet the challenges. The "doubters" and "disbelievers" are on opposite sides of the interface between pro and con views that humans can affect the climate.
SS-13.2 In the Face of Evidence "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." Upton Sinclair, Jr. I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked. As noted in Section SS-4.7, Eisenhower made sure that the atrocities of Nazi Germany were recorded on still photographs and moving pictures. In spite of the copious amount of physically recorded evidence, there are people today who deny Holocaust ever took place. Even though thousands of people witnessed the launching of the rocket of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, and the photos taken of Earth from the orbiting spacecraft, there are those who believe this major event in history was a Hollywood hoax. What is the basis of these denials in the face of hard evidence to the contrary?
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Whether or not the Moon landing itself was a hoax is irrelevant to the status of society. What changed society were the technological and scientific advances in the preparation of the launch. There are some phenomena that are labeled as a hoax in the face of evidence to the contrary that can have a catastrophic effect on society. Some of these issues can be resolved by reasoning without detailed scientific studies. All one needs is some basic information without the scientific terms and mathematics. One major example is the relationship between burning fossil fuel and climate change. To grasp the relationship between the introduction of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels and climate change, there are two very important concepts to understand: A) climate is the average weather over a long period of time B) weather is simply a manifestation of the redistribution of energy Science tells us that energy is proportional to the temperaturedwhich is the basis of thermometers. We recognize a hot day without having to read a thermometer. Hence any human activity that changes the temperature is also a change in the distribution of energy. It is a property of the Second Law of Thermodynamics to move toward a favorable distribution of energy within all parts of a system (see Section A-2.0, "Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics," in Appendix A: "Basic Thermodynamics"). But we know this from experience because we know from experience that if one end of a copper tube is heated with a torch the other end will eventually become too hot to hold. The undisputable scientific facts include the following: 1) The Earth has an atmosphere, whereas the Moon does not 2) Since the Earth and the Moon are the same distance from the Sun, the surface temperature of the Earth would be the same as that of the Moon if it were not for the Earth’s atmosphere 3) The surface temperature of the Earth affects weather and climate patterns 4) Temperature is a measure of the heat 5) Heat is a form of infrared radiation 6) Neither oxygen nor nitrogen absorb infrared radiation 7) Carbon dioxide absorbs and emits infrared radiation 8) Burning of fossil fuel by humans adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that would not otherwise be there 9) An increase in carbon dioxide is an increase in heat in the atmosphere None of the above points in this list can be refuted by experiment because they are all deduced from experiment. Application of the rules of logic ("head" thinking) to the above list leads to the conclusion that the burning of fossil fuels by humans can affect the climate. Anyone who does not accept this logical conclusion is necessarily exercising "gut" and/or "heart" modes of thinkingd that is, an emotional response. The emotional response is clearly what is implied in the quote from Upton Sinclair, Jr., at the start of this section. One does not need the above exercise in logic to know that climate change is real. The raw evidence is in the disappearance of glaciers, the melting of Arctic ice, the collapse of ice shelves in the continent of Antarctica, the shorter winters and hotter summers, the occurrences of severe
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weather in all parts of the world, extended droughts in California, and heavy rains in the Midwest and the East.
Heavy Rains and Flooding in the Midwest Here are excerpts from a first-hand account of the May 2017 flooding in the Ozarks of Missouri: "Saturday evening the water came up several feet within a couple hours, just 3e5 feet from our doorstep. There was no safe way out. We left Eminence, MO 9 pm and didn’t get to Independence until 5 am, driving 40 mph in heavy rain most of the way. Winona to Springfield had emergency highway and rescue crews out.. The news said the Ozarks was in a state of emergency with West Plains flooded bad, just 15 mi south of Hwy 60. There had been several water rescues and one woman drowned. Brad said he saw several trees float rapidly past the cabin. Only seeing one, maybe 15 feet long and 1e2 ft wide zoom by was enough for me. ..I want a T-shirt that says listen to your gut and survive the Missouri Ozarks and ONSR flood of 2017. My father was born in Shannon Co 100 years ago. Now I know why my recently deceased cousin from Eminence was afraid of the river, having grown up next to it. I pray for all the people in that area." On May 2, 2017, there was 2e5 inches of rain in St. Louis. Many highways were closed. Shown in Figure SS-13.2 are photos of flooded regions in the St. Louis area. This heavy rain period covered Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and reached to New Jersey and New York. The heavy rain caused havoc for commuters in New York City. On June 24, record rainfall was recorded in New Orleans. During the first week in August, heavy rain caused floods in New Orleans, St. Louis, and New York. The night after the Solar Eclipse event on August 21, 2017, there was again a very heavy rainfall again across Missouri and eastern Kansas. In the Kansas City area that exceeded the crest level of June 27 by 2 feet. Within a 6-hour period, from 10 pm to 4 am, 10 inches of rain fell in Kansas City and the surrounding area. It was reported in the news that Kansas City received more rain in 3 hours than St. Louis receives in 3 months. There were 117 calls regarding flooding
A
B
FIGURE SS-13.2 Flooding in the St. Louis area. The above photographs were taken on May 6, 2017. A: Marshall Road in Kirkwood. B: Old Town Fenton. Photographs kindly provided by Mary Elizabeth Thacker.
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and 46 evacuation rescues as on 6 am on August 22. People had to be rescued by boats from their flooded homes. Streets, bridges, and highways were closed. The street cars in downtown Kansas City were closed because of tree limbs and debris. Flooding with road closing was also reported in Harrison and Gardner, and along I-35. Over a 52-day period, Johnson County received 52 inches of rain. Flooding is not simply the damage of property. Water is the carrier of toxic waste and the poisoning of water. Of concern in the St. Louis area is the transport of toxic coal ash at power plants along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers (Gray, 2017). Ameren’s Labadie, Rush Island, Meramec and Sioux coal-powered plants all dispose their coal ash on site. The by-products that are in coal include arsenic, mercury, lead, and hexavalent chromium; all of which can get into drinking water.
Things Come in Threes: A Tale of Three HurricanesdAugust and September, 2017 Higher ocean temperatures span more severe hurricanes. It took only 56 hours for a tropical depression to grow to a Category 4 hurricane with 130-mph winds by the time in made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast on August 25, 2017. After a week of rain, the city of Houston had about 50 inches of rain. The water in Buffalo Bayou that flows through the center of Houston rose 10 feet. Thousands had to evacuate their homes, and many throughout the nation came to help. Beyond Houston, Harvey pounded 50 counties in southeastern and lower central Texas, with a combined population of 11 million. More than 300 towns and smaller cities were affected by the flooding. The town of Crosby, about 25 miles northeast of Houston, also faced the risk of a chemical explosion of a chemical plant when the refrigeration unit that kept chemical compounds stable had failed. The Washington Post writer Vernon Loeb suggested that Harvey should be the turning point in fighting climate change (The Washington Post, August 30, 2017). Hurricane Irma passed through Puerto Rico on September 8, 2017, before moving on to Florida. Hurricane Irma stands out from other hurricanes because it was huge. It had 155-mph winds and had a width greater than the width of the State of Florida. Hundreds of people had to evacuate the Florida coast. Millions of people experienced loss of power. Elizabeth Rush suggested that it was time for people to move from the coast ("Harvey and Irma are the new normal. It’s time to move away from the coasts," The Washington Post, September 15, 2017). A parallel comparison was made to the abandonment of spoonbills from historical nesting grounds. Spoonbills need shallow water to feed. The additional water of several centimeters in the wetlands over the last 10 years has changed the landscape, which eliminated the habitat for the spoonbills. Rush pointed out that the increase in temperature of the water between 0.5 and 1 degree centigrade where hurricanes are born is the reason there are more hurricanes with increased energy have occurred this year. As if Harvey and Irma were not enough, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds between 130 and 156 mph on September 20, 2017. Hurricane Maria literally brought Puerto Rico to a standstill. In an email on September 21, 2017, Bari Bhuiyan, professor of physics at the University of Puerto Rico, describe the situation: "It is a scene of destruction everywhere. No power, no water. All of the island is without power. Network cell phone signals are intermittent. Life is hard."
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Other Evidence for Climate Change Evidence for the reality of climate change is not limited to a high rate of flooding in the summer of 2017. On June 20 the temperature at the airport in Phoenix, Arizona, reached 118 F. Flights were canceled that week because of the effect of the heat on the tires. Seattle also experienced a heat wave that residents were not prepared to handle. The weather is so mild in Seattle that only 19% of the homes have air conditioners. On August 7 an American Airlines plane going from Athens to Philadelphia experienced turbulence so severe that it experienced a sudden drop in altitude. Not only did the drinks hit the ceiling of the plane, but also some of the passengers. The extreme turbulence was a result of the effect of climate change on the jet stream. In the past few years in Kansas City, flies were seen in the month of January because of the rise in temperature.
SS-13.3 Human-Induced Climate Change Is a Conspiracy "Anyone who thinks scientists like agreeing with one another has never attended a scientific conference." Neil deGrasse Tyson twitter, September 10, 2017. Climate deniers may argue that similar weather events have happened in the past, and that the current happenings are simply part of a cycle. But these deniers are overlooking three very important, and thus significant, points of the current events; • The rapidity of the changes in "normal" behavior occurs over years, not centuries as it would be for "natural" cycles • The number of current events in a very short time frame. In the St. Louis area alone there have been three severe floods in the last 5 years. • The intensity of the events. Record temperatures have been almost an annual event since 2005. Weather reports no long mention severe weather, but extreme weather. One non-believer in the science of global warming is US Senator James Inhofe. Inhofe wrote a book on his views, titled The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. The first thing to point out is the use of the term global warming. This is the correct phrase when the subject is the burning of fossil fuels, because human activity can change the climate in many other ways. In this case "global warming" is the cause of "climate change." There are two points to be addressed in this title: why Senator Inhofe believes global warming is a hoax, and what are the implications in calling it a conspiracy.
Inhofe: Global Warming Is a Hoax The point to clarify is the reason Senator Inhofe believes global warming is a hoax. The following comes from a report by Emily Atkikns (Atkins, 2015). In a vote of 98e1, the Senate voted on a resolution that climate change is real and not a hoax. Then the Senate voted on a second resolution that said climate change is real and caused by humans. This resolution was rejected. Senator Jim Inhofe said he would be cosponsoring the amendment if it read that climate change was real
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but human caused climate change is not. What was the basis for his belief that human caused climate change is not real? The answer given by Senator Inhofe was the following (Atkins, 2015): "The hoax is that there are some people that are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful that they can change climate." If it is true that human arrogance is involved, then Senator Inhofe must answer the question as to why our atmosphere has oxygen. Consider the following scientific argument. If an iron skillet is heated and left in the air, it is common experience that the black skillet becomes a rust color. This is because oxygen is very reactive and will form oxides and other compounds with the elements. Hence, in the early stages of Earth all of the oxygen was wrapped up in compounds. This is why the first stage of the Earth’s atmosphere was a reducing atmosphere of 10% carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen poor (O2). How does one convert a reducing atmosphere to an oxidizing atmosphere composed of 0.04% CO2 and 19% O2? The answer is photosynthesis. The cyanobacteria accomplished this feat. Cyanobacteria are the only photosynthetic prokaryotes able to produce oxygen. A "prokaryote" does not have a cell nucleus (organelle inside the cell), whereas "eukaryotes," which includes plant life, do have a cell nucleus. Without a cell nucleus, cyanobacteria are not considered to be as evolved as plants and animals that do have a cell nucleus. If the activities of cyanobacteria can change the climate of the Earth to allow the species H. sapiens to exist, then should not the activities of H. sapiens also be able to contribute to global warming? If Senator Inhofe believes that it is the arrogance of humans to allow the deception that humans can affect the climate, then it necessarily follows that Senator Inhofe must accept the conclusion that cyanobacteria are more advanced than humans in their ability to change the climate. But Inhofe’s view is not based in science, but rather it finds solace in fundamentalist religion. Consider the almost identical statement made by Ralph Drollinger, who provides Bible studies, evangelism, and discipleship to political leaders: "To think that man can alter the earth’s ecosystem - when God remains omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent in the current affairs of mankind - is to more than subtly espouse an ultra-hubristic, secular worldview relative to the supremacy and importance of man." Burleigh (2017a, p. 29). To counter this position, one has to be reminded that many scientists, such as Newton, believed that God was the author of the Laws of Nature. It is the laws of Nature that respond to the actions of humans. Would it not be condescending to assume that God would suspend the Laws of Nature just so that humans can continue to rape the Earth of its innermost treasures to satisfy the desires of the flesh?
Inhofe: Global Warming Is a Conspiracy There are people other than Senator Inhofe who believe climate change is a conspiracy among the scientists, climatologists, and environmentalists. It is one thing to believe the burning of fossil fuels does not affect the climate, but it is entirely another thing to call it a hoax perpetrated by conspirators. The first point to address is whether or not a hoax is feasible in the field of science. Science has it checks and balances, and therefore the reputation of a scientist can be irreparably damaged if
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the scientist is involved in a hoax. Scientists like to protect their reputations, because reputations of not only the scientist but the institution affect the chances of obtaining funding for research and the publication of data. No scientist is knowingly going to publish false data. In regard to global warming being a conspiracy: A measure of the magnitude of this assumed conspiracy is obtained from the listings in the 2013 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, which is the Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In Annex V (18 pages), there are listed 787 contributors representing the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Oman, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Zambia. Annex VI, titled Expert Reviewers of the IPCC WGI Fifth Assessment Report, has 25 pages listing the names (with their country) of expert reviewers. If over 2000 researchers (contributors plus reviewers) in 43 countries can organize a global conspiracy on global warming, then perhaps world peace would come about if they ran their respective countries. And this list is highly restrictive because it does not include the majority of scientists, environmentalists, and laypersons who stand with the scientific findings.
SS-14.0 Periods of Change in Society: The "Three Faces of Eve" The 1957 movie "The Three Faces of Eve" was based on a book by psychiatrists Crobett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley about their case study of Chris Costner Sizemore, who exhibited three personalities. In the movie, Eve White was the first personality introduced in the movie. White was portrayed as a self-effacing wife and mother subject to headaches and blackouts. The reason for the blackouts was the emergence of Eve Black, the second personality. Eve Black was described as a fun-loving personality, who enjoyed dancing and drinking. Eve Black was fully aware of Eve White, but Eve White did not know of the existence of Eve Black. In one session in which Eve White was under hypnosis, a third personality manifested, given the name Jane (no last name was given). Jane was the more "normal" of the three personalities. Dr. Luther, the psychiatrist in the movie, eventually drew memories out of Jane that led to a traumatic event in Eve’s childhood that caused the three personalities. Society also undergoes personality changes over a period of decades. Society is composed of individuals. Just as organisms must adapt to changes in the milieu in which they live to survive, the opinions and views of individuals are subject to change in accordance with the social milieu in which they exist. As individuals, we are part of society. But as a society, we make decisions based on individuals, or subgroups of individuals. As the composition of society changes, so does the direction of the government.
SS-14.1 The First Face of Eve: Period of the People (1900e80) The first face of Eve is the self-effacing Eve White. Society as a whole during the period 1900e80 can be described as self-effacing: there was no one component of society that drew attention to it. The last name "White" is also appropriate: it is a positive color, associated with purity, goodness,
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and protection. The "best feature" of white is that it is impartial, independent, and neutral towards everything (https://www.colorpsychology.org/white/). In physics, the color white contains equally all of the colors of the spectrum. The period in American history from the 1890s to the 1920s is known as the progressive period. It was a period of widespread social activities and political reform to eradicate the corruption in government. That trend continued over the period from 1900 to 1980, which was marked advances in science and government programs that protected the environment and people.
Society in 1956: Global Population 3 Billion People The major source of oil is in the Middle Eastern countries of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Negotiations by companies such as BP and Shell Oil open the pathways to start mass production of oil, taking away the dominance of oil production by the United States. The price of gasoline at the pump is variable, dependent upon the negotiations. At a street intersection are four gas stations representing four gasoline companies: Shell, Texaco, Phillips, and Mobile. Because of a gasoline war, each station has a different gas price and free gifts, such as a plate to add to your collection, are an additive incentive. When you drive up to the pump, three attendants come to your car. One attendant fills the gas tank, another attendant checks the air in the tires, and the third attendant cleans the car windows. While still seated in your car, you give cash to an attendant for the gasoline, who then takes it into the station and returns with your change. You call up your neighborhood grocery store and give your order over the telephone. The stock boy fills your order and then delivers your groceries to your home. It is not uncommon that located near the farmers market is a "live" market in which you can pick out the chickens you want that are in a cage, and the attendant butcher would prepare the meat for you. The friendly milkman delivers milk to your door, replacing the empty bottles you placed outside your door. If you leave a note for butter and cream, the milkman obliges by getting these items from his milk truck and leaves them at your door with the milk. The cost of health insurance fit well within the boundary of a middle-class income of only one parent. You can call up the pharmacy to place a prescription order, and when filled the delivery boy will bring your order to your home. It was the norm for general medical practitioners to make house calls to sick patients. During the visit the family doctor will converse with you about things that happened since last visit, either at your home or in his office. If part of your entertainment center is broken down, such as the receiver, it is taken to an electronics shop for repair. Shoes are taken to a local shoe repair shop if the sole of the shoe develops a hole because of the wear. Automobiles are kept beyond the time when the automobile loan is paid off. On a warm Saturday evening you sit in your porch, waiting for the newsboy to pull his wagon of Sunday newspapers. He calls out: "PapersdGet your paper here." You flag him down to buy the Sunday paper: thick with pages of news, pages of colored comics and puzzles, and pages of advertisement. There is a sense of pride for an eighth grader to have an after-school job to earn money. In addition to working in grocery stores and drug stores, one could sell newspapers at a news stand located on a street corner. In the 1950s, there is something called "returnables" in which a deposit is paid for a beverage bottle, and the deposit is returned to you when the bottle is returned. Finding empty bottles that have been thrown away in the trash is a source of spending money for ambitious children.
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Students walk to the neighborhood grade school or take public transportation, perhaps taking advantage of the weekly bus passes offered through the school. The student carries a carefully prepared lunch in a paper bag or a metal lunch box with a favorite hero depicted on the box, such as Roy Rogers or Superman. Arriving early or staying after school, the student participates in a game of softball with other students. During the summer months, the student can go to the supervised summer playground at the grade school. There the student can participate in games such as "bottle caps" or competitive sports such as volley ball, softball, or dodgeball. Each grade school has teams in each of the three sports, in which they compete. On a hot summer day, the "sno-cone lady" would arrive at an appropriate time to stave off the heat. Grade school and high school students learn the fundamentals of mathematics, working out problems using longhand division and multiplication. Although slide rules are allowed in math exams in high school, the teacher frowns upon their constant use. Essays and compositions are also written in longhand, referred to as "cursive" writing. Sometimes the essays are read by the student to the class. Preteens and teens talk to each other on the telephone, sometimes it seems like hours on end to the parents. On a Friday night kids went to the movie theater to see a double feature, the next installment of a "cliff hanger" serial, a cartoon, a newsreel, a short subject comedy such as "The Three Stooges," and previews of coming attractions. Television is in black-and-white, and broadcast through the airways. There are popular news shows, such as the HuntleyeBrinkley Report. National and local news are factually presented. There is a moral code for television sitcoms, both for language and actions. The norm for bedroom scenes involving only married couples is separate twin beds. In the state of Missouri, one can expect snow before Thanksgiving, and cold temperatures through February. August is the hottest month, with temperatures reaching over 100 F.
The Government Thinking From 1900 to 1980 President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to deal with corporate monopolies created by the super rich. Roosevelt was a "trust regulator" who responded to public anger of the rates of railway tickets, abuses over the food packaging industry, and corporate corruption. Roosevelt was proudest of his work on conservation of natural resources, and extension of federal protection to land and wildlife, establishing the United States Forest Service and created five National Parks. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Program Administration (WPA) as part of his New Deal Policy to help out the people during the Great Depression years. Under FDR the Social Security Act of 1935 was crated to help the elderly who could not save enough money for retirement. President Harry S. Truman tried to get many ambitious social reform measures passed such as national medical insurance, federal housing programs, higher minimum wage, assistance to farmers, increase in Social Security, and civil rights reform. Although many were blocked by a conservative Congress, some were approved, such as the Housing Act 10 1949. Truman also issued an Executive Order to end segregation in the US Armed Forces and to prohibit discrimination in federal government jobs. President Dwight David Eisenhower wanted to know how long it took to drive from the East Coast to the West Coast in the event the military movement was necessary (he was a five-star general). It took much too long, so he signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 that gave us the federal highway system we enjoy today. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1957. A distinction not common among more recent administration is that Eisenhower balanced the budget, not once, but three times. President John F. Kennedy promoted the "New Frontier" program for
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federal funding of education, medical care for the elderly, economic aid to rural regions. He signed Executive Orders that prohibited racial discrimination that led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kennedy asked Congress to create the Peace Corps to have volunteer help underdeveloped countries in areas of education, health care, and construction. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968. His "Great Society" legislation included Medicare, Medicaid, public broadcasting, environmental protection, and the "War of Poverty" with programs such as Head Start, food stamps, Work Study, Medicare, and Medicaid. Johnson signed the Immigration Act of 1965 that liberalized the US immigration policy toward nonEuropeans. President Richard M. Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 because of public anxiety over polluted air and water that came from industrial practices, Nixon also established the Occupational Safety and health Administration (OSHA) and signed into law the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. President Jimmy Carter created the Department of Energy (1977) and the Department of Education (1979). He sought to improve the environment through the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act (1980) and the Superfunds Act (1980). The United States from 1900 to 1980 can be described as a democracy.
SS-14.2 The Second Face of Eve: The Period of the Corporations (1980e2015) The second face of Eve is Eve Black. Eve Black is described as "wild and fun-loving" with no sense of responsibility to others. The color black has many connotations, which can be used to describe the diversity of Society. Black is linked to the suppression of emotions, to power, and to evil (https://www.colorpsychology.org/black/). To many, these are the traits of corporations that exist solely for profit and have the financial resources to influence elected officials for the purpose of extraction of natural resources and lands for their purposes. The color black is also associated with death and mourning in the Western culture, with the pains of severity of loss that people feel (https://www.colorpsychology.org/black/). These connotations of the color black may apply to those who grieve over the loss of breathable air, drinkable water, and loss of land that result from corporate practices. As the population grew, corporations began to play a major role in meeting the needs and desires of a population. The Cabinet of Eisenhower was dubbed "eight millionaires and a plumber" because President Eisenhower thought that people who were very successful in business would also be successful as advisors in government matters. In the mid-1960s through the 1970s corporations became a larger influence on the public through further developments in the farming, food, energy, and transportation industries. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the technological advances that came from space exploration changed the landscape of societal functions such as communication, entertainment, and transportation.
Society in 2016: Global Population of 7 Billion People The petroleum industry is now a global enterprise. New techniques in drilling open up new sources of gas and oil. Prices at gas stations show no variation for the major companies, such as Shell and ExxonMobil. Adding gas to the tank is self-serve, payable at the pump by a credit card or prepayable inside the station if paid by cash. A squeegee in a container of soapy water is available
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at the pump to clean the windows, and at side of the gas station is an air compressor to fill the tires if necessary. Supermarket chains, conglomerate stores (such a Walmart and Target), and wholesale stores (such as Sam’s Club and Costco) offer a wide assortment of packaged foods as well as other household items. Animal feeding operations and confined animal feeding operations provide meats of animals that are given antibiotics and hormones. These meats are on display in the butcher area of the store or packaged and displayed in ice chests. In the butcher display case are foods prepared for the customer to cook, such as shish kabobs, baked potatoes with the works, and seasoned meats. Major grocery stores, such as Hy-Vee and Dilbert’s, have deli counters with prepared food selections such as smoked meats, potato salad, cole slaw, sandwiches, and pizza. Fresh bakery goods are only a few steps away. Returnable bottles for beverages are a thing of the past, with few exceptions such as the glass bottle of Shatto milk. The beverage industry has gone the way of "throwaways" with plastic and wax-coated paper containers. Major grocery outlets now have a pharmacy, for one-stop shopping. Some drugs found "on the shelf" are less potent than in the past, such as those for severe cold symptoms. Health insurance premiums are high because of the higher cost of medical care and pharmaceutics. Annual checkups consist mainly of blood pressure, pulse, and weight measurements with a blood test. The cost of one week in a hospital with no major need of medical equipment or procedures can cost as much as $40,000. Because of the advances in technology, the price of manufacturing an item is cheaper than repairing it. The $1000 VCR device of the 1980s now costs less than $100. The $80 hand calculator of 1980 now costs $10. To keep the economy on an upward path, the "repair" society is now a "throw-away" society. New cell phones, new television sets, new computers, and new cameras also contribute to the "throw-away" society because of advances in digital technology. Jobs are lost because of technological advances in automation. The day is gone when the cashier scans the items and a bagger places them in a bag. Now the consumer adds to the profit of the business with self-checkout machines in which the consumer must now do what the cashier and bagger used to do. Jobs are also lost to overseas countries because of cheap labor. Laws that prohibit child labor in the United States translate into profits for businesses that take manufacturing to countries that do not have such laws. The Internet distributor Amazon was considering using drones to deliver items to their customers. Automobiles were becoming more computer focused. In backing up an automobile, one could look at a screen on the dash to see if anyone or anything is behind the car. Sensors could inform the driver how close the car is to the curb. There was talk of making automobiles that could also fly at low levels. Solar power was becoming more common for homes and businesses. In July 2016, Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered airplane, made the first around-the-world flight. What is prevalent in communications today are the "sound bites" and "talking points" that tend to reinforce short attention spans regarding a topic. This is partly due to text messaging, which is limited to 140 characters. How much information can there be in 140 characters? To overcome this limitation, words and phrases are reduced to one or more letters. In texting the letters "lol" to a person over the age of 50, the message received is "lots of luck" and not the intended "laughing out loud." The act of texting also induces a limited attention span and the dependence on "sound bites" and "talking points" that cannot relay sufficient detail to know precisely the message is that is being sent. The receiver has to "fill in the gaps" based on experiences that may not be the same as the sender. Shorter messages tend top foster shorter attention spans. One clear
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example is an incident that occurred at the blackjack table at Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas years ago. Two young ladies ordered Bailey’s Irish Cream. One young lady turned to the other and said: "I wonder what is in Bailey’s Irish Cream." The player next to them happened to know the recipe for home-made Irish cream and started to list the ingredients (of which there are about eight): "Jameson Irish whiskey, instant coffee, Eagle brand milk, raw egg, chocolate." At this point the young ladies lost interest because the list of ingredients was longer than expected. The popularity of Twitter is probably due to the limited number of characters that reinforces the proliferation of sound bites and talking points. To keep the attention of a layperson in a conversation, there should be a minimal amount of facts used to make a point. Because twittering has become a major part of daily activity, there are more television ads that warn against twittering while driving because of the increased number of deaths on the highway attributed to twittering while driving. Another aspect of the Internet is the number of blogs that give opinions on topics rather than known facts. Associated with blogs are chat rooms, in which several people give their opinions on a topic in a mutual attempt to understand something that could easily be found in a standard textbook. Blogs and chat rooms have dulled the desire to take the effort to find out something by standard reading practices. School children are now bussed to their elementary schools, at the expense of the taxpayer. Lunches are provided to the student at taxpayer expense. There are no after-school activities, or summer playgrounds. Computer games replace outdoor sports activities. Higher education is now based on technology. Textbook publishing companies now provide the teacher online access to power point presentation of materials to be used in lectures, a pool of questions and answers for quizzes and tests, and offer a service to grade the exams for the teacher. A publishing company even offers to make a "specialized" course for students tailored to the teacher with input provided by the teacher. Of course, the material supplied by the teacher cannot be used by the teacher without permission of the textbook company, because that information now becomes "intellectual property" of the publishing company. Students with computers in class lectures are either taking notes, or they may be playing computer games since the study material supplied by the publishing companies can be found online. The Internet is a major component of society. Even though the Internet is sometimes referred to as the Information Highway, it also propagates misinformation. The boundary between fact and opinion can be blurred. Bloggers may use the Internet to expound their opinions on a subject, which may be contrary to known facts and history. What is becoming obsolete with the use of the Internet is the ability to make a personal communication between people. No longer does one take the effort to write a personal letter to a friend and send it through the normal mail. Today this information is placed on Facebook as an impersonal communication to anyone who is a "friend"dmany of whom the writer may not know. The Internet also provides a wealth of games to play to wile away the hours that could be used for more productive activities. As more movies and games become available, one has to invest in faster Internet servers with higher digital capacity. Because of the Internet, printed newspapers are becoming a thing of the past. Newspaper jobs are lost because of lost revenues from advertisers who can get a broader coverage on the Internet. Some who used to work on newspapers now have blogs, in which the income is either by a subscription or donations. For some printed newspapers there is an additional charge to anyone who wants comic strips and puzzle pages to accompany the news, entertainment, and sports sections. The advertising industry is now a part of the Internet with pop-ups that appear when a link to a subject is clicked.
