October 22, 23

 Heather Cox Richardson posted a good article today. I have listened to too many of Trump's sycophants this last week dismissing Trump's remarks. Whether the were challenged with his  lewd remarks about Arnold Palmer, or his promise to go after the "enemies within," or promising to "deport" tens of millions of immigrants, or (insert any other examples you remember). They insist he didn't really say what the tape shows him saying. They insist that he didn't really mean what the tape shows him saying. They insist that the Constitution and Federal law will prevent him from doing any of the heinous things his critics say his words foretell. Well, Richardson recounts exactly how Hitler did all of that and more within the year he took the oath to respect the German Constitution. I also read the Bitecofer article Richardson cites in her piece. They are both illuminating.

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I am going to take a break from the blog until after the election. See you after.

October 18

 Good sunny but cool morning to you all. I got out on the patio and continued the process of putting the gardens to bed for the winter. I cleared out spent plants from three buckets and finished clearing out the stalks of sunflowers. I cut down the plants a couple of weeks ago. I started taking down trellises but too many still flowering plants are vining up the remaining support. I tried to detach the hose but, like last year, I couldn't move the connecting piece. I will have to call our landlord and ask if one of the handymen can swing by for a couple of minutes between other calls. We gave all of the wrenches that were of a sufficient size to my brother and nephew. They have more use for that kind of thing.

The news announced that the Israelis killed Yahya Sinwar the "mastermind" of the October 7 assault last year. Everyone hopes that will induce the Israelis to go back to negotiations to end the war and release the remaining hostages. Netanyahu has coyly said that this is only the "beginning of the end of the war" but no end is in sight. Stray thought: who is left for the Israelis to negotiate with? Hamas has been decapitated and its organization shredded. The Palestinian Authority has been invisible in this entire fiasco, its octogenarian leader (Abbas, I think) totally silent, and the organization has never had much clout in Gaza. It has even less now in the West Bank given the actions of rogue Israelis who the government either supports or has no power to stop. Point to remember Hezbollah is NOT Palestinian; Saudis, Omanis, Syrians, etc. are NOT Palestinian. Who can truly speak for the Palestinians?

The last "full scale" Target store in the U.S. is slated for closure. The retail giants I grew up with are dwindling. Sears, Penneys, K-Mart are all ghosts of what they once were--if they still exist in some form at all. We often drove down to the large mall and started at Sears then strolled past the small stores to finish up at the Penney at the other end.

Concerning Israel's aims (or Netanyahu's aims) Bill Astore has some opinions that parallel my own: the real aim has been to annex both Gaza and the West Bank and for Netanyahu to short circuit the corruptions indictments against him and remain in power. Astore is quite cynical about the role the U.S. is playing. I don't know if our government is really on board with the Israeli program or if our politicians really can't adjust to the fact that the Israel of today is not the Israel we originally supported. Or perhaps the problem is a residual sense of guilt for not doing anything much to counter the Final Solution and did quite a bit to trap Jews in Europe as the Nazis killed 6 million of them.

Charles Eisenstein has an intriguing post on "political bypassing" which derives from the notion of "spiritual bypassing." Both are tactics that allows individuals to evade deeper and perhaps intractable problems by either spiritualizing it or politicizing it. I have it on my list to reread. I am not sure yet what I think of the idea.

October 16, 17

 Sunny day today after a stormy night. If the weather forecast is accurate we should have some dry, cool, and sunny days before the temperatures go back to above normal again. The cool nights have taken a toll on the warm season plants. I plan to start culling the gardens and rearranging things before things freeze.

Stray thought: I don't expect the election result to settle anything. No matter who wins or loses no one will be satisfied or accepting of the results. A lot of words have been bandied about concerning "our democracy" and the importance of voting. But no one is mentioning directly the importance of respecting the outcomes whether you voted with the winning side or agree with the results. We are seeing the intensification of a trend I first noticed about 30 years ago when a ballot initiative concerning gambling came up over and over again in successive local elections. The pro-gambling side would win and the anti-gambling side came back to rally their side to defeat the resolution the next time--and on and on it went till finally the proponents of the measure won back to back elections by very large margins. Even then the opponents tried to undo through the legislature what the voters had approved. We have seen that repeatedly over the last couple of decades. Voters in Florida approved an initiative to restore voting rights to felons who had been released from prison. The Republicans in the Florida legislature passed add-ons which basically reversed the intent of the voters who voted for the initiative. We watched as the Republicans in Ohio tried to rig the electoral process to prevent the likely approval of a Constitutional amendment protecting a woman's right to decide on abortion. They are still trying to nullify legislatively the amendment voters approved by a nearly 60-40 vote. We have a large part of the electorate who respect voting ONLY if the results of what they support wins. That ISN'T democracy. 

