Rebane's Ruminations

Global Warming – the latest official update

George Rebane

The Lysenko list of our leftwing is more apparent than ever with the release of the second part of IPCC’s latest report (AR5) on global warming.  It turns out that they’re quietly walking back the hysteria generated over the last years – the warming is 1) not anywhere near as large as previously predicted, 2) is coming later than predicted, and 3) is not going to cause all the predicted damage to life on earth.  In fact, if anything, the warming will create new millions of square miles of arable land suitable for growing more food for the planet’s hungry (Anthony Watts has more here).

Trofim Lysenko was Stalin’s crop geneticist who helped set back agriculture in USSR during his tenure as the politically correct scientist of the communist state.  His findings agreed with and abetted the agricultural policies handed down to the country’s collective farms.  He sang the politically correct song prescribed by his masters, much as have the cadre of bought and paid for scientists that fashion the findings of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

By giving what appears as scientific substance to control minded socialists and other low information types around the world, the IPCC hysteria over the last 20 years has caused untold damage to developed country economies and even their environments.  The evidence for that is most clearly visible in the US with the growth of a rapacious bureaucracy that seeks to extend their control over every aspect of our daily lives.  But don’t expect that our left-listing loonies will let any of this dampen their fervor to fundamentally change America.

A Libertarian Lovefest in Scottsdale (updated 26mar14)

George Rebane

This weekend Jo Ann and I, along with some Nevada County friends, attended the annual retreat in Scottsdale, AZ put on by the Mercatus Center and the Institute for Humane Studies (both at George Mason University).  The conference for liberty prone supporters was a welcome opportunity to hear stimulating speakers, attend breakout sessions on various national issues, and eat great food at the Montelucia resort.

The format of the retreat allows its attendees (slightly north of 200) to have ample time for one-on-one discussions with nationally recognized scholars and well-published pundits.  I especially enjoyed my chats with economists Tyler Cowan and Peter Boettke, and philosopher Matt Zwolinski.  It was good to re-establish that one’s understanding and interpretations of what is going on in the country are not a lonely collection of notions shared by no one else.  While we did identify some differences, they were not of the magnitude that would put us in different ideological camps.  It was truly a libertarian lovefest.

JesseJ to the rescue

George Rebane

AP reports (here) that Jesse Jackson, one of the leading plantation keepers in the nation, has found a new windmill to joust from his public panderer podium.  He has discovered that high tech companies don’t have enough blacks and Hispanics developing all that “inclusive technology” (it’s tough to make this up).  He can’t make the case that the industry discriminates against minorities, because anyone who has worked at a high tech company knows that they are filled with people from all over the world, predominantly from Asia and eastern Europe.  If there’s any discrimination going on, it’s against those who drew the short straws in education and/or brains.

But that’s not what Team Jackson is arguing.  He and his traditional cohort of extortionists (read Doreen Borelli) point out that high tech company workers aren't sufficiently divers, that they don’t accurately reflect the “demographics of the people who consume their products”.  Well no s#%t Red Ryder.  Given the educational profile of such demographics, if we used the government gun to impose the quota system, then those companies wouldn’t be developing and marketing the products that the consumers have come to enjoy.

Private sector high tech is one of the last meritocracies left in our society.  If you want to get a job there, you have demonstrate what you know and can do, and not threaten suit because the company is not interpreting Section 8 of the Civil Rights Act according to your liking.

Were Jackson in the business of helping blacks, he would be militating to get good teachers into schools that teach his favorite minority kids who have been getting screwed in their classrooms since Great Society days.  He could be advocating for charter schools the waiting lists of which are filled with black and Hispanic families wanting their children to have a go at a quality education not dominated by teachers unions who do all they can to keep the double dummies employed by school districts.  But Jackson and his ilk know their constituencies, and working to reduce those numbers is not good for their wallets.  In the end, it all makes sense.

A Conservetarian Credo (updated 17dec16)

George Rebane

From time to time readers ask me questions about my ideology concerning this issue or that.  I believe I have answered almost all of those questions either in the 2,000+ posts on RR and/or marbled in the 42K+ comments that this forum has garnered.  However, since this is a place that attempts to dissect some pretty hairy issues, and we do try to hold each other’s feet to the fire when it comes to being consistent, if not coherent, during our debates, therefore it may be convenient if your host’s socio-political ideology, or structured belief system, or simply credo were to be found in one place.

