September 29

Not much planned for today. I did get a few things straightened out in our What-Not Room. Threw a whole bunch of cardboard boxes away. They were of a size that we save because they might be useful. But we had accumulated too many and we have some plastic boxes of a similar size. I found a bottle of fabric dye I am keeping out to refurbish a faded piece I use as a base for a door wreath. I have another I plan to do the same with. First, however, I have to get some work space cleared.

I saw a little "end of an era" piece covering the Netflix decision to end its "rent by mail" service. They won't be sending out anymore DVDs. They cite the growth of streaming services which has cut into their business. I'm not surprised. A while ago we were driving on our errands and Mom suggested we go to a DVD rental store we once used. I pointed to a shop and told her it used to be in that spot but isn't any more. But we have noticed a drastic reduction in the size of the DVD sections in our local big box stores. Even the section in Best Buy has shrunk. We tried Netflix but were very disappointed with the offerings which seemed to cover poor acting and ridiculous plots with gratuitous sex and violence.

Just saw the trailer on my computer that announced Sen. Diane Feinstein's death. It will be interesting to see who gets to replace her.

And this is so true: Sorry, You Matter To Much To Make A Living Wage. A post-apocalyptic novel I like a lot referred to certain people plugged into what ever unskilled slots needed filling as "corks." One is as good as another. The actual job might be necessary but any individual worker isn't. I remember a history article about the entrepreneur in late 19th century Utah who pioneered what became the big box department store. He hired young women as salespeople and after several months, when they had acquired some skill and experience, fired them. He could easily hire another "cork" and reasoned that the new experience and skills would allow his former employee to find more lucrative work. Doesn't work out that way. My mother used to talk about working as a licensed practical nurse. When ever she left a job she could be sure that she could walk right into another one. However, each clinic, hospital, care center, whatever started all new hires at their lowest rates no matter what experience they had. Though they were educated, licensed professionals they were corks.

Another stray thought and sarcastic observation: Rep. Comer, heading up that abysmal excuse for an "oversight and accountability committee, has designated the employees of the committee as "essential" so they will have to work without pay if, as appears very likely, there is no agreement to continue funding the Federal government. Somehow those workers will be reimbursed while the cafeteria workers who feed those momzers won't. It irritates me when Comer insists that they haven't found anything yet but with all that smoke there simply must be fire. All of his star witnesses told him in their testimony they had no evidence. But they continue to waste our money. And the idiots associated Gaetz and his wrecking crew are demanding that everyone kowtow to them on the budget or they will burn the place down. A shutdown, which is looking more likely as the minutes got by, will cost us much more money and a lot of people a lot of pain. But that doesn't matter to the psychological toddlers who are only focused on getting their own way.

September 26, 27, 28

 Well, we finally decided to do all our errands yesterday. It took longer than usual because part of it was an "exploratory" shopping trip to a store we haven't shopped at for several years. We have become increasingly become dissatisfied with the closer stores. So we did get everything on our list and several other items we haven seen elsewhere for a good long time. We are thinking of changing our shopping pattern so we reduce the trips.

I did notice that what ever rain we have gotten lately hasn't done much for the gardens so I plan to water them and maybe cut some of the plants back a bit. This is always the time of the year when the patio becomes a bit of a jungle. I have controlled it better this year and it still looks nice but a bit of maintenance is needed. 

David Kaiser posted a very good article this morning about our current political divide. He raises a lot of interesting points on how we got here.

27********************************************************************

We got thunderstorms yesterday but I don't think a lot of rain came through. I watered all the plants on the patio well so they are good. The forecast for today predicts more rain today. We'll see. We have to go out to renew Mom's driver's license and car registration.

Found this from Charlie Sykes this morning which pretty much sums up The Former Guy's career. If he had the same batting average as his wins/loss ration in court the would have been fired.

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It has been a very low energy week. We decided not to take care of the driver's license and registration. We have a month before either becomes critical. We did go out to get a couple of things for dinner that we didn't have. And then to pay our cable bill. Mom has been trying to get the people/companies she deals with to send paper bills but as with the cable company it works for a couple of months and then they suddenly revert to electronic/e-mail messaging.

Listening the postmortem on the Republican (non-)debate I am so glad I didn't lose the 2 or so hours of my life watching it. Just watching the clips gives me a headache. I truly believe the people on that stage are abysmally dumb and they think the electorate is dumber. Brian Rosenwald has the best summation which is worth quoting in full:

If you — like most Americans — didn’t watch the second GOP presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif. on Wednesday, you missed absolutely nothing. In fact, your life is much better for it. 

I’m not sure I’ve ever witnessed a worse political debate. No candidate stood out in a good way. Too many answers were canned, and pre-scripted lines came off awkwardly. The policy prescriptions sounded like something out of the 1980s or 1990s — the death penalty as the solution to mass shootings, end the revolving door at prisons, tort reform to cut healthcare costs, fight the war on drugs, more oil drilling and coal, etc. Even the best answers, like Nikki Haley’s one on healthcare costs — lacked any real meat or hint of how the worthy goals she articulated would be achieved.

I have often thought that we should already have had a good crop of younger politicians with same new ideas. The oldest among them was Pence. The rest are Millennials. But they do sound like 1980s or 90s retreads. Or perhaps channeling ghosts from the 1930s.

