Official Acts, More Shelby Park

I want to write about Shelby Park. I did a little research and took some photos for y’all. But..

I’m still thinking about our facist Supreme Leader Donald Trump. I talked with my friend Parker about my thoughts, most of what I had written in the last post about comparisons to Animal Farm and Trump, and I woke up the next day wondering if I was being too extreme. I remembered, then, that I have read that many in England or in Europe did not think that Hitler would be so terrible, but Winston Churchill did. I wonder how many in Germany foresaw the disaster that Hitler would be. They did not really have the benefit of reflecting on history that we do now, did they? They didn’t have the same vocabulary, with words such as facist and totalitarian. I don’t know much about the politics and movements of World War 2, World War 1 era, so I can’t say much about that time period, although I wish I knew more. Reading a brief synopsis about Stalin’s takeover of the Soviet Union, to understand the references to Napoleon and Snowball and how it panned out in reality, was very interesting. One major takeaway I had was that Stalin murdered just about everybody, including his own top generals, and his totalitarian rule so crippled the Soviet Union that he had to sign a non-aggression pact with Hitler.

Thinking about the debate, the election and politics, just scanning today’s news, right now, July 1st, 2024, I read that the Supreme Court, with the three justices that Trump was able to appoint, has handed Trump a win.

“The US Supreme Court rules former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts taken while in office, but have no immunity for unofficial acts.”

Absolute immunity from prosecution.

Nice.

Can I have that?

“The landmark decision means the federal election interference case against Donald Trump will return to a lower court which will then decide how to apply this ruling. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor among those opposing the decision. She said she did so with ‘fear for our democracy’ and ‘the president is now a king above the law’.” (From the BBC website.)

Official acts, and unofficial acts. Now pray tell, what are those? In this BBC article, they quote Julie Novkov, the dean of Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany, who notes the generality of this language. “Novkov was surprised the court’s definition of official acts is so broad.”

Dean Novkov speaks in polite and proper language. In layman’s terms – “What the f*** is an official act???”

One of the justices had some ideas for what could be considered “official acts”.

“Justice Sotomayor cited several examples of a president’s actions that could now be protected – such as ordering the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival.” (From the article.)

Wow, wow, woah. Assassinating a political rival?? Come on. That’s not the American way, is it? Trump would never do something like that, of course. Trump’s not like that. I mean, the whole thing about, “Hang Mike Pence”, those weren’t Trump’s words, even though they were spoken by good, honest patriotic Trump supporters. Trump would never have wanted them to actually hang Mike Pence, no, of course not. I mean, he didn’t like, tell his good, honest patriotic, foaming at-the-mouth supporters not to try and hang Mike Pence, while they were storming Capitol Hill, trying to hang Mike Pence, but that’s not because he didn’t want them to. He.. had something to do.. Ah yes, I remember.. he had to watch TV?

So what even is an official act? That’s what the lawyers and judges will be debating now.

Is inciting an issurection an official act? Attempting to overthrow the government an official act? Attempting to overturn an election? Well, if such things were done with the intent to protect democracy, and serve the best interests of the nation, I would say that falls under the official duties of the President of the United States, and so could be considered an official act. And by this definition, ordering the imprisonment or assassination of a ~~disloyal party member~~ unpatriotic, corrupt politician, or the imprisonment or assassination of a ~~political opponent~~ threat to American democracy, (only if absolutely necessary, of course, to save America from utter destruction), would also be “official acts”.

What could also be considered an official act, perhaps the most heinous of all.. Imagine this. You are walking down the street, with a nice cone of delicious strawberry ice cream. Donald Trump is currently the president. Trump is out on the street, and he approaches you and says, “Give me your ice cream cone.” You say no. He takes it from you anyway. You later attempt to sue him, charge him with theft. But, his defense is that he was acting officially, as he was on his way to a very important meeting, and he had not eaten all day, and needed nourishment to have a clear head and think correctly in his meeting, a matter of national security. It was essential for him to do his presidential duties, and as such it was necessary for him to take your ice cream. He was acting with the best interests of the United States in mind, and under his official capacities as President of the United States, and therefore he is immune from prosection, and you have no case. And so, he can take your ice cream, and you can’t do anything about it.