I have perused my writings and a lengthier personal credo to assemble a first rough cut at what I call a ‘conservetarian credo’.  I know of no other commentator who has presented such a structured and explicit compendium of their ideology.  You can download the pdf here - Download A Conservetarian Credo_161217 .  As witnessed by its version date, this will be a living document added to and amended as new data becomes available, as I learn more, and as the error of my ways are made apparent to me.  I have maintained a written credo for some considerable time now (with more categories than socio-political), and have been very interested to see how it has evolved with the years.  I believe it to be a profitable undertaking and recommend it to others.

Also over the years, and specifically during the life of RR, I have made the strong statement that collectivists (especially our American collectivists) of whatever stripe always shun invitations to openly publish a document outlining their comprehensive socio-political beliefs.  I base this conclusion on experience and the simple reason that such collectivist tenets will inevitably be drawn from embarrassingly banal ‘motherhood and apple pie’ platitudes, or alternatively that their specificity will  prematurely expose things better left unsaid until a time when most collectivist goals are fait accompli.  In any event, my invitation to publish the credo of any of our left-leaning readers stands, and more strongly I remain forever intrigued with what a self-proclaimed middle-roader might fill such pages now that 40% of country claims to be so situated.

Cracking the Code

George Rebane

[This is the transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 14 March 13, 2014.]

It’s TechTest season again.  On April 5th some of Nevada County’s brightest students heading for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math or STEM careers will be competing in a grueling four-hour merit scholarship exam that has become a springtime rite of passage for our high school juniors and seniors.  The test is sponsored by the Sierra Economics and Science Foundation with scholarship contributions coming from a variety of local individuals and organizations.  If you know of a young person who should compete with the elite this year, please contact Mr John McDaniel at Nevada Union High School where the test will be given.

This brings me to the topic of how education is changing to meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s job markets.  In these commentaries I have talked about the related topics of widespread innumeracy and the growth of systemic unemployment in these pre-Singularity years, when accelerating technology is producing machines that will soon be smarter than humans.

Most economists and students of the human condition agree that technical literacy of workers will be the common denominator in all wealth creating jobs.  Even if you are not a STEM worker, you will be required to understand enough about STEM subjects in order to work with or manage such people.  The fundamental requirement and stepping stone to that ability is being numerate, and the most important aspect of numeracy is the ability to think logically and algorithmically – to be able to understand systematic processes and conceive of reliable procedures that accomplish a given goal.

It turns out that to acquire this ability, learning to program computers to various levels is the most effective and useful skill.  Universities, public schools, and private enterprises have launched a two-pronged approach to teach how to write computer code, and about what computer programming entails, especially as it used on the internet and working with large databases, or simply ‘big data’.

More and more kids in the early grades are being offered programming classes, workshops, and bootcamps to introduce them to basic concepts of creating programs that can display web pages and handle numbers.  Several easy to learn programming languages have been developed to allow students to write code, and then immediately see their work on the web.  In these environments young people enthusiastically embrace such challenges where they learn how the familiar world around them happens.

By the fifth grade 10-year-olds can enroll in formal courses offered by a variety of organizations that teach web programming.  And this activity is not only a draw for STEM oriented students.  The fundamental principle at work here is that “coding is important because it teaches a different way of thinking.  Programming teaches logic, higher-level math and learning concepts that make you smarter and useful no matter what.” (more here)  In short, understanding programming basics should be an arrow in all of our quivers.  It then follows that concerned parents should find out whether their children go to a school that offers programming classes?

These same learning concepts are being pursued by adults.  Workers from diverse fields are signing up for web and data programming classes, paying over $10,000 for courses lasting several weeks.  Showing such STEM capabilities on their resumes makes them very desirable to a variety of employers, besides giving credence that such workers can reason and think logically.

Finally, today mid- and top-level managers are taking programming courses designed for them. And this not for the purpose of their being able to create a website, but to be able to manage information technology workers and projects, because they need to know what is involved in such undertakings.

