Bermuda 2019 - Day 2

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

Our second day in Bermuda was wonderful.  After a lazy morning at the guesthouse - there a several other couples staying here, one from Norway - we had lunch at Coconuts, the restaurant at The Reefs. The weather was amazing and the view from the restaurant was beautiful, with the hotel perched along the top of the cliffs:

After lunch, we went into Hamilton and did some window shopping - and I bought a tie since I left mine at home - before taking the ferry across the harbor to return to the guesthouse and a snack and cocktail.  The highlight of the day was the welcome party for wedding guests at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club on the Hamilton waterfront. The bride, although from Newport News, has lived in Boston for a number of years and the groom is a Boston, native, so the bulk of the guests attending are from the Boston area.  That said, about 15 of us from Hampton Roads are down for the event.  The party was great fun with drinks, food and a DJ who got the place dancing up a storm.  Today, Barry is doing hair for the bride and bridesmaids - his gift to the bride - while yours truly will be lounging at the guest house pool.  The wedding is this afternoon and we will be dressed in "Bermuda formal.:  More photos from the party, including Barry with the bride to be:

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More and More U.S. Catholics Question Their Church Membership

As long time readers know, I left Catholicism even before I came out publicly.  One of the catalysts for me was the sex abuse scandal that exploded on Boston in 2002, which was the focus of the Academy Award winning movie, Spotlight.  That was 17 years ago and in the intervening years no part of the globe has been spared from Catholic clergy sex abuse scandals which as of this week culminated in the 6 year sentence handed down against Cardinal George Pell, the senior cleric in Australia and by some accounts the number three man at the Vatican until now.  Meanwhile, even as my other family members have abandoned the Catholic Church, countless American Catholics have kept their heads in the sand, refusing to admit that the institution they are supporting financially and attending is morally bankrupt and perhaps more akin to a criminal enterprise than a institution dedicated to God.   Now, a new Gallup survey suggest that 37% of American Catholics are belatedly questioning whether or not to remain members of the Catholic Church.  Here are highlight from from Gallup:

As the Catholic church responds to more allegations of sexual abuse of young people by priests, an increasing percentage of Catholics are re-examining their commitment to the religion. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. Catholics, up from 22% in 2002, say news of the abuse has led them to question whether they would remain in the church.

While the polling was being conducted, Pope Francis met with Catholic leaders from around the world at the Vatican to respond to a new wave of sex abuse allegations in numerous countries. The church dealt with a similar crisis in the U.S. in 2002, the last time Gallup polled about this. That polling came after The Boston Globe reported on widespread abuse by Catholic priests in the Boston area and church leaders' efforts to prevent the abuse from becoming public knowledge.

Gallup's latest findings show that the current scandal is affecting U.S. Catholics more than the one in 2002 did, in terms of their feelings about the church.

Substantial minorities of both practicing and nonpracticing Catholics say they are questioning their commitment to the church -- but, as might be expected, those less committed to their religion are more likely to be questioning it. Whereas 46% of Catholics who seldom or never attend church say they have questioned whether they would remain in the faith, 37% of those who attend church on a monthly basis and 22% who attend weekly say the same.

The same pattern existed in 2002, although both practicing and nonpracticing Catholics are more likely now than in 2002 to be questioning their place in the church. Seventeen years ago, only one in eight weekly churchgoers were re-examining their membership, as were 24% of semi-regular churchgoers and 29% of infrequent ones.

Catholics are less confident in priests in the U.S. more generally, and in U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders. About one in four U.S. Catholics say they have very little or no confidence in those two groups. One in eight have little or no confidence in Pope Francis or their own priests.

While it is uncertain how many of the 37% of U.S. Catholics who say they're questioning remaining in the church will actually leave in response to the latest sex abuse scandal, any loss of adherents is certainly not welcome news -- especially when the church is dealing with larger societal trends moving away from formal religion. A decline in the number of Catholics would seem especially problematic if it were driven by practical matters such as how church leaders responded to a scandal rather than fundamental spiritual matters such as disagreement with church teachings or church members finding their faith to be unfulfilling.

