Florida Man Arrested After Attacking Elderly Man Who Asked For Social Distancing
We recently discussed the attack on an elderly man in an elevator over social distancing in Florida. Now, Rovester Ingram has been charged in Winter Park, Florida with a vicious attack on a 70-year-old man at a convenience store after he was asked to social distance. The charge caught my attention. https://jonathanturley.org/2020/07/03/elderly-florida-man-charged-committing-aggravated-battery-on-elderly-man-to-maintain-social-distancing/ https://nypost.com/2020/09/13/florida-man-beats-spits-on-man-who-asked-to-social-distance/
Ingram was without a mask when the elderly man asked him to step away so he could step inside the store at a Citgo gas station according to a police statement. Ingram then followed the victim outside of the store and began punching him. When the victim went into the store, Ingram allegedly followed and continued to assault him. He then pulled the man by the hair outside of the store and continue to hit him and spit on him. https://www.facebook.com/WinterParkPD/photos/a.341657889309193/1921027494705550/?type=3&theater
The elderly man was taken to the hospital with serious injuries and Ingram identified from surveillance footage.
It is little surprise that he faces aggravated battery on a person over 65 years old. However, he also is charged with kidnapping for dragging the man outside of the store.
Here is the relevant statute: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0787/Sections/0787.01.html
787.01 Kidnapping; kidnapping of child under age 13, aggravating circumstances.—
(1)(a) The term “kidnapping” means forcibly, secretly, or by threat confining, abducting, or imprisoning another person against her or his will and without lawful authority, with intent to:
1. Hold for ransom or reward or as a shield or hostage.
2. Commit or facilitate commission of any felony.
3. Inflict bodily harm upon or to terrorize the victim or another person.
4. Interfere with the performance of any governmental or political function.
(b) Confinement of a child under the age of 13 is against her or his will within the meaning of this subsection if such confinement is without the consent of her or his parent or legal guardian.
(2) A person who kidnaps a person is guilty of a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life or as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0775/Sections/0775.082.html http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0775/Sections/0775.083.html http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0775/Sections/0775.084.html
Presumably, the prosecutors are alleging the dragging the victim by the hair outside was “abducting” even if only brief in time. It raises the question of how long or how much movement is needed to quality as abducting. Fights often involve pulling or pushing or dragging someone for a short distance. I could not find a clear answer on where that line is drawn under the criminal code. There is also the question of intent. Was the pulling of the victim outside part of the assault or a mean to continue the assault?
The addition of the kidnapping charge, however, could bring a life sentence so these distinctions could be highly determinative on sentencing.
Over the hill (but not far away)
Today's guest picture comes from my brother Andrew who recently walked along the Erewash canal on a sunny day
We had a dry, cool and quite breezy day here today (although it started raining again in the evening) and this encouraged us to get out into the garden not long after breakfast. I set about turning the compost from Bin A into Bin B, and quite surprised myself and Mrs Tootlepedal by completing the whole job in one go and at a brisk pace. The secret of this was probably the care that we had taken to cut the stuff that went into the bin into as small pieces as possible. This meant that I didn't have to shift great lumps of material at once. We had put quite a lot of cardboard into the mixture and I was very happy to see that it had all rotted down so well that it was indistinguishable from the plant material.
I took my camera round the garden while I recovered from the shock of actually doing something useful.
A row of nerines is looking promising but one has burst into flower before the rest...
...and at the other end of the garden, Lillian Austin is still producing flowers after a break where I thought that she had given up for the year.
On a rather grey day, I was able to find a lot of cheerful colour.
And in spite of the cool breeze, there were plenty of insects and signs of insect activity to be found.
Mrs Tootlepedal was hard at work digging stones out of the ground where she has uprooted the hedge in front of the front lawn.This part of the garden was a yard at one time and the many stones in the soil do not help her plants to grow well.
She broke off and we had coffee. Then we went off with our wheelbarrow to collect a hydrangea from a friend who wanted to get rid of it. It is big and looks very healthy...
...so we hope that it will flower next year (if we can lift it out of the wheelbarrow and then get it out of the pot which the previous owner wants back). And dig a big enough hole to put it in!
After coffee, I started a loaf in the bread machine and went out to mow the drying green and vegetable garden grass. Then I picked a green pepper from Mrs Tootlepedal's chilli plant in the greenhouse and went back in to make some lentil soup with added chilli.
While it was cooking, I watched the birds...
...and was pleased to see a redpoll and a goldfinch as among the more usual siskins.
Then, feeling that I had probably done enough for a while, I sat down to read the papers, do the prize crossword and eat the soup. The papers were a bit depressing, the crossword was a challenge and the soup was very tasty. I might trying adding one of Mrs Tootlepedal's stronger red chillis to the next batch.
After lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal cycled off to do some shopping and I had another look at the birds.
The siskins were in charge again. and full of fight.
Mrs Tootlepedal came back from her shopping trip, I got the bread out of the bread maker and plans for the rest of the afternoon were made. Mrs Tootlepedal opted for another stage of the Tour de France and I was tempted to join her but chose to go out for some fresh air and exercise instead.
I started with a Tour de Garden, where the Crown Princess Margareta was looking very regal....
...and other flowers did their best to shine too.
Mrs Tootlepedal is very pleased with the rose in the bottom right corner of the panel above. She cut it back severely and moved it to a new spot so she was worried about how it would take this treatment, but it is doing well and has even put out a new bud.
There were more red admiral butterflies and other insects to be seen on every side..
Then I set out to stretch my legs by walking round the pheasant hatchery...
...and up past the North Lodge onto the track into the woods. When I got to the clear felled section, I took the mountain bike track up the hill, past a single clump of rosebay willowherb...
...and paused for a moment to catch my breath and enjoy the view. Although it was warm enough to walk without a jacket, it was a gloomy day....
...but the views on my walk still gave me great pleasure even if they did not make sparkling photographs. (I took over 50 pictures on my walk on a bad day for taking pictures. Sometimes I think that I am stark staring mad.)
At the top of the clearing, I joined the track that runs along the side of the hill between the commercial planting and the natural woodland and walked to the end of the track which looks down over the valley below where the farmer has got his crop safely gathered in.
The I walked back along the track, ignoring the views and keeping my eyes down for a while.
Then I lifted my head again...
...and walked round the shoulder of the hill until I came to the track that leads up to the summit.
Heading upwards, I passed a lonely tree...
...and arrived at the top of Castle Hill.
It was very breezy up there so I didn't go further. I took in the view of the Esk valley and the woods that I had walked through earlier...
...and turned to go back down the hill to the town.
There are no sheep or cattle on the hill at present and as a result I passed some wild flowers on my way.
When I got back to the Castleholm, I could hear the merry cries of cricketers at play, although it seemed more like a day for a rugby match than cricket.
When I got to the Kilngreen, I could look back at the top of the hill that I had just visited.
It had taken me half an hour to get from top to bottom and that demonstrated one of the great pleasures of walking round Langholm. It doesn't take you long to get away from the town, to get up on the hills, to enjoy the views, and then to get back down in time for a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. There is plenty of back country and you can spend as long walking in the hills as you like, but you can also have a short walk as I did today and thoroughly enjoy yourself.
When I got home, I found that Mrs Tootlepedal hadn't watched to the end of the stage when I got home so when she had set our evening meal to cook in a casserole pot, we watched a recording of the final 30km together.
The evening meal was delicious and that made a good end to a satisfying day.
No flying bird today as I passed and old friend on my walk and thought that he should have pride of place as standing bird of the day instead.
No, The Justice Department Should Not Investigate Netflix’s “Cuties”
Several GOP leaders are calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and take legal action against Netflix for its promotion of the “Cuties” film. The film has been denounced for its “sexualization of children.” I have seen the clip of the most controversial scene of young girls dancing which I found deeply disturbing and offensive. However, there is no criminal act alleged of child abuse. What is left is a strong and widely shared revulsion with the film, but that should not be an invitation for governmental action. The threat to free speech of such action is considerable, including the return to a long and detestable period of film censorship in the this country.
The film is focused on 11-year-old Amy, who joins other underage girls in a school dance group called “the cuties.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was among various members who denounced Netflix and called for Attorney General Bill Barr to take action.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1304763865637548034&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fblogs%2Fin-the-know%2Fin-the-know%2F516130-republicans-call-on-doj-to-investigate-netflix-over-cuties-film&theme=light&widgetsVersion=219d021%3A1598982042171&width=550px
Republicans were not alone in their criticism. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) declared “@netflix child porn “Cuties” will certainly whet the appetite of pedophiles & help fuel the child sex trafficking trade. 1 in 4 victims of trafficking are children. It happened to my friend’s 13 year old daughter. Netflix, you are now complicit. #CancelNetflix.” https://thehill.com/people/tulsi-gabbard
Conservatives have often objected to the “cancel culture” of the left but this is an instance where the same inclination appears to be coming from the right. The government should not be in the business of policing cultural values or sensibilities. There was a time when film review boards were common in major cities. This authority to edit and ban films was upheld in one of the worst first amendment cases out of the Supreme Court in 1915 in Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio where the Court held that films were commercial speech not protected by the first amendment. The Court entirely ignored the important role of films as a form of expression, including speech on political, economic and social issues:
“… the exhibition of moving pictures is a business, pure and simple, originated and conducted for profit … not to be regarded, nor intended to be regarded by the Ohio Constitution, we think, as part of the press of the country, or as organs of public opinion.”
It took decades to reverse that ridiculous view in 1952 in *Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson*.
The problem with such boards is captured in the view of the “Cuties” film by Washington Post Post culture writer Alyssa Rosenberg who heralded the film for showing “liberated” girls. However, Rosenberg panned the film “Joker” for forcing viewers “to choose between provocation and prudishness.” She insisted “the choice isn’t close: I’d rather be a prude than someone whose definition of freedom is hurting vulnerable people and calling it courage,” https://www.foxnews.com/media/washington-post-defends-cuties-joker-provocative
Rosenberg’s nuanced distinctions between the films captures the problem with film review board or government regulation. The view of such films is heavily inundated with subjectivity. A standard barring “the sexualization of children” could result in banning everything from *Romeo and Juliet* to *Taxi Driver.* The solution is not to go see “Cuties.” The solution is to denounce “Cuties.” The solution is not to ban or investigate “Cuties.”
Good Morning
Same old sun rising in the morning and same old blue skies with the promise of a good day. A bit of a lazy Sunday morning, but I am finally here. Actually I had a dizzy spell when I stopped hugging the bed. I get them now and again, the last one was a few months ago. I have to be careful sometimes when lifting my head in the morning - always look ahead. Anyhow I have tablets, so no problem. My neurologist tells me it has nothing to do with my MS, but the balance from the ear, good old Meniere is back again. However I have my tablets and with luck it will disappear in a week, perhaps a little more. Another golden oldie problem to be conquered.
Yesterday was really a day of rest. I was thinking about going into town, but realised it was not necessary. I have enough supplies to last for a month, so I just took it easy. My scooter was getting low on the battery, although I could probably have easily done a trip somewhere, and the wheelchair can be a bit complicated sometimes, although that also has its advantages
So allI have to show are the current events at home. My orchids are still flowering. They have been doing so since at least three months for the second time in their lives and do not seem to think about giving
New buds, one after the other are regularly appearing.
I have two orchids which are still laying dormant and then I saw this appear on one of the stalks. I think it will become a flower stalk eventually, perhaps two stalks. Another success I hope. I have had orchids for at least 10 years but never had success with new flowers. This year I am even getting cramped for space on my table outside.
So what shall I do today. Perhaps I might pay a visit to the cows, they are my neighbours. I might even persuade Mr. Swiss to come with me. What a romantic journey side by side in our respective scooters. We could have a race, but as they are the same models, more than 10-11 kilometers per hour as not possible.
