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July 27, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

3 Top Story Point of View Angela

We’re Having a Heat Dome by Angela Rieck

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We’ve been in the middle of a heat dome. The term “heat dome” is not a scientific term; it is more of a media creation, but it effectively describes these cycles of prolonged and high heat.

The term has only been around since the 2000’s and started being regularly used in 2011. The American Meteorological Society added the term to its glossary in 2022. The 2021 heat wave in the western US and Canada, brought the term heat dome into our day-to-day lingo.

A heat dome is a high-pressure system that traps hot air underneath it, leading to prolonged, dangerously high temperatures with little relief day or night. It can last days or even weeks.

A heat dome is analogous to placing a lid over a pot on the stove. The steam builds, the temperature rises, and everything inside gets hotter and hotter. That’s essentially what happens in the atmosphere during a heat dome. A high atmospheric pressure system traps hot air over a region, creating extremely high temperatures and humidity. This high-pressure system acts like a lid, keeping the warm air from dispersing.

The high pressure also causes the hot air to sink, increasing our discomfort. In the west, dry soil and sparse vegetation can create perfect conditions for heat dome systems to form and perpetuate.

Heat domes can last for several days or weeks. And because they block other weather systems from moving in and the jet stream is weaker, there’s often no rain to cool things down. An occasional thunderstorm is all the relief available, and it is only temporary.

What makes heat domes especially dangerous is that they prevent nighttime temperatures from falling. This lack of overnight relief can strain power grids, dry out vegetation, worsen droughts and take a serious toll on human health, especially in urban areas.

Climate change is creating more heat domes. Global warming is weakening the jet stream, leading to more persistent weather patterns that trap heat. Warmer ocean and land temperatures further amplify the effects of heat domes.

As our climate warms, heat domes are becoming stronger, more frequent and more persistent. The number of heat domes has nearly tripled since the 1950s.

So the sweltering continues…sigh.

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Was the Attack on Iran a War? By J.E. Dean

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Early Sunday morning, after I learned that the U.S. had bombed Iran, I commented to a friend, “We are at war.”  My friend responded, “Are we?”  The answer was, in my opinion, yes. But now that a ceasefire appears to be at hand, the answer is “maybe.”  

Regardless of how you want to categorize the attack on Iran, President Trump launched the attack without authorization from Congress. 

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution gives Congress, not the President, the right to declare war. President Trump decided that following the Constitution was not practicable or didn’t apply. 

Congressional Democrats are questioning Trump’s action. Representative Al Green (D-TX) introduced an impeachment resolution, but the House voted to table the resolution (kill it) yesterday by a vote of 344-79. One hundred twenty-eight Democrats joined 216 Republicans on the vote.

Is the issue of whether President Trump violated the Constitution “water under the bridge?”  Of course not. If Iran violates the cease-fire, the President will launch more military strikes. And “hostilities” could continue for a long time. 

Thus, I was glad to hear that Congressman Pat Ryan (D-NY), joined 11 other military veteran Democrats in introducing a War Powers Resolution so the issue can be debated.  The Democrats support Trump’s action, but not the absence of Congressional approval.

But enough about whether the President had the authority to launch the attack. What I worry about is what will happen now. I doubt the cease fire announced with great fanfare and self-congratulation by Trump will hold. I hope I am wrong.

Iran has not awakened to the error of its ways. Instead, it may simply be taking a breather from trying to wipe Israel off of the face of the earth and trying to retaliate against the U.S. Israel also is unlikely to stop its attacks on Iran if it concludes doing so is not in its best interests.

And what about the possibility that, despite President Trump’s innumerable claims that the attacks were a complete success, Iran still has weapons-grade enriched uranium? What if Iran’s close ally, Russia, told Iran to stand down for now and promised to assist Iran with retaliation against the U.S. once its war with Ukraine is over, which, unfortunately, could be sooner than most of us appreciate?