Catholics shaken by the latest scandal could be affected in other ways besides leaving the church, including less frequent church attendance and being less willing to listen to church leaders' teachings on matters of faith.

In my view, the Catholic Church needs a major reformation that includes (i) removal of god knows how many bishops and cardinals involved in sex abuse themselves or in deliberate cover ups, and (ii) a rejection of the Church's idiotic 12th century views on sex and human sexuality and the role of women. If this doesn't happen, expect to see Church membership plummet in developed countries with the Church being destined to be an Africa based church relying on ignorant and uneducated populations to maintain its falling membership. 

As Rubio Denies Climate Change, the West Antarctica Ice Sheet Begins to Collapse

At times I wonder whether Republican politicians are as dumb as they act or are they simply so consumed by ego and a desire for power that they will deny reality in order to pander to the increasingly insane and objective reality denying members of the Republican Party base.  A party base where the embrace of ignorance, rejection of scientific knowledge and rank racism now seem to be worn as badges of honor and distinction.  As noted over the weekend, Marco Rubio has taken the plunge of denying climate change and rejecting scientific findings that mankind IS playing a role in its causation.  All, apparently, to better endear himself to the drooling, knuckle dragging GOP base.  Meanwhile, the New York Times reports further on the collapse of the West Antarctica ice sheet and the likely corresponding sea level rise which will threaten some of Rubio's home state's largest cities.  To say that Rubio is worse than a tawdry whore is an understatement.  Here are highlights from the New York Times piece:

A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable, two groups of scientists reported on Monday. If the findings hold up, they suggest that the melting could destabilize neighboring parts of the ice sheet and a rise in sea level of 10 feet or more may be unavoidable in coming centuries.

Global warming caused by the human-driven release of greenhouse gases has helped to destabilize the ice sheet, though other factors may also be involved, the scientists said.

The rise of the sea is likely to continue to be relatively slow for the rest of the 21st century, the scientists added, but in the more distant future it may accelerate markedly, potentially throwing society into crisis.

The only thing more frightening than what science has learned about climate change is the unanticipated consequences that we have yet to learn.

“This is really happening,” Thomas P. Wagner, who runs NASA’s programs on polar ice and helped oversee some of the research, said in an interview. “There’s nothing to stop it now. But you are still limited by the physics of how fast the ice can flow.”

The West Antarctic ice sheet sits in a bowl-shaped depression in the earth, with the base of the ice below sea level. Warm ocean water is causing the ice sitting along the rim of the bowl to thin and retreat. As the front edge of the ice pulls away from the rim and enters deeper water, it can retreat much faster than before.

“Today we present observational evidence that a large sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has gone into irreversible retreat,” Dr. Rignot said in the NASA news conference. “It has passed the point of no return.”

The global sea level has been rising since the 19th century, but Antarctica so far has been only a small factor. The biggest factor to date is that seawater expands as it warms.

The effects will depend in part on how much money future governments spend to protect shorelines from a rising sea. Research published in 2012 found that a rise of less than four feet would inundate land on which some 3.7 million Americans live today. Miami, New Orleans, New York and Boston are all highly vulnerable.

He added that while a large rise of the sea may now be inevitable from West Antarctica, continued release of greenhouse gases will almost certainly make the situation worse. The heat-trapping gases could destabilize other parts of Antarctica as well as the Greenland ice sheet, potentially causing enough sea-level rise that many of the world’s coastal cities would eventually have to be abandoned.

As Rome figuratively burns, the GOP continues to fiddle on.