Aurelian has an interesting post this morning that I think touches on the stray thought above. I have kept the post on my e-mail to read again because it is quite long. But several points resonate. For instance, the growth of what I have called "rampant individualism." Our society is geared to producing psychopaths who are utterly self-centered. The former (and hopefully not future) president is the prime example. There is much more in the post which I need to ponder.

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Another sunny but very cool day. I have been chilling out with a couple of computer games and my needlework. But it is now time to go through the blogs I find in my e-mail.

Reading Bill Astore's post today I had a couple of stray thoughts. First, I like the title and subtitle on his post: Remember When Politicians Made Promises? Want Meaningful Change? Forget About It. He basically says that Trump and Harris are sticking with a status quo program while Stein is the only choice for, as he puts it, "meaningful change." But the source for the graphic is the Stein campaign and it deliberately paints both Trump and Harris with the same black brush. Harris has proposed universal health care, capping medical costs, dealing with the high cost of housing and education among other proposals. Two, Astore evidently tells us to forget about "meaningful change" because only the candidate he prefers is proposing the changes he (and I would guess a lot of other Americans) want. But the only way Harris or Stein can get their programs enacted is if enough of the legislators to be elected in November also agree. The chances of Stein being elected are low to non-existent and the chances of a Harris winning with a majority in both the house and senate aren't much better. I don't expect "meaningful change," by any definition of "meaningful" or "change," no matter who occupies the White House.

Another Stray Though: many of the problems listed in that political ad will be solved or made meaningless over the next decades simply because people will act on their own to find their own solutions. College is too expensive? Over the last decade or so various universities/colleges have found their enrollment figures going down among their traditional pool of "customers:" recent high school grads. Actually the problem has been on the horizon for at least three decades because that is marks the time when they made efforts to bring in middle aged adults. But that hasn't made up for the loss of younger people. Housing too expensive? A lot of younger people whose jobs are in cities started some time ago to rent. Or, if they are really intent on buying a house, the follow the maxim that became popular about 15 or so years ago: drive till you qualify. And their needs are being accommodated. Our city has bus service connected to the commuter rail system going into Chicago and commuter bus service into the Loop during the rush hours. Cost of living too high? Well, multigenerational households have been increasing for the last two decades. Young people who find their incomes don't cover rent and other expenses (like student loans) have been moving in with parents who may also have grandparents living in the same household. That, however, doesn't bode well for the politicians because, if people find their own solutions, they will start wondering what the hell good is government and why the hell are they paying so much in taxes.

October 15

 Sunny today but we expect pulses of lake effect rain today. We had almost constant rain. I hope things out in the gardens will dry out enough to get some more clean up done. It turned quite cool last night--enough that I turned on the heat. But the weather forecasts call for a rollercoaster of temperatures for the next week or two. 

Bill Astore covers a controversy I have seen revisited often over the last thirty or forty years: whether it is better to vote for the better of two "evils" or to "waste" your vote on a third party candidate whose proposals better align with your values. I debated this very question often over that time. I didn't really want to vote for Clinton but Trump, even in 2016, was totally unacceptable. I didn't really want to not for Biden but all the other candidates I preferred fell by the wayside and Trump was even more unacceptable in 2020. The last four years have only solidified my assessment of Trump. In fact everything he has said and done has intensified my disgust. Considering how the party "leaders" in positions of power have rallied around him I will not vote for almost any Republican candidate at any level. I have said before that the only one who has done anything to earn my vote is the Republican Mayor of our town who is running for reelection. The candidate for Governor was our Senator who voted to "acquit" Trump at his impeachment trial which makes him unacceptable. The Representatives voted against the impeachment and are similarly unacceptable. What I do  know now is we have a choice between a Democrat whose policies probably diverge from what I think are needed or a "putative" Republican who respects no boundaries, no laws, no traditions. And he has people around him who will facilitate his policy or push what ever of his buttons that will lead him to enact their policies--policies I find offensive. I don't think in terms of "wasting" my vote. I think in terms of who has a chance of being elected and will follow customs and laws--or one who also has a real chance of being elected and won't. I like voting (even if my choices are rarely successful), I like living in a country where laws are usually supreme (not psychopaths), being able to criticize without wondering if someone with power will sic the Justice Department or the IRS on me. I simply hope enough of my fellow citizens agree--that is what democracy is all about. And we will have it, as Benjamin Franklin may have said, as long as we can keep it which means as long as we value our democracy to elect people who won't destroy it. If both of the candidates would support our Constitutional order and abide by our laws we can indulge in supporting third party candidates who are more philosophically palatable.