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Television is now digital signals sent through cables or satellite dishes, in which a monthly fee is charged for the rental of a converter box. The local news casts give "previews" of what is to be discussed within the next 10 minutes, and the coanchors and weather person attempts to inject some entertainment with chatter and comments between them. Television sitcoms now implicitly have sex topics in the story, and couples appear together in the same bed, scantly dressed. Nonpublic television channels such as Home Box Office now allows foul language and explicit nudity. Pollution is now a greater problem. People are advised not to cut the grass on certain days because of high ozone levels. Annual records of high temperatures over the past 10 years are attributed to the addition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of the burning of fossil fuels. Temperatures reach over 100 F in June in the state of Missouri. Insects such as flies and bees, appear in the month of January. An increase in the number of asthma cases is attribution to the particulate matter in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels and fracking practices. The weather is more severe: droughts in the Western states that give rise to forest fires; heavy rain in the Northeaster states; and more frequent and intense tornados. Seattle now experiences thunderstorms because of the higher water content in the atmosphere because of warmer periods.
The Government Thinking From 1980 to 2016 The government thinking began to change in 1980, when corporations became a strong influence on shaping government policies. Corporations, whose sole existence is to increase profits, sought to deregulate, if not eliminate, federal restrictions aimed to protect the public and the economy of the United States. Our society underwent an evolutionary change when lobbyists of corporations began to have more influence on the passage of laws than the needs of the voters. It became less popular to place the health and welfare of a society above the sought-after profits of corporations through lobbyists favors to the legislative bodies of government. This change has largely come about because of the short-memory span of citizens. The emphasis on clean air and water in the 1960s has been replaced with concerns about paychecks and the economy of today. Deregulation of government restrictions began with President Reagan and the finance industry. President Ronald Reagan, to address the recession at the time, introduced an economics policy what is now referred to as "Reaganomics" or "Trickle-Down Economy." It was a program of deregulation in the financial industry that led to the financial crisis of 1989. In 1982 the GarnSt. Germain Depository Institutions Act almost entirely deregulated thrifts (savings and loans associations that can borrow money from the Federal Home Loan Bank system). In 1987 the GAO (government accountability agency) declared insurance fund of savings and loan industry to be insolvent. The Financial Institutions Reform and Recovery Act of 1989 abolished the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and created the Resolution Trust Corporations to resolve failed thrifts (Sherman, 2009). On September 12, 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton proposed using private pension funds to "invest" in governmental priorities, such as affordable housing, to generate long-term benefits. Gramm attributes this date as the origin of the financial crisis of 2008, also referred to as the "Banking Crisis" (Gramm, 2013). In 1995, President Clinton put pressure on banks to lend low-income families money to purchase a house. The GrammeLeacheBliley Act was passed in 1999 that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of Depression era regulation. This bill allowed commercial banks to engage in investment banking. Subprime lending means that people who have trouble maintaining a payment schedule obtained loans to purchase houses. As
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more people enter the market, the price of houses goes up. Then the bubble burst when the new homeowners could not make the payments. Many banks "failed" that were "too big to fail." On October 3, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in which the government would become partners with the banks (https://en.m. wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubled_Asset_Releif_Program). The original authorization was $700 billion. It was up to the Obama Administration to administer the distribution of the bailout monies to financial institutions. However, the bailout to save those banks "too big to fail" did not prevent the chief executives from receiving their large bonuses, such as AIG Financial Products, Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch (Mother Jones, 2010). Citigroup, which was one of the biggest recipients of the bailout money, gave its employees $5.33 billion in bonuses in 2008 (Bernard, 2008). The DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or Dodd-Frank, was signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010. The Dodd-Frank Act was to promote financial stability by improving accountability and transparency, and to protect the American taxpayer by the ending of bailouts. An important decision of the Supreme Court in 2010 changed the landscape of campaign contributions. A conservative nonprofit organization called "Citizens United" wanted to show a film critical of Hillary Clinton in 2008. This would violate the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of electioneering within 60 days of a general election and 30 of a primary. This became a First Amendment issuedfreedom of speech. On January 21, 2010, a 5e4 decision of Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission (FEC) by the United States Supreme Court allowed corporations to be treated as "citizens" in their participation in political campaigns. Corporations and the super rich could now financially support their candidates with virtually unlimited funds. [To the Reader: The following discussion may appear to be frivolous because it deals with literal definitions of terms with differences in definitions that are more important in the world of academia than in the operational world of everyday life. What difference does it make when there is a choice between two words that mean the same thing? The significant difference is not in the words themselves, but in the difference of the synonyms of the worlds. The context of the statement has to be taken into account to understand the meaning of the word. One example is the sentence that might appear in a poem: "She was a vision." Within the context of this sentence, the Wikipedia definition of vision is: an experience of seeing someone or something in a dream or trance. A synonym of "vision" is "sight," in which case the sentence becomes: "She was a sight." One definition of sight is: something unsightly or ridiculous. Hence the substitution of the synonym changes the meaning of the sentence to be the exact opposite of the original intent to describe the person. Definitions are also important when it comes to a general condition or statement. Consider the phrase "pain in the gut" when discussing an aliment to a medical doctor. This phrase can be part of the definition of indigestion or appendicitis. It makes a significant difference to the patient which interpretation of the symptom that the doctor believes to be the cause of the pain.] In 2014, Chumley (Chumley, 2014) and Cassidy (Cassidy, 2014) reported a study by Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin Page (Northwestern University). The GilensePage report, titled "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens," can be found online (Gilens and Page, 2014). Both Chumley and Cassidy said the study revealed that
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the United States was no longer a democracy but an oligarchy. There are several other reports on the Internet that cite the study by Gilens and Page as concluding the United States is an oligarchy. The GilensePage study was how much influence three groups of people have over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and special interest groups. These results were compared with four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics: Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic-Elite Domination, Majoritarian Pluralism, and Biased Pluralism. When Gilens and Page were interviewed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Stewart, 2014), Page said that they did not use the word "oligarchy"dthat it was a term used by Jeff Winters. What is significant in the Gilens and Page report is the term "economic elites" which was translated by Cassidy to mean "rich people" and by Chumley to mean "wealthy Americans." Compare the Wikipedia definitions of oligarchy with plutocracy. oligarchy: a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people might be distinguished by nobility, wealth, family ties, education or corporate, religious or military control. plutocracy: a society ruled or controlled by the small minority of the wealthiest citizens
Clearly, plutocracy is a specific form of oligarchy. In 2015, former President Jimmy Carter presented a different case for calling the United States a "real oligarchy." The basis of his argument was the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United (Kreps, 2015). However, the fact that the Supreme Court officially put the tag of "citizen" on corporations was not a necessary step to qualify the United States as an oligarchy. If "corporate" in the definition of oligarchy implies "corporation," then the relevant phrase would become "education or corporation." What is relevant is that the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United equated corporations with citizens. The significance of the tag "citizen" on "corporation" is that, by definition, the United States can also be described as a plutocracy with the adjusted phrase "wealthiest corporations." The Supreme Court is thus equating "oligarchy" with "plutocracy" as an act of law. Consider the following question in logic: "How many legs does a cow have if you call the tail a leg?" The correct answer is: "Four, because calling the tail a leg does not make it a leg." By any other name, a corporation is still a corporation and not a citizen. An oligarchy is not a plutocracy. Consider now the definition of corporatocracy given by Wikipedia: corporatocracy: an economic and political system controlled by corporations or corporate interests The definition of corporatocracy does not contain the word "citizen" but does state that corporations play a major role in the political system. Consider the substitutions mentioned above: "education or corporate" becomes "education or corporation" for oligarchy, and "wealthiest citizens" becomes "wealthiest corporations" in accordance with the Supreme Court decision. Now oligarchy, plutocracy, and corporatocracy enjoy the same definition. If they have the same definition, then these terms are technically interchangeable. In other words, two of the terms become synonyms of the third simply because of the Supreme Court’s decision. However, the previous example of "vision" and "sight" indicates synonyms are generally not interchangeable. Confusion occurs when the word is spoken but when heard was interpreted in terms of a synonym of that word. Consider the game in which one person makes a statement to another, and that person passes it on to a third, and so forth. The last person then tells the group what she/he heard, and it most likely
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is not the original statementddrastic changes could occur along the chain. Assume that in a hypothetical game person 1 wants to make a statement about how corporations run the country. In passing this statement to person 2, person 1 uses the appropriate word corporatocracy. Somewhere in this chain of information transfer, a person substitutes the word oligarchy. From the definition of oligarchy, the original statement that a corporation runs the country can be changed to the statement that the military runs the country. What is the proper description of the American society on the basis of the original definitions of terms? The primary difference in the unmodified definitions is that a plutocracy is defined in terms of the citizens, which limits the influence of people on the government who live within the boundaries of the country. In contrast, the definitions of an oligarchy and corporatocracy do not have global boundaries because "citizens" is not part of their definitions. However, oligarchy uses the phrase "small number of people." The implication is that the driving force resides in the interest of the people as determined by a small representative of the people. This emphasis distinguishes oligarchy from corporatocracy, which functions to the interest of corporations. Many corporations with influential power in the United States are multinational and global operations in which US citizenship cannot be claimed. One example is the petroleum corporation BP with a London-based headquarters. In 2016, BP had operations in 72 countries. By definition, it cannot be claimed that the United States is either an oligarchy or a plutocracy. Only the definition of corporatocracy allows for foreign influence of corporations on the laws that define a society. The reason for going into great detail about the differences and similarities of the terms oligarchy, plutocracy, and corporatocracy resides in how the citizens of a society view the society in which they are members. The situation is similar to using "climate change" rather than "global warming" in shaping the attitude of the general public on the effect of burning fossil fuels on the climate. One who still views America as a democracy is not so concerned about the government than if described as an oligarchy, plutocracy, or corporatocracy. This is because democracy implies that the people are in charge of how the government functions, whereas the other three categories give the impression of "loss of control" by the people over government activities. Words and phrases can be used to shape the future. The United States from 1980 to 2016 can be described as a corporatocracy.
SS-14.3 The Third Face of Eve: The Period of Babel (2016 to ???) "You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one...But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. This is Mr. Romney Wordsworth, in his last forty-eight hours on Earth. He’s a citizen of the State but will soon have to be eliminated, because he’s built out of flesh and because he has a mind. Rod Serling, narration of "The Obsolete Man," Season 2, Episode 29, The Twilight Zone, first aired June 2, 1961. The third face of Eve is Jane, with no last name given. The last names White and Black represent the extremes of color: white is composed of all colors in the spectrum and black is the absence of
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colors. It is therefore appropriate that Jane not been given a last name, because, as a metaphor for society, the color will change as society changes. But why use the phrase The Period of Babel? The Period of Babel is in reference to the Tower of Babel, the latter being central to the explanation of why there are many languages as given in Genesis 11 in the Bible. The descendents of Noah spoke one language at the time. They decided to build a tall symbol of how great they had made their nation, which was a tower to "reach to the heavens." God was displeased with this symbol and decided to cause confusion among the people by giving them different languages, as stated in Genesis 11:9: "Therefore is the name of it called B a’-bĕl; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." Holy Bible, King James Version, 1960, The World Publishing Company, Cleveland. Confusion in communication can take on many forms. One form is to have several languages, whether or not there are dictionaries for translating one language into another. The type of confusion that marks the Period of Babel is the spread of misinformation that takes hold because of a general lack of understanding by the general public of the topic at hand. One example is the virtues/hazards of genetically modified organisms (GMO). What is the difference between GMOs and selective breeding? If a politician says a certain event happened in history, is it assumed to be a fact that the event actually did happen in history? The Internet can be a powerful source of information, and indeed many of the topics presented in this tome have been found from Internet searches. But the Internet can also be used as a tool to spread false information as a means to "ward off reality" by referring to negative news reports as "fake news" and justifying one’s position by using "alternative facts." The Internet can therefore be used as a tool to persuade people toward particular points of view in political issues and to direct emotional reactions on topics if the general public cannot distinguish what is true information from what is fake information. The rapidity of distribution of conflicting information by the Internet is a characteristic of the Period of Babel.
"The Times They Are A-Changin" "Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway Don’t block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There’s a battle outside raging I’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls For the times they are a-changing." Bob Dylan song The Times They Are A-Changin’, written in 1963.
Bob Dylan wrote the song "The Times They Are A-Changin" in 1963 in a deliberate attempt to create an anthem of change for the moment. It has been influential to people’s views on society and has been influential to social views and consistent with the philosophy in science that all things changedevolve. But how do changes come about? A change that takes place over a period of years or decades is not the same as a change that takes place over a few days or months. What is the "seed" event (or
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events) that initiate a change in society? What is the measure of the change? To make a connection between science and society, the gas phase of matter is used as a metaphor for a society. The average energy of the gas is what determines the temperature of the gas. What "average" implies is that not all of the gas particles have the same energy: there is a distribution of energies about the average energy. A society is likewise composed of "particles" that are called "people." Not every member of society has the same view on any particular issue, nor do the members of society respond in a like manner to particular issues. Those members of society who have very strong beliefs on issues and respond to these issues in a very energetic manner are said to have a "higher local temperature" than other members of a society. Therefore, when averaged out, society as a whole has a higher temperature than before the seed event to give direction to a change in society. But what is the motivating force that underlies large changes in the temperature of society? Frank Luntz, political pollster and Republican advisor, provides a hint of the motivating force in his description of his job: "It’s all emotion. But there’s nothing wrong with emotion. When we are in love, we are not rational; we are emotional. my job is to look for the words that trigger the emotion.We know that words and emotion together are the most powerful force known to mankind." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz. Luntz is correct that love is based on emotions. But emotions can change over time. The emotion of "love" that brings two together "happy" can change to the emotion of "hate" that can lead to an embittered divorce with battles over possessions, such as portrayed in the 1989 movie The War of the Roses. In performing his job, Luntz used study groups to explore the effect of words and phrases. For example, Frank Luntz advised the Bush Administration to use "climate change" instead of "global warming" because the former did not seem so "final" as did the latter. Since the emotional response to a word can provoke a positive or a negative response to a word, the choice of words can be used to manipulate people’s opinion on a subject. Consider the changes in the Democratic and Republican Parties over the years. In the 1950s the voting base of the Democratic Party and Republican Party was clear. The Democratic Party was the party of the workers: laws in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s that looked out for the workers. Unions were strong and had a powerful influence on Congress. The Republican Party championed the business world. Among other things, tax breaks were put in place to stimulate the economy. Even though the line was drawn between the major focus of both parties, the public influenced Congress to generate policies that were favorable to America as a community.
Public Dissatisfaction With the "Business as Usual" Government The transition from the second to the third face of Eve was as seamless as a pair of seamless bifocals. The transition began in the Reagan presidency with the deregulation of the banks and the destruction of the air-traffic controllers union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO). The air-traffic controllers went on strike on August 3, 1981, after negotiations to raise their pay and shorten working hours. Air-traffic controllers do their work under high stress conditions trying to keep track of the airplanes circling the airport, planes landing, and planes taking off. Any errors would result in the loss of many lives. Reagan declared the strike of the air-traffic controller’s illegal and would fire any who did not return to work within 2 days.
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Reagan fired 11,359 air-traffic controllers on August 5, 1981, and declared a lifetime ban on rehiring the striking workers. Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party became more removed from concerns of the general pubic. Neither party recognized the change in the temperature of the voters in regard to "business as usual" in Washington, D.C. Both parties became enwrapped in partisan politics and catered to the corporations and the rich who, thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United in 2010, could help finance political campaigns with there very deep pockets. The partisan nature of politics and the separation of Republicans and Democrats began with the "tea party" wing of the House Republicansdbelieving that House Speaker John Boehner (Republican) was "too friendly" with President Obama (Thrush and Wheaton, 2015). Perhaps to overcome this image, Boehner opposed any legislation proposed by Obama. The Pew Research Center survey indicated that the 112th Congress (2011e12) was the least productive and the 113th Congress (2013e14) was the second least productive Congress.
SS-15.0 The Years 2016 and 2017: A Beginning of the New Era in American Society? One indication of how a society changes is how the people respond to the governing body of that society and the corresponding response of the government to the people. The original intent of this section was to compare two hypothetical candidates with different views of government: one who focused on the environmental issues and the other who exploited the resources for personal and corporate gain. The election of 2016 changed that plan. When a president is wealthy and has business dealings with several countries and considerable "showmanship" and "celebrity" qualities, predicting the future is almost as complicated as a chess match. Fortunately, the repertoire of moves the present president has is quite limited, and therefore one can predict, with some degree of accuracy, the moves the president makes. To understand how society responds to these moves requires a more detailed presentation that originally planned. The reason for the detail is that, for the first time in American history, our democratic base is threatened. The presidential campaign of 2016 and the first 10 months of the new presidency in 2017 are by far the most unusual series of events in the history of the United States. A significant change in this election is the methods of communication. Newspapers, radio, and television were the primary sources of information in the 1900s. The major television channels for news were the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Edward R. Murrow began his news broadcaster career in 1928. Murrow became a fixture to the American public as a war correspondent throughout World War II. Murrow’s documentary program See It Now debuted in 1951. It is best remembered for helping to stop the anticommunist witch hunt of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow’s closing line was Good night, and good luck. The Huntley-Brinkley Report with Chet Huntley in New York and David Brinkley in Washington, DC, ran from 1956 to 1970. Their presentation was described as mature, with an intellectual treatment of the news. Their closing lines were "Good night, Chet–Good night, David. And a good night, for NBC News." The most trusted broadcast journalist was Walter Cronkite, who was with CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. During his tenure with CBS he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America after being so named in an opinion poll." Cronkite would end his newscast with the saying, "And that’s the way it is." And it was. Then came Google in 1996, Facebook in 2004, and Twitter in 2006. Anyone could create a "blog"da regularly updated website run by one person or a small group, written in an informal
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style. Anything could be in a blog, from factual information to biased misinformation. Facebook was supposed to be a social media, with an apparent goal to get everyone on Earth to join. Why take the time to write personal letters to all of your friends when you can have them initiate the contact by looking at your Facebook page if they are interested in what you are doing. Twitter allows only 140 characters, with the purpose of sharing only the briefest of messages and updates between friends. (Perhaps thanks to Trump, there are now 280). With a vast audience for both Facebook and Twitter, they evolved from being among the vehicles of social contact to being two primary outlets for political propaganda. The television news media did not report on issues and events. Major "news" topics were the outrageous twitters of Trump, the emails of Clinton, and the name-calling and innuendos the candidates said of each other. To measure the temperature of society today, it is deemed necessary to present, in some detail, the events of the 2016 presidential election and the first 10 months of the elected president’s term of office. The sources of information are several newspapers and magazines, television and radio news reports, documentaries, Google searches, and Twitter messages.
Setting the Political Table: Parties and People In a speech given in Seattle on April 18, 2017, Thomas Frank compared the deregulation of banks in 1980 with the bailout of banks in 2009 (Frank, 2017). With the deregulation of the banks, the attitude of the banks was to explore all new possibilities in banking practices. With a deregulated Wall Street, the "guys in Wall Street" sold mortgage-backed securities, which poisoned the entire global banking system. When Barrack Obama won the Presidential election in 2008, there was hope and enthusiasm for change. But the enthusiasm was partly squelched with his treatment of Wall Street and the collapse of the banks. It was expected that those who led to the collapse of the banks would be fired, but they were not fired. As noted by Frank (Frank, 2017); "Obama and his team, the Democratic Party, refused to change course when every sign was telling them its was time to turn. When it would have been healthy for the country to turn. Good for the economy to make the turn. When it was fully in their power to turn." According to Frank, even the Wall Street Bankers expected the turn when they met with President Obama. But the turn was not made. The bankers were given "bailout money" with the justification that the "banks were too big to fail." Most other banks in the nation would be allowed to fail under similar circumstances. And what was the first thing the bankers did with the bailout money? They gave themselves bonuses (Mother Jones, 2010). When the general public protested these bonuses, they responded that the general public just did not understand the way of life of the bankers. Frank noted that former Democratic presidents would have known what to do: "Democratic leaders of the past would have known exactly what to do about it. You take someone like Franklin Roosevelt or Harry Truman or Lyndon Johnson or Herbert Humphrey. These guys would have taken a look at Wall Street was doing to the world and they would have swung directly into action." Frank (2017). Frank pointed out a change in the distribution of the gross national product. In the middle of the Great Depression to the middle of 1980, the lower 90% of the population took home 70% of the
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American growth income. From 1997 to the present, the upper 10% took the entire bundle, with zero growth income to the lower population. Who were the upper 10%? They are the financiers and the professionals. In the 1980s the CEOs made about 40 times that of the blue-collar workers. Today they make 373 times as much. In other words, there was a new economic order. According to Frank, the reason that Obama played it the way he did with Wall Street was because the Democratic Party turned away from its legacy–the workers of America. Instead, the Democratic Party was "looking for winners" in the new economic order. The winners were the highly educated and the professionals. It was this group that, in the 1950s, constituted the Republican Party. As noted by Frank (Frank, 2017): "It was a shift. What I am describing is a long term shift of allegiance from the traditional working and middle class to the professionals. This is what explains everything that is so massively frustrating about our modern day Democrats."
The Changelings In what follows is a reflection of the changes in society as recorded in the presidential primary campaigns of 2016, the 2016 election, and the first 9 months of the new presidency. The Reader should keep the following in mind in the journey through these pages. This is a story of the Democratic Party working within their self-image by rejecting a candidate who attracted large and enthusiastic crowds. This is a story about the Republican Party which, for their own survival, adopted an "outsider" and former Democratic supporter as their candidate. It is also a story of an attack on the separation of church and state by a fundamentalist religious group that supported a presidential candidate, and was rewarded in their efforts by his filling the cabinet with people of their religious belief in appreciation for their support, and continued support. It is a story of the general public constantly being deceived by "fake" reports and the revival of "waffling" with continued "flip-flop" positions on issues, as symbolically shown in Figure SS-15.1. It is also a story of
FIGURE SS-15.1 Waffling and flip-flopping. When Bill Clinton was in office, the "official" term used when he changed position was "waffling," whereas in Donald Trump’s time the phrase is "flip-flopping" when he reverses his position on issues.
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politicians being bullied out of fear to the extent of caring more about their reelections than concerns for the citizens. It is a story of the attack on the separation of powers in America: judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government. It is the beginning of a story in which sufficient evidence has accrued to begin serious talk of implementing the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. It is a story of survival of democracy and freedom of speech and the right for citizens to protest in America. It is a story of a potential "inside job" of a political coup d’e´tat. These stories are told through biographies, clippings and recordings of the news media. How these stories turn out is not certain as of this writing. Stay tuned.
SS-15.1 The Outliers: The Janus-Faced Pair There were two outsiders who drew considerable attention in the Presidential Campaign of 2016: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. The two are about as opposite as anyone might imagine. Even their mottos presented a Janus-faced choice to the public. Trump was looking to the past with his motto "Make America Great Again" and Sanders was looking to the future with his slogan "A Future to Believe In."
"A Future to Believe In"
"Make America Great Again"
PAST
NOW
FUTURE
Donald Trump Donald Trump had a record of flip-flopping through political parties, first a Democrat, then a member of the Reform Party, then Republican, then Democrat, and now Republican (Zimbardo and Sword in Lee, 2017, p. 25). The qualifications of Trump as president were summarized by Kevin Baker in the New Republic (Baker, 2016, p. 21): "The trouble with Trump is that he remains authentically inauthentic. He represents no specific place or culture; has no real belief system, no vision of America beyond the subjugation of those he despises. He speaks to no tradition, can claim no true accomplishments beyond not squandering all of the money that his father left him. He doesn’t read, doesn’t question, doesn’t think beyond his own, reflexive outrage. He is a sad product of rape culture, a mass of inchoate desires who barely exists in the tactile world." However, what was brought to the table was his celebrity status gained by the public exposure through his television program "The Apprentice." He was a showman as exemplified by the book written by Wayne Barrett as far back as 1992 and revised in 2016 to take advantage of the election
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hype (Barrett, 2016): Trump The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, The Downfalls, The Reinvention. He also brought to the table his ability to read and play people, skills he learned to accomplish his deals in his self-styled business world. He set into vibrations the chords of the discontents and frustrated voters with his statement that the middle class was the "forgotten class" and that he would "drain the swamp in Washington." The crowds that Trump attracted were angry, as described by Baker (2016, p. 17); "The Trump campaign, ugly as it was - and democracy is often an ugly, messy business served as a social x-ray for our stultified political system. It revealed just how the swelling confluence of big donors, news media as entertainment, and our rancid consulting class has so appalled and disgusted much of the electorate that they were willing to vote for almost anyone, any one at all, if he would ’blow things up’ as one Trump supporter after another kept telling reporters." Trump added fuel to the fire. At one rally a Trump protester was attacked by Trump supports, to which Trump asked his supporters: Where can you have more fun than at a Trump rally? Trump has entertained his support base with outrageous statements, such as he made at campaign rally in Sioux Center, Iowa "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose voters." Diamond (2016a).
Bernie Sanders Sanders talked issues, such as health care for all and education for all. Sanders also believed the scientists when it can to human activity and global warming. In a Senate speech on July 30, 2012, Sanders responded to Inhofe’s view that global warming was a hoax. Sanders pointed of that an overwhelming number of scientists attribute recent warming effects to human activity, Sanders emphasized four points (Sanders, 2012): 1) 2) 3) 4)
global warming is real; a significant amount of global warming is caused by human activity; global warming will cause destruction and will get worse in years to come; and the United States must lead the rest of the world in reducing human contributions to global warming.
Binelli followed the Sanders campaign over several days. Everywhere he went Binelli observed that Sanders: ".drew record-breaking audiences, working an almost religious appeal over his followers. Two days before the Iowa caucus, he packed a standing-room crowd into a University of Iowa sports facility; the rally concluded with Sanders, Cornel West and members of Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors and Foster the People all singing along to Woody Guthrie’s ’This Land Is Your Land." Binelli (2016, p. 42).
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American political consultant, pollster, and "public opinion" guru Frank Luntz attended half-dozen Sanders events in Iowa and New Hampshire. Luntz had this to say about the Sanders rallies; "I’ve been doing this for 20 years now, and there’s something special about the Sanders voter. You can see it in their eyes; They believe they’re onto something, and that the rest of America will discover it in time. This is not Don Quixote to them. They think they can change the political process." Binelli (2016, pp. 42e43). and "He has really taken that generation by storm. He is everything they have been waiting for. He’s not political, he’s more focused on policy. Whereas Clinton plays politics the way it was played 20 years ago when her husband was president." Binelli (2016, pp. 42e43).