So we should all take a moment to consider what will be required of us to understand today’s world, to speak about it reasonably, and perhaps to even contribute to the building of a better tomorrow.

My name is Rebane, and I also expand on this and related themes on NCTV and georgerebane.com where the transcript of this commentary is posted with relevant links, and where such issues are debated extensively.  However my views are not necessarily shared by KVMR.  Thank you for listening.

CABPRO Controversy Continued

[CABPRO is going through some considerable internal dissension between its formerly uncontested Executive Director Mr Chuck Shea and its formerly uncontested Board of Directors.  Today both parties are claiming to be in legitimate control of the organization.  Ms Melinda Monaghan, one of the formerly uncontested directors wrote a letter to the CABPRO membership and asked me to post it on RR.  It was posted on 27 February last (‘CABPRO’s 25feb14 letter to member’). 

Mr Shea wanted me to inform readers of his side of the controversy which I offered to do.  In response he emailed me the following disclosure which has now also gone out to the CABPRO membership.  It is printed below as received (minus some formatting).  The email had attached three JPEG images of the marginally scanned resignation letters by the formerly uncontested directors.  The referenced video will explain.

FYI, the formerly uncontested directors have called a membership meeting for this coming Monday for the purpose of receiving guidance on the future disposition of the organization.  Mr Shea’s piece follows.  gjr]


                             What’s really going on in CABPRO
 
First let’s deal with just the facts.
 
You all have been getting only one side of this dispute and it is from the people who resigned and who have “Pirated the corporation” under false pretenses.
 
Please watch the video on the CABPRO  You Tube Channel at
               http://youtu.be/81SDuMs7hmQ
 
or on Facebook at:   www.facebook.com/#!/cabpronews
 
Please refer to these points below as well as the attachments to this email.
 
Point one. On September 1, 2013 the following people resigned in writing from CABPRO
1.     Kim Janousek,
2.     Kirk Pharis  
3.     Melinda Monaghan
 
Please see the resignation letters from each Defendant which are attached  
 
THEIR CLAIM: They claim that there have been a number of “Official Board Meetings” and that Dick and Tina Marshall failed to attend three Board Meetings that they were properly noticed, that they failed to attend and were kicked out of CABPRO.
 
FACT: there have been no Official Board meetings since April 9, 2012, there have been no Board Meetings ever called or recorded at all, by anybody as they have stated.
 
FACT: Dick and Tina Marshall did not resign. Period
 
Please see Dick and Tina’s memo to the defendants which is attached
 
FACT: If there were Official Board meetings as the Defendants claim, then where are the records and minutes of those meetings?
 
We have asked multiple times for these minutes to be “Brought forward.  They have refused! Because,………….They do not exist!
 
FACT: on the weekend of October 5, 2013 Kim Janousek telephoned Dick Marshall to request reinstatement to the CABPRO Board, The request was denied!
 
She was also asked by Dick Marshall, “Was Chuck Shea aware of what she was doing"? Kim Stated; “No! Chuck was not aware and would prefer that the conversation was kept from him".
Dick Marshall declined and stated that He is required to notify Chuck since he is the Executive Director
 
This conversation is another confirmation that Kim Janousek recognized she had resigned and had “No Standing”!
 
FACT: these people all resigned, in writing and have no legal standing to do or act;
1.     as “CABPRO or
2.     to spend CABPRO Funds
3.     To contract on behalf of CABPRO
4.     To appoint or assign any persons to perform Duties or functions within CABPRO corporation,
5.     To conduct any activities as set forth in the Corporate BYLAWS  
6.     AND they have not had any standing in CABPRO since Sept 1, 2013.
 
FACT: Anything that they have done has been illegal, a misrepresentation and a miss-  
            appropriation of funds.
 
FACT: To date they have spent over $4,000.00 of CABPRO funds in an attempt to justify their illegal actions.
 
We suspect that it is higher as they have refused to provide an accurate accounting with an actual Bank Statement.
 
FACT: They have retained the Services of a Peter Broson Attorney who specializes in Bankruptcy at the initial cost of $963.50
 
So If their intent is to preserve CABPRO, Then why the Bankruptcy attorney?
 
 
If you have any question after watching the video please give me a shout!
 
