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Confounding and confusing events 10/23/23

Our Congresswoman, Ms. Stefanik, voiced full-throated support on the House Floor for Mr. Jordon which was a bad bet. She hasn’t made many bad bets in her career as she moved from a moderate to a hard right Republican fully supporting Mr. Trump and all of his wild claims. It does surprise me that she supported Mr. Jordon who has no legislative accomplishments in 18 years, and is largely perceived simply as a disrupter with no real talents. As I indicated last week, there is no evidence of leadership in the Republican Party, just a collection of elected officials who have diluted themselves into believing they are exercising leadership. I suspect that our maga-friends will be unmoved by any of this chaos, and continue to cheer on the lunacy.

The Scientific American leads with a story bearing the caption “The Myth that Men Evolved to Hunt and Women to Gather has been Upended”. The idea that women did not hunt in early human history appears to be with little factual support, although the hypothesis was postulated in the late 1960’s. The men putting forth this hypothesis apparently ignored their own data that disclosed the existence of women hunting, but that was essentially, if you will, blown off. I guess we can chalk that up to the “times”.

The Atlantic had a recent article entitled “Why Uncontacted Tribes Want to Stay Uncontacted”. It appears that these are peoples who live on islands in the Pacific who have taken every step possible to remain isolated, which certainly sounds improbable in today’s world, but nonetheless, it appears true. If I were watching the events of the world, including Israel and the Palestinians, the United States Congress, the Ukraine and Russia, I too might want to retreat to uncontacted status.

Scientists have apparently produced genetically modified silk worms that can produce spider silk that is stronger than Kevlar. This is not the first time that this experiment has been undertaken, but it appears that this time it may be more successful. Approximately 20 years ago, a Canadian owned company in Plattsburgh developed goats which were producing milk that purportedly could be processed into materials that were stronger than Kevlar, however it never took hold in the market. Hopefully, the most recent silk worm project will work.

It appears that the ancient Egyptians new meteorites came from space based upon ancient hieroglyphic writings which have been discovered. The archeologists exploring Egyptian ancient civilizations were apparently truly startled, and if this turns out to be accurate, then the advance status of that society becomes a very important line of demarcation for humans. Did the Egyptians see meteorites falling to earth and discovered their existence by tracking them, or did they have some other scientific process of identifying these rocks?

Scientists have been studying individual brain connectivity to the wider universe. This would be a startling development and would give great creditability to card readers and other mediums. It would also explain intuitive understanding of the lands out ancestors immigrated from.

I would conclude today by offering some advice to Ms. Stefanik – first, provide the entire Republican caucus with a copy of Lord of the Flies, it seems right on point. Second, don’t let Jordan open investigations into all those Republicans who did not vote for him. It would not look good for him, and the last thing you need is more tarnish on the brand... if that’s possible.

Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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