Wednesday, April 19, 2023

April 18

 It was very windy yesterday and last night. It blew a bucket and large pot around on the patio--both were empty. I almost had a heart attack thinking by three-tier pot tower had been blown over. It is still in place.

So this finally made the mainstream media. I have seen accounts of the Chinese "police" stations in cities across the country. It is hardly surprising when the Chinese government responds vigorously and ,sometimes, self destructively to any whiff of criticism. We shouldn't be surprised that they are reaching out to punish Chinese critics, whether Chinese citizens or not. I am glad our law enforcement agencies are acting.

This is the most hopeful development in education in a long time. I have long questioned our laser focus on college/university education for all.

Robert Reich has a pretty good account of the "debt ceiling" (which he says should be called a "deadbeat ceiling") non-debate going on. McCarthy insists on linking any measure to raise the ceiling to spending cuts but I doubt he would be able to get his own caucus to agree on any program of spending cuts. The Biden Administration continues to hold to its position that there should be no link. I can agree that there should be spending cuts but I doubt anyone on either side would like my suggestions. I also think the debt ceiling should be either raised or eliminated altogether. I very much dislike the football it has become and the hypocrisy of the Republicans who are only against raising it when a Democrat is in the White House. I also dislike the probability that no matter how the debt ceiling standoff ends we will see a similar standoff when it comes to the next budget debates which will probably involve the threat of a government shutdown.

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