Whitcomb: Soak Up the Extra Water; Death Be Proud; Honestly Facing the Migrant Crisis; Mitt Gives Up

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Robert Whitcomb, Columnist

 

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Robert Whitcomb, Columnist

“Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil
     probably fell down there.
And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous….’’

--From “What the Living Do,’’ by Marie Howe (born 1950), American poet

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To read the whole poem, hit this link:

 

 

“Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.’’

-- J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973),  English writer and philologist. He wrote the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

 

 

I wonder what makes some individual leaves on deciduous trees turn fall colors  -- yellow, red, russet and purple -- so early  -- while most of the rest of the leaves stay green for weeks longer.
 

To think that crickets and katydids, who perform a symphony in September, are edible by us. They’re best slightly fried or roasted.

 

 

Don’t Let It All Run Off

Cities such as Providence face a challenge in handling the increased flooding that comes from the heavier rain associated with global warming, as we saw again last week.  The flooding usually hits poor neighborhoods the worst.

 

What would help is less asphalt and more vegetation-covered soil to absorb the water.

 

Consider the new infrastructure installation at Pell Elementary School, in Newport’s North End. The installation slows down stormwater, allowing much of it to be absorbed into the ground instead of water sweeping pollutants directly into the Narragansett Bay watershed.

 

Let’s hope that the idea is catching.

 

 

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IMAGE: National Weather Service

The news-media hype last week about Hurricane Lee mostly reflects their craving for clicks/ratings from the drama associated with (mostly free) video. And I suspect that most people enjoy the excitement of a storm even if they’re in it, unless, of course, there’s some personal insult/expense, such as a tree falling on their house.

 

There was a minor hurricane called Belle back in 1976 that weakened and moved west of Rhode Island during our first residency in Providence. When it became clear that it wouldn’t amount to much, our next-door neighbor, the late great Luigi Bianco, whined in frustration: “But I want drama!”
 

Back in the ’50s, at our house on Massachusetts Bay, several hurricanes kept us well supplied with firewood from fallen trees and branches well into the ‘60s; we started to miss those storms when we ran low of firewood during the ‘60s tropical- storm shortage. The firewood was mostly for decorative fires during the holidays and to pop popcorn (to be soaked in butter and salt – no wonder we all got heart disease) -- and roast chestnuts. I still link the fires with watching home movies taken on a wind-up  8mm camera.

 

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Newport Wedding Melee

Death Is More Reliable

The melee at a wedding party in Newport last weekend reminded me of why I prefer funerals to weddings: The attendees are more dignified, the music is better and the outcome is certain for the key protagonist – the deceased. Samuel Johnson said about second marriages that they’re the triumph of hope over experience; I suppose you could say the same thing about most legal contracts.

 

Maybe the couple in Newport would have done better to elope.

 

Hit this link for the Newport horror show:

 

 

xxx

 

It takes a lot of work to keep in touch with old friends, and sometimes you find that they no longer have the interest or energy to be kept in touch with. Dispersal! Entropy!

 

 

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PHOTO: GoLocal

Answers to the Migrant Mess

 

“One should always have one’s boots on and be ready to leave.’’

-- Michel De Montaigne (1533-1592), French philosopher

 

 

There could be some very effective responses to the long migrant crisis, if only we had the political will to try them.

 

The trouble is, they all cost money – albeit a promising investment – and political forces, especially the GOP/QAnon Party, are unwilling to do anything seriously effective and coherent, preferring the continuing rewards of demagoguery against those who have fled violence, brutal dictatorships and poverty to get to the U.S.  And now the effects of global warming – worse storms, more flooding and more extreme droughts – have only enlarged the throngs of desperate asylum seekers and other would-be immigrants.

(Last week’s catastrophic flood in Libya, most of which is desert, was the result of a hurricane-like storm that swept off the Mediterranean, whose temperature has been at a record high. That, the Morocco quake and other disasters will fuel new floods of migrants risking perilous trips to Europe and America.)
 

First off, there should be a huge increase in staffing for the Border Patrol and those who process migrants’ petitions at the border for legal entry – lawyers, judges, social workers, public health people, etc.  And much more housing should be made available at the border to shelter people as they await legal regularization of their status or deportation. There should also be a big increase in resources for regional federal immigration offices, especially now that the likes of far-right Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. and would-be President Ron DeSantis are making political hay by shipping migrants, whatever their status, to the Blue States, some of whose cities’ leaderships feel overwhelmed by the influx.

 

This is now becoming a Trumpian issue in such northern cities as New York, Boston and Philadelphia, although the orange caudillo’s regime itself failed to improve things when in power. It’s all about the rhetoric.

Hit this link:

 

 

The Feds and states need to create a much more orderly and extensive system for migrants whose status has been formalized to be able to get work wherever in the U.S. they end up. This would, of course, reduce the Feds’, states’, and localities cost to feed and house them. As for temporary housing for the migrants, given that immigration is a federal responsibility, the Feds should generally pay for it.
 

Of course, we already have a housing shortage for low- and middle-income Americans. The migrant influx in some areas makes it worse, and all the more reason to change zoning, tax and other laws to encourage the construction of more housing.

 

I believe most Americans support these ideas in a general way. It would be well worth raising taxes on the rich  (who have never been so rich and thus politically powerful) and upper-middle class to help pay for it.
 

But citizens, in general, want more government services and lower taxes. Maybe the public schools should improve math instruction? Oh, wait a minute! Raise someone else’s taxes!