SS-15.2 The 2016 Presidential Primaries Campaigns "Then in the absence of knowledge, what is there to appeal to except our emotions?" James Burke, Connections, 1978. Unlike the 2008 Presidential Campaign in which Katie Couric asked each candidate how they stood on important issues, the 2016 Presidential Campaign spent less than 10% of the time on discussions on any issues. If no issues were discussed, then what was the driving force behind the 2016 Presidential Campaign? The short answer: the portrayal of the candidates by the news media. And who had the news media? Donald Trump. Why did he have the news media? He said outrageous things at rallies, such as he knew more about the military than the generals (even though Trump avoided military service); he was the only one who could solve problems; and in regard to his popularity, "I could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot someone and I wouldn’t lose voters." Why is saying outrageous things important? Huge profits for the news media (Sanders, 2016). An example of the bias of the news media was on Super Tuesday III, held on March 15 (Sanders, 2016). The Presidential hopefuls Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Hillary Clinton had given their speech. While waiting for Trump the camera was focused on an open podium for a half hour. While the media played all of the other candidate’s speeches, they did not play any of Bernie Sanders’ speeches even when he had the largest rally in Phoenix, Arizona. Sanders quoted the head of CNN: "Hey, Trump has been fantastic for us. We’re making huge profits from Trump." Sanders (2016, Democracy Now!). Another change in the presidential primaries was the decisive nature of the news media. Political cartoons played a major role, as noted by Lewis Diuguid, formerly on the Editorial Board of the Kansas City Star (Diuguid and Tate-Beaver, 2017): "Cartoons crystallize all of the thinking that goes into the editorials, all of the thinking that goes into the articles, into the news casts, and the radio reports. So you get
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concentrated versions of what people are thinking about the candidate in the cartoon and there’s satire humor blasted within it. And the humor though also comes out as extremely sexist." In looking over a large number of political cartoons, Diuguid pointed out that Hillary Clinton was portrayed as ugly and fat; Bernie Sanders was depicted as the crazy old uncle in the attic; and Donald Trump was shown to be someone in charge. Trump said the media coverage of him was negativedbut he is wrong. In a National Observer article on August 1, 2016, Trump received 43% negative coverage to Clinton’s 84%. Long before the 2016 campaign, Trump was the subject of cartoons. He was featured in Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury cartoons for over 30 years, as summarized in his book Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump. In The Simpsons episode Bart to the Future, originally aired on the Fox network on March 19, 2003, Lisa is the President of the United States. To get the country out of debt run up by the previous Trump presidency, Lisa plans to impose a tax to meet the demands of the creditors. Sesame Street brutally parodied Trump, which in return he wanted to defund PBS (Selk, 2017a).
The Republican Choice Throughout the Obama administration the Republican Party threw obstacles at everything Obama wanted to achieve. For seven long years they tried to repeat the health-care plan known as Obamacare. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016, Obama’s last year in office. Led by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, there was a pledge to confirm a new nominee before Obama left office. The Republicans respondeddNo way that will happen. This meant the Supreme Court would have only eight members for over a year. The Republican Party was desperate to select a candidate who could bring them into the White House. On March 23, 2015, Ted Cruz kicked off the season. There were eventually 17 potential candidates in the Republican field: John Kasich, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Jim Gilmore, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Paul Rand, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, George Partaki, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Rick Perry, and Donald Trump. Trump introduced a new tool to the debate repertoire: the twitter. Tweets cannot be immediately responded to, and avoided the presence of any of the news media in which questions and/or comments can be made. Examples are taken from a collection compiled by Montgomery: "I laugh when I see Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush pretending to ’love’ each other, with each talking of their friendship. Typical phony pols. May 17, 2015 6:45 PM" Montgomery (2017, p. 146). "Amazing that Ted Cruz can’t even get a Senator like @BenSasse, who is easy, to endorse him. Not one Senator is endorsing Canada Ted!" Jan 29, 2016 8:25 PM" Montgomery (2017, p. 149). Trump was a celebrity billionaire who talked to his audiences with words they wanted to hear. With this following and the bashing of the sixteen Republican hopefuls, the Republican Party endorsed an "outsider" who contributed substantial sums of money to both parties.
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The Democrat Choice The choice was coming down to Clinton or Sanders. Sanders had very strong convictions about environmental issues, whereas Clinton’s position leaned in that direction but not with strong conviction. Clinton acknowledged that Sanders raised a lot of money, but pointed out that none of those funds went to the Democratic Party. Furthermore, Sanders declared himself to be a Democratic Socialist. Although the word "socialist" in this content does not have the meaning of half a century ago, was viewed by many as having a negative impact. Binelli wrote of Clinton (Binelli, 2016, p. 43): "Even before her South Carolina victory, there was a palpable energy in those rooms the prospect of finally having a female president is undeniably exciting, and being in the presence of large groups of women, many close to Clinton’s age, as the react to the possibility and cheer along to teen-pop girl-power anthems like Katy Perry’s ’Roar" feels like its own kind of revolution." Hillary Clinton became the Democratic choice for the Presidential candidate for the 2016 election. One question was raised by Binelli; "And will the young people exercised by Sanders’ own message of revolutionary change be willing to follow a hawkish moderate who voted for the Iraq war and has taken millions of dollars from the very Wall Street bankers their candidate has been tirelessly denouncing since Day One?" Binelli (2016, p. 42). It is quite refreshing, and a hope for the future, than the Bernie Sanders supporters placed principle above the hypocrisy of political tag of party loyalty. Approximately 30% of the Sanders’ supporters retained their commitment to a better government than to perpetuate the current establishment.
SS-15.3 The 2016 Presidential Election "Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." Isaac Asimov, http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/voting. Garry Kasparov, Russian Chess Grandmaster and World Chess Champion for 22 years, writer, and political activist, and has the distinction of playing against the supercomputer Deep Blue, and current chairman for the Human Rights Foundation. Kasparov was not fond of Clinton, but said that she was lucky because she was running against Donald Trump. Going into the Presidential Debates, Clinton was leading Trump by a large margin. The Clinton versus Trump debates, as with "Spy versus Spy" of Mad Magazine, were exercises solely with the objective of beating the other side. Neither candidate supplied food for the brain, but rather chose to manipulate the emotional strings of the voting public in a Punch and Judy display. Clinton had a smirk on her face when Trump stumbled on factual points; with a scowl on his face Trump continually interrupted Clinton. Kessler and Lee examined 23 statements made by Trump and Clinton in the first debate (Kessler and Lee, 2016). It was in this debate that Trump brought up the issue of Clinton’s 30,000 emails and invited the Russian to hack her account. The claim by Trump was that Clinton used a private server and purposely mishandled classified information.
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According to fact finders Kessler and Lee, Clinton did use a private server, but the FBI disagreed that she purposely intended to mishandle classified information (Kessler and Lee, 2016). However, the psychological implant in the voter’s brain had been accomplished. Clinton lost her advantage because of the doubts raised by Trump’s unsubstantiated charges. Over the course of 33 days, Dale counted 253 inaccuracies by Trump in the TrumpdClinton debates (Dale, 2016). A huge mistake of Clinton was listening to the advice of advisors and consultants. Baker gave the description of Clinton (Baker, 2016, p. 17): "Hillary Clinton was the most carefully scripted, up-pollstered, consulatant-ed, robotoc, big money presidential candidate in American history, someone who would not stray a foot outside of the conservative rhetorical box that her professional handlers had authored for her." Why did the outlier Trump win the presidential election if he did not address any specific issues? As noted by Robert Reich, economist who served as Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton (Binelli, 2016, p. 45): "The establishment of both parties has no idea what is actually happening. People are tired of politicians selling them a bill of goods. I’ve never seen such anger, and I’ve been around this political environment for a long time." Trump sensed this anger and played to it. He did not need to discuss issues, as noted by Blow; "In the Trump world, facts don’t matter, truth doesn’t matte, language doesn’t matter. Passionate performance is the only ideal. A lie forcefully told and often repeated is better than the truth - it is accepted as an act of faith, which is better than a point of fact." Blow (2017). Trump’s strategy was promises and slogans, such as the "forgotten" middle class; clear the swamp (in reference to the corruption in Washington); repeal and replace Obamacaredwhich Trump said was already imploding; and bring back jobs to America. To win the black vote, Trump told the black churchgoers in Detroit that he wanted to help rebuild Detroit. Trump read from a script, part of which he said was (Felton and Jamieson, 2016): "I fully understand that the African American community is suffering from discrimination and there are many wrongs that must still be made right. They will be made right. I want to make them right. .....It’s from the pews and pulpits [and] Christian teachings of black churches all across this land that the civil rights movement lifted up its soul and lifted up the soul of our nation." What a difference an election makes. Trump also pointed out that he was the only one who could solve problems, because he know better than anyone else on at least 19 subjects mentioned by Blake (Blake, 2016). Just as fishermen have available to them a variety of lures to attract fish, as shown in Figure SS-15.2, Trump won the election because of the variety of lures he used to attract the voters. But fishermen who use artificial bates are not real fishermen. The same can be said of Trump as a politician, as time revealed. As noted by Zornick, "The Great Trump Heist Is Underway" (Zornick, 2017).
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A
B
C
D
E
FIGURE SS-15.2 Artificial bate. There are preferred bates for specific fish. For example, when fishing for crappie, the favorite bates are live minnow and worms. Amateur fishermen use a variety of artificial bates that are designed for specific types of fish. A Worm; B Scum Frog; C Mimic Minnow; D Crappie; E Rooster Tail.
SS-15.4 A "Landslide" Election: An Obsession With Numbers "Outside of the killings, D. C. has one of the lowest crime rates in the country." Mayor Marion Barry, Jr. as quoted in USA Today, March 24, 1989. Hillary Clinton won the popular election over Trump by 3 million popular votes. However, the Electoral College tally takes precedence over the popular vote. Officially, Clinton received 232 votes and Trump received 306 votes. Trump won the 2016 Electoral College vote by the narrowest of margins. In response to these results, Trump tweeted on November 27, 2016; "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." To Trump, he had to be first to make his victory legitimate in the history of presidential elections. Prior to 2016, only four other presidents were elected without winning the popular vote: John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush. Therefore the 3 million votes must be illegal. Trump wanted to investigate the 3 million "illegal" votes! To put things in perspective, 3 million is the combined populations of Chicago (2.72 million) plus Toledo (0.28 million). In regard to the Electoral College results, Trump won Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania by a total of 78,000 votes. If 40,000 of those votes went to Clinton, then Clinton would have won the election. What is an "everyday" equivalent to 40,000? The equivalent of 40,000 votes is a sold out ballgame at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. Never heard of Howard J. Lamade Stadium? What is
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the fame of the Howard J. Lamade Stadium? It is located in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and is the place where the Little League World Series is played. In a CNN interview, Trump kept on mentioning that his victory as a "landslide"dbut with no response. Eventually Trump asked the interviewer: "It was really a substantial victory. Will you agree to that?" https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/donald-trump-electoral-victory-claim/index.html. And there was still no response from the interviewer. Trump’s "landslide" victory ranks his Electoral College victory at 46th out of 58 elections and his popular vote tally as 47th in the last 49 elections (Patel and Andrews, 2016). Trump even continued to say that his Electoral College "landslide" was the biggest since that of Ronald Reagan (Schleifer, 2017). Hillary Clinton wrote a book about the outcome of the 2016 election (Clinton, 2017). One aspect of the 2016 election results that Clinton mentioned was voter suppression. According to Clinton, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts opened the floodgates to voter suppression through the argument that racism was a thing of the past (Clinton, 2017, p. 419). This meant that voter protections in the Voting Rights Act of 2013 were no longer needed, so the reauthorization of the law was gutted. The result was that 14 states had voter ID requirements that weeded out ". students, poor people, the elderly, and people of color" (Clinton, 2017, p. 419). Clinton also mentioned that a Trump campaign official announced in 2016 that they had three major voter suppression operations underway ". aimed at white liberals, young women, and African Americans" (Clinton, 2017, pp. 418e419). Ari Berman gave a specific example of voter suppression in the State of Wisconsin (Berman, 2017). A 37-year-old African-American woman (a private citizen who will remain nameless in this discussion) lost her driver’s license a few days before the election, but came to the voting place with an expired Wisconsin state ID and proof of residency. A poll worker confirmed the current address and that she was already registered. But Wisconsin law required a current driver’s license, passport, or state or military ID to cast the ballot. The time window was 72 hours, and she could not take the time off from her job as an administrative assistant, and had children to look after. Berman noted" For the first time in her life, her vote wasn’t counted" (Berman, 2017, p. 24). Berman quoted University of WisconsineMadison political scientist Kenneth Mayer, author of a survey as why voters did not vote: "We have hard evidence there were tens of thousands of people who were unable to vote because of the voter ID law." Berman (2017, p. 27). Trump barely beat Clinton in Wisconsindby 22,748 votes (The New York Times, https://www. nytimes.com/elections/results/Wisconsin-president-clinton-trump). Trump’s victory in Wisconsin was slightly greater than a half-filled Howard J. Lamade Stadium. To set up laws and restrictions that may deny voters their right to vote is one of the things that should make America grate!
SS-15.5 Mine Is Bigger Than Yours The National Parks Service shared two tweets during the Trump inauguration: the small crowd size and several omissions of policy on the new White House website. The Interior Department
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was told to shut down its official Twitter accountsdindefinitely (Ross, 2017). The comment about the inaugural crowd was that it was smaller than the 2009 inaugural crowd of Obama. White House press secretary at that time, Sean Spicer, continued to claim that Trump’s inaugural crowd was bigger than Obama’s inaugural crowd, even though the comparison photographs proved different (Wallace et al., 2017). During a January 22 interview on Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asked Kellyanne Conway, White House counselor, to give a reason why Trump allowed his press secretary, Sean Spicer, ".to essentially litigate a provable falsehood when it comes to a small and petty thing like inaugural crowd size." Conway dropped a bombshell: Sean Spicer was given alternative facts (Todd, 2017; Ball, 2017a; Graves and Qui, 2017). The January 22, 2017, edition of The Huffington Post noted that 40 years ago, to the day, that an episode of "Doctor Who" predicted alternative facts (Strachan, 2017); "The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don’t alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views." Doctor Who, The Face of Evil Part Four, January 22, 1977. Shown in Figure SS-15.3 is a recent release of the photo comparison by the National Parks Service (Frostenson, 2017). The Reader is to draw his/her own conclusions about crowd sizedwhich one
FIGURE SS-15.3 Comparison of inaugural crowds in the National Mall: 2009 versus 2017. Both photographs were taken 45 minutes before the inauguration ceremony. Source: National Parks Service.
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is bigger. The significance of "whose is bigger" was that it was the first encounter of what eventually evolved into Trump’s attack on the free press, and possibility set the tone to reverse everything the Obama administration achieved in his presidency. A vast majority of Trump voters live in an alternative reality (Colarossi, 2016).
SS-15.6 January 21, 2017 The day after the inauguration, Trump twittered the following message to the public: "I am honered to serve you, the great American People, as your 45th President of the United States." Smilowitz (2017). Trump deleted this tweet and used the correct spelling "honored." Also scheduled for January 21 was the Women’s March on Washington. The focus was to create a society in which all women are free, and to care and nurture their families. Tens of thousands of people showed up at the National Mall. The scheduling of the event was intentionally placed the day after the inauguration to send a powerful message: Women’s rights are human rights. A visual feature of this march was the pink "pussy hats" that is a symbol of solidarity, a creation that was probably arose from Trump’s locker room comment during an interview as to what a privileged billionaire can grab.
SS-15.7 A New Political Base in American Society On January 23 and 24, 2017, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC presented the results of a Public Policy Poll (PPP) comparing Trump supporters with the general public. Here is a sample of the questions and responses: 1) Do you think Donald Trump or Barack Obama had a bigger crowd for his inauguration? i. Of the Trump voters 43% said Trump and 26% said Obama. 2) Do you think Donald Trump’s inauguration had the biggest crowd of any presidential inauguration in history? i. General public: 18% yes, 62% no ii. Trump voters: 34% yes, 32% no 3) What do you think had the biggest crowd: The Women’s March or Donald Trump’s inauguration? i. General public: 54% Women’s March, 29% Trump inauguration ii. Trump voters: 20% Women’s March, 59% Trump inauguration 4) Do you think most of the women who protested this weekend were paid to do so by George Soros, or not? i. Trump voters: 38% yes, 33% no 5) Do you think Donald Trump should be able to overturn decisions by judges that he disagrees with, or not? i. General public: 25% yes, 64% no, 11% not sure ii. Trump voters: 51% yes, 33% no, 16% not sure
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The response to question (5) is somewhat revealing about our education system when it comes to the government and the Constitution. The Founding Fathers specifically set up the government with three independent branches: judiciary, legislative, and executive. This "three-legged stool" provides a system of checks and balances. Maddow pointed out that the PPP results indicate that there seems to be a new political base in America that is loyal to Trump. The question is How strong is this base? In a poll taken in October, 9 months after taking office, about 87% of the people think that America is weaker as a world leader since the inauguration. The base therefore hovers between 13% and 30% of people polled. The most likely group that makes up the majority of Trump’s base is the white voters that ran the gamut from Joe the Dishwasher to Joe the Plumber to Joe the Banker: "The racial and ethnical isolation of whites at the zip code level is one of the strongest predictors of Trump supporters. .... Trump’s dominance among the whites across class lines is of a piece with his larger dominance across nearly every white demographic." Coates (2017, p. 77). However, it was the Evangelical Christians who encouraged Trump to run for the Office of the President. In a Newsweek article, Burleigh tells how Trump became associated with the Evangelicals (Burleigh, 2017a). Not particularly known for his religious views, Trump became friends with televangelist Paula White in the early 2000s. In 2011, when then contemplating running for president, Trump asked Paula White to deliver some religious leaders to Trump Tower for consultation. Capping a two and a half hour conversation, which included a 20-min prayer session, they urged him to have faith in God and challenge Obama. To quote Burleigh; "After that confab, Trump apparently determined that God was not ready for him to be in the White House, but four years later, he must have gotten the OK from on high, because he decided to run" Burleigh (2017a, p. 24). Johnston offers a different view of why Trump decided not to run in 2012, even though he declared his candidacy: "Separately, [Lawrence] O’Donnell [of MSNBC] and I both came to the conclusion that Trump’s campaign then had a purpose other than moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His real goal, we surmised, was a more lucrative contract with the NBC television network for his aging Celebrity Apprentice show, where his trademark line was ‘You’re fired.’ " Johnston (2016, p. xii). When Trump decided to run in the 2016 election, journalists considered it to be a joke. But as Johnston also pointed out: "Trump’s ratings were on a decline. His show was at rick of being canceled." Johnston (2016, p. xii).
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Perhaps Burleigh was correct regarding God, in which the OK from on high was in the form of falling ratings. Who knowsdperhaps God was answering the prayers of the evangelical base. But one thing is certaindTrump did believe the evangelical base played a role in his becoming the Republican Party candidate. Trump veered off the script to his acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, July 18e21, where he remarked; "At this moment, I would like to thank the evangelical community because, I will tell you what, the support they have given me - and I’m not sure I totally deserve it - has been so amazing. And has been such a big reason I’m here tonight." Burleigh (2017a, p. 25). Who are the Evangelical Christians? The Evangelical Christianity is based on four premises: 1) to have a "born again" experience in the following of Jesus Christ; the ultimate authority of, and obedience to, the Bible; 2) activism - the spread of Christianity in missionary and social reform efforts; 3) Biblicism - high regard for and obedience to the Bible as the Ultimate authority; and 4) crucicentrism - a stress on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as making it possible the redemption of humanity ("What is an Evangelical?") https://www.nae.net/what-is-an-evagelical/. The Evangelical Christians also helped Trump get elected in 2016. According to the Pew Research Center, the white, born-again Evangelical Christians voted 81% for Trump and 16% for Clinton; and the white Catholics voted 60% for Trump and 37% for Clinton (Smith and Martı´nez, 2016). The Mormon religion voted 61% for Trump and 25% for Clinton. The same report showed that Hispanic Catholics voted 26% for Trump and 67% for Clinton; the Jewish voted for 24% Trump and 71% for Clinton; other faiths voted 29% for Trump and 62% for Clinton; and religiously unaffiliated voted 26% for Trump and 68% for Clinton.
SS-15.8 Trump: In the Image of Giuseppe Pinetti The public image of Trump is one of excess lavishness: opulent, grand, rich, fancy, posh. His buildings and golf courses were designed to attract the ultrarich, like honey to a fly. It was a show, and Trump was the master showmandthe master of the "art of the deal"dwhich set Trump apart for all the other developers. A similar approach was employed by magicianteacher Giuseppe Pinetti over 200 years ago. Giuseppe Pinetti was born in 1750. He was very good at demonstrating principles of chemistry and physics in his classroom. He noted that people who were not his students were also interested in his science demonstrations. Knowing that the science demonstrations would attract an audience, Pinetti brought together science and magic in a show, designed to set him apart from other magicians. He began to dress as if he were a nobleman, wearing expensive clothes. The stage was filled with fine furniture, elegant decorations, and chandeliersdas if the audience were in a palace. He even "performed" on stage, as described by Newquist (Newquist, 2015, p. 37): "The Professor also changed the way magicians behaved onstage. He acted as if he were the most important, most mysterious, and most intelligent person in the room. Instead of being a mere performer, there only to amuse, he positioned himself as an
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authority - someone to be listened to and watched carefully. He took charge of the stage as if he were conducting an orchestra or presenting an extraordinary classroom lesson. As a result, Pinetti’s audience always paid attention to him." Both Pinetti and Trump are prestidigitators. The word comes from the Latin for "juggler"d præstigiator. Pinetti and Trump have one more thing in common that is associated with magic: the art of misdirection. Misdirection in magic is a form of deception in which the attention of the audience is directed to one thing of little consequence to distract from what is really going on. The basic principle of misdirection in magic is the limited range of peripheral vision. While the audience is focused on the magician, the entire background of the stage can be changed without notice. Misdirection in the Trump politics is the use of the Twitter. It is a sound bite that contains no information because of the limitation to 140 characters. A tweet stimulates the subconscious mind that, in turn, stimulates the conscious mind to change the subject of thought.
SS-15.9 Trump: A Fuller Story Behind the Polish The title of this section comes from a sentence in the Introduction of Johnston’s book about Trump (Johnston, 2016, p. xiii). It is the premise of the present tome that the nature of a person is composed of three parts: "wired in" with the genes, the home environment in the early years of life, and the company one keeps during the adolescent years (between 10 and 19). Very influential during this period of learning is the exposure to the diversity of cultures and lifestyles on this Earth. How might a person develop if isolated from mainstream America is born into a wealthy family?
Of Kings and Queens and Common Folk In the musical Camelot, Queen Guinevere asks of King Arthur; "What do the simple folk do To help them escape when they’re blue? The shephard who is ailing, the mildmaid who is glum The cobbler who is wailing from nailing his thumb When they’re beset and besieged The folk not noblessly obliged However do they manage to shed their weary lot? Oh, what do the simple folk do we do not?" From the song "What Do The Simple Folk Do," https;//www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/Camelot/whatdothe simple folkdo.htm. King Arthur’s response: They whistle! How quaint. How simple. The implication of this song is that royalty has obligations that the common folk do not have, therefore the common folk are lucky because all they have to do is a simple whistle to ease the pain.
The Very Rich and Common Folk The very rich, like royalty, are different from the common people, as indicated from the line in a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." F. Scott Fitzgerald, a line from The Rich Boy.
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A clear example of the difference in lifestyle of the very rich and the common folk is found in the bailouts of the banks in 2008 (Mother Jones, 2010). Wall Street executives gave themselves "bonuses" as the first order of business. When people complained, the response was that the people did not understand that this was their lifestyle. To underscore the differences in lifestyles, there was a television series from 1984 to 1995 titled "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous" that featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes, and business moguls. There was a joke circulated years ago which illustrated that the rich have no concept of the life of "common" folk: A grade school classroom assignment was to write a story about a very poor family. The little rich girl started her story with: "It was a very poor family. The father was very poor, the mother was very poor, The brother was very poor, the sister was very poor, the cook was very poor, the butler was very poor, the maid was very poor, the .." This story contains some truth with Donald Trump. Fred Trump, Donald’s father, indulged his children as any wealthy person might. The children attended private schools and vacationed in Florida during the winter months and the Catskills in the summer months. Fred wanted both the sons and daughters to earn their own money. But there was an indulgence here as well. When it rained or snowed the boys delivered the newspapers via a chauffeured limousine (D’Antonio, 2015, p. 39).
The Trump Fortune: In the Beginning It is well known that a sizeable portion of Donald Trump’s fortune was inherited. But how was that fortune amassed? The Trump fortune began with Friedrick Trump, Donald’s grandfather (Willis, 2016; Collins, 2017). Facing mandatory military service, Friedrick left his mother a note and did what others did: fled from Germany to America in 1885 at the age of 16 (Johnston, 2016, p. 4). He was first a barber in New York, but then moved to Seattle 6 years later, where he anglicized his name to "Frederick." Frederick opened the Poodle Dog, a 24-hour establishment in the red light district of Seattle. The clients could buy alcohol and food, and there was a private room for entertainment by "the ladies" of the establishment. Because of the huge success of the Poodle Dog, Frederick moved to the Yukon to take advantage of the miners during the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada. Frederick opened up The Arctic, a bar and grill, that, to accommodate the miners, had scales so they could pay in gold dust. In 1901 the police began to crack down on gambling, liquor sales, and prostitution, so Frederick returned to Germany. It was there that he married Elizabeth Christ and tried to settle down. They moved to America, but Elizabeth did not like the bustling of New York, so they returned to Germany in 1904 with their infant daughter. Frederick had to convince the German authority to overlook his draft dodging. They did not buy the argument so he was sent back to America. The couple had two sons: Fred and John. When Frederick died in 1918, Fred took on the family’s entrepreneurial spirit. A riot occurred in Jamaica, the Queens neighborhood where Fred Trump lived, between about 100 New York Police and a 1000 Ku Klux Klan members and their supporters. Although Fred and others were booked by the police for failure to disperse, prosecutors decided not to try them (Johnston, 2016, p. 9).
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Fred Trump learned the ins and outs of government procurement through government contracts to build apartments and barracks near the Navy shipyards in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Using his knowledge of government procurements, Fred was the first builder to receive a grant from the Federal Housing Administration for postwar housing construction for returning GIs. According to Johnston: "Fred Trump was known neither for quality buildings nor for being a good landlord. He bought the cheapest materials to build more than 27,000 subsidized apartments and row houses, on many of which his family continues to collect rent decades later." Johnston (2016, p. 11). Many of those apartments were in Brooklyn and Queens. The apartment complex in Brooklyn, called Beach Haven, continues the present saga.
The Formal Education of Donald Trump in a Nutshell Donald Trump was raised in luxury by a somewhat strict father. To teach Donald discipline, Fred sent Donald to the New York Military Academy in New York at the age of 13. It has long been said, over decades, that if you get a college degree you will get a better job. Trump arrived at Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus in 1964 and transferred to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania for his last 2 years. He received the Bachelor Degree in Economics in 1968. Apparently Trump was a low profile student since no one remembers seeing him on campus or in the classroom (Stripling, 2016). Trump did not seem to get much out of the education either, as he thought the important thing for a college education was the degree itself. To have a degree, even a bachelor degree, was an advantage in the field of real estate. The focus was on only one area in college, Trump’s education represents the monoculture in the field of educational opportunity. At the age of 22 years and a height of 6 feet 2 inches, Trump played football, tennis, and squash, and was taking up golf, which became his only source of exercise in later life. Donald had perfect medical history (Eder and Philipps, 2016). During his college years, Donald had four student deferments from military service. Trump had just completed the undergraduate real estate program at Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania when he received a fifth medical deferment because of a spur on his heal. The medical deferment meant the he ".could follow his father into the development business, which he was eager to do" (Eder and Philipps, 2016). During a press conference Trump could not remember which heel had the spur, so his campaign released that it was both (Blades, 2017).
