By Someone
Greetings to my dozen or so loyal readers. It’s with heavy hands I type this, things are not good out there. At least according to news reports (specifically the preponderance of reports involving billions of dollars or people who own billions of dollars.) Or maybe things are good out there, or somewhere in between. It’s hard to tell from reading the news reports. Take for instance, this:
The Associated Press stated, “Scientists shielding farming from climate change need more public funding. But they’re getting less.”
It’s a sad story about the University of California not getting more money from the United States Agency for International Development. Wait what? International development? I do wonder sometimes when it’s quiet and I can hear myself think – when did the University of California move to a foreign country to qualify for International Development? Or did the UC start raking it in by seceding from the union?
As of 2024 the UC system’s endowment is only $30 billion, no extra money there.* Money schmuny you may say, “What’s going to happen to the shield!!!?”
This is serious, it takes a lot of scientists to form a human shield to provide shade to farms during global warming. It requires copious change under the couch cushions to employ that many scientists and I’m not sure the endowment has it to spare.
Bummed Out
“A new study published in Nature Communications utilizes insights gleaned from DRI’s (Desert Research Institute) Mountain Rain or Snow project . . .” It then goes on to quote a scientist. Bummed me out: Sounded like AI can’t tell the difference between snow and rain even though it can predict climate change down to a fraction of a degree for the next 80-years.
Hopes Rise
But then my hopes rose when I read in Courthouse News that a crack team of researchers at UC Berkeley were able to determine lack of water to swim around in isn’t good for fish. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was a study showing drought can harm salmon. Who says our citadels of higher learning aren’t worth the $87,000 a semester in tuition?
Bummed Again
Oh no, bummed out again: E&E News reported, “President Donald Trump’s vow to put “people over fish” in Southern California by shifting water to the region’s farmers could deal a blow to struggling commercial, sport and tribal fishermen who have coped for years with decimated salmon populations.” I hate when blows are dealt.
Feeling Better
Then I felt better when I realized all it would take to double Southern California’s salmon population would be one fish since they don’t live there anyway. One might also be able to double Central and Northern California’s salmon population by relaxing the take limit and placing a bounty on striped bass. This non-native predator eats 90 percent of the out migrating juvenile salmon. But it wouldn’t be popular with the sport fishermen who angle in tournaments for the striped bass that have caused the commercial and tribal salmon fishermen to have to cope. Also, aren’t commercial and tribal fishermen people too? Wouldn’t helping them put people over fish?
Feeling Even Better
I feel even better after seeing a San Francisco Chronicle report that billionaires who had wanted to wipe out thousands of acres of farmland in Solano County now want to “rebuild our nation’s navel power” along a 1,400 acre riverfront property California Forever owns along the Carquinez Straights near Collinsville. Cal Forever claims it would make an ideal shipyard to cash in on Trump’s plan to revive the US shipbuilding industry.
Not So Fast Doubt Entered
Then I wasn’t sure. Are billionaires bad for wanting to make money as Bernie and Alexandria claim they are or are they bad for reducing wasteful government spending like Elon? Or are they bad like Georgie S for influencing elections? The only way to know if being a billionaire is bad is walk a few miles in their shoes. I’m willing to accept donations to carry out this study. Perhaps I can take up residence at one of the UC campuses and qualify for International Development. Yes, I’ll become a billionaire report back to you if it is bad or not. No thanks necessary, I know you’d do it for me.
The Real Kicker
Bummed again: the Sierra Club sent me even more reasons to worry. An email from The Club opened with, “Trump and the billionaire [emphasis mine] corporate polluters that bought access to him want to sell out our air, water, and public lands for higher profits.” (Now I’m really confused. A simple Duck Duck Go search showed as of April The Sierra Club has $1.3 billion in assets.)
Turns out pesky billionaires are not just rich folk, they pollute too. You can sell water, there are water markets here in California and many other places across the globe. You can sell land, public and private. I’m sure most of us either know a real estate agent or know someone who does.
Not too sure how one would go about selling air. I guess you could just can some air and stock the shelves. Admittedly I have yet to acquire the financial smarts to be a billionaire but it seems to me selling plain old, uncompressed atmosphere wouldn’t pencil out.
Then my Clubbing buddies got familiar with me, “Don,” they wrote taking me into their confidence, “since his inauguration, Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented power grab, causing destruction and instability at every turn.”
Wow, every turn. Not just some of them. I’ve not been down every turn but I’ve been down my share and I do very much dislike destruction and instability. By the way when you take up the subject of destruction and instability it always makes me think of downtown Sacramento. I’ve been going there off and on for most of my life and they’ve got the streets torn up, every time.
We Have Demands
Not to put too fine a point on things but the guys and gals down at The Club have three demands:
- We demand an end to the billionaire takeover and rampant corruption of the Trump administration.
- We demand an end to slashing protections for the environmental and health programs that keep us safe.
- We demand an end to the attacks on our public lands, our public health, and our communities.
I Got Demands Too
I’d like to add some demands of my own:
- I demand to become a billionaire and I’m confident between the Sierra Club and the UC system donations (it’s for their own good) I can do so.
- I demand an end to protections for those who orchestrated the billions wasted on High Speed Rail and the Covid lockdowns that could have been donated to me.
- I demand an end to the attacks on our billionaires after I become one.
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*I must admit the annual endowment report is a bit confusing. See for yourself. http://annual-endwoment-report-fy-2023-2024.pdf
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