Whatever Happened?

Is this how we make America great?

Do we make America great -- and that's assuming America isn't already great -- by attacking our closest allies, cozying up to tyrants, upending the world's economic system by imposing tariffs on imported goods, and by sending troops to attack Americans protesting the removal of immigrants with no due process? Is America made greater by removing freedom of choice from women, and by trying to impose Christian nationalism on the populace? 

Is America made great by cutting taxes on billionaires while at the same time removing several million low-income Americans from health insurance? Are we made great by refusing to allow one of the world's best universities to admit international students, thereby depriving our country of some of the best and brightest minds?

Are we made great by raining insults and retribution on anyone who dares to disagree with the wanna-be dictator in the White House? Are we greater after transfender members of our military are summarily kicked out of the service they have willingly agreed to join?  Does threatening to arrest the governor of the state of California -- the world's fifth largest economy -- make America great?

That isn't my idea of greatness. Whatever happened to due process that is supposed to be applied to everyone in the US, regardless of immigration status? Whatever happened to the rule of law? to defending the US Constitution? to respecting the rulings of courts of all levels?

I Just Don’t Care Anymore

I am quickly reaching, or perhaps I have already reached, the point where I just don't care.

Everything is overwhelming, especially things that are most important to me. I care about the environment, which is at grave risk of being destroyed by the current regime in Washington, DC. I care deeply about animals, both wild and domestic. Species protected by the Endangered Species Act are about to lose protection. I care about children, and I am saddened to learn that the Head Start program is about to be canceled. I am furious that the current regime has seen fit to deport several young children suffering from cancer. What kind of society are we living in?

I care about peace, and I just learned that the so-called leader of the free world is about to commit American troops to fight in Yemen. That’s not our war. And of course, the young men and women who will be sent to fight are not the children of the super wealthy. The Republicans love war as long as they can stand on the sidelines and watch. Oh, and as long as they can make big bucks from the war. 

The dictator-in-waiting is threatening to "walk away" from efforts to end Russia's war on Ukraine unless an agreement is reached soon. The only way Putin will agree to end the war is if Ukraine capitulates to Moscow's demands.

I am constantly bombarded with appeals for money, online and in snail mail. My charitable donations dropped by probably 75 percent last year. No matter how much I donate, it's never enough. I donated $500 to one non-profit, and was quickly asked to donate $1500. I made an annual donation to another group, and was then asked to donate for three consecutive months. I am always asked to "cover the cost of my donation," something that really annoys me. What's next -- covering the cost of the computers that process my donation, or the cost of electricity? I refuse to pay for the privilege of making a donation.

So I just don't care any more. Not when the super wealthy in this country don't pay their fair share of taxes. Not when they spend ridiculous amounts of money on superfluous, wasteful spending. Not when the president of the United States spends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on his never-ending golf trips. Not when multimillionaires have millions of dollars to spare for a 10 minute ride into space.

I refuse to give up. I will remain hopeful that things will get better, as difficult as that may be. I will continue to do things that bring me pleasure. But it sure isn't easy.

It’s Just Too Much

I don't know about you, but the constant chaos, lies and pandemonium that we Americans, at least those of us who aren't members of the cult, are forced to live through are taking a toll on my mind and body.

It's exhausting. Reading day after day after day after day about the incessant babbling of the president of this once great country. Watching him travel at taxpayer expense to Middle Eastern countries where he is treated like the king he wants to be as he sets up deals that benefit not our country, but himself. It's all about him being feted by very wealthy people. Watching how his government prosecutes people who dare to speak out against him after he has insulted them repeatedly is extremely distressing. Watching the courts refuse to do anything to try to reign him in is very discouraging.

They're taking my enthusiasm away. They're taking my will to do anything except sit home and read or watch television. They're taking my energy away. All I want to do after the sun goes down is to crawl into bed. Fortunately, my dogs keep me up and moving. Each gets a 1-mile walk every early morning.

I have lost many hours of sleep, worrying about this country and what is being done to dismantle it. One recent night found me awake for 4 hours as I stared at the ceiling in the darkness. I thought about getting up, but if I got up, my dogs would get up. And their routine indicates that after they get up and go outside for a potty break, they have breakfast. That wasn't going to happen at 1:00 a.m.

I am looking forward to some travel this year that should provide not only a respite from the terrible news, but also offer opportunities for some great photography. I have reduced the amount of time I spend on social media, and the only news I watch is a 30-minute local news program followed by a 30-minute national news broadcast. 

I read a lot, but sometimes I get tired of reading. I exercise every day. And most of the television I watch is historical or archaeological or science-based. I cannot deal with the inanity of sitcoms with their canned laughter. 

A break from the insanity of American politics will be a welcome respite, especially when I am overseas. Of course, for the first time in my life, I have to worry about whether I will be thrown in jail as I return to the US because of something I may have posted somewhere online. So much for freedom of speech. So much for the Fourth Amendment. So much for our democracy.

What Takes Your Breath Away?

I follow a number of photography pages online. 

Recently I got a friend request from a retired physician who is also an amazing wildlife photographer. He has been posting photos of leopards and other wildlife from his recent travels. To mark World Leopard Day recently, he posted a breathtaking photo of a male leopard walking directly down the road toward him. 