Trump Buildings and Race Discrimination Woody Guthrie signed a lease for a new apartment in Brooklyn, known as Beach Haven apartment complex. Guthrie is noted for his protest songs, such as "This Land Is Your Land"dan appeal that all have an equal share in America. Kaufman, a professor of American Literature and Culture, visited the Woody Guthrie Archives in Tulsa, with some startling discoveries (Kaufman, 2016). Some of Guthrie’s most bitter songs were made in the 2 years he was living at the Beach Haven apartment complex. The songs came from his experiences of traveling America. Guthrie,
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a veteran, lamented over the bigotry of his "lily-white" neighborhood. In his notes, Guthrie reworked his "I Ain’t Got No Home," a ballad about the Dust Bowl, into "Old Man Trump"da ballad for smashing the color barrier. The song has two, well-defined, parts. The first part focuses on racism, with the opening verse: "I suppose that Old Man Trump knows how much racial hate He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts When he drawed that color line Here at his Beach Haven project." Old Man Trump, http://woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Old_Man_Trump.htm. The third verse addresses how the Trump complex at Beach Haven can be changed into a diverse cornucopia, with "a face of every bright color laffing and joshing in these old darkly weepish empty shadowed windows" (Kaufman, 2016); "I’m calling out my welcome to you and your man both Welcoming you here to Beach Haven To love in any way you please and to have some kind of a decent place To have your kids raised up in." Old Man Trump, http://woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Old_Man_Trump.htm. The second verse, repeated also as the fourth, is how Guthrie feels about Beach Haven being his home. The above incident is significant because in July 1972 the federal government authorized a series of field tests for compliance of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The Justice Department sued Donald Trump, his father, and Trump management for "refusing to rent dwellings and negotiate the rental of dwelling with persons because of race and color" (Johnston, 2016, p. 36). While most big landlords quickly settled to avoid publicity, attorney Roy Cohen advised Donald to take them to court. At a press conference in the New York Hilton, Donald Trump accused the Justice Department of fabricating the case to force them to rent to people "on welfare" even though the case was about racial discrimination. As noted by Johnston: "This marked a key moment in Trump’s career, adopting the tactic that would be a core tenet of his 2016 presidential bid: hitting back harder when he feels attacked." Johnston (2016, p. 37). Even with this track record in racism, Trump tried to convince the black community that he was on their sidedwilling to learn about their problems (Corey, 2016). To try to understand a person, one looks at what the person does and listens to what a person says. The "looking" part is done through: the writings of the person; the writings of others through newspapers, magazines, and books; and through selective television news reports. This list forms the minimal information needed to correlate with later actions.
SS-15.10 The Predictability of Trump There are (at least) three stages of learning and behavior. First is the genetic information in the genes, then there is the family influence at home before entering grade school, and then what is learned
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through friends and the interactions with others. Much of the information learned in the early years forms a basis of information that may be hard to overcome in later life. This is the bias and opinion information that leads to "gut" and "intuitive" decisions. Given enough information at this level, one can predict, with a high degree of certainty, how one responds under a given set of circumstances. The following sections provide a list of this basic information. Each item in this list is identified with the notation "Item X)" where X is the numerical order in the list. This format is for the convenience of the Reader in the remainder of this synopsis. For example: See Item 12 means that Item 12 is relevant to the discussion at hand.
Donald Trump: In His Own Words Item 1) "For the most part, you can’t respect people because most people aren’t worthy of respect." Trump Quote, D’Antonio, 2015, p. 1. Item 2) "When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. The temperament is not that different." Trump Quote, D’Antonio, 2015, p. 35. Item 3) "I would say that I have never been given the credit that I’m due." Trump Quote, D’Antonio, 2015, p. 119. Item 4) "I have to tell you about losers. I love losers because they make me feel good about myself." Trump Quote, Johnston, 2016, p. 22, said at motivational meeting in Colorado at Loveland’s Bixpo 2005 conference. Item 5) "Be paranoid because they are gonna try to fleece you." Trump Quote, Johnston, 2016, p. 22, said at motivational meeting in Colorado at Loveland’s Bixpo, 2005 conference.
Donald Trump: In His Biographies Item 6) "It is not easy to explain in a couple of words [how Trump got rich], but I have noticed that all of these successful people have traits that set them apart from the pack: their attitudes, actions, persistence, and passion, plus a whole slew of other qualities that separate the winners from the losers. To be successful you have to separate yourself from 98 percent of the rest of the world." Trump and Zanker (2007, p. 15). Item 7) "I really believe that if you are good and you are smart, you can go with your gut. You need to go against the tide. In some of the best deals I have made, I went against what everybody else believed. My actions were very counterintuitive." Trump and Zanker (2007, p. 79). Item 8) "Scientists also say that there are nerve cells in the gut that are connected to the intuitive part of the brain. When something is right or wrong, I actually feel it in my gut." Trump and Zanker (2007, p. 84). Item 9) "Make them respect your knowledge. I am good at real estate. I understand real estate, and I love real estate. Nobody can pull the wool over my eyes when it comes to real estate. That is the most important lesson in getting respect: know your stuff." Trump and Zanker (2007, p. 150).
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Item 10) "I always get even." Trump and Zanker (2007, p. 179). Item 11) "I put the people who are loyal to me on a high pedestal and take care of them very well. I go out of my way for people who were loyal to me in bad times. This woman was very disloyal, and now I go out of my way to make her life miserable." Trump and Zanker (2007, p. 180). [To the Reader: This incident is given in Chapter 6dtitled "Revenge" (Trump and Zanker, 2007, pp. 179e180). An unnamed woman who was a "nobody in her government job" was given a "great job in the Trump Organization." She became powerful in real estate and had a beautiful home. When DT was going through "tough times in the early 1990s’ she was asked by Trump to make a phone call to her extremely close friend who had power in a big bank, and who "would have done what she asked." She said that she could not do that, upon which DT "got rid of her and then she started a business of her own." Trump continued the story: "Later I found out her business failed. I was really happy when I found that out. She has turned on me after I had done so much to help her. I had asked her for one favor in return and she turned me down flat. She ended up losing her home. Her husband, who was only in it for the money, walked out on her and I was glad. Over the years many people have called asking for recommendations for her. I only gave her bad recommendations, I can’t stomach disloyalty.and now I go out of my way to make her life miserable." Trump and Zanker (2007, pp. 179e180). It is left to the Reader to find a good reason to have this story about a "nobody" in her job as the lead story of Chapter 6 when the stories about celebrities such and Rosie O’Donnell, Martha Stewart, Merv Griffin, and billionaire Sir Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Atlantic Airlines) were also included in this chapter.]
Item 12) "When other people see that you don’t take crap and see you are really going after somebody for wronging you, they will respect you. Always have a good reason to go after someone. Do not do it without a good reason." Trump and Zanker (2007, p. 192). Item 13) "Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case [having something the other guy wants], which is why leverage often requires imagination, and salesmanship. In other words, you have to convince the other guy it’s in his interest to make the deal." Trump and Schwartz (1987, p. 53). Item 14) "In the second grade I actually gave a teacher a black eye - I punched my music teacher because I didn’t think he knew anything about music and I almost got expelled. I’m not proud of that, but it’s clear evidence that even early on I had a tendency to stand up and make my opinions known in a very forceful way. The difference now is that I like to use my brain instead of my fists." Trump and Schwartz (1987, pp. 71e72). Item 15) "I figured out what it would take to get Dobias on my side. In a way, I finessed him. It helped that I was a good athlete, since he was the baseball coach and I was the captain of the team. But I also learned how to play him." Trump and Schwartz (1987, p. 73). Item 16) "I was lucky it came relatively easily to me [at the New York Military Academy in upstate New York], because I was never all that interested in schoolwork. I understood early on that the whole academic thing was only a preliminary to the main event - which was going to be whatever I did after I graduated from college." Trump and Schwartz (1987, p. 74).
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Item 17) "It didn’t take me long to realize that there was nothing particularly awesome or exceptional about my classmates, and that I could compete with them just fine. The other important thing I got from Wharton was a Wharton degree. In my opinion, that degree doesn’t prove very much, but a lot of people I do business with take it very seriously, and it’s considered very prestigious. So all things considered, I’m glad I went to Wharton." Trump and Schwartz (1987, p. 77). Item 18) "By his own account, Donald got into lots of trouble - so much that his father shipped him off to the New York Military Academy in upstate New York to develop discipline when he was a teenager." Johnston (2016, p. 17). Item 19) "Trump distorts information, contradicts himself, and blocks inquiries into his conduct by journalists, law enforcement, business regulators, and other people’s lawyers. Again, the records show decades of Trump’s skill in pursuing this strategy successfully." Johnston (2016, p. 148). Item 20) "Donald also debuted his talent for manipulating the truth, sworn or otherwise. In an attempt to put distance between himself and the discriminatory practices of the Trump companies, he repeatedly claimed he did not handle the rental of apartments." Barrett (2016, p. 83). [To the Reader: For a sample, see the subheading "Trump Buildings and Race Discrimination"]
SS-15.11 The Predictability of the Unpredictable "Donald Trump is very proud of his unpredictability. The US president likes to boast that - unlike Barack Obama - he has no intention of signaling his plans to the world." Rachman (2017). According to Schwartz, who wrote The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump, wrote of the predictability of Trump: "Three decades ago, I spent nearly a year hanging around Trump to write his first book, The Art of the Deal, and got to know him very well. I spent hundreds of hours listening to him, watching him in action, and interviewing him about his life. To me, none of what he has said or done over the past four months as president comes as a surprise." Lee (2017, p. 69). One does not have to spend a year observing Trump to come to this conclusion. One only needs to read a few pages of his biographers’ works to draw the same conclusiondTrump is predictable in his behavior. The minimal basis set of information is given by Items 1e20 in the previous section. But how can something that is deemed unpredictable likewise be classified as predictable? The answer lies in the synonyms. Synonyms for unpredictable include erratic, inconsistent, unreliable, unstable, and whimsical. Implied in all of these words is that something is predictable. Let us first examine what these words mean in classical physics. If an automobile is traveling at a constant rate of 60 mph, then it is predictable that the automobile will have traveled 60 miles after 60 minutes. It is predictable from thermodynamics that water in a pan is heated at sea level it will boil at 212 F, and at an altitude of 7,500 feet
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the water will boil at 198 F. Predictions in science are only possible because all of the natural events follow the Laws of Nature. In regard to human activity, there is an element of uncertainty because people respond in different ways to outside stimuli. This scenario now presents an interesting relationship between a word and its synonyms that is dependent upon the subject under consideration. One can be predictable in the context of one’s background that can lead to irresponsible actions within the context of one’s office. To illustrate how the unpredictable can become predictable, we adopt the view of society as given in the Venn diagram in Figure SS-11.1. Let a red circle represent a population of politicians and a blue circle represent a population of business moguls. If given a political situation one might be able to predict with a large degree of certainty how the politicians will respond. Likewise, businesspersons will respond in predictable ways in business dealings (recall Item 17dthe prestige of a degree in the business world even if it does not mean anything). However, if a businessperson is placed in that same political situation, the businessperson will respond in a way that has been proven effective in the business world. Therefore if one expects the businessperson to respond like the politician, then it will appear to the politician that the businessperson is unpredictable. The above scenario is manifested in the wishful choice of Trump by the Republican Party: "Republicans want to tame Trump, but he may be their doom" The Washington Post, September 28, 2016. To use two cliche´s, any woman who marries a man with the expectation of changing him after they are married is in for quite a surprise, and any man who refuses to ask for directions when lost is certainly not going to change after marriage. The marriage is thus doomed to failure before it starts. On the basis of information in Items 1e20, it was predictable that Trump the business person cannot become Trump the politician because of his selective narrow education to only the business world. Trump did not like to study except for those things that pertained to what he wanted to do after he graduated from college (Item 16) which happened to be real estate (Item 17). What Trump discovered for him to be successful in making deals was the following approach: Do not respect anyone (Item 1), and to those who are "out to get you" (Item 5) make them respect you through your knowledge (Items 7 and 9) and aggressiveness (Items 12 and 14), whether it means "manipulating" the truth (Items 19 and 20) or the person (Items 13 and 15), or putting them under the threat of retaliation if things don’t go well (Items 10 and 11) because it is most important to be an acknowledged winner (Item 3) and not a loser (Items 4). Since Trump was not interested in studying topics not related to his vocation (Item 16), he is left to "gut" decisions (Item 8) in the world of politics, or to "passing the buck" to Congress to do the legislative work without any presidential guidance, leaving them open to retaliation if they do not complete their assigned homework (Item 11). The predictability of Trump runs parallel to the actions of the main character in Season 5 Episode 8 of The Twilight Zone titled "It’s a Good Life"dfirst aired on November 3, 1961. The town of Peaksville, Ohio, was isolated from the rest of the universe. The inhabitants were never sure that the world was destroyed or they were whisked away. This is because a monster arrived in the village. The citizens of Peaksville were in fear of the monster because something would happen to them if they did not do what the monster wanted them to do. The monster was
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6-year-old Anthony Fremont with blue guileless eyes, who happened to have magical powers and insisted that everything be done his way. When those eyes looked at a citizen of Peaksville, that person had better have happy thoughts. The Republicans have, in effect, allowed Trump the business person to create, out of the ashes of the 2016 presidential election, Trump politics, where the color pink is to indicate his inexperience in Republican politics. If viewed from Trump the business person, then Trump politics is entirely predictable. But Trump politics has the appearance of irresponsibility compared with Republican politics. The Republicans now have a deeper shade of red faces. It has taken the press some time to realize that Trump acknowledges he has the temperament of a first grader (Item 2) because the press was expecting Republican politics instead of Trump politics: "The leaks coming out of the Trump White House cast the president as a clueless child" Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post, January 26, 2017a. "Trump is a boy’s idea of a man." Richard Cohen, The Washington Post, February 6, 2017. It has taken the press considerable time to discover Trump’s the narcissist trait (Item 3): "In his first major TV interview as president, Trump is endlessly obsessed with his popularity." Jenna Johnson, The Washington Post, January 26, 2017.
SS-15.12 The Predictability of the Trump Cabinet: The Bizarro World Before the presidential election, Liesha Petrovich wrote an article for The Huffington Post titled: "Bizzaro World: Trump, Clowns and Self-Defense" (Petrovich, 2016). The Bizarro World is a fictional planet, home of Bizarro and his companions. Bizarro is a fictional character in the DC Comics family introduced in the 1960s. Bizarro is the exact opposite of Superman. In fact, everything associated with the Bizarro World and characters is backward from the real Earth and occupants. The planet is named Htrae and, rather than a spherical planet as expected from gravitational attraction, Htrae is a cubic planet. Bizarro and Htrae are shown in Figure SS-15.4. The popular use of Bizarro World is "a situation or setting which is weirdly inverted or opposite to expectations." Trump’s choice of cabinet members is also of the nature of a Bizarro World. For the Department of Justice, Trump named Jeff Sessions. Sessions made racially charged comments while US attorney in Alabama in the 1980s, criticizing NAACP and ACLU. For the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump chose Tom Price. Price wanted to repeal of Obamacare and convert Medicare into voucher program. Betsy DeVos was the choice for the Department of Education. DeVos wanted education reform and referred to the historically black colleges and universities as "pioneers of schools of choice." For the Administrator Environmental Protection Agency was Tom Pruitt. Pruitt led legal fights against Obama’s agenda to combat climate change. All of these nominations seem backward because their views are opposite the charge of the
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FIGURE SS-15.4 Bizarro Superman and Bizzaro Htrae. In the Bizarro World, everything is backward. The Bizarro Superman is the worst detective and the planet Htrae is a cube. Source: Bizarro Superman Wikipedia. Source: Bizarro Htrae dreamstime Royalty free stock photo.
departments they head. Are these appointments "unpredictable" in accordance with the image Trump wants to maintain? No. They are totally predictable. Recall that Trump acknowledged the support of the Evangelicals who helped him get elected. Perhaps because the Evangelicals were good to him, he was loyal to them (Item 10). As of January 19, the day before the inauguration, the Evangelicals slated to serve are (Eschliman, 2017) (1) Attorney General Jeff Sessions; (2) Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke; (3) Secretary of Health & Human Services Dr. Tom Price; (4) Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson; (5) Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao; (6) Secretary of Energy Rick Perry; (7) Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos; (8) Director of EPA Scott Pruitt; (9) US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley; (10) Senior Counselor for Economic Initiatives Dina Powell; (11) Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats; (12) Director of Central Intelligence Mike Pompeo; and (13) Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. Mike Pence declared himself as an evangelical Catholic.
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The Evangelical Christian beliefs the authority of the Bible is "the final authority in all matters of doctrine and faithdabove all human authority" (Schumacher, 2015). The "human authority" includes scientists and, in particular, environmentalists. Trump is not a religious man, but he has a loyalty to those who help him (Item 11). This may explain the attack on science by Trump as reflected in his budget cuts. As of March 15, 2017, the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was cut back by 31%, that of the Health and human Services by 16%, and that of NASA by 1% (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/15/us/politics/trumpbudget-proposal.html?_r¼0). The March for Science on Earth Day 2017 was to emphasize the role that science plays in everyday life: that it is for the common good of the people and to have evidence-based policies that are nonpartisan. Cuts in the EPA mean fewer checks on the quality of air that we breathe and the water that we drink. Unless there is a check on the treatment of industrial waste our drinking water might experience the same fate as in Flint Michigan. In 2014 the water source was changed to the Flint River while a new pipeline was being constructed that would connect to Lake Huron. Since the water was not openly treated, the Flint River was contaminated with lead from aging service lines to homes. Contamination of drinking water has many toxic sources, such as waste from manufacturing plants, herbicides and insecticides from industrial farms. Tyson Poultry was fined $2 million for criminal violations of the Clean Water Act (http://www.kansascity.com/ news/local/crime.article175682481.html.). Who will protect the public from ever-stronger weed killers such as dicamba manufactured by Monsanto that is destroying Arkansas farms (Dewey, 2017). This is a case of the EPA being understaffed and their premature approval of dicamba. The EPA has also struggled to prevent the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from contaminating drinking water (Lipton, 2017). PFOA, an ingredient once used in stain-resistant carpets and nonstick pans, has been linked to health problems such as kidney cancer, birth defects, and immune system disorders. As noted by Lipton: "The EPA’s abrupt new direction on legacy chemicals is part of a broad initiative by the Trump administration to change the way the federal government evaluates health and environmental risks associated with hazardous chemicals, making it more aligned with the industry’s wishes." The Trump administration also placed a ban on EPA scientists to attend a climate change conference in Rhode Island (Friedman, 2017a). Friedman reported: "John Konkus, an E. P. A. spokesman and former Trump campaign operative in Florida, confirmed that the agency scientists would not speak at the State of the Narragansett Bay and Watershed program in Providence. He provided no further explanation." The EPA scientists were surprised since the agency helps to fund the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program that hosts the conference. The true colors come through with the statement in this article: "Scott Pruitt, the agency administrator, has said that he does not believe human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are primarily responsible for the warming of the planet." Information regarding climate change is vital to the military and national security! Climate change is a viable concern of most industrial nationsdleaving the United States behind. But
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Pruitt has gone beyond the charge of his office. He has infringed upon the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech by barring three scientists from a conference on climate change (Friedman, 2017a) and banned anyone who received ". EPA grant money from serving on panels that counsel the agency on scientific decisions" (Friedman, 2017b). Cornwall pointed out how this policy would affect our society (Cornwall, 2017). The action of Pruitt addresses three major committees: (1) Scientific Advisory Board of approximately 45 scientists who advise the EPA of the current state of the science regarding toxic chemicals, fracking effects on drinking water, and use of models of cost/benefits of air pollution regulations; (2) Board of Scientific Counselors, of about 20 members, advises the agency’s Office of Research and Development; and (3) Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, provides specifically related air pollution standards. Industry does not like regulations and would like to be on these boards to weaken, if not eliminate, the regulations. The "justification" of Pruitt is that there is a conflict of interest. But Pruitt does not recognize any conflict of interest when it comes to putting people who work in industry on these panels (Times Editorial Board, 2017). The "draining of the swamp" has been replaced with "foxes guarding the henhouse" (The Week, September 5, 2017, p. 11). The citizens of the United States should be alarmed that the present EPA budget cuts, barring qualified researchers from EPA advisory committees with the flimsy "excuse" of conflict of interest, with the potential (at this time) of placing industrial wolves on these committees to guard the hen house. Nixon saw a need for the EPAdto protect the citizens from irresponsible industries who "took the cheap" by dumping wastes into the waterways and airways of the environment. The saying "What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas" has no counterpart when it comes to industrial waste and the environment. The law allows a citizen to cut of the limbs of a neighbor’s tree if it hangs over the property. There is no method to prevent chemicals and toxic wastes of industry to enter a citizen’s air space, yard, home, and body. In the past years of dinosaurs, the fearsome T-Rex moved swiftly through the jungles as it chased its prey, destroying everything in its path. In this period the fearsome T-Rump is tearing through the perceived overgrowth in the jungles of regulation, attempting to destroy the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, and the Banking Industry that contains the 2016 voter-dreaded Wall Street and the Treasury Department now headed by the notorious Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin (The Week, September 15, 2017). Trump has order agencies to cut back on regulations (Horsley, 2017). This is the proverbial Walmart Rollback concept applied to regulation, where those in industry are not too unlike the mischievous 6year old whose parents are out on the town.
SS-15.13 The Twitter Twit In reading the following, it is recommending to the Reader to correlate this material with the Items listed in Section SS-15.8. In the spirit of the twitter limitation on characters, unless in a quotation, Donald Trump is abbreviated to DT. One of the 19 things that DT knows better than anyone else is Twitter (Blake, 2016). In the first 100 days of office, DT tweeted 507 times (McCaskill and Nelson, 2017). Rachel Montgomery collected, categorized, and commented on enough of DT’s tweets to cover 254 pages (which is not to imply that the book contains all of the tweets). As of the writing of this section (late October 2017), Trump averages about five tweets per day. Montgomery provides a good account of the genesis of this book, and notes in the Preface:
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"Trumps uses Twitter to get these soundbites out there, and repeats them often using a core set of buzzwords to create a narrative that he is the savior our country needs, because middle America’ fears (blasted at them from certain media outlets and corners of the Internet) of "The Other" are 100 percent real. Trump takes his fan base seriously to fan the flames and keep America divided while he consolidates as much power as he can." Montgomery (2017, p. ix). Anyone who uses the twitter fails to grasp is that a tweet is a two-edged sword. While it might stir up the emotions of the readers of the tweets, it can also expose the intentional untruths, ignorance, and lack of understanding of history of the subject of the tweet. Already mentioned in Section SS-15.5 is DT’s first tweet to the public thanking them for the "honer" to serve, January 21.
Of Words Kyle Becker (Becker, 2016) noted nine words that were misspelled: payed (should be paid); loose (should be lose); shoker (should be shocker); chocker (should be choker); leightweight (should be lightweight); honer (should be honor); scape goat (should be scapegoat); mislead (past tense should be misled); and barrack (should be Barack, as in Barack Obama). One might say that everyone misspells words on occasion, and DT is no different than anyone else. But the president is an elected official representing our country. Consider the following two tweets that appeared minutes apart: "Leightweight chocker Marco Rubio looks like a little boy on stage. Not presidential material! DELETED AFTER 1 HOUR AT 11:17 AM ON FEB 26, 2017 Montgomery (2017, p. 147). "Lightweight Marco Rubio was working hard last night. The problem is, he is a choker, and once a choker, always a chocker! Mr. Meltdown. DELETED AFTER 4 HOURS AT 11:50 AM ON FEB 26, 2017 Montgomery (2017, p. 147). Notice that in the second twitter the word "Leightweight" was corrected, whereas the correct spelling "choker" appeared twice and the incorrect "chocker" only once in the second tweet. President elect Trump must have had his future office in mind with this tweet: "China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act." Abadi (2017). After being mocked online the correctly spelled version (unprecedented) replaced it.
Of Form Kathleen Parker gives a different take on the tweetsdfrom the point of view of rhetoric and bringing together Plato and Aristotle (Parker, 2016). Aristotle thought rhetoric was good for
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democracy. This was based on a narrow group of educated people in which rhetoric would be guided by accepted rules of argument. Plato, on the other hand, thought otherwise. In the hands of a skilled but immoral speaker could put his persuasive powers to persuade people ".eager to believe or buy whatever he is selling." In the matter of ethos, Parker noted that "Trump is as big a prevaricator as he accuses ’Lyin’ Ted’ Cruz of being." Parker quoted Robert Sayler, University of Virginia law professor who coauthored a book titled Tongue-Tied America, on pathos (sparing appeal to emotions). Sayler said: "Trump routinely rages, flush-faced, anger-spewing, sputtering, especially when challenged. Another F. DT also fails logos, in which Saylor noted that: "Trump’s logic, common sense and factual argumentation are a ’minefield of chaos.’ " Parker closes the article with an appeal to education: "It’s little wonder that the ’Stop Trump’ movement has gained traction, leading recently to an obstructionist partnership between Cruz and John Kasich. It is also highly unlikely that Trump supporters give a hoot. Plato, Aristotle and Sayler are all elitists, aren’t them? But what should be plain to everyone else is that the study of rhetoric is essential to an educated populace, lest rising generations fall prey to future demagogues and the perilous fates that await the unwitting."
Of Language Charles Blow criticizes the damage DT does to the language itself (Blow, 2017). In regard to Trumpian language, Blow writes that it is "...some manner of sophistry peppered with superlatives" and ".a jumble of incomplete thought stitched together with arrogance and ignorance." Blow noted that researchers at Carnegie Mellon that presidential candidates use "words and grammar typical of students in grades 6e8, though Donald Trump tends to lag behind the others." DT’s vocabulary usage was the lowest among presidents, and his grammatical usage was second from the bottomdahead of George W. Bush. The Bizarro World of DT also includes the Bizarro understanding of language, where, as Blow notes: "In the Trump world, facts don’t matter, truth doesn’t matter, language doesn’t matter. Passionate performance is the only ideal. A lie forcefully told and often repeated is better than truth - it is accepted as an act of faith, which is better than a point of fact."
Of Content For a powerful country such as the United States, the people must have confidence in their leaderdthat the country is going down the right path. That confidence is built on what the President does and says because the President is the representative of the people. The DT’s tweets underscore his monoculture educational background. Rachel Montgomery lists 62 tweets by DT on climate change/global warming (Montgomery, 2017). Consider this tweet, of many, on climate change being mistaken for weather: "Wow, record setting cold temperatures throughout large parts of the country. Must be global warming, I mean climate change! Dec 4, 2013 6:40 PM" Montgomery (2017, p. 54).