Is the Middle East entering a period of peace? No. Iran hates Israel as much as it always has. And it hates the U.S., the “Great Satan,” more than it ever has. And those hatreds will continue for decades. 

I am not ready to congratulate Trump for “victory” in Iran, but I won’t criticize him for the attack either. As I have written elsewhere, I hope the attack did some good. I don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons, but I would have preferred that goal to be reached through diplomacy rather than B-2s and 30,000-pound bombs.

Despite the “cease-fire,” which may be violated by the time you read this, I believe America remains at war. Only time will convince me that the risk of additional retaliatory strikes, including attacks inside the U.S., is over. 

This week, I won’t be writing about Trump’s ethical issues, about his crude language, or about his One Big Beautiful Bill, which I still hope fails to pass. For the short term, I will be focused on the horrifying possibility of a long-term war with Iran and pray that doesn’t happen. 

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack

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Shining a Light on Incompetence by Maria Grant

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In recent months, whenever I turn on the news or read the newspaper, I learn about people in high-level government positions exhibiting a frightening level of incompetence. 

Here’s what experts say are signs of such incompetence. 

In the Workplace: Poor decision making and adaptability; avoiding responsibility and accountability; failing to learn from mistakes; regularly producing unacceptable results; poor communication skills; repeatedly missing deadlines; inability to accept criticism; difficulty supporting others; inability to be a collaborator; frequently lying when explaining unsatisfactory outcomes. 

In Personal Relationships: Lack of empathy, poor communication, shifting blame.

General Indicators: Difficulty recognizing people and places; lack of self-awareness; fear of failure; negative attitude–a tendency to be critical of others; talking more than listening.

Our current Commander-in-Chief checks every box. He makes reckless and irresponsible statements with alarming frequency. He blames others for his failures, even if he was president when the alleged incidents occurred. He changes his mind constantly. He moves deadlines up and then extends them. His off-the-cuff comments are frequently incoherent, crude, and rude. Last week he indicated that the Declaration of Independence was written around the time of the Civil War. He has shown a blatant disrespect for the rule of law and our system of checks and balances. And perhaps most importantly, he is consistently and significantly damaging America’s position in the world. 

When campaigning, Trump promised to end “forever wars” and bring about peace. He said he would end the war between Ukraine and Russia on Day One. Recently he said, “It may be better to let Ukraine and Russia fight for a while.”

In his first term, Trump withdrew the U.S. from Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran, an agreement two years in the making. In doing so, he ignored the advice of our allies who urged him to build on the agreement. Last Saturday, American planes and submarines struck three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran. Trump declared the attack a “spectacular military success.” It is the biggest Western military action against Iran since 1979.

Here is a quote from Trump’s most recent inauguration speech: “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end—and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.” 

The cardinal rule for building a high-performance organization is hiring a well-qualified, experienced, and capable team. Great leaders hire the smartest people they can find. Trump’s cabinet could easily get the award for the most incompetent cabinet in American history. 

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem could not define the meaning of habeas corpus.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that Americans wouldn’t mind missing Social Security checks from time to time. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—where do I begin—the Signal group chat, mass firings, walking back his remarks about Ukraine in Brussels, his ill-fated effort to send thousands of detained migrants to Guantanamo Bay—these misdeeds are only the start of a very long list.

 HHS Secretary RFK, Jr. fires the entire Vaccine Advisory Board and begins replacing its members with bona fide vaccine deniers; swims with his grandchildren in dangerously polluted Rock Creek Park waters; and just last weekend, his Secret Service force was spotted waiting for him outside his tanning booth. What?

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blames former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for every mishap (and there have been many) that happens under his watch even though he was the one who fired approximately 400 FAA workers.

Ambassador to France Charles Kushner, a man with no previous diplomatic experience, was previously convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. 

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Dr. Oz has been a tireless promotor of alternative and complementary medicinal cures that true medical experts have proven false time and time again. 

