Put It All Together    

Tampa     Realpolitik     Ubiquitous     MAGA     Protests   

   What do you get? 

   Yes, the one and only is headed to Tampa tonight, first to attend a roundtable on workforce development. Then he will address an adoring crowd at the state fairgrounds, while protesters enjoy their moment in a free-speech zone.

   Yes, we like the idea of making America (relatively) great, especially coming from a president who is not in the oval office to enrich himself. 

   But, when Air Force One rises into the night sky, it and its No. 1 passenger will never attain the height, depth and breadth of the One who spoke everything into existence, and it stood firm. 

   To put things in perspective: 

The Lord foils the plans of the nations; 

He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him.

We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

Psalm 33

   While we sing God Bless America, we might want to start blessing God. 
He is not on our side. (See Joshua 5:14.) Our first pledge of allegiance is to him...if we want to be blessed. MABA.    

      Jimmy

  

Unusual Stories     

Honor Killing - A Houston jury convicted a Jordanian immigrant in an honor killing of his daughter's husband and another man. His daughter, age 24 in 2012, fled her father's radical Islamic demands and married a Christian. Her mother and son also were charged, although the mother testified against her husband, who had also threatened to kill his daughter. Is that clear? 

Sinking Shares - Facebook lost $119 billion in value after its second-quarter report. Mark Zuckerberg's own shares dropped $16 billion, but Facebook is still valued at $511 billion, more than some nations. Twitter shares dropped 17 percent, due to fewer users.

Don't Tell the Kids - More parents are refusing to tell their children what gender they are, expecting them to decide for themselves when they reach age 3 or 4. They use plural pronouns instead of normal gender words. One man says, "Parenting is a social experiment," and acknowledges that his twins might remain gender nonconforming when they get older. At three months, kids can differentiate between male and female faces. 

Pediatricians and other medical professionals foresee developmental problems, as parents "sabotage psychological development." They say, when the kids reach the outside world, they may face bullying or exclusion. One professional says, "If they can't trust physical reality, what can they trust?" 

WORLD magazine online points to Genesis 3, where the deceived human agrees to "be like God." 

Tale of Two White Houses - We can't verify the following, which came via an email that is circulating. Total annual White House salaries under the Trump Administration are about $35.8 million. By comparison, the Obama Administration spent $60.9 per year. 

There are reportedly 140 fewer employees in the Trump White House. Five staffers are dedicated to First Lady Melania, while Mrs. Obama may have had 44. 

The president forwards his entire salary to the Department of the Interior for the maintenance of military cemeteries. Again, we can't vouch for these numbers. 

       Jimmy

       

Blunting Iguanas 

   Some pet owners can't be satisfied with dogs, cats or parakeets. Some in Florida had to buy young pythons. Now we have a python problem. Others wanted iguanas; now we have an iguana problem. 

   Invasive iguanas destroy local infrastructure such as sidewalks, foundations and canal banks, and landscape vegetation. They can also transmit salmonella.

These reptiles tend to colonize along man-made canals. Trapping and relocating them is forbidden, because they can transmit viruses and bacteria to other wildlife. 

   The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission provided $63,000 for a humane elimination project. Blunt force to the head will do it, but if a second blow is necessary, it could be animal cruelty punishable by prison time and a fine. 

   A team of marine biologists was deputized to kill as many as possible. Bolt guns, common in the cattle industry, to the brain are favored. After one month, the score was 249 iguanas.  

   One would think pythons could do the job, but iguanas are borrowing a bit north of where the snakes congregate in the Everglades. 

       Jimmy

     

Outlook for Trump 

Conclusion from George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures:

How can Trump advance? He doesn't have enough votes in Congress. If he gives something, his base is going to revolt. His best bet is to hold his base together and hope lightning strikes. 

What's the role of his incendiary tweets? They strengthen his base ... because newspapers attack him. Newspapers and Trump are in a symbiotic relationship. Trump needs The New York Times and The Washington Post. He needs them to be unreasonably hostile. They need him because their circulation was way down. Now their newspapers are Trump all the time. They have saved each other. 

Symbiosis? He helps The New York Times solidify its control of a very important group. The votes for Hillary came from the Boston-Washington corridor and the West Coast. The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The New York Times need him to do things so they can write another story. 

If he went silent, The New York Times would just be another newspaper instead of the spokesman for the Northeast. 

