Is there a single environmental measure that the Trump Administration isn’t willing to ditch in order to benefit their cronies bottom lines?
Regulations to combat climate change? Nah. It’s a hoax–and if it isn’t, God will protect us. Efforts to insure that the residents of cities and towns (even towns inhabited by black and brown people) have clean air and potable water? Silly you! What about protecting the natural beauty of Alaska’s pristine landscape so that future generations can marvel at it (assuming it hasn’t melted)? How ridiculous, when our fossil fuel companies need to drill for oil…
Now, the Endangered Species Act is in the plutocrats’ crosshairs.As Elizabeth Kolbert writes in The New Yorker,
In the summer of 1973, the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries approved a version of the Endangered Species Act and sent the bill to the floor of Congress. To accompany the measure, the committee—now defunct—produced a report that offered the following analogy. Imagine that a copy of every book in the world had been deposited in one enormous building. Now imagine that a madman was somehow able to enter the building, light a bonfire, and incinerate part of the collection. The response would be outrage. At the very least, the administrators of the building would be censured; probably they would be replaced.
“So it is with mankind,” the report observed. Like it or not, humans had become the administrators of the planet: “we are our brother’s keepers, and we are also keepers of the rest of the house.”
“We are our brothers’ keepers” is obviously a sentiment that is utterly incomprehensible to Trump and the collection of incompetents and thugs who staff his administration.
Protecting the environment wasn’t always a partisan issue. Richard Nixon established the EPA, and during the signing ceremony for the Endangered Species Act, he said, “Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.”
How times have changed!
Forty-five years later, there is a madman in the building. In fact, there are several. Last week, the Trump Administration proposed what the Timescalled “the most sweeping set of changes in decades” to the regulations used to enforce the Act. The changes would weaken protections for endangered species, while making it easier for companies to build roads, pipelines, or mines in crucial habitats. Under current regulations, government agencies are supposed to make decisions about what species need safeguarding “without reference to possible economic or other impacts.” The Administration wants to scratch that phrase. It also wants to scale back protections for threatened species—these are one notch down on the endangerment scale—and to make it easier to delist species that have been classified as endangered.
Representative Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who is the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee called the proposed changes “part of the endless special favors the White House and Department of the Interior are willing to do for their industry friends.”
Also in the past few weeks, congressional Republicans have introduced some two dozen measures and, perhaps more importantly, spending-bill riders aimed at weakening the Act. The version of the Pentagon budget that the House approved last month, for instance, included a provision that would have prohibited the Interior Department from granting protection to the sage grouse, a fantastic bird whose numbers have declined by an estimated ninety per cent since the nineteenth century. (The provision, which the Pentagon objected to, was stripped out a couple of days ago.
As Kolbert concedes, there are good reasons to modify portions of the Act, but no good–or even plausible– reason to weaken it.
The value of earth’s biodiversity “is, quite literally, incalculable,” the House report stated, back in 1973. “Sheer self-interest impels us to be cautious.”
Evidently, none of the thugs, vandals and crony capitalists who currently occupy positions of authority in this disastrous administration have grandchildren who will have to live in the world that will remain after their spree of despoiling and looting.
Oh, but wait, there’s more! According to an article in Sunday’s USA today, the Trump administration rolled back protection for grizzly bears last year (they have been on the Endangered Species list since 1975) and permits will be issued for the killing of these threatened animals in Wyoming. Please contact your representatives and senators in Washington if you agree that no one needs a grizzly head on their wall or a rug on their floor!
Entire article is by Trevor Hughes, USA Today. Sunday July 29: “Once-Protected grizzlies to be hunted”
Marv writes, “We’ve created an “honest-to-goodness” MONSTER.”
Sheila writes, “Evidently, none of the thugs, vandals and crony capitalists who currently occupy positions of authority in this disastrous administration have grandchildren who will have to live in the world that will remain after their spree of despoiling and looting.”
Vernon writes, no he just putters what he hears on MSNBC. 😉
Please look up Norma Schue Kreilein, a pediatrician in Southern Indiana. She’s been silenced by the IMA and Indiana legislators. She broke from her profession to speak the truth. God will bless her.