Climate Change Is Real: 14 U.S. Cities That Could Disappear

New Orleans

A new report at Bloomberg focuses on the reality that people do not fear climate change as they should, thanks in large part to disinformation campaigns - can we call it what it is, lies - funded by the fossil fuel industry.  In addition, the problem is not being addressed as it should because of other factors too: inability of international governments to cooperate, the tendencies of humans to ignore what they don't want to hear, and reluctance of countries to act unilaterally, and the belief that the problem is "in the future" and not a current concern.   Another piece from Huffington Post looks at some of the U.S. cities that may perish if sea levels rises as some have predicted.   Among those largely lost are Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Virginia Beach (and Norfolk) and large parts of New York City.  First, highlights from Bloomberg:

With respect to the science of climate change, many experts regard the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as the world’s authoritative institution. A draft summary of its forthcoming report was leaked last week. It describes the panel’s growing confidence that climate change is real, that it is a result of human action, and that if the world continues on its current course, it will face exceedingly serious losses and threats (including a significant rise in sea levels by century’s end). 

While the draft report states these conclusions with unprecedented conviction, they are broadly consistent with the panel’s judgments from the past two decades, which raises an obvious question: Why have so many nations (including China and the U.S., the world’s leading greenhouse-gas emitters) not done more in response?

There are many answers. Skeptics say that the IPCC is biased and wrong. Companies whose economic interests are at stake continue to fight against regulatory controls. The leaders of some nations think that if they acted unilaterally to reduce their emissions, they would impose significant costs on their citizens without doing much to reduce climate change. 

[W]e should not disregard purely psychological factors. An understanding of what human beings fear -- and what they do not -- helps to explain why nations haven’t insisted on more significant emissions reductions. The first obstacle is that people tend to evaluate risks by way of “the availability heuristic,” which leads them to assess the probability of harm by asking whether a readily available example comes to mind.

[C]limate change is difficult to associate with any particular tragedy or disaster. To be sure, many scientists think that climate change makes extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Sandy, substantially more likely. But it is hard to prove that climate change “caused” any particular event, and as a result, the association tends to be at best speculative in many people’s minds. Second, people tend to be especially focused on risks or hazards that have an identifiable perpetrator, and for that reason produce outrage. Warmer temperatures are a product not of any particular human being or group, but the interaction between nature and countless decisions by countless people. There are no obvious devils or demons  . . .

In a political context, citizens might demand protection against a risk that threatens them today, tomorrow or next month. But if they perceive climate change as mostly a threat to future generations -- if significant sea-level rises seem to be decades away -- they are unlikely to have a sense of urgency. 

Climate change lacks other characteristics that spur public concern about risks. It is gradual rather than sudden.

Despite all these reasons for doing nothing, the fact is that the consequences will be severe down the road.   Huffington Post looks at 14 U.S. cities at real risk in the long run.  Here are highlights:

There is really no way around it: Thanks to climate change, sea levels are rising. A huge question on the minds of many is, what does this mean for America? Will sea walls and city planning protect major metropolises, or are we bound to lose some national gems? Unfortunately, the latter is a significant possibility. Read on for 14 U.S. cities that could be devastated over the next century due to rising tides.

1. Miami, Florida.

2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. . . . . Climate Central researcher Benjamin Strauss adds that "even if we could just stop global emissions tomorrow on a dime, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Gardens, Hoboken, New Jersey will be under sea level."

3. Boston, Mass.   If Hurricane Sandy struck Boston during high tide, 6.6 percent of the city would have been flooded. Water would have reached the steps of City Hall, according to a piece in The Atlantic. Within 100 years, that could become the new normal, twice a day.

7. New Orleans, La.   According to The Lens, a Louisiana non-profit news site, Louisiana might be facing the highest sea level rise worldwide. This does not bode well for the low-lying Big Easy, which could be immersed with 4.3 feet of water by the end of the century. Mardi Gras, the French Quarter and NOLA’s jazz scene may all be a thing of the past.

12. Virginia Beach, Va.  
Virginia Beach’s pristine coast could be obliterated in the next 50 years. In fact, NOAA says that it's the most threatened area for sea level rise of its size after New Orleans. According to Virginia Beach environmental administrator Clay Bernick, there are too many warning signs to ignore the science. "I wouldn’t put it in the category of fear," he told The Washington Post, but stressed, “You’ve got multiple factors with flashing lights saying, ‘Okay, guys, what are you going to do?'”

