Birthright Citizenship

 I can understand the feeling that citizenship should mean something (I'm not sure how much--we'll come back to that). However, it should not be a political football, which it surely is. My question is, notwithstanding marriage and naturalization, what makes someone a citizen?

Your parents were citizens. Perhaps they were granted citizenship by naturalization or marriage, but that is clearly the minority case. You presume you are a citizen because you presume your parents are citizens because they .... As you see, this goes on and on. The naturalization process began in 1790, and the visa process began in 1917, but both have gone through many iterations. Records are lost. Many simply never went through the hoops. Slaves were imported, and the records, once they got here, are unreliable. I'd take a wild guess that at 80-90% of the people here couldn't prove anything, and that it would present a considerable expense to many of those that could (genealogy research).  Is the ability to do or fund or research a condition of citizenship? I think not.

An enormous practical problem. Unsolvable, in any practical sense, I think.

Assign a future cut-off date to birthright citizenship.  Still a huge practical problem, but not so different from voter logs and social security.

But what right does a country have, really, to restrict citizenship? The Americas were found by the First People, and they worked for it. Then the others came and stole it in a murderous fashion.every land, every where, in every corner of the world, was taken at the point of a sword. No fairness. I don't feel that I'm entitled to this place than those who would come and join us. As far as the "my ancestors built this land," that's a stinking pile of malarkey. Everyone's ancestors built something or didn't build something, but that wasn't you. The American dream, after all, is built on what YOU can do. Let other people build their history. And by the way, we need the help. The real measure of citizenship is did you work for it? But how do we measure "work?"

 I get the problem of wide open boarders. You need a valve.  That can and is done by regulation, not amendment. 

A hornet's nest.  An amendment will not happen. We can't get 2/3 to agree it's Tuesday. And if it did happen, it would have to be detailed to be fair. But details change as societies change, and the details should not be subject tot the whims of political winds. In today's (and the future) environment, every syllable would be measured not by fairness, but by voter count.  

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 We have the 14th amendment because of the most ghastly act of civil rights violation the world has ever seen; about 12 million in the transatlantic trade alone, plus all of their descendants. It's not just quietly going away. 

The 14th amendment has become a fundamental and positive characteristic of the United States, just as the Constitution is our bedrock. Birthright citizenship is something we should be proud of. It doesn't need fixed. 

Dolphins near Deale

 When I began sailing 40 years ago, dolphins were something you only saw on the ocean or the very lower Chesapeake Bay. In the last 5 years they've become commonplace all the way up to the Bay Bridge, and farther. The last two times out I've had company, sometimes so close you hear them breathe,. 

 A change in water temperatures? I don't see why that would matter, given their range. A change in the migration patterns of the food supply, possibly temperature-influenced? Maybe, but fish populations have always been cyclical.  

 

Not enough information to say. But fun. It seems they are around most on days where the wind is light and the sailing dull, so the company is appreciated.
 

Coating Concrete -- the Reflecting Pool

rev 6-27-2026

 In my career, I've been involved in quite a few large concrete petrol tank containment coating projects, new and refurbishment. I've been involved in coating concrete wastewater tanks. Occasionally, something went wrong. I'm not guessing.

 There are many things that can result in peeling, all preventable.

• The concrete was not dry. Concrete absorbs water, and in the ground like that, takes considerable time to dry. They rushed it. (The prior contractor refused to bid because they felt the timeline was too short.)
• Incompatible with previous coating. The prior coating was asphaltic, and for the pretty blue polyurethane to stick, it would have required complete removal. I bet they missed some patches. If they missed a lot, there will be a lot of pealing. I'm guessing, he wanted pretty blue and 
• Asphaltic coatings don't come in pretty blue. Mostly, they come in black. But Trump insisted.
• The contractor, selected by a no-bid (corrupt), no due diligence process, is a pool contractor, not an industrial coatings contractor, and he was not familiar with asphalt coatings or how they are applied. 
• The prior contractor refused the bid because they did not have a pretty blue product they considered to be compatible with the prior coating. 
• Assorted application errors. Incorrect mixing is common. This would also explain patchy peeling.

Maybe all of these. It does not have to be one thing. Poor contractor engineering supervision is the common thread. And rushing.

The repairs are going to be very expensive. Lots of surface prep. They should probably remove the entire coating and start over. A real screw-up. I know, I've seen it before. Trump needs to own the whole thing. He picked the contractor.

By the way, scratching it with a knife is not a cause. If I key the paint on your car it won't peel. That's just dumb and defies the plainest common sense. Just a blatant misdirection play rooted in untruth. Obvious. Not surprising. Better to just own the problem and fix it. I would respect that. It's not uncommon for concrete re-lining jobs to go sideways when they are rushed, and this one was unrealistically rushed by an inexperienced contractor. The older the concrete, the more likely. 

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Also, to add enough peroxide to make a difference in a 50 million pound pool of water (which is also constantly exchanged with Potomac river water through the tidal basin--separate subject) would require at least 10 ppm as peroxide, or about  50 x 10 x (1/0.12) = 4200 gallon jugs of peroxide. A few gallons from the water's edge changed anything. It would require a tanker load. Several of the wastewater plants I work with have bulk tanks because the get it by the tanker. No one buys jugs. Just ridiculous. Someone must have been yelling at the poor guy to "Do something!"