November 30

Sunny so far this morning but not expected to stay that way. We got a surprise looking at our calendar--we don't have any appointments between now and January 4 when I have to see my dentist for a cleaning. That is very unusual. And it is the last day of November. Tomorrow starts meteorological winter. Astronomical winter starts with the Winter Solstice around the 20 or 21 of December.

So the news last night reported the death of Henry Kissinger at 100 and what an eventful century it has been. The reporters noted that he was one third of a very influential trio: Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Madeleine Albright. Interesting that they came from the same "neighborhood:" Albright from East Germany; Brzezinski from Poland, and Kissinger from pre-WWII Germany.

The New York Times reports this morning that the Biden Administration will propose new standards for lead levels that will require the removal of lead water pipes nation wide. After the problems with lead in water in various places in the country over the last few years that would be welcome. But I can see a couple of problems. First, only about $15billion would be available through the Infrastructure Act. The rest of the $20-30billion would have to be on the utility companies which probably means the rate payers. I can hear the howls of pain already. Second, the regulations will come through the EPA. But there is a case before the Supreme Court that could upend any agency's power to set and enforce such standards.

Erin Brockovich boils down the Fifth National Climate Assessment Report. It isn't pretty and it is expensive.

November 28, 29

 Nice and sunny but COLD. The predictions say we won't get out of the 20s today. Mom had her doctor's appointment and we decided to do our grocery shopping. It has been a busy day today already. I got our "pantry" sorted out. A while ago I cleared a set of shelves of books that I had room for in more convenient places and put extras up there. Then I rearranged the cabinet of canned goods in the kitchen and the shelves for bulk goods. Tomorrow I plan to sort out our dishes.

Who knew there was Trumpism before The Former Guy came down his gaudy escalator? Well, Robert Reich did. But the trends he mentioned in his speech 29 years ago were already building steam and have only intensified in the intervening years.

29*********************************************************************

Supposed to be a bit warmer and sunny today. We'll see.

Bill Astore had a cute post yesterday: Operation Ongoing Bullshit. I would make an observation: The differences between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans can be handled easily enough IF both parties are willing to agree to disagree and respect each other.

I found this article on The Free Press that tries to explain how long time political gadfly and outsider Geert Wilders pulled off a substantial win the the latest Dutch election giving him a chance to become head of the dutch government. The trends that led the two authors to leave the Netherlands afflict other democratic countries in Europe and, I would argue, the United States. Very striking was the authors' condemnation of the elites (social, political, economic, and media) who either ignored the concerns of ordinary citizens or insisted that those concerns were illusory. Reminds me of economists who tell us in the U.S. that inflation is under control (or about to be) and things are improving. And I didn't get any feeling that there is any recognition that the crises of immigration and economic stagnation have anything to do with the climate changes and violence in the parts of the world the immigrants are fleeing.

November 25, 26, 27

Cloudy today. And quite cool. I think we are both recovering from a more active week than usual. We visited my youngest brother and his wife on Wednesday after failing to connect on Tuesday. Had Thanksgiving dinner with my other brother and his son and grandsons on Thursday. I am tired. I saw an article on which the author talked about everything falling apart rapidly after you reach 70 years old. Some days I could agree with him but usually those days are fairly far between. So today I plan to do as little as possible.

Freddy Deboer has an interesting post. It is a bit of a long read but I think his argument can be boiled down to a simple premise: we are on the down side of the S-curve of technological development and growth based on continued development is a pipe dream.

26*********************************************************************

We have our first real snow. Not much sticking because the pavement is too warm. The remaining plants and the dead stalks are coated. The temperatures are predicted to be much colder over the next few days.

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

Very early yet. And cold. The weather channel predicts more seasonal temperatures for the next few days.

Looking at the news sites this morning on-line. Found this story which looks at a couple of aspects of the Israeli-Hamas conflict that hasn't made the broadcast news: the disruption of the Israeli farms and the exodus of foreign farm workers who provided the labor those farms need. We forget that the kibbutz is a farming village. And like much of American agriculture rely on large numbers of foreign laborers.

Robert Reich has a good critique of how our "mainstream" media is quietly helping The Former Guy and his campaign.

Tom Engelhardt has a post I saw yesterday that has percolated through my thoughts. Are we already fighting WWIII but it isn't against Russia or China or what ever might mutate from the Israel-Hamas war--but against Nature?. Will, if so we have already lost. Nature bats last and wins. And the "Slow Motion Gaza" isn't so slow motion after all. Many of the effects of Climate Change that were thought once (not so long ago) to be showing up in 2100 are very likely to hit us by 2030 or 2040. And something Englehardt doesn't mention is that for two day this month (November 2023) the average global temperature rose above (barely) the 2*C temperature every climate scientist fears. One thing he said that I didn't realize is that one-third of October days broke the 1.5*C set by the Paris Accord only 6 years ago.

Ilya Shapiro does a good job of dealing with the question of "Where Free Speech Ends and Lawbreaking Begins"? Unfortunately, we have devolved into a society when some of us think that if we can't beat up those whose ideas don't jibe with our own, or shout them down, or deface their property, or crowd them menacingly, they aren't being heard. I started to say we had devolved into such a society but remembered that absurd spectacle of a Republican member of a Senate committee and the labor leader he was questioning challenging each other "outside." That "Senator" later referred, in an interview on the Capital steps, to an episode which most of the audience probably didn't know because we aren't really taught history. Look up the Sumner-Brooks Affair and ask yourself if that is the kind of country you really want. I am not sure we have devolved so much as some of us have revealed what we are and have always been.