Best Regards,
Chuck Shea, Executive Director
CABPRO

The Growing Madness in the Land (updated 12mar14)

George Rebane

By any measure America would be seen as clinically insane by an alien observer arriving on earth.  The insanity is marbled in at all levels of society starting from the highest levels of government to the dishwasher in a small town hotel.  But the real problem is that about a third of our population is afflicted beyond redemption, and another third doesn’t really know or care what is happening around them.

The next step in granting de facto amnesty and immunity from deportation to illegal aliens is the new vote-accumulating Obama administration order that gives certain foreign nationals a pass just because they are related to an ex-GI.  The latest reported ‘heart warming’ case involves an Hispanic-American veteran who decided to marry an illegal alien, and then lobby for passing a new law that would exonerate law breakers who are/become his relatives (more here).  As usual, liberals see such a law as covering a tightly circumscribed, anecdotal circumstance that would have no spreading ripples.  But the US Code is stuffed with these kinds of laws that have become collateral damage bombshells after passage.  Starting such new dispensations for law-breakers related to vets, where do you think it would stop?  How soon will other criminals be able to plead for mitigation and/or extenuation because they are related to someone who served their country?

Go along to get screwed

George Rebane

From recent developments we again see that compromising your principles to play the ‘go along to get along’ (GATGA) game does not work.  It looks like the two Republican strategies I outlined in 'Republican Rumblings' were spot on when we consider what went down at CPAC this week, and what the Repubs are doing to themselves and having done to them by the Dems in the GATGA game.

Rand Paul and other speakers at the conservatives’ conference definitely stated their firm preference to stick to principles no matter the short term pain.  According to their lights and available evidence GATGA does not work within or without our borders.  Look at what the established Republican leadership is doing across the country.  Never mind, just look at the nearby race for California's 4th congressional district race in which the party’s establishment wants to weaken incumbent Tom McClintock who gets highest marks from conservatives for not playing GATGA.  They will run Art Moore against him who in 2014 sounds like one step removed from a Democrat, and that small step is opposition to Obamacare in which he is today joined by many Democrats.  (more here)

As predicted, the recently passed farm bill has now been rolled up tightly and shoved up the Republicans’ collective you know what.  It took only about a month for the Dems to erase the much touted (by Repubs) but iffy $800M food stamp savings this year through a clever gaming of the ‘heat and eat’ gambit that for some reason they never saw coming.  This involves the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (Liheap) – great name since it is a heap of lies.  Liheap beneficiaries automatically qualify for food stamps, so state level Dems have started spreading around heating checks for amounts as low as $1 to one cent to increase their federal food stamp rolls and buy a bunch more votes.  So the projected savings from raising the Liheap trigger to $20 is out the window when states send out checks for $20.01 and $21.  The wealth redistributors' math is on the mark; for spending an additional $1 they receive about $48 extra dollars from Washington.  Congressman Doug Lamalfa, call your office.

Robin Milam responds on 'Rights of Nature'

[In my 26feb14 post on 'The Rights of Nature' I invited Ms Robin Milam of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature to respond.  She has kindly submitted the following response to the points I raised, and expanded on a number of other issues that are salient to incorporating the rights of nature into our lives and how we are to be governed.  I thank her for the following thoughtful and thorough essay, and hope that RR readers will gain greater insight to the structure, magnitude, and direction of this movement. gjr]

Robin R Milam, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature theRightsofNature.org

In response to George Rebane’s February 26, 2014 Rebane’s Ruminations - The Rights of Nature  http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2014/02/the-rights-of-nature.html

Preface and underlying assumptions

Our legal systems frame how we as a society relate to each other and to our planet. A predominant underlying assumption in legal systems of today's industrialized world is that humans are separate from nature and the natural systems that sustain life.  Our legal systems treat natural ecosystems as property to be bought, sold and consumed. A second underlying assumption is that our planet has unlimited natural resources to feed an economic system that assumes and encourages a continuum of perpetual growth. The reality is we as a human race are part of a tightly interrelated, interdependent Earth community and our planet does have a finite carrying capacity to support life as we know it. Our legal structures and economic systems are designed for humans to dominate the natural world rather than encourage the natural balance inherent in our interconnectedness.