And The Former Guy's visit to Detroit to talk to "union" workers and try to drum up support. But as a couple of news accounts noted he visited a non-union shop to do that. I wondered how many of the people holding the "Union Workers For Trump" signs were really union workers. Heather Cox Richardson provides more information on his excursion:

The 2024 election was also on former president Trump’s mind today. He was in Michigan tonight to try to draw attention away from the Republican primary debate that he refused to attend. But while President Biden yesterday visited the United Auto Workers picket line, Trump visited a non-union shop and talked about a future “fueled by American energy” and “built by highly skilled American hands and high-wage American labor.” As Craig Mauger of the Detroit News noted, however, “his address was short on specifics for how he would accomplish the goals.”

Trump told the crowd to get the UAW to support him, but the UAW doesn’t represent the workforce where he was speaking. Mauger noted that one woman holding a “union members for Trump” sign acknowledged she wasn’t a union member, while a man with a sign that said “auto workers for Trump” said he wasn’t an autoworker. The plant where Trump was speaking employs about 150 people, but 400–500 Trump supporters were there for his speech.

 

Yesterday, UAW president Shawn Fain said, “I find it odd he’s going to go to a non-union business to talk to union workers. I don’t think he gets it.” (my emphasis)

I thought that was another bit worthy of an extended clip.

Another stray thought: I am somewhat amused by the kerfuffle in Canada as Trudeau, during Zelenskyy's visit, honored an elderly Ukrainian Nazi who fought the Soviets in WWII. The critics are somewhat illiterate in history. I suggest they cure their ignorance by reading up on the Holodomor. I wouldn't doubt that many Ukrainians saw the Germans (Nazis) as liberators and joined the fight against the Soviets and even espoused the political philosophy of those they hoped would kick the Soviets out. Also we should remember that "Nazi" is a political term while Ukrainian is a cultural/national identification. The two can overlap. 

I will be reading more of Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse substack. I checked out a couple of the cases on the Supreme Court docket and wished someone with legal experience would cover them. Evidently, Vance has decided to do that.

Caitlin Johnstone has some very good points on journalism as it is practiced. Mom and I had a sarcastic ritual watching the local (Chicago) broadcast news noting how we could predict the daily dramatic shooting (the more and younger the victims the better), the daily dramatic auto crash (the more cars involved and more serious the injuries the better), the daily drama in city politics (the more vitriolic the better), and what ever drama is commanding attention in national or foreign affairs. It didn't matter what channel we watched, it was the same. That is one reason I take a look at what is on Al Jazeera, DW, BBC, Le Monde. I don't doubt that they have their own "filtering system" but it is different from our filtering system.

Stray thought: the tradition of campaign debates are dead and what we have are the ghosts of the old tradition. We get shouts, invective, and one-liners NOT policy. One of the comments I saw insisted that Republican voters aren't interested in policy. How can you know when none of the candidates seriously puts out policy?

September 25

 Here we are at the beginning of the last week in September and the idiot brigade in the House of (Un-)Representatives still can't get even a continuing resolution together to fund the government. As one of the news commentators noted this morning, even if they, miraculously, get their miserable butts in gear they will still miss the Saturday night deadline. They have to pass a bill, pass it to the Senate where it will be modified and sent back to the house. They simply don't have time. Fasten your seat belts because the ride is going to get even more bumpy.

I hope that when it is light out and I can see what is on the patio I see we had rain. If not I will have to water the plants. We also have to go out to pay our rent and our grocery shopping.

Another entry in the "Stray Thoughts File:" watching the a news/talk show last night one of the commentators asked the interviewee "how concerned we should be about Russian interference in our politics?" Although both the moderator and respondent thought the problem was serious with streams of influence in both the finances of politics and in the infotainment net. A big glaring omission was any recognition that the U.S. might just be experiencing a bit of Karma. For decades we have done the same thing. Just look up the overthrow of the Mossadegh government in mid-1950s Iran which reinstalled the Shah and the overthrow of the Allende government in Chili which established the dictatorship of Pinochet. However, I am not really wanting to do a Former Guy "but we kill people too" ploy to white wash an enemy's actions. It would better if neither side played those games but that isn't our world. So we are left with how to counter the Russian interference about which that interview did not provide us any information on how too do that.

September 24

 Good morning all. I don't know how much I will get done today. Yesterday and Friday pretty much wiped me out. Everyone knows that when you clean up one place you find others that should be cleaned up. You can ignore the whole mess but once you start reducing the mess what remains is glaringly obvious and harder to ignore.

I found this Vox article that has me shaking my head. I checked out Ballotpedia which as a page listing the upcoming Supreme Court Docket. Note the self-serving assurances by those who want the Court to invalidate the Consumer Protection Finance Bureau that other agencies whose funding is secured by similar means (like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) won't be affected. Note also the argument that CPFB is a "law enforcement agency" because it brings legal cases and levies fines for those who violate the law. Really?? In that case there isn't a government agency that is not funded by similar means. Let's ask another question: do you really want the House of Representatives (even if we have a more responsible House) making decisions on highly technical matters on a case by case basis and individually funding every government expenditure? Just think about the chaos Tuberville has created in his egotistical attempt to enforce his narrow moral vision on the Defense Department.