The Washington Post has an article (which I was actually able to read--WaPo is usually behind a pay wall) which says the GOP is having financial problems as big donors aren't writing as many big checks and the small donors aren't as generous as they had been. Though the article goes into a bit of "both-sidesism" it is mainly about Republican angst. The problem with the party is who is pulling the strings and the quality of candidates. It is also that most of any real work getting done is the fault of Republican infighting and refusal to deal honestly with the Democrats. What they have done has only been because the minority party saved the day.

Naked Capitalism posted this piece that indicates the Baltic and North Seas are heating up again as Finland, Estonia, China, and Russia are all involved in the breach of an undersea pipeline and communication cables. The pipeline and cables run between Finland and Estonia, and a Chinese ship with connections to Russia is suspected of having cut them.

Reading this article from Naked Capitalism it occurred to me that humans have a history of developing substances that "solve" a problem and start using them prolifically before anyone becomes aware that people may be harmed. We develop jet fuel which does sometimes catch fire and then we invent PFAS chemicals to smother those fires but the chemicals seep into and contaminate the ground water resulting in illness in individuals depending on that water. In the case of PFAS CHEMICALS, 3M and Dupont have settled with the government and agreed to put up some millions of dollars to "help" water companies deal with the contamination. Next up: the lawsuits for personal injury.

November 24

 We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with the older of my brothers and his family. Those boys do know how to cook.

Now the winter holiday/sales orgy kicks into high gear. I imagine your complaints about the number of commercials and the repetitive nature of those commercial breaks will also escalate. Mom has asked  many commercials they can cram into a slot. We have counted as many as 10. And so often we see those damned ads repeated back-to-back-(sometimes)to-back.

The New Republic has a long article on an on-going "brain drain." Red States are losing physicians, educators and other highly trained professionals because they refuse to go on living and working in the radical "conservatism" those states are enacting. I used quotes because I have never understand what they are conserving for whom.

Robert Reich started a 10 part series on American Capitalism. From his introduction it will be a very good series.

Bill Astore echoes some of my own feelings about our commercial culture.

Happy Thanksgiving

 It is barely dawn and, damn, it is almost 6:30 am. I hate the time change more every year. Oh, well. By the time I get used to it everything will be scrambled again.

We are vegetating today until we have to get ready to go to my brother's for dinner. Watching the Macy's Parade and puttering. I am going through my e-mail and discarding more than usual. I a not interested in those who proclaim we have the greatest country ever (by what standard?) or those that proclaim that the holiday celebrates our racist, colonial, and violent history (I wasn't around for most of that so I will simply enjoy the food and the company.)

November 22

 Well, we did have an unplanned errand yesterday. We had to go into and through areas we don't normally visit. Got lost both coming and going because the areas have changed so much since the last time. The process was frustrating and a bit alarming. Frustrating because we are used to our town which has gone to considerable efforts to make traveling our streets easier. We have more visible street signs and traffic lights and the city has repaved a lot of the streets, curbs and sidewalks. Several of the business districts have been refurbished. During our trip we had to deal with small, difficult to read street signs and streets that badly needed repairs. That was the frustrating part. The alarming part was the neighborhoods that could have been the settings for a post-apocalyptic novel. Boarded up houses falling down. Block after block of boarded stores in bad repair. On one stretch we saw stop signs but the decaying, broken stop lights were still there. No one bothered t take them out. We encountered traffic but not nearly what we remembered and streets that had been crowded weren't any more. I remember walking some of those streets fifty years ago and feeling safe but now even the car seemed little protection. We were very glad to get out of there. For some time, looking at the housing going up here, joked that we were getting refugees from Chicago. Now I wonder if we aren't getting them from areas between Chicago and here.

Yesterday we got a bit of good news in the mess of generally horrible news from the Israel-Hamas conflict: there will be a five-day cease fire to allow an exchange of hostages/prisoners and humanitarian aid (including fuel) to go into Gaza. That might be extended if the cease fire holds past the initial phase with 10 more hostages released for each day. I hope it lasts for a good long time.

November 21

 We had a couple of errands yesterday but nothing to do today. I have a couple of clean ups and sorting to do but otherwise nothing pressing. It is raining and a bit on the cold side. In a way, I don't mind the cloud cover because I can open the blinds and not be blinded by the sun.

Early morning news/commentary show had an interesting piece on the problems Biden might be having with African American voters. Robert Kennedy, Jr. might be peeling off some of that demographic--particularly with his vaccine skepticism. But that should not surprise anyone. During the pandemic a good many pundits noted that the black communities were skeptical from the start thanks to a not very happy history with American medicine. And there is another problem: how much should anyone trust the statistics that comes out of the "medical-industrial" complex? Especially since the statistics are put out to us filtered through a press establishment that isn't necessarily all that well educated in medicine or science. The early results were very promising but they were only preliminary. And the coverage in the press didn't often distinguish what the statistics indicated. Were they indicating the probability that the vaccine would prevent COVID altogether, or that it would prevent severe illness, or that it would prevent hospitalization/death? That was very murky. Lately, I have read some accounts from people collecting data about severe conditions that were linked to, but not necessarily caused by, the vaccine. The FDA approves new drugs based on the trial data provided by the drug companies. Since the companies have already invested a lot of time and money (their own and taxpayers') and they want a profit, they have a strong incentive to present "good" data. I won't continue but I think there are many reasons to be skeptical of modern industrial medicine. 

November 20

Still dark but the weather forecast predicted cool and sunny today--if you can actually count on the forecasts. I didn't have much to comment on over the weekend because I just didn't want to read much.

