Scattered Acres

That's the twenty that they said George Floyd used to buy cigarettes in a Minneapolis store. The storekeeper said is was counterfeit and called the police. The next thing I see on TV is a video of Floyd on the ground, reported to be in handcuffs and a cop with his knee on his neck. And there are three other cops standing around. OK. They've got Floyd in the ground in cuffs in the midst of four cops. What was the greatest danger at the time? That Floyd might run away? In cuffs behind his back? With four cops ready to give chase? Even if Floyd had been combative in the squad car as reported, he was in no position to resist in cuffs with four cops standing around? And all this for the allegation of passing a phony twenty-dollar bill. What is clear is that the action did not fit an alleged crime. What is astonishing is that Derek Chauvin, the officer now charged with murder, had the audacity to apply unwarranted and excessive force that was ultimately fatal in broad daylight wh...

I got an email saying that Trump was going to have a press conference at 2 pm. Since I have time on my hands due to a 14-day quarantine after arriving in Maine, I decided to have a look. I've heard about Trump's press conferences, but I'd never seen one. I was looking forward to it, especially his off-the-cuff remarks. I turned the TV on at 2 pm, May 29. There, seated on the White House lawn on folding chairs about six feet apart and wearing masks were the reporters. I waited. They waited. Many men had slung their suit jackets over the back of their chairs. And we waited. I was wondering how they were doing under a full sun. The women among them who had bear arms, shoulders and legs must have thought about bringing sun bloc in addition to their water bottles. Along about 2:40 pm, the men started putting on their suit jackets. Were they getting ready to leave or was the big man about to arrive? It was Trump making the scene about three-quarters of an hour late. Had the a...

As we pass the dubious distinction of marking 100,000 deaths attributable to COVID-19, one has to wonder why the United States of America has worst record in the world among countries with populations of more than a few million for the per capita incidence of the disease. We knew it was coming. One only had to look how it jumped to Iran from China and then Italy. The global spread was obvious and ominous. We now know that precious weeks were lost in mobilizing to meet the invading virus. First it was denial that a threat existed. That is, denial in the Oval Office. And when it was recognized as a global pandemic, the weapons with which to fight were in insufficient supply. This, after the specter of a pandemic had been envisioned for years. So, at the top, we have unwillingness to heed obvious warnings and an inability to take the lead in assembling the needed resources to fight the disease. Statisticians have concluded that delay - that is, inadequate leadership - may have cost as m...

It's Memorial Day observed. A day of remembrance of those killed in the line of duty for the United States. The numbers are significant. The Civil War was the deadliest of all with estimates of more or less 700,000 dead or almost 2.4% of the population. World War II took away over 400,000. Since then we have had the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Middle East wars, and numerous lesser skirmishes with fatalities. The deaths in all of these battles add up to a bit over 100,000. The United States has secured no clear victories since World War II and many have come to see these wars as inadvisable if not disastrous. We have a present enemy and we are at war again. It's the coronavirus. And we are not doing well. Here are the numbers. They are non-partisan. The NY Times reported more than 1,650,000 cases. That's 505 cases per 100,000 or one in every 198 people. That puts us on a par with the very worst numbers coming out of Europe from Ireland, Spain and Belgium and way wor...

Last Sunday we drove from Amherst to our place in Damariscotta, Maine. It's usually a five hour trip, but this time we made it in a bit over four. Not much traffic. Dreadful I-495 was a breeze. We counted fewer than twenty tractor trailers on the road the whole way. That's less than one every ten miles. On our road trips I've used truck traffic as a surrogate for the state of the economy. The dearth of large trucks, even on a Sunday, said it all. As we came off the Interstates on to Route 1 on the last leg of the trip, it was distressing to see the number of small roadside business shuttered. Each one was somebody's enterprise that employed people and served the public. I wondered it any of the aid for business and unemployment was reaching them. Is the pain being shared? Now we are quarantined for 14 days until June 1. In anticipation, we packed food for at least two weeks. It will be a good chance to get things organized.

Why is it that every time a few million more people lose their jobs, the stock market goes up? Somebody is getting rich on other people's misery. The disconnect between the market and reality is as  vivid as inequality in America. How to handle the problem of skewed income, wealth and power?

The United States leads the world in the total number of Covid-19 cases with over 1.3 million incidents and attributable deaths of more than 78,000. That's because we are a big county (but not the biggest). Before we compare our numbers with other countries it is well to recognize that the counts are done in different ways and for different reasons. Nevertheless, the numbers are telling. The numbers that really count are those that compare the case rate with the population - say, as the New York Times does in presenting cases and deaths per 100,000 people. Today, May 10, American cases per hundred-thousand is 402. This case load exceeds that of all other major countries except Spain (479) and Belgium (460) along with some mini- and micro-states and others with populations of a few million. Canada, our neighbor to the north has an incidence rate 183, less than half of ours. What the American case rate of 402 means is that there is coronavirus case for every 248 Americans coast t...

Scattered Acres is going to be a site for random thoughts. Here in the time of coronavirus, there will be some commentary about the passing political, economic, environmental, social and cultural scene. There is much to be said about all of these.

Scattered Acres was the affectionate name for a property in North Stonington, Connecticut that remained in my family from 1928 until 2000. For me is was an enduring anchoring place while it lasted. Scattered Acres can be taken to mean the assemblage of properties into a 174 acre holding kept wild - or it can be taken as a metaphor for the various places I have lived: New York City; North Stonington; Chevy Chase, MD; Boston, Cambridge and Amherst in Massachusetts; Chicago; Round Pond and Damariscotta in Maine.