Dandelion

 April is National Poetry Month, so I thought I would post another poem by my younger brother, Robert DeStefano. Only a few years ago did I discover that he had been writing poetry. I have known him as a master science teacher and naturalist but recently he showed me a little collection of poems he has written, most based on his great love of nature. He claims that he wrote these poems to pass the time while proctoring classroom exams but it seems to me that they reflect a lifetime of experiencing nature at close hand. Below is one on one of his favorite wildflowers with an explanation appended.                                                        

Taraxacum officinale

the lion’s tooth

I

have blown your pappi away

those delicate fluffy white parachutes

carry precious cargo

a

seed

wind gusts make you fly

day and night

where

will you alight

where

will you germinate

your long tapering

root

mines the soil

brings

precious minerals

to the surface

most nutritious of all the

 vegetables

most hated of the weeds

most misunderstood wildflower

most abused

and rarely used

lowly showy

dandelion

Dandelion

Who has not blown a dandelion away?  I sometimes wonder what the probability of certain events occurring might be.  Also, how some seemingly inconsequential events can change everything.  For example, I stopped by my future wife's home on the day I was finally discharged from the army in December, 1971.  I had taken a train from Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and finally got off the 7 Line train at 69^th Street in Woodside, NY.  She lived half a block from that station which was on my walk home. We had been friends but did not date before I was drafted into the military. I knew she was in contact with many people, and I thought if I stopped by, she would “spread the news” that I was home.  Would we be married today if I had never stopped there that day?

  One day after a 5-mile hike in basic training, we were given time to rest before going back to the barracks.  I sat down in a grassy area with my back against a tree.  I noticed several dandelions one of which had the white seed-bearing parachutes (pappi) ready to take flight.  I broke off the stem of the former flower and began to blow the parachutes away.  The wind then carried them further and further away and eventually some landed.  I began to wonder if I had changed everything as a result of my action.  I altered where those seeds would have landed and who knows the consequences of that.

The dandelion is despised by those who want a perfect lawn.  They pick them, spray them, poison them, but the dandelion seems to always win.  This “weed” has found ingenious ways to cope with humans.  Dandelions growing on lawns that are repeatedly mowed have evolved to grow lower to the ground to avoid the lawn mower blades.  Once established, these dandelions employ a reproductive method known as apomixis.  They can reproduce seeds without having fertilization occur.  These seeds then can quickly colonize an area producing a superclone of individuals each with the trait to thwart human interference. Not bad for the lowly dandelion.

Some humans have realized that the dandelion is the most nutritious of all vegetables since its long root, which makes it so difficult to pull out of a lawn, can mine the soil for minerals. Minerals left over by the decomposition of leaves and animals on the surface work their way down into the soil when it rains. Dandelions bring these minerals back by incorporating them into their leaves. When these leaves die, their decomposition restores the minerals to the surface. Put a few dandelion leaves into your next salad; you might begin to love rather than hate the dandelion.

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Democratic Revelations

In the Review section of last weekend's edition of the Wall Street Journal, the lead article discussed a number of new books featuring insider revelations about the Biden administration. All of these books reveal that Democratic politicians and operatives knew about the former President's mental and physical incapacity. None of these books were written by Republican or conservative authors, but by authors normally sympathetic to Biden and the Democratic party. 

Interestingly, the political insiders who noticed the President's decline were primarily concerned with his inability to run for re-election. They did not seem at all concerned with his lack of ability to carry out his duties as President. One can only conclude that they knew that the former President was a figurehead, and that others were running the show during his term in office. Who were these others?  Perhaps future books will deal with that question.

Who, for example, ordered or advised the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan? Who thought it was in the best interests of the United States to abandon a huge Air Force base, and leave billions of dollars of military equipment to the Taliban? Who advised opening the door to NATO membership for Ukraine back in 2021, a decision that prompted the Russian invasion? Who was responsible for the policies that contributed to the runaway inflation of the Biden years? 

