Texas’ Rural Environmental Standards?

Back in August 2023 I shared the national rankings by U.S. News & World Report of the Best U.S. States to Reside based upon eight metrics. My home state of Texas ranked only #35th overall among all 50-states; a ranking that is quite low based upon many rural, arrogant, and biased Texan attitudes here. And as most of you know well, the rural parts of Texas are heavily dominated by MAGA Republican politics. By the way, as a side note and not so coincidental, our Texas 21st Congressional District in the federal House of Representatives is led by (R) Chip Roy who is also the policy chairman of the radical House Freedom Caucus in Washington D.C.

This past Wednesday we received in the mail along with our Kerrville Utilities bill (water & sewage) for the month of December, a letter of disclosure, or as the City of Kerrville worded it, a letter of “Transparency.” This is what it said:

Now, returning to Texas’ national ranking of the “best” states to reside in the U.S., our ranking overall was 35th. But in the category of environmental protections, enforcement, and health-safety we sadly rank a lowly #40. In other words, our environmental care and protection, even for public health and safety, is in all honesty cow-manure! Why do we seem to NOT care for public health and safety and environmental protections? I’ll give you two guesses.

Mom and I live inside the unaffected area toward the top of that map. However, my sister lives down near the Kerr County Municipal Airport (red arrow), the area in yellow that IS contaminated. Granted, a running average of 0.010 mg/L of TTHM, which is equal to 80-parts per billion is nothing to be too seriously alarmed about, right? But here’s my three questions:

  1. When could anyone wholeheartedly trust the MAGA Republicans, especially those who rule all the rural areas of Texas?
  2. Are they divulging ALL the actual data in a correct, unbiased, transparent amount? And…
  3. If all of Kerrville’s water supply comes from only two sources—the Edwards-Trinity Plateau Aquifer and the Guadalupe River, and BOTH are contaminated to some degree now or in the near future, then how will the rest of our water sources be exempt or unaffected?

Did you read the part of the Q&A second page about “What causes high TTHM levels“? It states:

City of kerrville to its water consumers, jan. 10, 2024

The Hill Country of Texas and Kerrville over the last 2-years has experienced all of these climate events listed, except the extended heavy rainfalls, although these last two weeks we have had a steady flow of rainfall for about 12 out of the last 16 days/nights.

There has been another recent climate event contributing to our water contamination: high winds. And the high wind-gusts blow all sorts of pollutants and organic matter into our river which eventually reaches our underground aquifer. High winds also dry out already drought-ridden conditions. Examine these four tables below…

2021 average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, TexasWeatherSpark.com
2022 average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, Texas — WeatherSpark.com
2023 average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, Texas — WeatherSpark.com
2024 average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, Texas — WeatherSpark.com

So for the past 4-5 days myself and Mom have suffered horribly from high levels of pollen, cedar, and other air-contaminates. I guess we may be dealing with water contamination soon enough as well. Yes, it is glaringly clear why Texas ranks at #40 out of 50-states in the nation for (poor) environmental health and safety. Surprise surprise.

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Grading the Great Experiment Today

Here comes the historian in me so watch out! You have been warned. 😉

I have a deep indignation for modern Originalists. That is, Constitutional Originalists. Thomas Jefferson once said:

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, 1789

And a renown early 19th-century French aristocrat, diplomat, sociologist, political scientist, political philosopher, and historian named Alexis de Tocqueville, who had influence upon our Founding Fathers, wrote:

Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in america,”1835

How, in any possible way, does Tocqueville misunderstand the founding of our 18th-century infant country and its Constitutional precepts and foundations? Does his point-of-view solicit any form of stagnation or Originalism? Those are rhetorical questions; of course he firmly grasps what America’s ongoing “experiment” was and is supposed to be each decade. It was absolutely designed to be a work in progress. It was never meant to be a final “perfect” nation, at any time, where no further repairs, fixes, or amendments are no longer required. No, a real democracy must evolve with the times. Period.

At least half of Americans, that’s a minimum of 170.5-million Americans, do not understand what democracy is or what it looks like. They’d rather be lazy and automatons, being told what to do and what to believe. This is colossally disturbing! I can’t emphasize this enough. Therefore, let me share this fantastic symposium on CSPAN that took place this past Nov. 2023. The panelists are SO spot-on about the naïve half of Americans today:

If you are unable to watch this great symposium in your country, try this link below:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?531605-3/2023-george-washington-symposium-founders

Yes, it is an hour and a half long, but believe me when I say this, it is so very worth the time! Do you really and truly know what an imperfect, but improving democracy looks like and how it is supposed to operate—that is, a “government of the people” operates “for the people, by the people“?

E Pluribus Unum,” are we there or have we lost it?

Most, or too many Americans today, honestly do not know or certainly couldn’t explain democracy in detail, especially from a national standpoint. They most typically explain “democracy” from their own personal interests and individual and/or familial beliefs. But that narrow perspective is wrong. It does not reflect what our six Core Founding Fathers designed, drafted, and then ratified into law throughout our Charters of Freedom.

