Rick Kinnaird

Saturday, April 27, 2024

After reading another commentary on the Supreme Court listening to oral arguments about the Trump immunity claim I am more concerned than I ever have been. Here were five justices seeming to entertain the notion that a President could arder an assassination of one of his political rivals and this could be called an official duty and hence immune from prosecution. 

If this is what they rule then they better hope President Biden doesn’t order Seal Team Six to take up positions outside their homes.

The amount of stupidity we have had to put up with from all three branches of our government is more than alarming. It could herald the end of our democracy. There are two examples from history: Germany in the 1930s and life under the Roman Republic before it became an empire ruled by one man. Both have one thing in common – nobody thought it would happen. By nobody I mean the average person. No one in the Roman Republic thought it would ever change because it had always been that way during their lifetime. In Germany what happened can best be summed up by a friend of mine whose grandparents lived in Germany during that time, “We all knew Hitler was crazy, but by the time we were ready to do something it was too late.”

In 2016, Hillary was way ahead until the very last days of the election. James Comey’s press conference killed her ratings and she couldnt’ recover. Even though she won the popular vote before me than three million, it wasn’t enough.

This election we have Kennedy running and he is garnering enough numbers to be a huge spoiler and give Trump the win. (I also am very upset that his initials and moniker are the same as mine: “RFK” and “RFK Jr.” he disgraces my wonderful initals.) And what has he done in his life? Recovered from a heroin addiction. That’s it. 

These are dark times, and they bode to get darker, much darker.

Friday, April 26, 2024

I have been warned that baby poisinous snakes are more dangerous than their adult version. The reason being that a young snake does not know restraint when biting and hence let’s all their venom out, while an adult only uses some. Hence, the baby snake is more likely to kill you.

I listened to various people discussing the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on whether or not a President is immune from prosecution. The question is very straight forward, but the men on the court, all appointed by Republicans and called conservative, orginalists, and minimalists did everything they could to dodge the question. They wandered into hypothetical questions (not relevant). They digressed. They suggested that they should delay. They never took up the central question.

It was pointed out in Bush Vs Gore they decided the day after oral arguments. Now? They want to wait. They have forgotten our history, our law, our founding principles and for what? For a man who has abused his power, who has cheated and lied his entire life. A man who has said if re-elected will destroy our government, our democracy.

It has also been pointed out that the case has been hear and decided by every court on the way up to the Supreme Court and that there was no reason for them to take it up.

Now. Now we wait. There seem to be four votes to say, “No, a President can not commit crimes while in office and not be prosecuted for it.” Is there a fifth? That we aren’t sure of at this point in time. 

This should be a 9-0 decision. It is so basic. 

One commentator said that well at least the mask had been taken off. These are not impartial justices. These are politicians in black robes doing the bidding of their masters.

Someone save us! 

We have to face ourselves. “We have seen the enemy and they is us,” Pogo.

The adult and the baby snakes are nipping away.

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Oh man, we were so close to learning the truth! Then. We ran out of time. Bummer.

What you may ask am I talking about? Jamie Raskin was interrupted by Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer. Apparently, Rep Comer has proof of the Biden Crime Family and their illicit dealings! Nine million dollars over here and six over there. Wow. Rep Raskin pointed out that this had all been disproved. But they have bank records! Yeah? And what do they show? Oh, no nine million, and no six. But they are bank records. Rep Comer struck back with asking what business the Bidens were in. And he threw in some words like Burisma and Ukraine. Powerful stuff. Raskin said well if there was a nine or six million dollar bribe or payoff why haven’t you impeached President Biden. Not to back down Comer said, “Who says we haven’t?” (Uh, me for one.) And it went on like this for 4 minutes and 52 seconds and then Raskin’s time was up. Comer would not restore Raskin’s time after taking up most of it. Double triple bummer. Rep Comer almost revealed the proof they have on Joe Biden. But then he’s been claiming this for six? Nine months? And so far – nothing.

Since Joe has been in office the stock market has doubled, inflation is down, jobs are up, and if it weren’t for the Putin Republicans gumming up the works in Congress we would have seen even bigger gains. 

Meanwhile, DJT sits in a New York court room and every day he gets smaller. Still stinky, but quieter, and quieter.

Jennifer Rubin pointed out her her opinion answers column that if Trump gets the victory in another court that affirms the President is immune from any prosecution then Biden can order Trump’s arrest or have Seal Team Six take him out and like that there. Be careful what you wish for.

And then I saw a hysterical take off on a Norman Rockwell print. It’s a town hall meting and one solid citizen is standing up surrounded by other solid citizens. However, the faces have been changes and it’s Rand Paul standing and the other right wing minions. The caption reads, “If they can print money why do they need to tax us?” I think this encompasses what Rand and his father Ron understand about economics, which is nothing. 