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DT is talking about the weather in reference to the cold temperatures during a short period of time, which could be a day, a month, or a season. Climate, on the other hand, is an average of the weather patterns over a long period of time, from years to centuries. To put the ball in the investor’s court, consider the Dow Jones average. It is a price-weighted average of 30 significant stocks that are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ). The average is a reflection of the economy. Some days the Dow Jones average may drop 100 points. Does that mean the yearly average is not on the rise? What if the drop in the average has some stocks that have increased in value over that period? The local increase is not indicative of the drop in the average. Likewise a local cold spell does not mean everywhere on Earth is experiencing a drop in the temperature. The equating of local weather to climate change is a common mistake, but it is a mistake. Consider these two DT tweets on climate change: "They changed the name global warming to climate change because the concept of global warming just wasn’t working Nov 23, 2013 8:23 PM" Montgomery (2017, p. 54). "The least number of hurricanes in the U. S. in decades. So they change global warming (too cold) to climate change - now what will they call it Dec 2, 2013 8:46 AM" Montgomery (2017, p. 54). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there were two hurricanes and no major hurricanes in 2013 (http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E11. html). On the basis of this single data point, DT concludes that "they" changed from "global warming" to "climate change" because the weather was "too cold." Using the same reasoning for 2014, the six hurricanes, of which two were classified as major hurricanes, must mean that the global temperature was abnormally hot. Furthermore, in 2016, there were 17 hurricanes, of which 4 were classified as major hurricanes, means that the global temperature is on the rise! The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has been hyperactive, featuring the multiple Category 5 three siblings of Harvey (August 17eSeptember 3), Irma (August 30eSeptember 16), and Maria (September 16eOctober 3). Hurricane Maria literally brought Puerto Rico, now a US Territory but voted on June 14 to become a state, to a standstill. Using his unerring logic, DT must therefore conclude that global warming is real! Aside from this faulty logic, there are two glaring errors in this tweet. The first error is the assumption that "global warming" and "climate change" are not related. This is not true, for one is a cause and the other is a result of the cause. The cause is "global warming" as an indication that the average global temperature is on the increase. Temperature is a measure of the energy, and climate is a measure of the distribution of the energy. A rise in temperature results in a change in the climate. The climate of moderate temperatures in the Midwest allows grass, trees, flowers, and food crops to grow. An increase in the average temperature can change the mild Midwestern climate to a desert climate that is hostile to food crops. The second show of lack of understanding by DT is the use of the word "they" in the tweet. The person responsible for the change in terminology was Frank Luntz with his focus group, of which DT has no respect as indicated by one of the DTs tweets about Luntz,
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".@FrankLuntz, your so-called ’focus groups’ are a total joke. Don’t come to my office looking for business again. You are a clown! Aug 7, 2015 12:45 AM" Montgomery (2017, p. 86). It is understandable that DT did not do any homework about the history of the Republican Party that chose him as their presidential candidate. Frank Luntz was the Republican advisor for George W. Bush. Acting in that role, Luntz sent to President Bush the memorandum "Frank Luntz Memorandum to Bush White House, 2002" (Luntz, 2002). This memorandum provided suggestions to Bush on how to respond to the public about environmental issues. On page 142, Luntz advises Bush: "We have spent the last seven years examining how best to communicate complicated ideas and controversial subjects. The terminology in the upcoming environmental debate needs refinement, starting with the ’global warming’ and ending with ’environmentalism.’ It’s time for us to start talking about ’climate change’ instead of global warming and ’conservation’ instead of preservation. 1. ’Climate change’ is less frightening than ’global warming.’ As one focus group participant noted, climate change ’sounds like you’re going from Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale.’ While global warming has catastrophic connotations attached to it, climate change suggests a more controllable and less emotional challenge." Frank Luntz Memorandum to Bush White House, 2002, p. 142. The "they" in the DTs tweets is the Republican Party! DT tweets that China is the source of the "hoax" of global warming: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U. S. manufacturing non-competitive Nov 6, 2012 2:15 PM" Montgomery (2017, p. 52). DT is again wrong on two counts. The concept of global warming was from the work of the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius in the 1890s (Weart, 2008, p. 7). The second point is the connection of China to global warming (no one else has made this connection) for the purpose of making US manufacturing noncompetitive. Global warming or not, US manufacturing has always been competitive on the world market. Any change in the job market is more associated with corporations sending manufacturing jobs overseas than due to global warming. The concept of human-induced global warming requires only a little reasoning involving known facts and the familiar teeter-totter, also known as a seesaw. The experimental evidence is that oxygen, nitrogen, and argondthe major gases in our atmosphereddo not absorb light in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This fact is not in contention. What we call heat is in the infrared region of the spectrum. Heat lamps used to keep food warm in restaurants are infrared lamps. This fact is not in contention. Carbon dioxide, however, does absorb infrared radiation. This fact is not in contention. But why does it absorb infrared radiation? Electromagnetic radiation is composed of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. It is the oscillating electric
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field between positive and negative values, which interacts with matter. Matter must there present an "electric handle" upon which the oscillating electric field can grab. The electric handle arises from vibrational motions in which the center of positive charge is different from the center of negative charge. This fact is not in contention. This charge separation can be illustrated with the balancing of a teeter-totter. A teeter-totter is a long board supported by a single pivot point, which is the fulcrum of the lever. If two children are the same weight, then they must be sitting the same distance from the fulcrum if the board is balanced, i.e., parallel to the ground. If one child is heavier than the other, then the heavier child must sit closer to the fulcrum for the board to be balanced. This is Archimedes Law of the Lever. Since this section is being written near Halloween Day, consider three scarecrows sitting on the board, one wearing orange and the other two wearing green. Two situations are shown in Figure SS-15.5 along with the stretching modes of carbon dioxide that correspond to the positions of the scarecrows. The thin dashed red line represents the center-of-mass of the scarecrows on the teeter-totter and the carbon dioxide molecules. The scarecrows on the teeter-totter represent the charges on the atoms, which are þ4 for the scarecrow wearing orange pants (representing the carbon atom) and 2 for each of the scarecrows wearing green pants (representing the oxygen atoms). The center of the positive charge is the same as the location of the scarecrow wearing orange pants, whereas the center of negative charge is the midpoint position between the two scarecrows wearing green pants. In Panel A, the carbon dioxide is undergoing a symmetric stretch, in which the carbon atom remains fixed and the two oxygen atoms move the same distance from the fulcrum but in opposite directions. Next to the orange scarecrow is a double-colored indicator of the centers of positive and negative charges, both at the location of the scarecrow wearing orange pants. In Panel B the carbon dioxide is undergoing an asymmetric stretch. The oxygen on the left moves out while the oxygen on the right moves in, and the carbon moves to the right a distance necessary to keep the center-of-mass fixed. The scarecrows also move corresponding distances such that the teeter-totter remains balanced. Notice that the indicator for the positive charge remains to the side of the orange scarecrow, whereas that for the negative charge is at a different location midway between the two green scarecrows. This separation of the orange and green indicators represents a separation of positive and negative charges on the carbon dioxide molecule that allows the interaction with the infrared radiation. As the carbon dioxide rotated, this "extra heat" is emitted, some of which returns to the Earth. Humans put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. This fact is not in contention. It must therefore be concluded on the basis of scientific evidence that human activity must be contributing to the warming of the planet. It is the conclusion that is in contention. Those who do not accept the scientific conclusion do not offer an alternative conclusion that is consistent with the facts. One argument is that the current global warming is part of a natural cycle. However, the correlation of human burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution and global warming has no counterpart in a normal cycle. Others might argue that there is not enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to make a difference. If this argument is true, then using a similar line of reasoning it is impossible for one farmer to fill a barn with bales of hay. But it is known that one farmer can fill the barn with bales of hay. This is because each bale of hay stays in the barn. Carbon dioxide adding heat to the atmosphere is like a single farmer filling a barn with bales of hay. The captured heat by the carbon dioxide is transferred to the molecules in the atmosphere. The description of hay and heat are converted from one to the other with the interchange of nouns: farmer 4 carbon dioxide, barn 4 atmosphere, and bales of hay 4 heat.
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O
O
C
A
O
C O
B FIGURE SS-15.5 Carbon dioxide and the teeter-totter. Carbon dioxide is a linear molecule in which the central carbon atom is attached to two oxygen atoms by double bonds, the structure being represented as O¼C¼O. There are four vibrational modes: two stretching and two bending. If the vibration mode results in a separation of the positive and negative charge centers, the carbon dioxide absorbs infrared radiation (heat) and then emits it in random directions, some of it back to Earth, which alters the temperature. The location of charge centers is mimicked by the balancing of weight on a teeter-totter. For three scarecrows in the above figure to balance the teeter-totter, the center of the weight distribution must be at the fulcrum. The scarecrows in green pants represents the negatively changed oxygen (2 each) and the scarecrow in the orange pants the positively charge carbon (þ4). Panel A is a symmetric stretch, in which case the two oxygen atoms move equidistant from the carbon atom, which is stationary. Panel B is the asymmetric stretch in which case the oxygen atom on the left moves away from the fulcrum, the oxygen atom on the right moves toward the fulcrum a shorter distance, and the carbon atom moves to the right a sufficient distance to balance the teeter-totter. It is the asymmetric stretch that results in a charge separation indicated by the painted pegs and the orange and green arrows.
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SS-15.14 The First 100 Days On January 20, 2017, Trump took the Oath of Office: "I Donald John Trump do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v[PUNxj4PKFqo. In his Inauguration Speech on January 20, Trump outlined what he believed to be his charge in regard to his government, which included: "For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. And while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land." Blake (2017). On March 12, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt went on radio with his first Fireside Chat. The fireside chats were to explain his policies to the American people. This set the tradition of presidents telling the people what was accomplished in the first 100 days of office. Trump wrote an article for The Washington Post providing details of his accomplishments over the first 100 days (Trump, 2017). Trump begins: "One hundred days ago, I took the oath of office and made a pledge: We are not merely going to transfer political power from one party to another, but instead are going to transfer that power from Washington, D. C., and give it back to the people: .. In the past 100 days, I have kept that promise - and more." McCaskill and Nelson summarized Trump’s first 100 days by the numbers (McCaskill and Nelson, 2017): 507 tweets, 32 interviews (13 with Fox shows), 9 news conferences, 31 days he’s visited at least one Trump property, 19 golf days, 0 foreign countries visited, 16 foreign leaders hosted, 22 business leader meetings, 0 major legislative wins (a bill to replace and repeal Obamacare was the only one out of 10 promises sent to Congress, and that was pulled by Republican leaders), 32 executive orders, 5 anti-Trump marches in Washington, 42.6 Trump’s approval rating, 4 campaign-style rallies, and 12 states visited. Kessler and Lee did a fact check of Trump’s first 100 days (Kessler and Lee, 2017). They reported: 488 false or misleading claims (4.9 claims per day); 10 is the number of days without a single false claim (on 6 of those days he was golfing); and 4 is the number of days Trump made 20 or more false claims. Dreier goes on to mention other accomplishments Trump made during the first 100 days, a few of which are (Dreier, 2017) revitalized Alec Baldwin’s otherwise fading career; galvanized a massive resistance movement that was likely the largest in American history (as many as 5 million)dthe
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January 21 women’s marches and rallies in over 600 cities; flunked basic geography when he told Fox Business Network Maria Bartiromo that the US launched Tomahawk missiles against Iraq, to which she corrected "hi that it was Syria." During an event in Kenoska, Wisconsin, in April, Trump said: "No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days" Trump then did a flip-flop that he should not be judged by the 100-day benchmark with the tweet: "No matter how much I accomplish during this ridiculous standard of 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S. C.)" Dreier (2017).
Drain the Swamp Throughout his campaign, Trump appealed to a certain fraction of voters by his promise to "drain the swamp." The phrase "drain the swamp" is in reference to draining swamps to get rid of mosquitoes. Trump used this phrase as a metaphor for fixing problems in the federal government. The phrase was also used by protesters against the role of Goldman Sachs in Trump administration. Trump did not drain the swampdhe filled it with crocodiles. Nichols, who pointed out that lies were coming from the White House after only 3 days in office (Nichols, 2017a), listed a few specific points in which Trump "...governed as an entirely predictable corporate conservativedas everyone paying attention knew he would" (Nichols, 2017b). As to draining the swamp, Nichols noted: "The outsider who promised to ’drain the swamp’ was always going to pack his administration with Goldman Sachs cronies and corporate lobbyists pushing privatization, deregulation, and austerity."
Reaping the Rewards of Government Trump stated in his inauguration speech (npr, 2017): "For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share its wealth." It has been a tradition that when an elected President takes office, their income tax returns are made available and all financial holdings are put in a blind trust. The basic reason is to assure that the president elect will not use the office for personal advantage. As to the blind trust, Trump noted that there was no law to form a blind trust. Trump placed a revocable trust in the hands of his son Donald Jr. and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer. A revocable trust means that Trump can take it back anytime he wishes. Tanglis reported that Trump had has a direct stake in 380 businesses in 2016, formed 49 businesses since announcing his bid for presidency, and more than 70% are incorporated in Delaware (Tanglis, 2017). The significance of the Delaware connection is that Trump is not required to disclose net income from his
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businesses. The significance of tax returns is that would provide the details needed to determine if there are possible conflicts of interests. On several occasions, Trump "promised" to release his income taxdto date, 9 months later, this has not been done.
SS-15.15 Accomplishments in the Bizarro World of Pmurt: First 10 Months "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." Franklin D. Roosevelt, Second Inaugural Address, 1937, (Gross, 2015, p. 146). How did Trump view his first 10 months as President? Here is his tweet: "In the last 10 months, we have followed through on one promise after another. I didn’t have a schedule, but if I did have a schedule, I would say we are substantially ahead of schedule." Benen (2017). Mounk has added more successes to the Trump administration since he uttered those words about being ahead of schedule (Mounk, 2017, p. 12). Here are a few accomplishments mentioned by Mounk: "Just as he promised, Trump has treated our European allies with distain, withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, and is close to blowing up NAFTA and the Iran nuclear deal. At home he has used his bully pulpit to deepen our racial and cultural divisions and convince nearly 40 percent of the country that the press is the enemy, and to hate the NFL. . Trump is pursuing ’a truly radical agenda’ and he may leave this country fundamentally changed."
Promises to the Middle Class On more than one occasion, Trump wore a red baseball cap with the words "Make America Great Again" at rallies. A baseball cap is the symbol of America, because baseball is a symbol of America. According to Robin Givhan, The Washington Post’s fashion critic, a baseball cap, along with other sports-born styles, makes one feel they are part of a teamdconnects with people in a broad way (Motsinger, 2017). Being identified with the middle class does not say anything about fulfilling Trump’s promises for the middle class. What about the promises on affordable health care and taxes for the middle class? Being frustrated with not having any legislature passed by Congress, Trump sent the tweet: "If Republicans are going to pass great future legislation in the Senate, they must immediately go to a 51 vote majority, not senseless 60." Donald Trump, July 28, 2017 at 9:46 AM. If the future legislation is "great" then why should it be necessary to lower the bar? Should not "great" legislation be applauded by all and not need a simple majority. The 60-vote approval is to keep out bad legislation. On October 19 the GOP-controlled Senate passed a budget plan (resolution), which Trump applauded in his tweet:
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"Budget that just passed is a really big deal, especially in terms of what will be the biggest tax cut in U. S. history." Trump "complained" that the mainstream media did not cover this story the way it deserves. But Obeidallah differs on this point: "Trump wants the media to pat him on the back for the budget passing and to his proposed tax cuts. In contrast, I want the media to highlight for our fellow Americans that the budget passed by the GOP-controlled Senate would massively cut both Medicare and Medicaid in order to give the richest Americans a big, fat and unnecessary tax cut." Obeidallah (2017). The Budget and Tax Plans are intricately intertwined in the following way. Whatever revenue is lost in giving tax breaks must be made up by reducing, or cutting, items in the budget. In regard to the tax plan, in a CNN video (Obeidallah, 2017), Trump said: "We are going to reduce taxes for the people" But who are the people? Trump boasted in front of a crowd of truck drivers regarding the taxes and "effective" pay raise (Borosage, 2017): "My Council of Economic Advisors estimates that this change, along with a lower tax rate, will likely give the typical American household a $4,000 pay raise." The "change" is in reference to bringing jobs back from overseas. What about the money returned to the typical American family through tax cuts alone? A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 90% of the upper 0.1% of the earners will receive a tax cut of $234,050, the middle-income households ($50,000e$90,000) would receive an average of $600 (Obeidallah, 2017). A National Public Radio (npr) report in October mentioned that the lowest-income families would receive about $3. To put things in perspective, the 90% of the upper 0.1% could celebrate with 1,170.25 bottles of Dom Perignon Champagne at $200 per bottle, a middle-class family can celebrate with 200 bottles of domestic beer at $3, while a family in the lowest income range can share a bottle of local beer at a local tavern. This disparity is illustrated in Figure SS-15.6. "The people" who benefit from the tax plan are obviously the ultrarich. By the way, with his business investments, Trump would make millions with the proposed tax break for the people, and his family will save billions with the change in the inheritance tax. Let’s not forget the corporations. Trump wants to reduce the corporate rate from 35% to 20%, which is nonnegotiable (Tankersley and Kaplan, 2017). But there is a surprise at the end for the middle-income bracketdthe tiny tax cut for the middle-income families will get worse over time: "By 2027, more than one of four middle-income families would pay more in taxes." Obeidallah (2017). Who is to "pay" for the huge tax savings of the ultrarich? This loss of revenue is gained through the Republican Senateepassed budget plan. In this plan, approximately $5 trillion will be cut over the next decade. This includes $473 billion in cuts from Medicare and $1 trillion in Medicaid over 10 years (Obeidallah, 2017). The higher income earners should be very, very grateful for the
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1,170 200
2 FIGURE SS-15.6 Dom Perignon Champagne versus domestic beer. 1,170dThe number of bottles of Dom Perignon champagne each member of the upper income bracket can buy with tax savings, at $200 per bottle. 200dThe number of bottles of a domestic beer each member of the middle-class income bracket can buy with tax savings, at $3 per bottle. 2dThe number of bottles of a domestic beer each member of the lowest-class income bracket can buy with tax savings, at $3 per bottle.
sacrifices of the senior citizens, the disabled, and the poor. Trump’s agenda is, and always has been, to help big business (Cassidy, 2017). Trump has met his campaign promise. The middle-class has not been forgotten. The buzzards are picking their bones. But there is a fallacy in the tax reform of historic proportions. Administration officials say the tax reform will rely largely on economic growth. This is a modern version of Reaganomicsda trickledown economy. Give money to the rich, and jobs will be created for the middle class. Reaganomics did not work for Reagan and it will not work now. Trickle-down economics twice did not work in the past. It will not work this time. In fact, this type of economic thinking caused the increasing gap between the prosperous wealthy and the stagnant middle class in the first place. As noted by Einstein: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein
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Weird Cabinet MeetingdThe Loyalty Statement On June 12, President Trump met with his cabinet, which was quite unusual (it can be viewed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v¼DR66oehFQ4Y). Trump and his cabinet members were seated around the table, and each one, in turn, said what a great honor it was to serve and what great things were being accomplished. A glowing tribute to Trump’s Administration. Cillizza of CNN gave the following impression: "The whole thing reminded me of a scene directly from the boardroom of ’The Apprentice.’ A group of supplicants all desperately trying to hold on to their spots on the show by effusively praising Trumpdeach one trying to take it a step further than the last. And Trump in the middle of it all, totally and completely pleased with himself." Cillizza (2017b). Scott Pruitt, Secretary of the EPA, said: "Good morning Mister President. It’s good to be back in the United States. Actually I arrived back this morning at one o’clock from Italy. The G7 summit focused on the environment and our message there was that the United States is going to be focused on growth and protecting the environment, which was received well." Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior, said: "Honored to be steward of our public lands and generator of energy dominance. And I am committed and optimistic that we can be both great stewards and be the world’s largest producer of energy." It will be interesting to see how our environment and public lands will be like in 20 years with the dual objectives of maintaining the environment while raping the land. The irony is that the statements of "loyalty" and "accolades" to Trump before anything is accomplished by his administration do not command any acknowledgments that he craves for accomplishments (Item 3).
Trump’s Obsessions With Clinton and Obama "Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion." Richard M. Nixon, Brainy Quote Trump continues to send tweets about Clinton and Obama almost a year after the Presidential Election in 2016. This obsession is not simply based on the smaller inaugural crowd size compared to that of Obama and the lost of the popular vote to Clinton by 3 million votes and the very narrow Electoral College victory. History cannot be rewritten as it is done by Winston Smith in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. The obsessions are exposed with past relationships regarding people of color and his views about women. Kaczynski, Massie, and McDermott summarize several conversations Trump had about women over a 17-year period with radio shock jock Howard Stern (Kaczynski et al., 2016). The article starts with a warning about graphic language. Trump has a "long track record of making
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misogynistic comments and engaging in lewd conversations about sex." Almost every topic regarding the sexual activities between a man and one or more women was covered in these interviews. In a 2005 interview, Trump bragged that he could do whatever he wants to with them because he’s a "celebrity." Also included as a topic of conversation was the physique of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and giving Stern a nod of approval if Stern could refer to her as "a piece of ass" (Kaczynski et al., 2016). Trump dated may attractive women over the years. Trump kept "marrying down" in ages of wives. The current ages (Saunders, 2017) of the wives are Ivana Zelnickova Trump, 67; Marla Maples, 53; Melania Knaus-Trump, 46. All of the women Trump dated and married were very attractive. With this track record it can be inferred that to Trump, women are objectsdarm candy. And then came along his presidential opponent: Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton graduated from Yale Law School with the Juris Doctorate (JD) degree. Clinton was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. She was elected the first female Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009 and the 67th US Secretary of State, from 2009 to 2013. Clinton was the first female candidate for President in the 2016 election. Going into the election, Clinton was ahead in the polls. A survey poll indicated that she was the most admired women in America. But then something happened, Trump had invited Russia to look into Clinton’s emails. On October 28, Comey announced that the emails were being investigated. The bottom fell out for Clinton. But Trump is still obsessed with those 3 million votes, for otherwise he came in second in the popular vote. The obsession of Trump with Barack Obama has its roots with Trump’s early background regarding blacks and his apartment buildings (see Section SS-15.1). Obama did not fit in Trump’s mold. Barack Obama graduated from Harvard School of Law with the JD Degree. Trump did not think Obama was intelligent enough to go to an Ivy League school (Coates, 2017, p. 76). Obama was the first African-American President. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote an inclusive article about Trump and Obama (Coates, 2017). According to Coates on Trump: "His political career began in advocacy of birtherism, that modern recasting of the old American precept that black people are not fit to be citizens of the country they built." Coates (2017, p. 76). For Obama to succeed as President ran counter to Trump’s viewda "personal insult" as Coates put it. This insult intensified when Barrack Obama and Seth Meyers roasted Trump at the White House Correspondence Dinner in 2011. It is no secret that there is a degree of "whiteness" in the Republican Party. All during Obama’s tenure as President he was met with opposition to his duties and obligations of the Office. First there was Minority Leader John Boehner and then Majority Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell. The Republican Party has been trying to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) since its inception in 2010. It is true that the Republican Party wanted to repeal and replace Obamacare. The Republicans failed on two occasions. But for Trump, the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (which has not yet been accomplished as of November 2017) was not enough (Baker, 2016). Trump had to attack Obama’s legacy (Item 10, with To the Reader of Item 11). As pointed out by Coates: "Replacing Obama is not enough - Trump has made the negation of Obama’s legacy the foundation of his own." Coates (2017, p. 76).
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In other words, at all costs Trump had to negate everything that Obama accomplished. To paraphrase Coates, Trump was faced with black health care, black climate accords, black justice reformsd"all of which could be targeted for destruction or redemption, thus rectifying the idea of being white" (Coates, 2017, p. 76). Trump has reduced a number of parks and protected lands, some of which were of Obama’s doing. Trump has reduced the effectiveness of the EPA and has opened the land for oil exploration and champions the use of coal. Exactly what did Donald duck with these actions? Trump ducked the opportunity to fulfill his campaign mottodto make America great again.
SS-15.16 The Military Throughout his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump praised Putin 80 times (Kaczynski et al., 2017). On September 21, 2017, Trump met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a UN General Assembly in New York. During a televised session, Trump bragged about their friendship, and that USeTurkey relations are at an all time high, and shook his hand as a best buddy (Rogin, 2017), and gave him high marks amid crackdown concerns (Taley and Jacobs, 2017). If Trump thinks so highly of the leaders in authoritarian governments, what does Trump think about the military of his own government? Throughout his presidential campaign Trump publically criticized the actions of US generals and bragged (Gonza´lez, 2016): "I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me." This is quite a bold statement from someone who has never served in the military. As of April 12, 2017, the generals in Trump’s Cabinet are retired general James N. Mattis, Defense Secretary; retired general John F. Kelly, Homeland Security Secretary; general H. R. McMaster, National Security Advisor. In addition, Trump chose Navy SEAL Commander Ryan Zinke for Secretary of the Interior and former army officer Mike Pompeo for the CIA Director. Here are some other comments Trump made about those who did serve in the military.
Soldiers Who Were Prisoners of War Senator John McCain served his country during the Vietnam War as a naval aviator. He was shot down and held as a prisoner of war for more than 5 years in Hanoi. He was repeatedly beaten. At a Republican presidential forum in 2015, Trump said of McCain: "He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured." Martin and Rappeport (2015). To Trump, if one is captured during a war that person is a loser. Rick Perry, former Texas governor and Republican candidate hopeful, said: "Donald Trump owes every American veteran and in particular John McCain an apology." That apology never came. Trump showed a clear disrespect for soldiers who were captured while serving our country. They are losers!
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If Trump is not respectful of surviving prisoners of war, what about those who died for our country?
Soldiers Who Gave Their Ultimate Sacrifice for Our Country At the Democratic National Convention in 2016, Gold Star father Khizr Khan, with wife beside him, gave an account of how their son, US Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed by a car bomb in Iraq in 2004. Khan turned to Trump as said, in regard to seeking to bar Muslims from entering the country: "Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one." Turnham (2016). To this Trump responded: "I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot." To equate the creation of jobs with the death of a soldier while serving our country is a showing of disrespect for falling soldiers!
Phone Calls to Families of Fallen Soldiers Whether or not a president makes a personal phone call to the family of a fallen soldier or writes a letter is an arbitrary choice of the president. There is a difference, however, if a phone call is more for publicity than for sincerity. The major difference is in the preparation before the call and the follow-up after the call. The Washington Post relates the story of Chris Baldridge, the father of Army Corporal Dillon Baldridge (Lamothe et al., 2017). Army Corporal Baldridge was killed in Afghanistan in June, with two fellow soldiers. Chris said that Trump called him at home and offered $25,000 out of his personal account and told he was going to direct his staff to establish an online fundraiser for the family. Neither of these offers happened at that time. Four soldiers were killed by Islamic-linked militants in Niger. There is at the time of this writing there are questions to be answered as to why they deviated from their mission and the lack of coverage. One of those fallen soldiers was Army Sergeant La David Johnson. The Washington Post gives the account of a phone call from Trump to the widow of Army Sergeant David T. Johnson, who was killed in the Niger attack (Gearan and Phillips, 2017). Trump said to the bereaved wife that Johnson ".must have known what he signed up for" and referred to the husband as "your guy" (Alcindor and Landler, 2017). Congresswoman Frederica Wilson of Florida, a friend of the family, happened to be in the automobile at the time of the call. The speaker phone was turned on (who wouldn’tdit was a call from the president!) and was heard by the wife of Sergeant Johnson, Myeshia Johnson, and his mother, Cowanda JonesJohnson. Myeshia Johnson was shocked and in tears, not only was the wording insensitive,
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but also that Trump did not even the name of her husband. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson brought the issue to light. Trump challenged Wilson’s story in a tweet (Bacon and Ventura, 2017): "Democratic Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have the proof). Sad!" The proof: even though the call was not recorded "several people were in the room." Trump angrily disputed that he "had a very nice talk with the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman" (Alcindor and Landler, 2017). Not only did Trump not mention the husband’s name in the call, he did not refer to Myeshia by name but chose to use the phrase "the wife." Cowanda Jones-Johnson confirmed Congresswoman Wilson’s account of the conversation to The Washington Post and added: "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband." Myeshia Johnson, 6 months pregnant, said of Trump’s comment on the phone: "To me that is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldn’t say that to a grieving widow. Everyone knows when you go to war you could possibly not come back alive. But you don’t remind a grieving widow of that. It’s so insensitive."
Purple Hearts Purple hearts are awarded to service members who suffered wounds in combat. In view of the above, it may be a surprise to learn that Trump has a purple heart! In Ashburn, Virginia, retired veteran Lt. Col. Louis Dorfman, supporting Trump in his bid to be the Republican candidate, gave Trump his purple heart. Trump responded: "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This is much easier." Gass (2016). To this comment, Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat running for Senate and a Purple Heart recipient, tweeted a picture of herself in the hospital with her Purple Heart: "@realdonaldtrump, this is how one usually looks when you are awarded the Purple Heart. Nothing easy about it." To say that he has "always wanted one" while actively avoiding the draft is an insult to those wounded soldiers who received it "the hard way." [To the Reader: What prompted Lt. Col. Dorfman to give up his Purple Heart to a person who feels that a "sacrifice" to his country by being a "tremendous success" in making money? As Nadia McCaffrey, mother of Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey who was also killed in Iraq in 2004, said the Trump did not recognize how "deep’ this gift of a Purple Heart is, and that; "Well, people have the freedom of speech and the freedom of action, so whoever gave that Purple Heart to Mr. Trump is, you know, it’s his decision not mine." Diamond (2016b).
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As McCaffrey pointed out, soldiers have died to preserve a country in which the First Amendment gives a protection for "freedom of action." This includes kneeling on one knee with head bowed to honor those of color who died unnecessarily.]
SS-15.17 Puerto Rico and Haiti: The Insensitivity of Trump Puerto Rico and Haiti are islands located in the Caribbean Sea. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, and the United States has provided humanitarian assistance for the Haitians to better meet their needs for health and nutrition. Both Puerto Rico and Haiti are tourist destinations for Americans.
