December 30, 31

Welcome to New Year's Eve Eve. Most of the news/commentary show have been heavy on the reminiscence and short on news. And they are heavy on the repeats. We sorta watched a local news show--local as in Chicago and have switched to Premier League soccer. I intend to spend most of the day stitching.

Heather Cox Richardson posted this answer to Nikki Haley's confusion over the role slavery played in the run up to the Civil War.

31************New Year's Eve*****************************

Although I don't expect much out of 2024, I am glad to be (almost) done with 2023. I don't do resolutions and haven't for a few decades. I recognized a long time ago that the ritual of making resolutions simply set people up for disappointment and self-defeat. I have a habit of setting unrealistically large goals. In this culture we are encouraged to be highly self-critical. We are never pretty (or handsome) enough, thin enough, smart enough, etc. And then the yearly ritual of resolution making encourage us to make big and overly optimistic resolutions which don't last through January.

Instead I decide to try new things or revive old endeavors or make progress "WIPs" (Works in progress). Last year I decided to renew my efforts to learn Spanish and German. I had classes in each in high school and college but hadn't used them in decades. I kept at that almost daily for 10 months. Not bad. I really did need the 2 month break but it is time to go back to work. I completed several needlework projects. That is something I will continue.

David Kaiser's blog post today presents a history of the 14th Amendment Section 3. It has been applied before but like so much of our history has been conveniently forgotten, if it was learned at all.

Stray thought on Nikki Haley's promise to pardon The Former Guy if she wins the Presidency: she claims it is the duty of a President to act for the good of the country as a whole (true) and that the way to move forward after the chaos of January 6 is to pardon the major instigator of the chaos (false.) President Gerald Ford's pardon of former President Richard Nixon did not help the country heal because Nixon never really acknowledged his wrongdoing and never really paid a penalty for it, and his notion, expressed after the pardon and his resignation, that "if a president does it, it isn't illegal." The growth of the imperial presidency continued and culminated in The Former Guy. To move forward you have to acknowledge and learn from the past, not consign it to a black hole of memory. Otherwise how do we know we are actually moving forward and not retracing missteps.

December 29

 Good last Friday of the year. Cloudy and some rain along with more normal temps. My Burpee's seed catalog arrived yesterday and will look at it over the next week.

I spent about three hours with an embroidery piece this morning. The little blanket is done except for weaving some ends in. I need to do the end of project tidying up. At present I have one project using the zoom loom, four embroidery/cross-stitch projects on hoops, and one piecing project for some kind of quilt in various stages of completion. I am trying not to start another just yet. That usually works as well as trying not to start another book before I have finished one already started. I have about a dozen on the metaphorical stack (metaphorical because the books are on my I pad) in various stages of completion.

I have had a feeling of deja vu over the entire year. That isn't new because I have had that feeling annually for the last five years. The Rude Pundit has an obscenity laden post on that. I like his rants because he so often speaks what I think but I am trying to break the habit of swearing at the political inanities. I think I need to expand my vocabulary of maladicta.

I just had to check a headline I saw earlier about rivers in Northern Europe flooding due to heavy rainfall. I had a twinge in the back of my mind thinking that earlier this year much of that area was drought stricken with the rivers at or near record lows. One entry in This Week in Collapse reminded me of that. So I haven't lost my memory yet.

Lyz at Men Yell At Me has given awarded Ken Paxton, Attorney General of the less-than-great State of Texas, with her "Dingus of the Year" award. I think it is well bestowed since the year has been well supplied with "dingii." Paxton is indeed dingus enough to stand out in the crowd.

Robert Reich continues his series on "Why American Capitalism So Bad" with an entry titled "Why the hell is Trump rising in the polls?" Part of his answer which resonates with me and mirrors some of my own thinking: the "American Dream is disappearing?" People of my generation (Boomers) could expect to equal or exceed the level of economic wellbeing and educational attainments of their parents. But many of later generations have found the escalator into that dream is broken. And they are angry. The histories I read of the Populist Movement of the 1880s noted that it was propelled by people who seemed to be comfortably well off but who looked at an economy that was leaving them behind with very year that passed. History does rhyme.

December 28

Rain this morning but the weather reports suggest we will be too warm throughout the day for snow. The weather continues to be strange.

We had to go out to pay rent this morning. But the week before Christmas we did our last grocery shopping until early January. Mom asked if we needed anything and I assured her that we are all set for anything I will be fixing for meals til late next week.

Stray thought: Over the weekend the news commentators interviewed an Israeli official who was skeptical of the casualty numbers put out by the Hamas run Health Service. The Health Service always describes about the casualties as civilians but never gives a number for Hamas fighters. As the Israeli spokesman noted to claim that all of the dead are civilians and no fighters were killed is nonsensical. The Hamas tactic is a dark reflection of the American view in Vietnam: If it is dead and Vietnamese it is Viet Gong regardless of age or sex. Hamas says the if it is dead and Palestinian it is civilian regardless of circumstances.

On the same theme: the news carried a reference to an interview a former (female) hostage gave the local news describing her experience. She said no one should make the mistake of thinking there are any civilians in Gaza. The Palestinians generally support Hamas and are complicit in everything that happens.