October 14

 Welcome to half past October. Evidently today is Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day. As usual didn't do anything to "celebrate." I am surprised that I didn't see any reminders. I don't know if there were any parades but they would have been overshadowed by the Chicago Marathon yesterday.

No wonder Trump and Musk are such good buddies. It's all about the grift. A "free" star-link internet service he says he is accelerating for disaster hit regions comes with a big cost: $400 star-link starter kit and, after thirty days, an automatic shift from a free service to a $120/month subscription. Such generosity!! (Sarcasm alert)

Pissed Off Thoughts: the news today said that the administration is sending an advanced "defense system" with its missiles to Israel and, evidently, U.S. troops will be sent also. Israel seems to have been able to create a wasteland in Gaza without more U.S. weaponry. It seems to be able to attack putative Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, suspected remnants of Hamas in the rubble of Gaza, perceived enemy commanders in Tehran and Houthi enemies in Yemen without more U.S. weapons. Or U.S. personnel whose "mission" isn't at all clear. It is past time for our government to stop being the world's arms merchant.

October 10

 Good morning. We have another sunny and dry day predicted. I checked the gardens and didn't find anything needing water. The cooler temps help with that. I cleaned out one of the vegetation in one of my buckets yesterday--not a hard thing because it was growth from the seeds the birds scattered. I plan to put a layer of newspaper over the soil to prevent any hard rain from splashing the soil out. I have several in mind to clear but I will wait till late next week because the paving work continues and trash pickup is a bit hindered. Next week we should be able to put the large tote out for collection. 

With Hurricane Martin leaving a mess and the mess left by Hurricane Helene not yet cleaned up some of the commentators on the news/talk shows are starting to talk about insurance--as in what the claims will be. I have seen estimates of damage ranging up to  $150+BILLION. The insurance industry has been under stress for more than a decade. Companies have been leaving states with very expensive risks and states have been trying to either force them to stay or backstopping the insurance premiums for customers. This article goes into the tactics companies are using to stem their losses while ensuring their shareholders get a return on their investments. De Santis in Florida pushed a "reform" of insurance and property laws that have limited company liability and made it more difficult for their customers to sue to enforce the policies. More than 20 years ago I noticed that the insurance industry along with several other big industries were quietly taking actions to mitigate the cost of climate change for themselves while politicians and pundits on the right insisted climate change was a hoax. However, the number of multibillion dollar weather and other disasters is rising. This article notes 19 confirmed such events this year alone before Martin and Helene visited our shores. I did a quick and dirty search for information on the costs per year and found an interesting graph which shows that the costs have increased astronomically over the last 15 years. I wonder how long before this whole country will be uninsurable.

October 9

 Still dark out here with a bit of light appearing in the sky. We are recovering from two days of doctors' appointments--especially yesterday which began very early to accommodate an 8:30 appointment. Although the session itself didn't last very long getting there meant being wake and moving sooner than normal. We like slow and gradual not fast and immediate.

Right now we aren't going anywhere until the paving of the street at the back of the building and a couple of connecting streets is finished. Monday we went out an saw NO PARKING  signs "by police order" while the paving is done. Our designated parking area borders the street and everyone was supposed to move their cars. Some didn't and will not be able to get out until the job is finished--maybe tomorrow. It was amazing to see the cars lining the front street. We have about two dozen four-plex units with most having two cars attached to each. Streets nearby also had cars from our complex lining the curbs. We were lucky to get a close spot which was still open when we got back from the appointment.

Don't think I am complaining. About four years ago we complained to our landlords that we were dodging Volkswagen-eating potholes. After trying to get the city to repave then they hired a paving company to repair the worst affected areas directly in front of their buildings. The repairs were breaking down and potholes had become a problem again. But this time the city came through. For the last fifteen years or so we have had a couple of very capable Republican mayors and their administrations have made infrastructure improvements a priority. Streets we had long complained about have been repaired over time with the politicians actively informing people of where the money was coming from and being spent. These Republicans are the ONLY Republicans I have voted for and will vote for this time around.