Joe Biden could take your ice cream too, under the same reasoning. Any president could.

Wonderful.

Let’s talk about ecology.

Yesterday I went to Couchville Lake with Mr. Parker Junior, and did some kayaking. Kayaking – a – lot – of – work. Parker said, after we were loaded up and in the car, both exhausted, he said, “Well, was it worth all of the effort?” And in that moment, it was hard for me to say yes, because, you know, when you’re at your lowest, most tired moment, and you think about doing work, and doing more work, work in the physics sense, of expending physical effort, the idea of it is kind of offputting, and so in that moment I really felt – NO. Not worth it. But now that I’ve recovered, except for the stinging on my totally burnt thighs and knees, I can say, it was worth it. It was fun. Somehow though, we would have to find a way to, what’s the word, efficiencize all of that loading and unloading. We would have to work on the process. Because I couldn’t go through all of that every time. The straps, the ropes, the knots, the clips, the standing, the lifting, the loading, the unloading, the fetching, the putting back, the items, all of the necessary items.. It would have to be easier.

Thinking about Chinese Privet and invasive species, as we pulled up onto the park grounds, I noticed that the woods around the lake were completely clear in the understory, as Tennessee woods are supposed to be. It was shocking to see just how clear they really are. You can see all the way through, you could play soccer in those woods, you could wear shorts. You could walk through those woods as easily as you could walk down the street. I couldn’t believe it, and I kept saying, “Where is the privet? There’s no privet!!” We paddled all around the lake, and I was scanning, and eventually did see some smaller Chinese Privet plants, but that was it, only a handful, and otherwise, a completely clear understory, acres of forest. I figured there was no way that they hadn’t cleared it, that somehow there just wasn’t privet here, so I was hoping to see a ranger and confirm this, and sure enough, back on land at the parking lot, there was a ranger hanging around, with a pretty yellow corn snake on her arm. I asked about the privet and she said, “Oh yeah, privet and all kinds of invasives. We manage it.” And that every few years they do a sweep, it seems, which is also what Ian, the invasive removal group leader at Shelby, was saying too. The first round of removal being the hardest, and then subsequent phases would be more like weeding, getting the young plants. At least for a plant like Chinese Privet. By comparison, with the Couchville Lake woods being so clear, you can see that the Shelby Park are completely, totally choked.

The Couchville Lake woods looked something more like this, although this woods is even clearer and has more sunlight coming through. This is a pine grove in Virginia, but it shows the clear understory. Photo: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/virginia/stories-in-virginia/va-how-we-work-forests/

I have some photos for you. First, since I’ve been talking about the privet, here it is, at Shelby. This is at the edge of some woods, and it looks like this at the edge of most of the woods. Notice that you cannot see into the woods at all. That is because of the privet. I wish I had a photo of the Couchville Lake woods, to show you the comparison. Just about everything you see below the leaves of the trees in the understory, is Chinese Privet.

*A wall of Chinese Privet, all along the understory here. You can’t see into the forest at all.*

It’s a big problem. This is not how a Tennessee forest is supposed to be. There is a little, open forest roaming box turtle here at the park and in the Tennessee forests called the Eastern Box Turtle. It’s a forest turtle. How cute is that. They don’t like the privet.

I was wrong about the meadow. I said it was full of wildflowers. And look at this. Not a flower in sight. I guess that’s what I wanted it to be full of, so I kind of imagined it, or convinced myself that it was. We see what we want to see, we remember what we want to remember! There are some in bloom right now, but mostly it’s a sea of green. This is also just a portion of the meadow, there’s more to the left, and way more on the opposite side, behind me (where I was standing in this photo.) I thought it was two or three football fields in size, but it’s way more than that. It’s something like, eight? Let’s just say it’s a lot of football fields.

