August 26

I hadn't planned to post anything today. My thoughts felt a bit too gloomy to post but I found this and it encapsulates some of those thoughts very neatly. I was listening to some of the interviews about the Trump Cult Con-Vention this morning and totally flummoxed by the descriptions of 45's "accomplishments." The vision of their reality is so at odds with my experiences and take on the situation. One described the rise of the stock market in glowing terms prophesying a brilliant economic future ahead. I wanted to yell "You ass, the stock market is NOT the economy and says nothing about where the economy is going." Another touted the administration's immigration policies as the lovely photo op of the citizenship ceremony at the White House played out. The carefully people from Bolivia, Lebanon, Ghana, and Sudan, all countries labeled s---hole countries not long ago. I have tried to understand his supporters' attitudes but haven't been able to. I don't regret many things in my life but I do regret not voting for Clinton in 2016. I didn't vote for #45 either and I know my one lonely vote would not have made a difference but this year I won't regret voting for Biden. He wasn't my first choice, or my second, choice, or my third choice, or my fourth. I won't be holding my nose because he isn't a piece of shit like our current occupant of the White House is and I hope decency can go some ways toward creating a "new normal" that works for more of us than the top 5%.

Charles Hugh Smith takes up on the separation of the stock market and the economy as well as the problems of the financialization of everything. The ground beneath old "normal" to which so many hope we can return. What ever comes will be built on different ground.

 August 24

I just found these photos of Mrs. #45's "renovation" of the White House Rose Garden. As soulless and tasteless as herself.

I saw this on the news last night. Much ado about nothing, to steal from Shakespeare. Early in this pandemic, when the epicenter was still in New York and surrounds, doctors were trying convalescent plasma with contradictory results. As one patient, who survived, noted he couldn't say whether the plasma actually worked because the doctors were throwing everything in their arsenal at his case. From what I can tell from the discussions this morning the statistics aren't as clear cut as the press conference seemed to indicate. I guess #45 got his positive news after a week from hell and just before his variety show, a.k.a., convention.

August 25

I have decided that I will put on some of our DVDs right after our local news until after Thursday. I can take only so much of the Trump/GOP nonsense. I get way too much just from the news shows.

An article on the strange weather noted that the word "unprecedented" has been used so much that it has lost much of its meaning. I would suggest that the term "Socialism" has also lost any coherent meaning except as a Repthuglican buzzword as this piece from Down With Tyranny. 

 August 20

We have a nice, bright, sunny day that should stay dry. Actually, August has gone from a very wet week in a month that is, usually, one of our wettest to having a moisture deficit. I have already finished watering the gardens but with the heat over most of the last month and a half the plants are looking a bit stressed. I am already evaluating and planning for next spring. I already know I will plant some morning glories again next year but in a different place with more protection from direct sun. And I will plant indigo again but in an area where it will get more sun. I had it in two places this year and the one with the most sun has done best. I have several pots I plan to try to protect with wrappings and mulch over the winter hoping the plants will come back.

Tomdispatch has a post from Belle Chesler, a teacher, on the COVID situation now that the school year has begun again. This morning a comment was made on one of the news shows that, with respect to the virus, our population seems to have split into those who are cautious and those who have thrown caution to the winds. After reading Chesler's piece I would amend that a bit. We have divided into those who desperately want "normal" again and those of us who recognize that the old "normal" is never coming back. That desire for "normal" is what is fueling the massive parties which have led to spikes in cases shutting down colleges soon after opening. Or the refusal to wear masks which is usually couched in terms of "freedom." Or the rush to bars after those restrictions were relaxed. Or the frequent discussion of what we miss from the old "normal." We haven't yet found a "new normal" that really fits.