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is rapidly becoming regular fodder for late-night comedians because of her ability to deflect serious questions with ludicrous statements. My favorite is when she talks about the sacrifices successful businessman Trump has made to serve his country. Let’s not forget that Trump has filed for bankruptcy six times. 

Before being reelected President, it was questionable whether Trump would be able to produce the cash necessary to pay for his court convictions. Some reports estimate that Trump’s net worth has increased $2.9 billion since he was reelected president. Melania alone will net $28 million from the film Amazon plans to make about her life. No other President in the history of our country has pumped the grift machine like Trump. Yet Leavitt wants us to thank him for his sacrifices. You can’t make this stuff up. 

Albert Einstein once wrote, “Incompetence is the true crisis.” Truer words have not been spoken. And when you couple greed, grift, and a contempt for the rule of law to that true crisis of incompetence, it adds up to quite the sorry state of affairs. 

Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. She is currently on the Board of Chesapeake Music. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Morning, Noon, and Night By Jamie Kirkpatrick

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Morning:

I know a place where the view never gets old. The back deck faces almost due east, and at daybreak, the sky glows with promise, especially today because we’re at the summer solstice, the first full day of summer and the longest day of the year. There’s both promise and warning here: the forecast promises sunny and warm (but not too warm!) weather, perfect for a wedding ceremony later in the day. But warning, too: we’ve turned another planetary corner and now, we’re headed back into darkness. It will take months to get there, but this turning is as inevitable as it is worrisome. Time is passing…

But let’s just take today as it comes. Two young people will be taking the plunge, joining their lives and families together in ties that bind, no matter what may come. That is worthy of celebration and more— of hope. God knows we need all the hope we can get these days, and so we’ll witness their vows, then sing and dance ’til the cows come home, and since it’s the summer solstice, I’m sure those cows will be celebrating until the wee hours of another morning. That’s how it should be, isn’t it?

Noon:

 There was a time when I believed I was made of iron, and that the universe was a benevolent place, capable of human manipulation. I stood atop mountains and surveyed my domains like Alexander the Great, or Genghis Khan, or even Louis XIV, the “Sun King.” But now I think I was more like Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s fabled “King of Kings,” whose “frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” said everything there was to say about mortal hubris, but nothing about the ravages of time. When a traveler from an antique land stumbled upon a crumbling statue in the desert, all that remained of Ozymandias’ was his shattered visage and the haunting inscription on the statue’s pedestal: “Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!” On that day, this once great king of kings was trunkless and decayed, a “colossal wreck,” in an empty landscape “boundless and bare,” where “the lone and level sands stretch far away.”

But I didn’t know any of that at my noon. Then, there was more daylight ahead of me than behind, so I went blithely about my own business, deaf to the barely audible ticking of the clock. It seemed to me there was time enough for everything, and everything seemed possible. If there were thunderstorms on the horizon, I didn’t see them coming my way. I just rowed merrily along on a boundless incoming tide, oblivious to rapids that lay upriver.

Night:

And now it’s getting dark, the sun is setting. The evening light glows warm and lovely, but it also hides the stones that lie beneath the surface and the shadows that lurk along the riverbank. I need to find a place to rest for the night.

A few days ago, I learned that someone I once cared for deeply had died. That was bad enough, but to make matters worse, she had died two years ago, the victim of a cruel and relentless disease. And I never knew she was gone; I didn’t feel her passing in my bones. The whispering universe that had once been my friend forgot to tell me of her struggle and pain. I probably wouldn’t have been able to do anything about that, but I just should have known. I would like to have been able to say goodbye to her, if only to myself.

I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His most recent novel, “The Tales of Bismuth; Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948” explores the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is available on Amazon and in local bookstores. His website is musingjamie.net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Summer by Katherine Emery General

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I was looking through my journals the other day, trying to decide what to keep and what to let go. Over the years, I’ve filled so many notebooks with scraps of thoughts, half-formed dreams, and the quiet daily details that might not mean much to anyone else but feel like chapters of my life.

