A Few Personal Observations

I was happy yesterday to learn that Emmanuel Macron was the new President-elect of France, even though the young man was born three years after I graduated from high school, and while I was still in college...
    I missed the first hour of the JFK Profiles in Courage Award presentation last night, but Caroline Kennedy's speech made me laugh and cry.  Then her son, Jack Schlossberg, made me cry.  And, finally, President Obama made me laugh and cry.  I don't know about the first half of the program, but the last hour was truly incredible and extremely moving.  I want to thank everyone involved in that presentation.
   The count of new foals on the southern end of Assateague reached 28 Sunday.  And each and every foal is remarkably good-looking.  One little girl is a little over at the knees, but I'm pretty certain that will straighten out...  And it looks like Surf Queen is pregnant this year.  After the death of Surfer Dude, and the birth of Surfer Princess, she did not have a 2016 foal.  I'm glad she took at least one year off from reproducing.  The thing is, she was running around with almost every stallion on the north end last summer and fall, and then was leading an all girl gang - so who's the daddy?  She is currently with Hoppy...
     Forty-five and his cronies had a little beer party celebration in the White House Rose Garden to celebrate the House of Representatives passing of a "new health care bill"  by three (3 !) votes.  Has America forgotten that the bill now has to go to the Senate for voting, and then to the joint committees, and then back to the House, and again to the Senate, for approval before the tangerine tyrant can sign it into law?  What the heck were they celebrating?  It's something that would equal the weight of a mosquito - and it's just as squashable.
    The orange and yellow pricktator spoke in New York City Friday and was greeted with thousands of protesters.  He didn't even visit his wife or youngest son.  He stayed the weekend in Bedminster, New Jersey, and tweeted that it was "saving the country money."  If he'd stayed in the White House, it would have cost a hell of a lot less, but it was $1.5 million less than a trip to Florida...
    Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has spent the weekend visiting two National Monuments in Utah - Bears Ears and the Grand Stairway-Escalante - to decide on whether or not he'll recommend to rescind the National Monument protection for those two areas.   There is an very rich and large coal deposit in the middle of Grand Staircase- Escalante; and there are multiple oil and natural gas deposits inside Bears Ears.  I bet he'll advocate for mining and drilling - raping the earth, instead of preserving it.
    I am looking forward to Sally Yates testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee this morning about her visit to the White House regarding ex-staffer Michael Flynn.  I hope to hear new and impeachable things from the previous Attorney General.
    I had thought that the antics of the family members of 45 could no longer surprise me - but learning that a few weeks ago, and this weekend too, of the Kushner family's presentations to monied peoples of Beijing, China and Shanghai threw me for a loop.  If any of these people with a great deal of money invested in the Kushner real estate businesses in those cities, they could get a special visa (an EB-5) to come to America.  Of course, one must invest $500,000 for each visa received.  To me, that smacks of buying the right to a visa - not applying for one.
    And, finally, it was announced last night that the new Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Scott Pruitt, has decided to replace half of the current members of the 18 member Board of Scientific Counselors, which advises EPA's scientific arm on whether the research it does has sufficient rigor and upstanding integrity.  All of the members being dismissed are at the end of serving at least one three-year term, although these are often renewed and not terminated.  And all of those being dismissed had been told in February that their terms would be renewed.  Pruitt says that this is to ensure "a clean break with the Obama administration."  The Republican party and the Koch brothers are trying their best to kill Mother Earth - and she is not replaceable.