You wouldn’t guess it, but there is a trail that goes through this meadow here, in this picture, winding around the back and snaking horizontally up to where I was standing taking this photo. And way back there, as I followed this trail, I came upon a herd of deer. Two nights ago, in the later hours of the day, when the deer are active. When I went to do this little photography section, it was mid-day, and blazing, and you didn’t see a deer anywhere, in any of their favorite haunts, the meadow, the swamp/bog/fen thing, not even in the pools of water. They lay low. But after around 6 pm, sometime in the later day, they’ll be out and about, all over. I have now had a few interactions with these deer, a charming one being when I was passing through a narrow trail between a woods trail and the meadow trail, and on this narrow trail was a lone doe, munching away on things. I really wanted to pass through here, but didn’t know what to do, and I said, “Hi there, can I come through here?” And she looked at me, and went back to eating, and then she slowly stepped to the side, and allowed me to pass. And I walked within just a few feet of her, a big doe, kind of nervously to be honest, because I’m not used to just being so close to large wild animals like that, even if it’s a deer. I’m used to them running away, or watching them from a distance, but the deer here have no reason to fear people, and are used to having them around. So I was walking through this meadow trail, and I rounded a curve, and found myself approaching a herd of seven deer, and I had to walk through. As I approached, slowly, what looked like a mom and two youngins bounded off into the swamp area, that was close by, one large buck bounded off into a small patch of trees in the meadow, another buck went the other way, and then promptly turned around to stare at me, and then, there was a doe, who just didn’t go anywhere. She stayed right in the middle of the trail, and just looked at me, staring at me curiously, as they do. They flap their ears, and they just look at you, like, “What’s up? What’s goin’ on? Whatcha up to? Whatcha doin’ here? What are you?” And this was something like the last time I had shared the trail with that doe, except now there were deer on all sides, some bucks, all watching me, and this doe, curious, right on the trail. But again, I really wanted to pass through here, and I also didn’t think they would care too much, so I just kind of walked on through, slowly and making no sudden movements. The doe, as the last one did, took a step to the side to let me pass, but she watched me the whole time, and I felt strongly compelled to say something to her. I think I felt a little rude honestly, like I was intruding on their dinner time, blowing up their dinner party, and it would be doubly rude if I didn’t acknowledge her or make any conversation, so I said, as I passed, her staring deep into my soul, “Hi there. What’s your name? My name is Steven. Thanks for letting me walk through here. See you later!”

*Some things you’ll find in the meadow*. I see a lot of cottontail rabbits hanging around the pavillion.

I took some photos of the fen bog marsh swamp, too. I want to know what to call it so I can stop writing all four words. I checked the signs and maps throughout the park but never saw a label. I want to go to their nature center and ask about it because I’m so curious.

*Here is the bog/fen/marsh at the edge of the meadow*

*You can see that it’s grassy. The deer hang out in here.*

*Dead trees. The ground must be pretty firm because the deer can walk around and lay down in it.*

I will get some photos of the deer for you. I promise. And I will find out once and for all what kind of wetland landscape we have here at this great Shelby Park.

Animal Farm and The First Presidential Debate, Napoleon v. Snowball

Well…

Last night I attended the Davidson County Democratic Watch Party for the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

I was inspired to attend this watch party due to my recent reading of Animal Farm, and I told every person who I chatted with at the party that Animal Farm was the reason why I was there. After the debate I was chatting with Aaron, from Cincinnati, Ohio, who had spent 30 years in Miami and was now here in Nashville, and I mentioned to him as we were talking, “I’m here because I read Animal Farm. Have you read it?” And he said, quoting the book, “Sure. ‘All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.'” Later, reflecting on our conversation and the night in general, I remembered that, and then it made sense why we had clicked so well. I had interesting discussions with Aaron, with Dylan, with a Canadian from Alberta, who said that Alberta was like the Texas of Canada, conservative, oil country and cattle raising. All three of these guys impressed me with their political knowledge, and it was interesting to hear their ideas and their take on things.

