April 26

 Frosty but not as much as yesterday when we had frost on the roofs and cars. We had frost warnings for the last couple of days which reminds me of why I try not to hurry up and plant. By next week the temperatures should be warmer but I still don't want to put anything in my containers till about Mothers' Day. I probably won't get everything in before sometime in June. At least seeing green leaves, and flowering trees and bushes has improved my mood--until I have to deal with computer problems which we still have.

John Ganz posted this interesting piece on his Unpopular Front substack site. Commentators have observed the growth of an "imperial Presidency" since the Nixon administration. As I read the post I remembered a theme I found in the various history books I have read: the stability of the society/government depended a great deal on the stability of the ruling line. The Roman Empire had its longest period of stability and relative peace (internally at least) between 98ce to 180ce. The emperors during this time came to power as adults with a record of competence after his adoption by his predecessor. Their succession was peaceful and uncontested. After the death of Marcus Aurelius that changed and the Empire was plagued with repeated contests between generals claiming the throne. During the Merovingian and Carolingian periods of Frankish history similar patterns developed. Kings often died leaving minor heirs who often died young, no heirs, or too many heirs in a system of inheritance where all male heirs had a claim to succeed. Democracies and republics have the same problems without the family drama (usually). Just because at least some portion of the citizenry can elect a leader doesn't mean that the chosen leader is wise, capable, or able to meet the needs of his time. We appear to be on the cusp of a time when the legitimacy of the "claimants to the throne" is questioned and we have no faith in the institutions which ensured legitimate succession.

Stray thought: I really can't believe that Justice Alito truly thinks they are making a "decision for the ages" in the case of Trump's claims to total immunity. NO decision is ever fully settled. Just look at the Dobbs hit job they issued. Roe v Wade was, according to Trump's three nominees to the high court, settled law--until it wasn't. I think several legal commentators had it right when they said it seemed more like the male, conservative justices simply didn't want to deal with the case before them so they shifted to more abstract themes. 

April 23, 25

Looking another sunny day. Still cool and likely to continue cool for another several days. We spent a bit of time figuring our schedule for errands over the next several days. I look at our grocery list and decide when and whether we need to go shopping--not this week. But this is the last full week of the month so we have to plan our trip to pay rent and do our banking--definitely some time this week.

Listened to an interview this morning where they were supposed to talk about the guest's new book on how to get rich but they spent 2/3 of the time on the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses and on the Hamas-Israel conflict. Two interesting things about the piece. First, in sync with several other pieces over the last couple of stories, they threw cold water on the anti-semitism them of earlier stories. The demonstrators, according to the commentators and reporters who have been at some of the demonstrations, were peaceful and included both Palestinians and Jews. They showed part of an interview where the respondent said that provocateurs not affiliated with the protest were responsible for any of the threats reported. I can accept that possibility. We saw a lot of that when outsiders tried to hijack the Black Lives Matter protests. One protest tactic which police and politicians should come down on hard are those tying up traffic. That is a public safety matter as well as disrupting normal life. Second, the guest tried to "put the situation [in Gaza] in context] by comparing it to other episodes involving the U.S.--Pearl Harbor and 9/11. The key notion was the small number of casualties (about 2500 at Pearl Harbor and about 3000 on 9/11) compared to the numbers we killed in response. The first wasn't a good comparison because the Pearl Harbor attack was part of the Japanese government's declaration of war. It was state-on-state violence. The second is a better comparison because it involved the response of a state to an attack by a non-state actor. However, that second instance didn't end well for us. I don't know that such a comparison either justifies the reactions (ours or the Israelis) or portends anything good for Israel.

Update: the sun has disappeared and we have clouds with a light wind. Rain likely.

25*********************************************************************

We had a couple of errands yesterday and a quick perusal of news/blogs etc. yielded nothing worth commenting on or linking to.

Stray thought: often the "conservative" group (MTG and allies) are described as "isolationist" or "anti-globalist." First, I haven't seen or read anything that convinces me that that group is trying to "conserve" anything. Several real conservatives define conservative as "small government, low taxes, and pro defense." That doesn't fit MTG et al. Second, what is their definition of "isolationism" or "anti-globalism?" Do they conflate immigration with isolationism? They do seem to be anti-immigrant but only, it seems to me, concerning certain immigrants (poor, dark, and from Trump's s**thole countries." How isolated do they want U.S. to be? Third, we live in a very connected world. What aspects of globalization are they upset with? And how much of their lifestyle are they willing to give up to become "de-globalized?" The only consistent position they seem to hold is anti-Biden, anti-Democrat, and pro-their own power.