Meanwhile, both corporate-owned political parties will support policies for their corporate donors. Marv is right…we created a mess. Please do not release the democrats or democratic party from causation. Look at how they stand against universal health insurance despite how the capitalists poison us.
“The value of earth’s biodiversity “is, quite literally, incalculable,” the House report stated, back in 1973. “Sheer self-interest impels us to be cautious.”
Throughout my years in school; I was always taught that all living things, plant and animal life, play their part in the survival of this earth. Have bees been added to the endangered species list or is that list now defunct? The sage grouse plays its part in the environment; but bees are the natural pollinators of plant life, delicious honey is but a biproduct. Where are all of the beautiful butterflies; where are grasshoppers, praying mantises and what is causing the diminishing of lightening bugs? I see the mosquito spraying truck drive through my neighborhood but it doesn’t stop to concentrate the spray into the overgrown drainage ditch which runs through this neighborhood and flows into Pleasant Run Creek. Mosquitoes and rats are still prolific in that area. Is that spraying causing the loss of other insect life and will the spraying be stopped by Trump’s EPA repeals resulting in the spread of diseases known to be carried by mosquitoes. The destruction of our greenspaces adds to the number of endangered species by destroying their living areas; the eventual target to be endangered is the human race. Trump and his base are speeding that along with their repealing (destroying) the EPA and the ACA little by little. The two issues are tightly interconnected and cannot be separated – not even by Trump.
Forty-five years after Nixon’s creation of the EPA we have “45” determined to end it to save big money for businesses and the wealthy 1%. Just sayin’
“Please do not release the democrats or democratic party from causation. Look at how they stand against universal health insurance despite how the capitalists poison us.”
Todd; will YOU please pay attention to those of us on this blog, if not on other sources, who admit there is a serious problem regarding Democrats and the Democratic party being part of the causation due to their weakened foundation. Universal health care cannot possibly become a sudden reality in this country because all forms of health care have become big businesses and will refuse to give up their soaring profit margin to allow this government to control health care. Control of health care insurance, health care providers and Big Pharma is the necessary first step to universal health care. The current form, known as Medicare, is controlled by health care insurance, health care providers and Big Pharma and simply meted out in smaller amounts by the government while we pay increasing monthly premiums from our Social Security checks. Years ago, country personality Minnie Pearl had a hit song, “This Song Ain’t Got No Swallerin’ Places”, well; our current health care system ain’t got to swallerin’ places either.
I agree that both political parties share the blame for the current mess, but does anyone believe that a Democratic administration would be making the wholesale changes to laws and regulations that were created to protect public health and the environment? No. It is clear that the whole purpose of the Trump administration is to help autocrats, ignore the masses and to punish Obama for his public humiliation of Trump at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. This administration has no unifying strategy for anything; it operates ad hoc and its efforts are exclusively for the purpose of aggrandizing and defending the fake president.
“thugs, vandals and crony capitalists”
Maybe the R’s can use that for their bumper sticker
Contact your local Sierra Club for information on what you can do. I doubt that public comment will deter this administration from its mission to destroy the environment, but it’s worth a try.
Todd Smekens, thanks for the mention of Norma Kreilein. I knew nothing of her. How many other heroes are hidden in our world; fighting for relatively few fellow humans (not to mention wildlife) in relatively out of the way places. There is a delicious irony of ND grads on opposite sides of a life and death issues, educated at a premier institution following contradictory views of societal priorities.
Linda Crockleton –
I thought all the grizzlies in the USA lived in Glacier National Park joined across the border with Waterton Park, Canada known as the Glacier-Waterton International Park.
There is no fence or border wall except for the Rocky Mountains. The grizzlies migrate freely back and forth between Montana and Alberta and do so without regard to their nationality or ethnicity. There are no border police, no visas or passports are required.
If any grizzly dares to wander into “our” space, the grizzly police are summoned, the bears that are not shot are darted with anesthetics, are tagged, and are hauled to far off miles in the park without regard to abandoned mates and cubs.