As I flipped through the pages, it hit me: at some point, someone else will go through all of this. Maybe my children, probably my daughters, maybe no one at all. I thought about how, when we die, we leave not just our things, but our traces. My words are my history, my touchstone, my intentions unfinished. And I thought, I should make it easier for them. Less stuff to sort through. Less weight to carry.

Then I came across a journal entry from April 2020. The early pandemic days. I had scribbled some thoughts about COVID and vitamin D, the way everyone was searching for answers and trying to hold on to anything that felt like control. One line stood out:

“Spend at least ten minutes out in the sun every day.”

It was underlined twice. I must have really meant it, I remember reading about the Spanish Flu epidemic and how doctors believed that sleeping outside in the sun, helped patients recover.

Last weekend we had spent an hour or two at the little beach at Great Marsh, Gerry Boyle Park. The dogs and my grandchildren floating in the Choptank River. It was the first time in months that I felt really alive, the sound of the sea gulls and the lapping of the tiny waves against my feet sunken in the sand.

Reading my 2020 journal, I smiled. There’s something quietly profound about the instruction to spend time outside. It’s not just about vitamin D. It’s about remembering to step outside. To feel warmth on your skin. To pause. To be alive.

Summer reminds me of that. Long days, ripe with sunlight and the smell of growing things. The season teaches in its own way, urging us to slow down, open the windows, water the tomatoes, sit with a cup of tea, and let the world move around us while we stay still for a moment.

Maybe, in the end, what we leave behind isn’t just the stuff. Maybe it’s reminders like that. Little instructions in the margins. Notes to the people we love, or even to ourselves:
Take the walk. Eat that ice cream. Sit in the sun.

Just for ten minutes. Every day.

Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner who was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting, and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband, Matt, are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End, where they enjoy swimming and bicycling. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

The Art of Loading Brush by Al Sikes

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“The Art of Loading Brush”, a book written by Wendell Berry, argues that sustainable agriculture, rooted in love for the land and community, is not only economically viable but essential to a just and meaningful life. It’s a call to resist the fragmentation of modern life by embracing work, place, and responsibility with humility and care.” Synthesis of Wendell Berry’s “The Art of Loading Brush”

I am finishing Berry’s book, published in 2017, for the second time, and a particular passage said “share me”.

Andy Catlett is the book’s central character; he had spent his life farming but found that in old age, he had to seek help in rebuilding a fence line. The “Harbison Crew” he hired to do the work did it poorly—“left a mess”, he lamented.

Andy then turned to a young college student who was a music major, Austin Page, to help him. Austin had helped him around the farm since high school. As he worked with Austin he told him:

“My dear Austin, my good boy, maybe it is possible to blow things up and burn things up and tear things down and throw things away and make music all at the same time. Some, it looks like, think you can. But: if you don’t have people, a lot of people, whose hands can make order of whatever they pick up, you are going to be shit out of luck. And, in my opinion, if the art of loading brush dies out, the art of making music will die out too. You tell your professors, when you go back, that you met an old provincial man, a leftover, who told you: no high culture without low culture, and when low culture is the scariest it is the highest. Tell’em that. And then tell me what they say.”

My first impulse was to try to serve as Berry’s interpreter—translator. But, we should all lob these words and phrases around in our minds. Thinking is connection and we live in a time where machines, responding to algorithms, do much of our thinking.

The talk today is about artificial intelligence. It is  beginning  to eliminate a lot of jobs that deal with keeping information straight, stored and ready for human analysis. I can imagine that people who are principally working at quantitative jobs are especially at risk.

But, I am equally certain that what Berry calls “low culture” has ebbed. And in my view a renaissance is needed. Recall Berry’s words: “no high culture without low culture”.