Another news segment dealt with Nikki Haley's gyrations in speaking about the causes of the Civil war without mentioning slavery. Bill Astore has a longer treatment of the problem generally. I repeatedly told students in the history classes I taught that no big event in history had ONLY one cause. The process always involves several trends or conflicts that interact in complicated ways. Geography ensured sectional development in economy, society, and government.The Constitutional Convention had to balance the differences between the sections to craft some form of government all thirteen former colonies could agree to. Slavery was deeply involved in all of the controversies that led up to the Civil War: the balance in power between the Federal Government and the various States, the economic competition between Northern states that was rapidly industrializing and on the backs of a free labor force and the Southern aristocratic agrarian system of plantation production for a world marked and its unfree labor system. Attitudes over slavery helped destroy the Whig party, split the Democrat Party into Northern and Southern parts, and did the same for several Protestant churches.

I will add one comment about Haley's attempt to not deal with the question in a straightforward way. When her questioner pressed her she responded: What do you want me to say about slavery? That is simply insulting and shows the chameleon character of someone who wants to find out what "color" she needs to be to not lose his or anyone else's vote.

Stray thought #2: The new 'caravan' of migrants moving north in Mexico has been a prominent feature of both the political demands for some kind of immigration reform (more or less stringent depending on which Party). However, what I haven't heard has been any discussion of WHY so many people are making that trek. Someone did mentioned that the people come from many different countries but no one is saying why they are moving. Just to say they hope for a better life doesn't cut it. Everyone wants a better life but not everyone decides to migrate.

Stray thought #3: So far we have two states (at least) that have reached two different decisions on the application of the 14 Amendment Section 3 to The Former Guy's ability to stay on primary ballots because of his actions on January 6. The Colorado GOP have appealed the Colorado case to the Supreme Court. The Michigan Case may be resurrected if TFG wins the primary. With all of the chaos some pundits want The Supremes bring some kind of order that will apply across the country. Problem: the Constitution mandates that elections will be held but leaves the actually mechanics of running the elections to the states themselves. What kind of vote counting systems will be used, how the candidates will be on ballots, and other such matters are left to the states.

December 27

 Sunny today though we expect increasing clouds and rain over night. It doesn't look like we will get any snow over the next week. Everything that is hitting the plains looks like it will go around us.

I got another good bit of crocheting done this morning and then went on a hunt for my thimbles. The fingers and thumb on my right hand still hurt from my last weaving on the zoom loom and I figured the thimbles might help. I knew I had them in a specific case with much of the rest of my sewing things but I simply couldn't find it. The cases I did find had other things. I did finally find the right case and decided I need to do another round of sorting and straightening up early in the new year.

Another article that continues the thread on health care, Bill Astore provides this article. I have said often that there are certain services should not be left to the so-called free market: health care, education, prisons, and power/water/sewage services.

CNN posted an interesting article on young people deciding to get out of the rat race and "retiring" to the countryside." The government seems to ratify that decision (to a certain extent) as a way to deal with a youth unemployment rate exceeding 20%.

Reuters posted an article which suggests that world grain supplies in 2024. Most of the problem is adverse weather conditions which are expected to continue through at least the first half of the new year. I read yesterday that China had contracted to buy 100million tons of grain on the world market to ensure his country's food supplies. The article explains why.

December 26

 Cloudy and cooler today--started just below 40F instead of almost 60. We are binging Premier League soccer (or football if you are on the other side of the Atlantic). Four games today since it is Boxing Day over there. We find it is a lot more entertaining than our news. I spent about three hours crocheting this morning. The little blanket is nearly done. Yesterday I got another square woven on my Zoom Loom before my fingers gave out. I am using a medium weight yarn (#4) but it is heavier than I like. It is easier to use baby or lace weight yarn. Oh, well, it is what I have.

Found this--another in the collapse in U.S. health care. For at least the last 30 years the powers that be have pushed more technology, especially the Electronic Records system. The technology has been sold to us as a way to make the system more efficient allowing it to deliver services more quickly and cheaply. I don't know who has been smoking what but it looks like a fail--a big fail. The author notes that she didn't even try to get the statistics or authoritative source. Actually she doesn't need either. First, it is her experience and she is the authoritative source. Second, statistics can be as obfuscating as informing--sometimes more. The numbers might say everything is hunky-dory but you won't believe it if your experience says otherwise. That is what the economic pundits have been finding out.

This Xeet, or what ever they call a Tweet nowadays, on my Facebook feed and wondered what was going on. I did a quick and dirty Google search and found a whole list of entries on such problems on a whole lot of different makes and models. There are times when I really question how useful some of our technology is.

December 24, 25

Good Christmas Eve morning to all who celebrate that season. Our celebrations have become smaller and simpler. We stay home more often than not and this year it was a lucky thing we are again. My brother stopped by to drop off a present: a tin of homemade cookies and candies, and four bottles of his homemade wine. We don't drink alcoholic beverages much but I am starting to cook with it more. He didn't come in because his son and grandsons are sick with the season's respiratory viruses and he didn't want to share those. He has just recovered from the same. One of the hospital systems that have several hospitals and clinics around the area (though not in our county) has reinstitute mask rules for those visiting patients in the hospitals. COVID, RSV, and flu (plus other viruses) have been spiking up here. We still keep masks in our purses and will wear them if asked.

Merry Christmas*******************************************

Well, the temperature on the patio was about 50F. Mom said she couldn't remember a Christmas Day temperature in the 50s. Needless to say--no white Christmas.

Most of what I have seen on the tube and on-line have been reminiscences--some interesting, some not so.

