Man, It's Too Hot

As the corona onslaught continues, and March Madness proves its authenticity common Americans should ask themselves, "What is the source of this pandemic?"  Roughly we know its origins were in China, the product of bat droppings.  Quickly it spread to Europe.  I remember SARS.  I remember the bird flu.  I remember ebola.  The question is, who or what is responsible for the news?  News.  I don't mean fake news.  Once there were news bureaus, and they were high and mighty, not in the sense of pretentiousness but in the sense that they were staunch, respectable, and honest litmus tests for American society.  News reporting, as in the Washington Post's expose of the Watergate scandal, is what keeps America and hence the swamp honest.  With the slate of recent legislation which frees corporate America of any governmental oversight, and the repeal of specific legislation requiring news agencies fairly to report both sides of a story, our news "media" has become a monopoly.  I am not going to take the time to research again who owns the three major television networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS.  We all know they are a distant shadow of their former selves.  Les Moonves was a part of it as is the Murdoch clan.  Rupert quickly is aging, but his family will inherit his kingdom.  From down under Rupert came and like Ted Turner swallowed every media guppy in eye shot.  Our question should be, "Who are the gods controlling their media?"  It is a small lot, because how else could such a consolidated and far reaching presentation be accomplished?  Each night my mother and I sit and the supper table and watch the evening news, once a source of unbiased honest reporting, we listen to Wes Hohenstein say, "We have broken another record."  This happened again a few days ago when Fayetteville almost broke the heat record in the month of March.  Like a bad B grade satire Wes's protocol now is trying not to break a smile when he announces we have broken yet another heat record.  This has been ongoing for several years.  I only can ask myself what is the source of his meteorological information.  His forecasts are about fifty percent accurate.  We are better to stick our heads out the door each morning and breathe in.  There is no explanation for why Fayetteville is so hot, and why it continues to break climate records.  There are simple answers and yet Thom Tillis and Richard Burr are not interested.  Neither is Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin desperately wants climate change, because the melting polar ice caps mean an open shipping lane for the USSR.  His ships all ready are traversing this now open channel.  Certainly energy companies benefit from global warming.  We must pay to stay cool.  If you live in a climate controlled pent house with your every need tended global warming might not be of interest to you.  For the rest of us global warming is wreaking havoc on our everyday lives.  How you may ask?  Ask our yard.  Truly it is confused by record breaking heat in February, when Fort Bragg holds one of its mass vigils of war preparedness.  Something like 650 vehicles assembled at the Normandy Drop Zone.  The heat in Fayetteville comes from military activity at Fort Bragg.  Also it comes from CSX and their constant freight rail activity servicing DAK Americas, Cargill, and military aircraft.  No one seems to care, because Fayetteville is a military town consisting mostly of military dependents.  When faced with a moral dilemma such as the choice between ensuring the health and longevity of the planet or  putting food in the mouths of your kids, it is understandable what they choose.  It is unfortunate that America has become so financially irresponsible so to no longer be able to ensure her own security.  Our investing and lending practices have become dubious, covert, and risky.  No longer do we vet risk.  We pool and trade private mortgages.  We behave like immature and self centered children.  The deep and substantive systems upon which America was built have been cast aside like aberrant step children.  Science, the arts, and other crucial humanities, parts of the core existence of the human species, have been cast out.  As such the economy of America, once infused with life, spirit, and hope through freedom of opportunity, now is an oligarchy.  There is no better example of this than an elected president who never understood the job or role of the American president.  He wanted the office for show to become popular.  Trump is the ultimate narcissist.  He has proven again and again that his administration has no clue about what they are doing.  Jobs?  Tasks?  Managing America?  Handling pandemics?  Balancing the budget?  Trade negotiations.  Bringing down the Berlin Wall.  Ending the Cold War.  Making peace with China.  Solving the Bosnian crisis with the Dayton Accords.  Freeing the Iranian hostages.  Trumps presidency will be documented in history as one of the most failed tenures of leadership.  Meanwhile, as Stephen Colbert would say, our yard is confused.  The azaleas, hydrangeas, and other flowering foliage don't know whether it is summer or winter, because our temperatures fluctuate dramatically.  Wes Hohenstein has the most difficult job, because he has to report the weather with a straight face.