I commented a couple of times on the changes we noticed in the lawn signs this election cycle. This piece from Patheos reflects what we have seen: a decrease in the number of signs for the presidential candidates. Yesterday we noticed a couple of new Harris/Walz signs and I noticed a number lawns sporting signs supporting local democrats but not including Harris/Walz. I have no idea of how people are planning to vote but far fewer are announcing their preferences by way of yard signs.

October 7

 Sunny today. I watered the gardens yesterday so the plants should be good for a couple of days. The weather forecast predicts moderate temperatures (low 70s) so that will help. I also did a bit of sweeping and moved a couple of my 5-gal planters. Still deciding what to take out and how to cull my pots. Over the last few years I have made changes that make upkeep easier but I still want to change the arrangements to make more room around the air conditioner and around the pot that has the bird feeder anchored in it. Birds are messy feeders and I want to be able to sweep up their leavings more easily. We'll see what happens. I have always found reducing garden spaces difficult but I don't have the energy I did even five years ago.

Dan Moynahan has a post on CAN WE STILL GOVERN which hits the story I have been following lately: the lies around the Federal Government's response to Hurricane Helene. It really irritates me that they call that shit "misinformation." It is outright LIES. A long time ago Supreme Court Justice said that freedom of speech did not cover "yelling fire in a crowded theater. That was refined by a later court ruling to prohibit speech that directly incites violence. Some of what Moynahan points to is incitement to just such violence. But I would say speech which impede the actions of emergency workers or which encourages people to take action which are potentially harmful, to themselves or others, should also be outside Constitutional protections.

Robert Reich published an interesting article titled HOW DID THE GOP BECOME THE PARTY OF CRANKS, CRACKPOTS, AND FRUITCAKES? He says it all. No need for my comment.

Stray thought: as we drive around we notice the lawn signs. In 2020, we saw a lot of Trump/Pence signs and nearly as many Biden/Harris signs. This year we have seen very few signs for any of the presidential candidates but significantly more for Harris/Walz. Only a couple for Trump/Vance. The paucity of yard signs might indicate people are simply not that engaged. However, a large number of people are putting out yard signs but they are for the down ballot candidates without any for the top of the ticket. I wonder how many of those voters will vote but only for the candidates below the presidential level which they plan to leave blank.

I have seen several headlines on early voting and out of curiosity checked on my state. Early, in person voting begins tomorrow (October 8) here. Absentee ballots can be re quested as late as October 28. That is really nice. Also, our system now allows a person to cast an in person ballot at any precinct in the area. We plan to do our usual and visit the polling place in a local church that is only two blocks away.

Robert Lipsyte writes on GROWING OLD IN THE AGE (AND THAT IS THE APPROPRIATE WORD) OF TRUMP. 

Sunny today but the forecast is for falling temps. I will have to water the gardens a bit and the meteorologists say we won't get any significant rain for the next week. We are looking at a busy week with two doctors' appointments and a trip to the license bureau to renew the car registration.

So Trump went back to Butler, Ohio. I saw about a half hour of his rally. I got the feeling that his handlers told him that Harris is mopping the floor with him with her hopeful rhetoric and he needs to tone down the gloom and doom. Unfortunately I came across as totally faked. The man is not at all authentic unless he is spewing out grievance. At least the start I saw didn't disintegrate into the usual pity party. I don't know if that came later because I switched the channel.

So the Oklahoma Secretary of Education put out a contract for bid. He mandates that a Bible will be in every classroom and all teachers are to "teach from the Bible," what ever the hell that means. Will students learn math in terms of "cubits" or "shekels?" Will they learn meteorology or physics by studying the Red Sea crossing in Exodus? The details of the bid are interesting. The Bibles must 1) be the "authorized" (by whom) King James Translation, 2) must include the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Pledge of Allegiance, and 3) must be leather bound. My, my--does any one else notice how nicely tailored that list is? It is the Trump Bible which comes in at $60/a piece. Takes care of two birds with one stone: force feeds students Christianity while filling Trumps pockets.