Since the Industrial Era began, human activity has had an increasing effect on pollution of fresh water sources, climate change, extinction of plant and animal species, acidity of the oceans, toxic waste contamination as well as other environmental impacts.  We have instituted a plethora of Environmental Protection Laws – the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and similar state laws to limit the negative impact of our society. Rather than preventing pollution and environmental destruction, these laws instead codify it by setting acceptable pollution limits.  In addition, under commonly understood terms of preemption, once these activities are legalized by federal or state governments, local governments are prohibited from banning them. Thus in spite of the improvements afforded by these laws, our planet today is in worse condition than it was 40 plus years ago when the Environmental Protection Acts were first enacted.  The system is not working.

The Rights of Nature movement proposes that to address the significant issues of our time including the condition of our planet, we need to re-examine the fundamental assumptions about our human relationship with the Earth Community and realign our legal and social systems accordingly.  In pragmatic terms a growing number of US communities are asserting a community rights-based approach to addressing specific threats to the quality of life, health, safety and welfare of their communities. They are finding that recognizing rights of natural systems, in partnership with limiting the overreaching hand of a dominant corporate arm, has provided a legal tool for protecting the rights of their community and a stepping stone for realigning legal structures.  Later in this document I provide examples of communities who have implemented rights-based ordinances.  First let’s establish a common base for what we mean by rights and rights of nature.

Ruminations – 5mar14 (updated 7mar14)

George Rebane

The 1-7mar14 Economist features a thoughtful study ‘What’s gone wrong with democracy, and how to revive it’.  A few more pieces like this and I may have to change my attribution of the newspaper as a center-left publication.  The authors do a good job documenting all the pitfalls of democratic governance familiar to RR readers, especially dunning the application of stark ‘majoritarianism’ so beloved by socialists.  The following excerpt comes from their revival prescription –

But reformers (of democratic governance) need to be much more ambitious. The best way to constrain the power of special interests is to limit the number of goodies that the state can hand out. And the best way to address popular disillusion towards politicians is to reduce the number of promises they can make. The key to a healthier democracy, in short, is a narrower state—an idea that dates back to the American revolution. “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men”, Madison argued, “the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” The notion of limited government was also integral to the relaunch of democracy after the second world war. The United Nations Charter (1945) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) established rights and norms that countries could not breach, even if majorities wanted to do so.

Everyone in Washington is emulating Dorothy in the attempt to help President Obama find a brain, a heart, and courage - the sought after virtues that prompted the trip up the yellow brick road to Oz.  And for all we know, all that effort may pay off.  Examples appear in the 5mar14 WSJ where Holman Jenkins takes Obama to task for ‘Forgiving  Putin – Again’.  William Galston reviews the history of US presidents’ responses to Soviet/Russian aggression, outlining ‘A Russian Test for Obama’.  And Douglas Feith spells out ‘The Temptation of Vladimir Putin’, making the case that “if Russia's Ukraine incursion goes unpunished, Moscow may turn to ‘rescuing’ ethnic Russians in NATO countries.” with accompanying illustration by David Gothard.  (Now where have you heard that case made before?).

[7mar14 update] Dai Meagher to support Ms Tina Vernon, and not to run for NC Treasurer – Tax Collector.  Dai emailed me the announcement this morning which in part reads –

I wish to thank my supporters for their trust and encouragement as I contemplated serving my community as Treasurer-Tax Collector.  After careful deliberation I determined I could not fulfill commitments to my clients, to the several community organizations I serve, or to my wife and son, were I to pursue this office at this time.   

California continues to lose its cash cattle.  Allied Van Lines, among other movers, report that California continues to lose thousands of large “luxury” households, mainly to Texas (more here).  Readers may recall that our state’s revenues come heavily over-weighted from the well-to-do.  The state suffered a net loss of almost 50K people last year according to the US Census Bureau.   This ‘net’ figure masks the actual number of large wallets that are being driven out to greener pastures by the growing level of California’s socialist public policies.  But this makes no never mind to the double dummies in Sacramento, and the astute electorate that keeps them there.