A comment on The Weather Channel this morning claims that we have reached a new record: 23 billion dollar+ weather disasters this year.

Another border crisis and note the recent increase in tensions is over water.

This article on Medium didn't contain any surprises I hadn't heard before. However, there are a couple of acknowledgements I don't often hear from climate activists. 1) Most of us have zero real influence in the hall of power where what "we" do (or don't do) is decided. 2) There is a difference between what we can't change and things we can change. We can't change the rules of physics that govern the play of greenhouse gasses in the environment. 3) There are actions "we" could do and things we could do but won't. I put we in quotation marks because all too often we find there isn't really a solid majority willing to act.

September 23

 Welcome to the Autumnal Equinox. Cool and sunny this morning. The last weather forecast predicted a wave of possible thunderstorms will come through later today through tomorrow. I won't mind the rain, if it comes, because I look out on the patio and see a couple of plants that will need water soon. We have some housekeeping on the agenda today. Yesterday I started working on the mess the linen closet has become. I got most of it done before my energy ran out. The problem is simple accumulation. I have embroidered projects from the last fifty years. And I don't intend to stop any time soon. So I began sorting and put a lot of the linens into storage boxes and kept for regular use a fixed number of sheets, pillowcases, table cloths/dresser scarves, towels, wash cloths etc. After that I want to start on cleaning up/out and reorganizing the "What-Not Room." It, as our term calls it, is one of few catch-alls left.

Another of the stray thoughts about stories I have read: how much blame should attach to the U.S. and the E.U. if Ukraine loses agains Russia or the conflict settles into a long term bloodletting? I was amazed when the so-called allies insisted that weapons provided Ukraine not be able to strike inside Russia or that Ukraine wouldn't use longer range to strike sites inside Russia even if those sites were staging men and equipment for operations inside Ukraine. I was also amazed that Ukraine actually abided by those restrictions for as long as they did. Essentially we forced Ukraine into a gun fight with a (almost) unloaded gun. Our leaders, U.S. and European, showed a gross amount of cowardice. They wanted to give just enough to stymie Russia but not escalate Russia's responses. Russia has simply escalated anyway and threaten to use tactical nuclear weapons if pushed. It seems to me that the so-called allies are more afraid of Russia than of Ukraine collapsing.

Caitlin Johnstone has posted an article with a title that should give us all concern: We're being prepared for the Ukraine War to last into the 2030s. I look at the economic conditions and wonder how long Russia and Europe/U.S. can fund this war. Russia has been trying to recruit soldiers from outside Russia and get arms from sympathetic nations like Iran and North Korea. I don't often agree with Johnstone but she always gets me thinking.

Doomberg has a post the last half of which is behind a pay wall. However, I know where the author is going. The subtitle says it all: NO, we won't be making jet fuel from CO2. Synthesizing gasoline, jet fuel or other concentrated energy substances derived from oil from lower energy components requires more energy than simply refining the oil. That is generally the problem for all of the touted high tech answers to our energy/environmental problems. Wind power requires, in our current scheme of things, a lot of energy and rare materials to produce a much lesser amount of electrical energy. And the people who tout the windmills as non polluting don't, generally, take into account the pollution involved in the creation of the windmills and in the process of dismantling the components. The hype over electronic vehicles doesn't take into account where the electric energy comes from or what happens to the batteries when their useful life is over. Yes, they don't burn gas and therefore don't release CO2 and other pollutants directly. However, they get the electricity from power plants that do.

Another stray thought: for decades the West (especially the U.S., the IMF, and the World Bank) have gotten used to telling developing countries that they had to be progressive and adopt Western ways and values. Over the last few years that has been changing. China has repeatedly told us to back off and not "interfere" with their internal issues. Türkiye has held up Sweden's entry into Nato over Sweden refusing to extradite people Türkiye claims are "terrorists" and refusing to crack down on idiots who equate burning or defacing a Koran as protest. India and Canada are at loggerheads because the Canadian Government has charged the Indian government with supporting the murder of a Canadian Sikh who supports activists in India demanding an autonomous Sikh province. I could go on but point is: what goes around comes around.

Found this item on the MSN site and followed up with this CNN account. Evidently the recent rains on the upper Mississippi have done little to help the situation.

September 22

 We didn't get much rain yesterday but not much sun either. In spite of the rain we have had over the last couple of weeks our area is still in the abnormally dry category on the drought monitor map. They say that another possible rain system is moving in for the weekend. The temperatures haven't risen to the 80s as promised by the forecasts which I won't complain about. I can turn off the air conditioning while not turning the heat on and I can open the windows and doors for a breeze.

Every now and then a stray thought pops up about something I saw or read sometime in the past. This morning it was about the relaxation of the Senate's "dress code." It occurs to me that those who are most vocal about how a casual dress demeans the Senate--some how lessens the reverence for political institution are those who seem to have the least respect for the institution and their fellow senators.

Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as CEO of Fox News and News Corp. He will take the title of Chairman Emeritus while his son take over as CEO. I wish I thought the change would make any real change in the company but I doubt it. I did watch one news show on Fox and never went back for the same reason I don't watch a local station owned by Sinclair--I don't like my news delivered with huge dose of propaganda. While I recognize that all of the talking heads have their biases and often deliver those biases with the news, I prefer that is kept to a minimum but Fox talking heads went beyond anything I wanted to listen to. I will form my own opinions, even if they are mistaken, and don't care to be spoon fed them.