However, Robert Reich has an interesting post: How Old Is Too Old? A lot of what he says strikes a chord. I know I am not as mentally sharp as I was but I find, looking at the younger politicians that make the news with inane comments, that I still have a good memory and am sharp enough to be totally aghast at the gaps in their education and experience. Like Reich I don't have much patience with stupidity and spend too much time swearing at the pundits and politicians on TV. So much of popular culture passes me by--I simply don't have the interest to follow the people or happenings. I find that the new movies are more likely to elicit a "ho hum" than real interest. Same with new books. A lot of the authors I once enjoyed have died and I haven't found that many new ones to replace them. Reich retired from teaching last spring at age 77. I am 75 and have been retired for 14 years. My jobs weren't interesting enough to entice me to stay longer. I saw an article, which I didn't read, about retirees going back to work. I don't have any desire to follow suit.

December 23

 Foggy this morning. It is almost 10am and it is just barely lifting. Earlier we could barely see across the street. We have usually warm temperatures for these near Christmas days and for Christmas itself.

I wasn't going to post anything but found this story which triggered one of my pet peeves: the medical treatment of our military veterans. My niece who died recently from a combination of cancer and heart disease related to rheumatoid arthritis had to fight for proper treatment repeatedly over the course of her physical problems. Thirty or so years ago when I taught Western Civ at a small college one of my students was a veteran who had been seriously wounded in Iraq. Although he still had all his limbs, he had pain and reduced mobility from the injuries. He fought both the military who wanted him back in uniform, in spite of disability, and the VA over the continuing treatments for his continuing symptoms. My ex-husband suffered from emphysema and fought to medical treatment. He finally got an appointment scheduled for almost a year out--and died six months before. I get pissed every time I see that pitch for the Wounded Warriors Project because the care of veterans should be the responsibility of our government on behalf of all of us. Repeated promises of reform have yielded absolutely nothing.

December 22

Still dark here. But the Solstice came yesterday so we will see a gradually increasing length of our daylight. I guess I should get real about ordering seeds and/or plants. I started a preliminary list but need to finalize it. I always check out the heat and drought tolerance of any plants I consider growing. I didn't do that ten years ago. Ten years ago I would be looking at tomatoes and peppers. But they don't like temperatures above 90F. I don't have a lot of space so what I put has to be pretty and/or productive. Especially if it is a large plant. We expect rain today which hadn't been forecast earlier in the week. Luckily, yesterday we decided to do our last bit of shopping before next year.

Stray thought this morning: there has been a lot of time spent on comments about the Colorado Supreme Court decision that 1) upheld the lower courts decision that The Former Guy did engage in and abet insurrection, 2) that he is therefore disqualified to hold the office of the President of the U.S. and 3) that it would be unlawful under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary to list him on the ballot. You can read the decision here. Of course, The Former Guy is going to appeal sometime next week to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

A lot of pundits are reading the entrails (or consulting their tarot deck or looking at their astrological charts) to prognosticate what the Supremes will do. I see several possibilities. First, they might just punt, leaving the situation in Colorado standing because it only affects Colorado. The Colorado Republican Party is threatening to run a caucus (which they have done before) bypassing the primary and allowing their caucus voters to nominate TFG. However, if he isn't allowed on a primary ballot because of the Supreme Court's decision, The Secretary of State couldn't lawfully list him on the general election ballot either. 2) An appeal claiming that he hasn't been convicted in court probably won't fly since the Colorado court found as a matter of fact that he was guilty and the D.C. case does charge him with insurrection and may be decided before the election. Also the U.S. Supreme Court decides based on the law and does not decide on the facts. Furthermore, the Amendment does not specify that a CONVICTION is required. The Supreme Court might decide they can "infer" such a requirement but they are supposed to be "strict constructionists" and "textualists," in other words they say they look at the text. If they go this route they will show themselves to be hypocrites. 3) The Amendment specifies that an insurrectionist can't HOLD federal office not that he can't stand for election or even get enough votes to win. The U.S. Supreme Court might not this and allow those states whose election laws don't specifically prohibit someone who is ineligible to hold the office to be on the ballot. We tend to forget until something forces us to remember that U.S. elections are run by the states. I might be able to dream up more possibilities but I am going to stop here. However, this goes this country is going to be in s**t for at least the next six years.

Some (sort of) good news: California is now out drought. The latest "atmospheric river" has dumped enough to raise their reservoirs to 130% of normal and broken the decade long drought. That moisture is now moving toward Arizona which badly needs it. Of course, the rain has resulted in flooding in parts of Southern California.

CNN has a long article on the Chinese economy and the silence of previously critical Chinese economic analysts. I have read several articles about different sectors of the economy and none of them were optimistic. And the notion that the economy is in a serious deflationary period. Deflation can be as destructive as inflation. Xi and other government officials have been trying to get the Chinese consumer to spend more without much success.

Naked Capitalism introduced this piece as "the definition of madness" and it certainly is--on part of the U.S. and the South American countries in on the negotiations. We certainly do not need another quagmire considering how Ukraine and Israel appear to be going. And how well our previous interventions in Central America and in Columbia went.

This is an interesting discussion of the situation in the Red Sea. I don't know the source on this but I haven't read, in the very scanty coverage in our media, which contradicts the facts or the analysis. I will add one thing to their observations: most of those who have joined the group the U.S. is putting together to counter the Houthis' actions are the ones who benefit most from the trade that goes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Most of the others mentioned have strong reasons for not joining in.

Robert Reich continues his multi-part series examining American Capitalism with part 5: The Pernicious Myth of Meritocracy.

Lyz at her substack "Men Yell At Me" has nominated the 118th Congress as "Dingus of the Week." She makes a very good case. I wonder if she does a "Dingus of the Year" list.

