Politics, News
Thoughts on what the House Select Committee should be investigating
Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) hasn’t phoned me yet to ask for my help as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol starts its work. The Committee is off to a good start and might not need my help. But if Thompson does decide to call me, I’m ready. I’ve prepared more than three dozen questions to help the committee not only figure out what happened, why it happened, and who was responsible.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that President Trump not only knew that an attack on the Capitol would take place on January…
The waiting for fresh, delicious corn is almost over
If you are a corn plant born in May, it's been a good year. Our cornfields got what they needed, regular rain and plenty of sun. As a result, the corn plants are now over six feet tall. It’s going to be a good crop.
I sought wildflowers and found butterflies
There are good days and great days. Monday was one of the latter. Inspired by the photo essays posted in Weeds & Wildflowers, I packed my camera and headed to Conservation Park in Oxford, Maryland. Although it was mid-July in the midst of a streak of hot weather, I was confident I could find wildflowers worth photographing.
My initial sightings were not encouraging. Wildflowers were greatly outnumbered by weeds. This is how the town likes the park, which is intended to be a small habitat for birds and other wildlife.
I snapped a few pictures but was discouraged. I was…
History, Books
It’s time to see Texas history without the myths and lies
The story of the Alamo was standard fare in history classes when I grew up, and I didn’t even live in Texas. Texas patriots fought corrupt Mexicans for their freedom and died heroes. The Alamo was a shrine to principle and freedom. Texas independence was the next best thing to 1776. Or so we were told.
Almost nothing that I was taught about the Alamo was true. The Texas Revolution was more about preserving slavery than winning freedom. And the three heroes of the Alamo, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis, were not heroes. …
Government, Politics
The issues of who and why must be resolved to prevent a repeat
The hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol begin this week. I’ll be watching even though I am tired of reading and hearing about why an angry army of Trump supporters marched to Capitol Hill to disrupt the House of Representatives and possibly kill the Speaker of the House and Vice President Pence.
Watching the hearings, is a civic duty, even if parts of them are likely to be tedious. America’s recovery from the Trump insurrection is not yet over. The hearings will help.
The hearings open this week with testimony…
The colony survives two cats, for now
While walking my dog last night, I surprised two women watching their cats stake out the ditch behind my mailbox. The cats, one appropriately black and the other black and white, were stalking the colony of green frogs that have taken up residence there. Were the women waiting for the cats to strike? I hope not!
The woman and their cats scurried as I approached, but how long would they remain away? And the cats did not need spectators to perform. I was sure they would be back.
About 12 hours later I returned to the mailbox to get my…
A Salvia feeding frenzy
I wasn’t planning on photographing hummingbirds yesterday. This season, despite planting more Salvia than last year, we’ve had fewer hummingbirds. We don’t know why, but we’ve missed them.
Yesterday afternoon, as I was reading on our porch, a particularly animated hummingbird started browsing the flowers. I assumed she would fly off in about a minute, but she kept feeding.
It was time to grab my camera. I ran inside, collected my Z7, the 50–250 mm lens (only because it was handy), and a monopod (because I assumed I did not have time to set up the tripod).
My gear collected…
Politics
The Republicans tried to kill it
Is The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol dead? After Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two Republican appointees to the committee, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy withdrew his other four appointees and announced that his party would not participate in the investigation. That leaves the Committee with seven Democrats and pariah Liz Cheney (R-WY) as the only nominal Republican.
Some believe that effectively kills the Committee. That conclusion is wrong.
Still a bipartisan committee
Despite McCarthy’s action, the Select Committee is still bipartisan due to the Cheney accepting Nancy Pelosi’s appointment. That action now seems brilliant. Cheney voted to…
Climate Change
Rising sea levels and higher tides in the 2030s
Have you been reading about the “Moon Wobble?” NASA predicts that in the mid-2030s, a “wobble” in the moon’s orbit will increase high tides. Since global warming is already raising sea levels, that means more trouble for coastal regions worldwide from flooding.
The troubling report published last month discusses the impact of a variation in the moon's orbit that will change Earth’s weather. The “wobble” in the moon’s orbit occurs every 18.6 years. As a result of the variation in the moon’s orbital path, the “wobble,” high tides get higher and low tides get lower. …
Greeters at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
After more than a year, I returned to the the Chesapeake Bay Martime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. The pandemic had kept me away from the museum’s collection of antique boats and the museum’s prize artifact, the 1879 Hooper Straight Lighthouse. The lighthouse was relocated to museum grounds in 1966 and restored to demonstrate how lightkeepers lived in the 19th century.
John Dean
Writer, blogger, lover of nature, music, photography, and Goldendoodles. Top writer in Government. Editor of Dean’s List.
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