Galina Krasskova posting on Gangleri's Grove has a long article that accurately describes our world. First, so many words describing horrible acts are becoming so over used: atrocity, ethnic cleansing, genocide. So many events of those types are happening but the terms used to describe them are losing their punch. She provides an extensive list. Second, one paragraph reminded me of a segment on the old Paul Harvey The Rest Of The Story program on radio (I am showing my age here.) He talked about an elderly aborigine man in Australia who hadn't heard his tribal language in decades as he was one of the last two members of his people left. And even if he had visited the only other speaker of his "native" language they couldn't have talked to each other. She was his sister and ethnic taboos forbade direct interaction between closely related men and women. I heard that broadcast in the 70s or 80s. Krasskova recounted the more recent death of the last member of one of Brazil's indigenous peoples who have been wiped out by illegal ranching, mining, and lumbering. Third, the author of the piece she includes writes "If we are alive, we can act. If we live, we must act." I would observe there isn't much appetite for the kind of action that might make a difference. I think we have seen that the attempt to sanction rogue states hasn't been working well because there really isn't a unified "We" to make them work. Sanctions haven't really worked well throughout the history of their use. They haven't really made any difference in North Korea's actions and ambitions. Nor have they done anything to moderate Iran. 

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism put up a long article on the Ukraine-Russia conflict today which makes some interesting though little mentioned points. She notes that we really don't know what the conditions in Ukraine really are. Most of the reporters file positive stories and are centered in Kyiv. Zelensky's latest "fund raising" trip to the U.N. General Assembly meeting and to Washington has been met with a rather tepid response and revealed more political fissures among allies. Poland is threatening to retain arms the U.S is sending rather than transferring them to Ukraine and is Ukraine is very unhappy with Poland's excluding Ukrainian wheat from their market. I can see a couple of good reasons which no one is mentioned out loud: if Poland is not so sure that Ukraine will win the war they have to think about who Russia might try to absorb next and supporting an ally by impoverishing your own people (a.k.a., Polish farmers) is never a good strategy. As she mentions the end is not yet really apparent. Russia might win outright. Ukraine might win outright. We might see an armed standoff with intermittent combat into the foreseeable future. How does each side define "win" and are either of the definitions at all realistic? Can Ukraine really depend on continued support for its military efforts and, later, its rebuilding? I am doubtful. And I am certainly doubtful if the so-called "private interests" will be interested in investing in Ukraine's rebuilding. And if Russia does swallow Ukraine, how bad will be the drain on their own strained economy? We could see neither "win" and both collapse.

September 21

 Still early here but hoping for a nice sunny day with a moderate temperature. It is a bit later than when I put up that first sentence and we have daylight now. It looks cloudy so I may not get much sun. Another day without any errands so we are thinking about some housework. I had planned to vacuum downstairs yesterday but put that off to enjoy a binge watching of Forged In Fire. They are getting ready for the new season which will start on October 4. So vacuuming today. We don't sweep every day--not even every week. Basically we do it when we really notice the carpets need sweeping, and then remembering a week or two later that they need sweeping. I don't have the energy or stamina to push even our light weight vacuum around on both floors on the same day so it is a two day operation.

I have seen an ad dripping with pathos from some group that is bemoaning how little our do-nothing Federal legislature isn't doing anything to protect children from the evils of social media. They claim to be speaking for "mothers who have lost our children." They fall flat with me. First, at 74, I have seen all too many efforts at censorship and all of them were centered around the supposed welfare of children. None of them really protected kids from anything. The Comstock Act of the 1870s was not only aimed at prohibiting the shipment by mail of information on birth control which was deemed pornographic but also the "dime novels" which corrupted children by glorifying violence and outlaws. I remember checking out Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, The Shadow, and Doc Savage series books from the library and being admonished by the librarian for wasting my time on trash instead of reading real literature. Prudish attitudes lasted a long time. Does anyone remember the Comics Code which infantilized the comics genre until the 1970s when Marvel bucked the censors by publishing a Spiderman issue which dealt with drug addiction? I did read that issue though I was in my twenties at the time and noticed that the message was very much in line with the medical and political messages that drugs were dangerous. But the censors hoped to "protect" kids by keeping any information about any controversial topic out of their reach. Why they thought that would work when it never has in human history I don't know. Does anyone remember the Motion Picture Production Code (a.k.a., the Hays Code)? Look it up. It didn't really work for long although it did infantilize the movie industry for decades. It was eventually replaced by the ratings system which didn't censor the content directly.

I watched an interview with Mary Berra, CEO of General Motors and this cartoon encapsulates what I saw of her attitude:

I have wondered why economists have always attributed inflation to workers spending too much money thanks to all of those generous raises they have gotten over the last thirty years when none of it every kept up with inflation. But those minuscule increases in compensation over the years somehow didn't have any such effect.

And here is another very appropriate cartoon:

And I would add: don't take medical advice from DeSantis' Surgeon General.

Both cartoons found here.

September 20

 Supposed to get warm today--into the 80s. Possible early rain. No errands planned.