So you see, grizzlies are treated more or less humanely than people.
The members of our society can no longer distinguish between what we need and what we want. We have been so busy accumulating what we want that we no longer know what we need. A narcissistic bunch, if ever there was one, now rules over a nation that spans a continent which has been half destroyed since the dawn of the industrial revolution and is now on the fast track to destroying the rest.
We are guilty, not just collectively, but individually too. How many here recycle? Take your own grocery bag to the store? Live by the motto, “If it ain’t broke – don’t replace it”? Walk instead of drive when possible? Use public transportation? Cut your electrical and water consumption?
When we change our own habits and live a life conscious of our impact on the earth, it is “Every little thing helps”. When we do not do so, it is “Every little thing hurts.”
JoAnn,
“Todd; will YOU please pay attention to those of us on this blog, if not on other sources, who admit there is a serious problem regarding Democrats and the Democratic party being part of the causation due to their weakened foundation.”
Todd pays plenty of attention. He’s just not willing to stand still as “Rome burns.” He’s aware that the vast majority of those who comment on this blog will not take EFFECTIVE ACTION [talk is not action] whether for good or bad reasons. He’s much younger than most of us; an EARLY DEATH from this DEBACLE is not going to be an out for him, like it will be for me and possibly others.
Marv; many of us on this blog, and other blogs and sources, are taking Effective Action in addition to talking. We have referred to these actions in our comments and at times recommended other sources for information and action. Begin with Sheila who is of our generation and probably the most active person any of us will ever come in contact with. I won’t bother to list the actions I take as they are repeatedly ignored; Theresa Bowers mentioned some vital Effective Actions pertaining to our daily lives. My neighbor lets me use his recycle bin as they are too big and heavy for me to roll up and down my inclined driveway; I am now so indoctrinated that I feel guilty if I bag my garbage in plastic rather then recycle it. I still tell my grown, married children with children and grandchildren of their own to TURN OFF TVs AND LIGHTS WHEN YOU AREN’T USING THEM as I did when they were children. For some; not even pointing out those actions will cut the amount of their utility bills makes a point. Cashiers are disgruntled when I hand them my 3 cloth bags to fill; too bad because I will continue to do so and am looking for another bag.
There is nothing Trump or his minions can do to stop all of us from taking these simple, daily Effective Actions to aid the environment and the economy.
JoAnn,
“There is nothing Trump or his minions can do to stop all of us from taking these simple, daily Effective Actions to aid the environment and the economy.”
Please explain to me what your so-called EFFECTIVE ACTIONS have had on the on-going destruction by Trump/Pence/Bannon? There is none that I can see. I guess I must be going blind.
Keep marching to nowhere!
Marv; if I have to explain this simple environmental issue, you wouldn’t understand the explanation any more than you understood my statement.
You gotta love it when self-ordained intellectuals actually go and spout what they think others do.
Todd, “Vernon writes, no he just putters what he hears on MSNBC.” ? is pure bullshit from someone, you, who doesn’t have a clue about research, writing or anything but the sound of your own voice. You don’t KNOW what I do, what I listen to, what I read, or anything else. You are NOT a visionary. You are not a seer.
Meanwhile, REAL intellects on this blog address the issue presented by Sheila today. It is indeed truly tragic that all the work from all the people over the last 60-70 years to preserve the magnificence of our land is, literally, going up in smoke because some asshole stockholders demand a steeper growth curve on their incomes. The absolute mindlessness of runaway capitalism defines the primitive nature of those humans who care nothing about anything except themselves.
Sure, the politicians who favor this rape of nature must be removed and sent back to their palaces and penthouses. But what of the corporate moguls and their lust for more of everything? Who is going to keep them from buying back all their stock so they can concentrate their wealth even more densely among themselves? With the abandonment of a moral compass, the answer is NOTHING.
So the bleatings and snark from pseudo-intellects solves nothing. The door-knocking and foot pounding and demonstrating and REAL writing to REAL publications that reach REAL people who can do something is all we have. You won’t find this advice on MSNBC, Todd. Since you are a slave to it, you won’t hear anything more than the screeching voice of Chris Matthews, will you?
