October 31

 Happy Halloween and welcome to the end of October. The current temperature is 22F according to The Weather Channel. They forecast a high in the mid 30s with chances of afternoon SNOW at 40% rising to 80% overnight. Possible accumulation of 1-3 inches and a low again in the 20s.

Well, the UAW and the big three automakers have reached tentative agreements that have yet to be voted on by union membership but the union leaders are recommending approval. The workers won't get the 40% increase they wanted but the 25% isn't chump change. I always thought the CEOs who got that 40& over the last 3 years exhibited both hubris and hypocrisy when they claimed corporate poverty when presented with union demands.

Stray thought: most of the commentators were somewhat bemused about the motivation behind the new Speaker's decision to link the aid package for Israel, without any for either Taiwan or Ukraine as proposed by the Biden administration), to a claw back of the money allotted to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act passed earlier this year. That money was intended to boost the number of IRS auditors who were supposed to target high earning shirkers. They call it a pay-for. What the commentators aren't recognizing is how such a move meshes with the aims of a significant portion of the Republican conference. If the IRS can't audit tax returns and we risk tax avoidance becoming another "national support."  Reduced compliance means reduced revenue which means the fiscal health of the U.S. they all are so-o-o-o-o concerned about becomes more questionable. Also it is entirely probable that any aid for either Israel and Ukraine will be delayed possibly for months as the measures bounces between the House, the Senate and the White House. Think about what I said yesterday about what would happen to our alliances if we fail to keep our word to our partners. But we also have a significant number of isolationists in the Republican caucus. The Former Guy took us out of the Paris Climate Accords and threatened to do the same for NATO. If we break our promises we won't have to leave the various alliance we are a part of. Our partners will kick us out. And it is still a global international world but we would be all alone in it. Take Britain's problems after Brexit and quadruple it.

I keep saying that the major problem with all the economists politicians rely on to tell us how good the economy is they don't do their own grocery shopping. That basically what Ian Walsh says here. The headline economic statistics the news media hype so regularly ignores some of the data that affects ordinary people most severely: food, fuel, or longterm unemployed people.

October 30

 It got cold enough last night for the furnace to come on so the temperature inside dipped below 68F.

This post came up today on the Tomdispatch site. It conjured up memories. Thirty five years ago or a bit more I read the Dower book (War Without Mercy). She provides a good short description of its description how we and the Japanese "dehumanized" the other side. (Note that same process of dehumanization occurred with respect to the American vs German side of WWII.) Another memories of about fifty years ago was an article in Psychology Today about the Argentine "Dirty War" conducted by the military junta against alleged "communists". I mentioned what I call the Chivington dictum several days ago: nits make lice. You don't make nice with lice or their young. You exterminate them. If you consider the humanoid enemy as the equivalent of lice, you stomp them. Unfortunately, we seem to be in a cycle of defining people, at home and abroad, with whom we are at odds as "inhuman", "subhuman", or not really human at all. Otherwise, we wouldn't have "demonstrations" where the rallying cry is "Kill the Jews" or "Jews will not replace us."

Robert Reich makes a number of very accurate comments on his Substack. In at least one point he could have gone further. He takes on the notion some, primarily, Republican politicians expressed that we can't "afford" to support both Israel and Ukraine. I am sure they are talking simply about the economic definition of the word and Reich addresses that meaning. A simple "thought experiment" would show a fuller notion of "afford." If we suspend aid to Ukraine we would basically abrogate our pledge to support Ukraine in its defense against and that would destroy our relationships in NATO and with Europe and other supporters we cajoled into the alliance against Russia. Many of those countries are already wary of the U.S. after the trump years and if how willing would they be to follow the U.S. lead in the next crisis (and there will be another crisis.) If we leave Israel twisting in the wind would Israel ever trust us again, if the country survives. The two major nations allied with the U.S. against Iran are (drum roll) Israel and Saudi Arabia. Commenters are consistently asking what will happen the day after if Israel manages to destroy Hamas. No one has any idea and circumstances we don't even foresee may make any such ideas unattainable.

Stray thought: I just finished reading another plea from a writer who recounted the experiences of various people, including family members, over a more than a century. From pogroms in Russia to a German who made repeated trips back to their villages to help others get out to the Sunday School teacher who showed the children the tattoo on his wrist. I would like to link but I discarded the post before I realized I wanted to keep it. Point is the writer makes a plea for a cease fire and asks people to contact their representatives to support one. He notes that sometime the cycle of violence has to stop if we want the killing to stop. I don't think it will because of a gut feeling that came out of a report this morning: Netanyahu is driving for a BIG win, that is the destruction of Hamas. I made a comment that he is cut from much the same cloth as The Former Guy and he hopes to retain power and short circuit the legal problems he has. He thinks such a "win" might do that. It would definitely shore up his base in the ultra conservative Jewish community and get him out of the power sharing that was forced on him. The U.S. and others has been urging restraint. It appears that Israel's operations have been somewhat restrained but one wonders for how long.

In any good, and most not so good, mystery stories the question usually is "cui bono"--to whose benefit. One interesting mystery novel, Under Pressure by Robert Pobi, starts out that way but finds the real answer is just the opposite, who gets hurt. That is a long winded way of introducing this article from Naked Capitalism. The author describes how American arms manufacturers are making a killing, in the financial sense, as Israel and its allies are making a killing (as in real physical deaths) in Gaza. That tells you who benefits (cui bono) but we don't really know yet who will lose the most in this. Nor do we have any idea of what kind the losses will be.

I tried to read this on the link from Naked Capitalism but the source was on the Fortune Magazine site and behind a pay wall. So I poked around and found this on Scientific American. I can't remember drug shortages until fairly recently. An interesting thought on the issue of generics: Mom has to take a particular drug for a permanent condition. The doctor prescribes a name brand and refuses to order the generic version. He told us the generic never tests accurately and he used to send his patients back for repeat tests. The pharmacists have tried to persuade her to get the doctor to prescribe the generics because of cost and are surprised when she tells them 1) she asked and 2) explains his reasoning. We have so often been told that the generics are just as good as the name brand just cheaper. Note in the story that an Indian company that makes generics stopped when a surprise USDA inspection revealed the company was not maintaining the standards expected for the medication. And how many drugs or drug ingredients are made in India? I don't know off the top of my head but it is a lot. Supply Chains are getting frayed.

October 29

 The overnight temperature inside dropped to 68F but so far hasn't gone any lower so the furnace isn't kicking in. Outside, according to the Weather Channel, is 44F. Not expected to rise out of the mid 40s. Should get some rain this afternoon and evening.