Our society is in real need of people who know the “art of loading brush:”—making and fixing things. Sure we can import our labor to “load brush” but what effect does that have on our culture. Maybe the importers should also help rekindle pride in the ways our brain works through our hands. And the music in our minds.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Ever Changing Public Opinion on Southern Border Immigration by David Reel

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In an increasingly polarized America, one public policy issue with decades of unresolved and widely divergent opinions has been southern border immigration into America.

On one side are those who feel strongly that deportations of every immigrant who has not followed long established, but not enforced immigration laws, are long overdue, necessary, and proper. 

On the other side are those who feel strongly that mass deportations of southern border immigrants who have not earned legal immigration status is not feasible, needed, or proper. 

One thing is irrefutable. 

Southern border immigration was a huge issue, if not THE issue in the 2024 presidential and congressional elections, when Donald Trump won the Presidency for a second nonconsecutive term and Republicans secured majorities in both houses of Congress. 

Recently, Harry Enten, chief data analyst at left of center CNN did a deep dive on the current state of this issue during the height of the protests in Los Angeles.

The Columbia Journalism Review calls Enten “a new generation of political journalists focusing on data-driven journalism instead of reporting from the campaign trail.” 

Enten has reported that no group has moved more sharply to the right on immigration than southern border immigrants who went through the long and arduous process to become an American citizen.

They followed the rules and waited patiently for the process to be done. They filled out forms, took citizenship tests, paid fees, and often spent years separated from family while following U.S. immigration law to the letter.

According to Enten, since 2020 this group of immigrants have shifted their partisan allegiance toward Republicans by a large margin. 

In 2020, Democrats held a 32-point lead among these voters on the issue of who best to address southern border immigration issues. 

Today, Republicans are up by a 40-point lead resulting in Enten concluding bluntly, “This group of voters in the American electorate believes that “the Democrats don’t have a clue on the issue of immigration.” 

Enten also suggests, “Trump is begging for a fight on this because he knows what he’s doing so far is working with the American electorate. There is no issue on which Trump is doing so much better than he was in his first term, more than the issue of immigration.”

Enten maintained other polls affirm his conclusions. He cites comparable results from CBS and from Ipsos, a multinational research firm headquartered in Paris. 

Enten says, “No matter what poll you look at, no matter which way you cut it, the American  public is with the Republicans. The American public is with Trump.”

Not necessarily and certainly not guaranteed for the long term.

In reviewing survey results, one must remember they are a snapshot at a given point in time.

American voters are often inconsistent and are always unpredictable. Their views on any and all public policy issues are subject to change dramatically.

After relatively peaceful nationwide “No King “protests, right of center Fox News engaged Daron Shaw, a Republican pollster, and Chris Anderson, a Democratic pollster, for a survey. 

Their survey results included an unexpected shift by unaffiliated (independent) voters on the issue of widely publicized ongoing searches for illegal immigrants led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 

Those unaffiliated voters are now expressing concern that ICE efforts are “heavy-handed and cast the deportment net too broadly”.

As I write this, there is breaking news on American military action in Iran. 

That will have a profound impact on the results of any future current events polling results, regardless of who conducts the surveys.

For now, the range of issues and their current interest intensity by respondents to the Shaw and Anderson polling are: 

85% of the survey respondents were extremely or very concerned about the future of America.

84% of the survey respondents were extremely or very concerned about inflation.

80% of the survey respondents were extremely or very concerned about government spending.

78% of the survey respondents were extremely or very concerned about Iran.

69% of the survey respondents were extremely or very concerned about antisemitism.

67% of the survey respondents were extremely or very concerned about immigration. 

The mid-term general elections are less than 18 months from now.

It will be interesting to see which issues if any of the above, or new ones yet to emerge, will have the greatest impact on voter views, turnout, and choices in the midterm elections.

Donald Trump will not be on the ballot, but midterm voters will decide party control of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate during the last two years of the Trump administration.

David Reel is a public affairs and public relations consultant in Easton. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Buzzers and New Clothes By Nancy Taylor Robson

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“Beware any enterprise that requires new clothes,” warned Henry David Thoreau. I think he meant getting married or becoming a stockbroker or undertaker, but it could easily apply to beekeeping.