Stray thought at this too very early time of the morning: are we, people all over the world, getting used to the idea that someone might use nuclear weapons? That was once unthinkable. Almost every country that had those weapons already fell all over themselves to assure everyone 1) that they wouldn't use them first and 2) that they would work to make sure nuclear "club" didn't expand. But over the last couple of decades things seem to have changed. The "club" expanded and the original members found that they could do very little to stop the expansion. And we have seen Putin bring out the "nuclear" card whenever he felt his push into Ukraine was stalled. And this morning Tom Engelhardt noted that Netanyahu suspended his Minister of Heritage from regular cabinet meetings for suggesting that the best way to deal with Gaza was to nuke it. Somehow it didn't seem all that shocking and the "punishment" may have been a less than severe tap on the wrist.

Tomdispatch contributor Joshua Frank has a long piece recapping the history of nuclear weaponry over the last 70 years concentrating on Israel.

Thomas Zimmer asks a good question: Do Americans Value Democracy? The answer seems to be that we do so long as the people who vote agree with us. You can't turn on the news/commentary programs without someone hyperventilating about the "threat" to "our" democracy. What is missing in all the verbiage is anyone asking "What kind of democracy, how much, and for whom?" More years ago than I like to think, when I taught Western Civ, some student would always ask how the ancient Greeks could be considered democratic. I usually wrote the word on the board and underlined the two parts: demo-cracy. Demos refers to the people and in ancient Greece that meant the citizens a term restricted to those whose parents were both citizens. The pool of those who had the right to rule was further narrowed by the exclusion of women, children and slaves all of whom were under some male citizen's control. Our early Republic restricted the franchise to men who owned property which generated a specified income. It wasn't until the 1830s when that was broadened to essentially white male citizens. Recently I have read that some bloggers on some of the really radical sites have suggested women should not be allowed to vote. And some politicians in a South American country (can't remember which) suggested the franchise should be returned to what it was in the early 1900s when only the well off men could vote. And Hungary's Orban calls their system an "illiberal democracy."

Peter Turchin has an interesting article: When A.I. Comes for the Elites. He makes some interesting points. One is about the evolution of the two political parties both of which now are more aligned with the upper 10% of the economic pyramid leaving the rest without much influence at all. Second, as A.I. advances those in that 10% will face increasingly bleak prospects.

Stray thought about a segment on political polling showing that, at this point in time, Biden seems to be losing support among the 17-34 age group and much of that loss involves that group's attitudes toward Israel and what Biden has done (or not done) in the matter. I find it interesting that that is the first post-Cold War cohort of voters. They grew up when our foreign policy was thoroughly engaged against the Soviet Union. Israel was a reliable ally in that because so many Jewish settlers there were refugees from the Soviet Union. Other considerations are now coming to the top.

Bill Astore provides an interesting piece on Napoleon, Hitler, and our American Empire: "Liberty at the Point of a Sword."

November 18, 19

 Sunny today and cold. The rain ended yesterday about midday.

The discussion this morning about the decision by the Colorado judge that although, in her opinion, though The Former Guy had engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6, the 14th Amendment does not apply to him because the office of President isn't listed in the amendment and his oath to "preserve, protect, and defend" the constitute not, as the amendment specifies. to "support and defend" the constitution. Most of the were perplexed but I wasn't. My history courses covered the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 was designed to make the criticism of government officials a crime. The Act specified most of the top officials including the President and his cabinet officers. However, the Vice President was not mentioned. Why? The President at the time was John Adams. He and his cabinet were Federalists. But Jefferson was Vice President and Jefferson opposed most of the Federalist agenda. At that time the winner of the Electoral votes became President with the second place winner becoming Vice President. The judge's decision is going to be appealed so it isn't the final word. I think the whole mess proves the point that laws are mostly about keeping lawyers employed. Sanity returned in 1801 and the Acts were largely repealed (except for the section on "alien enemies"). Oh, Jefferson was elected President making Adams the first one term President.

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

Another sunny day and the weather people have decided to raise the predicted temperatures for the next week.

I have avoided much of the news/commentary shows today. Spent most of the morning on BBC which doesn't spend as much time on the shit clown show (might as well try to be somewhat polite) in D.C. After a couple of hours though they became as boringly repetitive as our news. So I put in one of our DVDs. Time to see what is in the e-mail feed.

One stray thought from yesterday: In a discussion about the problem the U.S. has with its policy toward Israel one of the commentators claimed that Joe Biden's problem is his mind is mired in the past when the policy toward  Israel was formulated and hasn't moved with the changing times. I remember saying much the same back when, in the beginning of his term, he tried to negotiate compromises with House Republicans who weren't, for the most part, interested in compromise. He spent his entire legislative career in an atmosphere where compromise was the name of the game. That started to change in the 1990s and that change, toward intransigence, is in full force. However, in foreign affairs, it isn't just Biden's mind that stuck in the past. Our world view is also. The world has changed but we haven't.

November 17

Rainy and windy today. Did some embroidery this morning and read a bit of 1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire. That is a history of the devastating year when London experience a major outbreak of bubonic plague, the second Anglo-Dutch War and the Great Fire. I read in bits and pieces nowadays. In addition I have Bar Harbor Retirement Home For Famous Writers and Retrotopia.

This morning the early news had a segment, dripping with sarcasm, about the reaction of some TikTok posters who found something "existentially" meaningful in Osama bin Laden's Letter to America written in 2002. Newsweek has a long article which covers it fairly well and with the same tone of sarcasm and distain. I read over the "letter" just like I have read some of Theodore Kaczynski's (a.k.a., The Unabomber) manifesto. What most of the commenters ignored is the fact that a person might be a murderous SOB and right about something. As the old saying goes "a stopped clock is right twice a day." Our actions in various parts of the world have not been beneficial (except perhaps to the military-industrial complex's profits) and the role of technology in our society hasn't been in our society either. But there is a serious myopia which refuses to examine either honestly. For discussion of these issues read Blowback by Chalmers Johnson and Too Much Magic by James Howard Kunstler.