For the "Things That Totally Irritate Me" file: MAGA Mike, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives says we "don't have a gun problem. We have a 'heart problem'." Great way to simply say nobody has any role or responsibility to do something about the problem except the sick bastards who acquire a military style weapon and blow away their friends (if they have any), neighbors, and family (who have sometimes tried to get help only to have the system fail them). The shooters are the least capable parties to do anything helpful. Shortly before the Uvalde shooting the state of Texas( Governor Greg Abbott) slashed mental health resources.

Perhaps the best decision Mike Pence has made lately is to drop out of the contest for the Republican nomination. He was such an active and effective governor here in Indiana that I didn't even know his name. He never really campaigned outside of the church circuit. Watching him all through out the Former Guy's four years of mismanagement he was simply a ghost who was always in his master's shadow--and I don't mean the Jesus he supposedly worshiped. His one act of courage was to defy that master and certify the election of Joe Biden. Perhaps he thought he, like "America's Mayor" Rudi, could parlay his moment into a larger role. It didn't work. He was neither fish enough nor fowl enough. Not enough MAGA and not enough anti-MAGA. He gave cover for totally corrupt man who violated every fundamental moral belief of his (supposed) Christianity. He gave hope to those who had to hold their noses and vote for The Former Guy that the good man would somehow reform the amoral one. Just like they hope there is a good guy with a gun to take down the bad guy with a gun. HOPIUM!!

Military.Com posted this story which elicited an "Oh, shit!" exclamation from me. Not a good situation. And it also shows the chaos resulting when a technology one depends on fails. And it shows the difficulty involved in taking the system back to a lower tech alternative.

Patrick Lawrence at The Floutist makes a good point. Several news commenters noted almost in passing (as though whistling past a grave yard) that the vote in the U.N. General Assembly reveals that the U.S. is increasingly isolated on the world stage it had once dominated. The U.S. was one of 14 voting against it. Most of our "allies" abstained but that block of 44 reveals both how out of the main the Western blocks are and how fractured they may be as The U.K. and France voted for the resolution. Given The Former Guy's threats over NATO, exiting the Paris Accords on Climate, and other actions, many of our "allies" are questioning how far they should trust us. Sensibly many are charting their own course of action without regard to what the U.S. might say or do. Our government is trying to find its footing in a world which is no longer bi-polar (U.S. vs U.S.S.R.) or unipolar (U.S. alone) which all too many of our politicians can't get their heads around.

Daily News Hungary has a long piece on Viktor Orban that also shows some of the fractures within the EU. Note that Hungary is also a NATO member.

Modern Diplomacy highlights one source of the fractures: money. Some of the arguments parallel those of the politicians on this side of the Atlantic who want to know how new spending will be funded and demanding "pay fors" (i.e., reduction or elimination of already agreed upon spending) to cover new appropriations. It points to a fact most politicians don't want to acknowledge: both sources of funds (taxes and borrowing) are not infinitely elastic. At some point the promises made to Peter are going to be broken to cover those made to Paul. And no one knows what will happen once that cycle begins.

Another irritation: all the various groups and nations insisting that ISRAEL call a pause operations or truce of some kind. Did I miss something here: I seem to remember it was Hamas fighters streaming through the gaps Hamas blown the barriers NOT the Israelis. An old saying goes that it takes two to make peace but only one to make a war. We have seen that with both Ukraine and the Hamas-Israel conflict. I haven't heard of any pressure on Hamas to sue for peace. In fact they are making demands to allow foreign nationals to leave by the southern exit. Doesn't seem like they want to make peace.

October 28

 Almost the end of October and the temperatures are starting to reflect that. It has been a wet fall so far and the area here is no longer in any stage of drought. Can't say that for the Mississippi and many of its tributaries. The river is approaching record lows for the second year in a row.

The shooting drama in Maine is over except for the burials and psychological trauma left behind. And since the shooter killed himself, the answers most people want will stay obscure. And, of course, the Republicans will shift from bleating "this is not the time" to spouting what ever bullshit reason they can wet fart out of their oral orifices to continue to do the will of their true paymasters who aren't the majority of the voters. So they will do nothing.

October 24, 25

Good morning. Just getting some light outside. Not much planned today though that often has a way of changing. We had to pay rent--the end of the month comes so quickly. I also spent some time at the bank yesterday. The new phone was frustrating me and I couldn't get into my account on line. Well a very patient cashier worked with me for half an hour to get my phone set up. I finished the process this morning and easily did everything I needed to do. I will have to spend some time learning how the damned thing works.

25**********************************************************************

Cloudy and rainy today so we decided to finish our laundry. We have an errand to our local dairy on the schedule for tomorrow morning. The forecast is for rain later tomorrow so we hope to be home again before that.

The House Republicans have another Speaker candidate. An unknown from Louisiana who is known for supporting the Big Lie and opposing funding Ukraine. I don't know how he voted on the budget or spending bills. Earlier I thought of the title of one of Christie's books: And Then There Were None. All of the nine prospective candidates fell like bowling pins. The Former Guy wasn't able to get his chosen one but he certainly threw a strike at the rest of the hopefuls.

While I was reading some other material the Republicans got their crap together and put up a nominee for Speaker that was able to actually get elected. The new Speaker Mike Johnson from Louisiana. He is a "social conservative" which means he is in favor of abortion bans and other measures to restrict the rights of marginal people. He was a supporter of the big lies and efforts to challenge the votes Biden won. Early accounts reported that he is a fiscal conservative who may not want to support Ukraine or Israel and wants "pay fors" for new appropriations without specifying what programs would pay for the measures. We'll see what happens since to get measures passed he will need more mainstream Republicans AND Democrats.

October 23

 Good early morning. Cool, cloudy, and not much rain expected according to the Weather Channel. We have an early errand today but otherwise no real plans.

The early news/commentary posed an interesting question that hasn't been asked at all. All the political leaders have insisted that Israel has to, really has to, consider "what comes after" whatever they are planning in Gaza. The commenter suggested that the same question be asked of all of the Muslim governments involved. The way the question is usually posed and directed--at Israel--erases the fact that Israel is NOT the only actor in this. Hamas clearly has agency as shown by its attack on Israel. Iran has agency as shown by its financial and other support of Hamas. Qatar has agency considering that it is harboring Hamas leaders. I could go on down the list. They should also have to articulate what they see as the outcome--what comes after.