Yesterday we shifted from the news very early. When it became repetitive and featured segments that were neither interesting and/or informative the put on our own re-runs. Most of our news really comes from internet sites and by that I mean various news outlets where I can read the stories I want.

Everyone and then the talking heads do say something interesting but usually as a throwaway line. This morning did have a bit of a departure from that. Joe Scarborough asked Richard Haas if the U.N. still had relevance and Haas (who has written a couple of books I found very interesting) bluntly replied it hasn't much relevance any more. He mentioned the failings: keeping Russia from trying to annex Ukraine, failing to respond effectively to the various conflicts in Africa, etc. Haas is right but the present impotence of the U.N. has been foreshadowed from the beginning. The U.N. (and, therefore, the U.S. because of our treaty agreements) engaged in the Korean conflict BECAUSE the Soviet Union was boycotting and couldn't block the resolution in the Security Council. The world has become far more complicated. It is not a world dominated by the victors in WWII. You can see that in how many "developing" countries have refused to fall into line with the U.S. and its allies on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. We haven't figured out how to navigate the more complex world.

John Michael Greer has a good piece on his Ecosophia site today. His arguments mesh well with another article by the Honest Sorcerer on Medium which details a long list of crises our politicians and power brokers simply aren't dealing with. Instead our "leaders" are ignoring them, pooh-poohing them, gaslighting those who mention them, or simply saying there isn't anything we can do. Greer's article notes that our "leaders" are more interested in maintaining a status quo that maintains their power and wealth for as long as they can. Who gets hurt isn't important so long as it isn't them. Who falls into poverty isn't important so long as it isn't them.

September 10

 We had a nice steady rain for a couple of hours early yesterday and then sun for the rest of the day. I didn't see anything worth commenting on so I took the day off from the blog. Let's see what I find today.

The first thing I saw on the news today was that oil prices had exceeded $90/barrel. I thought I would check it out with a Google search. One of the top headlines, at a site I can't get the full story without a subscription, claimed the CEO of Chevron predicts prices will top $100 soon. And the next headline touts an expert who says we really don't have anything to worry about. I didn't read either article. Mom and I discussed what we heard on the news and considered what we would do if gas prices became painful. That is how we handle such news here--we consider our options.

The next thing we saw as the coverage of the Senate relaxing its dress code. Our first reaction: so what!! I don't really care if Fetterman of Pennsylvania votes from the door so he doesn't violate the dress code by going on the floor in shorts and a hoodie. I thought the coverage passed into the ridiculous when the reporter interviewed I forget which elderly female senator who was outraged and declared that she would wear a bikini. Whoopie!! I am afraid all of the comments about how the ditching the dress code lessens the dignity and respect of the institution. That train left the station a long time ago. The only institution with less dignity and respect is the House with the Supreme Court nipping at its heels.

Another story that has dominated over the weekend and yesterday has been the United Nations General Assembly meeting where Biden is giving an address today. A lot of ink (and pixels) have been expended over the absence of Putin and Xi. However, they aren't the only leaders of major countries who will give the meeting a pass. France's Macron and England's Sunak are also not attending. One article made a stray comment wondering (and reflecting the questioning of leaders of smaller countries) how really relevant the U.N. is in today's world. At the same time, on the fringes of the U.N. meeting 32 Atlantic rim countries are launching a Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation. You can get details on that here. And Foreign Policy has another article on the state of the United Nations--and it might not be so good.

For years Türkiye (once called Turkey) has been negotiating for admission to the E.U. According to this AP story President Erdogan may be reconsidering. Given the back and forth over his block of Sweden's entry to NATO (now joined by Hungary).

September 16, 17

Cool again but the temperatures are supposed to start rising for the next week. Thankfully they won't go into the hot range. The weather reporter this morning said that the 7pm sunset is the last for this year. Not a surprise since the Autumnal equinox is only a few days away. By the end of this month the patio will be in shadow with only some sunlight that hits the corners of the fence in the early morning and late afternoon. We have been watching a flock of small birds (maybe two dozen) and a family of ground squirrels feeding--the birds fighting over the perches on the feeder and the squirrels cleaning up what they drop. We wonder if all the frenzied activity means a hard winter is coming. 

The numbers coming out of Libya for the dead and missing are absolutely astounding. So far those numbers stand at 11k dead and another 10k missing. The only other "flooding" disaster I can remember that posted more victims was the 2004 tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean basin and killed almost 230k.

17*********************************************************************

We should get off and on rain today. 

Reading the stories about impeachment, including the embarrassing tit-for-tat nothing burger in Washington and the Paxton crap show of partisan loyalty triumphing over all, I am convinced that it has become a useless article in the various Constitutions state and Federal. Today we have a significant number of our politicians are nothing more than careerists who might as well use it as toilet paper. They are more loyal to their political parties than to any moral or ethical code. I can't imagine any of them signing a document pledging their "lives," "fortunes," and "sacred honor," as the Founding Fathers did in signing the Declaration of Independence. And I wouldn't trust any of them to keep that pledge.

The local (Chicago) TV news mentioned that the ice on and around Antarctica is at the lowest level we have ever seen. And that, as we are going into fall and winter, the southern hemisphere is going into spring and summer. This story on BBC gives more details.

