The Washington Web, Trump's Abuse of Power, Quit Driving for Lent

 

1. The reporters fired from the Washington Post metro and sports sections need to create their own web site to report news - The Washington Web. Sell ads, compete, make the Post regret their decision. Anyone with boss skills who cannot work should do this, even if for free. I've been doing that on tax policy since the early 2010s. If I can be come known in the budget and tax game, others can certainly do the same on local news and sports. I might even jump on board, given my experience on the Examiner and in District Government. Who's with me!

2. Trump is imposing a 10% tariff on all nations because he can and because the Supreme Court clipped his wings. He identified no real need, he is doing it for spite. This is the very definition of abuse of power. Impeach him now. (Congress should enact tariffs - probably at the VAT rate of every nation who charges such a tax but zero rates it at the border when exporting).

3. Welcome to Lent. Pope Leo XIV gave a moving challenge - although not moving enough for me to remember it. I urge an act of solidarity with the planet and the poor. Don't drive to work. Take the bus and the train if possible for commuting - or car pool - do something. Since 1957 or so (we know for sure since 1980), the water temperature in The Barents Sea - which is the only body of water of any size adjacent to the Arctic Ocean - has gone up, on average 7 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. This process started when we traded in our trams and trolleys for cars and busses powered by gasoline. Oil and coal heat (and power) are declining and have been for a while now. Using gasoline has not. It is the main thing that has gone up with modern warming.

Global warming is causing people to die and threatens the food supply - especially for what is grown in US heartland. Lent started as a way for the rich to be in solidarity with the poor so that everyone ate (so that the poor would be alive to keep working the land). The Church made sure that happened. We need to do this again - so quit driving for Lent unless your penitential practice is entirely self-centered. Given the ongoing tragedy of climate change - shift your penance to what matters.

Join me and the rest of the poor on the bus and train.