Another segment on the news this morning was a bit annoying. The commenter worried about an escalating situation in the Hamas-Israel conflict with the various patrons on each side getting gradually, or not so gradually, pulled in until it is a world conflagration. The talking heads made their comparison of today's situation to that of the beginning of WWII. I would go back further to the start of WWI. I still think Barbara Tuchman's THE GUNS OF AUGUST is the best account of the start of the war. European powers were split between two camps: Austria/Germany later joined by the Ottoman Empire vs. England/France/Russia. France and England were also guarantors of Belgian sovereignty. The War began in Serbia with the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne and Austria's threats to Serbia which brought Russia in to support their "slavic brothers." The conflict expanded from there especially when Germany violated Belgium's borders to attack France. Today we have a very similar situation and the only question is whether the Hamas attack will be our "assassination in Sarajevo."

Bill Astore reminds us how to read the war dispatches. It isn't just war dispatches that uses the passive voice to hide the source of the action or who exactly affected. Politics does the same especially when politicians want to hide who is responsible for actions they know will upset voters.

I heard another comment that interested me: Hamas can't be defeated because Hamas is an IDEA more than a group of people. Ideas don't die. They come back in a slightly different form. Just as the Islamic State was an idea and has appeared in various places under different names. That is likely what will happen with Hamas even if Israel is able to dismantle it and decapitate its local leadership especially since its top leaders are not in Gaza.

October 21, 22

Chilly and overcast this morning. It was cool enough this morning that I checked the thermostat. It was still at 69 so I didn't turn on the furnace. I checked again just now and the temperature had dipped to 68. I made sure the automatic setting was at 68 and turned on the furnace. It will only come on when the temperature goes below the setting. We have noticed that our electric bills have been a bit higher this year but the summer was very warm for a long time. We haven't had any trouble paying our utility bills but we try to keep tabs on them.

Doomberg has an interesting and long teaser this morning. A teaser because I can only read the first half and I would love to read the rest which is behind a pay wall. I simply can't afford the $30 a month subscription or the $300/year either. I have been fascinated by the dance between energy companies and climate activists. At one point the activists can pressure a company (either directly or through the "passive" investors like Black Rock) and get a so-called climate friendly board. But once the spotlight is off they backtrack. In the case Doomberg describes the back tracking came in response the dislocations that came with international events like the Ukraine-Russia war and now the amped up Hamas-Israel confrontation. But I have wondered about something that wasn't mentioned in the open part of the article--the tension between climate activism and consumers. And the fact that climate activists are also consumers that need gas, electricity and other necessities of modern life. When the price of those go up, for whatever reason, the howls rise.

We are watching soccer this morning and then we'll shift to DVDs. I scanned the news this morning and didn't see much new. The aid trucks are finally moving into Gaza. Everything else repeats what we saw last night.

I haven't seen many real discussions of the Biden Administration's proposed "aid" package. The proposal, as it stands last time I saw/heard it, wants a whopping $100+billion. One of the interviewers asked outright if we could afford that given all of the needs we have at home. Biden came back vigorously insisting that "of course" we can--we are the most powerful nation that has ever been. Only a couple of other commentators mentioned that part of the interview. Almost no one really drilled into the notion that somehow we can, as the old saying goes, have unlimited guns and unlimited butter. We tried that in the 1960s when the Johnson Administration declared "war" on poverty and massively increased our involvement in Vietnam. One critic carped that Johnson "declared war on poverty but funded a skirmish." But the Vietnam quicksand sucked up increasing amounts of tax dollars and the deficits ramped up. We really couldn't fund both at the same time and paid with massive inflation in the 1970s. We already have a high level of inflation at the consumer level though the economists insist it isn't all that bad. Most of them, of course, don't do their own shopping and they would rather believe the massaged statistics developed to make the politicians feel good. If it comes to a choice between guns and butter, butter is going to lose. Bill Astore calls the package "trigger treats."

22**********************************************************************

We had heavy rain early last night and high winds. I don't know what things are like right now because it is still dark. The sky is becoming a bit lighter but dawn is still about half an hour away. We had another domestic almost catastrophe. Mom mentioned that the downstairs toilet was a bit slow so I checked for a sewer backup and found everything dry. About two hours later the landlord's handyman was checking the connection to the main sewer. He asked if we had seen any water in the utility closet. I hadn't but checked again and there was water on the floor. Thankfully, it hadn't gotten any further. They got the line cleared fairly quickly.

Contemplating the Hamas-Israeli conflict I remember a scene in the DUNE miniseries (released 2000). Jessica tells Paul that she has seen the future he is unleashing and is terrified. He claims he can't stop it. Jessica protests that the violence will hurt the "innocent." He tells her, implacably, that there are no innocents any more. There no innocents in any war and the current conflicts in our world prove that. The screams of the bereaved and the injured are THE SAME on both sides but neither side wants to give more than lip service to the innocence of the "civilians" on the other side. There are neither innocents nor civilians in any of the conflicts. I doubt that there ever have been in any conflict. We follow the Chivington dictum: kill and scalp them all...nits make lice. I'll let you look up the reference. JanInSanFran at Can It Happen Here? makes a similar argument.

Scientific American has an interesting article on the spread of a parasite caused skin disease normally associated with tropical areas--in the U.S. Over the last few years we have seen several tropical diseases spreading in the U.S. An especially interesting tidbit in the article: the parasite has been found in samples from 18 years ago. And an "American" strain of the parasite has appeared.

I am not sympathetic to the notion of blasphemy. It really should be applied within a particular religious tradition and non-lethal penalties should only be applied to members of that tradition. However, I saw an image this morning that, if I were a practicing Christian, I would find blasphemous. It showed The Former Guy in court with a spectral Jesus seated beside him. He is NOT Christ's deputy on earth. In his actions and words he is the antithesis of Christ.

We just went out on an unscheduled errand. The cabinet under the sink has finally dried out enough to lay down a liner of newspaper. We don't subscribe so we decided to pick one up and get the few items on our grocery list at the same time. We were surprised that the grocery store didn't have any red cabbage. The stocker told us they hadn't had any for a while and didn't know when more would come in. I thought I would substitute a green cabbage but they only had about a dozen and they were huge. Even a small one would do us for four or five meals. So we didn't get any cabbage. We wanted a bottle of red wine primarily for cooking but a nip every now and then would also be good. But we got there at 11am and the cashier said that she couldn't sell it before 12. I did look up the laws in Indiana and everything I saw set no time limits for Sunday sales. We didn't argue. There are enough bitches out there. But we didn't get the wine either. And we wanted a newspaper. My god!! Those rags were pathetic. Even the Chicago paper was a ghost of its former self. We barely got enough newsprint for a shelf liner. There was no news worthy of the name. Even the Sunday funnies were skimpy. We did get the newspaper but aren't happy it cost 2 bucks. I wonder if we should have got a roll of regular shelf liners which would have been too good for the use.