There is a lot of talk about how the 14th Amendment, particularly Section 3, might be applied to The Former Guy--in particular to disqualifying him from running for the presidency again and from office should he be elected. I have misgivings about can or should be used. As a couple of the pundits have noted the issue will, almost certainly be litigated all the way to the (not-so) Supreme Court. How the judiciary might lean on the issue is problematic. Also, the argument that the amendment is self activating just like the requirements on age and citizenship are. Both of those attributes of a candidate are somewhat simple "yes or no" propositions. Either someone is of the required age or not. As we saw, in 2008 and 2012, the issue of citizenship can be contested, though unsuccessfully at that time. The issue of "insurrection," or "rebellion," as a disqualification is very contestable because those enter the realm of law. What is the legal definition of "insurrection," or "rebellion?" Does the the crime have to be charged and tried in court with the alleged criminal convicted before the Amendment is enforced? William Hogeland has a good piece on the history at his Bad History site.

September 15

Welcome to half past September. We have had about two weeks of cool temperatures and very cool nights. I said yesterday that with those cool nights the trees would start turning colors. When we went shopping yesterday we saw that along the highway. Every year you can see the change of seasons in the trees. Spring is foretold by a shimmer of iridescent green in the willows first and then the other trees. Fall is ushered in by a yellow, orange, or red ting to the leaves which then spreads through out the canopy. Across the street, one of the houses has a pretty bush that is a glossy dark green in summer but which has turned completely red now and its companion a few feet away is beginning to turn.

In case you thought that ransomware attacks were old news take a look here. My first thought: they had really poor cyber security. Getting into my bank account requires a password and a phone call from the bank. Getting into my cell phone account requires a password and the company sending an access code to my e-mail box. All the gang had to do at MGM was find an employee by way of LinkedIn and call the help desk impersonating the person and ask for help to get into that account.

I heard last night that Fox News was facing new lawsuits and assumed that it was another defamation case. Well, Susie Madrak at Crooks & Liars covers that and the defamation situation is related but not central. Instead the New York City pension funds (read fire fighters and police) and the state of Oregon are suing because of the threat to their investments. I've never thought much of Fox and never tuned in but they deserve everything they are getting.

Jake Johnson, also at Crooks&Liars, covers the UAW strike, which started last night. I don't have a lot of sympathy for the auto companies or their executives. However, the corporate behavior is in line with what we have seen over the years. Remember when the retail industry touted their "essential workers" during the pandemic and bumped up their pay or provide "hazard pay" with a lot of fanfare. And then cut all of that very quietly as soon as they could. I don't see that any of the executives are worth 200 or 300 or 400 times their average worker's pay. I think they shouldn't get more than 10x the pay of their LOWEST paid employee. I remember an article from several years ago which took apart the justification that such pay levels are provided as an incentive to do a really good job. The authors found no linkage between job performance and remuneration: those whose company lost money got their "bonuses" and raises as did their counterparts in companies that made profits. The real incentive was provided to the lower level executives and managers who could dream of getting into those stratospheric pay levels with their golden parachutes. Few of them ever would.

Several blogs I read have had stories about a possible new U.S. central bank digital currency. The Hill carries this story which indicates the program is rather far advanced. For several years we were pretty much into  digital banking. Our retirement checks are and have for years been directly deposited. When we had to file tax returns our refunds were directly deposited. We both paid our bills on line. Then we almost got scammed and were only a couple of clicks away from having one of our accounts emptied. Since then we decided that using checks and cash for the most part is wiser. We don't really think going entirely digital is a good idea.

This doesn't sound as far out in left field as one might think. And while everyone is fixated on the abortion angle no one thinks what else might be behind the tactic. And if the notion of The-Former-Guy-desperate-to-be-the-next-guy getting to appoint every senior military officer while gutting the civil  service doesn't scare you shitless it should.

September 12, 13, 14

 Just getting light outside and we should have another day of clouds and rain. I'm not complaining--my gardens look very lush. 

13********************************************************************

It started out sunny but the clouds are moving in. We may get more rain but not, hopefully, nearly as much as areas in New England have received.

The news announced that Mitt Romney isn't going to run for reelection when his current term ends. He cited his age and the current deadlocked politics. He is 76. Note: Biden is 78 and The Former Guy is 77. But no one has any idea of who should replace them. No one is really offering any proposals or policies. No arguments other than each loudly proclaiming "I'm not THAT guy." Aurelien has a nice (though long) article on the state of politics in the West today. He continues the series of critiques of the basic incompetence at all levels of government, business and all institutions. I'd like to say he's wrong but everything he writes reflects what I have seen over the last 30 years.

14**********************************************************************

We have our regular shopping to do later. But otherwise nothing else planned.

The first sentence in this EuroNews article is stunning: There have been deadly storms in almost as many days in September so far, as climate scientists warn that “nowhere is immune”

And then there is this article from the same source. I wonder how our disaster relief funds and organizations are doing given the 23 billion dollar+ weather events this year--a record.

September 9, 10, 11

We have had three days of off-and-on rain. The temperatures have cooled off which is nice. Not watering the gardens is good but not watering and not having to run the air conditioner is even better.