Or perhaps we could visit the chickens. I am sure they are missing us. I should really get out and about to enjoy the good early Autumn weather we now have.
First of all I have a few things to do at home. I made a mess in the oven yesterday due to a new tray I bought which makes everything more crispy. The crispy bit works, but it is adjustable to the size of the oven and that does not work so well. Mr. Swiss is now developing a system to fix it in the right place in the oven.
Otherwise nothing really exciting at the moment. Have a good Sunday and make the most of it. See you around.
One Word Sunday: Three
Once upon a time there were three trees. One of them wanted to stand on its own and made a few attempts to leave the others. He then discovered that only Ent trees walk in the Middle Earth from the book Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and its roots were deep in the earthly earth, so it had to stay. The other two trees were happy.
"We do not need any Ents here".one of the other trees said and his colleague agreed.
This all happened many years ago and they are still standing in the same place, although the one that wanted to go does have a slight lean.
**One Word Sunday: Three** https://travelwithintent.com/2020/09/13/three/
Welcome Back
If you’re new to this blog, this post might not make any sense. For many years, during my morning commute, I stopped at Great River Park in East Hartford, CT. I would leave for work very early, to beat the traffic heading south into Hartford. Once I crossed the Connecticut River, I was no longer subject to rush hour traffic. I was heading away from the city, and I had the option of traveling the back roads. In fact, traveling the back roads had the added advantage of letting me stop for breakfast at Maddie’s, a wonderful little family-owned diner.
Last week, when I was taking my car in for service, I left with more than enough time to stop at Great River Park and to have breakfast at Maddie’s. I wasn’t sure what I might find at the park. Earlier this summer, there were several inappropriate gatherings in the area near the park. Crowdsourced over social media, hundreds, perhaps a thousand people gathered in commercial parking lots just south of the park. One night, a couple of those people were shot by a couple others.
Great River Park has always been closed, wink wink, from dusk to dawn. I have hundreds of pictures taken from the park when the sun was nowhere to be seen. The only time I ever found the gate closed was when the park was flooded. For those that don’t know, Great River Park runs long the river shore, on the river-side of the levee that protects East Hartford from flooding.
It was fun to return to the park, to walk along the bike path and to snap a few photos. It was a little sad to see the increased signage and new rules. I guess it’s a good thing I retired when I did. I think I’d be upset to be forced to drive past the park from about October to April because a few people couldn’t play by the rules during a pandemic.
I hope you enjoy today’s gallery.
Updated signage at the entrance to the park.
Some of you know that I’ve walked out and taken quite a few pictures from that dock.
I’m glad I got those ictures when I did.
These signs were everywhere. I guess they don’t want you to forget that you could get locked in.
We’ve had a good amount of rain lately. I can only imagine that the dock extended much farther into the river a month ago.
Looks like the Great River Park maintenance crew has been a little lax.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Hartford from this vantage point.
I wasn’t early enough to see the sunrise, but the lamps were still on
The fancy sign was here when I was still working. I took this to illustrate the levee.
That’s Charter Oak Landing, on the west (Hatford) side of the river.
There was a lot of debris in the river. Also, many signs that they’ve been clearing the damage. The walking/bike path was completely open.
The Colt Building and Dome
I was able to get a seat at the counter for breakfast. I apologize if you’re reading this during breakfast. Today, I’m having an apple.
That building is the Lincoln Financial Group. The illegal gatherings were in their parking lot.
It’s not an alligator, but the log and its reflection made me thing of one.
The blue sign mentions that the parking lot is subject to flooding.
Broken heart.
Good Morning
That was a surprise this morning to see a mist covering the trees on the edge of our estate. The weather is still summerlike. Yeterday we had a temperature of 27°C officially. I was out for a wheelie in my scooter in the afternoon, wearing shorts and sleeveless t-shirt and I am sure the temperature was more like 30°C. Autumn is really leaving us with some hot days.
I wheeled off through the local cemetery. Actually I had a blog about wood to write, so took a few photos of their majestic trees in the cemetery. I wonder what was there first, the trees or the cemetery which might have been built around the trees. Or perhaps they planted the trees afterwards to fill in the spaces. Anyhow the cemetery trees are quite tall and majestic. When you pass through the cemetery as much as I do, you get to know every tree on your way.
From the cemetery I wheeled onto the farm. I met yet another sort of chicken they have. Although the main work of the chickens is to lay eggs, there are always new arrivals at the farm with a difference. These two were really something special with their big fluffy legs and wonderful feather design. The rooster was not there, he was looking after his women in another part of the farm, I heard his voice in tbe background. I am really becoming a chicken fan.
The next stop was the goats. There are only two, which is enough, and seem to be a pair. They used to be amongst the chickens, but now have their own self-contained territory.
There were a few cows out on the pasture, but not a lot. I think the farmer was making sure that the grass was not growing too high until Winter.
On the way home along the path at the side of the railway tracks a bird decided to perch on one of the lamp posts. I suppose it is a pigeon of some sort, that was enjoying the view from the top.
And yet another afternoon was spent seeing what mother nature had to offer. I seemed to be doing the whole journey on my own and saw very few people on my way: just the usual visitors walking up the hill to the local castle, which is always a centre of attraction.
As I was approaching the castle, this coach was searching for a parking space. It had probably deposited a few visitors and was leaving them to their sightseeing in the castle. I notice a few people outside in the gardens. The coach seemed to be causing a traffic jam with its manoeuvres to finding a suitable parking space and holding up the traffic around the castle. I even had to wait a few minutes in my scooter until he had finished. The castle is quite an attraction for visitors from other parts of Switzerland and I see car registration numbers from as far as Zürich. How lucky to have it in my back yard.
And now a new week begins. I do not have any plans, so it will be just the normal shopping and taking a few tours in the area. The weather report is still looking good, warm and rainless. I am still having to water my garden as it can get quite hot during the day.
The good news is that our Kovid statistics in our area have dropped considerably with only a few new cases. However, Switzerland is on the rise, mainly the towns of Geneva, Freiburg and Zürich. If only this pandemic would come to an end, but that will be a few years I am sure.
Keep safe and well and may you have a good week ahead
Mishigas at the pond!
Late this morning we found one of the duckling ramps pulled out of the water and laid ignominiously on the grass. While there are no more ducklings to use it, the adult ducks still use it, and it's an important place, during these chilly days, for the turtles to sun themselves.
A member of Team Duck reviewed today's tape from the PondCam and found that a girl from a family of four simply uprooted the ramp and put it on the grass. The family watched on and didn't try to stop her.
At least it's still in one piece, and I've taken it in, cleaned it off, and made it ready for use next year.
Why people would do this is beyond me. The ramp was clearly there for a reason, and turtles were sunning themselves on it just yesterday. The behavior of people around the pond, and around the ducks, has generally been quite respectful, but this kind of behavior seems destructive.
There may be a charitable explanation for what I see as a kind of vandalism, but I don't know what it is. If it is just destruction, the perps should be ashamed of themselves.
That ramp was crucial for the survival of Dorothy's ducklings, as it was the only way they could get out of the channel and on land, and they used it constantly starting just two days after they jumped down to the pond. I've sequestered the ramp rather than replace it as I don't want it uprooted again and maybe even stolen. It was a great piece of equipment made with the kind help of Facilities, and can be used next year—assuming there will be ducklings.
Comedy wildlife photos
***Mashable*** has a selection of a readers' favorite: the finalists of the annual Comedy Wildlife Photo contest. Their article can be seen by clicking on the screenshot below, and the notes just below direct you to the contest website where you can vote for your favorite. https://mashable.com/article/comedy-wildlife-photography-awards-2020/
Founded by Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam and supported by wildlife conservation nonprofit The Born Free Foundation, the competition selects a collection of finalists from a host of images snapped across the globe, all of which capture nature at its most ridiculous.
Talk to the claw
Oops. . .
A Week of Ups and Downs
These last hot sunny days are ticking away, we're almost on stolen time, snatching what we can whilst it's available. Making the most of glorious weather and deliciously warm evenings, hours after dark where we can dine on the terrace with friends, kidding ourselves that it's mid August and we have weeks of these lazy days ahead of us. And whilst it all sounds like a life of poetry it's actually been a hectic week of events punctuated with enormous highs and lows.
It all kicked off with the excitement of the Tour de France, Stage 10 in the Charente Maritime. The first time ever that the Tour would take in two islands in the same stage. It started on the Île d'Oléron and finished on the Île de Ré. It is an event that not one of us had ever seen in real life and the fact that it was passing through the next door village was an opportunity not to be missed.
It meant a day off school for two of our girls, justified by the fact that we all felt they would learn far more from this experience than a day in the classroom. We needed to avoid crowds and we wanted a vantage point and so a plan was hatched. We would go by bike as all the roads were closed to cars from 9am onwards. In blisteringly hot sun we set off across the Marais. Backpacks bulging with a delicious picnic, our spirits were high as we peddled through the open marshland. After about 6km we took a detour through the woods and down some farm tracks, arriving at the road where the riders would pass by in a few hours time. There were already a handful of cars and tables set up in the shade, families eating lunch, playing pétanque on the dusty track under the trees, a scene so typically French. So relaxed, so unhurried and so utterly normal to be eating beside a main road with a proper table, chairs and tablecloth and glass of rosé to hand! We left our bikes against a tree, donned our masks, said 'bonjour' to everyone as we passed and walked a hundred yards down the road to a shady spot. We were totally alone and set up our own mini feast. Nowhere near as glamorous as that of our fellow French Tour followers! But to be fair we had bikes and they had cars
We had a long wait but we were prepared, the first thing to pass about a hour and three quarters before the race itself is what is known as the 'caravan' a 30 minute long procession of cars and floats, all decorated in every guise possible. Music playing, each advertising some large national company; a supermarket, an organic shop, olive oil, insurance, anything and everything. They throw out tiny cheap freebies as they go past, keyrings, funky hats, laundry detergent, flags, bandanas, candy, mixed nuts, the list went on and the excitement mounted. It's all part of the day and a really great fun part, especially when you're there with teenage children and they are throwing themselves into the spirit of things with gusto.
This was followed by a lull of an hour or so before a couple of cars came past announcing that everyone must wear a mask and that the race was close. Then another car and some motorbikes and then they were upon us.
They came by so fast, in literally a few seconds they had gone and all we could see was a bunch of bright colours speeding towards the horizon. I was amazed at the speed, around 55kph. We were standing within a metre of the closest riders to our side of the road. The noise of the wheels as they turned at such speed, that's all I could hear. Thirty seconds or so went by and then there was the second group, held up due to a crash a few kilometres previously. Another frenzied few seconds and they too rode off into the distance. Our Tour de France was over. But we wouldn't have missed it for the world
Slowly we gathered together all of our things, all of our free goodies and headed back across the Marais on our bikes. The keen wind in our faces making it slightly tough going and I was more than happy to stop for five minutes and take photos. Normally I pass through the Marais in a hurry from one place to another and it's difficult to park on the side of the road so I made the most of being on two wheels and enjoyed every square inch of my surroundings.
The rest of the week passed by in a bit of a manic blur. Jack was leaving for university in Bordeaux on Friday and we had A LOT to organise. No matter how organised we thought we were there was still more to do. We had lists, shopping to be done, clothes needed, accessories for his studio apartment. And then there were the things to be sorted at home, boxed items we had stored for when the next one of our children headed off on their own. They all had to be found, cleaned, sorted. The list of jobs was endless.