October 18, 19, 20

Partly sunny today. Cool but warm enough to go about in jeans and t-shirt. The plants in the garden, for the most part are enjoying the cooler temperatures and the rains we have had. However, a couple aren't so happy with the much cooler overnight temps. The indigo has lost most of its leaves. I have to get off my butt--figuratively speaking--and start checking the seed venders on line. Planning for next season.

Found this on CNN this morning. I am not surprised that China and Russia are touting a "multi-polar" world. That is exactly what has developed over the last 30 years. The dissolution of the Soviet Union around 1990 resulted in a unipolar world which has now turned into the multi-polar world we now have. Most Americans have no little experience of a world in which the U.S. wasn't either one of two or the only big bull in the pasture. The Boomers (including this boomer) grew up in the era in which the U.S. and U.S.S.R. squared off on the world stage and the fall of the second came right in the middle of the two decades that mark the birth of the Millennials. Most of us haven't come to grips with what it means to be part of a world with more than two loci of power. As far as Russia and China wanting a "fairer" world, I have to ask for some clear definition of what that is exactly.

19**********************************************************************

Rain all day. And dealing with the aftermath of a serious leak in our garbage disposal. It is the second we have had but this time the repairman found the source and changed the unit for a new one. But that means we had a mess to clean up and we decided that we might as well clean up and sort out the contents of two other cabinets as well. Over time, we have changed our cooking and we don't need some of the utensils we acquired or we don't use them as frequently. We have two cabinets done and have one more to go. As an old saying goes: clean on spot and suddenly there are more that need cleaning.

20**********************************************************************

Cloudy but not much rain today. Also quite cool--the temperature hasn't passed 60 yet.

Jim Jordan struck out again and with fewer supporters than on the first two failures. The news said he announced that he is no longer a candidate for Speaker. So we have another weekend without a functioning House.

Another of the Former Guy's attorneys has made a plea deal. So the tally is Georgia 3--RICO defendants 0. 

Tom Englehardt asks a good question: Are We The Dinosaurs of the 21st Century?

Stray thought on the Hamas assault on Israelis: I wonder if any of the politicos who are insisting that we need to finish THE WALL on the southern border watched the pictures of Hamas fighters blowing holes in the border fence between Gaza and Israel or using bulldozers to break through the barriers?

October 17

 Still dark here. The weather forecast predicts partly cloudy but dry conditions. We had some errands yesterday. That is always, nowadays, an exhausting prospect. But we needed cat food and litter. Can't to without that. So we took care of some other business as well.

Mom got a coupon birthday present from Best Buy. We might have ignored it but we hadn't been in the store for a while and had seen the reports that they were getting out of the DVD/Bluray market. We haven't found many interesting DVDs for some time. I think I have only bought two items this year--the complete set of Numb3rs episodes and the first part of the new Dune. We did pick up a couple of disks. Observations: 1) their video section has been shrinking for the last five years. It used to occupy about a quarter of the floor space before the pandemic. That section shrank to a single display of "new" releases and a third of one wall. Now it was only two shelf displays on the floor and most were re-releases. But I also saw a similar sized display of vinyl records. That market has come back and I expect a small market for disks will exist for people like us who like to have our own re-runs on hand. And 2) they were EXPENSIVE. Which means we will be even more selective going forward.

The great shrinking DVD section is something we have noticed at a couple of the "big box" stores as well. A lot of people are shifting to the "streaming" services. But recently we had a disruption of both the cable service and internet for six hours. I was able to read because my entire collection of books are on my iPad and we could watch our own DVDs. That is something else we have noticed: more frequent interruptions in service. Almost every day we get messages on our computers that we are off line. Usually they are followed by a message that service has been restored.

This is surprising only in the price tag for the proposed new Alabama prison--a little over $1billion.

Something also not surprising are the reports of Rep. Jim Jordan's thuggish behavior in his attempt to become Speaker of the House. After all think about who is his most famous supporter--The Former Guy. According to the TV news over the last couple of days, Jordan and his supporters have threatened opponents with being primaried, denied committee assignments and other adverse actions. Isn't blackmail and extortion wonderful.

This seems to be the morning for the "not surprising" but sad news. PEW has a new poll that shows just how dismal we feel about politics.

Robert Reich preaches an on point sermon. Amen!!

October 15, 16

Half past October--only two and a half months left of this year.

Found this story this morning. There are areas we don't get much news about. Tajikistan is one of the "Central Asian Republics" that split off the old Soviet Union. They used to get, perhaps, 3 sand/dust storms a year. This year they have had 35. Last Week In Collapse noted the Tajikistan dust storms as well as the drought in the Amazon area where several tributaries of the great river at lowest levels in memory or completely dry. Recent reports say the same for the Mississippi and that sea water is pushing up the river threatening drinking water and shipping.

Lyz at Men Yell At Me makes a good point: Apocalypse is always with us. The World AS WE KNOW IT is always ending. Which means, as long as the sun doesn't explode or planets don't collide, something will survive. If it is us we have to adapt.

16**********************************************************************

Cloudy today. We may get more rain. It has been a wet fall so far. Some of the plants that were showing the stress of our very warm summer are reviving but we should be getting frosts soon. It has come close but not quite yet.

The media is still holding what looks like a "death watch" waiting for whatever Israel will do and blowing as much hot air as they can in their various time slots. I am left wondering how many "Catch-22" situations are involved. Yes, Israel has a "right" to hit Hamas but they mustn't hurt "civilians." Question: how the hell do they do both? I haven't seen anyone with "Hamas" tattooed on their foreheads. I didn't see any uniforms on the men running through the gaps in the fence on their way to brutalize anyone (Israeli or otherwise) they crossed path with. I have read a good bit of history and I have yet to read any account of any military action that could avoid "civilian" casualties during assaults against soldiers. How many civilians were killed by Sherman's march through Georgia? How many German civilians were killed in the bombing of Dresden? And then when Israel warns Gaza civilians to leave threatened areas Hamas tells them to stay put. And where can civilians go when the northern border exit was destroyed in the early hours of the Hamas and the Southern exit is controlled by Egypt which hasn't been opened despite promises that it would be. Sherman, the same Sherman I mentioned above, said "War is hell" and he took the pain of the war to the civilians did not actively fight but did encourage the soldiers and supplied them.

That brings up another cluster of stray thoughts. Some time ago, listening to stories of the latest labor unrest, that when God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden cursing them with having to produce their bread by the sweat of their brows, we have tried to evade that curse. Only some humans have managed that by skimming off some of what others produce. And we forget that there were two trees the fruit of which were forbidden: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Adam and Eve only got to the first and one reason for their exile was so they wouldn't get to the second and like God and his angles--immortal. We have been trying to evade that as well. Modern medicine has over the last two centuries doubled our life expectancy at birth but immortality is still out of reach. For the last century or a bit we have tried to "civilize" war. But that hasn't been a great success either.