Doomberg has a good article that makes points I have read in other bloggers' posts for some time. As organizations have grown larger the number of divisions, committees, departments, etc., have exploded and the number of managers have also. There is an old saying that a committee is the only form of mammalian life with six or more legs and no brain. It is also a formula for doing less with more.

10*********************************************************************

Bright and sunny today. I have opened the patio door (leaving the screen door shut) hoping to get fresh air in the house.

I am getting very tired of all of The Former Guy's sycophants bleating that if he has to suffer the indignity of a trial on trying to subvert the last election or if he is barred from running (or being seated in office if, Gods help us, he wins) there will be blood in the streets. So the "mob boss" tells us that we have a nice little country and it would be a terrible shame if anything happened to it. All we have to do to make sure the terrible doesn't happen is pay the SOB off and SHTF up.

Found this on my e-mail this morning. We live in Northwest Indiana about 40 miles from Chicago. We go to bed early and were asleep by the time the quake happened. I had heard about one of the three others which occurred in August. Note: we are just over 200 years past the last big quake in a similar area: New Madrid. That episode consisted of two quakes over a very short time which changed the course of the Mississippi River. The area was still sparsely populated (by white people) so the death toll, that we know of, was light. A similar quake nowadays would resemble something like that along the Türkiye-Syria border, or worse considering the major cities along that fault.

11*********************************************************************

Welcome to 9/11 Remembrance Day. It looks like all of the news today will be interspersed with ceremonies across the country. I saw on little piece on a different 9/11 event that perhaps we should also be remembering: the overthrow of the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende and the institution of the Pinochet dictatorship fifty years ago with the financing and help of the U.S. A reminder that our politicians love democracy until democracy produces a result they don't like.

An analysis of Biden's trip to the G20 conference in India made a comment we should take to heart. It was clear that countries like the host, India, were't going to jettison their relationships with Russia and China. And the U.S. can't impose its view on other countries. And perhaps we should start adjusting our attitude by recognizing that demanding that others, either individuals or individual states, comply with your demands doesn't work.

And now for something really depressing. I read blogs by a different survivor of the Camp Fire and an account of another fire that destroyed another town. Their accounts reflect what the author of the linked article has written. I really dread what the aftermath of the Maui fire will mean for those victims, especially since the vultures are circling hoping to snap up property to turn it into something that screws over the survivors yet again.

MSN says the U.S. has set a record for the number of billion dollar+ weather events/disasters: 23.

September 6, 7, 8

 We should have thunderstorms off and on today. I hope so. I would rather let nature water my plants.

This is simply astonishing. It is hard to imagine two feet of rain in a 24 hour period. And they are talking about a possible tropical style cyclone developing in the Mediterranean.

I hadn't heard of "conservation gardening" and this article on Anthropocene is a nice introduction.

Medium put this article up that is interesting.

07******************************************************************

We had long and repeated internet interruptions and our cable also went our for about 4 hours. Hope that doesn't happen today.  We commented that such interruptions seem to be happening more frequently.

We had rain overnight and it is cloudy now. So another day or more that I won't have to water plants on the patio.

08*********************************************************************

No internet outages yesterday just nothing much worth writing anything about. Two more RepTHUGlicans lost in court. And Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis sent a reply to the RepTHUGlican who is pretending to be a Representative from Ohio telling him to butt out of her state case against The Former Guy and his merry ban of idiots and enablers. 

A report on the morning news said the GOP is considering "rebranding" its "Pro-life" slogan. The option mentioned is "Pro-Baby." Problem: their policy proposals are no more Pro-Baby than they are Pro-Life. The interest in life ends with birth either way and completely ignores the woman who has to carry a fetus to term no matter what risks to herself or the potential baby. Also the man involved in creating the potential baby is NEVER mentioned. I haven't heard of a second divine conception or an example of human parthenogenesis so why is the male partner never sanctioned or even mildly criticized?

Some of our indicated politicians should be very happy they aren't in the Turkish justice system.

September 5

Supposed to be sunny today and a little bit cooler with rain moving in tonight and through tomorrow. I hope so. The fewer days I have to water plants the better. After that we should get much cooler weather.

Yesterday was very short on real news over the holiday weekend--including yesterday. There was so little on TV we indulged in a Charlie Chan marathon followed by a whole bunch of our favorite SciFi oldies. Thank goodness for our DVD collection.

So far I haven't seen anything much on the news but we'll see what I find.

With schools reopening the ADHD drug shortages are again on the news this morning.  A quick Google search reveals a lot of stories on various drugs in short supply and it seems to me the shortages are pervasive and increasing. According to EuroNews the shortages are also pervasive in Europe as well with very long delays in getting new supplies. The basic problem is both the U.S. and Europe has shifted from making drugs (and a whole lot more) on their own territory to importing them from other countries, especially India and China. Perhaps that economic model should be reconsidered.