It can be hard to talk about politics. Many people are immediately set on edge, triggered, when they hear the now loaded words Democrat or Republican. Democrats are triggered by the word Republican, and Republicans are triggered by the word Democrat. I don’t want to get wrapped up in factionalism, tribalism, whatever you want to call it. I want to stay out. So even though I was at a Democratic convention, I really don’t even like saying that, and I wouldn’t like to say that I am a Democrat, because people would then immediately shut their ears, or nearly do so, regarding everything I say now as tainted and suspicious, or, conversely, if a Democrat, they would regard everything I’m saying as correct and true, as long as it is pro-Democrat. I know not everybody has this aversion to the party labels, but many do. It’s hard not to. And it’s hard not to get wrapped up in fervor for your party. So when I was at this event, and they did a little bit of rah-rahing, you know, chanting, “4 more years!!” and “Democrats, are you fired up!!!” I didn’t shout too loudly. I would say just enough that was socially acceptable, because come on, if you go to an event and someone says, “Are y’all fired up!!!” And you just stare in silence, that’s not right. Haha. But this was the first political event I’ve ever attended, actually, even though I have been watching and observing, taking notes from the sidelines, so I really was just here to see what people were thinking, see what was going on, and I was interested in the debate and what the talking points would be. I haven’t been very active in reading the news and don’t know about many of the issues in depth, but I know what they are. And it was a good way to see via the questions asked, what were the real major issues facing American society today.

The main reason why I attended this debate party event was because I was motivated by Animal Farm, but I know I was also hoping to meet some like-minded and interesting people, and hopefully make some new friends. And I think that’s something to remember, as one woman mentioned to me at the event, that she was just there because “it’s better than watching it at home alone.” Like going to church, we partially are motivated to attend these events, or identify with a group just because we want to belong somewhere, and be with people. Many people seek out a group not because they care about whatever cause or ideology the group supports. They simply want to be a part of a group. The desire to belong to a group is an enormously motivating desire in pretty much everyone’s life.

So, with Animal Farm fresh in my mind, I watched our history being written and contemplated the state of American politics today. I’ll try and share some of the thoughts I had about it all.

There was a lot of laughter and smiles at that party. A lot of ridiculing Trump, a lot of fun banter, drinks, mingling, chatting. A woman next to me told me she was playing bingo, and showed me a bingo card, that had phrases such as “drug test” and “34 counts” on it. People were enjoying themselves, and I did enjoy myself too, but on the whole, I wasn’t laughing. I was quite stressed out and concerned.

The demonization of the enemy. The destruction and removal of disloyal party members. The scapegoating and denigration of a minority group. The propogation of blatant falsehoods, and the denial of truth. Revising history, gaslighting. Bullying, outright hostility. Affinity, respect for other authoritarians. Willingness to use force to achieve political goals. Desire to persecute political opponents. Legal trouble. Denouncing of the free press. Proficient use and weaponization of new media technology. Using fear and anger to incense passions and win followers. Attempted overthrow of the government.

Sound like anybody you know?

Anybody, perhaps a few people throughout history who were responsible for the murder and destruction of millions?

Or somebody who is currently running for his second term in office as president of the United States of America?

That’s why I wasn’t laughing.

