Asking Questions

 Finished Sec. Esper's book. One point I think worthy of commenting.  Esper, along with Gen. Milley, found the former guy to be very erratic, often reacting to what he saw on Fox or heard from his last contact, and sometimes with highly unrealistic ideas of what could be accomplished (as in withdrawals from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Africa).

According to Esper they often challenged Trump's wild hairs by raising lots of questions, often on the logistics of implementation, sometimes on legal issues involving internatonal law or the law of war.  That reaction accounts for Trumpians concerns over the "deep state" stalling.

Elsewhere I recently ran across a description of how environmentalists and NIMBY types delay and delay proposals for new pipelines (like the one Sen. Manchin got fast tracked as part of the IRA deal) by continually raising questions and legal issues.

So, I like Esper's questions, but am less enthusiastic about NIMBYism. Where do you draw the line, can you, between valid issues and stalling?  Because a new project involves unknowns, questions are inevitable and you can never resolve them all.  

Changing Times--Reversals of Roles

 Live long enough and you might find white becomes black and black white.  That's an oversimplification, but it applies this week.

When I was young (1950's) those who took the Fifth Amendment were frowned upon--then they were often Hollywood radicals, what were called "fellow-travelers" of the Communist Party, possibly spies, and certainly people who deserved to be dismissed from their jobs, blackballed from the entertainment industry, and investigated, tried, and convicted, not necessarily in that order.

Meanwhile, the FBI was led by J.Edgar Hoover, renowned defender of the American Way against subversives, spies, criminals (except organized crime, since there was none), and deviants of all stripes.  

Today of course the former guy has taken the Fifth and some in the Republican party want to defund or blow up the FBI.

Because the right has reversed their field, it tends to force liberals to reverse theirs: to condemn those who take the Fifth, defend the powers of government in investigations, and protect the FBI.

The Role of Women

 Reading Ian Morris Geography Is Destiny. His subject is Britain and geography over 10,000 years.

An interesting point he makes is in the domestication of wild grains in the Middle East--his opinion is that it began with women, since modern hunter-gatherers have women doing most of the gathering while the men do the hunting.

That makes sense to me. But he posits that men were involved in domesticating animals--livestock.  He doesn't give his logic, but the implication is hunting would lead into domestication.  I'm not so sure.  We know, or I think we know, that the maternal instinct lives in both sexes and in many mammals.  We've seen the cute pictures of animals of different species being "friends", grooming each other, sleeping with each other, playing, etc., which I'd ascribe to the maternal instinct at work.

I'd assume domestication proceeded by human adoption/seduction of young mammals, young girls perhaps saving a young animal from being eaten. 

The Search Warrant

 My current bottom line is nobody knows nothing. So why waste bits writing about it? 

Inflation Reduction Act and Agriculture

 As is usual to get big bills passed, there's everything in the IRA except the kitchen sink.  The logic is classic log-rolling, everyone gets a piece of the action to boast about. Manchin and Sinema may get the headlines for their actions, and they may take credit back in WV and AZ for bringing home the bacon, and receive credit from interest groups in the form of donations, but I guarantee there's something in the bill for every Democrat. 

Chris Clayton has the most detailed summary I've seen here.

Updated to add this excerpt: 

"LOAN AID FOR DISTRESSED FARMERS

The bill also included just over $1 billion to FSA to replace the loan reimbursement for socially disadvantaged farmers, which ended in several lawsuits by white farmers after the provisions in the American Rescue Plan was passed in 2021.

The new provisions help borrowers "who are at risk" -- as determined by USDA -- as a "limited resource farmer or rancher" to pay 100% of their loans, up to $150,000. The loan repayment would be offset by any funds those farmers received under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and reducing any payments under the Market Facilitation Program (MFP). For economically distressed borrowers are those who would be considered at least 90 days delinquent as of April 30, 2021, or 90 days delinquent as of the end of 2020. A farmer could also qualify if they farm in an area with at leas a 20% poverty rate, or in land held in trust by a Tribe or Native America.

Other farmers that would qualify for debt reduction include farmers in bankruptcy as of July 31, 2021, or receive a disaster set aside after Jan. 1, 2020, or has debt restructured after Jan. 1, 2020.

The bill also includes $750 million to provide farmers who experienced discrimination from USDA before Jan. 1, 2021. The bill would pay up to $500,000 to farmers who have proven to be discriminated against in USDA loan programs."

Chris corrects himself, because the language above was an old draft.  See this

Three Bucks

 I may have mentioned the growing presence of deer around our townhouse.  Over the years it's changed from a single deer occasionally, to a single deer more often, to the occasional pair or a doe with fawns, to once a group of five.

But the other day was the first day I can remember for sure of seeing a buck, actually three bucks.  All three had good sets of antlers.  Couldn't count the points but maybe 10+ on one and close to that on the other two. I guess it's not mating season yet, so they seemed content in each other's company. 

Cherry Shaking

 I learned this term, "cherry shaking", along with "pitters" in a news article today.  Michigan sour cherry growers are running into problems.  Their sour cherries are ripening unusually closerly together, meaning they need to be harvested by shaking the tree, and then processed by the pitters, but there's not enough slack in the pitting capacity to handle the surge. 

Data Sharing in USDA

 It's been almost 25 years since I retired. In my absence USDA has made progress in getting data sharing among agencies.  

Consider this release about Emergency Relieft Program payments. 

(I guess I'm losing my grasp on what's happening in USDA--I'm not at all clear on how these payments fit with crop insurance, NAP, or other programs.  My impression, which may well be wrong, is  that the Biden/Vilsack regime is following the precedents of the Trump administration's use of CCC funding.

Another Pigford Defendant Pleads

 According to this report.  Four other defendants in the conspiracy pleaded earlier in July.  There's still one left in the case.

Shirts in the Revolution Were Costly

 Reading Alan Taylor's "American Revolutions".  As usual he's quite readable, though there's not much new for me so far.  One trivia bit jumped out to me though:

In 1780 women in several of the states organized in support of the troops, soliciting donations*, and raised some $340,000, which they sent to Martha Washington to give to her husband to be distributed to the troops.  As Washington George figured, probably likely, the cash would be wasted on drink and frivolity he asked for shirts instead.  So they bought fabric with the money and made shirts, 2,200 of them.

So each shirt cost $154, and that's just for the fabric.

Note the date--1780.  By then Continental paper money wasn't worth a continental.