April 22

Good morning on a sunny but very cool morning. The weather people keep promising that the warmer temperatures will return soon. Watching the Weather Channel I am glad I didn't yield to the temptation to get plants and put them in the gardens. So far I am still planning for around mid-May when our average last frost day occurs. I did check out what is happening in the containers and found that my mints didn't survive. I haven't seen anything in one of the containers that had Asiatic lilies while the other is going really well. I will have to separate the bulbs and replant in the fall. The valerian is also popping up also but not the indigo. If we get some warmer days I plan to get more sweeping and start on sorting out the shed. Until then I pulled out a needlepoint I haven't worked on for a couple of decades. Since I just finished the embroidery on a table scarf I can pull something else out to join my other WIPs (Works In Progress).

Naill Ferguson has an article in the Free Press on "The Treason of the Intellectuals." Some years ago the news covered one of several cheating scandals in one of the service Academies at the same time that a poll of college students revealed that a majority of them would cheat if they could get away with it. My thought at the time was that expecting professionals of any kind, military or civil, to be more honest than the society in which they live is ridiculous. The same can be said of the intellectual class with regard to any passionate movement within society. As Ferguson  notes at the end, intolerance comes in right leaning and left leaning political varieties--and probably in other varieties as well.

Over the weekend I watched Climate: the Movie which presents the case for "climate skepticism." It is always a good idea to checkout views that challenge what ideas that are currently dominant in society/politics/economics, etc. So what does the film challenge? 

First, the very notion of "anthropogenic" climate change. The idea we constantly hear is that our climate is warming dangerously because humans are releasing huge quantities of CO2 which is a "greenhouse" gas. The scientists that appear during the 80+ minutes of the movie dispute that claiming that there is no causal relationship between increasing temperature and rising CO2 levels. Temperatures appeared to rise before CO2 rose. A case of "correlation not causation." 

Second, they challenge the very notion that the temperatures are actually rising dangerously and in fact that we are still in a cool period, a.k.a. an ice age. Maybe, maybe not. What they don't say is that there is a difference between the geological notion of an ice age and the human experience. At one point one of the presenters points out that at various times throughout earth's history the climate was considerably warmer but they don't mention that those points came before humans evolved. Over human history we have experienced both warm and cold periods. The Roman Climate Optimum (ca. 200BCE-200CE) was followed by the a climate shift that made the mediterranean basin dryer and hotter which had severe effects on Roman society.

I stop here with a note that when we are reading/viewing/listening to any information (scientific/economic/political) we have to ask for clear definitions of the terms and ask for clear evidence used to support the positions. Arguing about climate change from the perspective of geological time against those who are arguing from a human perspective (or vice versa) is disingenuous if not dishonest.

Tom Engelhardt posted an interesting item this morning: "Old Man World". Interesting and depressing. I think he reflects the feelings I had since 2020--we need new people and new ideas. 

April 20, 21

 Sunny for now but cold. It is only 38F and the high will only reach high 40s. But the low is right at average for April and the high is a bit below average, if the prediction pans out. We went out for pizza at our favorite pizza restaurant because we simply wanted to go out. Before the pandemic we went out for meals, maybe, five or six times a week. Over the last four years we have tried various frozen/you-bake pizzas and were very disappointed. Yesterday, the spinach stuffed pizza was a treat. We brought half home. Though we ordered a small it was still too much for us. We also ordered a small loaded pizza thinking it would be good for toady. Well, it is a pizza weekend with the left over stuffed pizza today and the other for tomorrow.

Bill Astore posted a piece that could have been featured in Brian Klass' book FLUKE. He tells how his father survived WWII because of an interesting series of accidental happenings, flukes.

An opinion in one of the blogs I read yesterday noted the disappearance of "civil discourse." It isn't respectful (i.e., civil) and not really discourse because the parties don't listen or talk to each other. Name any issue in modern life and all sides are rousing up their supporters with their trite and meaningless word salads while trying to shout down the other side.

21*******************************************************************

I wonder if others had the same problem with blogger I had yesterday. Suddenly I had a blank page here and a message that they couldn't find my data. I had just typed "Crooks & Liars" and everything disappeared. Frustrating--but too much of our technology has been frustrating lately. And so very inconsistent.

Crooks&Liars (this is where the interruption occurred) posted a parody song that so reflects my sentiments about a former reality tv host now on trial in New York (and Georgia, and Florida, and D.C.). Enjoy.

April 19

 Sunny today but cool. We are on that spring roller coaster. Had rain again last night. It is really pleasant to see green again--grass, bushes, trees. Even the largest trees are leafing. Those are usually the last to do so. Now to catchup.

I love Carol Michaels' gardeners math. We both here had a bit of a giggle reading it.