A Gilded Age cartoon depicting monopolists intensely watching the activities of the United States Congress. This cartoon depicts the elites as bloated giants, resembling large money bags, almost suggesting that they run Congress through financial means. Wikimedia

This present condition in American culture begs several questions.

Why and how has this happened after only a 248-year “experiment”? Are we teaching our tech-savvy, tech-obsessed youth the core fundamentals of a Constitutional democracy? Why are so few of our youth and young adults have ambitions to be public servants via government, military personnel, or election officials? What are the causes of this void in America’s youth? Is it economic opportunities and greater wealth in and from the private sectors? If so, how does that change in the 21st-century? What are the current American values and/or what should they be?

I’m curious to read your feedback and comments to these questions below.

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

14 More States Step Up!

More great news for the 2024 Presidential ballots across the nation! What states are the lawsuits pending against Trump? Well, I for one was shocked by one state, my home state of Texas being included in the list. But I can guarantee everyone that the radical MAGAt Republicans in Austin and our heavily ultra-Conservative state Supreme Court justices will take less than 10-minutes to throw-out the lawsuit.

According to Lawfare, there are 14 more states reviewing cases to disqualify Trump from the 2024 Presidential ballot. Who are they? Here is the current list: Arizona, Alaska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Now of course there are a few of these 14 other states besides Texas that won’t even seriously consider banning the Orange Orangutan from the 2024 ballot because they are strong, well-established, conservative Republican states with Red-majorities in too many key offices and court positions.

The U.S. Supreme Court, Washington D.C. will at some point make a decision as to Trump’s appeals

Some states have already dismissed on appeals or by the plaintiffs as these cases are ongoing as I write. Meanwhile, lets enjoy this growing trend in all these states and hope that they continue and perhaps one-third or half of them (and more later?) step up and SAVE this country and true democracy—run by laws, not a man or necessarily “voters”—from this narcissistic autocrat and his cult members, shall we?

For further details go to: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/current-projects/the-trump-trials/section-3-litigation-tracker

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Colorado Steps Up!

It’s fantastic news! Finally, some supreme court justices rightfully “interpreted” our U.S. Constitution and it didn’t require an Originalist’s point-of-view or their narrow, wealth-driven bias. It seems some of our state justices have higher qualified deciphering skills and more qualified to understand the historical context of our six 18th-century Core Founding Fathers than several of our federal supreme court justices do today.

Outstanding Colorado SC Justices!

The Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center and Supreme Court of Colorado Building

Because it’s all over national news you probably know what the great news is about. Yes, the Colorado Supreme Court voted 4 — 3 to bar Donald Trump from Colorado’s Election Ballot in 2024! 🥳👏

“In a stunning and unprecedented decision, the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot, ruling that he isn’t an eligible presidential candidate because of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.””

cnn politics — dec. 19,2023. link: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/politics/trump-colorado-supreme-court-14th-amendment/index.html
An 1868 political cartoon following the American Civil War that writer Heather Cox Richardson recollects was the true purpose of the 14th Amendment, Section 3. That Section does apply to Trump.

In her usual upfront truthful reporting, Heather Cox Richardson, a renown history professor at Boston College and an independent author/educator, writes on this historic event:

“This evening, by a vote of 4–3, the Colorado Supreme Court decided that former president Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office and should be removed from the 2024 ballot in the state, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. […]

Today the Colorado Supreme Court agreed that the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, constituted an “insurrection” and that Trump “engaged in” that insurrection through his personal actions, including his incitement of the crowd that breached the Capitol. But it disagreed that the 14th Amendment did not apply to the president. 

“The sum of these parts is this,” the court wrote. “Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three; because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.””

heather cox richardson, “letters from an american.” link: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-19-2023

You can read Richardson’s entire letter here. It’s well worth it.

Unsurprisingly, Trump and his crackpot team of attorneys are appealing this ruling and will likely ask SCOTUS to intervene. They are using the defense of presidential immunity which also comes as no surprise. And Trump has also gone on the offensive in all his usual ways to pick public fights with anyone who does not endorse him unconditionally.

I don’t know about you, but I really hope this is the start of a domino-effect on the state-level by state supreme courts and Secretary of States following suit with Colorado. If the former insurrectionist tRump isn’t in prison or not yet sentenced by the Spring 2024, then hopefully enough swing states and Blue states will come to the same ruling for the same reasons as Colorado and make it near impossible for the Orange Orangutan to be re-elected into the White House.

Fingers crossed people! 🤞

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/12/23/conway-reax-trump-scotus-rejects-immunity-case-lead-vpx.cnn

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Israel & War Continued

Earlier this month I was asked to write a guest blog-post regarding the Israel-Hamas Conflict that erupted (again) inside Palestine Oct. 7, 2023. I was very happy to do this for a good blogging friend and offer a less than popular viewpoint about the “recent” history of Israel inside Palestine since 1947-48. For the sake of brevity and at the expense of detailed historical facts since 1945, I was also restricted only to the “biblical-theological” justification or evidence for Israel being inside Palestine, if there was any. This position is impossible to defend on principles as well as biblical texts. Therefore, this was a major challenge for me, especially knowing beforehand that my personal viewpoint is NOT well received inside a generally Conservative, (hyper?) religious United States and typically pro-Israel primarily on religious evangelical and very narrow political reasons only.