In a normal world it wouldn't have been so bad, it is after all less than a two hour drive south. We would see him every couple of weeks or so and if he was short on anything I could drive down, but the Covid world is an altogether different place. I truly am not sure when he will come home again, he's now firmly ensconced in a "red" zone, Bordeaux featuring heavily on the list of cities with a major problem. New stricter measures are to be applied there on Monday so I have read. But he wanted to go, he was so excited. He even said to me, he would take a gap year and skip this year if it would make me happy, but how could I do that to him? Covid is something we all have to learn to live with.
I'm not worried because it is another one flying the nest, he is number three to go and we have two more at home, I encourage them to spread their wings, I love watching them turn into incredible young adults and I'm so proud of them all. But this time I shed more than just a few tears, not because he was going off, but because with covid I am scared. I feel we are safe here in the country, in a small village, in a safe part of France with not a lot of socialising. But university life in a big city with an ever increasing number of infections is another matter. Still I'm proud of him and happy for him and I do know he will be careful.
So that has sort of been my week, up and down. There have been some other major developments which I cannot go into right now, some exciting and some exhaustingly difficult and stressful. I have certainly been pushed to the extreme the past few days.
And then last night I felt as if I had come up for air. After a day of cleaning and disinfecting to the highest levels possible new guests arrived in the cottage. I always enjoy welcoming people here, even with our new stringent methods it is still so much fun. I love picking fresh flowers from the garden to fill vases for them to enjoy.
In the evening we had friends over for a bbq. I took a deep breath and remembered to enjoy all that life has to offer. We dined on the terrace, the night air as warm as could be. We drank local red wine, ate salad straight from the garden, we're lucky and I needed to remind myself of that.
And in case you are wondering why I have written all of this today, it's really quite simple. This blog and my facebook and instagram are always meant to be real. Just because we live in France and I write about all the positive things does not mean that life is a constant bed of sweet smelling roses and we just drift by on a perfect cloud. Life is good here but tough, super difficult a lot of the time, covid has hit us hard, there have been more disasters than I can mention. But and it's a big but, there have been enormous highs, the bad making the good so much better and as I said making us realise how really lucky we are. I try to keep it real here. This road which passes through a neighbouring village is on my daily school run. How lucky am I to have such a gorgeous route to take each day?
And if you've made it this far with my ramblings can I just have a final word to remind you that this is the last day of our End of Summer Madness Sale. Click **Here** to go straight to the shop. There are huge savings of up to 70% and the discount is automatically applied at checkout. We're making space for some super exicting new developments and new things to come in the shop. A n enormous thank you to you all for everyone who has already supported us and to anyone new. Thank you so so much xx http://www.ourfrenchlifestyle.com/
Down in the valley
Today's guest picture comes from my sister Susan. She had another cup of coffee beside the canal this week and saw another canal boat passing by. If I had a canal nearby, I too would go and sit by it every week, even without a cup of coffee.
After a stormy night, we had another day almost like yesterday, grey and windy. The difference was that today was greyer and windier.
After a visit to the shop to get milk and pay my bill, some gardening was the main business of the morning. I did some sieving of the compost in Bin D and then did a lot of shredding as Attila the Gardener was doing some severe pruning on the Goldfinch rose which was threatening to take over the world.
I did try to take some garden pictures from time to time but the wind was so persistent that it was hard to find a flower standing still. I looked at birds instead.
There were siskins about on the feeder...
..and one waiting upstairs.
The light was so poor that catching birds in flight was too tricky for me and I went out and tried the flowers again.
The dark dahlia has so many flowers on it that they get in each other's way when it comes to taking a single flower...
..but at least they gave each other mutual support and stood fairly still.
The spirea is a sturdy bush and its flowers come on strong stalks.
The inlula helenium in the vegetable garden is both protected by the fence and growing very close to the ground so it was a suitable subject..
Nearby, the broccoli may be purple sprouting but when it comes to flowering, it is yellow (and delicately pretty too).
In front of the greenhouse, the bright red poppies had hit upon the very good idea of bending down low to avoid being blown over by the wind.
The flowers in and around the chimney pot were the easiest to snap....
...and looking around, I could find quite a few more nasturtiums crouching under benches and against walls.
They came in bright red..
..and shades of orange and yellow.
Shopping, sieving, shredding and stooping to to take pictures filled up my morning very nicely until lunch (along with obligatory coffee and crossword of course).
After lunch, I watched superhuman cyclists whizzing up very steep slopes until it was time for my virtual choir practice. Our conductor is having a hard time turning our video contributions into a virtual choir performance. Whether this is because of the technical skills required for her or the quality of the contributions produced by us is not entirely clear. It may be a combination of both, but thoughts of the difficulty of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear come to mind. Time will tell.
Regular readers will know that the weather gods who have the care of the weather in Langholm in their charge have a whimsical sense of humour. This was demonstrated today as the sun came out just as my choir practice started and went in again as it ended. How I laughed.
The sun was firmly in as I went for a windy walk in the late afternoon after the practice. I stuck to the valley bottom today to avoid the wind and to stop myself taking pictures of poor views in bad conditions.
There was autumn colour to be seen beside the Esk...
.. and acorns and catkins and colourful leaves were spotted as I walked down to Skippers along the Murtholm track
I emptied four inches of rain from the week out of Mary Jo's scientific rain gauge this morning and I could see that there was quite a lot of water in the river...
..but by no means a flood. The Esk is fast flowing and drains well.
I crossed Skippers Bridge and walked down the river along the road on the opposite side of the Esk. The man who is single handedly building stone walling alongside his new road is making steady progress with the second wall.
I left the road and walked up the track beside Jenny Noble's Gill. The chestnut tree in the field was looking quite fiery
When I got to the track towards the round house, I found myself walking between banks of bracken which is going over.
Because the track from near the round house back to Hallpath is very soggy in places after rain, I left it and walked down to the old railway and then to Skippers Bridge in dry underfoot conditions. I stayed on the the same side of the river and strolled back to the Suspension Bridge along the riverside path, passing my favourite lichen on a fence and noting that the Himalayan balsam has so many seed pods for each stem that it is no wonder that it has become invasive
Further along the path, I met a very striking tall flower on a three foot high stem...
...which I didn't recognise. It looks like a bit like a large knapweed but if any kind reader can tell me what it is, I would be much obliged.
I got back to another helping of Mrs Tootlepedal's excellent chicken casserole followed by stewed rhubarb and ice cream so I can count that as another good day in spite of the gloomy weather.
The only downside to the day was my complete failure to remember that I had not taken a picture of a flying bird in the morning. The best that I can do is to put this picture of a shadowy siskin passing anonymously behind the feeder in its place. Must try harder.
Spider Flowers
Growing in a field in our village and quite pretty.
Obnoxious
You cannot ignore this word, without mentioning a few of our politicians. John Bercow was for many years the speaker in the British Houses of Parliament, his job being to call the members of parliament to order. I loved this man, he made it all worth while watching the daily broadcasts from the parliament. This man was definitely not obnoxious, just those that he had to deal with.
Friday: Hili dialogue
TCCIF: Thank Ceiling Cat it's Friday! It's September 11, 2020,a day of remembrance. It's also **National Hot Cross Buns Day**. I could use one or two, as it's 5:30 am and I am HUNGRY! (I almost never eat breakfast.) https://foodimentary.com/2015/09/11/september-11-national-hot-cross-buns-day-2/
It's also **National Emergency Responders Day**, **Make Your Bed Day** (I always do; I think it's the key to a good start to the day), **Women's Baseball Day**, Emergency Number Day (9/11 written in American format), and, appropriately, **No News is Good News Day**. And we'll all remember this date because it was on September 11, 2001 that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon took place, so it's also **National Day of Service and Remembrance** and **Patriot Day,** honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attack. It doesn't seem like 19 years ago. . . https://www.checkiday.com/54d9b4cbd5c8a313c72d3a8d65bf38cf/national-emergency-responders-day https://www.checkiday.com/273ef3a09e650cc003387aa8cb42b68c/make-your-bed-day https://www.checkiday.com/6a586e079c3116241496a76c81af697c/womens-baseball-day https://www.checkiday.com/88563d4cb14e5c58bfad9055848e22fe/national-no-news-is-good-news-day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_National_Day_of_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Day
**Another appeal:** Perhaps thanks to the readers here, **Clarence the fluffy rescue cat** has finished first in the small group of five cats vying for the overall prize in *America's Favorite Pet*. The winner gets $5,000, and all of it will go to Clarence's vet bills, as he's old and has just had an expensive hospitalization, as well as ongoing treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (His staff made my Darwin facemask.) If you go ****here****, you can vote for Clarence for free via Facebook, and you can do so once per day for 6 more days. I would be pleased if readers who saw fit would vote for Clarence early and often (it's legal!) so he can pay off his vet care. And who wouldn't vote for a cat who looked like this *and* was wearing a Hawaiian shirt? https://americasfavpet.com/2020/clarence-4?fbclid=IwAR2PeNQU6b_UDmtaba9GpGGgemh6AV-KEZ0Lk1HJdbYJo5nHTzjQBhJid2c
I don't ever ask for dosh for this site, but I do ask that you help this lovely kitty:
Clarence!
You can see a description and more photos at the link. Put him over the top!
**News of the Day**:
Thinking of dining out in a real restaurant now that things are loosening up? Think again. **According to** ***NBC News*****,** **a new CDC report** concludes that dining out poses a substantially greater risk than other activities like shopping or getting your hair done: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/states-lift-restaurant-restrictions-cdc-report-links-dining-out-increased-n1239771 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6936a5.htm?s_cid=mm6936a5_w
The CDC report included 314 people who had **COVID-19 symptoms** and were subsequently tested for the virus; about half tested positive. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-reverses-covid-19-guidance-says-testing-may-not-be-n1238013
Researchers then asked all participants about their social activities during the two weeks prior to their COVID-19 test. The participants lived in states with varying levels of reopening guidelines: California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.
Both groups generally reported similar activities, such as going to church, gyms and stores, with one exception: going out to eat or having drinks at a bar or coffee shop.
Those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, "were approximately twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative SARS-CoV-2 test results," the study authors wrote. And those who were diagnosed without any known exposure to the virus were more likely to report having visited a bar or coffee shop in the previous two weeks.
The sample size is not large, and I'm not sure that they controlled for *all* other factors (those who dine out may engage in other risky activities), but I'm not going to a restaurant any time soon.
Meanwhile, restaurants in Hong Kong are coping with the pandemic, but with mixed results; dining out is not the experience I enjoyed when i visited. Read about it **at the** ***New York Times*****.** https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/opinion/coronavirus-hong-kong-food.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
For those who have joined the chorus of outrage after Bob Woodward's report that Trump deliberately downplayed the threat of Covid-19, have a look at **this op-ed by Bob Thiessen in the** ***Washington Post****:* "If Trump lied, so did Fauci." The final paragraph: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/10/if-trump-lied-so-did-fauci/?hpid=hp_save-opinions-float-right-4-0_opinion-card-a-right%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans
The suggestion that Trump knew how dangerous the virus was, but intentionally misled Americans and failed to take action, is demonstrably wrong. What is “beyond despicable” is for Biden to suggest that he did. Your mileage may vary.
Finally, **today's reported Covid-19 death toll** in the U.S. is 191,628, an increase of about 1,000 deaths over yesterday's report. The **world death toll** now stands at 909,023, an increase of about 5,700 deaths from yesterday. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html
Stuff that happened on September 11 includes:
1297 – Battle of Stirling Bridge: Scots jointly led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeat the English.
1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there.
