Author: Steve

The Evolutionary “Design” of Protein Machines

We can see total cases for the U.S. again.

Ugh.  We can see the curve of the original spread, the slight tapering off for the extended lockdown, and the rise for the reopening.  I wonder what’s next.  What’s the next big thing?  This rise in cases is as steep as we’ve ever seen.  Will it continue up indefinitely?  Will we start wearing masks enough to moderate the slope again?  Will we do something dramatic and arrest the growth?  Today is the day coronavirus reporting is restructured to go through Washington instead of the CDC.  Will what we see next even be true?

At home in the condo.

The kids all grown up, all the martins will be leaving the homestead soon.

They’re pretty much eastern birds.

Summer in the U.S. and Canada.  Winter in South America.  A solid plan.

All those years ago.  Who knows how many bad things President Nixon did?  He did enough that he resigned before the impeachment process completed.  The story of his misdeeds might have continued on, but we have a long-standing tradition in the United States not to go after the previous president and put them in jail.  That would be a bad precedent to set; where that becomes the norm.  So not surprising that a month after Nixon resigned, President Ford, in the national interest, granted him a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he committed while in office.  That was a disappointment for those that wanted the full story about everything Nixon had done; who wanted to teach him a lesson and set an example for others; but it was probably a wise decision to try to put an end to the frenzy and move on.

So here we are now, with it seems a scandal a day for the current president.  There are so many questions about why he does the things he does.  He talks so much about his finances but goes to such extremes to keep them private.  So much of what he says and does is inexplicable.  We only know what he says, we never know the substance behind what he’s saying, so we wonder.  Is he just that odd, or is he somehow criminal or beholden? 

If a person under such scrutiny as the current president, did illegal things in their life or in their presidency, they’ll likely be exposed eventually.  Presidents can’t be charged with crimes while they’re in office, but of course once they’re out of office that protection evaporates.  Roger Stone begged for a pardon and got it from this president because he didn’t “flip” on him.  That’s an interesting way to phrase it because it’s not possible to “flip” on someone if they didn’t do something wrong in the first place.  There could be inculpatory evidence that is classified for now but will eventually be declassified and the truth be known.  Perhaps there is no substance to all the suspicions about the behaviors of this president and it’s all just noise, but wouldn’t it be ironic if this president, who so disparages presidents who came before and some that may come after, and regularly hurls threats of prosecution; wouldn’t it be ironic indeed, that if once out of office, crimes of this president come to light and prosecutions are begun, it falls to some successor president, in the interest of the public good, to grant him a full, free, and absolute pardon of any and all crimes committed while in office?

But as good-looking as a white-winged dove with a blue face?

Who’s to say.