In Animal Farm, Napoleon doesn’t do much of the talking. Napoleon just issues the decrees, commands. When he talks, he generally says, “This is what we’re doing now,” or “It’s all Snowball’s fault!!!” (Snowball discussion in next paragraph.) His talker, who is something like the media, is Squealer. Squealer manipulates, lies, deflects, deceives, bends, and as a last resort, uses emotional appeals, preying upon fears, to persuade the other animals to support Napoleon’s policies, or to dupe them into thinking they are for the benefit of all of the animals on the farm. He would say, “But, surely you don’t want Mr. Jones to come back, do you?” And that would invoke fear and terror into every animal, as they of course knew that they didn’t want Mr. Jones (the farmer) to come back, and they would then agree that things were at least better with Napoleon. Trump is able to be a Squealer for himself. He has his Squealers too, but Trump the man himself can do the Squealer work. Just from his language last night, I heard both Squealer and Napoleon. For example, throughout the debate I can’t count how many times he repeated that people were coming over the border, were raping, killing, innocent Americans, flooding the border and killing our people. Criminals, bringing over drugs, bringing crime, pouring across the border, flooding across the border, the border, the border, the border. Raping, killing. Like Squealer, Trump is creative, creative and stubborn, and demonstrated it in this debate with his ability to twist the narrative, turn any question on its head, and find or force a way to get back his main points of persuation, and one of his strongest lines, that he repeatedly went back to, was the border, and the immigrants. He used strong and negative language frequently, such as the word “destruction”, mentioning the destruction of cities “like Minneapolis, and.. many other cities” (his words) or the destruction of the country, painting images of cities burning, a country on fire, full of drugs and murderers. Why does he do this? Whether true or not, it can be an effective line, because it plays to fear. At least it works well in Animal Farm. Invoking fear is exactly what Squealer does, generally as a last resort, when his other persuasive tactics have failed to convince the animals. Fear is a powerful motivator, anger is a powerful motivator, and a powerful persuader for the animals. And fear, anger, and anxiety all have a place in the amygdala, one of the most primitive parts of the human brain. So these lines, these images have the power to hit deep, to activate emotions. In Animal Farm, Squealer uses Mr. Jones, and the idea of Mr. Jones coming back to run the farm, as his fear-invoking line. “But, surely you don’t want Mr. Jones to come back, do you?” And in the debate, Trump’s fear-invoking line was about the border, and about illegal immigrants. If a line from Animal Farm, maybe it would look something like this. “But, surely you don’t want an open border, do you?” (Implying that Biden does, and that if did have this, we would have murderers, thieves, and drug-dealers flooding into the country.)

It would make sense then that Trump would not want to support any progress that the Biden administration would take to strengthen border security, even if it was in the best interest of the country. And it does seem that he acted to get a bipartisan border bill from getting passed, a bill so bipartisan that even Mitch McConnell supported it. Even Mitch McConnell!! But if that bill passed, Biden would be able to point to it and say, this is what we’ve done. Not as good for Trump. It would make sense that Trump would want to kill the bill, to give him ammo in this election. And we did see him use that ammo last night, firing away, probably to great effect, over and over and over.

Along with using Mr. Jones as a way to invoke fear in the animals, Napoleon and Squealer both also use Snowball, Napoleon’s political opponent before Napoleon ousted him with force, as a target for the animals’ discontent, anger, and as a scapegoat for the failings on the farm. By the end of the novel, there was nothing so ludicrous that they couldn’t blame Snowball for it. They blamed Snowball for having weeds among the crops, saying that he must have mixed in unwanted seed with the good seed, they blamed Snowball for somehow felling an entire windmill. Anything and everything is attributed to Snowball, and Squealer and Napoleon continually assault Snowball’s reputation and standing until it couldn’t possibly be any lower in the minds of most of the animals on the farm.

Trump uses Biden in the exact same way. Biden is Trump’s Snowball. “You’re ruining this country.” “You are the worst president in the history of the country.” Inflation is Biden’s fault. The border is Biden’s fault. Russian’s invasion of Ukraine is Biden’s fault. China is taking advantage of us because of Biden. Everything is Biden’s fault. Everything is Snowball’s fault. There is a simple source of your frustration, your anger, your ire, and it’s Joe Biden. Biden is responsible for all of it. The windmill that Snowball “destroyed” came down in a storm, because it the walls were too thin. It wasn’t built correctly. This was actually Napoleon’s fault, as Snowball was an engineer, and had designed all plans for the windmill, but by this point Snowball had been chased off and was unable to oversee the construction of the windmill. Napoleon was unable to build it properly, but he blamed Snowball for the fall of the windmill, and said that Snowball had come in the night and taken it down as an act of revenge. Trump even used this line too, in the debate last night. He suggested that Biden had undone some of his policies out of revenge. His words were, “I don’t know why he did it, I think he did it just because I approved them.” Whatever Napoleon says about Snowball, the animals believe, of course, most of them right away, and those that aren’t, after some persuation by Squealer. It’s actually amazing how easily I seem to be able to interchange Trump with Napoleon and Squealer, and Biden with Snowball, here.