“Whoever fights MONSTERS should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.
And when you look into an ABYSS, the abyss looks into you.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche, from “Thus Spake Zarathustra
a-byss (e bis’) n. [< Gr a-, without + byssos, bottom] 1. a bottomless gulf 2. Anything to deep for measurement [an abyss of shame]
~Webster's New World Dictionary
Fighting a MONSTER like TRUMP is not easy. No one is saying that it is. But it is our only way to prevent, an inevitable, FUTURCIDE.
in-ev-i-ta-ble (in ev'i te bel) adj. [< L in-, not + evitabilis, avoidable] CERTAIN TO HAPPEN; unavoidable—in-ev'i-ta-bil'ity n.—in-ev'i-ta-bly adv.
One subject that has NEVER been broached is: WHO of the Electoral College members were corrupted? – I have the entire list of names – but WHO are they and what made them the electorate body of this country with such a disparate gap in the votes for the candidates? And why didn’t this trigger a recount or a battle in the courts? This country was sold down the river styx, by our own government. This country doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving this crisis – it will never ever be the same. We aren’t in Kansas anymore – you’re blind and your dog is dead! And all you have now is a seeing-eye KANGAROO! Good luck Dorothy!
Ike is well known for his warning in his farewell address concerning the Military-Industrial Complex.
Less well known is another warning he gave:
“As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”
========================================================
The forces of plunder have gained an upper hand. This plunder is not something new, many people sounded alarms on fracking, but when the environment clashes with profits, you do not need a slide rule to figure out who will win.
JoAnn,
Marv; if I have to explain this simple environmental issue, you wouldn’t understand the explanation any more than you understood my statement.
I thought I understood your statement. Sorry, it must be that none of us are as intelligent as you are.
All–Please stop the back-and-forth snark and insults. They accomplish nothing positive. If this site is to be at all useful, it must be civil. Channel your hostility into positive action to get out the November vote.
We are a product of life, not visa versa. Money is a measure only for us, of each of our abilities to take from each other and store away. If it disappeared tomorrow the effect is that we’d all be even and in deep trouble because we no longer know even how to live in concert with life and with the planet. If we can’t buy what we need we have to do without it.
It’s a very sad state of affairs and the trouble with those who Putin installed in office here to help in his global plundering is that they exemplify the most dysfunctional of the human tribe. They are us on steroids. Just when we collectively started to deal with our problems those who are the extremes of our problems colluded to steal our power. Our lemming rush for oblivion is being encouraged and rewarded.
As noted before I believe that one way that humans can be arranged is on a scale is from collaborative to authoritative and for our survival there must be a shifting over time due to our population and global reach towards collaborative. At the moment that we started to accept that, the world’s most destructive crime occurred and thugs are threatening us with dragging who we are in the wrong direction on that scale.
When the criminals have been held accountable we will again face the choice between being one with life or separate, in which case life will continue on without us.
Marv; “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
I did NOT mean my comments as an insult to your intelligence level; I am well aware via knowledge of your past legal history that you are extremely intelligent, it is knowledge – or personal views – of some issues where we differ. I would never claim to understand the issues you have defended in the judicial system; in fact, I gained a bit of self-awareness from reading your legal history. I am simply an aging, frustrated, paralegal wannabe! I often questions if I wanted to be a police officer, a prosecutor or a defense attorney; what I really want to be is the researcher behind the scenes looking for the facts.
It was F.D.R. (I think) who once said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” If F.D.R. were still living, he could add one more thing. “The verbal reaction by Sheila Kennedy followers to Sheila Kennedy blogs.”
JoAnn,
Marv; “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
There is something that I believe does exist: THE EFFECTIVE WAY.
Let’s leave it at that. I doubt if it can be found on any blog. I need to pursue it elsewhere.
As Sheila said, “….get out the November vote.”
As Sheila said,
JoAnn,
“what I really want to be is the researcher behind the scenes looking for the facts.”
That would be a perfect fit.