The new plant hardiness zone maps are out. Over the last fifteen years or so, since I started gardening on our patio, I have noticed that the temperatures have risen and the maps follow that. We used to be solidly in the 5b range. Then it shifted to 5a and today most of Indiana is in zone 6. The article says that, for the first time, the lower part of Indiana along the Ohio River is in Zone 7. I expect that my mints, the valerian, and Japanese indigo will all come back. If we have a mild winter perhaps my lavender and sage might also survive. Last spring both of those tried to come back but a late freeze took them out.

Naked Capitalism has a long article about the push by the IMF and several national banks to implement a digital currency. Just from our own experience with on-line banking and engaging with local stores I hope it will be a long while before anything like that is established. One of our vendors doesn't accept either checks or credit cards. They are a small operation and either payment method charges them a fee just for normal operations. That goes up if payment is declined. Then they have to get legal help to recover the funds. We have gone back to cash for most of our transactions. Or I use my debit/Visa to buy gas. Mom has found on-line banking and the few credit cards she has more frustrating over the last few years. 

Last stray thought of the day: I remember the 1960 Presidential election. It was the first time Presidential debates were televised. I don't remember the arguments but I do remember the visual on TV. Kennedy was cool and collected and, as I learned later, well made up for TV while Nixon was sweaty, appeared nervous, and with a "five o'clock" shadow. Kennedy won inspire of the fact he was Catholic. I also Remember Ronald Reagan's campaign. I wasn't so impressed with him. I remember a lot of the discussion by pundits was about his status as a DIVORCED ACTOR. Who would have thought that our politics would have devolved to the point where we have had a TWICE divorced THRICE married adulterer who cheated on each of his wives with the women who succeeded them and whose whole life is a massive grift. And a worse grifter is, I hope, soon to be expelled from the House of Representatives. But the worst part of that--the fact that the Republican conference refused to do anything because they wanted to keep a slender majority. In other words, they valued power over principle.

November 16

 Looks like another sunny, dry day. Temperatures have been mild and above normal but so far we are still out of drought.

The news has had sporadic stories about dry conditions but it has been sporadic. The low water levels flowing down the Mississippi and the movement of salt water up river. The Weather Channel had a story I couldn't really get much of because I was fixing breakfast about a Kansas town running out of water. I did a quick Google search and found this. This story, from September, gives more information. You should remember that the water that flows in the Mississippi starts out in states like Kansas, Nebraska. It has a huge drainage basin and most of that basin has been in drought.

First stray thought today: far too many of us have a black-and-white view of things. If Israel is good, Hamas is bad. The horror Israel experienced on October 7 somehow washes out the horror Palestinians are facing now. Somehow the 10k deaths in Gaza overwhelms the 1400 or so in Israel. As long as we frame questions in that black-and-white, either/or fashion we are stuck. That myopic tunnel vision mars other areas of our political/social/economic life. As some commentators have noted both might be true at the same time.

Second stray thought: the question a reporter asked Biden this morning is so irrelevant it gives me a headache. Whether Xi Jinping is or is not a tyrant doesn't really matter. That reporter was hoping for a gotcha moment that does not touch what we hoped to gain out of the talks. Our government and our political leaders have to deal with a lot of different countries and a lot of different leaders. That is best done by leaving the disparaging labels behind.

Earlier this month a news report quoted the new Speaker of the House saying "I refuse to put people over politics." This article on The Hill tries to soft soap the remark characterizing it as a "mix up." Maybe, maybe not. Certainly the Democrats aren't giving him any "benefit of the doubt." But I haven't seen any evidence that the GOP has any great regard for their voters. For their donors, yes; but not for their voters. And I have one question for them: WTF are they for if not for their people? Their own power? Their own egos?

The fifth National Climate Study is coming out. Wonkette is covering it here. I love the title.

According to the New York Times (pay wall, no link) Rep. George Santos won't run for re-election as a House panel found sufficient evidence that he broke Federal laws. I would say "Good riddance to bad rubbish" but he isn't going away just yet.

Both chambers have left for a Thanksgiving week off. They left with one of the twelve appropriations bills languishing. They could have stayed for another day or two to get it done but I guess funding the government isn't all that important.

Another stray thought. Robert Reich again wrote about the disconnect between the rosy view of the economy President Biden and economists tout and the pessimistic view of a significant portion of our population. Finally, someone had the sense to note that people don't really look at the statistics. Nor are they swayed by all the stories of what the Administration has done for the country. Instead, people judge the economy (and the politicians) relative to what their economic condition was in the past and relative to what they want it to be in the future.

November 15

   Nice and sunny today. Overnight temperatures in the 30s with daytime highs in the 50s and 60s. I keep looking at the patio wondering when I should cut what back a bit. Yesterday we did our grocery shopping three days early because the dairy we patronize had the turkeys we and some of their other customers ordered a couple of weeks ago. They don't have a lot of storage area so we figured they would rather we came by earlier than later. As we left home we noticed that one of our neighbors had put a small table, a straight-back chair and large flower pot out for pick-up. We decided to grab the pot and the table. We don't need another chair but I had an idea of where to use the table and I am a sucker for good garden pots. It looked like a lot of people are getting rid of furniture but if we can't use it we leave it. And we don't need a lot.