 

December 18, 20

Sunny today and the wind has died down. I found a trellis, the shepherd's hook with the wind chimes, and anchored by two 5-gal buckets had been blown over. I put it back upright but the shepherd's hood is no longer straight up. I think the trellis was the factor which the wind caught to topple everything over. Later in the week I will have to untether the buckets from the trellis and put the trellis in the shed for the season.

Nouriel Roubini wrote a piece to update his MEGATHREATS book published last year and updating his assessments. The assessment is even bleaker than it was in the book.

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

Sunny again today. Been busy already because we are doing laundry and I had potatoes to boil for potato salad.

Aurelien has a post on the Ukraine situation that bleeds over into comments on The West and the U.S. in particular that presents a bleak future, especially for those who think the past is what the future will be. I never had an optimistic view of how the conflict would go. I based my notions on a couple of factors: the fact that the Russian population was a bit more than three times the Ukrainian population and that the Donbas, which Russia pretty much controlled for a number of years was the industrial center of Ukraine. You need an industrial system that can supply the military. I was surprised about how poorly the Russian Army performed. They still aren't very impressive but they aren't collapsing and the government is not either. The Russians have cannibalized parts of their population to replace losses (The Wagner Group, the jails, Shanghai-ing men off the street, the ethnic minorities and "allies" like the Chechens). But they have more to cannibalize than the Ukrainians do. Pay special attention to Aurelien's comments about the economics of war. They certainly don't favor either Ukraine or The West. And much of what he has to say about our technology has been said by other bloggers I read.

December 18

We have snow right now. I don't know how many pulses have come in over night. This round is very light but driven by high winds. The wind chimes have been tinkling away all morning. The snow is a grapple kind--you know, the type that resembles little balls of styrofoam. Oh, well--it has only been a few minutes and the snow is heavier now. We don't have any errands planned until Thursday (maybe) so the snow should be almost gone (we hope).

The little birds, the type a blogger from Montana calls LBJs (little brown hobbies), try to avoid actually flying. The spend more time diving into the remaining plants. So far the lavender, mints, and sage still survive. I think a couple of the mums are hanging on. Several others have died back to ground level and will emerge in the spring.

Organic Prepper posted this about one of the elements of the COP28 meetings: encouraging the incorporation of "novel" proteins (read insect) into our diets. Of course the participants stress food shortages and the "overconsumption" of meat in the industrialized countries. The author does a good job of demolishing the overconsumption argument. I would add that much of the food shortage problem is due to conflict, government action (or inaction) and climate disasters. I resent the con job/gaslighting the food processors and some governments are perpetrating. Somehow they want us to believe that any reduction in consumption (or change in diet) in industrial countries would benefit the less developed countries. It resembles the old tactic some parents indulged in when I was young telling their kids the eat their broccoli (or what ever food they hated) and remember the starving kids in China--as if the rejected food would be teleported around the globe. 

David Kaiser posted "The Fall of the American Empire" over the weekend. His conclusions fall in line with some other authors I have been pecking at for a while. The stack starts with Andrew Bacevich's AFTER THE APOCALYPS and continues with Henry Kissinger's WORLD ORDER, Alfred McCoy's TO GOVERN THE GLOBE--among others. I think it was James Howard Kunstler who wrote on his CLUSTERFUCK NATION blog the The Former Guy (whom he supported) was the first American president who actually acknowledged America's changing fortunes with his slogan "Make America Great Again." But that slogan suggests getting back to the "Eden" of the American Century (if it was such a paradise) requires conditions (economic, political, and social) that I don't think actually exist anymore.

December 16

 We had a very brief bit of sun this morning and it is raining now. The weather report predicted colder temperatures and the possibility of some snow over the next couple of days before the temps go up again by Wednesday. The weather people are predicting a wet not snowy Christmas.

Naked Capitalism has a bleak post from Vijay Prasad that, I think, reflects the true situation in the Middle East and not the "wished for" situation that the U.S. and so many Western countries keep parroting. I have said that cease fires, peace talks, a "two state" solution or what ever the pundits are smoking, isn't possible with two intractable sides. Actually, all it takes is one such. Even if Israel agreed to a cease fire, there is nothing binding on Hamas to accept.

Gail Tverberg has a list of ten things that will change if fossil fuels supply becomes constrained.

Well, the jury in Guiliani's defamation case decided he owes $148 million to the two poll workers he claimed were passing "thumb drives" around like vials of cocaine and changing votes from The Former Guy to Biden. He complained that he wasn't "allowed" to prove his case but that tries to whitewash his decision to not participate by providing required discovery. And then insisted that everything he said he could show some justification for and that his oral defecations weren't really related to what happened to the two women. Sorry, Rudi, you simply aren't believable.

Bill Astore has a couple of pithy statements about 1) a Pentagon budget that approaches $900BILLION in spite of the fact they have failed 6 AUDITS IN A ROW and 2) our politicians' continued support for a "two state" solution though it is evident that Netanyahu wants a "no state solution"--specifically no Palestinian state and few Palestinians.

About 30 years or so ago when there was one of the many controversies over opening the North Alaska (potential) oil fields to drilling, I read the amount of oil the experts and politicians were salivating about. It wasn't long after I read a report of how much oil we use daily. I found the report easily enough and did some quick math to give an estimate of how long that cache of oil would last us---a whole four months. This article lists the seven major oil producing countries and their reserves. I was going to do the same math again but the author saved me the trouble. All of the known reserves will last another 38 years. Can anyone else spell "OH, SHIT!!"