ML,
Thanks for posting the words of Eisenhower, the last rational Republican President who lived nation first. That said, if one reads the 1956 Republican Party platform, most of it sounds like the 2014 Democratic party platform. How far Republicans have fallen toward and into the abyss of runaway capitalism….
While I sense the frustration of my fellow commentators I think Sheila’s injection today is the best one. Let’s argue positions and rationales for them rather than sink to insult and putdown, which accomplishes nothing and may even reduce our ability to “get a seat at the table” this November 6, which is, as Sheila notes, our overriding need.
The old “I’d rather be right than president” of yore statement by a candidate for that office sounds good but ignores the possibility of doing more good if in office than losing to a monster like Trump who, among other things, is selling out our environment to the greedy class
oblivious to consequence. That is my position and is delivered without insult or putdown of those who may think differently, especially my fellow commentators on this blog, who are extraordinarily bright and aware of current affairs both domestic and foreign as well as their history. Let’s use our energy and save our disdain for Republicans who are sitting idly by allowing these environmental and other disasters in Trump’s ad hoc world to take place.
EFFECTIVE ACTION [talk is not action]
Called my Legislators – last week
Wrote my legislators — yesterday
Attended a town hall with my legislator – Saturday
Attended a protest rally — June 2018
Attended a meeting with activists who work on various projects – 2 weeks ago.
Todd:
Thanks to the pointer to Norma Schue Kreilein. She sounds like a driven lady who does a great amount of good but who limits her impact through her inability to keep civil tongue in her head.
You, on the other hand, are so deeply committed to the principle that “there’s-much-to-be-said-on- both-sides-of-the-question” that you vitiate the value of your arguments by insisting on equivalency where there is none. Trump and his minions will destroy our democracy, truth, rule of law, a free press, the environment, wildlife, civility, international relations, our world leadership, our values, our sense of fairness, our respect for one other’s ethnicities, our science, the value of intelligence and wisdom and many other qualities that have made us a great nation. All of which seems motivated by an insatiable desire to make the rich, if they agree with the president’s inane worldview, much richer using bullying and other mob-like tactics.
While there are no perfect Democrats, and plenty that are deeply flawed, none subscribe to the daily blather of our Moron in Chief and the Republicans in Congress whose lips seem sown shut on the topics I’ve listed above. In fact, I challenge you to name a single Democrat who advocates any of the policies and practices mentioned. Most seem to value facts and analysis, and most would, it appears to me, defend the interests of their country before their own self-interest. Everything in my list is to some extent an existential issue, to which Republicans seem to reply, “My interests come first and then when they are satisfied, perhaps we can discuss the continued existence of our species.”
We don’t need everyone to vote D in the midterms to start the recovery progress, just a majority as happened in 2016.
Apparently Comrade P is using social media to get his way again but perhaps now that we know it we can be more cautious about allowing social media to influence us.
Our best strategy is to turn out Democrats who may not have turned out two years ago. That’s more influence than Putin can muster.
trumps acts up in speech about the media,and starts a near altercation, sessions is is all about some sort of saving religious freedoms? manafort will roll over on buddy gates, seems these guys dont have enough to do.. maybe when trumps kids grow up,(each one) they too can choke on the smog.. im waiting for a text message from bernies camp/our revolution,if trump fires mueller, we will be a gathering in all state capitals by us,to,protest this obstruction of justice.. giulianai says it wont happen trump wont fire mueller, but if giuliani is wrong about law,per media hype,this maybe a calling out of the progressives…
Kathy McGrogan,
On July 31, you said what so many have thought and really wanted to say. Thank you! For me, it’s all about the beauty of scrolling quickly to the shorter, meatier comments.
Last year was the warmest ever recorded on Earth that didn’t feature an El Niño, a periodic climatic event that warms the Pacific Ocean, according to the annual state of the climate report by 500 climate scientists from around the world, overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and released by the American Meteorological Society.
Climate change cast a long shadow in 2017, with the planet experiencing soaring temperatures, retreating sea ice, a record high sea level, shrinking glaciers and the most destructive coral bleaching event on record.