People, who haven’t actually kept bees, think of it as a set-it-and-forget-it enterprise. It’s not. It’s animal husbandry. Like other animals, honeybees need food, water, protection from weather extremes, and periodic health checks. And, when they get too crowded, they’ll swarm. A large portion of the colony boils out of the hive and goes off to find a new home together. (This is wonderful to watch – a tornado of bees 30 feet or so in circumference maybe 15 feet in the air flying counter-clockwise until the queen lands, and they all eventually bunch around her in a Big Ball o’ Bees. Unless a beekeeper comes along and bops them into a swarm box, they’ll send out scouts looking for likely new digs. The scouts each come back with a report about what they’ve found and offer it to the swarming colony. Then the colony votes. Democracy in action.).

While honeybees (Apis mellifera) are not native, they have long been productive naturalized citizens of our ecology.

“Honeybees have been here for four centuries,” says Kim Mehalick, past president of the Maryland Beekeepers Association. “Settlers brought them from Europe.”

“Our connection to honeybees is ancient,” says Dr. Anthony Nearman at van Englesdorp Bee Lab at University of Maryland. “There are cave paintings of beekeepers and bees.”

Honeybees have always been treasured for their honey and their beautiful wax comb for candles. But gleaning these products without getting stung requires new clothes – and equipment.

“There’s an outlay to start,” says Mehalick. “After the second year, you have the hope of honey.”

That outlay includes the cost of hive boxes, frames, tools and packages of bees – or a captured swarm.

While their products are great – I’ve put an indecent glob of honey in my morning coffee since my husband started keeping bees – it’s long been their efficient pollinating for which they are most valued.

One of the reasons honeybees are such great little pollinators is they tend to return to the same blossom more than once, which is crucial.

Queen emerging from queen cell

“It takes eight visits to an individual bloom to produce a cucumber, for example,” Mehalick says. “The year before we got our bees, we got no cucumbers. But after we got them, I made so many pickles the kids were pleading with me not to do anymore.”

The majority of honeybees in agricultural pollination are commercially raised and trucked around the country to coincide with regional bloom times, but there has been a significant rise in honeybee hobbyists as well. The Maryland Beekeepers Association has over 800 members, and the Virginia Beekeepers Association boasts over 900.

Mehalick insists that keeping bees is ‘easy.’ (But then, she’s worked on the NASA telescope so everything else must seem easy). Having watched it up-close-and-personal, I disagree. Fascinating? Yes. Easy? Not so much. The deadly Varroa mite, hive beetles, pesticides, pathogens, development, which has decimated their natural food supply, and the increasing extremes in our climate challenge the bees and the keeper.

“When I first started forty years ago, I could put out a hive and just make sure it had some food at the end of the summer,” says Bruce Hamon, 1st VP of the Virginia Beekeepers Association (VBA). “In August, I’d take off a couple of boxes of honey, and that was life. Now, you’re reading, you’re planning…”

VBA treasurer, Ian Henry, who began keeping bees in his native Australia and has been keeping bees here for over 30 years, agrees.

“There are so many more pests here,” he says. “They don’t have Varroa in Australia, and the nectar flow there is ten months long. Here it’s only two months.”

Nectar from successive blooms of native plant colonies is the source of honey, the colony’s food. Which is what makes upping our complement of native plants throughout the season for all pollinators so crucial.

“What we’ve lost is really good forage,” Mehalick explains. “Clover is one of the first sources of nectar in spring. Black locust, tupelo trees, American holly. Many people don’t realize that trees bloom. Maple trees are the first pollen [a source of protein] in Maryland.”

To find nectar, honeybees generally forage two miles from the hive. They’ll go farther when pickings are slim, but beyond four miles it’s like asking a person to do a daily 15-mile walk for water and food. It wears out their wings, shortens life expectancy and therefore threatens the colony. Forty years ago, there were still corridors of native plants that offered forage from spring through fall. Development has destroyed those corridors and replaced them with hardscape and uninterrupted turf. (Which is what Homegrown National Park is working to change).