What also bothered me was Trump’s language regarding Ukraine, our ally, and the only country right now who is holding back a wave of Russian aggression. They are fighting and dying to keep an authoritarian regime from expanding in power. Supporting freedom domestically and throughout the world is exactly what America is all about, if we profess to be about freedom. Preventing the world from sliding into corrupt, strongman police states, as Russia is, as China has become, as North Korea is. Trump, in front of millions, made demoralizing and negative comments about a country that is so bravely and effectively defying a side that had many advantages, in numbers of troops, in experience, in weapons and technology, and is lead by a war criminal. A country that is a US ally. To the world, Trump claimed that Ukraine was losing, Ukrainians were dying, that we were wasting money in support of them. And he claimed that he would have the war over before he was even the president. If Trump had his way, the war would have been over a long time ago, because Ukraine wouldn’t have gotten a dollar from the US. He was impeached for attempting to change the narritive on election interference, that it was Ukraine instead of Russia, and for using money that had been approved by the Senate as leverage. He was then impeached for the insurrection, impeached twice, if you will recall. Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, you should be for freedom. That’s what we’re all about here, isn’t it? Russia is not exactly a free country. Go to Russian and stand on a corner and hold up a sign that says “Down with Putin.” Not even that, hold up a sign that says, “Putin is not a very nice guy.” “Putin farts in his sleep.” How long will you be able to stand there for? Go ahead and try that, let me know how it goes for you. Saying that our ally, a country fighting for democracy, was losing, which is completely not even true in any way, as they have already won, having fought so hard and cost Russia so much, those should have been painful and angering words for every American. For me, but hey, at least there was somebody out there who was quite happy to hear them. (Vladimir Putin.)

As I found when reading Animal Farm, and what I find now, is how easy it is to draw parallels between what happens in the story, and what is happening now. And watching the debate last night, we can easily map Squealer and Napoleon’s words and actions to those of Donald Trump’s, Napoleon, the authoritarian/totalitarian ruler of Animal Farm.

Watching this debate, reflecting on the words of Animal Farm, making these comparisons, has me squirming.

Something else that was news to me, I found out last night – Trumps wants to have a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. A mass deportation of immigrants, a group of people who Trump considers to be to blame for the apparent destruction of our country. Hmm.. a mass deportation you say? Is that something like having an immigration force, going door to door, looking up people in lists, hunting people down? Rounding people up, putting people in camps, shipping them away to somewhere? Taking people, neighbors, friends, co-workers away from their families, from their children, from their jobs? How about before we round them up, we mark them in some way, maybe we give them little yellow stars, so that we can easily identify them, those who are responsible for the destruction of the country? And you know what, this is all reminding me of something… Yes, I think this has been done before, to great success. I remember hearing about it once, in school or somewhere. And if I remember correctly, it really worked out well for everybody, that one time when a minority group was blamed for everything, rounded up, shipped off, put into camps, taken care of. I mean, it wasn’t really good for the minorities of course, but hey, they shouldn’t have done all those bad things! And our country will be so much better without them! I can totally get behind that, we should do that for ourselves, here in America.

Between Animal Farm and current American politics, there are more parallels to be drawn. The bleating sheep (meaninglessly spewing pro-party rhetoric), Napoleon’s dogs (the Proud Boys, who Trump infamously told to “stand back and stand by”, and what do you say to your dog? Stand down.), sacrificing Boxer before retirement (killing social security, which would probably happen when Trump eliminates the payroll tax, which he apparently intends to do). Increased hardship and suffering for all via blundering policies (Napoleon’s windmill, as the animals had to work twice as hard to try and rebuild it after it had fallen, Trump’s 10% tariff on all domestic imports, Trump’s handling of the pandemic, Trump killing the payroll tax, Trump deporting 5% of our economy.)