Who made the decision to give away billions of dollars to cheats and fraudsters that DOGE has exposed in the first months of the Trump administration? For example, who stood idly by while the Biden administration approved $300, 000, 000 in small business loans to children under the age of eleven, and another $300,000,000 to seniors over the age of 120? Obviously, there was no one in the government willing or able to protect against fraudsters who stole the Social Security numbers of newborns, or deceased seniors and used them to steal money that could have been used for legitimate purposes. 

Now, instead of applauded Elon Musk and DOGE for exposing the waste, fraud, and corruption, Democrats complain about anyone who might try to upset the gravy train. Apparently, it was better to preserve the status quo and not rock the boat since so many in the party benefitted.  

Most amazing is the fact that for four years these same Democratic politicians and operatives, along with their media allies, participated in a massive cover-up to hide the fact that an elected President was not really in charge. Every offense they find in President Trump, they have already committed themselves. They charge him with being a threat to Democracy, but there has never been a greater threat to American democracy than the massive coverup that marked the so-called Biden administration.

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Easter Signs 2025

   

I was born and raised a Catholic and have remained so for 85 years. Frankly, I have to say that I still like being a Catholic. One of the many reasons is the great feast of Easter. At Mass the other day, we heard the story of a woman who was about to be stoned to death for adultery by an angry crowd of accusers who had apparently caught her in the act. They brought her to Jesus to get his opinion before proceeding. His reply still resounds through the ages. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." 

Hearing those words, the crowd melted away, and the woman was left alone with Jesus. He said that since no one would condemn her, neither would he. But he just told her to sin no more. He had in effect raised her from the brink of death and then showed her the way to live thereafter. Her resurrection is a sign of his own resurrection that we celebrate on Easter. 

There are many other signs that remind us of Easter. Some have become secularized and commercialized but I still like them. The Easter egg is a symbol that refers to the tomb from which Jesus arose on Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny itself is a sign of the risen Christ seen by believers in the Eucharistic host. The great Renaissance artist Titian featured it in a painting that is usually called the Madonna of the Rabbit.

More often the risen Christ is depicted as the Lamb of God from the Book of Revelation. More than 500 years ago, Jan van Eyck painted the most famous version of the Mystical Lamb in the Ghent altarpiece. In my own parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fairfield, Connecticut, the Lamb is shown in the center of a beautiful Rose window at the back of the Church. The Lamb reclines on the Book of the Seven Seals with a triumphal cross and banner.

 The word "Easter" comes from a Germanic goddess of spring. Latin peoples use the word pasqua from the Jewish pasch or passover. When the Germanic peoples were converted the Church wisely associated the word for Springtime with the feast of the Risen Lord. All around us new life is springing from the dead of winter. 

One of the many traditions associated with Easter was the famous Easter Parade, especially on New York's 5th Avenue. Here is a link to the ending of the film Easter Parade that featured Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. He was a little old but she was never lovelier than when she sang the title song. The film is one of the most joyful I have ever seen, and so, despite the absence of any overtly religious imagery, is all about Easter. 

Happy Easter.

Stock Market 2025

 

    

 

 

I write this post over the weekend after two days of alarming declines in the stock market apparently due to President Trump’s imposition of new tariffs. I do not know whether the market will continue to sink on Monday or rebound. But I thought it might be a good idea to look at recent market performance and perhaps draw some conclusions. Let’s take a look at some specific examples of what has happened over the past five days, over the past 12 months, and over the past five years.

 

Here are the figures for the three most popular market averages over the past five days, the past 12 months, and over the past five years. 

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 8% over the past 5 days, and down 1% over the past year. Despite the recent decline, it is up 82% over the past 5 years, an average of about 16% per year. Not bad! The broader Standard and Poor 500 index is down about 9% over the past 5 days, and down 1% over the past year. Despite the recent decline, it is up 103% over the past 5 years, an average of over 20% per year. The tech heavy NASDAQ index is down about 10% over the past 5 days, and down 3% over the past year. However, it is still up 111% over the past 5 years, even better than the other averages.

 

Here are performance figures of some individual stocks.

 

Apple is down about 14% over the past 5 days, but still up 14% over the past year. Over the past 5 years it is up 212%, an average of over 40% per year.