The Dalai Lama, a self-avowed Marxist, can’t keep his values flying in tight formation.  He loves what the west can provide him and his lifestyle while he lambasts the capitalist system.  To him, enterprises that operate for a profit are bad.  Nevertheless, he did ask for a speaking gig at the American Enterprise Institute because that organization includes “maximizing human happiness” in its goal statement.  But “the longtime Marxist” never criticizes the hundreds of millions killed by communism, only focuses on western countries, and “doesn’t seem to realize that markets are the best way to ‘take care of others’.” (more here)

The looney Left, led by its spiritual leader Harry Reid, constantly shakes their finger at the impact of capitalist money affecting political outcomes by “buying elections” through their large contributions.   Well, the latest tally is out from the Center for Responsive Politics, and the unions are hands down winners in the political contributions game (not news to RR readers).  From 1989-2014 unions make up more than half of the largest political contributors.  And from 2005 to 2011 alone, the unions weighed in with more than $4.4 billion, all going to Democrats, in addition to more money for the Dems contributed by corporations buying special interest favors from both sides of the street.

The Left loves to dangle the Koch brothers as the source of political contributions it consider the most immoral, illegal, and fattening.  But in the cited interval Koch contributions totaled $18M which is a rounding error for the grand total of $620,873,623 from 18 unions, each of which outspent the Kochs.  But the lying Left abetted by their lamestream lackeys just keeps up the drumbeat, and ol’ Harry’s charges stand in the minds of our low information voters (more here).

Obama's New World Disorder (updated 4mar14)

It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.  Mark Twain

George Rebane

As long heralded in these pages, President Obama's ignorance of foreign policy (we'll give him the benefit of our doubts) is coming into full bloom in Ukraine.  He has made it clear to all but the country's progressive numbskulls that the US is no longer a reliable partner to anyone in maintaining world order.

The lamestream's pundits and 'journalists' are still talking about Russia's “plans to invade” and partition Ukraine, and Obama's feckless threats that warrant tears and laughter from across the world.  But Putin has already invaded the Ukraine and partitioned the country, taking Crimea back under Russia's sovereign umbrella.  And more Russian troops are poised on Ukraine's eastern border to either complete the territorial partition or make it an effective Anschluss by installing ethnic Russians into all positions of power and prepared to execute whatever Moscow wants.

Our response at this point has been worse than silence.  We have threatened to pull out of a planning meeting for the G-8 conference scheduled later this year in Sochi (no need to read this again, it’s true).  Putin and his foreign minister Lavrov are rolling in laughter on the floor of the Kremlin.  Meanwhile SecState Kerry is being dispatched to Kiev to offer the new Ukrainian government nothing that will save their sovereignty according to the 1994 agreement with Russia and the US.  This visit will heighten the peals of laughter in Moscow and the tears in Brussels where the EU is having trouble getting its act together in a civilized but now leaderless world.

Putin's plan to re-establish Soviet style hegemony over its 'near abroad' is going full throttle forward.  Every one of its bordering countries has sizeable Russian minorities as their cancerous relics from the collapse of the USSR.  And Putin will use the age-old excuse of sending in a dominant military to 'protect the lives and property' of his ethnic rump populations whenever the situation is sufficiently soft to guarantee exercising that as a no/low cost option.

The Baltics are quivering in their snowboots right now.  All of them have sizeable Russian minorities (e.g. Estonia's 1.3M people include 300,000 Russians) who will march to any order from Moscow, and thereby create situations of any flavor or magnitude to warrant Russia's military intervention.  That all these countries are members of NATO is worth about the same warm bucket of spit that they enjoyed in 1939 with the mutual defense agreement the Baltics then had with Great Britain.

In the meantime, under Obama’s leadership we are beating our swords into food stamps.  Please take time to review your ‘Duck and Cover’ drills.

[4mar14 update]  George Friedman’s The Next 100 Years was prophetic.  Stratfor is now reprising summaries from that 2009 book (here).  I wrote a major post on it at the time (here) that covered not only Russia’s aims, but also Mexico’s.  Viewed in that light, the strategically silly reset button with which Hillary embarrassed herself in front of Lavrov and the world takes on new meaning as it made a global declaration that the United States had installed a foreign policy naïf in the White House.  The years that followed have more than confirmed that early assessment, and every day brings in fresh news on how a trained KGB thug from a second world country runs circles around our Chief Community Organizer and the intellectual dwarves that surround him.