Why can’t you just print money? I refer you to Germany after WWI. Or to say it another way – hyper inflation leads to economic chaos, which leads to Hitler. Okay? No? Okay, maybe I’m being a little over the top, but if people are asking these kinds of questions they have already demonstrated such a lack of understanding that two things are clear: one) they don’t know what they are talking about, two) they don’t want to know the why. So, why should I try to explain it to them? They don’t want to know. If they want to understand take Macro Economic (ECON 101).  Then come back and let’s talk.

You know what? I think we’ve seen the truth.

Me? I gotta go.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

The Earth has a wobble. It takes 40,000 years for one wobble to occur, but that wobble affects the declination to the Sun by a few degrees. Twenty thousand years ago the Sahara Desert was a grassy savannah. I’m guessing that as the Earth wobbled that heated up the area from Morocco through Egypt to the Middle East and Iran and up into Northern China. It’s a huge swath of desert. As northern Africa dried up those people migrated to the Nile Valley and became the ancient Egyptians.

Ancient peoples around the world were aware of the heavens and saw in the stars different representations. There is a band of stars, which we call the Zodiac. We see them as twelve constellations. They rotate throughout the day and night. One constellation is prominent during the vernal equinox. That is the day in springtime when night and day are exactly even. That is due to the tilt of the Earth and its position to the sun. However, the constellations don’t keep up with the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Slowly, one constellation that was prominent slips backward and another rises to take its place. This takes 2,160 years. We have entered the time when the constellation Aquarius is becoming prominent, e.g. The Age of Aquarius. 

Ancient people ascribed all sorts of things to the progression of the stars, and today we have astrology. I have frequently asked myself why do people do this? Why do they ascribe phenomena and behaviors to the heavens? I have concluded that it is one of two things, which are really different faces of the same thing. The first thing is that people seek explanations for things they don’t understand. We, as a people, have a willingness to believe there is something out there greater than ourselves who did all this. The second part is what I call the grandparent phenomena. Maybe just the parent phenomena. Kids learn the word “Why?” and they won’t stop saying it. Finally, in desperation the parents make up a big lie to shut the kids up. It takes a generation for that garbage to stick. Hence, the grandparent phenomena. This I believe is the basis of all religions, which is fueled by politicians and hucksters to cling to power and make money.

Speaking of hucksters, the biggest news out of the Trump criminal trial seems to be that he can’t stay awake. Dopey Donald? Yeah. Who ha.

Meanwhile, his Truth Social stock continues to plummet, but one analyst pointed out that if it keeps any value he could walk away with a ton of money. Yikes. Not bad for a whole lot of nothing.

The other thing about the trial is that DJT has seemed to violate the gag order and the judge is waiting until a week from Wednesday as to whether Mr. Trump did violate it, and then what is the judge going to do about it? Some folks seem to think that Trump won’t be put in jail. That it would be a logistical nightmare. Blah blah blah. I, like many others, say, “Why? Put him in jail.” He will continue to defy the law until he is stopped. For reasons I don’t understand everyone but three people have been reluctant to do the right thing and act. Those three are a Harvard educated lawyer, an Emory educated lawyer, and a Howard University educated lawyer. All are black and two are women. Why them? Because all the white men who had the opportunity to do the right thing were cowards, and ignored the obvious because they were afraid of the truth.

When I see what the ancients believed and I see what the masses of people believe I don’t see that we’ve made much, if any, progress.

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

I’m back! 

Well, sort of. I am physically here, and I had seemed to have adjusted to the east coast timezone, but now I’m drifting to somewhere – maybe half way across the Atlantic?

The first day back I had the pleasure of not having to do anything. Part of my return trip worked better than I expected. I landed at Dulles at 4:50 a.m. and got through Global Entry in no time. (They’ve changed the procedure: no passport, no printed receipt after looking in the camera. You just look in the camera then proceed to the charge officer who looks at you as you stand in line and beckons you over, says something and you are free to go pick up your bags.)

My plan had been to land at Dulles, take the Metro Silver Line to Union Station and catch an Amtrak train to Richmond. I bought tickets for the 6  a.m. and the 9:30 a.m. trains – twelve bucks each if you buy early! The only problem was that on Saturday, the day I landed, the Metro didn’t start running until 9 a.m. Therefore, Uber became the plan, and why go to Union Station? Why not pick up the train in Alexandria? Done. 

I made it to Alexandria with plenty of time to catch the first train. I have to hand it to Amtrak they make simple things hard. I had wanted a schedule of when each of the two trains arrived in Alexandria, and more importantly, did they stop there? I have since learned that somewhere on the Amtrak website there is a way to find a schedule, but I’ll be darned if I could find it.