1789 – Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
**1792** – The **Hope Diamond** is stolen along with other French crown jewels when six men break into the house where they are stored. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1792 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Diamond
The diamond was recut, and then disappeared for a long time until it turned up in the UK. Now it resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. It's now 45.5 karats and insured for $250 million:
1857 – The Mountain Meadows massacre: Mormon settlers and Paiutes massacre 120 pioneers at Mountain Meadows, Ut**ah**. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows,_Utah
1941 – **Charles Lindbergh's Des Moines Speech** accusing the British, Jews and FDR's administration of pressing for war with Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh#%22America_First%22_involvement
Here's his speech. Given Lindbergh's anti-Semitism and seeming for Hitler's regime, as well as his approbation of eugenics, it's curious to me that he hasn't been canceled.
**1**973 – A coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Pinochet exercises dictatorial power until ousted in a referendum in 1988, staying in power until 1990. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973
1997 – After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament within the United Kingdom.
**2001** – The **September 11 attacks**, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks killing 2,977 people using four aircraft hijacked by 19 members of **al-Qaeda**. Two aircraft crash into the **World Trade Center** in New York City, a third crashes into **The Pentagon** in **Arlington County, Virginia**, and a fourth into a field near **Shanksville, Pennsylvania**. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_(1973%E2%80%932001) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_County,_Virginia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanksville,_Pennsylvania
I'm sure that, like when JFK was shot, we all remember where we were that day. We were in the lab, and turned on the black and white lab t.v. to watch. That's when we saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center
2007 – Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the **Father of All Bombs**. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_of_All_Bombs
2012 – The U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya is attacked, resulting in four deaths.
Notables born on this day include:
1816 – Carl Zeiss, German lens maker, created the Optical instrument (d. 1888)
1862 – O. Henry, American short story writer (d. 1910)
1885 – D. H. Lawrence, English novelist, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1930)
1917 – Jessica Mitford, English-American journalist and author (d. 1996)
1945 – **Leo Kottke**, American singer-songwriter and guitarist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Kottke
1962 – Kristy McNichol, American actress
1965 – **Moby**, American singer-songwriter, musician and DJ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby
Whatever happened to Moby? Here's a young Leo Kottke doing the Byrds' song "Eight Miles High", a haunting rendition:
Those who went belly-up on September 11 include:
1950 – Jan Smuts, South African field marshal and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1870)
1971 – Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician (b. 1894)
1973 – **Salvador Allende**, Chilean physician and politician, 29th **President of Chile** (b. 1908) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Allende https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Chile
Allende committed suicide as the forces of the coup closed around the Presidential palace.
**1**987 – Lorne Greene, Canadian actor (b. 1915) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987
1987 – Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
2001 - [Add 2,977 names here for those killed in the terrorists attacks on this day.]
2002 – Johnny Unitas, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1933)
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili's worried about the end of summer, for soon she'll have to stay inside. The "decadence" she refers to is the decadence that accompanies the end of a civilization.
In Polish:
Hili: Czy to już jesień?
Ja: Nie, schyłkowy okres lata.
Here's kitten Kulka on Andrzej and Malgorzata's bedposts:
From Laurie Ann; romance with impediment:
From ***Bad Cat Clothing***: https://www.facebook.com/officialbadcat
From Bruce
Can scientific theories be falsified? One scientist says no
The provocative title of the *Scientific American* Article below, by physicist Mano Singham, is, I think, deeply misleading. The idea that science progresses by eliminating incorrect explanations, which is what falsification is all about, seems to me not only a good strategy, but one that's historically worked very well. To say it's a myth is not even wrong.
But let's hear why Singham says that falsification can't work. Click on the screenshot to read his piece.
Before we get to Singham's argument, we notice that we can immediately think of scientific theories that *have* been definitively falsified. One is that the Earth is flat. That has been falsified by any number of observations, and now nobody except loons accepts a flat planet. Alternatively, the Genesis story of creation, once a "scientific" explanation for the origin of life and, especially, humans, has also been falsified, also by any number of observations. It was replaced by a better theory: evolution, and you can see the process of falsification by reading *The Origin*, as everyone should. Darwin not only adduces evidence for evolution from biogeography, embryology, the fossil record, vestigial organs, and so on, but at the same time notes how these observations *do not comport with creationism,* the main competing hypothesis at the time. The falsification of creationism is why Darwin was so worried that religious people would reject his theory.
For if observations comport with both of two competing theories, this gives us no way to determine which is the better one. Darwin shows in his biogeography chapters, for example, how the distribution of animals and plants on Earth jibes with an evolutionary theory combined with the idea that organisms disperse, but cannot be explained by creationism. (Why would the creator not put native mammals, freshwater fish, and amphibians on oceanic islands?) The book's falsification of creationism combined with its support of evolution meant that, within about a decade after 1859, nearly all educated people accepted that Biblical creationism had been falsified.
Why, then, given the above, does Singham think that falsification—the classic strategy of scientific advance limned by Karl Popper—is a "myth"? He gives two reasons (he's referring to Haldane's "Precambrian rabbit" as a proposed falsification of evolution):
**1.) Falsification is complicated.** Singham says this:
But the field known as science studies (comprising the history, philosophy and sociology of science) has shown that falsification cannot work even in principle. This is because an experimental result is not a simple fact obtained directly from nature. Identifying and dating Haldane's bone involves using many other theories from diverse fields, including physics, chemistry and geology. Similarly, a theoretical prediction is never the product of a single theory but also requires using many other theories. When a “theoretical” prediction disagrees with “experimental” data, what this tells us is that that there is a disagreement between two *sets* of theories, so we cannot say that any particular theory is falsified.
Fortunately, falsification—or any other philosophy of science—is not necessary for the actual practice of science.
I don't quite get this. If many lines of evidence (or many scientific fields) converge on a conclusion that contradicts an existing theory (evolution in this case), that doesn't mean that falsification doesn't work, just that sometimes it's not so easy. In fact, in the case of a Precambrian rabbit, scientists wouldn't take a single observation as overturning a theory supported by so much evidence in favor of a theory—creationism—supported by none. Scientists would work hard to make sure that date wasn't an anomaly, whether the rabbit somehow got itself insinuated in Precambrian sediments, and so on. Further, we'd like more than one fossil, for a theory as well established as evolution would require a multiplicity of "wrongly placed" fossils to make us question it. This doesn't mean that falsification is a myth, just that when you use it against a theory that's very well supported, you have to use it many times.
And sometimes an experimental result is indeed a "simple fact" obtained directly from nature. The idea of a pancake Earth is simply refuted by sending a satellite around the planet and not finding an edge. This case also shows that Singham's claim that "a theoretical prediction is never the product of any single theory" is wrong as well. A flat earth (some get the idea from the Bible) is a single theory, not depending on "many other theories."
Another example is **Meselson and Stahl**'s lovely and **definitive refutation of two models of DNA replication** ("conservative" and "dispersive"), confirming the "semiconservative" model with a simple and beautiful experiment involving centrifugation of radioactively labeled DNA as it replicated. Just because radiochemistry, centrifugation, and biochemistry were involved doesn't make the experiment any less of a falsification. And there were only two other credible theories being tested, not "many other theories." Since then, the entire science of molecular genetics has depended on their 1958 result, and it's held up. If this isn't an instance of verification of a true theory by falsifying alternatives, I don't know what is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meselson%E2%80%93Stahl_experiment https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/dna-as-the-genetic-material/dna-replication/a/mode-of-dna-replication-meselson-stahl-experiment
Here's Singham's second reason why falsification is a "myth":
**2.) Pseudoscientists, cranks, and enthusiasts claim that they have data falsifying "consensus" theories, and this tactic makes falsification a dubious strategy.** Again, I don't quite get this, but here's what Singham says:
A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his [Einstein's] generation from which most scientists are suffering. . .
. . . this knowledge equips people to better argue against antiscience forces that use the same strategy over and over again, whether it is about the dangers of tobacco, climate change, vaccinations or evolution. Their goal is to exploit the slivers of doubt and discrepant results that always exist in science in order to challenge the consensus views of scientific experts. They fund and report their own results that go counter to the scientific consensus in this or that narrow area and then argue that they have falsified the consensus. In their book *Merchants of Doubt,* historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway **say that for these groups** “[t]he goal was to fight science with science—or at least with the gaps and uncertainties in existing science, and with scientific research that could be used to deflect attention from the main event.” https://books.google.com/books?id=fpMh3nh3JI0C&lpg=PA13&vq=gaps&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false
But this no more refutes the value of falsification than it refutes the value of science itself. For the same zealots and pseudoscientists who use the idea of falsification also pretend to use the methods of science. I don't think I need say more about this.
Finally, near the end of his article Singham comes close to admitting that yes, falsification works:
Science studies provide supporters of science with better arguments to combat these critics, by showing that the strength of scientific conclusions arises because credible experts use comprehensive bodies of evidence to arrive at consensus judgments about whether a theory should be retained or rejected in favor of a new one. These consensus judgments are what have enabled the astounding levels of success that have revolutionized our lives for the better.
But how do you go about rejecting a consensus theory, like creationism, in favor of a new one? *You have to find evidence that comports with the new one and not with the consensus.* And that is falsification.
Now it's possible that there is no competing theory, and you're just looking for evidence that comports with the only theory you have. But even that is, in some sense, falsification: falsification of the idea that your theory is wrong, even if you don't have an alternative. If you think benzene has six carbon atoms, then your alternative theory is that *benzene doesn't have six carbon atoms*, but more or fewer, and you look for evidence for falsifying one or the other of these theories.
I think Singham intended to support the value of science studies—the history and philosophy of science—at a time when some people denigrate them. Richard Feynman famously said “philosophy of science is as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds”. I don't agree with him on either count—ornithology is useful to birds, by helping conserve them, and philosophy of science can help us think more clearly about our problems and methods. But sometimes science studies can be impediments by confusing people about the nature of science or making insupportable or useless statements, like there's no external reality independent of our senses. And one of these impediments is the claim that falsification is a myth.
University of Chicago 1, cop-defunder students 0
Well, one things this past week has shown is that Hyde Park is not Portland, and thank Ceiling Cat for that! Starting a week ago Saturday, a University of Chicago student group called *Care Not Cops* began demonstrating—or rather, camping out—in the street and sidewalks in front of Provost Ka Yee C. Lee's house, just north of Hyde Park in Kenwood. **They vowed to stay there indefinitely until the Provost met with them publicly and gave in to their demands**. https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/08/31/uchicago-students-vow-to-occupy-provosts-block-indefinitely-demanding-university-abolish-campus-police/
What were their demands? They're listed **here**, and, as the group's name implies, they want the University of Chicago Police Force disarmed, defunded and then disbanded (by 2022; this is a new demand), largely replaced by social and psychiatric services that, they think, will prevent the need for police and could even respond to emergency calls. This was all prompted by the case of a mentally ill University student who **attacked police with an iron pipe in 2018** and was shot in the shoulder. Since then the student has had other episodes and is now in Cook County Jail. For the life of me, I can neither see how social workers could have resolved that incident (the student went down the block smashing cars and windows and screaming expletives), nor how the police, who could have been bashed with that pipe, did anything wrong. They shot the student in a way to disable but not seriously hurt him. https://docs.google.com/document/d/12_LE6vYZp4eWPzEAq_Q64QDAsX0dsASL61kNqvWLHYI/edit https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2018/04/08/university-of-chicago-student-wounded-by-cops-after-vandalism-spree-and-attack-on-police-students-blame-the-cops/
Anyway, you can see more demands in these threads, as well as some of the anger borne by the students:
UofC ignored them & that they’d go away. Sike! Students continued to relationship build with community members from Woodlawn, Washington Park & Hyde Park. They partnered with local abolitionist orgs. They organized!**#DefundUCPD** **#DefundCPD** **#CareNotCops** **https://t.co/kfzBSbp6tg** **pic.twitter.com/VhVIY95Uqn** https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefundUCPD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefundCPD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/hashtag/CareNotCops?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://t.co/VhVIY95Uqn
— GoodKidsMadCity (@GKMC18) **September 6, 2020** https://twitter.com/GKMC18/status/1302633933323075584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I've been here for 34 years and I still don't recognize the "particularly violent campus" described by protestors. Of course I'm not black, and haven't experienced the "profiling" that the group claims, but I do follow the campus news and think that this group, like many protest groups, grossly exaggerate the nature of the "problem". Note that *Care Not Cops* has also rescinded their offer to meet Lee publicly.
