ArcaMax

President Donald Trump has never been able to comprehend the plain fact that when a person says no, that actually means "NO." His view is that his every desire should be met with surrender -- even if that requires applying force.

This explains a lot about his crude approach to Greenland, demanding that the Danish territory simply succumb to him. Even though proud Greenlanders have repeatedly said, "Go away!" to Trump's uninvited advances, their emphatic rejections have only heightened his sadistic lust for dominance. Indeed, rebuffed again this month, he turned downright sinister, declaring, "One way or another, we're going to get it."

Why push so fiercely for a frozen Arctic island that has a population smaller than Greenville, South Carolina? First, because Donald is an overprivileged child with an insatiable need to assert power over others. The pragmatic reason, though, is money. Beneath that thick covering of ice, Greenland has a trove of oil, uranium, precious metals, etc., that Trump and his billionaire cohorts desperately want to plunder.

Initially, Trump & Co. tried macho American chauvinism to get their way: Leave dull old Denmark, they propositioned, and we'll make you a sort of American sub-state. People snickered at that, so Trump tried his usual pay-off ploy -- give in to us, he told the islanders, and "we will make you rich." Rightly insulted, "We Are Not for Sale" protests erupted across the land, and "Trump" became a curse word in the island's Danish, Inuit and English languages.

This is Jim Hightower saying ... But "no" means "go" to him, so he has now directed the National Security Council to develop plans for subjugating Greenland's resources, even by force. In a blunt order, he barked, "Let's get it done."

DON'T LET ELON MUSK EAT OUR FOOD FUTURE!

Over the millennia, farmers everywhere have learned the wisdom of a commonsense practice in agriculture: Don't Eat Your Seed Corn.

Raise the best crop you can -- but be sure to store enough of the seed you produce this year to plant next year's crop. Even with the razzle-dazzle computerization of modern-day agriculture, seed savers are as essential as ever. Maybe more so, given climate change, mass pollution, species collapses, genetic loss, etc. Seeds are our future.

Luckily, a local, national, and global movement arose decades ago to say: "Let's not be stupid." Noting that new diseases, pests, blights, etc., continually break out around the globe, wiping out entire varieties of essential food crops, pioneers of this movement set up a system of "gene banks" for future needs.

Established in the Ag Department in 1898, these banks collect, store and keep alive vast reserves of seeds containing the genetic diversity of our entire food supply. They are a human survivalist resource. For example, if a devastating fungus infects a variety of wheat, scientists can search 62,000 other wheat varieties in the gene bank to find seed with a natural resistance to that fungus.

With a shoestring budget and a small staff of scientists, this network of 22 regional gene banks is government at its best, doing invaluable public work efficiently.

But then, stupid showed up. Elon Musk, Trump's thuggish whacker of the common good, has stormed into the seed saver community with his cartoonish chainsaw roaring. He summarily fired the network's top plant scientists, slashed its meager budget -- and is playing God with our food future.

This is Jim Hightower saying ... Just as rats should be kept out of America's seed bins, so should Elon Musk.

To find out more about Jim Hightower and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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