Puerto Rico and Hurricanes Irma and Maria Hurricanes occur on a regular basis in the Gulf of Mexico and pass through the Caribbean Islands. There were three disastrous hurricanes in late summer of 2017: Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Hurricane Harvey reached the Texas coast on August 25 as a Category 4 storm with winds up to 130 mph and heavy rainfall (Gonzales and Neuman, 2017). The first cloudless day in Houston was August 31. On September 2, Trump tweeted: "TEXAS: We are with you today, we are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER, to restore, recover, and REBUILD! September 2, 2017" Hurricane Irma hit Puerto Rico 2 weeks prior to Hurricane Maria. Irma left nearly 70% households without power (Robles, Semple, and Lee, "Irma Razes Islands and Leaves Puerto Rico Dark," The New York Times, September 8, 2017). Maria was the third storm to hit the Leeward Islands in 2 weeks. The Leeward Islands start with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico and end at Dominica. Maria was formed on September 16 and dissipated on October 3. It hit Puerto Rico on September 20. The entire island of Puerto Rico was affected by the hurricane, destroying houses, buildings, and disrupting electrical and communication systems. Photographs of the damage and of the flooding a week later are shown in Figure SS-15.7. Trump called local officials the day after Maria hit Puerto Rico, issued an emergency declaration and pledged federal resources. That Thursday night Trump flew to his private golf course in New Jersey for a long weekend for a meeting with his cabinet members. As reported by The Washington Post (Phillip et al., 2017), during that long weekend: "He spent much of his time over those four days fixated on his escalating public feuds with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with fellow Republicans in Congress and with the National Football League over protests during the national anthem." Using the usual blame game, Trump blamed most of the disaster on Puerto Rico and noted the expense to his federal budget in his tweets ".It’s old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the island was destroyed, with billions of dollars. 7:50 PM September 25, 2017" ".owed to Wall Street and the banks, which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities - and doing well. 7:58 PM September 25, 2017"
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FIGURE SS-15.7 Damage to Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Top: Damage caused by Hurricane Maria. Bottom: The photo is standing water in Ponce, Puerto Rico, one week after Hurricane Maria hit the island. Standing water is one of the reasons it is difficult to get supplies and help to the people. Source of photos: Wikipedia.
"Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble. 7:45 PM September 25, 2017" After being criticized for the late response, Trump visited Puerto Rico on October 3. At a press meeting Trump suggested that Maria was "not a real catastrophe like Katrina" as reported by David Graham in quoting Trump (Graham, 2017): "Every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here and what is your death count? Sixteen people, versus in
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the thousands. You can be very proud. Sixteen versus literally thousands of people." Donald Trump, October 3, 2017 at a press meeting in Puerto Rico. The entire island of Puerto Rico was destroyed, not just part of a city! There was not way to get needed water and supplies to the people. The power grid was down. And Trump equates a disaster in terms of the death toll! When numbers are used as a comparison in science, the conditions are usually identical for that comparison to be valid. If the conditions are different, then the difference in numbers can be explained in terms of the difference in conditions. A study on the death toll on New Orleans 4 years after Katrina revealed that of the 1400 who perished: "The dead were overwhelmingly old. Most lived near the levee breaches in the 9th Ward and Lakeview. About two-thirds drowned or died from illness or injury brought on by being trapped in houses surrounded by water. . Neither race nor gender made anyone more likely to die, only a failure to evacuate and a location near a levee breach." Schleifstein (2009). New Orleans needs levees because the average elevation of the city is currently between 1 foot and 2 feet. All of the graves are above ground. In contrast, Puerto Rico has no levees. The highest point is about 4,390 feet and highest elevation is about 1,338 feet. Furthermore, there was no place to evacuate to in Puerto Rico, so Hurricane Maria was more of a catastrophe to Puerto Ricans than Katrina to residents of New Orleans and other areas hit by the storm. If a loss of power is equated to being in "terrible shape" then New Orleans was also in terrible shape in regards to the death toll: ". including many who died in local hospitals that lost power and other life-sustaining services." Schleifstein (2009). Trump also threw packages of paper towels to the crowd, as if the paper towels were basket balls. Was this act to help clean up the floodwaters as part of the supplies or an insensitive joke? Trump also visited the Virgin Islands. He said he had a wonderful conversation with the President of the Virgin Islands. Didn’t anyone inform Trump that he, Trump, was the President of the Virgin Islands? The Virgin Islands are politically part of the United States because they are a Territory of the United States. During a televised meeting with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello´ on October 19, Trump gave his response a "10" on a 1-to-10 scale. Trump then turned to Governor Rossello´ and asked him to rate the response to the Puerto Rico disaster. I will let the Reader think about this for a while as to Governor Rossello´ answer. .It was 10, of course. What other answer could there be during a televised meeting with Trump. Clearly a need for an acknowledgment of what Trump diddeven if he didn’t. On September 2, Trump vowed to be with "TEXAS: EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER, to restore, recover, and REBUILD." This was Trump’s stated commitment to Puerto Rico on October 12: ".We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P. R. forever! October 12, 2017" A $300-million-dollar contract was awarded to Whitefish Energy to help restore power in Puerto Rico but is under investigation (Borak et al., 2017). The reasons for the investigation was that the 2-year-old company Whitefish Energy had only two employees at the time of Maria and was based in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s hometown Whitefish, Montana (Cummings, 2017).
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A spokesperson for House Natural Resources Committee Chairman said that a congressional review was necessary, and that the committee had jurisdiction over Puerto Rico and other US territories. The contract was canceled by Puerto Rico’s power company Ricardo Ramos (Campanile, 2017). However, the island utility continued to pay the Whitefish Energy firm, probably to December. In the contract Puerto Rico is to pay twice that which linemen usually get through subcontracts and allows Whitefish Energy to "pocket as much as one out of every two dollars it billed PREPA for the work" (Davis and Mufson, 2017). The linemen were receiving $63 per hour, but the Puerto Rico utility was billed $319 per hour (Robles, 2017). As of November 12, 7 weeks after the hurricane, less than 50% of the power lines were in operation. The alligators in the swamp were undergoing a hunger-frenzy! As noted by Sykes about the mind-set of the Republican Party: "In recent years, nearly every major spending bill has been a master class in the art of crony capitalism." Sykes (2017, p. 7).
[To the Reader: Puerto Rico is a United States Territory, and Trump is the President of Puerto Rico as much as he is the President of the United States. Because Puerto Rico is a US Territory, anyone born in Puerto Rico is a United States Citizen. It is left to the Reader to decide if Trump kept his promises stated in the Oath of Office and Inaugural Address to the lands in which he is President. It is left to the Reader to decide if the political corruption in Washington D.C. has been reduced and the government given back to the people. Have the needs for struggling families been fulfilled?]
Haiti and Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday to give thanks for what we have received. In addition to the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada and some of the Caribbean Islands. Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Haiti, but there are other celebrations throughout the year in the recognition of the blessings people have received. Haiti has a national holiday around the time Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States. How did Trump celebrate Thanksgiving this yearda day that celebrates men, women, and children seeking refuge from harsh conditions in their native land? On Monday, November 20, when he was pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey named Drumstick, the White House announced that Haitian refuges must leave the United States by July 2019 or face deportation (Nichols, 2017c). Nichols further comments: "We have come to expect the worst from Donald Trump. But when he mixes his worst with the symbolism of a holiday that is supposed to bring out the best in people, the president’s cruelty seems all the more stark and unrelenting." Nichols (2017c).
and "He shows little or no regard for the fact that America is a nation of immigrants - and that many of those immigrants came seeking religious freedom." Nichols (2017c).
Trump seems to have lost sight of his heritagedthat he is a second-generation immigrant. But in all fairness, Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich, was "forced" to immigrate to America when German authorities denied his return to Germany because he failed to complete his mandatory military service and to register his initial immigration to America 20 years earlier.
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SS-15.18 The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." Winston Churchill Bukszpan (2017, p. 89). The title of this section is from the First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt, on March 4, 1933. Roosevelt goes on to say: ". unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory." Perhaps it is because Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat that many in the current Republican Party seem unaware that the support of the people can overcome the fear of the twit reprisal. With the threat of Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon to slate primary challenges against Republican senators (Isenstadt, 2017), and the threat of the tweet, some elected representatives of the people are changing horses midstream. In an interview shown on MSNBC Morning Joe shown on October 26, Jim Inhofe praised the "new way politics is being done" in the Trump administration. Martin and Peters report that some Republicans are "jumping ship" because the Trump infective politics is spreading like a cancer in his adopted party: "The Grand Old Party risks a longer-term transformation into the Party of Trump." Martin and Peters (2017). Martin and Peters list the following Republicans who chose not to run for reelection: Senators Flake (Arizona), Straus (D. C.), and Corker (Tennessee) and Representatives Ros-Lehtinen (Florida), Dent (Pennsylvania), Tiberi (Ohio), and Reichert (Washington). The reason given: Many of their voters prefer Trump’s way of politics. Steve Bannon, former Chief Strategist, is quoted as saying: "This thing they’ve got today doesn’t work, it doesn’t move with urgency. It’s very nice. But it’s a theoretical exercise. It can’t win national elections." Bannon, a White Supremacist (Bobic, 2017), is: ".orchestrating an effort to defeat Republicans deemed insufficiently loyal to Mr. Trump’s agenda." Senator Lindsey Graham is now a "cheerleader" for Trump, ".shrugging off the White House chaos, personal insults and deep ideological differences in exchange for Mr. Trump’s ear" (Shear and Stolberg, 2017). As noted by Graham, Trump is very big in his home state of South Carolina. Graham hopes that by cheering Trump he can "get Trump’s ear"dif it helps Trump then it will help ". him be able to do business with an old rival who’s seen as a deal maker." Graham’s friends think he is taking a risk of damaging his reputation. The New York Times article points out that Trump and Graham are the "odd couple" working on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, cutting taxes, and the increase in military spending. But if any part does not come throughdbeware the revenge of Trump. Recall the story of the unnamed woman in Item 11, the respect of others in Item 1, and the role of a loser in Item 4. But Graham is also concerned about passing tax reform out of fear of a Republican loss of the House and that the resulting
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Democratic gain would try to impeach Trump (Kaczynski, 2017). Graham appears to be more concerned about the governing majority of a Republican Party than the health of the country: "Well, I think all of us realize that if we fail on taxes, that’s the end of the Republican Party’s governing majority in 2018." Lindsey Graham quotation (Kaczynski, 2017). To put the 2018 election results ahead of the sacrifices of the millions of senior citizens, the disabled, and the poor so that each of the upper income earners can buy 1,170.25 bottles of Dom Perignon Champagne at $200 per bottle is unconscionable for a country that boast of a government that is ". of the people, by the people, for the people." Lindsey Graham is feeding the crocodile, hoping to be around for some time. However, if one steps out of line of the Trump agenda, Bannon will move you up the menu.
SS-15.19 He Ain’t No Truman Presidents generally talk about responsibilities and sacrifices. Harry S. Truman had on the Oval " as an indication he was taking the responsiOffice desk a sign with the words " bility of actions taken by the White House. Subsequent presidents urged the general public to take on personal responsibilities. Trump, however, ushered in his version of a personal responsibility: blame others. One example given was the failure of the GOP health-care bill. Trump blamed the failure of the GOP health-care bill on "Democrats, moderate Republicans, conservative Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, the Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth, and, indirectly, House Speaker Paul Ryan." Failure of the GOP health-care bill was a failure of a campaign promise of Trump to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act of the Obama Administration.
SS-15.20 What Makes America Great: The First Amendment to the Constitution The United States was born in the protest by Bostonians against unfair taxes imposed on the colonies by Great Britain. What resulted from that initial protest was an experiment in governmentdby the people. For a democracy to work, the Founding Fathers believed that the government is for the people, and therefore the people should be protected from persecution for their freedom of speech and expression. The First Amendment of the Constitution is an assertion that America protects the right of expression without fear of reprimand. The First Amendment of the Constitution reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States What other country has written in their constitution a clause that protects freedom of expression for the people and the press? Not even the President of the United States is not without reproach: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." President Theodore Roosevelt, from Presidential Wit & Wisdom, 2015, Charlotte Lee Gross, ed p. 61.
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SS-15.21 What Makes America Great: The Freedom of the Press "The press of Italy is free, freer than the press of any other country, so long as it supports the regime." Benito Mussolini "YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" Colonel Jessup to US Navy Lawyer Lieutenant Kaffee in A Few Good Men "I never gave them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell." Harry Truman The reputation of a scientist is based on the truth within a publication. In a scientific paper the experimental conditions are laid out for others to follow, and to either verify or expose the errors in the study. Likewise for theoretical workdthe equations can be checked. A statement made by a scientist on a scientific study can be checked by other scientists. Likewise, the reputation of a politician is based on what is known about past and present events in society, and whether or not society can be swayed to the views of the politician. A statement made by a politician cannot be directly verified by the general public. There must be a source or sources of reliable information to check if the politician is telling it like it is, or part of what is said is correct, or an outright falsehood. The news media has the resources to engage in extensive fact checking of the statement. For a society to prosper the members of a society must be informed. And that source of information is the free press. It is not a secret that Trump does not like the press. Montgomery has collected 172 of Trump tweets on the press (Montgomery, 2017, pp. 95e132). But the news media works two ways. Trump uses the news media to promote himself and thereby is his own messenger of fake news because many of the video reports are obviously staged or broadcast misinformation. An example is the broadcast with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello´ in which Trump stated that his administration rated a "10" in the response to the crisis when clearly it was not.
SS-15.22 What Makes America Great: The Freedom to Protest Whenever any part of our body does not function correctly, a message is sent to the brain to let it know something is wrong and to act to correct the situation. When hungry, it is the stomach that tells the brain that nourishment is needed. If we place a hand on a hot stove, the local pain centers send an immediate message to the brain of the displeasure, and the brain sends a message to the muscles to remove the hand. But sometimes the brain becomes numb to the signal, or the warning signal is suppressed. Heavy coughing by a smoker is a warning of failing health, but the pleasure received from smoking outweighs the potential harm. When there is something present that may harm society, the information is sent to the leaders by means of protests.
Protests: Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017 On January 21, 2017, one day after the inauguration, there was a Women’s March on Washington. The intersecting platform for several groups of leaders in this movement, and their mission, are the Unity Principles (https://www.womensmarch.com/mission/). A partial list of Unity Principles includes: • Ending Violence: to attain full and healthy lives by ending violence against their bodies • Reproductive Rights: access to reproductive health-care services for all, birth control and affordable abortion for all
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• LGBTQIA Rights (Human rights): uplift, expand, and protect the rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity • Worker’s Rights: economy powered by transparency and accountability, women should be paid equitability with access to affordable childcare, right to organize and fight for a living minimum wage • Disability Rights • Environmental Justice: every community should have the right for clean water, clean air, and access to an enjoyment of public lands, not to exploit land and natural resources for corporate gain or greeddespecially at risk of public safety and health Worldwide the Marches of the Women were 2.6 million strong (Przybyia and Schouten, 2017). The rally of 400,000 to 500,000 women in Washington lasted more than 5 hours with speakers ranging from Ilyasah Shabazz (daughter of Malcolm X) to Sister Simone Campbell (Catholic nun). To underscore the event, and perhaps to grab the attention of Trump, tens of thousands of women participated in the Pussy Project by wearing pink "pussy hats" (http://www. businessinsider.com/pussy-hats-womens-march-washington-trump-inauguration-2017-2). The knitted pussy hats are a symbol of solidarity for the protesters. A photo of the Washington rally, with some women wearing the pussy hats, is shown in Figure SS-15.8.
FIGURE SS-15.8 Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017.
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Worldwide participation has been estimated at 5 million women, at least 408 marches in the United States, and 168 in 81 other countries. After the marches, organizers reported that 673 marches took place worldwide, on all seven continents (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 2017_Women%27s_March).
Protests: March for Science on Washington, April 22, 2017 For several years corporations and politicians have tried to instill in the public minds that science cannot be trusted. Many books have been written about these "merchants of doubt" (Agin, 2006; Frazier, 2009; Mooney, 2005; Mooney and Kirshenbaum, 2009; Oreskes and Conway, 2010; Otto, 2011; Otto, 2016a). Part of the mission statement reads: "We unite as diverse, nonpartisan groups to call for science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence based policies in the public interest." Carpenter (2017).
Peoples Climate MarchdApril 29, 2017 Trump stated that "Climate change" is a hoax of the Chinese people. Trump’s agenda is to roll back regulations and censor scientists who talk about climate change. On April 29, the 100th day of the Trump administration, thousands ascended on Capitol Hill to protest Trump’s climate agenda, which included the expansion of oil and coal exploration and cutbacks in climate studies by government agencies, and staffed several agencies with climate deniers (Lim, 2017).
Protests: Politics and Security Forces On Tuesday night, May 16, 2017, a group of peaceful protesters outside of the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington D.C. were attacked by supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government security forces (Fandos and Mele, 2017). The protesters were roughed up and kicked. The D.C. police officers used batons to forcefully break up the melee and separated the two sides, and then turned to help the bloodied protesters while the guards, some armed, retreated (Hermann, 2017). The Trump administration, through the State Department, issued the statement rebuking the embassy staff: "We are concerned by the violent incidents involving protesters and Turkish security personnel Tuesday evening. Violence is never an appropriate response to free speech, and we support the rights of people everywhere to free expression and peaceful protests." Lima (2017). John McCain twittered "This is the United States of America. We do not do this here. There is no excuse for this kind of thuggish behavior." Fandos and Mele (2017). Unfortunately McCain’s statement is not entirely true. The following is a synopsis of events given in Wikipedia "Kent State Shootings." The year was 1970; there were student protests against the
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Vietnam War. The event began with a speech by Jerry Rubin, leader for the Youth International Party, spoke of the Kent State Campus on April 10. He used very inflammatory words that frightened local residents. Two weeks later Bill Anthrell distributed fliers that eventually turned into an anti-napalm teach in. On May 1, there was a 500-student demonstration on the Kent State Commons. Trouble began around midnight when people leaving a bar began to throw beer bottles at police, and breaking downtown storefront. On May 2, it was decided to send the Ohio National Guard to protect the people. On May 3 an emotional Governor Rhodes called student protesters un-American. Some students went downtown to help clean up the messdwhich gave mixed reactions from the local businessmen On May 4, 1970, unarmed students were protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. Members of the Ohio National Guard ordered the group to disperse; and when they didn’t, the guards used tear gas. The tear gas had no effect because of the wind. When it became clear the crowd was not going to disperse, 77 guardsmen, with fixed bayonets on their M1 Garand rifles, advanced toward the students. The students dispersed and the guardsmen followed in pursuit. Eventually the guardsmen stopped their pursuit, and retraced their steps, but looking back as the students were heading back to the Commons. According to an eye witness, a pistol was fired at the students and 29 guardsmen of the 77 also turned and fired their rifles at the students, using an estimate of 67 rounds of ammunition. Four students were killed. John Filo’s Pulitzer Prize Winning photo is reproduced in Figure SS15.9 of 14-year old Mary Ann Vechio kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller minutes after he was fatally shot.
FIGURE SS-15.9 Kent State Shooting: May 4, 1970. John Filo’s Pulitzer Prize Winning photo of 14 year-old Mary Ann Vechio kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller minutes after he was shot by a guardsman of the Ohio National Guard. Source of photo: Wikipedia.
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Protests: Racism and Policy Brutality Ferguson, Missouri, was brought into prominence in 2014 with the protests regarding the fatal shooting of 18-year-old black male Michael Brown by a white police officer. This event brought to light police brutality on black communities in other cities as well. The Ferguson lawsuit was settled, where the city agreed to pay $1.5 million on behalf of multiple defendants (Maher, 2017). The recent Michael Brown settlement joins the history of similar settlements. The Examiner (Saturday, June 24, 2017) gives a partial list of 11 other settlements in the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, New York, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. The following description is taken from the report by Joel Currier and Christine Byers in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Currier and Byers, 2017). On December 20, 2011, officer Jason Stockley shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith, a 24-year-old African-American. The event started when Stockely and his partner, Brian Bianchi, tried to arrest Smith for a suspected drug deal at a Church’s Chicken restaurant. Smith left the scene in his car, and the car chase ended when the officers rammed into Smith’s car. Stockley shot Smith five times. A charge of first-degree murder was made in May 2016. Stockley waived his right for a jury trial. St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson presided over the trial. Prosecutors argued that it was a premeditated murder because Smith was shot four times in succession in the shoulder and then a fifth shot, the kill shot, was at close range while Smith was in his car The shooting followed a car chase in which the in-car camera video recorded Stockley telling his partner "Gonna kill this (expletive), don’t you know it." Stockley testified that he found a loaded revolver in the car. Lab tests showed that only Stockely’s DNA was on the gun. A supervisor at the biology section for the police department could not say there was blood on the gun, and the absence of DNA did not mean the person did not handle the gun. In contrast, a plastic bag of heroin seized from the car had only Smith’s DNA. Prosecutors argued that the gun was a plant, but there was no visual evidence on the video recordings that showed Stockely with a gun in his hand. An unanswered question was how Smith, simply sitting in the front seat, could have been shot in the left lower abdomen by someone standing outside the car. The interpretation is that Smith had to be reaching for something. Judge Timothy Wilson had to make a decision based on facts presented in court and his experiences of 30 years on the bench. He said that over 30 years on the bench he observed that an urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an anomaly. Smith could have been reaching for a gun. Stockley could have planted a gun. The law is written to protect the peopledassumed innocent unless proven without a shadow of doubt of the guilt. In his statement about his decision, Judge Wilson wrote that he pored over the evidence over and over again, which led to the conclusion: "This court, in conscience, cannot say that the state has proven every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt or that the defendant did not act in self-defense." Stockley could not be tried for lesser charges of homicide or manslaughter because the state failed to prove that Stockley did not act in self-defense. Wilson also stated: "A judge shall not be swayed by partisan interests, public clamor or fear of criticism." Needless to say, there were protests over this verdict because of the anticipated guilty verdict. Over a period of 18 days, the St. Louis police arrested 307 protesters (Strickland, 2017). The protests on the first night were peaceful at first, but turned violentdseriously injuring two policemen and vandalizing buildings (Currier and Byers, 2017). Several protesters surrounded the mayor’s home, breaking windows and throwing red paint before the crowd was dispersed by the police (Jenkins, 2017). Missouri Governor Greitens praised the law enforcement officers
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and the peaceful protesters, but added that violence would not be tolerated (Currier and Byers, 2017). Protesters represented a spectrum of society, including politicians, lawyers, religious clergy, and other community members (Strickland, 2017). There were hundreds of white protesters that marched in downtown St. Louis who marched and chanted "White silence is violence" (Salter, 2017). At this demonstration the police showed up in riot gear. The crowd of demonstrators chanted: "I don’t see no riot here, why you in riot gear?"’ The following is from an article by Patrick (Patrick, 2017). St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole asked for a probe into police conduct during the recent protests. This request was prompted by complaints about police conduct during the protests following the acquittal of Stokely. The request was referred to Washington by Acting US Attorney Carrie Costantin. The focus was on the training and discipline of officers, and whether there was a "pattern and practice" that deprived persons of rights and privileges, or immunities that were protected or secured by the Constitution or federal laws. What the protesters want is reflected in the comment by Damone Smith (Currier and Byers, 2017): "Time and time again, African-American men are killed by police and nobody is held accountable" Perhaps the request to probe police action by Mayor Lyda Krewson will change the rules to make accountability a major factor when the First Amendment rights are violated.
Protests: The NFL, the "Star-Spangled Banner," and the First Amendment Football is now considered to be the national sport of America, although there are many baseball fans who will disagree to the "passing of the baton" years ago. Colin Kaepernick is an American football quarterback. While playing college football at the University of Nevada, he was twice named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, the only player in the NCAA Division 1 FBS history to have 10,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards. In his first full season with the San Francisco 49s, Kaepernick helped his team reach the NFC Championship Game (2013). In 2016, Colin Kaepernick did not stand while the National Anthem was being played. His motivation was to protest the treatment of colored people in the United States. At first, in 2016, Kaepernick simply sat during the first three preseason games while the National Anthem was played. He then met with NFL player and Army veteran Nate Boyer who helped Colin and his teammates with the visualization of their protest. Boyer suggested that he kneel rather than just sitdkneeling in a more respectful option (Willingham, 2017). There are several images of soldiers in this position at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery. Shown in Figure SS15.10 is a soldier kneeling on one knee with head bowed is a sign of respect for a fallen soldier. This sentiment is expressed by Eric Reid, San Francisco 49ers safety, in the New York Times: "We chose to kneel because it’s a respective gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy." Williams (2017, p. 10). Football players on one knee with head bowed during the National Anthem is in respect for fellow brothers who were killed through the legacy of racism that led to the Civil War. At that time we
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FIGURE SS-15.10 Position of respect for fallen comrade.
had a President who believed that all men were created equal, the words in the Declaration of Independence. The protest caught on among football players. While in Huntsville, Alabama, stumping for Senator Strange, Trump tweeted: "Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ’Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’? Wouldn’t you love it?" Huntsville is only 190 miles from Montgomery, Alabama, where Governor George Wallace gave his 1963 inaugural addressdthe segregation speech that challenged the federal governments’ enforcement of laws prohibiting racial segregation in the Alabama’s public schools (democracynow, 2017). On September 24, 2017, Trump again twittered: "Great solidarity for our National Anthem and for Our Country. Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!" The act of locking arms was not to give solidarity to the "National Anthem and for our Country" but a show of solidarity to protest racial discrimination. Was the inclusion of "bad ratings" a threat that revenues would be down if the owners did not fire the protesting players? On September 30, minutes after tweeting about his trip to Puerto Rico, Trump again twittered: "Very important that NFL players STAND tomorrow, and always, for the playing of our National Anthem. Respect for our Flag and Our Country!" https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/1/sports/nfl-trump-anthem.html.