 

Retailer Costco is down only 1% over the past 5 days, but still up 30% over the past year. Over the past 5 years it is up 218%, an average of over 40% per year. Retailer Walmart is down only 2% over the past 5 days, but still up 40% over the past year. Over the past 5 years it is up 109%, an average of about 20% per year.

 

Tech giant NVIDIA is down 14% over the past 5 days, but still up 10% over the past year. Over the past 5 years it is up a whopping 1447%, an average of almost 300% per year. Tesla, despite the systematic campaign against Elon Musk, is down only 9% over the past 5 days, but still up 40% over the past year. Over the past 5 years it is up 648%, an average of over 120% per year.

 

Major utility Southern Company is down 2% over the past 5 days, but still up 27% over the past year. Over the past 5 years it is up a respectable 77% an average of about 15% per year, not bad for a utility. ATT (T) is down only 5% over the past 5 days, but still up 52% over the past year. However, it is only up 28% in the past five years, an average of about 5% per year. In the past year “T” has made a remarkable comeback.

 

It would appear that ordinary people whose 401k or IRA is invested in index funds or individual stocks are still way ahead of the game whether they are approaching retirement or not. The biggest mistake that people can make is to change their investment strategy as they approach retirement. These days most people’s retirement years will be longer than their working years. Investments for retirement should be long term since you will need the income for decades. 

 

For those worried about tariffs and inflation, at least the price of stocks has gone down in the past week. As I said at the outset of this post, I do not know what will happen next week in the market, but sooner or later the computers programmed to buy and sell at certain levels will start buying as prices decline, just as they have been selling and taking profits after five years of gains.

 

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DOGE Team Interview

No matter what you think of President Trump and Elon Musk, you owe it to yourself to view last week's interview of Elon Musk and his DOGE team by Bret Baier on Special Report, his daily evening news show on Fox News. Here is a link to the interview that was broadcast in two segments. Even if you just listen to the first 15 minutes, you will find it to be a real eye opening on Musk and his team. 

Here is just one example of what you will find. The Small Business administration has given out about $300,000,000 in loans to children under the age of 11. One loan for $100,000 even went to a nine-month- old infant. In addition, it has given out another $300,000,000 to people over the age of 120. Obviously, the government could not protect itself from fraudsters who steal the Social Security numbers of newborns, or deceased seniors and use them to steal money that could have been used for legitimate purposes. 

It is not that the government officials who approved these loans were corrupt, but the systems and procedures they used were antiquated and inefficient. If the Small Business administration's computers had been able to check the birthdates available on Social Security computers, the fraud could not have happened. Of course, these loans will never be paid back. When the infant enters adulthood, it will find a major blot on its credit rating.

These SBA loans are just a small part of what the DOGE team has found in just a couple of months. Musk claims that he hopes to eliminate a Trillion dollars 0f waste and fraud, and he has assembled what appears to be an extremely competent team. If they can reduce fraud, and eliminate wasteful spending, they will perform a great service. Just the other day, a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that the Federal government had been regularly sending Medicaid reimbursements to more than one state for individuals who had moved. 

The interview also provided an insight into the type of people Musk has on his DOGE team. They are not nineteen-year-old whiz kids but experienced and talented business leaders and technocrats. One was the founder of AIR BNB, and another had taken leave from  five thriving businesses he owned in Texas to serve.  

It will be a shame if many refuse to watch this interview because they dislike Trump or Musk, or because it appeared on deplorable Fox News. As far as the latter is concerned, these people should be aware that Bret Baier has carved out a niche for himself on "Special Report." It occupies the 6:00 pm time slot and comes closer to the iconic news shows of the past than any other. Unlike the opinion shows on Fox and other cable news networks, it strives to be fair and balanced. It has become, for good reason, the highest rated news show on TV. Since the beginning of the year the Prime Minister of England, Emanuel Macron of France, and Ukraine's Zelensky have all been interviewed by Baier on Special Report. 

The interview with Musk and his Doge team is perhaps the best of the lot. It is worth 15 minutes of your time. Click on the link above or watch the video below.

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