October 14

 Well, Saturday morning and we have rain. Supposed to have more tomorrow. We simply did nothing yesterday. I had supper cooked on Friday when I did up baked chicken breasts with veggies. We took over the leftovers yesterday.

The constant harping of the news media on the civilian suffering both in Israel and Gaza. Hamas has started releasing pictures of their own people suffering from both the Israeli bombardment and the cut off of fuel, food and water. Another odd stray thought came into my mind. I don't know how many remember the TV series MASH. The episode that comes to mind is the one where a writer who is a friend of Hawkeye's is brought into the surgery gravely wounded and dies on the operating table. Henry tells a grieving Hawkeye that he was given two rules in the course designed to turn civilian doctors into officers. Rule #1 was that "In war, young men die." Rule #2 was that "Doctors can't change rule #1." The more accurate reading would be if Rule #1 said "In war, PEOPLE die. Young or old, male or female, it doesn't matter. They DIE." And if Rule #2 said "The only ones who can change that dynamic are those who start the wars." And let's not play the equivalence blame game. Hamas started this round of fighting.

Another stray thought was the conclusion of the Computer at the end of the movie War Games: Strange Game. The only winning move is not to play.

Another stray memory and one most people might not remember. The original Star Trek presented an episode in their third and last season titled "May This Be Your Last Battlefield." The crew of the Enterprise encounter a pair of aliens. Each has white skin on half of their bodies and black skin on the other half but they are mirror images of each other so that pattern is exactly opposite. One claims persecution and demands sanctuary while the other claims he is an officer pursuing a political criminal whom he demands be turned over to him. In the end they do get to the planet their "guests" came from only to find there are no sentient life forms and the cities are rubble. The two survivors of the dead civilization immediately blame each other and their people, attack each other taking their combat back to the surface. At the time the episode was aired critics thought it a very heavy handed comment on the state of race relations in the U.S. Today it would do very well for so many of our current situations including Ukraine and Israel/Gaza.

Now to something more trivial--Since the shutdowns of the pandemic we noticed that one of the sections that had become scantier was the DVD sections. Target, Meijer and other such stores have seriously eliminated much of what they carried. Just this morning Best Buy announced that they will no longer carry DVDs because streaming service have cut into the market. We tried Netflix and canceled the service because, as I think I have written before, it carried movies we simply didn't want to see. We had months where they had nothing of interest. Why pay for what doesn't serve your needs? One of the anchors asked what you will do if your internet goes down or something interferes with your service? We can go to our collection just like I can read my books because I keep them on my iPad.

This was posted on Crooks & Liars and has me shaking my head. I have heard about splitting hairs but these guys are splitting the very finely. Somehow they want the court to believe the Presidential oath to "protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution" doesn't mean to "support" it and the 14th Amendment shouldn't be applied to The Former Guy.

Talk about dirty tricks, another Crooks & Liars story reports that a group, that may not have a legal existence, has been hit with a "cease and desist" order after papering a Virginia neighborhood with flyers threatening residents with loss of Social Security, Medicare, Child subsidies and custody and more if they haven't voted in recent elections. Here is the original story on the local News 7 site.

October 13

Welcome to Friday the 13th. Hope it won't be terribly unlucky. We aren't going any where and don't have anything planned. I don't plan on commenting on what ever new insanity and disfunction I read about unless it is something new. So far I haven't seen anything yet.

This is almost as dismal as the chaos in the U.S. House of (Un)Representatives and the depressing situations around the world (Ukraine, Israel to name only two.) Another animal tranquilizer is appearing in drug related deaths and it isn't neutralized by Narcan.

This is equally depressing. But we shouldn't be surprised. The Former Guy said there were "good people" on both sides of the demonstration in Charlottesville where white supremacists chanted "Jews will not replace us." All through his (mis)administration assaults on Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians, and trans increased. For the last fifteen years I have felt that the "tribes" that have uneasily occupied this country have been increasingly restless and are now fighting for who will dominate whatever will be left.

Often over the last few years I have often wondered about how dependent we are on our technology. We get all our news on cable and the internet. Our newspapers have shriveled into useless wastepaper. Just the other day our cable and internet were out for about six hours. I could read because my entire library is on my I pad. I simply don't trust the cloud if we cannot make connections. This story is only the latest about "someone" using the internet to deliver attacks.

James Kunstler evidently is feeling much the same as I am with a few different details. 

October 12

 We have rain today and the weather forecast has been changed to predict rain till Tuesday next week. At least we don't have the storms hitting central Florida.

The coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict is still the main topic and is still incredibly lacking in historical perspective, speculative, and repetitive. I don't know how many questions were lobbed at interviewees about tactical or strategic mattes that no one with any brains were going to answer because it would provide Hamas with too much information. Unless, of course, they wanted to dispense disinformation.

Caitlin Johnstone has a long piece this morning that makes some points with which I agree. She is not a fan of U.S. foreign policy and takes little for fact just because some spokesperson or expert spouts it. That is why I read her pieces. It provides a different perspective. Johnstone note, accurately, that too many claims of atrocities are not verified. Most of our news sources have repeated them without criticism and the chorus of condemnation by our politicians have done the same. Only one anchor that I have seen so far has been at any pains to emphasize the lack of verification. Joy Reid  provided a lengthy caution on her Reid Out program last night. In today's world of Photoshop and parties who staged attacks for propaganda value, I don't even take pictures for gospel. Pictures do lie. Johnstone is also correct in noting that the whole thing has 9/11 hysteria feeling about it and it has since the beginning when the bodies began stacking up. One of the first comparisons across multiple pundits comments was how the number of Israeli victims, given Israel's population which is larger than Chicago and a third of New York City, compared to the U.S. victims of 9/11. The psychological impact, however, is similar and intense anger and grief drive out any rational analysis and any caution.

The impasse over who will be the next Speaker of the House continues. The private vote among the Republicans yielded a win for Rep. Scalise but his total of 113 votes is far away from the 217 he needs. His opposition within his own party includes many who did not vote to remove McCarthy and several members of Gaetz' little crew of arsonists. And some are making demands that simply can't be met.

Bill Astore has a good post which parallels some of Caitlin Johnstone's. There is a madness that takes over in war. We don't see anything that came before and can't imagine what comes after.