Gary & Dick install bee captured swarm

Since the 1950’s, we’ve been persuaded to chemically purge our once-diverse lawns of dandelion, chickweed, and clover to the tune of billions of dollars, and subsequent damage to ground water, waterways, and the Bay. It’s also been death on pollinators and other wildlife.

Fortunately, things are beginning to change.

“People are now recognizing that a green lawn is a desert to a pollinator,’ Mehalick says. “They need to have a diverse season-long environment with different native plants and food sources, and awareness of not using pesticides for a green lawn.”

“Because gardens are… groups of plants, they have the potential to perform the same essential biological roles fulfilled by healthy plant communities everywhere,” says entomologist Doug Tallamy, PhD, who urges each property owner – private, public, and commercial – to devote at least 50% of the available landscaping space to native plants.

This kind of stewardship, which is also like adding the Nature Channel to your yard, has multiple benefits since it also helps prevent fertilizer runoff, which produces algae blooms. And it costs less and draws and supports a host of diverse and fascinating creatures. Win-win.

Homegrown National Park

https://homegrownnationalpark.org

Maryland Native Plant Society/Washington College Conference

September 6-7. To register: https://mdflora.org/fall-conference

Upper Eastern Shore Beekeepers Association

https://www.uesbees.org

Bee swarm video: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=bee+swarm+videos&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:260f2fd9,vid:sDZa3h5NFUc,st:0

Longtime journalist and essayist Nancy Taylor Robson is also the author of four books: Woman in The Wheelhouse; award-winning Course of the Waterman; A Love Like No Other: Abigail and John Adams, a Modern Love Story; and OK Now What? A Caregiver’s Guide to What Matters, which she wrote with Sue Collins, RN.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Eight Years to Impact: The Social Security System Is Dying and No One Will Save You by Clayton Mitchell

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The annual report from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees is a sobering reckoning. It is also a warning. 

According to the Trustees, the Social Security trust fund, the bedrock of American retirement security, will be insolvent by 2033. That is not a distant abstraction. That is when today’s 59-year-olds retire. And if nothing is done, retirees will receive an automatic 23 percent benefit cut under current law.

Put plainly, if this system is not fixed now, you are not going to receive what you were promised. This is not political hyperbole. It is math. And math does not lie.

The Old Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, which pays benefits to most retirees, will be depleted in eight years. If temporary reallocation from the Disability Insurance trust fund occurs, that buys one more year, until 2034, before both are drained. At that point, every beneficiary will see a 19 percent across the board cut in benefits, growing to 28 percent by the end of the century.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warns, “Social Security is barreling toward insolvency. If policymakers fail to act, they will effectively be supporting a 23 percent across the board benefit cut for all retirees in just eight years.”

The scale of the imbalance is staggering. 

The Trustees project 3.6 trillion dollars in cash deficits over the next decade. Over 75 years, the shortfall grows to 26 trillion dollars in today’s dollars. The actuarial deficit has nearly doubled since 2010. You cannot wish that away.

Congressional inaction has consequences. Each passing year removes more policy options from the table. In 2010, the system could have been saved with modest adjustments. Now, restoring solvency requires the equivalent of a 22 percent reduction in benefits, a 29 percent payroll tax increase, or some combination. 

Wait another decade, and the pain becomes even sharper. A 34 percent tax hike. A 26 percent benefit cut. No room to phase in things gently. No time for people to prepare.

Social Security is not some discretionary social program. It is a contract between generations. Workers paid in, trusting that what they contributed would be there for them. But those promises were made without fiscal discipline. What began as a pay as you go system has been stretched by demographic realities, longer life expectancies, lower birth rates, and a shrinking ratio of workers to retirees.