Consider the following. It is October 2, 2017. The Monday Night Football game is between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Redskins. Bob is at home watching the game on television with some friends. The Kansas City Symphony is on the field. A flag in the shape of America is unfolded. The announcer introduces the symphony with the invitation: "Please stand as they play the National Anthem." Should Bob and his friends watching the game at home stand? If Bob and his friends do not stand, does that mean they are disrespectful to the flag? What about the
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concessionaires at Arrowhead Stadium? Do the concession people cooking the food, pouring the beer, filling the orders, taking in the cash stop these activities during the National Anthem? Do the customers at the concession stand stop ordering food? If Trump is so concerned about disrespect for the American flag, then why does he not make public comments condemning the manufacturing of American flag underwear, such as the Hanky Panky Low-Rise thong for women and the Low Rise American flag for men? These items are more likely to soil the reputation of the American flag than football players taking a kneeling position as if in prayer. Protests in football are not limited to the professional teams with national coverage. On September 29, Keyon Singleton, Berwick High School cornerback, kneeled during the singing of the National Anthem (Bogage, 2017). Malveaux told KLFY, the local television station: "After the anthem, but before the team took the field, I approached my son to tell him that I admired him and was proud of him." Why was Malveaux interviewed by the local TV station? When he returned to his seat, other spectators cursed him and engaged in other verbal abuse. Malveaux was escorted by the police to the exit. The others participating in the heated argument were not shown the exit. The reason Keyon knelt was to protest "racial inequality" and a line in the third verse of the National Anthem on slavery. Wait a minutedthe third verse? In fact there are five verses if you count the one added by Oliver Wendell Homes, Sr, in 1861! It is the fifth line in the third verse that has the words: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave." Frances Scott Key, Lyrics to the "Star-Spangled Banner," third verse. Academicians say this line refers to slaves who joined the British ranks in the War of 1812, which Francis Scott Key was biased against (Bogage, 2017). But the presence of the word "slave" is a reminder of slavery. To some people the Confederate flag is also a reminder of slavery as well as Southern pride. If the Confederate flag was removed to make tourists more comfortable to visit the Southern cities (Courtney, 2017), then should not the playing of the National Anthem be removed from sports events to make the fans more comfortable? Trump should know, as he created the standard, that to make a statement on national television is a way to bring to the general public a message in the least amount of time. Former NFL star Donte´ Stallworth mentioned the work NFL football players toward equality by working with public officials (Stallworth, 2017). Stallworth further cautioned: "So the players themselves now have even seen, now so more than ever, that the president is in complete and total opposition to allowing players, number one, their First Amendment rights. That’s the first thing. And I think the other thing, too, that we have to be conscious of is to not allow Mr. Trump to hijack this conversation, to hijack the narrative. You know, obviously, it’s going to be in the media." What was the response of the NFL to Trump’s tweets to boycott football games? Trump apparently does not know the unity of sports in America. Sports bring people together for their team. Universities are known for their football teams, more so than their education programs. In response
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to Trump’s "He’s fired!’? Wouldn’t you love it?" commentdthe answer is no, the fans would not love it. Americans overwhelmingly disagree with Trump on his ".combative stand towards NFL players who won’t stand for the national anthem" (Page and Fair, 2017). In regard Trump’s "... kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!" commentdthe rating went up!, Robert Kraft, New England Patriots Chairman and CEO, made the following statement in support of his players: "I am deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the President on Friday. I am proud to be associated with so many players who make such tremendous contributions in positively impacting our communities. Their efforts, both on and off the field, help bring people together and make our community stronger. There is no greater unifier in this country than sports, and unfortunately, nothing more divisive than politics. I think our political leaders could learn a lot from the lessons of team work and the importance of working together toward a common goal. Our players are intelligent, thoughtful and care deeply about our community and I support their right to peacefully affect our social charge and raise awareness in a manner that they feel is most impactful." http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/09/24/robert-kraft-patriots-donald-trump-statementnfl-kneeling/. Robert Kraft is a True Patriot! NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would like for the players to stand for the National Anthem, but is not going to make a rule requiring players to stand (Grathoff, 2017, p. 5B). In the magazine The Week, dated October 6, 2017, on page 4, is a main story "NFL players defy Trump’s demands." There is a quotation taken from an editorial of the National Review: "The Star-Spangled Banner is an all too rare moment of civic comity - a moment to display respect for a nation that continues to be a force for liberty, decency, justice, peace, and prosperity." editorial of the National Review, 2017 This editorial statement underscores why black athletes have continued to do the "Kaepernick kneel." There is no comfort in the string of words "liberty, decency, justice, peace, and prosperity" for blacks in America. Lathrop and Flagg wrote an article in The New York Times (Lathrop and Flagg, 2017) on a Marshall Project examination of 400,000 homicides committed by civilians between 1980 and 2014. The source of the information was the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the article described in great detail how the data was parsed into several categories, and the gaps between categories. To quote Lathrop and Flagg: "But killings of black males by whites are more than eight times as likely as all others combined to be labeled justifiable, a racial disparity that is hard to explain based solely on the circumstances reported in the police data and one that has persisted for decades." Racial categories are a social construct with no biological justification. This was clearly demonstrated in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Nazi Germany when Jessie Owens won four gold metals: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4 100 meter relay. Perhaps the greatest all-round athlete of all times is Jim Thorpe a member of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma. Thorpe’s record-setting performance in the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912 Summer Olympics remains unbroken over 100 years.
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Blacks received Nobel Prize awards in three of the six categories; Peace, Literature, and Economics. Black Americans who are Nobel Laureates are Ralph Bunch (1950); Martin Luther King, Jr. (1964); Toni Morrison (1993); and Barack Obama (2009). Famous black scientists include Benjamin Banneker (1731e1806), astronomer and mathematician, who constructed America’s first functional clock; Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1858e1931), physician, surgeon, and medical researcher, inventor of the blood bank; George Washington Carver (1864e1943), innovator of agricultural science; and Mae Jemison (1956), physician and NASA astronaut. Racial discrimination is a learned and/or taught bias that can only divide society.
Protests: Protesting the NFL ProtestersdWhite House Style It is only fair to include the protests of the White House if one is to mention the protests against the Trump Administration. Here is one that occurred on what was to be a special day for Indianapolis. Baseball has "The House That Ruth Built" to honor Babe Ruth when his home runs revitalized baseball in the 1920s. Indianapolis has Peyton Manning who revitalized a city with his sports ability in the game of football. "The stadium in downtown Indianapolis is affectionately remembered ’as the house that Peyton Manning built.’ That Colts quarterback won hundreds of games, earned four MVP awards, and made national champions out of a losing expansion team from a long overlooked city." Wegmann (2017). Peyton Manning was honored by the Colts with a larger-than-life-statue unveiling on Saturday, and the game on Sunday was to honor his achievements in his career by a special ceremony to retire his number 18. In an interview with Marshall Fauk, former teammate of Manning and NFL Network analyst, Manning said "This was a great place to play football. These people love football. So the fans are part of our journey. They were right there with us. I’m very grateful and humbled by [Colts owner] Jim Irsay’s gesture.To celebrate with the fans and be here with some old teammates and go into the Colt’s Ring of Honor.is pretty overwhelming, but it means a great deal to me." NFL Staff (2017). But what was to be a jubilant celebration with the focus on Payton Manning was met with a downer. It was no surprise that Mike Pence showed up for the October 8 game of the Colts against the 49ers. Pence is a long-time Colts fan and an admirer of Peyton Manning. All Colts stood arm-in-arm during the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," and more than 20 of the 49ers dropped to their knees as they have before in respect to those American people of color fallen due to racism and brutality. It was known that some of the 49ers kneeled and other were arm-in-arm since 2016 when the "Star-Spangled Banner" was played. It was also no surprise when Pence and his wife Karen left after the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner." Trump saw another media opportunity as evidenced by his twitter: "I asked @VP Pence to leave the stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen." Danner (2017).
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This was a planned protest by the White House of a planned protest by the players. The White House copied the media method of Colin Kaepernick (Wegmann, 2017). At the Manning appreciation day, the media pool was kept in the vans instead of being led inside with Pence (Boren, 2017). As noted by Wegmann, "It took less than an hour for Vice President Mike Pence to upstage Manning during the Colts game against the San Francisco 49ers, a Sunday set aside to honor the beloved quarterback. That was cheap politics." Wegmann (2017). What was to be a memorable day for Payton Manning, the football fans, and the people of Indianapolis turned out to be the hijacking by Trump as warned by Stallworth (Stallworth, 2017). Pence twittered the excuse for his leaving: "I left today’s Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem." Danner (2017). And it was specifically done on a day to honor Peyton Manningda once in a lifetime event! Trump could have ordered Pence to do his walk-out routine at a different game, but for his own publicity purposes he chose not to. The First Amendment is a guarantee that people in the United States have the freedom of expression, whether through a free press or on the football field. The First Amendment is part of the Constitution of the United States. In his Oath of Office, Trump swore to "..defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God." Trump did not do his sworn duty in defending the football players their Constitutional right to protest.
Trump and the NFL: A Parody of Parodies Back in 1969 the San Francisco based improve group called The Committee had a skit called "The Star-Spangled Banner." This skit became part of a movie titled A Session with The Committee, and can be viewed on YouTube. A small group of people were standing while they sang the "StarSpangled Banner." Noticing one person remained seated and did not participate in the singing, the group, while singing, starting hitting the seated party. Eventually, they knocked him to the ground and started kicking him. This skit was a parody at that timedan exaggeration of something the players thought would never happen. Not anticipated at that time was the football game on October 8, 2017, with the San Francisco 49ers against the Indianapolis Colts. The White House planned "walk out" in protest of a protest made it a parody of a parody.
The National Anthem and Sports When did the National Anthem become a part of professional sports, and why? To begin with, national anthems are political, according to Marc Ferris in an interview with a USA Today reporter (Brady, 2017). The second important point is that the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner in baseball was long before it became the National Anthem. Go back to 1918 during a game at Comiskey Park in Chicago. America was at war, the Cubs were playing against the Boston Red Sox in the first game of the World Series. Only a third of the seats were filled, and those who attended were not in a mood to cheer (Selk, 2017b). To cheer
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up the fans, during the seventh inning stretch the band played the "Star-Spangled Banner." It is customary to stand during the seventh inning stretch. Red Sox third baseman Fred Thomas, who was on furlough from the Navy, automatically gave a military salute when the music was played (Brady, 2017). Other players followed suit and placed their hands over their hearts. The already standing crowd began to sing along and cheereddthe highest point of the day. When the game moved to Boston, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee decided to show Chicago "how its done" (Brady, 2017). The "Star-Spangled Banner" was moved to a pregame schedule and introduced wounded solders who were given free tickets (Jacobson, 2017). Because owners did not hire bands for all games, the "Star-Spangled Banner" was played only on special occasions. After many years of lobbying by World War I veterans, the "Star-Spangled Banner" officially became our National Anthem in 1931 by an act of Congress, (Brady, 2017). Consider the following: How might history have been changed if third baseman Fred Thomas did not show up that World Series game?
36 US Code 301dBehavior During the Playing of the National Anthem How Americans might respond to the playing of the National Anthem is found in the 36 US Code 301dNational Anthem: "(a) DESIGNATION._ The composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem. (b) CONDUCT DURING PLAYING, - During a rendition of the national anthem (1) when the flag is displayed (A) individuals in uniform should give the military solute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note; (B) members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and (C) all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder; the hand being over the heart; and (2) when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed. https:www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/36/301. What is important to note that Code 301 is a code of conduct; a guide for conduct. This is why the word should is used several times in Code 301 instead of must. It is for this reason that linking arms might be acceptable. It is also for this reason that kneeling on one knee with head bowed might also acceptable. There is a time and place in which kneeling on one knee with bowed head is an accepted position: for prayer and in respect for the fallen.
The Obsession of Trump to Divide the Nation It is clear from the US code of behavior during the National Anthem that standing is an option. Trump has fooled the general public twice in his tweets about the football players kneeling during
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the playing of the National Anthem. The first misdirection is that the issue is about honoring the flag and the country, whereas it has been stated many times over that the act of kneeling is in honor of blacks who were unjustifiably killed. The second "pulling the wool over the eyes" is that standing during the playing of the National Anthem should be mandatory, which is in direct opposition of the US Code 301 which states that to stand and place one’s hand over the heart is optional. CNN reported a poll on the public’s views on the protests by the NFL players (Agiesta, 2017). In the accompanying video it was shown that 43% of the people thought the athletes did the right thing and 49% who thought is was wrong. The racial divide was 59% of the whites, 12% of the blacks, and 34% of the Hispanics thought that the athletes were wrong to kneel. In the question of requiring professional athletes to stand, 49% said yes and 47% said no. To the question of Trump criticizing the protest kneeling, there were some interesting results. On the whole, 34% said it was the right thing to criticize the athletes while 60% said it was wrong. The results were along party lines in regard to the criticism was wrong: 86% Democrats, 61% Independents, and 25% Republicans. What is most revealing is the racial response to this question: 51% of the whites, 97% of the blacks, and 72% of the Hispanics. The problem with this poll is that it was based on Trump’s view that the kneeling action was disrespect for the flag and the country. The response of the white population is inconclusiveda toss up at 50e50. However, the black population may have responded to the real reason for the protestdin memory of the blacks who were killed. What would the results be if the "fake" reason of Trump was replaced with the real reason that the NFL players kneltdthe killing of blacks? Trump says this is not a racial issue. This statement is in the same category as his statements that his organization had no contact with Russia to sway the election. It is an attempt to divert the real issue to an "alternative" issue. It is no coincidence that the NFL protestors are black and that their stated reason to be down on one knee is to honor the fallen. It is unconscionable that Trump would be so obsessed with respect for the flag and the country when he has shown disrespect for both on many occasions. Trump has shown disrespect for the generals, the military, fellow Republicans, Democrats, his Cabinet members, the news media, In response to a father who lost his son, he responded that he, too, made sacrifices: he gave people jobs. When he was given a Purple Heart, he said he always wanted one and this is the easy way. John McCain was a looser, not a hero, because he was a prisoner of war for several years. And these are only a few instances. Robert Reich has gone so far as to say that the proposed tax cuts are downright unpatriotic, giving corporations a $2 trillion tax break (Reich, 2017).
Depoliticize Sports Assume the following scenario. A sports fan enters the stadium and is given a survey to fill out. The first item is to list 10 reasons why you are attending this sports event. It would be hard pressed to find anyone, let alone a significant number, to write down: "I come to this sports event to listen to The Star-Spangled Banner." People go to sports events to get away from the worries of the world, not to engage in political activities. Cowen wrote a piece for the Bloomberg News that politics must be taken out of sports (Cowen, 2017). Cowen reviewed the history of the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," that fans don’t stop while walking through the concourse, and concession stands don’t stop operating during the playing of the National Anthem. Cowen pointed out that: "Competitions shouldn’t be political events, most of all because athletics is increasingly multinational and globalized."
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Cowen continued to point out that American sports are not always played by teams composed only of American players, like baseball teams were in the 1950s and 1960s. Cowen raised the question of a foreign national, who must worry if their home government is watching also. Cowen reports a personal experience: "I’ve been at sporting events where I’ve seen some people not sing along, and not put their hands over their heart, only to hear that they will be punched in the face." Shades of the skit "The Star-Spangled Banner" by The Committee! Cowen drops the hint that the "Star-Spangled Banner" should be removed from sports: "Ultimately, such disputes distract from the football, and the NFL doesn’t want politics to become the main story of the sport. Nor should sport be the main story in politics" Pierce also writes on this issue (Pierce, 2017). He lists three points about national anthems: (1) inclusion of a national anthem necessarily politicizes the sport; (2) protest today are not about the anthem or flag (or even Donald Trump)dthe protesters are high-profile African-Americans raising awareness of the plights of lower-profile African-Americans often mistreated by police officers; and (3) all effective protests are inconvenient and, in its own way, uncivildciting the Boston Tea Party. Pierce then states: "In short, if you’re going to perform national anthems, you’re going to have politics. And if you have politics, you’re going to have political statements, and this being the United States of America, those statements are not always going to make everyone comfortable." Pierce (2017, p. 32). Pierce suggested that the teams stay in the locker room until the National Anthem is played, as they did before 2009. It is ironic that the "Star-Spangled Banner" brought our country out of the depressed state during World Wars I and II, while politic-focused twitters on how to respond to the playing of the National Anthem are dividing our country. Perhaps the National Anthem should not be played at all before any sports event. Perhaps we should do what Harry Carey did before a Chicago Cubs game: lean out the window and lead the fans in a singing of "Take me out to the ballgame." After all, isn’t that what the sports fans came to see?
An Alternative Patriotic Song at Events To honor the military and the veterans, every year for the past 15 years the Kansas Symphony Orchestra performed a Fourth of July celebration in front of Union Station in Kansas City. On Sunday, May 28, 2017, the Celebration at the Station was the 100th anniversary of the United States entry into World War I and the 100th birthday of Ella Fitzgerald with her World War II songs that inspired and entertained our nation. There were activities inside Union Station and the National World War I Museum and Memorial, which could be seen from Union Station. Airman First Class Melissa Edgmon sung the "Star-Spangled Banner" at the start of the celebration. There was a military formation flyover of five jet aircraft, the middle plane not leaving a contrail. Shown in Figure SS-15.11 is the audience that stretched from the seat in the front of Union Station to the World War I Memorial in the far background, and the five military jets in the flyover. Later in the program Airman First Class Melissa Edgmon led a Sing-Along America! with the songs
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FIGURE SS-15.11 Kansas City Celebration at the Stationdpeople and planes. Every year the Kansas City Symphony puts on a performance to celebrate the Fourth of July. The event takes place in front of Union Station, with the stage facing the only World War I Memorial in the United States. There are generally well-known personalities to speaker before the concert. One year there was Mayor Sly James, another year there was Frank White, former Royals second baseman and now Jackson County Executive. A: Early arrivers with the World War I Memorial in the background. B: The "usual crowd" of people. C: Fighter jets flying over the crowd before the festivities start.
"Yankee Doodle," "America," "You’re a Grand Old Flag," and "America the Beautiful." The grand finale began with Patti Austin singing "We the People" (Constitution song), followed by Tchaikovsky’s "1812 Overture" (with live cannons), the "Stars and Stripes Forever," and then a fireworks display. Shown in Figure SS-15.12 are the Kansas City Symphony, Airman First Class Melissa Edgmon singing "America the Beautiful," and the fireworks display that was in front of the National World War I Museum and Memorial. The Celebration at the Station was clearly a patriotic event. When the "Star-Spangle Banner" was played, the military and veterans present stood and saluted the flag, but most of the other guests remained seated. Instead of the National Anthem, which, due to Trump, is dividing our country, why not sing "America the Beautiful" instead? The lyrics of the "Star-Spangle Banner" are about war and the
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FIGURE SS-15.12 Kansas City Celebration at the Stationdfestivities. A: Kansas City Symphony under a dome in which the lights represent the American flag. B: Airman First Class Melissa Edgmon singing "America the Beautiful." C: Firework display to end the evening’s festivities.
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American flag flying in victory. America the Beautiful is about why we fight for our country. The four verses written by Katharine Lee Bates reflect the awe of the beauty of America as she looked atop Pikes Peak: beautiful for spacious skies; waves of grain; mountain majesties; fruited plain; wilderness; and sea to shining sea. It is also the fabric of America: pilgrim feet; precious life; nobleness; and patriot dream. Aren’t these words of American plenty sweeter to the ears than: bombs bursting in air; havoc of war; blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution?
SS-15.23 Our Government Has Been Wedgied A "wedgie" is an uncomfortable tightening of the underpants between the buttocks, typically produced when someone pulls the underpants up from the back as a prank. In the context of the present discourse the "wedge" in wedgied is in reference to The Wedge document of The Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington (https://antievolution.org/features/wedge.pdf). The strategy behind The Wedge is in an article Phillip Johnson wrote in the April 1999 issue of Church & State Magazine, titled "Missionary Man": "The objective [of the Wedge Strategy] is to convince people that Darwinism is inherently atheistic, thus shifting the debate from creationism vs. evolution to the existence of God vs. the non-existence of God. From there people are introduced to ’the truth’ of the Bible and then ’the question of sin’ and finally ’introduced to Jesus.’ " There are three Wedge Projects, referred to in the strategy as three phases designed to reach a governing goal: • Phase I. Scientific Research, Writing & Publicity • Phase II. Publicity & Opinion-making • Phase III. Cultural Confrontation & Renewal
Intelligent Designer Phase I was the attack on the teaching of evolution in the classroom. The premise is that Darwinism is atheistic, atheism is materialism, and materialism is the cause of the lack of morals in today’s world. This was to be done by convincing the general public that some things in Nature are so complex that they cannot be explained in terms of Natural Laws. They proposed a Creator, which they referred to as the "Intelligent Designer," was responsible for designing these complex structures. The Wedge document sets forth the short-term and long-term goals with milestones for the intelligent design movement. The motto was "teach the controversy" in their attempt to get Intelligent Design taught in the schools along side, if not solely alone, the teaching of Darwinian Theory of Evolution. The governing goals for Phase I, the attack on science, are stated in the opening paragraph: • To defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural, and political legacies • To replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God Once this was achieved, the Wedge strategy moved to Phases II and III: ...wedge strategy places an emphasis on Phases II and III advocacy aimed at increasing popular support of the Discovery Institute’s ideas. Support for the creation of popular
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level books, newspaper and magazine articles, op-ed pieces, video productions, and apologetics seminars was hoped to embolden believers and sway the broader culture towards acceptance of intelligent design. This in turn would lead the ultimate goal of the wedge strategy; a social and political reformation of American culture." One of the ploys to avoid legal confrontations regarding the separation of Church and State is to state, in public, that no one knows the identity of the Intelligent Designer. The Intelligent Designer is identified, as stated in Monkey Girl by Edward Humes: "In public, the discussion would always be focused on problems with evolution and on evidence for an unnamed designer. In private, and among true believers, however, the ‘wedge warriors’ admitted that the designer virtually all of them were referring to was the Christian God." Humes (2007, p. 71). Joan Roughgarden, a Christian and evolutionary biologist, writes of the IDM in her book: "When a crossover movement turns up that mixes religion and science like intelligent design, then it must be examined carefully in both domains. Its shallow religion matches its empty science." Roughgarden (2006, p. 101). Another view of the characteristics of an Intelligent Designer was given by Father George V. Coyne, Director of the Vatican Observatory. Father Coyne gave a talk at Rockhurst College in Kansas City in 2006 as part of their Visiting Scholars Series. The title of Father Coyne’s talk was The Dance of the Fertile Universe: Science Does Not Need God or Does It? The flier describes the subject of the talk: "First, he suggests the Intelligent Design (ID) movement, while evoking a God of power and might, a designer God, actually belittles God, making God too small and paltry. Second, he says our scientific understanding of the universe, untainted by religious considerations, provides for those who believe in God a marvelous opportunity to reflect upon their beliefs." The Intelligent Design movement was put to a virtual stop with the Kitzmiller v Dover Area School District trial, which covered the period from September 26 to November 4, 2005, and was presided over by Judge John E. Jones III, a Republican appointed by George W. Bush in 2002. The reason the lawsuit was brought about was a mandate by the Dover Area Board of Education that teachers read a statement in class about Darwin and evolution. After 40 days of testimony, Judge Jones ruling was that Intelligent Design was not a science and permanently barred the Dover Area School Board from mandating teachers to denigrate the scientific theory of evolution and from requiring teachers to refer to religious alternatives.
The Green Dragon In the appointment of nine Evangelical Christians to his cabinet, Trump may have accomplished what the Intelligent Design movement could not. The religious issue with the evangelicals deals with the environment. There are two positions that can be taken on the role of humans and the environment, both of which find support in the Christian Bible. One side is the Stewardship of
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the Earth. A partial reading of Book of Numbers 35:33 provides the support: "You shall not pollute the land in which you live.." The other side of the environmental coin, particularly among evangelicals, cites Genesis 1:28: "And God said to them, ’Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ " Hickman pointed out that the Cornwall Alliance, an organization in the United States, has positioned itself prominently in this "debate" on environmental issues (Hickman, 2011), in which Genesis 1:28 is the guiding light. Hickman interviewed Calvin Beisner, spokesperson for the Cornwall Alliance. A prerequisite for the interview was that Hickman had to read the book by James Wanliss, titled "Resisting the Green Dragon: Dominion, Not Death." The title takes it cue from James 4:4, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." The premise of the book is that the multifaceted environmentalist movement is a threat to the church and the society today. The position taken is that humans are a special class of creatures, separate and superior to trees and animals. The intensity of the "movement" is in a partial sentence from the book quoted by Hickman: "The Green Dragon must die.[There] is no excuse to become befuddled by the noxious Green odors and doctrines emanating from the foul beast." Guess what the Green Dragon represents. The Cornwall Alliance is the Evangelical Christian analogue to the Discovery Institute of Intelligent Design. American society has been approached from both sides now. The Intelligent Design promoters started from the schools, with the expectation of spreading their point of view to all aspects of society and eventually to the government. The Evangelical Christians, and indirectly the Green Dragon movement, now have a foothold in the top levels of the government, the policy makers in Washington, which their views can filter down through all aspects of society. It is already happening with the Trump administration. Science has encountered worse attacks in the past and has survived. Science will always survive because it lies outside of society, as indicated in Figure SS-11.1. The science will be done within the society being discussed or another society of another country. However, if religion splices itself with government, then the three-legged stool of Figure SS-11.2 will not be level. Society will then be slanted in one direction or the other. This is why Jefferson insisted on separation of the church and state. It was not to protect the church, but to protect the state. There is one curious feature of the Trump appointments of nine evangelicals. By supporting Trump for the presidency, were the evangelicals playing Trump to stealthily enter the government? That possibility cannot be ruled out.
SS-15.24 The Head Trumps the Gut "Glovatski: ’Logic. Myer, you are a Cretan. In art, logic is the assassin of intuition. Do I make myself clear, Myer?’ Myer: ’Yeh.’ Glovatski: ’You stand convinced by your own words. Why must you always intellectualize/’’ "The Case of the Absent Artist," Perry Mason, Season 5, Episode 23, first aired on March 17, 1962.
Consider the equivalent to Pascal’s Wager as applied to climate change. What are the possible outcomes associated with the idea that human activity contributes to the rise in temperature (referred to as "global warming"). Global warming can be "true" (T) or it can be "false" (F). We can "act" (A) or we "don’t act" (D). What "act" means is to develop sustainable sources of energy, such as solar
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energy and wind power. The four possibilities are (A, T), (A, F), (D, T), and (D, F). If we act and global warming is true, i.e., (A, T), then society will survive and will be better off because of lower electric bills and a better environment. If we act and it is false, i.e., (A, F), then society is better off because of lower electric bills and a better environment. If we don’t act and it is true, i.e., (D, T), then society will be worse off, maybe to the extreme case of extinction. If we don’t act and it is false, i.e., (D, F), then nothing is changeddbusiness as usual. To act means that society is better off because of lower electric bills and a better environment. Already many homes and businesses have solar panels that result in savings in electric bills. A monthly electric bill of $100 can be reduced to $15 if the primary source is solar energy. To not act means that either society will be worse off or society will remain the same. But these two scenarios are not equally weighted. There are two effects that indicate society would be worse off. The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means that more will be dissolved in the oceans. Dissolved carbon dioxide increases the acidic of the oceans. There comes a point when things like seashells and limestone cannot form due to the acidity. Crustaceans such as krill and shrimp, the lower rung on the food chain in the oceans, will not be able to form exoskeletons. This means oceanic food supply that humans seem to love so much are endangered. Another threat due to warming seawater is the decomposition of methane hydrates (Wilson, 2017). Methane hydrates are complexes between methane and water. The methane hydrates released into the atmosphere will increase the global temperature at an alarming rate. It is therefore logical to act because in both scenarios society will leave a better world for its children. Remember, society’s future is in the hands of today’s children. Trump may or may not believe climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to make the United States manufacturing noncompetitive. Trump is well on the way of doing that himself by making decisions based on his skepticism about climate change given in 115 tweets over the years (Matthews, 2017). In 2014, over one-fifth of the United States coal-fired power plants were closed because of EPA’s regulations (IER, 2014). Regulations causing these closures include mercury and air toxic standards. Two plants in New Jersey and one in Massachusetts are being phased out because of tighter regulations and competition from cheaper natural gas (Demick, 2017). Over the next few years, 46 coal-fired generating plants will be closed across 16 states, due to transitioning to natural gas or intentionally closing the plants (Hill, 2017). In spite of these closings, Trump is attempting to revive the coal industry. The Editorial Board of the New York Times has brought this realism to light in their article "Five Climate Truths Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand" (EBNYT, 2017): 1) Trump cannot save coaldhe only thinks he can. The plan was to require consumers of electricity to pay coal-fired plants to be ready to supply power whether they needed it or now. This will not make the grid "more resilient." 2) Coal is declining because utilities are using the cheaper natural gas. 3) Renewable energy is coming on strong, mostly because technology is making it cheaper. 4) Wind and solar (sustainable energy) are becoming cheaper. 5) Technology is helping renewables. To act to reduce the number of coal-fire plants means new jobs with new technology. An estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with renewable energy and over 100 countries engaged in renewable energy of some form (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ electricity_production_from_renewable_sources). Germany is almost 100% on wind and solar to produce electricity. St. Louis recently voted to go toward 100% renewable energy. As Trump withdraws from the G-20 Summit on Climate Change, the 19 remaining members pledged action without Trump (The New York Times, July 9, 2017).
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Even a report released by the Trump Administration finds that there is "no convincing alternative explanation for climate change" (Mooney et al., 2017). In addition, the report attributes climate change is a result of human activity: "The report affirms that climate change is driven almost entirely by human action, warns of a worst-case scenario where seas could rise as high as eight feet by the year 2100, and details climate-related damage across the United States that is already unfolding as a result of an average global temperature increase of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900." Mooney, Eilperin, and Dennis (2017). In the video accompanying the link, Trump describes coal as "250 years of clean, beautiful coal." We can expect America to look like Beijing in 2005, as shown in Figure SS-15.13. Renewable energy is the future. America will be left behind. The Head trumps the Gut.