A word to the wise: If you haven’t made your way down to the Hampton Roads area, you might want to make the trip before it is too late.

Read the whole piece and see what other cities are at extreme risk.

Virginia Beach Oceanfront

GOP Leaders Admit Boston Bombing Suspect Cannot Be Tried In Military Tribunal

A prior post noted how the ever disgusting Palmetto Queen, Senator Lindsey Graham wanted suspected Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev tried as an enemy combatant and tried before a military tribunal.   Never mind that doing so would violate federal law which prohibits American citizens from being tried by military tribunals.  Graham's principal concern in proposing a violation of federal law was most likely to pander to the knuckle dragging GOP base (see image above) in his home state where he will be up for reelection in 2014.  Sadly, such behavior is all too typical of the supposed leaders of today's GOP.  When in doubt, engage in demagoguery.  The law?  Well it just doesn't matter if ignoring it excites the foulest elements of the GOP base.  A piece in Think Progress looks at the GOP admission that it cannot do what would gain points with the white supremacists and immigrant haters of the party base.  Here are highlights:

On Friday, while the manhunt for suspected Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev continued, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published a series of tweets suggesting that he wanted to revive the George W. Bush-era debates about whether terrorism suspects can be denied many constitutional rights and tried by a military tribunal. In a statement Graham released yesterday with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Rep. Pete King (R-NY), however, the four conservatives acknowledge that shunting Tsarnaev into a military commission is not a lawful opinion. Tsarnaev is an American, and federal law does not permit U.S. citizens to be tried under the military commissions system.

On CNN this morning, Graham articulated what now appears to be the conservative position on how Tsarnaev should be treated:

GRAHAM: This man, in my view, should be designated as a potential enemy combatant and we should be allowed to question him for intelligence gathering purposes to find out about future attacks and terrorist organizations that may exist that he has knowledge of, and that evidence cannot be used against him in trial. That evidence is used to protect us as a nation. Any time we question him about his guilt or innocence, he’s entitled to his Miranda rights and a lawyer, but we have the right under our law — I’ve been a military lawyer for 30 years — to gather intelligence from enemy combatants. And a citizen can be an enemy combatant.

He is not eligible for military commission trial. I wrote the military commission in 2009. He cannot go to military commission.

Graham’s repeated insistence that Tsarnaev be treated as an “enemy combatant” remains concerning. In his statement with McCain, Ayotte and King, Graham claims that people like Tsarnaev can be “held as enemy combatants” — a view which suggests they could be held indefinitely even if they are not convicted by a court of law. Ultimately, however, the question of what would happen if Tsarnaev were not lawfully convicted by a civilian court is likely to be moot, as the evidence against him is very strong.

[T]here is a price if law enforcement or intelligence agents subject Tsarnaev to further interrogation without reading him his rights or permitting him to invoke his rights to remain silent or to have an attorney present. No information obtained in violation of Miranda can be used against Tsarnaev at his trial. Nevertheless, because the evidence against Tsarnaev is already so strong, even before he is questioned, it is likely that the FBI and CIA will be willing to pay this price in order to question this suspect without an attorney present.

I suspect that Graham accomplished his goal of satiating the extremists in the South Carolina GOP base.   Meanwhile, since I find Graham so whining and nasty in general, I could not resist this image I happened upon via MAD Magazine:

Yuck!!!