August 21

This piece from Down With Tyranny is interesting and doesn't bode will for Republicans. But no matter how much I want to see that miserable excuse for an alleged human being out of the White House and a large number of his sycophantic followers out of office, I don't really hope things will improve much over the short term--or even the medium term. A different piece from the same source contends that the disgruntled Republicans who have endorsed Biden are doing so because they see a fellow fiscal hawk who will have to impose austerity on the country after the election. The author has the playbook to a T:

 Republican austeritarians run up gigantic deficits while faking reluctance or giving in to pressure. Then, the country up shit's creek, a Democrat is elected and Democratic austeritarians get busy bringing down the wasteful and corrupt deficit the GOP created. Repeat ad nauseum. This little dance will suit Biden just fine.

 August 15

Charles Hugh Smith expresses something I have felt almost from the beginning of the pandemic: forget going back to normal--it ain't coming back.

August 16

As you can tell I didn't get back here yesterday. It has been a busy and surreal week. My brother's wife died about two weeks ago. She had been is precarious health for the last few years and was hospitalized three times since about the first of the year. However, it was a sudden heart attack that finally did her in. Her visitation and funeral was last weekend and Monday. Brother came by Friday to give me SIL's embroidery stash--a dozen+ stamped pillowcase pairs, dresser scarves and doilies and a collection of floss with a storage box. I will think of her with every one of the pieces I finish. I spent most of yesterday winding the floss on bobbins and sorting the pieces. Then I went on to the crochet centerpiece I have been working on.

Since I didn't get back to posting I didn't link to this continuation of Charles Hugh Smith's discussion of "denormalization." It is definitely worth thinking about.

CNN published this story a few days ago which amused me--evidently there is a shortage of sewing machines. It seems a lot of people have time on their hands and are delighted to rediscover a craft that yields something both beautiful and useful. The news media noted a boom in home gardening about 3 months ago.

And sewing machines aren't the only appliances in short supply. Schools are having a problem getting laptops for students who will ether begin this year distance learning or in hybrid (in person+online) schedules. As the report says "no device=no learning."

August 17

Good morning, again. As usual I listen to the news and shake my head in disbelief. This morning the morning news had this piece from Axios. The last time I read anything that mentioned oleander was a novel which described a (fictional) Civil War matriarch who invited her northern sympathizing neighbors in for tea--oleander tea. I checked my recollection and found I was remembering correctly what my herbals said--oleander is toxic. And when I checked on Oleandrin (the extracted chemical) I found it is used intravenously for certain cardia problems. That the head of the company making the extracted drug wants approval to market it as a dietary supplement is very disturbing.

This has been quite a weather year. I didn't get my gardens entirely planted til mid-to-late June--two to three weeks later than normal. And it wasn't because I am getting older and doing things more slowly. The soil simply didn't warm up and the night time temperatures were too low for the seeds and plants. Lately it has been the heat that has been the problem. I haven't seen a blossom on the tomato for three weeks or so. The derecho that barreled through here a bit over a week ago flattened some 10million acres of corn out west where it started and left a couple hundred thousand customers without electricity for as much as a week. Some just got their service back over the weekend. In late July a weather reporter on one of the local stations said that the rest of the year could be right on normal and the year would still be one for the hottest years list. California has fires to contend with (along with several other states) and rolling blackouts. This article has a bit more about the power situation. We have had a year in which several named storms in the Atlantic have been the earliest for their alphabetic position on record. It has been quite a year for chaos without talking about politics, or economics, or the coronavirus.

And on the virus, this LA Times article hits things on the head. I have thought since the stats came out on the racial differences in case load and mortality that we shouldn't talk about race primarily but about poverty. I don't mean we should ignore the racial differences but should recognize that "the doors" on one news reader has referred to them are the larges group of victims. And to call many of these people "essential workers" is rather an insult since they are given so little real support otherwise. It reminds me that slaves and serfs were "essential" also. 

 August 14--half past August already

Well, we have something like 167k COVID deaths here in the Good Ole USA. We have been fed with the "We're #!" swill for at least my lifetime of just over 70 years. It seems to have been dished out in larger helpings more frequently over the last half century in spite of clear evidence to the contrary like the highest per capita number of deaths. This little piece on Foreign Policy In Focus puts forth an explanation I think hold water. I do quibble with the comment that this country produced Ayn Rand. She was Russian emigre. We simply allowed her to flourish and find an audience.