Likewise, in Egypt if you want to connect to the local airport’s Wi-Fi they want to send you an SMS message, but they will only do it for Egyptian phone numbers. Hey, you’re an airport. People with phones from all over the world are trying to get access to your Wi-Fi. Now, most airlines send you messages about your gate and boarding times to your phone via their app, but what if you can’t connect? Back to signs and in Egypt most signage is in Arabic. This makes finding your transfer gate more interesting. 

I got off from the flight from Luxor at gate G something. Where’s gate F5, my next flight? Well, the only signage in non-arabic says international flights this way. Cool. Found gates F22 to 45. Excuse me where’s F5? Downstairs? Go back the way I came? Thank you. But I need to go through Immigration here? Okay. Why isn’t the line moving? Oh, there’s no one at immigration. Got it. Okay, here come three official looking folks. Great. One is sorting old forms. One disappears, and the only lady does all the stamping and officiating. Through Immigration, where’s F5? Yikes, the sign says “Gate Open” and I’ve only got a few minutes to make the flight. Oh here’s a wooden Kool-aid type stand, Is this F5? Yes? But no one is here. Stand and wait. Here comes someone – business and first class and the something or other flight club members, first. Okay, now group A. I’m group D. I was two hours early to the airport how did I get D? I’m always C or D or group 5. How do you get to be group A? 

On the plane, aisle seat, perfect. Oh no woman in seat B next to me has wide shoulders and is asleep and taking the whole armrest plus a bit. Will I have this for eleven and a half hours? The row in front is open for seats A and B. Can I sit in A? Thank you. Let’s look at the movies, all ten of them. Hum. 1950 Elizabeth Taylor, a few hits from last year, just like the cinema at home – nothing. You know the weirdest thing? On the one hour flight from Luxor to Cairo they showed a silent Charlie Chaplin black and white movie. Last time I was in Luxor I went to my guide’s house and the women were sitting in the big room watching a black and white 50s sci-fi Buck Rogers type movie.

I get to Alexandria, Virginia and I realize I don’t have a ticket. I have a receipt and a reservation number for each train. There’s a man at the freight window and he says he can print one or I can use the Kiosk. I’ll try the kiosk. Thank you. Once again, Amtrak strikes with unintuitive prompts. No, I don’t want to buy a ticket. You want to know where I’m going? Fine. Now you want to sell me a ticket, $63. No thank you. Let’s go around the horn again. And again. And again. Okay, the man at the window said I can print out a ticket. There must be a way. Let’s try this button, which doesn’t say “ticket” or anything like that, maybe it will do it. Whoa! What’s my reservation number and name on the reservation. Do you want a ticket? Yeah. Thank you. I am a god of technology.

Uber home because Shelby is in the midst of more technology for a meeting she’s running. Shower. Fall asleep. Wake up to her in bed with me. How nice. We cuddle. I sleep. Nice.

The next day or two I unpack and put away. Yesterday was the eclipse and we got 7/8s coverage from our back deck. Perfect. I found our eclipse glasses from last time, 2017. And, in the first place I looked! More godliness. Screwed all three ND filters on the camera and I was good to go. Unfortunately, the camera has electronic focus which meant it continually was trying to focus. Yes, there’s a manual focus but … Never mind. I got some good shots. At the height of the eclipse it gets chilly and quiet. Except, that’s when the lawn care guys next door decide to start weed whacking and grass cutting with two loud machines. They finished as the eclipse was ending. Thanks guys. And a shout out to the fella on the motorcycle with little or no muffler who likes to gun it coming down the street. Still the eclipse was great.

I had on my calendar that I had a Zoom meeting at 11 a.m. Turns out it was 6 p.m. CST or 7 p.m. my time. This is unfortunate because I signed up for a class at the Penn Museum that starts at 6:30 p.m. and says it goes until eight, which would eliminate the 7-8 p.m. class. Is the Penn class being recorded I ask the instructor, Simon Martin. He responds – the class isn’t on Thursday but tonight. Yes, I know that. Why is it that you ask one question and you get an answer to another?

Oh well. My plan was to listen to the 6:30 lecture then switch over at seven. 

Let me say that as far as I’m concerned there are two people in the world who are the most facile with Mayan glyphs. David Stuart, who put the final piece in the puzzle of the glyphs. He demonstrated that the glyphs are phonetic much of the time and that the scribes used different symbols to represent the same sound. Once he published his “Ten Phonetic Signs” paper the flood gates opened. I have never seen anyone do what he does. He can just read the stuff. No hesitation. Not only that but he has an encyclopedic knowledge of seemingly every glyph there is and where it is and what it means.

The other person is Simon Martin. Simon co-wrote The History of Mayan Kings and Queens. He has read every stela there is to ferret out the history of who did what to whom when.