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FIGURE SS-15.13 Air pollution in China. "We have nearly 100 years worth of natural gas and more than 250 years worth of clean, beautiful coal." Donald Trump A: Air pollution caused by industrial plants in China. B: Beijing air in 2005 after a rain. C: Normal Beijing air in 2005. Source of photos: Wikipedia.
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SS-15.25 A Comparison of Presidential Styles One way to measure the temperature of society is to compare presidential styles and how society responds to what a president does under stressful situations. One comparison is how President Bush responded to terrorism in the September 11, 2001, attack on Washington D.C. to the response of President Trump to a lesser terrorist attack in New York City on Halloween Day of 2017. The second comparison is the response of President Nixon to the breaking in of the Democratic Party headquarters to influence Nixon’s reelection with the response of President Trump on the Russian hacking of emails of his opponent in the 2016 presidential election.
George W. BushdTerrorist Attack On September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush was visiting Emma E. Brooker elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. On the way to the classroom, Karl Rove mentioned to Bush that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center: Condoleezza Rice, security advisor (McGreal, 2010). Bush was in the classroom listening as the teacher, Sandra Kay Daniels, led the children through their rendition of My Pet Goat (Luscombe, 2011). During a reading session with the small children, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card came into the room as whispered something to Bush; it was that a second plane crashed into the twin towers. For 7 minutes Bush was immobile, as if in shock. Bush said he was thinking about the contrast between the brutal attack and the innocence of the childrend they could not be let down. He continued listening to the reading exercise. When it was over, he praised the class for their reading skills and moved to the school’s media center next door. When he saw the footage of the second plane hitting the tower, the first impulse Bush had was to get on television. He drafted a few words. Then he disappeared on Air Force One. Bush then heard the news of a third plane that crashed into the Pentagon Building. Bush’s reaction to this news: "’My blood was boiling. We were going to find out who did this, and kick their ass.’ Then he prayed." McGreal (2010). Bush was flown to an air force base in Louisiana and then to a military base in Nebraska. It was there that Bush learned of a fourth plane heading toward Washington probably at the nation’s Capitol. He made a decision he thought he would never have to make. He ordered a civilian plane to be shot down. When he learned that the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, had gone down in Pennsylvania, he asked if it was shot down. It was not shot down. The passengers and crew attempted to regain control of the plane. All 44 passengers perished. There is a permanent Flight 93 National Memorial located at the site of the crash. Bush said of his response: "I relied on instincts and background. My west Texas optimism helped me project confidence." Bush as reported by McGreal (2010). Bush was criticized for taking so long to respond. But the children in the classroom that fatal day disagree. Chantal Guerro said in 2011: "For me, it was right. If he had left straight away and freaked out that would have been the mindset he would have left America. If he wanted the country to be calm he needed to stay calm." Luscombe (2011). Bush tried to bring people together after this tragedy.
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Donald TrumpdTerrorist Attack On October 31, 2017, a 29-year-old Uzbek national drove a rented Home Depot truck down a pedestrian bike path, four blocks from the World Trade Center. Left behind were 8 dead and 11 people injured. Of those killed, five were from Argentina celebrating a 30-year reunion, one was from Belgium, and two are unknown. Police officer took him down, but did not shoot to kill. Since the terrorist was a truck driver, he is referred to as TD, an abbreviation of Terrorist Driver. The TD came to the United States in 2010. There was no indication that he was a member of ISIS at the time. Unlike the high-maintenance of al-Qaeda, ISIS is very low-profile maintenance terrorist group, relying on individuals to carry out their deeds. The TD apparently visited ISISrelated websites, one of which advocate to kill people on Halloween. Just as Bush relied on his instincts and background, Trump’s immediate response to the Halloween attack was todpoliticize the tragedy. Trump sent a series of tweets in which he placed blame on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats for immigration policies that allowed the suspect to enter the United States (Merica and Kopan, 2017). Donald Trump Jr. also got into the politicizing blame game in linking immigration reforms and liberals with a hangover from Halloween (Riotta, 2017). As to the immigration policies, Trump refers to the "Diversity Visa Lottery Program" in his tweet (de Moraes, 2017a): "The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ’Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based. Nov 1, 2017" Jeff Flake jumped into the mire with a tweet pointing out Trump was wrong again (de Moraes, 2017b): "Actually, the Gang of 8, including @SenSchumer, did away with the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know. I was there." On November 1, Chuck Schumer punched back on the Senate floor. After mentioning the brave NYDP officer, Schumer calls for action (de Moraes, 2017c): "So again, I am calling on the president to rescind his proposed cuts to this vital antiterrorism funding immediately. ... Instead of dividing, instead of politicizing, do something real, Mr. President. Restore these funds now." In spite of the terrorist attack in New York City, they still held the scheduled Halloween Parade. One million people participated, costumed and dancing with joy. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said they were not going to blinkdthey were not going to change who they are. Kids went trick-or-treating as usual. The marathon, an iconic event, will also be held on schedule. What this says to the kids is that we can overcome any adversity.
Richard M. NixondRepublican Election Tampering On June 17, 1972, five men were caught breaking into the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were The Washington Post reporters who
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broke the story. It was made clear after a series of revelations that the Committee to Re-elect the President (later known as CREEP) broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the Watergate complex to steal copies of top-secret documents and bug the offices telephone lines (History Staff, 2009). Nixon encouraged the investigation of Watergate: "You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I’m innocent. You’ve got to believe I’m innocent. If you don’t, take my job." Richard M. Nixon, Brainy Quotes When it became clear that Nixon was not "completely honest" he offered hush money to the burglars. Nixon attempted to impede the investigation when he and his aides hatched a plan to instruct the Central Intelligence Agency to impede the investigation of the FBI of the crime. This was an abuse of the presidential power and a deliberate obstruction of justice, a more serious crime than the break-in (History Staff, 2009). Even though Nixon lost popular support, he continued to reject any accusations that he was involved. Nixon downplayed the scandal as being "mere" politics and called the news articles as misleading and biased. In his statement about the Watergate Investigation released on May 22, 1973, Nixon mentioned the news media and, in today’s terminology, "fake" news: "A climate of sensationalism has developed in which even second - or third-hand hearsay charges are headlined as fact and repeated as fact." Nixon (1973). On November 17, 1973, in an interview with the press, Nixon again appealed to the public: "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricard_Nixon. Things began to unravel in 1974. It was established that the White House was involved when Alexander Butterfield, White House aide, testified under oath that Nixon secretly taped conversations and phone calls in the Oval Office. A subpoena was issued by the Watergate Special Council Archibald Cox. The Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes; the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up and several violations of the Constitution. Nixon released the tapes on August 5. These became known as the "Nixon tapes"dwhich had an 18½ minute gap. Nixon resigned in on August 8, in which he stated: "I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body. But as president I must put the interests of America first. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow." Richard M. Nixon, Brainy Quote Nixon resigned because, as President, Nixon put AMERICA FIRST!
Donald J. TrumpdRussian Election Tampering During a news conference on July 27 Trump made a public request to Russia to look for the 30,000 emails that are either missing or deleted from Clinton’s private computer. How did Trump know
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about the 30,000 emails, and that they were either missing or deleted? In his Time magazine article, von Drehle gave a short timeline of events regarding the emails (von Drehle, 2017, pp. 22e27). It began back on June 3 that Donald Trump Jr. received an email about passing on information about Clinton as part of Russia’s support for Trump, to which Jr. replied: "If it’s what you say I love it." This information was passed on to his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manifold. The trio met with Natalia Veselnitsaya in Trump Tower on June 9. On June 14 the Democratic National Committee announced it has been hacked, and on June 24, Clinton Campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN that Russians were leaking the email information as part of an effort to help Trump. The FBI did investigate Clinton’s emails and on July 5, 2016, FBI Director James Comey announced that Clinton was "extremely careless" and recommended that no charges be filed against her. On October 28, 2016, Comey notified Congress that new emails were found that may be pertinent to the case. On November 6, Comey notified Congress that the FBI had not changed its previous conclusions (Hicks, 2016). Comey’s announcement on October 28 had a devastating effect on the presidential election. Before that announcement, Clinton was voted the most admired woman in America. And to announce on November 6 that the conclusions were not changed was a mite bit too late. Upon the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Trump fired Coney because of the bad judgment of announcing at a press conference the thoughts regarding the investigation (Bierman and Lauter, 2017). Jeff Sessions was put in charge of the Clinton email investigation, but then recused himself because of his connections with Russia. Trump was furious with Sessionsdhis personal pick for the Department of Justice. When the investigation turned to him and evidence started to pile up, Trump tweeted: "Russia talk is FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and illegal leaks." Feb 26, 2017 1:16 PM Gartner in Montgomery (2017, p. xxv). Robert S. Mueller was appointed in May 2017 to investigate whether or not the Kremlin had anything to do with the 2016 election. Robert Mueller came out of retirement to oversee the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. He has been described as a hardworker, able to get things done, and will stand up against the powers of the president. Having unequivocally denied any collusion with Russia regarding the 2016 presidential elections, the Mueller investigations recently indicted three former Trump campaign officials: George Papadopouos, former campaign advisor, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about attempts to set up meetings with Russian officials; Paul Manafort, former campaign manager, charged on nine counts of conspiracy, money laundering, and acting as an unregistered agent for pro-Russian party in Ukraine; and Rick Gates, former Trump deputy campaign manager who worked with Manafort (Ball, 2017b). Mueller’s opening gambit with Manafort and Gates was for crimes of tax evasion and frauddfollowing the money. Tax records are very important in investigations. On October 17, 1931, Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. As of this date, Trump has not released his tax records, although he promised to do so "soon." The reason presidential candidates in recent years release their tax records is to verify they have no connections with foreign powers that can be used to extract favors if they are elected. There will always be that
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cloud hanging over Trump because he has bragged about his global business interests. As noted by Ball, the Mueller investigation indicates that: ". had an in with senior officials like Manafort and Gates. They hacked and strategically released emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. And they executed a far-reaching social-media campaign of bots and trolls and fake news.." Ball (2017b, p. 31). True to the now-established form, Trump send a "barrage of angry tweets" as the charges were reported (Redden, 2017). It was recently reported (November 14) that there are money connections with Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign (Leopold et al., 2017). The FBI is investigating 60 wire transfers from a Kremlin-backed Russian bank that landed in the embassy’s Citibank accounts. Citibank launched a review of other transfers. Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisors said to the president’s legal team that they could no long discuss the special council’s investigation. The implication was that Flynn was cooperating with the prosecutors or in the process of making a deal (Schmidt et al., 2017). Donald Trump Jr. released emails that he was eager for Moscow’s aid to help his father defeat Hillary Clinton (Sonne and Ballhaus, 2017). According to Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, Trump Jr. was eager to obtain information that the Clinton campaign may have received money from the Ziff family that evaded US Taxes. In exchange for this information, Trump Jr. indicated that his father would reexamine the Magnitsky Actda retailiatory measure the United States leveled against Moscow (Tracy, 2017). Mueller’s probe also questioned son-inlaw Jared Kushner’s foreign contacts. Among the issues covered were his meetings with, among others, Sergey Gorkov, chief executive of state-run Russian bank Vnesheconombank that was under federal sanctions; the Trump Tower meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya; and his role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey (Price, 2017). The Mueller investigation of the firing of James Comey by Trump Sr. is to determine if it was an obstruction of justice (Sheth, 2017). Being a person obsessed with tweeting, Trump’s own tweets could help the prosecutor’s case: "President Trump’s Twitter habit may become a legal liability for him because his latest tweets about the Russian investigation could help build a case against him on charges of obstruction or witness intimidation, legal experts say." Kelly (2017b). Trump has "drawn the line" when it comes to Mueller’s investigation. The implication is that if the line is crossed, Trump may try to get him fired. Experts have cautioned committees to insure that all of the information goes to them in case Mueller is fired (Kelly, 2017a). Recall that the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Nixon for obstruction of justicedand that Nixon put America first and resigned.
SS-15.26 The Voices of the Women Be Heard It is almost blasphemous to say that the women’s voices had not been heard in the politics of old. Even today, there are politicians who believe women should have no voice in politics. Consider, for example, the "12 old men behind closed doors" who orchestrated the Republican replacement
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of Obamacare this past summer. It has taken over two centuries for a woman to be a candidate for President of the United States. The Women’s March on Washington, and around the world in support, may be considered to be the initial salvo. Most recently (as of this writing) are the allegations of sexual misconduct of Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore of Alabama. Moore was accused of "seducing" a 14-year-old girl at his house in 1979, when he was 32 years (McAteer, 2017). In view of the fact that the age of consent is 16 years, this makes Moore a potential pedophile if true. Other women have come forward with similar allegations (Savransky, 2017). Pastor Earl Wise told the Boston Globe that he would continue to support Roy Moore because ". he thinks the women who have accused Moore have been paid" (Anapol, 2017). The attitude that women only act on political oriented issues if paid, as also indicated in the PPP on the Women’s March on Washington (see Section SS-15.6, Question 4), is demeaning to today’s women. Al Franken was also accused of sexual harassment, but he welcomed an investigation. Franken also immediately released an apology (Fandos, 2017). Donald Trump initially did not say anything about Roy Moore but did his tweet-thing about Franken: "The Al Franken picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6 while she sleeps?... 9:06 PM - Nov. 16, 2017" Trump eventually defended Roy Moore on the basis that Moore said he "totally denies it." Trump added the "justification" of backing Moore by making a comment about Moore’s opponent Doug Jones (Taylor, 2017): "I can tell you one thing for sure, we don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat." In other words, Trump expressed the preference of pedophile in the Senate than at Democrat. Aside from being a Democrat, Jones is best known as the US Attorney who prosecuted KKK members responsible for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four black girls. Trump’s criticism of Franken "backfired spectacularly" because of Trump’s own bragging about groping women and sexual assault. In a 2005 interview with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, and cousin to George Bush, Trump said he was automatically attracted to beautiful women and just "automatically" starts kissing women (Jacobs et al., 2016). Trump said to Bush of his celebrity status: "And when you are a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything" Burleigh (2017b). Morley listed nine women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct (Morley, 2017). Historically women have been treated as second-class citizens. Their positions in society were less than their male counterparts. Girls played with dolls; boys played with toy guns. To be fair, most men did not realize this was going on, as noted by journalist Natasha Stoynoff: "So many men had no idea this happened to so many women - I didn’t know either! That’s what the #MeToo movement has done. There’s power in numbers." Quoted in Burleigh (2017b, p. 31).
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SS-15.27 The Twenty-Fifth Amendment "America is at a great disadvantage. Putin is ex-KGB, Obama is a community organizer. Unfair." Donald Trump, as given in Montgomery (2017, p. 15). Preference of the totalitarian and terrorist methods of the KGB over the organization of communities is clearly the antithesis of American values. The United States has its foundations in the Pilgrims who fled England because of religious persecution, and the Boston Tea Party that brought the community together to sever ties with England. Communities are the basic units of society. The World of Trump is a world of manipulation and deals as written in biographies about him and his own actions. The trademark "You’re fired" is not a community motto. Lewis Diuguid, former editor of The Kansas City Star and author of three books, wrote the following about the role of communities in society: "Communities are the heart and soul of all cities and countries. People have to live in service to the communities they are in. Communities thrive or die based on the investment of individuals to maintaining the solidarity and strength of the community. When individuals think they matter more than the community they are in, the community suffers. Yet in this country, that individualism is contagious. As more people take on that ’me first’ mantra or pull on the Donald Trump ’I am better than everyone else’ garb, our community crumbles. That sort of narcissism has to be stomped out immediately for the community’s well-being to be preserved." Diuguid and Tate-Beaver (2017). When Trump commented on the NFL players kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell slammed Trump, saying Trump had a lack of respect for the league and its players. This lack of respect for the NFL is also a pack of respect Trump has for communities. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in response to Trump’s twitter (Green, 2017): "There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible disasters we’ve experienced over the last month. Devisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities." When communities sufferdAmerica suffers! Donald Trump has brought in a "wrecking crew" to dismantle the American government (Calabresi, 2017). The basis of government in the United States is the Constitution, the very thing Trump swore to defend in his oath of office and inaugural speech on January 20, 2017: "..defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God." Trump described himself as having the temperament of a first grader (Item 2), and the press likened him to a child (see Section SS-15.10). National Security Advisor General H. R. McMaster reportedly said at a private dinner with a powerful tech CEO that Trump had the intelligence of a kindergartner (Bernstein, 2017). Gordon says that Trump has made us nostalgic for George W.
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Bush (Gordon, 2017). On the lighter side, humorist Joy Behar wrote a book on how to survive TrumpdThe Great Gasbag: An A-to-Z study Guide to Surviving Trump World. George Will described Trump’s inability to think and speak clearly as a disability: ". an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric selfconfidence." Will (2017). Will provided several examples of the "untrained mind," one of which Trump said that people don’t ask questions about why there was a Civil War. Another example is Trump’s belief that is February address to a joint session of Congress was the best ever made in that chamberd including Winston Churchill and others. Will also noted the "sophomoric" language, such as "bomb the s—out of them" (in reference to North Korea). It appears that Trump speaks in superlatives when it comes to others, and superlative superlatives of himself. It is ironic that Trump became the President of the United States by the slimmest of margins by the very mechanism that was supposed to keep dangerous and unfit candidates out of office: the Electoral College. Trump is not a representative of what America means to the rest of the world. As Trump said, the only thing that counts is Trump. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution addresses presidential disability and succession to office. There is a "duty to warn" if the president is dangerous and unfit to carry out the duties of the office. What is the evidence? Reviewing the self description of Trump and others, gives the following summary: selfperception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and institution; sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others; needing constant admiration from others; and exploitative of others to achieve personal gain. Many of his friends have tried to stop him from twittering every time he gets upset. From his twitters Gartner lists the following characteristics (in Montgomery, 2017, pp. xiexxxii): paranoia (Trump admits thisd Item 5); antisocial personality disorder (Trump admits thatdItems 1 and 4); sadism (Trump admits thatdItems 10 and 11); winning takes care of everything (Trump admits thatdItem 4). Bandy Lee, organizer of the Yale "Duty to Warn" Conference" was the editor of a book in which 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president (Lee, 2017). Schwartz, who with Trump wrote the book Art of the Deal, describes in neurochemical terms Trumps "gut" instincts: "Trump moves into a fight-or-flight state. His amygdale is triggered, his hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis activates, and his prefrontal cortex - the part of the brain that makes us capable of rationality and reflection - shuts down. He reacts rather than reflects, and damn the consequences. This is what makes his access to the nuclear codes so dangerous and frightening." Schwartz in Lee (2017, p. 73). Robin Write asks why Trump is "so horribly witless about the world?" (Wright, 2017). Wright proceeds in several pages information she gathered from several sources regarding Trump’s apparent "lack of interest in the world." Of course, this is in reference to the world that everyone else lives in. Peter Baker pointed out that, for Trump, the reality show has never ended (Baker, 2017). One could draw both conclusions from the characteristics of Trump obtained from biographies, the previously listed Items 1 to 20.
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Trump has been described by his closest aides and friends as unraveling and that the White House is being consumed in chaos. A premise of this tome is that there are three stages of learning. The gut and heart stages dominate in the earlier years of development. Being raised in a wealthy family with a very demanding father had sheltered him from social contact usually experienced by youth. His admission that he still has the temperament of a first grader can explain his reliance on gut thinking with little, if any, opportunity to develop critical thinking habits. He built an impenetrable wall about himself that let nothing in, but was internally reflective. This view runs parallel to the description of Trump by Zimbardo and Sword as given in the collection of essays by Lee: "Yet, with access to the extensive amount of print and video media exposing his bullying behavior, his immature remarks about sex, and his childlike need for constant attention, we can speculate that the traumatizing event was when he was sent away to military school at the age of thirteen. . This would help explain his pubescent default setting when confronted by others" Zimbardo and Sword in Lee (2017, p. 31). In an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, psychiatrist Robert Lifton brought up the "Duty to Warn" of the danger to us all (Lifton, 2017). Lifton mentions: "There’s also the potential unraveling of Donald Trump, which seems to be occurring. It’s hard to read him, because his behavior, as I understand it, is completely solipsistic. He sees the world through his own sense of self, what he needs and what he feels. And he couldn’t be more erratic or scattered or dangerous." The July 3, 2017, MSNBC program The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell was about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Lawrence O’Donnell closed the program with a statement about the change in society since July 4, 1776, of which the following are excerpts: "Two hundred and forty one years later, we do not hold that any truths are self-evident, least of all that all men are created equal, or that women are the equal of men. We have a president who does not hold that the truth of Barrack Obama’s birth certificate to be selfevident. We have one political party that holds that the long term influence on climate change is self-evident and another party and president who do not. .. As a result of inadequate education, including inadequate college education, for people like the current President of the United States, and, because of centuries of prejudice and out of control hatred, we hold no truths to be self-evident now. The President calls perfectly truthful news reports fake news. And millions of his supporters agree with that lie. .. And the sixth job, the sixth job mentioned in the Constitution, is the President. And the very first mention of the President in the Constitution is about - impeachment of the President. Something the founding fathers expect to happen. The founding father expected the voters at some point to be tricked into electing a President who would have to be removed from office."
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[Note added in proof: American journalist Michael Wolff wrote a book about Trump’s presidential campaign and the first year of his administration. The book, titled Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, was based on more than 200 interviews with key aides inside and outside of the White House, inner circles, and with Trump. This book raised questions about Trump’s ineptitude at handling the administration, and his inability to do his job. A pre-publication announcement of the book brought immediate responses by Trump, even to the point of contacting lawyers to block the publication (which the Washington Post noted that to suppress publication would be in violation of the First Amendment Rights). Trump also laid claim in a tweetstorm that he was "a very stable genius" and "like, really smart" as one of his greatest assets. As a result of the un-presidential responses and demands, the publishers released the book four days ahead of schedule and it became an overnight best seller.]
SS-16.0 America as the Melting Pot "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus" At the base of the Statue of Liberty When at an event with a large audience, such as a sports event or music concert, look around you. One will, almost with certainty, be looking at a descendant of an immigrant to this country. The play "The Melting Plot" by Israel Zangwill was first staged in 1908. It is a play depicting the life of a Russian-Jewish family that immigrated to the United States. The "melting pot" is a metaphor in use by the 1780s for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous as time goes on. America is often called a melting pot because, in principle, it is where many different people blend together as one. Immigrants came to America either by choice or by force. The Pilgrims came by choice to flee religious persecution and indentured servitude to stay out of jail. In the 1930s and 1940s, scientists came to America by choice to escape political repercussions. Africans were forced to come to America as slave laborers. Others immigrated to America because they were forcibly expelled from their country. A relevant example of the latter is Donald Trump, whose grandfather Frederick Trump was expelled from Germany because of dodging the draft (see Section SS-15.8). Immigrants literally built industrial America. The railroads were built on the backs of Chinese laborers. Most of the Italian immigrants were farm laborers, but some worked in textile factories and mines. Irish and German immigrants came because of civil unrest; they helped build canals and railroads. The above is a brief statement regarding the standard account of absorbing immigrants into existing American culture. But immigrants also contributed to the development of what has become know as American culture. Hirschman gives an account of immigrants contributing to the arts, entertainment, songs, music, symphony orchestras, sports, education, universities, science, and literature, to name a few of their contributions to what defines "America" (Hirschman, 2013). But despite the history of immigration, Hirschman pointed out that the new arrivals were not always welcome. There is a deep fear immigrants will change the American identity. But what
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is that identity? Hirschman noted that other societies had identities to ancient lineage. Although the Native Americans have such lineage, the New Americans do not. Hirschman defines what being American is about: "Being American was defined as acceptance of the Enlightenment ideas expressed in the founding documents of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights." It is this view, however, that has been misinterpreted because the emphasis was on the writers of these documents and not the message that these documents bring. There are those who believe that the Constitution was made exclusively by the white race because those who wrote and signed the Constitution were of the white race. But what is important is the message. The "We the People" include persons of color as well as white. As noted by Somin: ".. at least five states at the time of the Founding allowed free blacks to become citizens on the same terms as whites, and also gave them the right to participate the elections for the state conventions that ratified the Constitution." Somin (2012). King also acknowledges that missing in US history is the recognition and contributions of black Americans (King, 2017). It is not too difficult to accept the fact that America is not a "white" haven, as some people believe it to be. Consider the hotdog, also spelled as hot dog. The hotdog is considered to be a "quintessentially American street food" (Filippone, 2017). It is a staple food at baseball games. Even the Peanuts cartoon character Snoopy thinks so. In a cartoon Snoopy has a hotdog in hand, and says: "What the hotdog needs is a baseball game in front of it." Actually the hotdog was invented in the late 19th century by American observers of German immigrants eating sausages on a bun. The first sale of hotdogs on a bun was at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Antoine Feuchwanger served hot sausages called "frankfurters" (after his birthplace Frankfurt, Germany) in which he loaned gloves to the purchasers to hold the hot sausage. When the gloves were not returned he asked his brother, a baker, to invent a solutiondhence the birth of the bun (https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_dog_bun). What exactly is a hotdog and how does it compare to other "tubular steaks"dthe sausage and the bratwurst? The sausage is a preparation of ground meat and sold in casing as link or in bulk, whereas a bratwurst is a specific type of fresh link sausage made with pork or veal (Splawn, 2016). A hotdog is made from what is left over after the steaks, chops, breasts, ribs, thighs, hams, tenderloins, and briskets are removed (Melissa, 2014). What are left are lower-grade muscle trimmings, fatty tissues, head meat, animal feet, animal skin, blood, liver, and other edible slaughter products. All of these are included in a "meat emulsion" and cooked. Chemicals are added. Shown in Figure SS-16.1 are the sausage, the bratwurst, and the inexpensive hotdog. Let the three tubular steaks be metaphors for American society. The sausage and bratwurst are made from the "elite" cuts of meat of the animal. These represent a society that is run by the "elite"dthe corporations and the very wealthy. The heterogeneous structure is a visualization of the pockets of anxiety, suspicion, and hatred between peoples of different nationalities, religions, race, and gender preferences. But the backbone of America lies not in the elite, but in the workersdthe "leftovers" of society. If the rage can be overcome, then America becomes a true melting pot. It is the inexpensive American hotdog that represents what America can become to be truly Great.
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A
B
C
FIGURE SS-16.1 Sausage, brats, and hotdogs: intact and sliced. The intact object is on the left and the logwayssliced object on the right. A: A Cajun style smoked sausage. B: A bratwurst sausage known at Royals Stadium as a "Sheboygan"da special recipe brat made in the town of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. C: A hotdog made with chicken and added pork.
SS-17.0 The Only Thing Constant About Change is Change In the last 15 years we have gone from a president who cares for the citizens in a time of crisis to a president who looks at a crisis as a political means to gain the backing of the people. Can democracy survive? Do the people want it to survive? Trump has said: "The only thing that counts is me." Trump has averaged slightly over five false claims per day, at a pace that gives 1999 false claims the first year in office (MSNBC discussion on November 24, 2017). Trump’s approval rating is 37% (Scott, 2017), which is about his voting base. Do people of color matter? Are the rich to gain profits while the lower 90% foot the bill? Do we want America to be an isolationist nation? Will the two-party system survive? Is this a glimpse of America’s future? The story is not over. There are people in our society today who do believe the Bizarro World is just another bit of fake politics based on alternative facts that will disappear when the television set is turned off. Will the present political parties start thinking of the people rather than the next election? Or do we need a third partydthe "people first" party? How can "we the people" again become the focus of government? Or do we even want the government to care for the peopledto see to it that there is a livable environment, the people are healthy, and have an education to make viable decisions to survive? If we do, then the influence of corporations and the existence of lobbyists must become a thing of the past. Corruption in the
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government must come to an end, for there is no historical evidence in history books that such governments existed with the will of the people. Science will play an important role in our future, just as it has in our past. It is very important that the citizens as well as the politicians understand the basic principles of the underlying science that is relevant to issues that will determine our future as a society and as a nation. The schools must also change what they teach. Civics must be returned to the classroom, starting with grade school. The Constitution is a topic that should be mandatory, and what it means to have separation of powers in the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government in a system of checks and balances. Our system does have built in a means of independent investigations when the circumstances arise. But that, too, may change. Societies always change. The question is Where do we go from here?
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