Every time I think the childish ass holes (and that might be a slur on children) in D.C. can't go any lower they somehow find a new escalator down further. I won't post since the behavior was covered ad nauseam last night and this morning. I am struggling not to yawn about the passage of a continuing resolution that is almost the same as the last continuing resolution and cost the last Speaker his gavel. And it sets up two more budget battles in January and February. And Chief Justice John Roberts announced an ethics code which is nothing at all. It merely lists possible violations but it is up to each justice to determine if an action violates the code and if s/he should recuse from a case AND there are NO means to for anyone to lodge an ethics complaint AND there is NO investigative body mandated AND there NO punishments for the offending justice. It is a nothing burger as several commentators have noted.

Found this interesting piece on OK Doomer by way of Naked Capitalism. As I read it though I thought of another problem with changing. We have thought about cutting our use of plastics but trying to do that runs into our culture. Plastics are everywhere. Almost all of the food we get is wrapped in plastic. Over the years I have kept plastic food containers when I could--that is, when I had a space for them and they were still intact. Some of the containers are great for small amounts of left overs for the refrigerator or for meal sized portions of food to be frozen. I don't microwave in plastic any more because we have several small glass containers. But getting totally out of plastics isn't possible. There are other areas where cutting down is the most change we can manage. As for the other factors thee author mentions it reminds me of a character in novel who refers to cats as "furry little Republicans who hate change." Cats and Republicans aren't the only ones who don't like change.

Another interesting link via Naked Capitalism is this Honest Broker take on the movie industry. Mom and I have thought for some time that we have a creativity problem in movies, TV, and (for me) books. Over the last five years we have bought fewer DVD (we stopped going to the movie theater about 15 years ago because the tickets cost more than the pleasure we got out of the films.) We don't follow any TV series and most of the fare on the tube are faux "reality" programs often masked as competitions. I have purchased far fewer books for the last four years or so because I start one and say "Oh, hell, this again!" It is boring.

Erin Brockovich has a good recap of an issue I have been reading about for some time--how America's Ag Industry is poisoning the environment and us while producing our food. Actually, it shouldn't be surprising. Our industrial model of producing everything pushes what once worked and pushes it til it doesn't work any more and actually becomes counterproductive if not dangerous.

November 13

 Welcome to the middle of November--or almost. Though the temperatures are cooler they are still well above normal. The gardens are pretty much gone for the season. The only plants still going are the mums, the mints, and two struggling sage. I have started building my list of seeds and transplants for next year.

For some dramatic "before and after" photos of the shrinking Greenland glaciers take a look at this site.

And now there are four--Republican candidates vying for the party nomination. Tim Scott is suspending his campaign. Funny thing: I saw the story and knew there were four but could only come up with three immediately. I forgot about the very forgettable Vivek. Oh, I also keep forgetting De Santis' name. I just refer to him as the Idiot From Florida.

First stray thought for today: isn't it interesting that the U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman was sacked because she criticized the police response to the pro-Palestinian rally. I found her notion that people living in tents were exercising a "lifestyle CHOICE" a more offensive statement. 

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism has a long article on the state of U.S. medicine. I think a good description is: moribund. About 15 years ago the medical clinic run by the U.S. Steel retirement program closed and Mom lost her GP. We were also very dissatisfied with the health insurance company that continued separate from the clinic when the cost of one of Mom's prescriptions increased by 4X and terminated it. However, the search for a new GP has been pretty disappointing. Most wouldn't take Medicare only patients. Others weren't taking any new patients. One doctor she got an appointment with went was Indian and went back to India before we got a second appointment. The next was not very interested in providing care as he was trying to find a doctor to take his practice because he wanted to retire. For over ten years we relied on her endocrinologist until she got a case of shingles and found he doesn't handle any general medicine. He did recommend another GP but that one seemed more interested in ordering tests and interacting with her computer than her patient. We haven't gone back. So we are in the group who are relying on "urgent" care clinics of which our town is plentifully supplied. 

Veterans' Day

Welcome to Veterans' Day 2023. Time to remember those who served and those who died before they could enjoy the life they fought for.

Stray thought: during one of the segments on the Israel-Hamas conflict an observation was made about how Israeli society, usually almost as divided and contentious as our own, has come together. The commentator noted that Israeli society has numerous "rituals" that bind the whole together. He mentioned an acquaintance who went to live in Israel to be with her boyfriend and was surprised when the holidays of Remembrance Day and Independence Day came around without the ubiquitous sales pitches we experience here for every holiday. Everyone stopped and every one participated in the holiday. Veterans' Day is not a commodified as the rest but we are still bombarded by the ads. And the military is also a unifying factor since they have nearly universal service with a long period of reserve membership after active service. Only certain ultra-Orthodox Jews are exempted. In our country only about 1% of our population serve and there is a growing divide between the officer corps (wealthier and college educated usually) and the enlisted ranks (from poorer backgrounds and less educated). Something to ponder on this day.

Second stray thought: one of the bloggers today said that one of the problems Biden has is the fact that not only is he 80 years old but he is seen as an OLD 80. But why haven't people noted that The Former Guy is only 3 years younger but is also an OLD 77. I have noted frequently how his appearances lack the vitality he had during his first campaign and the first couple of years of his presidency. If you compare the "mental acuity" of the two men I would give the edge to Biden. I was disappointed in 2017 when none of the younger candidates in either party were able to gain traction. I am disappointed this year as younger candidates are also unable to advance. I still think this is the last hurrah of the Boomer generation and it is past time the torch was passed.

Third stray thought: a comment that passed quickly in one of the blogs makes me wonder if simply passing the torch to a new generation will help things. The writer noted that many of the younger politicians coming up in both parties are young but they don't have many really new ideas among them.