Lately we have seen a parade of Republicans shift from Trump critics to Trump supporters--although I have some nasty things I could say about their lack of backbones. One of the latest to do that Republican retreat from principle was Governor Sununu who brazenly admitted the maneuver claiming it wasn't about Trump but about getting a "Republican administration." Robert Reich put it most accurately on his substack blog yesterday: The Party Is Over. Meaning the Republican Party whose luminaries like Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan must be spinning in their graves.

CNN has an interesting story about China's sinking cities. Most of its coastal cities are sinking between 0.1 and 0.5 inches each year. They are experiencing flooding as the sea levels rise at the same time as the land sinks. Some areas where they have been pumping ground water out of aquifers to support their agriculture during recent droughts are sinking at a faster rate. In case you think they are alone the authors note that our eastern cities are in the same situation.

John Michael Greer continued his posts on lenocracy--government by pimps. 

April 16

 Another sunny day though thunderstorms are predicted for this evening. The forecast is for cooler, more "normal" temperatures.

I just had a frustrating and unnerving experience. For some time I have followed a blogger who is an American, who also has Russian citizenship, living in Russia. I liked getting a different perspective on both what is going on in Russia and the international tensions. But, when I got to his most recent post which continued the complexities and difficulties in arranging travel to the U.S. for himself and his daughter, my browser said it couldn't find the site. I had just been reading it. I tried several times with the same result and, finally, checked out one of the other sites I normally follow. I got connected there with no problem. So I am left with the question: WHY? (Update: I opened my old laptop and was quickly able to get the site and finished reading it. Again, WHY?)

Stray thought: I happened to catch reports on both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The contrast was startling. Biden did look old but fit and alert. Trump looked old but bloated, blotchy and fat. I don't think that was simply that Trump was caught on a bad day at a bad time. I remember thinking the same looking at pictures of Trump's rallies.

April 15

 Nice sunny day today. We just finished our grocery errands. I might go out and sweep on the patio later. Asiatic lilies are pushing up in one of the containers but not in the other yet. But everything else is still dormant or dead. Stores are putting out their annual plants. We are a month away from our average last frost date so I am restraining myself on planting anything. Besides I still have dead plants to clear. I left them over winter as ground cover.

Stray thought and pet peeve--the over use of "unprecedented." We seem to be in the Age of Unprecedented. We have never had a criminal trial of a former President but it is unprecedented in the narrow view of our own national history. We came close at least once but Warren Harding died before the full story of the corruption in his administration came out. Several cabinet secretaries and their aids did face trial, and at least one was convicted and served time. March was the tenth month in a row in which the temperature set record average high. That is unprecedented. Other environmental extremes also are coming at an unprecedented pace. We also have two candidates for President who will, which ever one wins, be the oldest person sworn in. And one of them, the incumbent, is already the oldest person to take the oath of office.

Second stray thought and pet peeve--the use of the term "loan" in the discussion of foreign aid to Israel or Ukraine. Aid is a gift to a country or person with which or whom you have a friendly relationship. A loan is a commercial transaction in which the lender provides funds to a borrower in hopes of gaining a monetary profit. Both sides in this "transaction" should follow Shakespeare's advice in Hamlet: neither a borrower nor a lender be. By the way--given the level of destruction in Ukraine how soon do you think they would able to clear any loans?

California has just cancelled the salmon fishing season for the second year in a row and has asked for a federal fisheries disaster declaration. (Story on the Weather Channel.)

Most of the "news" this morning concerned the unprecedented trial of Donald J. Trump and the fallout (real and potential) from Iran's "unprecedented " attack on Israel's home territory. The trial at the moment involves the housekeeping details of what evidence can be entered and under what conditions, and jury selection. Concerning Iran the speculation is on whether the revenge Iran tried to exact for the Israeli attack on their consulate, though Israel denies the site was a real diplomatic office and that the people they killed were "plotting." Already one of Netanyahu's cabinet members is frothing at the mouth for the obliteration of Iran. Israel promises revenge at a time of their choosing. One of the pundits worried that Iran's activities could push the Israeli government into a wider conflict in the area. Well, Israel doesn't need prodding--they will do what they do. And who says that conflict isn't already area wide and deepening?

Stray thought--saw a headline declaring "Michael Cohen is an admitted liar but he is the star witness in Trump's trial." So?? In the trial that went against the Trump Organization the judge found the admitted liar was more credible than the head of the company, a.k.a. Donald Trump. So another jury will get to decide which liar is more believable.

I don't like to wear t-shirts with logos and legends on them but I just saw a t-shirt I wouldn't mind having. The legend on it read: I googled my symptoms and just need Trump in jail.