Students of color are left to fend for themselves on this particularly violent campus, with no real place to access a liberatory education or an empowering collective space. All of this is why we rescind our offer to meet.
— #CareNotCops (@care_not_cops) **September 4, 2020** https://twitter.com/care_not_cops/status/1302006836820836353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
(Sources for this story are **local news stations**, **local newspapers**, and **the Chicago Maroon**, the student newspaper.) https://news.wttw.com/2020/09/06/university-chicago-students-end-7-day-occupation-outside-provost-home https://www.hpherald.com/news/local/protesters-end-occupation-in-front-of-provost-s-house-with-march-to-ucpd-headquarters/article_f885e216-ef7f-11ea-8a4b-db3c93cf9df3.html https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/9/2/carenotcops-stage-multi-day-occupation-outside-pro/
A group of several dozen students began their sit-in in front of the Provost's house on August 29. Picketing in front of residences is illegal in Chicago, and the Provost could have had the students removed, but she and the University decided to let them stay rather than have the cops boot them. They camped out in front of Lee's house, chanted, and painted several offensive bits of graffiti on the street and sidewalk. An example is below; the photo has left out the "fuck your mother" slogan painted in Cantonese. (Lee speaks perfect English, and the Chinese slogans could easily be construed as racist.)
Avi Waldman and CareNotCops / The Chicago Maroon
As the *Chicago Maroon* reported:
Translated into English, one set of characters means “you do not have face,” or more colloquially, “don’t you care about your reputation?” Another, not pictured, contained a Cantonese vulgarity that, in English, means “fuck your mother.”
This was clearly not calculated to make the Provost more amenable to their demands; instead, as you'll see below, she was angered by this, as well she should have been. Still, she didn't call the cops, though she could easily have done so. That was admirable restraint.
An important part of the students' demands was that Lee meet with them publicly in a face to face confrontation that could be recorded. Lee countered by offering to meet with the leaders and later have a Zoom meeting. And then, after several days of this *mishigass*, Dr. Lee issued **a statement that was strong and uncompromising**. First, she makes her offer, which is reasonable, and then shows that she's angered by the students' behavior: https://provost.uchicago.edu/announcements/statement-regarding-ucpd-protests
I have offered to meet with the protesters. In fact, since their occupation of the UCPD headquarters on June 11, we have communicated a standing invitation for representatives of the group to meet with me. We reiterated that offer again this week. However, they have refused, insisting that even the initial meeting must be conducted in a public forum and focus on how to implement their demand to defund and disband the UCPD. They have rejected a constructive dialogue about their concerns and the UCPD.
Unfortunately, the actions that are currently taking place on my doorstep go beyond any civil bounds. In addition to engaging in unlawful residential picketing for three days, protestors have harassed and directed personal attacks and vulgar language at my family members and me, verbally and in writing, and blocked traffic for community members on my block. They have spray painted offensive messages in both English and Chinese on my street and outside my home.
. . As President Zimmer and I noted in an August 12 **message** to members of the University community, we are committed to examining our public safety function and ways in which community services provided by the University, including security and policing, can be improved. Through the earlier mentioned process, we will consider specific recommendations for UCPD and other public safety measures, and how the University can support public safety through its research, education, services, and programs. We plan to share the outcome of these discussions with the University community in a town hall designed to help develop additional actions in areas of concern. https://provost.uchicago.edu/announcements/fostering-dialogue-and-further-steps-public-safety
And then she lowers the boom by asserting that there is no way the University will disband the police. The campus cops are numerous, have police powers, and are essential in keeping the campus safe on the not-exactly-safe South Side. If they disbanded the cops—and the protestors don't seem to realize this—not only would the campus become more unsafe, but parents wouldn't send their kids here. An army of social workers prowling the streets won't stop that. Sometimes I think this whole movement doesn't know anything about reality.
Lee's response to the Big Demand:
The protesters have stated their opposition to the existence of the UCPD. While we are committed to working constructively on public safety, I want to be clear that the University has no intention of disbanding the UCPD. The UCPD provides a vital service in helping to keep safe and support our campus and surrounding communities – a mission that the University has undertaken with the encouragement of community members and leaders and in accordance with Chicago City Ordinance. That role will continue.
That must really tick off *Care Not Cops*, as it's a flat rejection of their most important demand.
The denouement, **as the** ***Hyde Park Herald*** **reports**, happened on Friday evening. The Chicago Police (not the UC police) showed up at the protest site, told the demonstrators it was illegal for them to block the street, and then asked them to disperse. The protestors formed a line across the street, facing a line of police, and then the cops told them a second time that they had to disperse. Finally, they said that they they would begin arresting demonstrators after the third request. That's when the demonstrators realized that they not only couldn't win, but were in over their heads. https://www.hpherald.com/news/local/protesters-end-occupation-in-front-of-provost-s-house-with-march-to-ucpd-headquarters/article_f885e216-ef7f-11ea-8a4b-db3c93cf9df3.html
This is where our timorous students differ from the protestors in Portland: they were unwilling to be arrested, even in a peaceful act of civil disobedience. But I consider this a good outcome in that violence was avoided, which would have been bad for both the students' cause as well as the University. The students marched around a bit and chanted, and then decided to march back to the campus police headquarters. That lasted for a short while and the demonstrators went home. And then the residuum of the demonstration was ignominiously carted away:
As they left the occupation site, city workers from the Department of Streets and Sanitation began loading objects from the encampment into a pickup truck. By the end of the evening, all that remained of the occupation was a pile of traffic cones and sandbags from the dismantled barricade.
But it ain't over yet, even though the protestors' main cause is officially futile. Alicia Hurtado, an organizer with *Care Not Cops*, tried to put a good face on the situation:
“We know that we’re coming out from this more powerful. We know that they’re scared of us, because we are on the right side of history,” said Hurtado. “We are on the right side of justice, and the only question that we have for them is — will you be on the right side of justice?”
“You know what’s starting in just a couple of weeks? UChicago’s fall quarter. You know what that means? We’ll have a campus of people that are ready to throw down alongside us. Look at all these people in this circle. We have all these ready to throw down alongside you,” Hurtado continued.
“To President Robert Zimmer, to Provost Ka Yee Lee, to UCPD Chief Kenton Rainey, to the Board of Trustees, to every UChicago administrator — see you in the fall!”
After making the statement, most of the demonstrators left, although a few milled about for a while longer before dispersing.
I guess "throw down" is slang for "join us." But couching this thing in terms of "the right side of history" is ridiculous.
As you can see, I don't have much sympathy with the protestors. Their demand to get rid of the campus police is risible. Their plan to replace cops with social and mental-health workers may be useful in some situations, but not the one they always single out. As for a public meeting, I can see why the Provost wants to avoid that: it would be a yelling and bullying session rather than an exchange of views, which is what the Provost envisioned. But the protestors have abandoned the demand for talks.
I guess this stuff will continue when school starts in a few weeks, but I'm not sure how willing students will be to "throw down" given that they will be under quarantine rules on campus and will be busy starting the school year.
What we have here is a lesson about how a university should respond to unconscionable demands. How often do we see *any* school tell the students something like "the University has no intention of disbanding the UCPD"?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sets new diversity standards
According to both the *New York Times* and *Variety*, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the annual Oscars, has set new diversity standards for the Best Picture award. The standards, though they don't apply to other categories like Best Actor, could apply to other awards like Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature, and, according to *Variety* (which has the better of the two articles), these categories will be addressed later.
The action is a response to the outcry about the lack of diversity in awards as well as the composition of the Academy, which led to the well known **#OscarsSoWhite campaign** in 2015. In response to the lack of diversity (racial diversity, though the adjective is rarely mentioned), the Academy did make and fulfill a promise to double the number of women and minority members between 2016 and 2020. This new initiative is meant to address diversity in films, both in front of and behind the camera. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/movies/oscarssowhite-history.html
The changes come in two steps. First, for the 2022 and 2023 Oscar nominations, Best Film applications will have to submit a confidential form to the Academy about "Inclusion Standards" if the film is to be considered. There's no word on what this form will ask.
Then, beginning in 2024, any Best Picture nomination has to meet at least two out of four sets of diversity standards, one for the actors in the film; another for diversity of "creative leadership and department heads" (casting director, makeup artists, cinematographer, composer, etc.), "other key roles", and "overall crew composition (e.g., 30% of the latter must be from underrepresented groups); the third for "industry access and opportunities" (fellowships and internships for minorities as well as special training opportunities for those from underrepresented groups"; and the fourth set for "audience development" (marketing, publicity, and distribution must involve individuals from "underrepresented racial or ethnic groups").
Remember, the Best Picture nominees have to fulfill at least two of the four requirements. And some areas, like actors, can be satisfied by meeting a minimal number of standards within the class. For example, here are the standards, as given by Variety, for "On-Screen Representation, Themes, and Narratives". To meet this one of the four sets of standards, the film must meet one of the following three criteria:
To achieve Standard A, the film must meet ONE of the following criteria:
**A1. Lead or significant supporting actors**
At least one of the lead actors or significant supporting actors is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.
• Asian
• Hispanic/Latinx
• Black/African American
• Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native
• Middle Eastern/North African
• Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
• Other underrepresented race or ethnicity
**A2. General ensemble cast**
At least 30% of all actors in secondary and more minor roles are from at least two of the following underrepresented groups:
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
**A3. Main storyline/subject matter**
The main storyline(s), theme or narrative of the film is centered on an underrepresented group(s).
• Women
• Racial or ethnic group
• LGBTQ+
• People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing
The standards for the other three categories can be seen in the *Variety* article. These standards were developed by a committee appointed by the Academy.
How will these be enforced? According to the *New York Times* article, "the standards will be enforced via spots checks of sets and through dialogue between the academy and a movie's filmmakers and distributors." For the first category—films—that seems impractical, because how do you know a film will be applying for a Best Picture award when it's being made? And after it's made, there are no more sets, though I suppose the ethnicity of actors will be available.
When I first read this, I assume that all four areas would have to meet the standards, and I was distressed—as were a few readers who sent links to me—that pictures would have to fit a given mold of diversity. For surely there are some movies that simply can't meet these standards, like those portraying times or situations when there were no minorities around. Those movies wouldn't get a chance to be nominated, no matter how good they were. But then I read the standards and realized that you don't have to fulfill the criteria for actors, but can do so by meeting two out of the other three categories. And I don't have any problems with those standards. Then I thought, "Well, just leave out category A and ask that movies meet two out of the three remaining standards," but then then narrows the possibilities for minority actors; so I think it should stay.
Thus, despite the superficial appearance of a draconian and authoritarian change in movies in the name of diversity, the initiative looks pretty reasonable to me. But other people should weigh in.
Martin Park Doors – #ThursdayDoors
First Joseph Clark House
Welcome back to Thursday Doors! After a three-week hiatus, Norm Frampton has opened the door to his wonderful blog for links to our posts. This is how we share our photos of doors that we have discovered. Who are we? We are bloggers and door aficionados from all over the world.
As you might expect, I spent our three-week break gathering doors. I snapped doors while running several errands and I went on one legitimate doorcursion. Still, yesterday morning, I had a surprise encounter with some interesting doors. I was early for a routine car maintenance appointment, so I took the long way to the dealer. I stumbled upon Martin Park in East Hartford and, I noticed three historic buildings. I think surprises should be shared, so I’m going to feature these doors today.