Fourth stray thought: I didn't watch the Republican "debates" and so haven't remarked on it. However, the responses of three of the "candidates" in the last one made (featured on the news) has me absolutely sure I wouldn't vote for any of them if they did get the nomination. On the issue of Israel and the recent attacks on American forces. Three of the four advocated a serious strike against Iran describing it as "cutting the head off the snake." We have fought two long wars in the area (Iraq and Afghanistan) which amounted to a vast expenditure of lives, material, and money for little no gain. I question their sanity. On the question of abortion the same three were all in on greater repression and bans. They consider their problem as a "messaging" problem which would go away if only they could convince all their opponents that what they want is really good for everyone. They don't respect people's right to make decisions for themselves unless they agree with the decision.

And a fifth stray thought to finish off: I just read a piece titled "We Are The History We Choose To Believe. It came up on a religious site that often has interesting article though I don't sing in any of those choirs. The author discussed different positions people take on the notion of the Bible as history and notes that there are always at least two histories in every history. There is the dominant history told by the "winners" in the struggle for power, wealth, etc. And then there is the history of the rest who haven't fared so well (the poor, the colonized, the conquered, the subjugated). That is true in all historical studies. Think of the controversy over the "1619 Project." It makes sense for the African American historians to make that the base year for their story since that was when the first African slaves came to Virginia. A lot of other historians and a lot of politicians were deeply offended and wanted to take 1776 as the base because that was when the Revolution started. They could have just as easily taken other dates: 1783 when the Revolution was successful, 1789 when the Constitution was ratified, choose your favorite. They could have also chosen the same 1619 because that was the year the House of Burgesses, the first elected legislative body, met in that same Virginia where the first slaves were unloaded. What is the story of your past you want to believe? 

November 9

 Still dark outside. Have I said how much I hate the time change. We don't adjust well and neither do our cats. I have noticed similar complaints from various bloggers.

Stray thought: I think the euphoria over the results of the elections is justified but erases the fact that they may or may not be a harbinger for next year. The focus on the abortion issue obscures another fact: abortion isn't the only issue voters will be reacting to. The commentary notes that every where abortion has been the issue on the ballot the voters have favored more liberal options. However, setting that aside, the electorate is still very closely divided. One anchor this morning noted that a switch of less than 1000 votes in one Virginia district and less than 2000 in another would have given Republicans the House of Delegates and the Senate.

Another stray thought: I wish the reporters and pollsters who note that people cite Biden's age in considering why they think he shouldn't run aren't asking who in a younger generation would be an acceptable replacement.

I have read several stories for the last five or six years about the drop in life expectancy in the U.S. Those stories appeared more frequently during and after COVID. Robert Reich tries to answer the question of why is the cohort of Americans without a college degree much more affected. He comes down on 1) stagnant income which was higher, considering inflation, in 1969, 2) more tenuous, often part time, employment without sick days or vacations, 3) weakened labor unions, and 4) a very stingy social safety net. Reich has another article which describes our problems going beyond the fact that the poor die sooner and in more detail.

November 8

 We had rain overnight and may get more today--it is cloudy. Sometime soon I should get out on the patio and sweep up leaves and the hulls the birds have left on the pavement. Right now I am letting them peck around among the detritus. I am involved in some housekeeping: long delayed dusting and reorganizing shelves to get some order in our "pantry." I am doing most of the cooking now because Mom can't easily stand in the kitchen for very long. She does the washing up.

The elections last night gave Republicans a splash of cold water. Ohio voters followed up their rejection of the Republicans' effort in August to change the state constitution to require a 60% majority to approve a measure to change the constitution. Of course, it only became a serious matter for them when the amendment to include abortion rights in the constitution made it on the fall ballot. And of course, they put the requirement for a the vote at 60% BECAUSE the polls showed 57% of the electorate approved the measure. The vote confirmed the polls as the measure passed with 57%. That and the results of other elections make me more hopeful. Perhaps the radical/Christianist right AND the hard left "Progressives" are losing to a more middle of the road American electorate. And I hope it is an electorate that doesn't feel the need to make the rest of us swallow their views.

Just read The Former Guy has endorsed Sen. Mike Braun in his bid for governor. I hope his boy does as well as his choice in the Kentucky race. In case you hadn't heard, Cameron lost to his Democrat opponent.

November 7

 Good morning on this Election Day.

Stray thought: If Jesus came back as a Democratic candidate the Republicans would mount a vicious smear campaign. How, they would ask, can you even consider voting for a man who consorted with women of ill repute, who ate with tax collectors, violently assaulted peaceful merchants in the market outside the temple, and preached kindness and consideration toward the poor, the foreigners, and treated women with respect? Take a listen to The Chieftains rendition of The Rebel Jesus.

This piece on Politico is a good take on the nationalization of politics. 

 FORGET ABOUT POTHOLES — If you didn’t know any better, you might have                                thought Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett was running for federal office.

There he was, campaigning on Saturday with a Democratic congressman from a state over 600 miles away, railing against the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol. It came at the back end of a campaign where Hogsett has been laser-focused on abortion rights in a red state that became the first to enact tighter restrictions in the wake of the fall of Roe v. Wade—even though there’s little the mayor can do on the matter. His opponent, Republican Jefferson Shreve, meanwhile, has assailed Hogsett on the war in Israel, questioning why the two-term mayor allowed a pro-Palestine group to protest at Indianapolis’ war memorials.

It’s not exactly potholes and police, the traditional staples of municipal campaigns. Yet it’s in keeping with an off-year election when state and local campaigns from coast to coast have been seemingly nationalized to an unprecedented degree. It’s as if one of the old dictums of politics — all politics is local — has been thrown out the window.