Between the two men there is a wealth of knowledge. When I’ve heard either talk they frequently reference the other. Okay so there are 365 days in a year. Both Simon and Dave are doing four lectures/work shops this year. What are the odds that they not only pick the same days to do their lectures, but the same hour? 100% 

However, Simon launched his talk a half hour earlier. I was going to listen to him for 30 minutes then switch over to Dave at seven p.m.

Dave’s lecture was an interesting exercise in trying to figure out where some pre-cast glyphs that had fallen off a wall in a temple in Palenque fit and what was the story they told. Because I had been in Egypt I missed the first Zoom meeting and the follow up Saturday working group (which was held at 11 a.m. Ah ha, that’s where I got eleven o’clock.) I was madly trying to just listen to lecture #1 before #2 and understand the technology we would be using.

Barely made it before Simon’s lecture started at 6:30.

 Having been in the training biz, I have to say, as we used to say (cleverly I might add) “That Simon gives good Vu-Graph.” (Vu-Graph? What’s that you say? Look it up under “rotary phone.”)

Simon’s slides were fabulous and his material clear and really helpful to the kid (that’s me.) I decided to stay. Turned out that his lecture ran til 7:30 and he left a half hour for questions. I cut over to David. He was using software that allowed him to move glyphs into various positions and the gang was considering various possibilities. Could glyph #474 go here? Possibly, but that would mean we need a day sign glyph before it. Do we have one? No. Maybe, it’s missing.

Dave’s knowledge is extraordinary and he makes me think Oh, yeah. I know this stuff. When in fact, I don’t. I can’t tell you how many times David has said, “This is a really important point…” and it makes sense to me when he is speaking about it. However, when I go back and try to replay in my head what he said and why it was important – I have no idea.

But, every time I try to do that replay thing I get a little further along. I understand a bit more.

Less than two weeks before going to Egypt I had been on a David trip. We were walking through Holmul and he commented that we were in the golden age of Maya hieroglyphs. I think he said that it was coming to a close. Most of the big pieces were now in place. It is interesting to me how scholars in the generation before David, and before that, made the same kind of mistakes and assumptions that the Egyptian scholars had made trying to understand the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The biggest thing standing in both the Mayan and the Egyptian scholars way seemed to be their own prejudices and preconceived notions.

I have just finished reading Dendera by José Maria Barrera, who photographed the ceiling of the pronaos of the Dendera Temple. His book not only has wonderful photographs but also explanations of the symbology and concepts illustrated on that hypostyle ceiling. One of the things he pointed out was that the Egyptian hour was not fixed. It worked off the passage of the sun and divided into twelve hours for the day and twelve for the night. Because the daylight changes every day, so do the length of the hours. I wonder how long it took for us to realize that? We still aren’t sure if the day is dawn til dusk or sunrise to sunset. Probably, the former.

When David and I were walking across the site of Holmul, I got a chance to ask him a story he had mentioned to me when we were at Calakmul some years earlier. ( I think it was Calakmul. NO. It was Caracol! ) The story I remember him mentioning to me was in regard to my asking him what was it like at a young age to be doing this glyph stuff.  He had attended the high school next to where my children had gone I felt a connection to the place.

The story he told me at that time was that he had to tell his seventh grade teacher (English or history?) that he wouldn’t be able to do the essay that weekend because he had to give a talk at a Mayan conference. The teacher had a hard time believing that, I think. In my retelling I may have embellished to say he was giving the keynote. I wanted clarification. 

As has happened to me before when I ask someone to retell a story I either get a completely different slant on the story or a different story or the person doesn’t remember and I have to tell them their story.

In this case, I’m not sure if I got the same story with a different slant or a totally new story.

David recounted how he had turned in an essay and the teacher gave him a “C.” Why? Well, it turns out David didn’t quote any sources. The reason being that he was the source. Kind of like when Einstein wrote Special Relativity, he didn’t quote anyone either. He was the source of all of it. In David’s case the teacher didn’t believe that this 7th grader could be the one who came up with all this. This enraged Mary Miller, a well known Mayanist, and upset David’s father, George, who was the cheif archaeologist for the National Geographic. They apparently had a talk with said teacher. David got a reconsideration with a note about he should quote sources. (Hum. Let that be a lesson to you. source: Me and me, and oh yeah that was me too.)

I have to wonder if that’s the same episode from what he told me before or a different one?

And then as I continue re-entry there’s important catching up to do. I’m still behind on The Voice, and other programs Shelby and I watch together. Then there’s the news.

How is it that one man can pull a Bill Murray type laugh in our faces and make a mockery of our system of governance and justice, and we let him get away with it? And most surprisingly people still want to vote for him? Why? Because the other guy is old. Yeah, well so is the liar. Oh the current President hasn’t done enough for you? Well, did the last guy? Oh that’s right he rode the coat tails for three years of the previous President until it all fell apart. How can people be so naive.

I’m back!