**The Huguenot House** is an interesting home. It is currently owned by the East Hartford Historical Society and has been moved into Martin Park. It is said to be haunted by Benny and the Blue Lady. The Blue Lady is thought to be the wife of the Makens Bemont, the son of the Edmund Bemont, who built the house in 1761. Benny is thought to be the son of Makers Bemont. Investigators have tried, unsuccessfully, to detect the spirits, but several people have said they have seen the spirits. The history around why this house is called the Huguenot House is less clear. The house was added to the National Registry of Historic Buildings in 1982. According to the nomination form:
The Makens Bemont House, or Huguenot House, is a small 1-story gambrel roofed house dating £rom 1761. It sits far back from the road and, with a war memorial and an 1821 schoolhouse brought to the site, marks the entrance to Martin Park. The house was moved to the site in 1971 from its original location on the opposite side of Burnside Avenue, some 2,500’ to the west. A new underpinning was poured, but the original brownstone-block foundation and steps were repositioned on top of it. The house has a narrow brick walkway in front and a few closely trimmed shrubs along its foundation. Though still undergoing restoration, the house serves as a museum for the East Hartford Historical; Society.
Behind the Huguenot House is the Goodwin one room schoolhouse. In this case, I am including an excerpt from historicbuidingsct.com
**The Goodwin Schoolhouse** in East Hartford was built in 1821 by George Goodwin, Jr., a paper manufacturer. He built the school on his own property on Burnside Avenue and hired a teacher to teach his own children and those of his neighbors. A one room schoolhouse, the building was used as a school until 1855, when the students started attending town schools. The former school was moved to Martin Park in 1975 as a gift to the town from George Goodwin, grandson of the original builder.
Behind the Huguenot House on the other side is the Burnham Blacksmith Shop, built c. 1850. The building contains a collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century tools and equipment used in the East Hartford area.
Unfortunately, due to – everybody sing along – the coronavirus, none of the buildings are open.
Heading from the park to the dealer, I passed two similar houses on adjacent lots. It turns out, they are linked – build by the same person. I found some information about these houses on a Connecticut historic site. Below are two excerpts:
**First Joseph Clark House (1872)**
At 66 Burnside Avenue in East Hartford is a beautifully preserved Italianate house. The exterior has recently been repainted. It was built in 1872 by Joseph Clark, a builder who constructed a number of houses in East Hartford.
**Second Joseph Clark House (1877)**
Joseph Clark, a carpenter who built many houses in East Hartford, erected the house at 74 Burnside Avenue circa 1877, a few years later than another Italianate house he built at 66 Burnside Avenue. Unlike its neighbor, the house at no. 74 lacks a cupola, but has an Eastlake-style front porch. It is adjacent to Clark Street, which was named for Joseph Clark.
All in all, I think being early for my appointment was a stroke of good fortune. There are a few more images in the gallery today because I’ve included several from the NRHB Nomination Form.
Makers Bemont house.
Back door of the Markers Bemont house.
Makers Bemont house – side view and the Goodwin One Room School in the distance.
The Huguenot House or the Makens Bemont house. It’s currently being restored.
Front door of Makers Bemont house
The Blacksmith Shop.
The Blacksmith Shop – side view.
Goodwin One Room School
Goodwin One Room School
Goodwin One Room School
Plaque at the Makers Bemont house.
First Joseph Clark House
Makens Bemont house – kitchen from NHRP nomination form.
Makens Bemont house – from NHRP nomination form. They described the staircase as being narrow.
Makens Bemont house – dormer from NHRP nomination form.
Makens Bemont house – exterior in winter from NHRP nomination form.
Streets of London
**Jack** walked through the **streets** only accompanied by the darkness of the night, the lights from the lampposts. He knew it was dangerous, but he hadn't slept for days. Lying awake in the darkness listening to the rats was driving him mad. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/slums.html
He heard something. Steps around the corner. Strange, at this time of the night. Slow footsteps coming towards him. Too slow. Too *heavy*.
He stopped. So did the steps.
"Maybe I'll go back..." He didn't finish the thought. A giant head leant out from behind the wall. A horrible face, twisted, broken. In pain. A monster, tall as a building. Its skin was pale, dead.
Jack stood frozen. The two figures watched each other. A nightly meeting of two lost souls, two **outcasts** of a city where they both were doomed to live their lives. http://avictorian.com/poverty1.html
A scream emerged from Jacks darkest fears. The monster pulled its head back, held its arms up to its face. Heavy footsteps went running down the same way they had come and disappeared.
Jack didn't get much sleep that night either.
**Outcast** http://fictionspawn.com/2018/04/20/outcast/
Creating expectations
The lack of performance artiste who goes by the stage name Boris Johnson has faced three big challenges since he became Prime Minister. To deliver that oven ready Brexit deal that he promised during last year's General Election, to deal with the coronavirus epidemic, and to placate an angry and restless Scotland. He has utterly failed on all of them.
The pandemic has left the UK with the highest death toll in Europe and the worst affected economy. Johnson is now trying to get the public to accept that they can only hang out with six friends at once when he's spent the last month telling them they absolutely have to get onto crowded commuter trains and buses and back into open plan offices so that they can buy Pret a Manger sandwiches or the country will die. So remember, if you're in England don't meet up in groups of six, unless you're in Pret a Manger. The police in England will now have the power to break up gatherings of more than six parties, and especially dangerous parties. It would be great if that included the Conservative party.
The oven ready Brexit deal has turned out to be a lie, colour us surprised. The UK is now going where even Margaret Thatcher didn't dare tread - ripping up an international treaty and showing itself to be an untrustworthy partner at the very point where the UK is desperately in need of allies and goodwill abroad. In 1975 Thatcher said, "In the same way that government and individuals should be bound by law so countries should be bound by treaties. Britain does not renounce treaties. Indeed, to do so would damage our own integrity as well as international relations." Well, yeah. The UK is now on the brink of a no deal Brexit will will be a disaster for jobs and which will be a body blow to an economy which is already reeling under the effects of the pandemic. Additionally, the EU may seek to impose sanctions on the UK for its breach of international law. When you act like a pariah state, you'll be treated like a pariah state.
Far from reconciling Scotland to Brexit, Johnson's government have at every turn thrown fuel on the fire, enraging Scottish public opinion even further. The Conservatives have set out not merely to undermine the devolution settlement, but to destroy its very foundations. This is a party which constantly harps on about the importance of respecting the outcome of referendums, but which has not got the slightest hesitation in overturning the result of the 1997 devolution referendum, which was reinforced by the promises of the Better Together parties in the 2014 referendum.
Devolution became the settled will of the people of Scotland following the long bleak years of the Thatcher and Major era. It was seen as a means by which Scotland could provide itself with a modicum of protection from the worst excesses of Conservative rule. We can now see that devolution cannot protect Scotland from a Conservative government which is prepared to ignore the rules, even to ignore the law. The Tories will destroy everything in their hell bent pursuit of a fantasy Brexit based upon a nostalgia for a British Empire which is - deservedly - long gone.
The devolution referendum of 1997 was a fait accompli. When it took place there was little doubt that Scotland was going to vote yes. We are not yet at that point with an independence referendum. If an independence referendum was held this week, it would be closely fought and there would be considerably uncertainty about the result until the votes were actually counted. In 1997 there was massive public anger in Scotland about the way that this country had been treated by Conservative governments, and a determination that a political solution needed to be found. Scotland was in no mood to take no for an answer. This public determination and anger in Scotland was enough to overcome the deep seated reluctance of Tony Blair and the Labour party.
We're going to need an even greater public determination and anger in order to secure Scotland's independence. Despite those who demand immediate action, Scotland is not quite there yet. I really wish it was, but we have to deal with the realities of this country and not the Scotland of our hopes and dreams. We're building a new house for Scotland here, and we need to build it from the foundations up. We can't rush into putting on the roof before we've built the supporting structure.
For the past few months, on every single article on this blog, no matter what the topic, someone pops up to state - as though it were an established fact - that Boris Johnson will never consent to a Section 30 order. Firstly, it's not a fact. Moreover those who make the assertion appear to have a far greater confidence in the ability of the Conservatives to resist Scotland than the Conservatives do themselves. We've only had consistent majorities for yes in polls for a few months yet already we can see the cracks appearing in the Conservatives' resolve.
However tactically, campaigning on the basis that a Section 30 order will be refused weakens us in the longer term. Getting a Section 30 order is a matter of process. The key to independence however is strategy. The strategy is to gradually ratchet up the pressure on the Johnson administration. What really matters is not so much the response of Johnson to a demand for a Section 30 order, the important thing is the response of public opinion in Scotland to his refusal. The response of Scottish public opinion is also far more important than the response of Nicola Sturgeon, because it's the first which will dictate the second. The Scottish Government can only respond strongly and decisively if it knows that it has the support of majority public opinion to embark upon alternative steps.
As supporters of independence we believe in the sovereignty of the people of Scotland. It's for us, the people of Scotland, to decide if and when we want an independence referendum. All of us who believe in independence can agree on that point. Therefore we cannot, we must not, concede that Johnson has any right at all to tell the people of Scotland that we cannot have the referendum of our choosing. Yet when we bewail that he will never agree to a Section 30 order, that's precisely what we're doing. And that in turn sets up an expectation among the people of Scotland that Westminster has the right to refuse us. In so doing we undermine the public anger and determination that we require in order to take the next step - to challenge Johnson in some other way - because we have already set up an expectation of failure.
There are several routes to independence besides a referendum following a Section 30 order. However key to the success of all of them is that they must have the clear and explicit support of a majority of the people of Scotland. We may now have consistent majorities for yes in polls, but we cannot yet be certain that there is consistent majority support for routes to independence other than a referendum agreed in advance with Westminster. In order to ensure that we take majority public opinion with us, we cannot leapfrog steps, no matter how desperate we are to escape this Tory Brexit nightmare.
We are not there yet. If we lived in a Scotland where we had a representative media which truly reflected the political opinions of Scotland, we'd be independent already. If the Scottish Government was to press ahead right now, it would be slaughtered in the press. Any increase in deaths from the virus would be blamed on the "reckless and irresponsible" independence movement and the SNP. You can't sell the vision of a better Scotland to the public when you're being blamed for killing people.
A successful independence strategy must be based in the realities of the Scotland we actually live in, not the Scotland we hope to live in. There are many of us who now support independence, but this is a cautious nation. We have to construct a strategy that will enjoy broad national support, not one which appeals only to those of us who have been convinced of the need for independence for years.
For my own part, I do not believe that Johnson will easily agree to a Section 30 order. The British state is not going to make this easy for us. However if we cannot take majority public opinion with us at every step of the way, we will lose. We will only win our independence with a mass national campaign. You can't have a mass campaign without the masses. We have the additional issue of building that mass campaign in a country where the mass media is overwhelmingly against us.
We cannot, we must not, concede that Johnson has any right at all to refuse a demand for a Section 30 order following the election of a majority of pro-independence MSPs standing on a platform for another referendum. Above all, this is a battle for public opinion. We need to ensure that people in Scotland are angered, infuriated, and made more determined if and when Johnson refuses a demand for a Section 30 order following a victory for pro-independence parties in a Scottish election where the issue of another referendum was key. We're only making that harder for ourselves when we set up an expectation of failure. We're going to need all the anger and determination that we can muster if an alternative is to succeed. The first step to winning is to refuse to concede that you can lose.
What to make of Jessica Krug?