I saw Ruby Freeman speak after the jury awarded her and her daughter that incredible amount, that they probably won't be able to collect all of. She noted everything the money won't give her back: the home they loved, her reputation, her name. This is another story where the damages awarded to people who suffered loss because of a company's criminal actions are not nearly enough to make them whole. I read the story the author wrote about their struggle to get compensation and was sick. Their reaction is totally understandable.

December 15

Welcome to half-past December. The U.S. House of (Un-)Representatives have already gone home until January 9th. I wonder how many of the people they (un-)represent would like to have a paid three week holiday for Christmas and New Year's.

Jezebel has this latest atrocity by the Florida legislature. They are trying to drastically roll back child labor laws--Oh, excuse me--they are "liberating" "youth workers." That kind of "liberation" we can do without. I have felt for some years now that we were going backward to some bad old days. Victorian employers had a "youth worker" wage--about a quarter of what an adult man earned and half of what an adult woman earned. It took the combined earnings of a couple and every child over the age of 6 or 7 to barely survive. It took a hundred years of struggle to finally get to a "living" wage where a man earned enough to support his family on a 40 hour work week. The slogan had been "Eight hours to work, eight hours to sleep, and eight hours for what we wanted." All of the gains are being eroded.

Robert Reich continues his series on the problems with American Capitalism.

December 14

 Sunny so far this morning. Supposed to be warmer. I hope so because I need to sweep on the patio. I have collections of leaves in various nooks and piles of seed hulls under the bird feeder. Winter hasn't really started no matter what the calendar days and I already long for spring. The drab browns are not at all pretty and we haven't really had any long lasting snow to relieve the drabness. Mom said this morning that it just doesn't feel like the Christmas season: the music isn't as prominent, the decorations are very ordinary, and we haven't seen any really new or interesting, much less exciting, products. The advertising is more moronic than cute or interesting.

Stray thought #1: our leaders and many worldwide have been trying to push the Israelis into a ceasefire followed by steps to establish a "two state" solution. I saw a segment from an interview on (I don't know which) some network between a spokeswoman for the Israeli government and some anchor (I don't know who) which devolved into the woman trying to say why the "two state" notion is not workable and the anchorMAN repeatedly talking over her trying to get her to agree with his premise that the "two state" plan was the ONLY way to go forward. I kept shouting (and wishing) at that male idiot to shut up and listen. Her point, which he tried to make sure no one heard, was that as long as Hamas is present there is no solution. I would also say that as long as the Israeli government supported the Israeli settlers trying to push non-Jews out of the West Bank there is no way forward. The Idiot never thought of asking a question that would get at that. We tried to eliminate Al Qaida and it mutated and morphed into the Islamic State, Al Qaida in the Magreb, Al Qaida in the Levant, Al Qaida in northwest Afghanistan. And it has roots going out to Islamists in Nigeria, in Sudan, in the Horn of Africa and other places. That worked out real well, didn't it? (Sarcasm!!)

Robert Reich has an interesting article describing a discussion he hosted between Palestinians, Jews, and even an Israeli concerning the conflict between Hamas and Israel. I liked the distinction they came to that explanations are NOT justifications. You can explain a horrendous act but you can't justify it. I noticed that they came to the conclusion that two states are the only solution but aren't likely given Israel's treatment of Palestinians and Hamas.

The Milei government in Argentina has devalued the peso by 50%.  Al Jazerra presents the details here. They are also planning to drastically increase social spending, primarily for the lowest economic levels, to help the poor absorb the shock.

December 12

 Dawn is just breaking here. It looks like we have frost on the most surfaces so it got cold last night.

Annie Snider at Politico Nightly presents a nice overview of the water situation along the Colorado River basin. For the moment a few of the interested parties have agreed to slight limits on their claims to water for an infusion of $1.2billion from the Infrastructure Act. But that is temporary and there are seven states, Mexico, several Native nations, farmers who supply a large share of our food, and tens of million urban dwellers struggling to come to an agreement that meets needs AND recognizes environmental limits.

Censorship has become, again, a controversy. Senators in hearings rake three university presidents over the coals because they didn't punish demonstrator calling for "genocide of Jews." On the one hand you can deplore the sentiment but what negates rights to free speech? And what responsibility should one take when someone else takes one's words and acts on them? That is what is at the core of the gag orders on The Former Guy. He speaks and someone else threatens the people he criticized. This piece by Dr. Naomi Wolf brings up another part of the story: censorship of controversial views by social media. Who decides what is "misinformation," "disinformation," or whatever? I have seen at least two sites I read regularly faced similar de-platforming. The issue is at the intersection of science/medicine (and when is it trustworthy), economics (whose pocketbook is affected by which arguments are accepted as trustworthy) and politics (whose position/reputation is involved in which story is accepted.)

Gizmodo had this story which should be put up for a "stupid of the week" award. It is one thing to "forget" the gun in your luggage but entirely another to forget the one you are carrying a gun into an MRI exam.

Connecting on a link in a story on Naked Capitalism this morning I found this story on "aphantasia" which I had never heard of before. It is the inability to construct mental images. The longer article reprinted from Aeon is an interesting discussion of how differently people perceive the world around us.

December 11

Good morning on what looks like a cloudy day. The temperature is supposed to stay in the 30s.

Check out the article by Andrea Mazzarino on Tomdispatch.