GOP Ties Immigration Reform Bill to Boston Terrorists

The ugliness and bigotry of today's Republican Party seems to truly know no limits as GOP elected officials leap at opportunities to pander to the racism and downright nastiness of the GOP base in the wake of the tragedies in Boston this week.  Not only do prominent Republicans want to suspend legal protections afforded to every American citizen, but they also want to use the Boston nightmare as a rationale for turning back efforts at desperately needed immigration reform.  And behind it all is the fury of angry conservative Christian white males in particular who simply cannot deal with the loss of the special privileges and deference that they have enjoyed for so many years.  One of the assholes leading the anti-immigrant charge is Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a true douche bag if there ever was one in my opinion.  The Des Moines Register ahs details on Grassley's anti-immigrant rant.  Here are excerpts:

The Boston Marathon bombings cast a shadow Friday over the start of debate on sweeping legislation to remake the U.S. immigration system, as some Republicans argued that the role of two immigrant suspects raised questions about gaps in the system.

Once officials learn the immigration history of the suspected marathon terrorists, that information will help figure out how to reform the system, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Friday.

“While we don’t yet know the immigration status of people who have terrorized the communities in Massachusetts, when we find out, it will help shed light on the weaknesses of our system,” Grassley said during the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Friday morning on the so-called Gang of Eight’s immigration reform bill.

“How can individuals evade authority and plan such attacks on our soil?” said Grassley, the top Republican on the committee. “How can we beef up security checks on those who wish to enter the United States? How do we ensure that people who wish to do us harm are not eligible for benefits under the immigration laws, including this new bill before us?”

Others went further.

“It’s too bad Suspect No. 1 won’t be able to be legalized by Marco Rubio, now,” conservative commentator Ann Coulter wrote on her Twitter account, referring to the suspect killed in the shootout. Rubio, a Florida Republican, is one of the main Senate authors of the legislation.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Ia., said Congress should be cautious about reforming immigration policies right now. King said the focus should be national security, not a path to legalization for immigrants who came to the country illegally.

 There's more, but the main point to take away is that if one isn't a racist, an jingoistic nationalist, a far right Christianist religious extremist or a homophobe, you really do not have a place in today's GOP.  And as for fiscal conservatism, the GOP lost all credibility on the issue when Chimoerator Bush and Emperor Palpatine Cheney took America to war in unfunded operation (in Afghanistan and Iraq) based on lies and untruths after first enacting massive tax cuts to the wealthy.  Half of the current national debt tracks directly to failed GOP policies.

One Boston Bombing Suspect Believed to Be Dead

Chaos reigned last night and the early hours of this morning as police chased two men identified by the FBI as the possible bombers in the horrific Boston Marathon bombing earlier in the week.  By the time the chase ended, an MIT campus police officer was dead, a transit officer was seriously wounded, one suspect was dead and the other remained at large, triggering a virtual shut down of all mass transit in the Boston area.  One report indicates the the dead suspect had a suicide explosive pack strapped to himself and during the pursuit explosives were thrown from the vehicle stolen by the suspects.  One can only wonder what motivates individuals to seek to kill and maim those they do not even know.  Obviously, if the perpetrators of the horror turn out to have foreign connections, Teabagistan will go berserk.  Here are highlights from the Boston Globe coverage:

A night of chaos gripped a region already rattled by bombings Monday at the Boston Marathon. An MIT police officer was shot and killed about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, and, not long after, a Transit Police officer was seriously wounded in a firefight.

The other Boston Marathon bombing suspect, the man seen wearing a black hat in photos released Thursday evening, is dead after firing bullets and launching explosives at police.

“We believe these are the same individuals that were responsible for the bombing Monday at the Marathon,’’ State Police Colonel Timothy Alben said today. “We believe that they are responsible for the death of an MIT police officer and the shooting of an MBTA police officer. This is a very serious situation that we are dealing with.’’

Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis this morning said the man now known as Marathon bombing Suspect #2 -- seen in photos released Thursday wearing a white baseball cap -- is the person being sought by a massive collection of federal, state, and municipal police. He is believed to be the suspect who actually dropped the bombs at the race finish line.  “We believe this to be a terrorist,’’ Davis told reporters about 4:30 a.m. today. “We believe this to be a man here to kill people.”

Police are warning residents in East Watertown to stay in their homes, and not to answer the door unless they see a uniformed police officer outside. They said drivers should not stop in the area roughly bounded by Dexter, Laurel, and Arsenal streets.