I found an interesting piece on Medium today: Is Democracy Committing Suicide? For quite a while now a major refrain on our various news/talk shows has been "our democracy is in danger!" Democracy is an idea; it can't really die or commit suicide. People can abandon it or be forced to abandon it. That has happened before. And what we call "democracy" can change. When I taught Western Civ classes at least one student would ask how ancient Athens could be called a democracy when a lot of the population couldn't vote. The franchise was limited to adult men of the "citizen class" which meant their parents (both parents) had been citizens. Women, like children, were under guardianship (females for their lives, male children until they came of adult age). The United States became a "democratic republic" when the Constitution took effect and the fact that the franchise was limited to white men who had "productive" property worth a given amount. It remained a democratic republic when the franchise was broadened to include all white males in the 1830s, and when women were included in the 1930s, and when African Americans right to vote was secured by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  We also remained a democratic republic when post Civil War violence and the imposition of poll taxes and literacy tests excluded most Freedmen. We are still a democratic republic as gerrymandering and other measures are whittling away at the electorate, especially among racial minorities. After a long time of broadening the pool of citizens who can exercise the vote we seem to be in a period of contraction when certain people want to exclude those of us they can't count on to vote the way they want us to. We have come to define "democracy" as "one person one vote" but that hasn't always been the operative definition. We are in the process of redefining it yet again.

September 3

 The temperature today and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 90s. No gardening beyond watering the plants very early. Otherwise nothing planned.

Perusing the news this morning I found this--another about the crisis in the insurance industry and insurance companies pulling out of Florida. A few months ago the story was about insurance companies leaving California because of the fires. The article said that all 50 states have areas where insurance is difficult or nearly impossible to obtain which sent me on a search for more information. This Axios article gives more details on the conditions in the industry. I also saw mention of the problem of rebuilding the public infrastructure: roads, power lines, sewers, water treatment plants. Insurance is such a large part of our economic lives it is hard to imagine how we would do without it. We are expected to have life insurance, property insurance, auto insurance, health insurance. I have seen increasing ads for pet insurance. Legally, we can't drive a car without auto insurance though we often hear about some driver involved in an accident who doesn't. Mortgage companies/banks often won't approve a mortgage if the potential borrower doesn't have home owner's insurance which only covers the lenders interest in the house. To rebuild you have to have property insurance on the house and be aware of what catastrophes aren't covered--like flood. The articles noted that many communities are at a tipping point of whether the have the resources to rebuilt on site, to move, or can't rebuild at all. If we paid all of the premiums to guard against future disasters what living expenses would we not have the funds to pay for in the here and now: food, rent/mortgage, fuel/utilities.

Every now and then something a politician says just is so stupid I can't not comment. The Stupid of the Week award goes to Vivek Ramaswamy for his claim that he would LET Putin keep the UKRAINIAN territory Russia currently occupies and DEMAND he end the military cooperation he has with China. Point #1: Ramaswamy doesn't have control of Ukraine and it doesn't look like the Ukrainians are in the mood to keep Ramaswamy's promise for him. I guess he thinks we can "starve" Ukraine of weapons and money to force them to capitulate. But that will really roil our alliances to our detriment. Point #2: he assumes that Russia would give up Putin's fevered dream of a new Russian Empire if we simply end the sanctions. I have read a lot of contradicting accounts of how effective (or not) those sanctions have been. I doubt they are doing enough damage to make Putin do anything he doesn't want to do any way. Point #3: why in the hell does Ramaswamy think the U.S. has any leverage in the bilateral relations between adjacent countries a world away.

This is interesting. Retailers are changing what goods they carry and how it is stocked because of massive losses from shoplifting and organized theft.  We have seen changes over the last several years that parallel what the article describes. Walgreens has installed several locked shelves for high priced items. Target removed many of their electronics after a spate of smash and grab robberies. And other stores have changed what they stock and drastically dropped several products. Another account of the trend is here.

September 1, 2

 Welcome to September. I got all five pots of mums planted. Sounds simple but for a couple it involved rearranging a couple of areas and digging out enough of the soil to remove a couple of blocks I put in hoping to stabilize the shepherds' hooks. By the time I finished I was pretty wiped out.

Listening to the news story this morning about the long sentences given two of the Proud Boys convicted of sedition. A couple of commentators were surprised that the sentences were half of what the guidelines set down. A couple of others were more sympathetic citing the tearful claims that the offenders were obeying a summons from their President. Not a one noted that acting on a superior's orders is ever an excuse for committing a crime. Most of the defendants at Nuremberg used that and found it falling on deaf ears. Even the code of military justice notes the right of service people to disobey unlawful orders. There are times when people have knowingly disobeyed a law they thought immoral as when they dodged the draft during the Vietnam Era. Some of those stood by their decision and went to prison for the principle. However, that isn't what happened on January 6. They were trying to overturn the results of an election they disagreed with. In an insurrection, as in a revolution, the rule is win or die. They lost.

02*********************************************************************

It was nice and cool this morning so I opened the doors and upstairs windows. But we expect the high to be mid 80s and the thermostat read 76 just now so I closed up again. But we did get some nice cooling for a while. We expect the next several days to be in the 90s before the 70s return late next week. I checked everything on the patio and only the large pot of sage needed water. It also needed some more soil since the level had subsided a bit. Tomorrow morning I will water everything well. Summer is evidently telling us she isn't done yet.

I almost forgot: Happy Labor Day weekend. Most holidays aren't all that significant for us so we tend to forget them. I forget where we were shopping at the end of June and one of the clerks wishes us a happy holiday. We wondered "holiday?" and she reminded us that July 4th was the coming weekend. We had been hearing fire works for nearly a month so the holiday itself  got lost.

Another Baby Boomer icon has passed: Jimmy Buffet at 76.