September 11

Well, the commemorations of 9/11 aren't so ubiquitous that one can't avoid most of it. Don't get me wrong. We should remember those who died but the event has so twisted our politics, society, and economy that we haven't yet worked it all out of our system. The impact of 9/11 goes well beyond the nearly 3K people lost and the physical destruction. We dwell on the dead without giving much thought to what has happened to the living.

One thing we do seem to be questioning is consumerism with the growth of minimalism, slow food, farm-to-table and such movements. Recently I have seen a number of blog posts emphasizing slow fashion along with refashioning old pieces, mending, re-purposing old clothes. And even in the fashion industry there seems to be some questioning of the old business models as seen in this piece from Treehugger.

Is anyone really surprised by this article? After all the head of the administration described war dead as losers, people who volunteered to serve in the armed forces "suckers", got out of serving himself by claiming (fake) bone spurs and threatened his son with disinheritance if he signed up. His administration diverted funds for a school for soldiers' children in Kentucky to fund his "big, beautiful wall."

A couple of days ago I was reading one of the prepper blogs I frequently read where the blogger detailed an encounter with a non-prepping family member who saw her updating her "bug out bag" in case of a fire evacuation order. They live in a town and the family member asked "What? You think the city will burn?" I think this Guardian article answers that. Hell, yes, cities can, and will, burn. Also the 500K residents under evacuation orders represents one-tenth of the population.