That is the kind of image that takes my breath away. It's also the kind of image I dream of capturing. Sadly, that leopard was killed by lions, a fate that happened to my most favorite Kenyan leopard named Fig. Fig is pictured to the right, the first time I saw her in Kenya. She had a daughter named Figlet who is still thriving in Kenya. Figlet has raised several beautiful cubs.

Lions and leopards hate each other. So I'm not surprised when I hear about lions killing a leopard. But it still always saddens me.

Another thing that has taken my breath away is viewing (and photographing) some of Mother Nature's handiwork -- landscapes. I confess, however, that as beautiful as some landscapes are, nothing can compare with the amazing wildlife I have been fortunate enough to photograph.

My preference for landscape photography is mountains, the bigger the better. Pictured here is Shiprock, the remains of an ancient volcano on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. This monadnock is a mountain that rises abruptly from a flat or gently sloping plain.

Finally, certain singers and music take my breath away. Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand come to mind immediately. I recently saw a video of three sopranos singing with Andre Rieu's orchestra. The song, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, is such a moving song. And one of the sopranos, whose name I don't know, has an incredibly beautiful voice. 

When I was in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, at the conclusion of walking the Camino de Compostela pilgrimage route, a soprano known as the 'soprano of the arches' was singing outdoors. I bought her CD so I could enjoy her incredible voice at home. That was the first time I had heard Cohen's masterpiece, and I was hooked.

I hope you find, and enjoy, things that take your breath away.

Never Too Old

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. -- CS Lewis

This quote seems very timely and appropriate right now. A couple of days ago, I signed up for a photography trip to Sri Lanka in 2027. The thing that caught my attention in a major way was the opportunity to photograph leopards, which are my favorite predator, Asian elephants and sloth bears. The opportunity was just too good to pass by. So I put down a deposit.

The trip is a full two years away, and I suddenly started wondering whether I still will be in physical shape to go. Sri Lanka is a really long way from where I live in America’s desert Southwest. A quick check of an airline website shows that it’s likely to take between 35 and 40 hours to get there. And as the saying goes, I’m not getting any younger. I’m in good health for someone my age. But I’m not as strong or flexible or resilient as I used to be in my younger days. 

The trip itself is listed as a level one, which means there isn’t a lot of strenuous activity or walking while carrying photography gear. Of course, just getting there will take a long, long time on an airplane. That definitely will take a toll. But, travel helps keep me young and engaged. So I will pack up my cameras, tripod and my lenses, and hope to have a very successful expedition to Sri Lanka.

There are still so many places I want to visit. Among them are Rome, the Scandinavian countries, the Baltics, the Balkans, and other places in Italy. 

I just hope I can maintain, or improve, my current level of fitness, and that my health remains good.

Service and Humility

The world has lost two great but humble men in the past 4 months. 

Former US President Jimmy Carter died in late December at the age of 100. Pope Francis died on the day after Easter at the age of 88. 

Jimmy Carter was a southern Baptist. Pope Francis was, of course, a Roman Catholic. But these two men had many things in common despite their different religions. 

Carter served one term as president. He then devoted his life to traveling the world to monitor elections and guarantee their fairness. He and his wife devoted countless years to building homes as part of Habitat for Humanity. He taught Sunday school at the Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia for many, many years. He and his wife lived in the same modest home in which they had lived for decades. 

Pope Francis, the world's first pope from Latin America, was born in Argentina to Italian immigrants. As he rose through the ranks of the church, he remained a humble man, taking the bus to work every day. After his election as Pope, he refused to live in the richly appointed 10-room quarters reserved for popes, instead living in a Vatican guest house. He had a warm, outgoing personality, caring in particular for the poor, the ill and young children. Francis was also working to modernize and liberalize the church, despite opposition from other members of the clergy. 

Both of these men devoted themselves to making the world a better place. Both were models of humility and simplicity. Both never forgot where they came from, their ordinary roots. We need more men like Jimmy Carter and like Pope Francis.  Service and humility were the hallmarks of both.

We need people who don't focus on accumulating great wealth, but in serving the world and the forgotten and overlooked of the world..

Did You Ever Wonder?

Did you ever wonder what this country would be like had JFK not been assassinated and had he gone on to serve one or probably two terms? 

Did you ever wonder what this country would be like had Kamala Harris won the presidency in 2024? She was incredibly qualified to be president. She served 4 years as vice president. She had 4 years' experience as a US senator. She was the attorney general for the state of California for six years. She was the district attorney for the city of San Francisco for seven years. She is strong, but she is dedicated. She is honest. She loves people. She cares about this country. She brought such a sense of excitement to the political arena. Sadly, her gender and her ethnicity caused the country's racists and misogynists to vote against her. 

I know that if we had a sane and experienced president, we would not be in a massive trade war with the world. We would not have a president suspected of insider trading. We wouldn't be rounding up people and shipping them to a horrible prison in El Salvador without providing them with due process as required by law. We wouldn't have the most inept, unqualified cabinet in recent history. We wouldn't have a president using the White House Lawn to sell cars for a multibillionaire.

The stock market wouldn't be on a roller coaster ride caused directly by the insane whims of the occupant of the White House.

We wouldn't have removed all mentions of women and minorities from government Web sites. We wouldn't be dismantling federal agencies and their programs that provide life-saving care to millions around the world. We wouldn't need to bail out America's farmers because a trade war and the cancellation of programs that buy American food have left the farmers with fewer global markets for their produce. 

We wouldn't be wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on endless golf trips.

We would be tackling our problems in a sane, intelligent manner.