During the blog-post I was heavily challenged by one or two commenters about my position on the conflict. Unfortunately, those ‘challenges’ were heavily moderated and not allowed for me to answer or rebut said challenges when I was perfectly prepared to do so. I also was debating the issue of what should be done over at Gary’s Escaping Christian Fundamentalism, primarily about history’s time-periods. But my counter-rebuttals on the first blog-post, before they were even allowed, were viewed as excessive, bordering on primate fighting, and feeding an irate lion attacking me. I completely and unequivocally disagree with this hasty, premature assumption. Hence, this post. I wish to show my civility and deep knowledge on this highly controversial topic inside the U.S.

Two primary points or challenges were asserted to me based upon false pretenses:

  1. “Ancient” history cannot be corrected or rectified in the 21st century.
  2. Invaded, conquered, and occupied land cannot be returned to the previous owners.

Both of these pretenses cannot be adequately defended and this is why they cannot.

On #1, this weak defense is ultimately irrelevant. Of course we cannot change things for the better today that took place well over 500–2000 years ago. This is a no brainer. I have never advocated for this to take place today, particularly inside Palestine. Anyone who throws this up at me is either NOT fully reading or comprehending my thorough, deeply researched “recent” history on the conflict, or they just want to ignore it all together. Period.

On #2, actually within “recent” history, this has been done on numerous occasions. When invading, conquering, occupying nations accept in remorse and see their wrong-doing, atrocious methods of land-grabbing by annexation, violence, massacring, and/or war, there has been plenty of cases where they returned the conquered land or the international community (the U.N.) made them give back the illegally seized land.

Before I give those examples, let me define what is the difference between “ancient” history, “modern” history, and “recent” history.

Ancient history is considered by most historical scholars today as the time-period before 1500 CE, or prior to the Middle/Medieval Age. This is a period where today it is near or completely impossible to forensically investigate and/or challenge “traditional” transgenerational oral or written narrations. Victors almost always write their own version of ancient events—today we have little to go on to verify their objective accounts of events. These attempts to use ancient history to justify current 21st century facts, is usually an exercise in foolishness. It’s a can of worms for sure.

Modern history is considered by many/most scholars today as the time from 1500 CE to 1945. I agree with this decision. Even verifying factually events between 1500–1799 can be extremely difficult. It takes years to plausibly draw definitive conclusions about world events, much less 100% certainty.

However, Recent history is a whole other ballgame. The time after 1945–present day is much, MUCH easier to forensically or evidentially, via multiple sources, verify and reverify. This absolutely applies to Zionist Israel from 1897–present. It also applies to Israel’s major ally, the United States, and how the U.S. was an evil bed-partner militarily and economically in accessorizing and aiding Israel’s illegal creation in a foreign land in 1946-47 inside an already occupied territory for several millenia.

Yes, the land that Israel illegally stole from Palestine with the major help of the United States absolutely CAN be returned to Palestine with the help of the General Assembly of the U.N. Why? Because reparations or returned land has been done numerous times in the past:

  • In 1988 Congress voted to extend an apology and pay $20,000 to each Japanese-American survivor of the internment. More than $1.6 billion was paid to 82,219 eligible Japanese-American claimants.
  • African-American survivors of police abuses in Chicago; victims of forced sterilization; and black residents of a Florida town that was burned by a murderous white mob, have been given reparations.
  • Many reparations have been made by the U.S. government to Native American Indians and the many injustices done by the U.S. government and its military in the 19th-century.
  • After World War II, Japan returned the territories it had invaded and occupied in China, Korea and Southeast Asia.
  • In 1956, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt as part of the Suez Crisis agreement.
  • In 1975, Spain returned the Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania.
  • In 1999, the United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to China.
  • In 2002, The United States returned control of the Panama Canal to Panama.

Therefore, I stand by my position on Israel-Palestine sternly, earnestly, and unwaveringly. Israel must give back what they have stolen from Palestine and the U.S., the U.K., and France must be the primary movers in making this happen pronto! Otherwise, there will never be lasting peace in Gaza-Palestine until Israel and the U.S. admit their horrible judgement and evil doing in 1946-47. Period.

Is that a realistic possibility? Odds are less than 2% to 0% because both Israel and the U.S. are highly arrogant, hyper proud, and consider themselves hyper-self-righteous and they’ve never done anything wrong to other peoples, ever in the history of humanity. Admitting wrong-doing and rectifying it is just not in the DNA of Israel or the U.S. Period.

Fair Warning for any Commenters — any incivility or personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please review my Professor’s Netiquette page for details. Thank you. 🙂

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0