I still don't have a firm opinion about, or anything much to add to, the case of **Jessica Krug**, who resigned her history professorship at George Washington University yesterday after revealing that she wasn't really the Afro-Latina woman woman she'd pretended to be her whole academic career, but a white Jewish woman from Kansas City. During that career, she wrote a regarded book and several articles centering on race, as well as articles for mainstream venues like *Essence.* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Krug_academic_scandalhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/us/jessica-krug-gwu-race.html
Apparently Krug didn't expose herself willingly, but, as the *New York Times* (below) and ***Wikipedia*** articles on her case note, confessed to the duplicity when she realized she was about to be outed by colleagues. George Washington University, after it read her confession on *Medium* (see below), asked her to resign, and so she did. She's toast, singing with the choir invisible. She is an ex-academic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Krug_academic_scandalhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/us/jessica-krug-gwu-race.html
Here's Krug's confession, which pulls no punches. She attributes her charade to mental illness resulting from childhood trauma, but makes no other excuses, nor does she ask for forgiveness. She knows she's a goner, for the uproar against her has been deafening, and she asks that she be "canceled":
An excerpt:
I have not only claimed these identities as my own when I had absolutely no right to do so — when doing so is the very epitome of violence, of thievery and appropriation, of the myriad ways in which non-Black people continue to use and abuse Black identities and cultures — but I have formed intimate relationships with loving, compassionate people who have trusted and cared for me when I have deserved neither trust nor caring. People have fought together with me and have fought for me, and my continued appropriation of a Black Caribbean identity is not only, in the starkest terms, wrong — unethical, immoral, anti-Black, colonial — but it means that every step I’ve taken has gaslighted those whom I love.
. . . I believe in restorative justice, where possible, even when and where I don’t know what that means or how it could work. I believe in accountability. And I believe in cancel culture as a necessary and righteous tool for those with less structural power to wield against those with more power.
I should absolutely be cancelled. No. I don’t write in passive voice, ever, because I believe we must name power. So. You should absolutely cancel me, and I absolutely cancel myself.
This abasement and apology wasn't good enough for some people; one angry Ph.D. candidate **has called for "reparations"**! https://medium.com/@lbetty1/jessica-krugs-medium-post-is-not-an-apology-729d1b25b6f
Krug's case has been compared with that of **Rachel Dolezal**, a white woman who passed as black, eventually becoming the president of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP. (She was outed when her parents revealed her background.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Dolezal
But there appears to be an important difference between the two women. As far as I can see (and I'm willing to believe this), Dolezal really wanted to *be* black; she was the racial equivalent of a transgender person (i.e., "transracial")—a parallel that **got philosophy professor Rebecca Tuvel in big trouble** when she merely pointed out the philosophical similarities between transgender and transracial identities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia_transracialism_controversy
Krug, on the other hand, seems to be more of a race grifter: somebody who never felt they were black or Latina but used that identity to advance herself professionally. The only parallel is that both Dolezal and Krug pretended to be women of color. I thus can't feel much animus for Dolezal, but feel a lot more of it for Krug.
But the Krug case does bring up some uncomfortable questions:
**If race is a social construct, what's the problem with assuming membership in another race?** The social constructionists assume that there are no meaningful biological differences between race; like gender, it's basically a persona you take on. (The "no biological differences" trope is, of course, misleading: even a difference in pigmentation rests on a difference in genes.) This is why, if Dolezal really felt like a black person, and wanted to be black, I can't fault her that much for trying to pass. Transracialism should be a lot less problematic for social constructionists than for people who see a real biological difference, based on ancestry, between races. But the woke don't accept the existence of biologically different ethnic groups, and they're still steamed at Dolezal and Kru.
Now the obvious difference here is that Krug's motivations were dishonest: she wanted to avail herself of what we might call "color privilege": the academic credibility that comes with being able to write about issues of race, particularly one's own race, with perhaps a soupçon of victimhood status thrown in. It's not clear to me whether Krug availed herself of minority positions and scholarships to work her way up the academic ladder.
But perhaps the disinction it's not so clear, for Krug wasn't really "appropriating down" if she was getting advantages of passing for black/Latina. If that's the case, then what is the difference between her passing for black, and getting advantages, and black people who, historically, have sometimes passed for white for exactly the same reasons: to get "white privilege." Is one of these pretenses okay and the other is not? Apparently so, though philosophically I can't see a difference. After all, while you can argue that passing for white removes you from oppression, it's still duplicitous and, at least these days, and for academics, comes with the same kind of gains that Krug got.
Clearly there's something very wrong with passing for black, even if you feel you're black and even if you construe blackness as a social construct, not a biological reality. This "wrongness" is even true for Rachel Dolezal, who—and I'm assuming that her blackness was taken on psychologically and honesty—was still excoriated by the black community as well as by many whites. This I don't get at all, for, as Rebecca Tuvel pointed out, the moral boundary between transracialism and transgenderism is hard to discern.
On the grounds of duplicity, though, I can't beef about Krug having to leave George Washington University, for she was in effect lying on her curriculum vitae.
This leaves one problem:
**What do we do with Krug's scholarship?** It's usual when someone is canceled to also cancel their works, or at least give a caveat when they're discussed. In the case of Krug, I suspect that her books will be completely discredited and taken out of print. But is that the right thing to do? After all, she's the author of several journal article and one book, *Fugitive Modernities: Kisama and the Politics of Freedom,* that was well reviewed and nominated for two prizes (she's holding it in the photo at bottom). Does the book become any less valid because Krug wasn't really black or Latina? Should the work even be seen in a different light in view of Krug's duplicity? (Of course, if she claims a false ethnicity in the book, that should be called out, but I'm talking about the scholarship here.)
The main issue I have trouble with is the rancor descending on Krug not simply for lying, but for assuming a "minority" identity when she was white. After all, people of color are taken to be oppressed, and so by taking on a "minoritized" persona you are supposedly subjecting yourself to all that oppression. But perhaps one can say that things are different in academia. And this is largely true: black and Hispanic professors are much sought after by everyone, and are in short supply. By claiming to be one, you have a leg up on jobs. For jobs and admissions to graduate school, we do have "color privilege." But then what can one make of the claims that academics is infested with structural racism?
Jessica Krug.(Credit: Duke University Press)
Readers’ wildlife photos
Many thanks to the several readers who sent in photos so the daily feature could be saved. I can always use more, though, so don't forget about me!
Here's a batch from Paul Peed; he sent them to me in the beginning of August and I lost them. Fortunately, he re-sent them, and I've put them below, with his captions and notes indented.
Here is an unthemed collection of images from my birdwatching journeys in central Florida
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk
**Cooper's Hawk (*****Accipiter cooperii*****)** https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk
This large female was an exciting individual to observe as she tore through a stand of Wax Myrtles at **Black Point Wildlife Drive** near the Canaveral National Seashore. I was treated to one failed hunt and one successful hunt before she perched on a bush and allowed me one image from a considerable distance. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Merritt_Island/Black_Point_Wildlife_Drive.aspx
***Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)*** https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk
*My favorite birdwatching "patch" is* ***T.M. Goodwin Waterfowl Management Area*** *in Brevard County, Florida on the central east coast. Familiarity allows me to discover nesting areas used year after year and then monitor them from egg laying to fledging. I am always concerned with stressing the birds so these are all quick images with guesses at exposure and ISO.* https://floridabirdingtrail.com/trail/trail-sections/east-section/t-m-goodwin-wma/
*2 weeks before fledging*
*One week after fledging; adult female still provisioning:*
*A possible parent:*
***Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)*** https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black_Skimmer
*Often gathered in a communal area on the mudflats with Terns, Gulls, and Dowitchers, these guys are nearly always present but nearly always inactive and out of range at T.M. Goodwin (which doesn't open until 9:00am and closes at 4:00pm). One day a small flock decided to give me a break. I didn't photograph their skimming foraging behavior, but here's a close up look at their wonderfully modified lower mandible.*
***Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)*** https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cattle_Egret
*These African natives somehow found their way to South American and then spread quickly to North America. While it is a tropical bird, Cattle Egrets have been recorded in Alaska and Newfoundland. A highly successful omnivore, their primary diet is insects, but moles, frogs and snakes round out their menu.*
An enthusiastic movie recommendation
During my allotted reading time yesterday, I treated myself to a movie instead. I've seen many of the most recent ones that were highly regarded, so I Googled "best movies 2019" and came up with one I hadn't seen that got wide acclaim: "**Portrait of a Lady on Fire**", a French film directed by **Céline Sciamma**. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_a_Lady_on_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9line_Sciamma
I won't give a spoiler, though there's really just one spoiler. The film, which takes place in the mid-18th century, stars **Noémie Merlant** as Marianne, a painter who travels to an island off of Brittany to paint Héloise, played by **Adèle Haenel**, who recently left a convent. Héloise's mom, the Countess, wants to marry her off to a man in Milan, and to do so she must send a picture of her daughter to the prospective groom. As there were no photographs then, the Countess commissions a painter to come to the island to do the job. But since Héloise doesn't really want to get married to the guy, she refuses to sit for any painters. Marianne, then, is instructed to act as a companion for Héloise, observing her surreptitiously during the day so she can paint a portrait at night. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No%C3%A9mie_Merlant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A8le_Haenel
Although the film really has just four characters, all women (there's also a servant girl in a subsidiary role), Marianne and Héloise occupy nearly all the screen time, and the film's about how their relationship develops as they spend time together. Eventually they fall in love, Marianne confesses her mission and Héloise decides to sit for her portrait. The denouement of the two-hour film is sad but moving.
Here's the official trailer:
And a clip from the movie showing the women during a portrait session:
I was surprised that this movie wasn't nominated for an Academy Award. It's mesmerizing, the acting is superb, and the cinematography is beautiful (it won Best Screenplay at Cannes).
This is a slow-paced movie about characters, not events, and won't appeal to those who go to action movies that consist of one long chase scene (the default blockbuster these days). Rather, it's like "**Tokyo Story"**, in my view one of the best movies ever made but one that I hesitate to recommend to friends because there's no action, and some have found it boring. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Story
"Portrait of a Lady on Fire" blew me away, and I can't recommend it highly enough, though I don't think it got much publicity. It certainly did get *approbation*: here's the *Rotten Tomatoes* critics' and audience's summary (click on screenshot):
If you're a movie fan (the kind they call "cinemaphile"), you'll like it a lot. See it online.
And be sure to put in the comments the names and a few words about movies you've seen lately—good or bad. Since nearly all theaters are closed because of the pandemic, nearly all of us must be watching our movies online.
RDP Thursday: Bristle
I am bristling with energy
to clean my bristles
They are so sharp
Just like thistles
They call me Fluffy
It's just my style
Mrs. Human was not happy
when the fur made a pile
FOTD 10th September 2020: Chrysanthemums
And what a wonderful selection. It is that time of the year again.
Some stats on this site (and some ducks)
I just noticed how many posts I've made on this site, and decided to do a few quick calculations.
This website began on January 22, 2009, with the first post being a short announcement that I'd published a **Letter to Charles Darwin** on the Oxford University Press website. Today, September 10, 2020, makes 4250 days since the site began. And, if you include this one, the total number of posts is 22,660, with the number of comments adding up to 1,113,584. https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2009/01/22/letter-to-charles-darwin/
This works out to be 5.33 posts per day, 262 comments per day, and 49.14 comments per post (I was chagrined when it went below 50). I can't believe I've written nearly 23,000 posts, and that doesn't include the 1,587 posts that are drafts, the vast majority of which will never see the light of day.
I think it's the equivalent of a large book, but nobody has read the whole thing. Looking at the early posts, readers have come and gone, some bored, some ticked off, and some, like the old faithful Ben Goren, getting married and adopting a much bigger interest. Still, subscribers become more numerous, and perhaps I'll see 75,000 before I die. But of course this all becomes useless when I go underground, and then lost forever when the Sun burns up the Earth.