Overall, 2017 was third warmest year on record, Noaa said, behind 2016 and 2015. Countries including Spain, Bulgaria, Mexico and Argentina all broke their annual high temperature records.
While exceptionally warm years could occur without human influence, the rapidly advancing field of climate change attribution science has made it clear the broad sweep of changes taking place on Earth would be virtually impossible without greenhouse gases emissions from human activity. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/01/state-of-the-climate-report-noaa-2017-third-warmest
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Even the Indianapolis Star had an article on climate change today: It’s going to get a lot harder to farm in Indiana, according to this Purdue report.
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I can only imagine the number of deliberately scientifically ignorant who will be writing angry comments to The Star.
File this under in your face FOX News:
Fox & Friends Poll Designed to Discredit Medicare for All Explodes in Their Face.
When President Donald Trump’s favorite right-wing television program “Fox & Friends” launched a Twitter poll on Tuesday asking whether the benefits of Medicare for All “outweigh the costs,” they likely didn’t expect 73 percent of the nearly 32,000 respondents to answer yes—but that’s precisely what happened.
“Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare for all’ bill estimated to cost $32.6 trillion, new study says. Would the benefits outweigh the costs?” the survey asked, referencing a recent Koch Brothers-funded study that found Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) universal healthcare program would save $2 trillion over ten years—a fact that “Fox & Friends” conveniently neglected to mention in both its poll and its coverage of the new analysis.
Despite the misleading framing “Fox & Friends” deployed, the results of the unscientific survey were overwhelming.
As Common Dreams reported, right-wing Daily Caller editor Virginia Kruta attended a rally last week featuring a speech by democratic socialist congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In an appearance on Fox News, Kruta recounted the “truly terrifying” experience of hearing Ocasio-Cortez advocate policies that “everybody wants, especially if you’re a parent.”
“They talk about education for your kids, healthcare for your kids, the things that you want,” Kruta said of democratic socialists like Ocasio-Cortez.
Responding to Kruta’s remarks, journalist Sarah Jaffe asked, “Does Fox know that they’re unwittingly creating commercials for socialism?”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/01/fox-friends-poll-designed-discredit-medicare-all-explodes-their-face
Thank you Sheila
Kathy,
“EFFECTIVE ACTION [talk is not action]
Called my Legislators – last week
Wrote my legislators — yesterday
Attended a town hall with my legislator – Saturday
Attended a protest rally — June 2018
Attended a meeting with activists who work on various projects – 2 weeks ago.”
My comment about “talk is not action,” was referring to the talk on this blog. I’m glad to see you have taken action. My comment about “Effective action” was referring to our
failure to stem the tide produced by Donald Trump.
Your comments have been pretty frustrating today! It seems to me that ‘purists’ who exist on all sides and in all walks of life, (apparently) willfully forget or ignore the importence of tolerance. They seem to refuse to accept any solution that, by their analysis, misses their rigid definitions of what it might mean to be pure – incidentally, for me, a major disqualifier of Bernie, et al.
I think the gathered purists on our side opened the door for 45 and held it open, while those on the other side winkled him into reality, a fake Pinnochio. Shame on our side for forgetting the decades of nasty lies promulgated by the rabid right about Mrs. Clinton. You voted, or not, based on those lies, and the whirlwind has taken root. Shame on the other side for thinking they could traffic with monsters while magically remaining non- monster – Mcconnellism is very contageous, and terminal.
Anyone who has the energy and persistence to recycle deserves support – any move toward mindful occupation of our shared home deserves our positive attention. Those who can take other action, and do take that action should be supported and encouraged. This has to be a concerted, connected, community action. Lone wolves and grandstanders need to mend their ways. AND, what about ‘he who is without sin…’. How about «self knowledge is more like ignorance than knowledge» (from «Ascent of the mountain, flight of the dove» author’s name lost in the mists…)
Humility is much more useful than hubris, and we all could benefit from remembering that. Thanks to Sheila for calling time out!
NVL; Thank You! Your strong words, like Sheila’s “calling time out” are a needed reminder to all of us.