I don't know how other areas are but, for the most part, Hoosiers are, as the ads say, "Masking UP." Only when we go the the dairy do we not wear our masks. It is small but usually only the clerk is there. She will wear her mask if the customers are more comfortable that way. At the other stores all the clerks/stockers wear masks and almost all the customers. Most stores are insisting on people wearing masks but the strict limits on the numbers of customers and the one way aisles are gone while everyone is socially distant. This blogger had an unpleasant experience at her Walmart and has decided not to shop there in the future. I don't know how our local Walmart is but we stopped physically shopping there before the pandemic. I agree that the list her Walmart put out is ridiculous. We did go online there for a recent purchase which was cheaper with them and had it shipped to our home. I won't weigh in on whether we are getting played or by whom.

August 6

 

Six days into August and I haven't had to water anything so far. We have had rain each day--often heavy. We have also had some nice sunshine. The temps have been on the cool side which is a nice change from the heat of July but reminds us that Fall is just around the corner. The gardens are looking good although one of those heavy rains knocked the convolvulus down. One variety of the sunflowers I planted are blooming and the other is a week or two behind. The blue butterfly pea is also blooming. Pretty but I don't think I will plant it again. We have been getting a handful of cherry tomatoes every few days--just in time for a big salad.

I have been busy doing some dusting and other tidying I usually ignore until I can't stand it any more. I am also going through my drawers to get some room by culling some of the least worn/used items--putting those items either in a storage box or in our bag for charity donations. Or, if badly worn. into the trash.

I have avoided the news to an extent. The insanity gives me a headache.

August 7

August 9

Well, #45 has found a way to hold a rally with cheering "followers" and have the government pay for it: call it a press conference and hold it at his golf club. He did that twice over the last two days. Do you think  he might extend his "holiday" so he can continue having his performances? As for the effect of his executive orders take a look at this CNN story. Damn little, damn late and what little is in there will help damned few. This article focuses on the effects of his payroll tax deferment on Social Security and an already grim picture becomes even bleaker. With the rise in the numbers of the unemployed the tax revenues dedicated to Social Security and Medicare have fallen drastically along with all other taxes. I called this a deferment because tax payers will have to pay it back. I have suspected frequently over the last 20 years that, if we ever had a sufficiently serious crisis, the politicians would appear before the media wringing their hands and crying crocodile tears bleating that they had no choice but to cut the programs that grandma and grandpa depend on. I thought they would simply cancel the payments but keep the taxes to be applied elsewhere without the fig leaf of the "trust fund" buying treasury bonds.

August 10

What a Monday to wake up to!!! But then it has capped off an unbelievable weekend. See the last paragraph on #45's so-called press conference. The press coverage continues today. But along with that mess looting/rioting began about midnight and continued till after 4:30 this morning. The police were kept running from one site to another by "hundreds" of looters hitting stores along the downtown stretch of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. Can't blame it all on lawless blacks either because we saw a lot of lawless whites joining in the melee. I noted that it has been about a week since the "extended" unemployment payments ran out and the eviction protections lapsed. Buckle up, boys and girls. It is going to be a very bumpy ride well to next year whoever "wins" the election. I put that in quotes not because of the possibility of fraud, or political shenanigans (as in destroying the postal service to destroy mail-in voting) but who in their right minds would want the quagmire they are going to get. I know, I know. We have two septuagenarians who appear to want the job and it is now a choice between who you don't want vs. who you don't want more. That is a lesser-of-two evils on steroids choice.

Tom Englehardt has a post this morning that only reinforces my gloomy outlook. I didn't know that New York City has been reclassified as a humid subtropical area. WTF!!!

David Kaiser also has a good piece with a disturbing foray into history. Hopefully, not a foretaste of our history but now-a-days who can say.