I have been busy today. Finished the oven roasted butternut squash. The pork roast and acorn squash are in the oven. In about half an hour I will fix the spaghetti for today's dinner. The butternut squash and pork roast will take care of tomorrow and Wednesday. Might even have some pork left for a chef salad for Thursday. By then I will decide on what to do for the next three or four days.

Robert Reich has some good comments on the furor over the testimony from three presidents of to questions during a House committee hearing last week. To date two of the three have resigned. They were asked for a "yes/no" answer to an ethical/moral question and gave instead a legalistic answer. They totally failed to recognize the difference. Reich asks a good question though considering the role big pockets donors had in the resignations: how will the environment of the institutions change if donors extend their pressure to other issues? Another question: exactly what role do we want our education system to play in our society and how do we balance the interests of our various constituencies?

December 9, 10

Shocking but not Surprising. Our landlord was victimized by this kind of scam. To find it has moved on line is taking it up a lot of steps to the worse. Mom prefers to use checks/cash because. I use my debit card or checks/cash. We have found that no method is really safe. There are always bastards out there hoping to take advantage.

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

Skimming various news sites I found this Al Jazeera story which asks if Israel's dependence on high tech gadgetry helped cause the intelligence failure on October 7. And evidently that reliance on AI and so-called smart technologies is also failing in the Gaza offensive--it isn't as precise or selective as advertised.

Al Jazeera also has a long article about how Brexit affected people individually. Under Brexit people from most European countries could easily travel, live and work in most other European countries without passports and visas. They had gotten used to that until the unthinkable happened and the U.K. vote to leave the European Union. A lot of people lost not only the freedom to move, live and work easily throughout Europe but a sense of security.

I am so glad that the Medicare Advantage sign up period is over for this year. I so wanted to slap Martha and Karen. Mom has an advantage plan associated with Anthem but during this period was pestered with phone calls almost daily and actually changed providers at least four times because she couldn't get the "licensed insurance representative" to tell her who they represented. She did finally get it straightened out for her preferred provider. We haven't needed to tap it yet so what they will pay and how quickly is still a question. This article on Naked Capitalism provides me another reason to stay out. Some hospitals are now refusing to accept certain Medicare Advantage plans and the customer/patient probably won't know until they are billed for services.

December 8

 Starting out sunny and clear today. Supposed to be warmer also. All the snow we had earlier has disappeared and the latest Drought Monitor map shows our area back in "dry" conditions. I noted that all of the rain we saw in various drought stricken areas hasn't really shrunk the areas of drought much. Did you see the snow cover in parts of Europe? They got dumped on.

Robert Reich continues his series on "Why American Capitalism is so Rotten" continues with a discussion of the "Myth of a Free Market." He makes it clear that the real question is isn't a free vs an unfree market. The question is "free from what, for what, for whom?"

December 7

Good morning on what might be a sunny day and unseasonably warm. I looked at what is left of the gardens and was surprised to see the spicy oregano, both lavenders, all three sage plants are looking good. The mums show green at the lower levels. If we get a real stretch of winter I expect the only survivals will be the mints and chives which I didn't mention. We'll see.

Robert Reich comments this morning on the current state of the GOP. "De-evolution" is a good description. It is sad to think that the "party of Lincoln" has sunk to the level of threatening members and their families with violence (verbal or otherwise) and promising that The Twisted Santa in Mar-a-lago was taking names and would kick ass. It is also sad to think that a party that was established established in the 1850s on strong principles of anti-slavery and a reasoned political platform decided in 2019 that they wouldn't even put up a platform going with what ever whims their "Orange Jesus" farted out.

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism has a phrase to describe the decline in quality of goods and services: crapification. Another blogger (sorry, can't remember who) upped the ante and coined a different, ruder term: shitification. This story exemplifies the trend. We have had a postal service since we were Britain's colonies. Whatever government financed it and when the country became bi-coastal with the wide swath of lightly populated territories between, the Pony Express was started to maintain speedy contact. It lasted until telegraph lines spanned the distance. But always the government supported communications. For about three decades political attitudes changed and a move to force the postal service to act more like a profit making business gathered momentum. I have said before that government and government functions are not businesses and making them act like they are opens up a "pay to play" regime. Those too poor to pay don't get to play. Users of the service have always paid some amount to send letters and packages, or to do business. But the costs were kept low as a policy. Another thought came to me: the town mentioned isn't far away from us. Looks like the trend of abandoning rural populations is coming closer.

I just finished a simple seasonal arrangement in a smiley vase. I should have gone looking for my wire cutters but I managed with my heavy kitchen shears which will cut through bone. I also changed the wreath but that feels more like wishful thinking than reflecting the season. I really need to get the clutter in the What-not Room cleaned up--so I can clutter it up again remaking several wreaths.

Naked Capitalism has this critique, originally posted by Thomas Neuburger at God's Spies, of the COP 28 meetings. Does anyone remember the old saying about the fox gaining control of the hen house?

Stray thought: When the Former Guy threatened to withdraw, unilaterally, from Nato, I thought his threat would lead our European allies to re-evaluate the stability and value of its alliance with the US. I wasn't surprised when new stories reported that they were doing just that. I wonder if the impasse in DC over funding for Ukraine's war, which Biden did a masterful job of persuading the EU into supporting, will further that process.

