September 6

Happy Labor Day to all. Though given the levels of unemployment "happy" may not be a good term here. Anyway enjoy your long weekend--those of you who have a long holiday weekend.

First think I saw this morning. I think these guys might be contenders for the Darwin Awards. Perhaps a new category: Mass Extinction Award.

Two comments that say a lot about where we are as a country. First was last night from a retired military officer who was commented on the Atlantic article (which I haven't read yet) which cataloged #45's repeated assertions that those who serve in the military, and especially those who die in that service, are "losers" or "suckers." He did not confirm the actual statements cited in the article (he wasn't present) but said he believed them because they are consistent with #45's past statements and behavior. Same reason we tend to believe the story. Normally, we would read the account with more skepticism. The second came this morning in a story about the on-going racial unrest as yet another black person dies either from police shooting or while in police custody. It reflects a thought I had I heard #45 dismiss the statistics about the number of black lives lost: but they shoot white people, too. I wondered when the police had become judge, jury and executioner. The comment noted that we should be thinking about a culture when police kill anyone, often with impunity. Something is definitely out of wack here.

Another bit of irony: my mother received an application for a mail-in ballot in the mail yesterday. Three things are odd about this. 1) It was not sent by our local elections officials but by the Republican Party. 2) Therefore, only Mom received one. I did not. She voted in a Republican primary once in the last 20 years because she really, really disliked one of the candidates. 3) Number 45 has been waging a war against mail-in voting. Of course he hasn't said anything about our state because (surprise, surprise) we have a Republican governor and, by his lights, is "well governed." She won't be returning it because we plan to vote as early as we can when early in-person voting opens in a month.

September 7

Can you believe it?  California set a heat record of 121F. I read somewhere else that this is the second heat wave in a month. A friend who lives in Colorado noted that they are expecting 90s and then a plunge into temperatures that will give them as much as a foot of snow, one of the earliest measurable snowfalls in their history.

Kunstler has one on education that is pretty much spot on. The economics, thanks to the pandemic, are going to really change education on every level, or, rather the economic decline has been accelerated by the pandemic. I remember stories of counties where the tax revenue was so scarce they couldn't afford to fix toilets. Ten years ago I remember stories of other school districts that were going to four day weeks because the finances were so tight. I know teachers who have a massive load of student debt they probably will die with for a job that doesn't pay them enough to live on and pay their full monthly loan payment. I doubt that many of the students who decided not to return to college because of the pandemic will ever go back. By the way, while I agree with Kunstler on many aspects of the post I linked to, I don't agree with him on much of his political pronouncements.

Talking about education--I just found this bit of insanity. Perhaps I should have said "non-education."