Another couple of stray thought as we listened to the brewing debate about the pro-Palestinian protestors and those who disapprove or stage counter protests: I think I noted yesterday a tendency of the Palestinian side to have long memories of the wrongs they claim(probably with justification depending on the wrong they mention) as do the Israelis (also with justification). Each side brings up their grievances while minimizing those on the other side. The first thought is one my parents harped on--two wrongs don't make a right; they are simply two wrongs. The second thought is that each side each side insists that the wrongs they have received so outweigh the wrongs they have done as to make them negligible. There is no scale which can fairly balance wrongs against each other. Nor can justice be achieved by such a means. Astore's choice of Ares to lad off his article above is suitable since Ares is the god of war who makes the bloodlust rise in warriors in combat.

October 11

 We have sun for now. Rain is supposed to come in this afternoon and for the next three or four days. I tried to detach my garden hose but it won't budge. When I attached it in the spring I only tightened it finger tight. Our landlord is going to send over their handyman to get it off for me. We have always been grateful for such good landlords.

We have again shifted away from the news. So much of it is on the Israel-Hamas conflict and offers very little in the way of facts and a lot of speculation. My feeling: there isn't anything I can do except observe. It looks like people are separating into two camps neither of which I can join. One is entirely in Israel's camp: Hamas perpetrated a terrible crime and must be punished even at the expense of the general Palestinian population amongst whom they hide. The other excuses the attack and the suffering of Israelis none of whom they consider innocent in the matter. That dynamic is playing out now as the cries of indignation rise from both sides when the other criticizes the victims they decide are most worthy of condemnation.

Denise Donaldson posted a good article on "It's STILL The Economy Stupids (just not the way they mean)." I am amazed that the economic pundits still pontificate on how we are so misguided to think the economy isn't as good as they say it is--at least for the lower 60%. 

Stray thought for those demanding "restraint" from Israel: is it reasonable to demand restraint from those who have suffered from an unrestrained attack? Another stray thought: why does each side need to pretend those they support are pure as pure can be while the other side is so black that no distinctions can be seen? 

October 9, 10

 Still dark. Since the autumnal equinox our daylight has shrunk. Dawn doesn't come til around 7am now. We have also had very cool overnight lately. We added our crochet spreads to the beds and brought out our winter clothes. Still haven't turned on the furnace though some of our neighbors have. The seasons have definitely changed.

I shifted away from the news already. None of the coverage is all that informative. A lot of speculation goes toward the questions of what and how Israel and the U.S. missed the build up to the attack. What I find interesting is none of the sources aren't paying much attention to the low tech nature of the attack; hang gliders for example. How much else went low tech, old school.

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

Bright sun right now by the weather channel said we have a frost warning for about 8am. Last night temperatures were in the high 30s. I plan to bundle up and start clearing some of the nearly spent plants and deadheading the mums. The diplodenia are the most sensitive of the plants in the gardens so I expect them to start showing the cold stress soon. I know the valerian, indigo, and asiatic lillies should come back next spring. I hope the hibiscus are hardy enough to do the same. We'll see. I should start looking at the seed companies and figure what I want to order for next year.

Nothing has happened on our national political impasse so there is nothing to comment on--not even sarcastically. And we won't know we won't know what is going to happen in the Israel-Gaza situation until it happens. Nothing looks good there. I did notice something today--actually since last Sunday. I haven't been able to get into the Jerusalem Post site.  I get a "bad gateway" message. I found the Facebook page for it which seems to be working although it doesn't have much in the news. I have been able to get on Haaretz. In case you are wondering, I also read Le Monde, NHK, Ekaterina, ANSA, Dutche Welle, and other foreign English language sites. Most are saying pretty much what the U.S. sites are saying.

On to other issues--I found this today although the article was in my e-mail  yesterday. We have long been as careful as we can be about what additives are in the foods we buy. Can't avoid all of them but we have reduced the amounts quite a bit.

Going back to the Israel-Gaza conflict, David Kaiser has an interesting post on some history that should raise some concerns. As the quip that is often attributed to Mark Twain goes "history doesn't repeat but it does rhyme." And a stray thought has brought up the title of a book published a few years ago about economic crises: This Time Is Different. The various crises were never really different because people tried the same tactics over and over. And another stray thought: doing the same thing time after time and expecting a different result is the definition of madness. The last attributed to Albert Einstein.

Anne Applebaum has a good article in The Atlantic. She covers the post WWII "rules based order" very well but, again, I have thoughts of another "rules based order" established after the Napoleonic Wars. Some historians referred that period as the Long Nineteenth Century and ended with WWI. Europe suffered few wars on its own territory and those were short and sharp. From around 1880 on the order established after 1815 began to crumble with competition between the European countries and increasing violence from anarchists and revolutionaries. The whole tottering structure exploded with the murder of the Austrian Grand Duke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Serbia. Everyone thought the war would be short and sharp like the Franco-Prussian War but it turned out to be long, vicious, and destructive like the American Civil War. 

October 7, 8

Well, it may be a nice calm early morning here but another bit of shit has hit the fan as Hamas has attacked Israel and Netanyahu has announce Israel is in a state of war.

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

Day 2 (or day 27515 perhaps) of the Israeli-Palestinian war. If you are wondering about the number in parentheses, that is the number of days between May 4, 1948 when the state of Israel was born. I could have taken the count back to 1917, the year when the Balfour agreement was established which promised Jews a "homeland." Yes, I do have a point and that is the ubiquitous use of "unprovoked" to describe the latest attack. It is only unprovoked if you only consider the 5 minutes before the rockets went up. History does matter and it needs to be told truthfully and accurately. Caitlin Johnstone, with whom I don't always agree, had a longer bit on the obfuscating use of the term "unprovoked."

Another term that has been over used and misused frequently for some time: Terrorist. Basically our politicians world wide use it to describe groups we disagree with and who don't mind using violent means. But the word is used very selectively. For years our security agencies and police refused to use the word to violent home grown groups. Only since January 6, 2021 have we seen references to white home grown violent groups as terrorist. We do the same with respect to groups opposed to governments we consider friends. Also the two terms, unprovoked and terrorist, are used in conjunction. How often has destruction or appropriation of Palestinian property been presented as a justified response to a provocation by the Palestinians? Again it may have been provoked if you only consider the five minutes before the reprisal.