Found this article first thing this morning. I thought from early on that the Israeli aim, what ever they said, was vengeance pure and simple. And they weren't interested in distinguishing between Hamas and "civilians." And though the passages of the Bible cited in the article seem heavily weighted in the "vengeance is mine saith the Lord" I remember all too well the preachers reminding their flocks that He acts through men. Unfortunately, our government in recognizing the "justice" of Israel's cause have failed to recognize the lust for vengeance that has overtaken the thirst for justice. In a sense they have erased the difference between the two words. And we, through our government, are shackled to vengeance whether we want to be or not.

Charles Hughes Smith posted a pretty good overview of our current social/political mess.  I would add a couple of comments. Those at the top of the social/political/financial pyramid do have a "kick the can down the road" mentality--in other words, business as usual. But they also have a selective view of what constitutes a crisis. They may see inflation as a problem but not extreme weather, obesity but not our food supply system. And when they do recognize a problem they always see someone else as the villain of the crisis. Inflation is all because of THOSE workers who want wage increases never thinking that when wages go up prices do too. Obesity would not be a problem if THOSE glutinous idiots simply stopped stuffing themselves but the powers-that-be never consider how industrial food production has engineered their products 1) addictive, 2) contain maximum fat, salt, sweeteners, and 3) minimally nutritious. They also fail to see how the various crises are interconnected and exacerbate each other. Simply kicking the can down the road doesn't help when the interconnected crises eat away the road.

October 3

 Good morning on this sunny day. We expect mild temps in the mid 70s and no rain. I am debating when I should unhook the garden hose for the season. Average first frost here is about October 15 and a good freeze could come before the end of the month. However, I have seen seasons where we didn't get a hard freeze until January. I should cut back some of the petunias and take down the sunflowers. Both are pretty well done for the year. It is time to consider what to plant next year.

Erin Brockovich has a long post today on the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. She covers some concerns that the news (even the Weather Channel) coverage doesn't mention much at all: the pollution the comes from industrial site being flooded. Considering the scope of the devastation recovery will be a very long term project. Some of those areas and people will never recover.

Stray thought: I watched a part of a "conversation" last night that included a couple of committed Trump supporters. One had broken with Trump after Jan. 6 but has now returned because, in his opinion, the Biden Administration's policies were so damaging to the country he was "forced" to pivot back to Trump. He remarked that once the Republican Party regained power they could return the focus to policy. That struck me as odd because they seem to be ditching their principles which support their policies in the pursuit of power. Without the principles the policies are ephemeral and I doubt they can regain the principles after they have gained power. That pundit is like the man who sells his soul to the devil expecting the bill will never come due.

October 1

Welcome to October.  Only three months left in this year and only one and a few days before the election. We had errands to run this morning so I am only now getting to my reading. The Vice Presidential debate goes on tonight. I don't know whether we will watch. 

Right now the news is covering the Iranian missile attack on Israel which isn't really surprising after the leader of their ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, was killed during Israeli bombing over the last few days. And Israel is sending ground troops into southern Lebanon. I don't expect this to end any time soon no matter how you define "end." 

First news this morning involved the longshoremen's strike at the ports on the East Coast and Gulf. Most of the stories seem to balance the workers' demands against the consumers of the goods being shipped into the ports. The increasing use of automatic against the kids Christmas gifs. One of the reports said the employer's offers included a really big pay bump over the six years the proposed agreement would run. But I rather sympathize with the workers because what good does that increased pay do you when automation takes the job away. Another story claimed that the shipping companies made a huge profit during the pandemic but little of that windfall fell to the workers. We'll see what happens.

This piece by Meaghan Ward on Medium is interesting. Some teenagers are refusing to go to school. And, according to the author, refusing to "participate in life. I have heard of similar situations in Japan and China. It was bad enough in China that the government tried to wage a propaganda campaign against the trend. The really interesting comments came at the end of the article. Asked what the kids will do if they don't go to school, what work will they be able to get, one mother said she thought her daughter has watched how hard she work and how little she got for the work--and has decided she wants none of it. When I was young, more years ago than I care to think, I was assured hard work would let me get ahead in life. Working hard in school would lead to a good job which would pay for a good life. By the 1990s or so, I summed up where that philosophy had gotten me: working my self to death to barely survive. By the time I retired thirteen years ago I modified that: working my self to death to not survive at all. I wasn't surprised when a lot of workers took early retirements (when they could) during the recession of 2007-9. I wasn't surprised when those who could did the same during the pandemic or jumped at arrangements for working from home. They decided to step off the treadmill.