Andrew Bacevich has a new post on Tomdispatch concerning the Israeli-Hamas war. I almost wrote Palestinian instead of Hamas because it feels more like a war against Palestinians considering the official war in Gaza is being pursued by the IDF at the same time an unofficial war perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. A couple of points come to my mind. First, any claim the US might have had (ephemeral, at best) to being an "honest broker" in the matter is really gone. Second, the "rules based order" Biden has been trying to shore up after the knocks it took after The Former Guy tried his best to dismantle it, has probably been sunk. I think we will miss it. Third, US actions have been largely unilateral in spite of the efforts to discuss the situation with local powers. In the back of my mind is the question: how soon do we become more deeply involved? And what will be the blowback? Fourth, everyone from our government to a sizable portion of our citizenry, to friends and frenemies abroad are trying to get someone, anyone, US, UN to get Israel to stop the bombardment. They are all whistling past the graveyard because no one really has that kind of power or influence anymore. If anyone ever really did.

December 5, 6

 Snow today--wet, heavy, fluffy flakes. We might get more than the 1 inch predicted. It isn't all that cold and the temperatures will rise a bit over the next few days (maybe). I don't expect the snow will last long.

Naked Capitalism posted this article on "inflation inequality." I have noted before that the official inflation numbers have been massaged to minimize inflation in the economy. The economists eliminate food and some other costs that affect ordinary people on a daily basis and over emphasize the more "stable" costs like autos and electronics which people don't buy every day or so. That gives them, they think, an idea of "core" inflation which appears stable or declining but the process leaves them bewildered when ordinary Americans complain that their costs, their perceived inflation, are rising. The article explains another phenomenon: price increases hit low cost food items more than higher cost items even when the average doesn't seem so bad. Basically, it means that the upper economic groups can still afford their steak but the lower tiers have trouble affording hamburger.

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

Most of the snow is already gone. We have an errand today. I hope it will be dry and a bit warmer.

I have just been watching a long bit speechifying on a morning news/entertainment show which started off with the confrontation between Representative Elise Stefanik and a college/university president. Stefanik asked if "calling for genocide against Jews" was against the institution's code of conduct and the president hedged claiming the answer depended on context. There are so many things wrong with the whole sequence. While a stopped clock is right twice a day when the clock is Stefanik I have to double check that it is a clock, that it is indeed stopped, and that it really is coincidentally at the time my own watch is showing. However, if Stefanik was going for gotcha moments she hit pay dirt. The answer the president gave is an example of why anyone espousing "situational ethics" should be very check their moral compass. Think back to an Oliver Wendell Holmes comment on freedom of speech: no one has the right to yell 'fire' in a crowded theater.' The speech doesn't have to be directed at a specific person to be dangerous. Yelling for genocide against any group is the equivalent to yelling fire. It doesn't have to be directed at a specific group to be dangerous. 

The discussion that started yesterday, and continues today, about Rep. Pramila Jayapal's responses to questions of Israel's conduct of the war with Hamas fits in here. I think some of the criticism was over the top and used the same "what-about-ism" they accused her of to attack her. The worst I can say of her responses is that trying to excuse one atrocity by pointing to another doesn't work. Hamas' attack on Israelis was horrific but so is Israel's response. Trying to white wash 1200 dead by pointing out the 15,000 dead on the other side is just that kind of what-about-ism.

Another good historical post from Tomdispatch. File in the "What is old (and not good) is (abhorrently) new" File.

And from The Free Press, another entry in the "What is old (and concerning) is New (with, hopefully, a better response) File. I have seen articles about the new respiratory illness hitting hard in China. And China is again treating the situation as a state secret.

I found this by way of Naked Capitalism. Middle East Monitor reports that Israel may decide to deal with the tunnels under Gaza by flooding them with sea water. The comparison the Naked Capitalism editor had on the link seems apt: Israel taking a page out of Roman history and "salting the earth." If you miss the reference look up the Punic Wars. It may go beyond by fouling the water supply and, perhaps, destabilizing the substrates under Gaza. The Times of Israel has more details.

There is an old challenge that tells people to "put your money where your mouth is." Judd Legum asks whether AT&T is putting their money where they say their values are and find they come very short. They spend their money to support candidates that vote for measures that directly infringe on voting rights, that curtail women's rights to appropriate medical care, support anti-LGBTQ+ laws, etc.

So Kevin McCarthy is resigning effective the end of this month. He won't finish his term. I am not sad about that. I thought he was a miserable excuse for an human being. His seat will be filled by a special election.

RIP Norman Lear.

Erin Brockovich posted a cautionary article on the use of cleaning agents that have quaternary ammonium compounds in them. There are some questions and recent studies which raises doubts about their efficacy and they can be toxic. We have Lysol wipes and Lysol spray but we use them sparingly. We have never been on the ultra-sanitary bandwagon. Our main cleaning agents are white vinegar and bleach (used very separately.) We, humans, have a habit of adopting products before we have any good information about the possible consequences. 

December 4

 I often feel like events are whirling around but nothing is really happening. For all the furor over George Santos, the politics haven't changed--it is still deadlocked. The Middle East is still deadlocked in a deadly confrontation between Hamas and Israel. And it is splitting the US into pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian camps both unwilling to admit the other side might have legitimate grievances. The Former Guy was handed two new decisions that confirm he doesn't have immunity from prosecution because of his status as a former president. But the cases continue and his lawyers continue to delay, and delay, and delay ad infinitum.

I found this opinion piece by Kieth Magee on CNN interesting. We don't really listen to the other side and too many of us are unwilling to "agree to disagree." Nor are some of us willing to let others make moral choices if those choices are what they would decide. And all too many think "there oughta be a law" which would take the issue out of the realm of morality. The question of what anyone would vote for or against The Former Guy (or, for that matter, why one would vote for The Other Guy) is by far a simpler question. 