Bill Astore has a substack post that asserts "Democrats Are Undemocratic." He has often expressed a pet peeve of mine: I don't see much difference between the two major parties. They both are more aligned with the financial/business interests than everyday folk--no matter what Joe Biden's personal sentiments are. But I don't see voting for a third party as a real option right now. A second term for The Former Guy would be a total disaster. A second term for Biden offers the least threat to continued Constitutional order. Our political system developed from the early days when political affiliations were largely informal. But it quickly morphed into a system dominated by two parties: Federalists vs. Jeffersonian Democrats (a.k.a., Democratic Republicans), Whigs vs. Democrats, Republicans vs. Democrats. The last time we had a President of one party and a Vice-President of another was John Adams' term when Jefferson (who garnered the second place number of electoral votes) became Vice President though opposed to Adams' (and Alexander Hamilton's) policies. Not many years after it became normal that the President and Vice President were elected as a package deal. Most European democracies are "parliamentary" systems where the leader of the victorious party becomes head of government or, if there is no majority, the leader of the largest party gets the opportunity to form a government. The winner of our elections becomes President but he (and it has always been a "he") has no guarantee of a unified government--a situation we have now with a Democrat as President and a Democrat majority in the Senate but a Republican majority in the House. And voting for a third party candidate which might ensure the election of a candidate who has already tried to gut the Constitution and plans to do a more thorough job in a second term isn't really on the program.

I have been storing up a number of observations and questions as the new iteration of the violence in Israel continues. 

1) So many have commented on the failure of Israeli and U.S. intelligence and wonder what happened. I can think of something that might explain some of the failure. About a decade ago after Russia successfully attacked the computer systems that controlled the Ukrainian energy sector. In another cyber attack they tied up the governmental and banking computers in Lithuania, I think it was. One of the commentators I read this morning suggested that Hamas wend "old school" and coordinated by way of written encoded messages carried by hand. That would eliminate so called "signal intelligence." As far as satellite surveillance, Hamas has had years to learn to evade the eyes in the sky. The biggest question is what happened to the famous network of "human intelligence" Israel had? Dead, isolated, no longer willing to help? 

 2) The repeated expressions of stunned belief that such "unprecedented " events could happen stuns me. Again the use of that term. But nothing that has happened is beyond historical experience. Even of recent experience. Bucha, the Rohingya, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. Perhaps we all should recognize that any sense of security can disappear very quickly whether by violence as in Ukraine or Israel or by natural disasters as has happened all over the world with fire, flood, or storm.

3) We seem to think the past is irrelevant but we can't escape it even if we don't learn about it. Or if we learn a highly edited version that soothes our egos. The contest between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has roots that go further back than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Türkiye government officials still get irate with any mention of the "Armenian genocide." Another bit of history that continues to irritate.

4) Things change; a trite saying but true. When Israel was established the Muslim world was almost completely united in opposition. The reports have noted various wars over Israel's history including 1973 against Egypt and Syria. But over that time the implacable opposition has moderated. Egypt and Jordan have made peace and Saudi Arabia is in talks to normalize relations. Hamas is looking at a time when most of their support will be rhetorical.

 

October 6

Still early and I have no idea what I will be doing today. Maybe I will just vegetate. 

This CNN report on Chinese young people leaving their jobs and throwing "resignation parties" to celebrate. This is on top of reports of the "lay back" and "let it rot" movement. Japan has had its own version of the great youth check out movement; I forget what they call it. I wonder how many other countries are experiencing this phenomenon.

To Continue on the theme of labor and its discontent, CNN posted this article that intersects with the strikes in the health care industry. My mother earned her LPN degree about fifty years ago before the powers that be in the nursing industry eliminated those programs. Since that time there have been four or five periods of nursing shortages. Each time the nursing schools enrolled large numbers of prospective nurses and, each time, by the time those new students graduated (those who did finish their programs, found a glutted job market. The current shortage is partly the result of the stress on health care staff during the pandemic and lead to numerous nurses (and doctors) to leave the profession. The complaints that the schools are suffering from a shortage of teachers and can't find enough of applicants with advanced degrees make me wonder if it isn't a bad case of credential inflation. 

Meyerson On TAP, on The American Prospect, has an interesting suggestion for dealing with the violence on our border much of which is driven by the gang cartels. Some of our idiot wing Republicans vying for the party's nomination think sending our military into Mexico to wipe out the gangs. Some think we should do so whether Mexico agrees or not. Hint: Mexico has said repeatedly that we won't have their permission. They suggested we do something about the weapons our gun manufacturers are sending south of the border. They even filled a suit against the manufacturers (joined by several states) that met its expected demise when the court dismissed it. Meyerson suggests sending our military into Mexico to deal with the gangs at the same time we let Mexico sent its military to blow up the gun factories. Sounds good to me.

For a change of pace this post was about the Wara Art Festival in Japan. The sculptures were on a them of The Sea of Echigo and used the straw left from the rice harvest. Take a look.

Well, this is hopeful. May the recovery continue and the rest of the island and its people recover as well.

October 5

 Wet today so anything I do will be indoors. I thought yesterday the plants needed water today. Nature is doing it for me.

I am going to go on a bit of a rant that people might not like. The news covered the healthcare workers' strike at, I think, Kaiser Permanente. The barely mentioned what the workers want/need. They didn't talk about what the company is saying. But the DID show a cute baby who was scheduled for surgery to ease a painful condition and his sobbing mother crying because the surgery had to be postponed. Here's the rant: I hear this every time there is a strike that involves health care workers, teachers, police or firefighters. We even hear politicians yelling about passing "no strike" laws because the strikers are so necessary to children's education, sick people's care, or public safety. But what about ensuring that those people can receive the pay and benefits that allows them to have a comfortable life with their families? Then you hear the CEOs or politicians pleading poverty. End Rant.

Aurelian, on his substack, deals with question: What's The Truth?" The "truth" is the answer is messy.

MSNBC posted this article on the arguments the Supreme Court heard on the CFPB v Community Financial Services Association. It is a long article and I abandoned it when the author started trying to explain the Constitutional argument the plaintiff used. I find so many so-called conservative arguments confusing word salads hoping to appear dazzlingly brilliant while actually baffling with bullshit.

MSNBC put this CNBC article which indicates, to use my assessment, some sanity may be returning to the mortgage market as unfortunate as that may be for people hoping to buy a house. During the pandemic it looked like we might be returning to the era of NINJA (No Income, No Job or Assets) loans which turned out so well in 2007-8. 

Caitlin Johnstone wrote a short fiction titled "Relish the Gaps" which says a good deal about our modern life.

October 3, 4

 Hello, to you all on a sunny and warm day. We had an errand early this morning and decided to have breakfast out. I had a yen for waffles which Mom shared so we went to our favorite restaurant which we don't visit nearly as often as we did before the pandemic. Most of our old favorites have changed their menus and raised their prices. We haven't enjoyed them nearly as much. But we have also found that we simply can't eat the amount of food they put on the plates and we really don't want to take the remains home. We asked if, next time we can order one meal with two plates. They said we could so we might go back soon.