I live in northwest Indiana well away from Indianapolis so any news about what is going on there is scarce. But that can be said about most news. Our "local" newspaper is a worthless rag. Our TV news comes out of Chicago. Republicans have occupied the mayor's office for at least 12 years and I will vote for the Republican again--the only Republican I have voted for over the last 20 years. Why? Because the city has been very busy repaving streets, repairing sidewalks and curbs, building badly needed parks, and taking care of LOCAL business.

I hope the link on this story from the New York Times archives, dated 2 days ago, works. I have read several stories about banks suddenly and without warning closing customers' accounts. As Mom says: this is getting scary.

And then there is this scary story about banking from CNN Business. One of the attractions of digital banking is speed: your paycheck is automatically deposited and you can draw on it almost immediately. Unless the Automated Clearing House system malfunctions.

November 3, 4, 5. 6

 We have, for now at least, sun and a warmer temperature--a whole 40F. So far most of the plants on the patio are still alive. The indigo is the only one so far that hasn't survived. That is a perennial. So are the mints. They come back each year. The mums may or may not come back depending on how sever the cold season is. They are in containers.

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

Sunny this morning and supposed to be in the mid-50sF today. The temperature is on its usual roller coaster--up today, down tomorrow. As you can guess there isn't really much different on any front so I didn't have anything to say. We have a family function today so I don't know what I will get read. We'll see.

We have been watching BBC this morning. Started with the soccer pregame but Mom hates the screechy voice of the female anchor. The American news readers weren't much better. So far the main anchors on BBC are tolerable.

05*******************************************************************

DAMN TIME CANGE.  And yes, I yelled. I wish the powers that be would choose Daylight Saving or Standard and stick with it. I don't really give a damn which.

06********************************************************************

Still dark and will be for another hour or so. We had heavy fog yesterday that didn't burn off until mid day. But it was sunny and tolerably warm.

Nothing much changed on any front at all last week. I doubt the end of this week will be any different at the end of this one. Except the country will be a week closer to a government shut down because the Republican idiots can't figure out how to compromise with the Democrats. Considering who they elected as Speaker I don't expect much at all.

There is an old saying that tells us "when you go out for revenge dig two graves; one for your enemy and one for yourself." Israel and Hamas seem to be on the track of mutual destruction. Some where this last weekend I saw a headline which was interesting though I didn't read the article. It basically said that the conflict was the perfect illustration of the old MAD philosophy. For those who have forgotten, or never knew, MAD stands for Mutually Assured Destruction. It was the basis for both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. building massive inventories of nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. I always thought the weakness of the strategy was its reliance on a form of sanity in which neither side sees any advantage in using the weapons. I asked what would happen if one leader considered it acceptable to annihilate his own people so long as the other side was also whipped out.

I don't pay much attention to polls because I don't know how the pollsters select their respondents and I don't know how they phrase their questions. The polls that say voters are more concerned by Biden's age than they are about The Former Guy's age. Hey, y'all, Biden is only THREE years older than TFG. And for some time TFG has looked far more physically weak and mentally confused. Biden may stumble on a word or express an idea awkwardly. But he isn't confused about which number to put on a possible near future world war. Can any one out there who thinks TFG gave us a better economy name any positive thing his administration did to made your life better? 

Actually, thinking about the question I posed at the end of the last paragraph I have a different question: why do we give a president, ANY president, so much credit for what happens in this country? We have been doing that for as long as I can remember. When I way much younger, before the Soviet Union disintegrated, the question usually involved who could be toughest dealing with the Godless Communists. With Ronald Reagan's first campaign it became whether we, individually, better off than we were four years before. But the president, who ever is the president, is only one part of the machinery of government. Even in diplomacy where presidents are generally treated gently we saw George W. failing to get Saudi Arabia to increase oil production,  The Former Guy utterly failing to get Saudi Arabia to increase oil production, and Biden failing to get Netanyahu to even pause operations in Gaza. I have been irritated by the focus in the media and others on ISRAEL and its operations; insisting that they pause their assault "to allow humanitarian aid" into the area. Why don't we see similar demands on Hamas? Perhaps because we know they are no more amenable than Israel? Perhaps that is why even those Muslim governments we have reasonably friendly relations with aren't saying much. They know Hamas isn't listening.

There is one respect in which the U.S. would have some leverage over Israel: the funding and the weapons the U.S. supplies. Cutting either is a dicy political proposition. And on the current conflict at least one group which had been a key support for Democrat candidates and policies: Jews. But Jews are on both sides of the conflict believing that what happened on October 7 is abhorrent but the Israeli response is also abhorrent.

November 2

 Looks like we may get more sun today. The temperature on the patio is in the mid-20s. Some plants are still struggling to stay green. Most of the snow has disappeared. It was a very wet snow so the wet conditions we have had this fall, so far, continue. For the last few years I have not cut back or pulled the plants in late fall because the remains provide a ground cover and helps protect tender shoots when the perennials try to come back in the spring. I still haven't decided what seeds I will get for next year. I hope to get some things set up so I don't have to drag out the hose at all. I got it on the faucet last spring but couldn't get it off without help this fall.