Well, the mallards will vanish too, but right now I have to feed them. The males are getting their green heads, and I've never seen them green up before. The sexually selected and iridescent raiment starts as a patch on their forehead and a mustache by their bills, and then spreads over their heads. Maybe they'll be fully green when they leave.
They're almost prettier when they're half green than when their in their full resplendent sexual plumage. The pictures below, taken today, show several drakes in Botany Pond.
"New drake, who dis?
progress
Today's guest picture comes from my sister Mary who has been enjoying her walks up to Kenwood recently. She had this fine view of the grounds on Wednesday.
Today's guest picture comes from my sister Mary who has been enjoying her walks up to Kenwood recently. She had this fine view of the grounds on Wednesday.
We had a cool, grey morning here today, definitely feeling like autumn a lot more than like late summer. It stayed dry though, but with the temperature failing to get above 60°C, it never got very welcoming outside.
Unusually, I started to watch the birds soon after breakfast when activity at the feeder caught my eye. The fake tree was in full use as a waiting room and I saw both a great tit...
...and a coal tit there.
I did see a blue tit too but as I didn't get a picture of it, I shan't mention that.
The great tit made it to the feeder.
Most of the action came from sparrows, and I like the way that the two on the right of the feeder are anxious to keep abreast of what is happening round the corner.
Sometimes you get a potential flying bird of the day but feeder furniture intervenes in the picture
We had an excellent garden coffee meeting as Margaret was joined by Sandy and Nancy. Sandy and Nancy had been busy making digital copies of obituaries and death notices from the newspaper for a visitor to our Archive Group website who had asked for them. It is always very satisfying when someone makes use of the newspaper index which Nancy and her fellow data miners have transcribed and Sandy, Sandra and I have entered into the database. Especially when, as happened in this case, the enquirer recognises how much work has gone into producing the website.
New lockdown regulations have been brought in today and we probably couldn't have had the meeting tomorrow, so it was lucky that we got it in when we did, even if we had to wear coats to keep warm while we sat and chatted.
After coffee, I wandered round the garden for ten minutes doing a some sporadic dead heading and photographing.
The pale poppies have certainly made the dead heading worthwhile and continue to delight.
In spite of the chilly feel to the day, it was good to see a hoverfly visiting the Crown Princess..
...and several red admirals on the buddleia.
was busy removing more of the hedge between the house and the front lawn and in the process, dead headed a sunflower.
I dissected the head.
The fuchsia by the dam, which was looking decidedly poorly in the spring, has responded very well to being seriously cut back
....and we are going to try to keep it from getting too large for its own good again.
I took a picture of the Michaelmas daisies which constitute a colourful corner all by themselves..
the very last of the Sweet Williams..
..the dahlia of the day
and two contrasting...
...but both very red things.
And then feeling that that was ten minutes well spent, I went in to have lunch.
After lunch, I spent two hours not going cycling before I finally managed to get myself into my cycling gear. Even then I was distracted by another curious sparrow....
...and the possibility of joining Mrs Tootlepedal in watching today's stage of the Tour.
I did finally get my bike out though, and found that my sore hip was cured and that my legs were ready for action.
I went to check on the progress of the turbines at the new windfarm and my first glimpse showed me that work was going on. I pedalled on round to the other side where I could get a better look but found that the crane had stopped working when I got there.
However, I did realise that this was the fifth turbine and if you look at the header picture for today's post, you will see that four turbines have now been completed. I didn't go round my usual 21 mile route but turned off down the hill at Solwaybank to add a few miles to my journey. At the start of the service road to the windfarm, I met an enormous road roller
The chap putting the roller on the trailer told me that he had been flattening the new road as turbine blades are being delivered every day just now. He said that he would hire the roller to me if I wanted, but sadly I couldn't think of a good use for it.
There was quite a noticeable wind today, but as it was blowing me home by this time, I was quite pleased with it, and it certainly helped me enjoy my 27 miles trip. As a bonus, the 27 miles took me exactly up to 3000 miles for the year so far. As I only managed 3076 miles in the whole of last year, this is progress. Secretly I am hoping to do 4000 miles before the end of the year, but as weather plays a big part in how many miles you can do in winter, I am not telling anyone about that in case snow and ice and gales come and I don't make it.
Mrs was digging up more of her hedge when I got back, so I joined her in the garden and put the fertiliser and moss eating mixture on the front lawn while she toiled.
We put the front gates on their hinges just before Evie came to visit and I noticed that the nasturtiums have been busy in the last two weeks.
We are threatened with some miserable weather tomorrow, so I may be able to spend time putting some more entries into the Archive Group database as the data miners have got back to work after a forced break thanks to the virus.
The (only just) flying bird of the day is that coal tit. Not a good picture but an unusual one for me
Good Morning
Some nice feathery clouds this morning and the sun is shining. Looks like another pleasant day in my world. No sign of rain and according to the weather report it will stay that way for the next week.
Talking of next week. I discovered a golden oldie muddle yesterday. I was looking at the village programme for rubbish disposal and saw that at last we were going to have a removal of the unwanted newspapers and cardboard. We collect it in the cellar and No. 1 son deposits on the street to be collected. I was convinced it was 7th September, but I noticed that it was still there on the street side a week later. I was not sure it was our paper as they all look alike, but yesterday I have a closer look and realised ours was the only paper outside. Did the men not find it and left it or ....... yes, did I make a mistake. I had a quick check on our programme and saw it was being collected on 17th September, next week on Thursday. So No. 1 son and I put it in the garage for the time being. I was worried it might rain and there would be complaints about my soggy paper. One of he golden oldie mixups with time.
Otherwise I was off to town yesterday afternoon, more out of having somewhere to go. I did not really have a lot to buy and just wandered around a bit on my scooter. Our town never get so crowded during the week ad neither are the supermarkets. In the earlier days it was a crowded event daily to go shopping. Now you have enough room in the store "to swing a cat" as the saying goes. Admittedly there are reduced numbers of people allowed in, but there is never anyone waiting outside to enter. Naturally it makes the shopping experience more pleasant, especially as those that are there avoid getting to close.
I am sure that people have began to plan their daily chores with a difference. There is still a lot being bought online, and the daily shopping is no longer as it was. I make the most of these relaxing shopping days to plan a little ahead with food supplies, freezing meat and organising. This leads to the result that I no longer have such a stress with the household. Weekend shopping on Friday is now almost non existent and and I do bits and pieces during the week.
Even the shop assistants are more friendly. I bought some veal slices yesterday, planning to cook them in a morilles cream sauce over the week-end. I had to ask the lady in the butchers where the moriilles were. She showed me and added the remark that it looks like I will be cooking veal slices with a morille sauce - how perceptive. Morilles are a very expensive sort of mushroom and you usually buy them dehydrated, as finding them fresh is quite a problem as they grow in the earth. In Italy I believe they train pigs to find them, or dogs.
After my shopping I returned through the town taking a few photos here and there. The side streets were quite empty. This is a view on the so-called Gold Alley, although the cobblestones are not paved with gold. Our town is full of these amall and narrow side streets.
As I left town I rode past the small green park. The trees are still fully clothed in their leafy costume, but it will not belong until the dead leaves are falling.
As soon as I see our local castle in our village I know I do not have far to go. The sunflower field is now on its last stalks and it will not be long before the harvesting machines arrive to remove it.
It was another evening with the TV and a little washing to hang up before retiring. Today I will again be in town to get the last minuted stuff. I am planning on a mice meat pie tomorrow and I like to get the meat fresh, if I do not have any frozen. The lady in the butchers minces it fresh-You can buy it prepacked, but I prefer it freshly minced if possible. As a golden oldie I have time and patience for my shoppping. I also have a few veg to get, and then I will be set until Monday when I will go into the shopping attack again.
I now have to get a few things organised. There are a few things to iron and some tidying up to do. Otherwise no stress. Have a good day everyone, the week-end is nigh (although every day seems to be a week-end for golden oldies). Take care, stay at a distance and wear your masks. Washing hands frequently is also in the programme I believe. And here one of those fantastic views I get when leaving town.
“Hit Job” While Describing His Killing of A Counterprotester a Matter Of “Tactics”
We have been discussing the controversy after a Rhode Island Professor Eric Loomis declared that there was “nothing wrong” with the killing of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, the member of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer by Michael Reinoehl, an Antifa member. He insisted that the decision of whether to take the life of a “fascist” is purely a tactical, not moral, decision. Connecticut History Professor Manisha Sinha also weighed in on the issue. She referred to the killing of Reinoehl a “hit job” by police while using the same language of the killing of Danielson as a matter of tactics. She was cited by Loomis in a post. https://jonathanturley.org/2020/09/09/i-see-nothing-wrong-with-it-rhode-island-professor-defends-murder-of-right-wing-protester-in-portland/ https://heavy.com/news/2020/08/michael-reinoehl/ https://history.uconn.edu/faculty-by-name/manisha-sinha/ https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/09/why-was-michael-reinoehl-killed
Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice flagged the tweet because he disagreed with the thrust of her objection to the police account: https://blog.simplejustice.us/2020/09/10/reinoehl-and-the-new-regularity/
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=ScottGreenfield&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1301882877890777090&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.simplejustice.us%2F2020%2F09%2F10%2Freinoehl-and-the-new-regularity%2F&siteScreenName=ScottGreenfield&theme=light&widgetsVersion=219d021%3A1598982042171&width=550px
Greenfield correctly notes that the police report is disturbingly vague about how “there was gunfire” when they attempted to arrest Reinoehl on a charge of second degree murder. I would also like more information on whether Reinoehl fired his weapon. Witnesses have said that no warnings were given before the gunfire. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/09/witness-says-officers-never-gave-commands-before-firing-at-michael-reinoehl-outside-wa-apartment.html
I agree that more details are needed though the labeling of the killing of as a “hit job” and “an extrajudicial killing ordered by Trumpsters” is wildly unjustified. The contrast in the two killing however is astonishing. Killing a conservative protester is a matter of “tactics,” but Sinha treats the killing of a suspected murderer on the run in an arrest is clearly murder. Indeed, she leaves it as an open question “whether you disagree with Michael Reinoehl’s tactics.” Thus, people like Loomis could be right that the question of taking the life of this individual was merely a matter of tactics not morality.
Putting aside the Reinoehl shooting which is being investigated, it is Sinha’s dismissal of the first killing as a tactical question that is so troubling. Danielson did not have a gun. Reinoehl gave an interview on the run in which he admitted to killing him. Rienoehl had a criminal record involving gun charges before the killing. https://heavy.com/news/2020/08/michael-reinoehl/
As I stated in the earlier blog post, what is so striking is how Danielson is no longer treated as a human being with family or even individual worth. This is just a question of tactics. I am sure that there are conservative students, even far right people, at the University of Connecticut. Would the killing of any of those students also be just a tactical concern for Professor Sinha or others?
The dismissal of the immorality of such killings is deeply troubling, particularly when espoused by academics. Simply calling someone a “fascist” does not make them fungible and worthless. Again, I support the free speech rights of both Professors Loomis and Sinha in espousing such views, but the silence of other academics to condemn such remarks is troubling.
Rap converges with religious glossolalia
It's no secret that I'm not a fan of rap music, which has replaced soul music, a fantastic period of song, as *the* African-American pop music. I do like some rap songs, but only when the rapping has a melody interspersed.
Here's **Iggy Azalea** "freestyling", which is improvised rap. She's not very good at it, and this almost seems to be a form of **glossolalia**, or religious speaking in tongues. And, just like those who do this in church, the crowd goes wild. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iggy_Azalea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia
You can have it.
@craigy