I just found this piece on Naked Capitalism about the academic shortcomings of the current generation of students and it isn't pretty. My problem with the piece is that it deals with math performance alone. In high school I took two years of algebra, and a year each of geometry and trig. In college, I also had calculus and other advanced math. But I don't remember much of them. In my working life, I had much younger colleagues who couldn't do basic math without a calculator. Some couldn't figure simple decimal and percentage problems. I said that math was just part of the problem. I don't know how many times I have been simply flabbergasted by the ignorance of some of our politicians. They "misstate" basic historical facts and have little notion of geography. It isn't a matter of The Former Guy, who has never been known for erudition and is only four years older than I am, who, in a stump speech, seemed to confuse George H.W. Bush with George W. Bush and claimed he defeated Obama and that Biden would lead us into WWII. Too many younger writers have such a very weak command of English I wonder what their English grades were like. It is good to have a course of study that provides a good basic education in math and science but not everyone, perhaps not a majority, will want to pursue a career in those areas. I shifted from science to history. I took a basic course in computers and coding which convince me that, though I like using computers, I really did't want to go further into computers and science. There has to be a path forward for people like me.

04*********************************************************************

Another sunny and warm day. I don't have much to do so I am just puttering around. We are binge watching old episodes of Forged In Fire. 

We cut off our usual news early on because they were minutely directing the mess in Washington. That can be very concisely summed up: Democrats didn't save McCarthy who lost 8 of the Republicans and so McCarthy lost. The talking heads said that his Speakership is one of the shortest ever and the first ever Speaker to be "fired." I guess he is following the example of his party's leader who is the first ex-President to be indicted, the first to be indicted twice, the first to be indicted thrice, the first to be indicted four times, the first (I think) to have been convicted of sexual assault, the first to be convicted of defamation, the first to have been convicted of business fraud. The House is in recess until next week when they will start the process of electing a replacement. How long that will take is a big question. And of course they only have about 45 days to pass a budget or another continuing resolution.

Brian Rosenwald at his World According to Brian substack site encapsulates the whole FUBAR situation very well.

And so does Charlie Sykes at the Bulwark who confirms that McCarthy had the shortest term as Speaker except for the unnamed guy who died in 1876. He also highlights how McCarthy was the author of his own downfall.

Some years ago I read that the Saudis had ended their experiment in growing grains by irrigating the desert fields from the aquifers under their own land. They recognized the unsustainable nature of using an increasingly limited resource to try to grow wheat (or whatever) in thee desert. So they started taking over land and water rights in other countries including the U.S. Arizona's governor has decided the cancel their leases in an arid part of Arizona. Considering the struggles with urban growth, much of it technically illegal, around Tucson, the measure makes sense. I remember some accounts of the controversy because several of those satellite towns have been or are soon to be on their own as Tucson has, or soon will, no longer provided them with water.

Jeff Jackson (a Representative from North Carolina) has an account on his substack describing the drama in the House chamber when the voting on the resolution to vacate the chair.

October 2

Welcome to the first Monday in October when the (not-so-)Supreme Court starts judicial year. It is shaping up to be a potentially consequential year. A commentator on the morning news/talk show said that Americans have become accustomed to "government by crisis." A couple of the cases the Supremes are going to decide will, potentially, make government even more crisis ridden and chaotic.

Some of this sounds so familiar. We are very skeptical about additives and try to minimize the kinds and amounts. Given our economy it isn't practical to eliminate all. I can understand the parents' suspicion of mass produced meals. I think of all of the cases we have had of contaminated foods: peanut residues, baby foods, lettuce etc. The problem with mass production is so much product is pushed out so fast that by the time anyone realizes there is a problem it is nation wide.

It looks like North Carolina is setting up its own "secret police". I almost wrote "Gestapo" but I am trying to get away from those type of comparison. Secret police organizations, in history, aren't limited to Germany under the Nazi government. When you use such lazy descriptions that have ties to particularly pernicious groups (Gestapo=Nazi) it is all too easy for the group you are criticizing to legitimately deny half of the equation (We're NOT Nazis) to undermine what you are criticizing (that they are supporting a secret police.) 

September 30, October 1

Last day of September. Will we have a government shut down tomorrow? Evidently McCarthy is planning to bring a 45 day short term funding bill to the floor at 11:45 this morning--about 40 minutes from right now. It will need a 2/3 vote to pass. At least it is sunny and moderately warm today. I looked at my gardens noting plantts that need to be taken out. I like to leave the plants in through winter partly to provide ground cover and partly to see if they will survive the cold. I also noted several that need a bit of a haircut. I already got some more of the What-Not room straightened. I placed a Herrschner's order last Sunday or Monday which arrived yesterday. One of the items I ordered was a rack for my Omnigrid rulers. Most of them are already racked. I put the three new projects in the closet for future work. I have other projects but some are from when Mom and I moved in here and merged our stuff. Several of those I also had and I am not yet ready do do another version. Several more my brother gave me after his wife died and I am not enthusiastic about them at the moment.

Well the House of Representatives has passed what has been described as a "clean" 45 day continuing resolution. They did add disaster aid but not continued aid for Ukraine. As soon as the measure passed they adjourned until 10am Monday. Now let's see if the Senate will pass it. And see if the "Keystone Cops" of the legislature can do anything in the next month and a half. It is notable that far more Democrats than Republicans voted for the CR.

Oct. 01****************************************************************

Well, we have a bright sunny morning and the temperature should top out in the mid 80s. And McCarthy showed enough of a spine to, with Democrat help, pass a CR that the Senate could, with qualms, vote for. And then he went into the press conference to take full credit for it and chastise the Democrats for holding up the show. And to condemn the Senate for not passing anything at all ignoring the bipartisan funding bills that body did pass. Now we have 47 more days too see if they can get over themselves and pass a real budget. Part of the next phase should come up next week as Matt Gaetz has promised to put in his motion to "vacate the chair."

Looking at McCarthy trying to navigate the shark tank I wonder if he might remember several old adages. First, as Maya Angelou said, when someone tells you who he is, believe him the first time. The MAGA crowd signaled their disdain repeatedly with their threats and demands. But McCarthy never wavered in his belief that he could "negotiate" with people demanding subservience; remember Gaetz telling McCarthy was "out of compliance" and they were going to bring him to heel? There was no negotiation there. Second, Don't bite the hand that really feeds you and that was not the Gaetz/Green crowd. The ones that delivered for McCarthy's clean CR were the Democrats by better than 2 to 1.

The Financial Times has a good article: Big Government Is Back. How Will We Pay For It?. Actually, I think the answer is clear. We won't. Or at least we won't continue to pay for everything we are paying for now. What isn't clear is what we will continue to pay for and who will get hurt when we stop paying for whatever we won't pay for any more.