I caught a bit of a NY Times article on China and its policies about women and childbearing. Unfortunately, a part of it is behind a pay wall but reading what they so generously (sarcasm!!) put up I wondered how soon we might be following in their footsteps. For about three decades China had a policy mandating only one child per couple and enforced it by compelling late term abortions and restricting public services to the offending couple. They succeeding in reducing the birth rate until they were concerned by the other effects. About thirty years ago I read articles decrying the rise of the "little emperors," that is, children spoiled by dotting parents who were not going to have any more. Then, around 15 years ago, the stories about the problems of a large number of embittered men who were losing out on the marriage race because the one child policy resulted in far more male children born than female. Even though the government had policies that discouraged using ultrasound to allow prospective parents to abort unwanted female fetuses and tried to improve the prospects of girls children (educational benefits, inheritance of father's positions etc.), Chinese couples still preferred boys to girl and found ways to ensure their child was the desired gender. However, the birth rate continued to drop and, in recent years the population declined for the first time in memory. In 2021, the government rescinded the one policy to allow two and then, a year later, modified the policy yet again to allow three. Now the government wants women to "get married and have babies." In other words, go back home, take care of the kids and elderly, and out of gainful work. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I wondered above how soon it would be before we go the same route. With all of the efforts by, especially, Republican politicians to enact increasingly draconian anti-abortion measures and with a certain Senator holding up military promotions over regulations for women to seek health care out of state if they are stationed in an a state that bans abortion, it occurred to me there is no more effective way to restrict women's participation in activities outside childbearing and child rearing. When the Chinese government "liberalized" its policy by allowing a second (and, later, a third) child, women found it more difficult to get jobs. Employers didn't mind hiring a woman who had one child when that was the legal limit but balked about hiring a woman who had only one child when she could become pregnant again. We had a long struggle to support women in the workforce and prevent discrimination on the grounds of possible pregnancy.

I remember accounts I have read of the effects on women in Germany when the NAZI party gained control. Almost over night, women disappeared from the political arena when they had a sizable presence before. They also started to disappear from education, especially the colleges and universities. It didn't take long at all.

Robert Reich posted this piece this morning about The Former Guy The Mob Boss. I wrote about the NAZIs in the last paragraph and Reich reminded me that there is another feature of the Party's ascent to power was the Brown Shirted SA thugs (predecessors of the SS thugs)rampages designed to intimidate voters and other perceived enemies (i.e., Jews). We aren't really taught history in this country. A commentary circle on one of the news/talk shows yesterday lamented the fact that people didn't understand that the universities that didn't say anything about virulent demonstrations against Jewish students discriminated against Jews only a few decades ago. I remember reading that Harvard restricted the number of Jewish students entering the university to 5% of the student body in the 1920s and 1930s. They lamented the fact that people didn't really know the circumstances around the establishment of the State of Israel. I am not so surprise. Israel was born in 1947; two years before I was. I'm now 74. To put the issue another way: if you consider a generation to be about 20 years, three and a half generations have been born and grown to adulthood in that time. And to go back to the conditions that gave rise to  NAZI Germany and, a bit later, WWII--between 4 and 5 generations separate those events. We don't remember them and they have passed into popular culture. We get snippets of them in books like Leon Uris' Exodus or episodes in the graphic novel V For Vendetta or scenes in musicals like Cabaret. And now we have the problem that if anyone calls attention to any uncomfortable episode in our history they are castigated as Woke.

I don't often agree with Joni Ernst but yesterday she told Tommy Tuberville as he continued to object to military promotions "I don't trust a man who doesn't keep his word." There I agree with her. And I go farther: I don't trust a country that doesn't keep its word either.

Arnold Isaacs has a thought provoking piece on Tomdispatch.com today. Some of us have looked on stumped by the chasm that has opened up in our society. The sides on any topic seem to be shouting past each other and refusing to acknowledge the possibility that the other might have some facts on their side.

The Weather Channel had a piece today that reflects and confirms some suspicions we had here: the weather this year has put a lot of pressure on food supplies. During the summer India banned export of rice except for basmati rice. The summer has been brutal for European food production. The reporters interviewed a soybean farmer in this country who thinks he might break even although he lost around 15% of his crop. I saw a report by, I think, the Department of Agriculture which projected a decline in the corn, wheat, and soybean crops because of the heat this year. They did put a bit of a rosy gloss on the report by insisting that the decline didn't indicate we would have any shortage. We looked at all this over this year and knew we should brace for increased food prices. We haven't been surprised.

November 1

Welcome to November. Our first frost came at the same time as our first snow. I think we did get the forecast 2-3 inches. Looking out over the "winter wonderland" (but it is still fall, I protest) and a line from the Gordon Lightfoot song "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald": the witch of November comes stealin'. I have watched the small birds gorging themselves at our feeder and wondered how the winter will go. I just filled the feeder--again.

So--they are calling it "pharmageddon" as pharmacy workers at Walgreens and CVS have gone on strike walk-outs. The issue isn't pay as it was with the UAW strikes. It's working conditions: too few people and too much work for the people scheduled. The morning commentators went on for a long time about their experiences and those of people they know waiting at the pharmacy counters for long times and often having to return because an expected prescription hadn't yet been filled. We went to put in a request for a refill of one of Mom's medications. We didn't have to wait long for the pharmacy clerk to take in the order and check it the particulars. However, the clerk hesitated when Mom asked how long we would have to wait for it to be filled, suggesting that it would take a couple of hours. Since we had another stop on our errands round, one where we liked to gossip a bit, we told her we would stop by on our way home. It was well passed the two hours when we got back. The prescription had been filled but not yet filed. The talking heads noted something I have mentioned: the over-riding concern of any corporation is profit and they are all squeezing every hundredth of a penny out of every aspect of their business, especially from labor.

 A story yesterday noted that a new minimum wage law for fast food workers in California will provide a more livable wage for some low wage workers and the various fast food companies said they were going to have to raise prices by a whopping amount to remain profitable. People often say we have a win-lose economy. I wonder if we actually have a lose-slowly vs lose(just more slowly) economy. The first group gain a bit immediately but lose as inflation eats away at their gains (they lose slowly). The second can raise prices for a while but only so long as their customers can pay the higher prices but each time the price goes up they lose more customers (they lose more slowly that employees do).

I found this just a bit ago. I didn't know about the "witch storms" but evidently Lightfoot was referring to a recognized, defined weather phenomenon.