According to Alben, the night’s outbreak of violence began when police received reports of a robbery of a convenience store in Kendall Square near MIT. A few minutes later, an MIT police officer, who has not been identified, was shot multiple times while in his cruiser at Main and Vassar streets, near Building 32, better known as the renowned the Stata Center on the MIT campus. The officer was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital.

During the gunfight, the man known as Marathon suspect #1 was wounded and was taken into custody. This morning, Dr. Richard Wolfe said the man was brought to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center emergency room around 1:10 a.m. with multiple traumatic injuries.  “It was more than gunshot wounds,’’ Wolfe told reporters around 5:30 a.m. today. “It was a combination of injuries. We believe a combination of of blasts, multiple gunshot wounds.’”  Wolfe said it looked like the man had been hurt by an “explosive device’’ and that the man was struck by “shrapnel.’’ The man was pronounced dead at 1:35 a.m. The hospital said they did not know his name.

At present, the surviving suspect remains at large.  We can only hope that he is captured without more people losing their lives.  Likewise, we can hope that we find out who else, if anyone, may have been involved.

Hate and Violence Rear their Face in Boston

Hate and violence showed their face today in Boston as heinous criminals used the happy events around the Boston Marathon to weak death and horrible injuries on innocents for some sick person or persons.  So far, authorities have no idea whether those responsible for the carnage are domestic terrorists - Christofascists, white supremacists or perhaps Tea Party extremists - or foreign terrorists such as Islamic extremists or isolated sick and simple one or more warped individuals.  What we do know is that the bombs that went off appear to have been homemade and likely were of a size to fit in a bag pack and that given the presence of ball bearings and shrapnel like materials, the aim was to maim and kill.  Obviously, I hope the perpetrators are found and I could think of some unique punishments that they deserve - yes, I do believe in cruel and unusual punishment, and those responsible deserve something horrific.  CNN has some of the latest available details.  Here are highlights:

Two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, turning a celebration into a bloody scene of destruction.

The blasts threw people to the ground. Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said Monday night that the death toll had risen to three. Scores were injured at the scene.

One of the dead was an 8-year-old boy, according to a state law enforcement source.

Hospitals reported at least 141 people are being treated, with at least 17 of them in critical condition and 25 in serious condition. At least eight of the patients are children.

At least 10 people injured had limbs amputated, according to a terrorism expert briefed on the investigation.

Doctors are "pulling ball bearings out of people in the emergency room," the expert said, suggesting the bombs were designed to propel shrapnel.

"Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice," President Barack Obama vowed.

Boston "is a tough and resilient town," he said, adding that Americans will stand by Bostonians "every single step of the way."

Federal authorities are classifying the bombings as a terrorist attack, but it's not clear whether the origin was domestic or foreign, a federal law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said.

A federal law enforcement official told CNN that both bombs were small, and initial tests showed no C-4 or other high-grade explosive material, suggesting that the packages used in the attack were crude explosive devices.

Investigators warned police to be on the lookout for a "darker-skinned or black male" with a possible foreign accent in connection with the attack, according to a law enforcement advisory obtained by CNN. The man was seen with a black backpack and sweatshirt and was trying to get into a restricted area about five minutes before the first explosion, the lookout notice states.

Also, a Saudi national with a leg wound was under guard at a Boston hospital in connection with the bombings, but investigators cannot say he is involved at this time and he is not in custody, a law enforcement official said Monday evening.

There were no credible threats before the race, a state government official said.  There is no suspect in custody, but many people are being questioned, Davis said.

In addition to scrutinizing images of surveillance cameras in the area, the FBI likely was issuing subpoenas for records from cell towers in the area to isolate and trace calls from around Copley Square at the time of the blasts, according to a former federal law enforcement official who now works in the intelligence community.

Who ever is responsible, if they think this type of barbarism will win sympathy for their cause, they are sadly mistaken.