The math no longer works. Today, fewer than 3 workers support each retiree. By 2035, that number falls to 2.3. Revenues have not kept pace with costs, and the shortfall widens every year. Social Security costs will rise from 14.7 percent of taxable payroll today to 17 percent by 2050, while revenues remain stagnant.

And while recent legislation like the so-called Social Security Fairness Act was passed with noble intentions, it made the problem worse. That law allows some workers to double dip between Social Security and separate state or local pensions, adding billions to the imbalance.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget notes that “half of the deterioration in Social Security’s 75-year shortfall is due to the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act.” Another part of the shortfall is due to regulatory changes that made it easier to qualify for disability benefits and to demographic trends like lower fertility rates.

The worst lie told to the American people is the one that says reform is not necessary. That everything will be fine if we simply tax the rich or cut waste. Those slogans are political comfort food. The Trustees’ math tells a different story. You cannot solve a 26 trillion-dollar hole with bumper stickers.

Both parties are complicit. Democrats refuse to acknowledge that current benefit formulas are unsustainable. Republicans too often run from any mention of taxes. Meanwhile, the clock ticks and retirees will pay the price for Washington’s cowardice.

In truth, there are many options available. Lawmakers could gradually raise the retirement age. They could redesign benefits to better target those most in need. They could broaden the tax base or tweak the payroll cap. But they must act soon. Every year of delay means steeper cuts, higher taxes, or more abrupt changes. The window to implement thoughtful phased reforms is rapidly closing.

According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, “Delaying action until 2034 would increase the size of necessary adjustments by 15 percent. Changes to benefits for new beneficiaries alone would be insufficient to restore solvency to the program, even if benefits were eliminated entirely.”

If you are under 60, hear this clearly: 

  • You will not receive the benefits you were promised unless something is done now. That is not speculation. That is federal law.
  • When the trust fund runs dry, benefits are cut automatically. 
  • Congress does not have to vote. No one has to pass a bill. It just happens.

But that fate is not inevitable. It is a choice. Policymakers can choose to act while time, flexibility, and political goodwill remain. Or they can continue to delay until a crisis forces their hand, at which point your future will be carved up by a butcher’s cleaver, not a surgeon’s scalpel.

We have a decade. Barely. The math is in. The alarm is sounding. The question is whether our elected leaders will answer it or continue to pretend that arithmetic is a partisan opinion.

If they do nothing, the trust fund will fail, and the promise of Social Security will fail with it. 

You paid into the system. You earned those benefits. But unless leaders act now, you will not get what you were promised.

And that is a promise from math… and math does not lie.

Who doubts me?

Clayton A. Mitchell, Sr. is a life-long Eastern Shoreman, an attorney, and former Chairman of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Board of Appeals.  He is co-host of the Gonzales/Mitchell Show podcast that discusses politics, business, and cultural issues.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A Precious Right by Angela Rieck

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Before I begin my day each morning, I spend a few minutes thinking about what I am grateful for (which is a very long list, I have been blessed).

One of the things that I was grateful for this weekend was the gift of living in a country that allows us to express our opinions publicly without fear.

I attended the “No Kings” rally in Easton. It was a chance to be with people, most of whom I did not know, who shared my values.

All of the thousand people who protested at this peaceful rally were well-behaved. And so were the people in the cars going by. People who agreed waved and honked. People who disagreed either gave a negative gesture or ignored us. 

The respect from both sides was heartening. Protest is what started this country (although the original protests resulted in the Revolutionary War). Over the years, protests have influenced politics. The Vietnam war, equal rights, women’s rights, anti-abortion, and other protests have resulted in changes to our way of life. All, for the most part, began as peaceful demonstrations of disagreement, when violence erupted it was usually from people with opposing viewpoints who were not so well-behaved.

The ability to disagree and express our opinions is foundational, the first amendment in our Constitution. And while I have taken these rights for granted in the past, I am moving them up to the top of my very long gratitude list.

The protest was affirming, and it also reminds me what a precious gift it is.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.