The attacks on Trump? If he didn't tweet, he'd be attacked for the kind of press conference he held. If he didn't hold a press conference, he'd still be attacked.

He's in a business he's never been in, and the knives were out for him the moment he went to Washington. He gave them ammunition because that held his support together. What is a tweet but a press release that's shortened? It is refreshing to hear directly from the president, not filtered through newspapers. He doesn't know how to hedge.

Marvin Olasky, WORLD magazine

See more at geopoliticalfutures.com 

Seven Power Players      

   Who will be up or down a year from now? Marvin Olasky interviews George Friedman, founder of Geopolitical Futures: 

Donald Trump. Where he is. He doesn't have enough support to rise, and he has enough opposition to keep him where he is. He represents a real movement. He can fall in 2020, but that movement isn't going away.

Vladimir Putin. Precisely where he is, bluffing. His economy is a wreck. His military is not capable of managing the Syrian situation. It's a complete disaster for him.

Xi Jinping. He is much weaker than he appears. He has economic and financial problems. He can't fix it without hurting people. He is arresting anyone who might respond. The myth that this is another Mao Zedong is just a myth.

Recep Erdogan. He will be even stronger. He is in charge and is the one leader in the area whose power can't be questioned internally. 

Benjamin Netanyahu. It's possible he will be out, but whoever replaces him will basically have the same position. Israel's political structure is fairly stable. It is heavily tilted toward right-wing nationalists. The old left is in decline. 

Angela Merkel. Finished. Her power is a shadow of what it was. In some ways (the opposition party is) the more powerful member of the coalition. They now control finance and foreign policy. 

Nicolas Maduro Moros. It's crazy. They are smuggling diapers across the boarder from Columbia. The army refuses to take out Maduro. Oppositions are waging war against each other (vying to be) the next cabinet minister after Maduro leaves. Therefore they can't force him out. No one on the outside has enough interest to intervene. No one in Venezuela has enough power to replace him. 

Tomorrow: What can the U.S. do? 

Learning From Chameleons    

   Three years ago, biological researchers discovered how chameleons rapidly make color changes in their skin during social interactions. The process known as active camouflage provided inspiration.

   These reptiles have light-reflecting nanocrystals in their skin that rearrange to reflect different spectrums of light. When the nanocrystals move, the chameleon's normally soft skin stiffens. 

   Researchers learned how to make synthetic material that can change color and stiffen when stretched. They believe their discovery will help produce active camouflage materials and lead to improved biological implants that can better mimic the properties of living tissue. 

Nature Communications

Lightning Safety

   If you hear thunder, you are at risk and should seek shelter in a building or vehicle. Lightning often strikes outside the area of heavy rain, as far as 10 miles from any rainfall. Many lightning deaths occur before or after the storm.

   Stay in shelter for at least 30 minutes after the last sound of thunder.

   Avoid open areas and bodies of water. Don't be the tallest object in the area. Stay away from isolated tall trees, towers or utility poles.

   Avoid metal conductors such as wires of fences. Lightning can travel long distances through metal. 

   If in a group, spread out to prevent multiple casualties. 

National Weather Service

    Not taking this seriously? Several years ago, a Tampa area professor who specialized in the study of lightning was struck and killed. He was walking along a street with no storm anywhere near.

      Jimmy 

The 'You' You Never Knew      

   You thought you knew all you needed to know about your body. But, you/we have another organ that's been hiding in plain sight. 

   It is a network of interconnected, fluid-filled sacs supported by meshwork, just beneath the skin's surface. This exists throughout the entire body and may affect the function of all other organs, most tissues, and most major diseases.  

   The sacs may prevent tissues and vessels from tearing. On the downside, this network is a river of moving fluid that might contribute to the spread of cancer. 

   Cells within these spaces change with age and could partially account for wrinkling of skin, stiffening of limbs, and progression of inflammatory diseases. 

   Until now this organ eluded researchers because in the lab, sacs lose their fluid, appearing like solid tissue under a microscope. The new discovery provides one more example that "we are fearfully and wonderfully made," and offers future possibilities for health care.

   Said a researcher, "This finding has potential to drive dramatic advances in medicine, including the possibility that the direct sampling of interstitial fluid may become a powerful diagnostic tool." 

Scientific Reports

WORLD magazine online

      Jimmy