NPR reports that the medical establishment, or rather some doctors, are moving away from aggressive suggestions that patients lose weight when ever a patient consults them whether the condition is directly related to the problem the patient wants addressed. The basic problem though is that patients don't feel doctors actually listen to them. My mother had the same complaint when she went to a doctor to deal with her shingles case. The doctor quickly moved away from the shingles, for which there is no cure and only treatment to ease the symptoms, and to a search for something to treat. Mom hasn't gone back. I have heard similar stories from others, all women. Even when the doctor is a woman. As with the last paragraph, listening, really listening, would be an excellent change.

It is amazing how people can't say something with which a sizable portion of vocal people don't agree without vicious responses. There was a report that actors who expressed either support for Palestinians or disapproval of Israel suddenly found themselves without jobs because of that political sin. Another example is the response to the man, an oil executive with the Abu Dhabi state oil company, who is running the COP28 conference who said that he didn't see any science behind the notion that phasing out fossil fuels would keep global temperatures below 1.5degrees above pre-industrial levels. He has now "walked back" his statement after an intense push back. I wonder, though, how right (or wrong) he might have been in his original statement. If we phased out fossil fuels, will it result in stop the rise in global temperatures? How quickly would we have to phase to phase out the use of fossil fuels? I have seen reports that say the greenhouse gases we have already released will keep increasing global temperatures for a long time even if we stopped using fossil fuels today. The proponents of phasing out fossil fuels, if not a total elimination, have their eyes on a single goal: stopping global temperatures from rising. They don't seem to have considered the possible negative impacts--and those will be considerable.

However, a healthy discussion (or debate) requires the expression of various ideas, even those many of us might not like. Right now there is no side of any debate which goes along with the notion (I forget who first expressed it)  "I don't agree with what you are saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." It is called "freedom of speech." So long as the speech doesn't further crimes or immediately and serious harm, we should tolerate it.

December 1

Welcome to meteorological winter and the last month of 2023. The snow we had earlier in the week has all gone. We have rain now and the overnight temps remained in the 40s. I got our dishes sorted out and the cabinet arranged so we can find things. Once upon a time all of the sorting of the books, pantry, and dishes would have occupied a single day. Not now. Now we do things a bit at a time.

Most of the news today has concerned two f**kups: Israel's intelligence failures leading up to October 7 and George Santos. The vote on whether Santos is expelled from Congress is supposed to take place later today. The Speaker is publicly telling his caucus to "vote their consciences" but who knows what he is saying privately. I was about to write "--and who knows whether the even have consciences" but stopped because I reminded myself that some may actually have good reasons for voting against expulsion just as some may have selfish and self centered reasons to vote either way. ( UPDATE: Santos has been expelled.) The Israel story is in early days and I am sure there will be more juicy details coming up. This is CNN's coverage this morning. What we can be sure of is that the politics in both Israel and the U.S.--and beyond--are in chaos. More chaos that has become usual.

The growing animosity between blue cities in red states is going to be another source of political chaos. As this article notes the cities are often far more diverse and liberal than the state which is often controlled by white men. But a more important fact is the growing divide between rural and urban areas in states. I think a conversation I had with one of my brothers with the last election--another in which the electoral college vote was closer than the popular vote though the two did coincide unlike the 2016 vote (and several others over the last 20 odd years.) The roll of the electoral college came up and my disappointed brother grumbled "why should a man's vote in Wyoming count less than another man's vote in California?" I asked "why the vote of the population of Wyoming count less than the vote of the population of California?" Wyoming has a bit under 600k while California has almost 40million. This was exactly the kind of discussion which led the framers of the Constitution to create the Electoral College: how to balance the power of the large states vs the small states. That is also why the House of Representatives is apportioned by population and the Senate is set at 2 senators for each state no matter the population.

I keep thinking I should put the winter wreath on the door but--it simply doesn't look or feel like winter.

Robert Reich posted his second installment on his series "Why American Capitalism is so Rotten" with What Really Happened to the American Dream. He makes the nexus between economics and politics very clear.

Richard Haas deals with Israel-Hamas (of course), Cop-28 (pessimistically), and Henry Kissinger (respectfully.) The glaring problem with the war in Gaza is that Israel has no realistic political path. As he notes that they can't seem to translated Clausewitz's observation (war is politics by other means) into Hebrew. Theirs is a war with any practical political objective. I have quoted an old saying before "when you go out for revenge dig two graves--one for your enemy and one for yourself." Israel went out for revenge and looks likely to bury both Gaza and itself. Haas isn't the only one who is pessimistic about finding a course of action that all  (or even a large proportion) of the participants will find acceptable or will hold to. And, finally, on Kissinger I think it is fair to say we will be arguing about his impact and legacy for decades to come.

On the Weather Channel the stories this week have focused on the continuing fall out from Hurricane Ian two years ago and what might happen in the next hurricane season only 6 months ago. Many people still haven't received their insurance payouts. Many can't rebuild because they can't get a mortgage without insurance which is hard or impossible to get. At least three major insurance providers have left the state leaving the state backed provider to carry the burden. They are talking about a "hurricane tax", a surcharge in double digits on ALL insurance policies (including auto and pet) in the state.

 Naked Capitalism posted a long article on what might develop into a border war between Guyana and Venezuela. And another on the election in the Netherlands which brought Geert Wilders a win. He is part of a move to the right in Europe's politics. Now the process of forming a ruling coalition begins. It took the just defeated Prime Minister 299 days to do that.

RIP Sandra Day O'Connor.