 

Looking at federal income-tax rates through the years offers some perspective for people who think they’re being gouged more than ever.

 

Of course, some people  (including those whose parents or grandparents were illegal aliens) want the Border Patrol and/or National Guard and/or Army to shoot some migrants at the border to slow the flow.

 

Oh yes, a crucial if longer-term program should be to improve conditions in nations that the migrants are fleeing. This means more foreign aid to Third World governments and nongovernmental nonprofits. Most of those governments are corrupt, and so some of the money will be stolen, but the aid could help a lot in some countries to reduce the pressure to leave.

 

Americans tend to dislike paying the bill for foreign aid, but it’s usually enlightened self-interest. The greatest example is the Marshall Plan, which helped save the West by helping to rebuild Europe from the devastation of World War II. That and the creation of NATO prevented Western Europe from falling under the sway of Soviet tyranny.

 

And American foreign policy can make the migrant crisis worse. Look at how our economic sanctions against the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro have helped immiserate millions of Venezuelans. The sanctions have sent many thousands of them to our southern border.

 

 

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IMAGE: Google

A Mania for Monopoly

The too-long delayed trial in the lawsuit by the Justice Department’s  Antitrust Division against Google has finally gotten going. Google, a notably well-run if rapacious company, has created for itself a virtual monopoly in search engines by locking in its engine as the default choice in many places and devices.  This has tended to reduce competition and stifle innovation. Google’s fearsome lobbyists in Washington have so far helped to protect the company from being broken up. For that matter, since the Reagan administration, the Feds usually have been loath to go after powerful monopolies.

 

Companies like to talk about the glories of competition, but what many of them want to be is a good old-fashioned monopoly. Who wouldn’t?

 

Monopolies can endanger national security of us and our allies. Witness Elon Musk’s Starlink company’s satellite communications over Ukraine. In at least one case, he thwarted a Ukrainian attack on Russian forces that would have used his company’s system. These tech moguls have some powers that should only be in the hands of our elected government, and not held by a business mogul, let alone one as mercurial as Mr. Musk.

The government should take steps to get competitors to Starlink in the mix and in national-security matters such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, make sure that they don’t inadvertently or otherwise undermine our national interests.

 

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PHOTO: GoLocal

News Deserts Cost Taxpayers

There’s increasing evidence of the damage that the shrinking and demise of local newspapers, and the slashing of local TV and radio news operations, do to their communities, especially small rural and exurban ones.  In some places, usually at least partly urbanized, such as Rhode Island, for-profit companies, such as GoLocal, and a few nonprofit organizations have stepped in to fill some of the vacuum.
 

Localities’ borrowing costs go up in news deserts. The absence of journalists to watch for local government corruption and inefficiencies makes investors leery of buying, for example, municipal bonds in some places, and so investors demand higher interest rates on the debt. And the lack of vigorous and well-staffed  local news media makes it easier for corrupt and/or demagogic pols, from Trump down, as well as dishonest businesses, to successfully peddle their lies and to loot. The more ignorant and misinformed people out there, the better for them. Finally, healthy and honest local news media serve as public squares for information and opinion, which helps maintain a sense of community and the stuff that goes with, such as mutual understanding, donations to local charities and modeling local heroes.

 

Here's a pretty good review of the situation, though all you have to do is drive through rural towns, from the South to northern New England, to get a sense of the problem:

 

 

 

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Speaker Kevin McCarthy IMAGE: Twitter

Another Op'nin', Another Show

The U.S. House GOP/QAnon cultists have pushed their pathetic, supine speaker, Kevin McCarthy, to set up hearings and other steps to impeach Joe Biden because of his interactions with his troubled son Hunter, who has been investigated for years. Evidence is still lacking of any Joe Biden lawbreaking, though some of bad judgment.  Certainly as so often happens with relatives of famous people, Hunter traded on his father’s power and influence.

 

So can we expect the very narrowly Democratic-controlled Senate to hold hearings on the many millions in federal and foreign money given to the Trump Organization, the millions in branding money from China for daughter Ivanka and other industrial-strength bribes during the kleptocrat’s reign? And what about the $2 billion from the Saudis in son-in-law Jared Kusher’s new investment fund that swiftly followed Trump’s (temporary?) exit from D.C. after his coup attempt?
 

 

xxx

 

 

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U.S. Senator Mitt Romney PHOTO: U.S. Senate

“A very large portion of my party really doesn’t believe in the Constitution.”

 

-- Mitt Romney,  76, the Utah senator, 2012 Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor, in a  profile in The Atlantic. He has given up on his party and won’t run for re-election. Can any group organize a new, responsible center-right party?

 

Poor Mitt had hoped for years that he and other true conservatives could reverse the national Republican Party’s descent into the swamps of big-donor bribery, relentless, industrial-strength lies, hypocrisy and bigotry that’s been underway for years – and since Trump – into fascism and sedition. Too late!

 

 

Here’s an excerpt from the article:
 


 

Putin’s newly renewed and very vocal support for his boy Trump says it all.

Robert Whitcomb is a veteran editor and writer. Among his jobs, he has served as the finance editor of the International Herald Tribune, in Paris; as a vice president and the editorial-page editor of The Providence Journal; as an editor and writer in New York for The Wall Street Journal,  and as a writer for the Boston Herald Traveler (RIP). He has written newspaper and magazine essays and news stories for many years on a very wide range of topics for numerous publications, has edited several books and movie scripts and is the co-author of among other things, Cape Wind.


 

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