February 12, 2016

Obama to designate new national monuments in the California desert

Source: Washington Post

President Obama has set aside more of America’s lands and waters for conservation protection than any of his predecessors, and he is preparing to do even more before he leaves office next year. The result may be one of the most expansive environmental and historic-preservation legacies in presidential history.

On Friday, Obama will designate more than 1.8 million acres of California desert for protection with the creation of three national monuments: Castle Mountains, Mojave Trails and Sand to Snow. The new monuments will connect three existing sites — Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks and the Mojave National Preserve — to create the second-largest desert preserve in the world.

Obama has unilaterally protected more than 260 million acres of America’s lands and waters under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gives the president wide latitude to safeguard at-risk federal lands that have cultural, historic or scientific value.

The act is among the most powerful tools at any president’s disposal. Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked the law more than any president in history; Harold L. Ickes, his interior secretary, kept a pile of potential national-monument declarations in a desk and pulled them out whenever Roosevelt was in a good mood.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-designate-new-national-monuments-in-the-california-desert/2016/02/11/5b77db4e-c6be-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html

February 10, 2016

Rachel Maddow on why Bernie Sanders could be president

I watched this last night & thought she was really talking from her heart.

February 10, 2016

Neil Diamond Coming To America

Another great American born in Brooklyn, New York.

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February 4, 2016

A reminder from JFK as to what peace really means

something Bush and Cheney destroyed for generations

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February 4, 2016

PBS Murder of a President is the story of James Garfield

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In case you missed the premiere, one of the best American Experience episodes I have seen. Full video can be found here

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/garfield/player/