December 4

 Good morning. It is still cold with flurries every now and then but not amounting to much more snow. I put several hexagons into the shawl before I switched to finishing the edge on the little blanket of pin loom squares and started weaving in the ends. There a lot of them. Nowadays I get them taken care of as I am working the piece. Then I decided it was time to vacuum the traffic areas of the downstairs. I don't bother with the upstairs as neither of us go up there much since mom's accident and surgery. I just published the post covering the last couple of days because I shut down the computer before I got back to post it.

Gail Tverberg at OUR FINITE WORLD has a new article posted today. I always look forward to her writing because she looks at today's problems as interlocking phenomena influencing each other to exacerbate their effects. Several economists have written over the last couple of years about our society's dependence on rising levels of debt, on increasing supplies of energy (and fossil fuels particularly), and increasing production of materials we depend on (rare earths etc.) Tverberg shows how those factors have been declining and that all the promises that been given to various people (and not just those who receive social security or other government promised benefits but those who expect private pensions, etc.) which are based on rising levels of debt, increasing supplies of energy and materiel. 

December 1, 2

 Welcome to December. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. We are hibernating. We got quite a bit of snow but most of it has been removed. The pavement is still warm enough that the lowest levels are slushy. It looks like we are going to get several days of cold temps and sporadic snow. Welcome to meteorological Winter although I put up my wreath for the season a week ago. Well, since I pretty much ignored the news over the weekend I guess it is time for a jump into what's going on.

Evidently South Asia is feeling the fury of a monsoon cyclone with heavy rain from Sri Lanka to Thailand. They have had unbelievable flooding and land slides. Last I heard the death toll from the region surpassed 1000. In BBC interviews some residents of Ache province Indonesia compared the devastation to the massive tsunami that hit about a decade ago.

Stray thought: we really need to get back to using words in a way that doesn't stretch their meanings beyond recognition. The "terrorism/terrorist" merely means anyone you consider an enemy. Political opponents become minions of satan that need to be obliterated. Drug traffickers suddenly are narco-terrorists and our government feels free to murder them on the high seas. The latest obscenity Hegseth may have perpetrated when he allegedly gave an order to "kill them all" when survivors were seen at the wreckage of one of the boats our government blew up. One of the pundits wrote that the action was "a war crime at best" since the survivors were not a threat any longer (if they ever were.) Note our military hasn't been involved in an unambiguous war since WWII. Here are some depressing comments on where we seem to be going with our current government.

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

Sunny so far today. I got a short path shoveled to get me from the patio door to the trash tote. I might get the path to the gate done. I had to find one of my winter caps and my gloves before I even try that. It is really cold and isn't likely together out of the 20s. I just put together a scalloped potato casserole and got it in the oven. My version adds frozen peas and sliced smoked sausage to the original recipe. I had to do some searching because so many that I found seem to think scalloped means au gratin. I like one dish meals though next time I will use the larger casserole dish. I also like to fix enough to freeze for future quick means. It is just too much of a pain to try to adjust the portions for two--especially when Mom's appetite is rather variable.

First up on my reading list was this piece from CROOKS&LIARS. I have a couple of thoughts on it. First, who can possibly be surprised. Trump is an equal opportunity "looter." I wonder where he is putting the money a rational president would have sent to Michigan. Second, another reason not to be surprised is Trump really doesn't like the lower economic orders of what ever race or ethnicity. They trend likely to put any money in his pocket. Third, I am getting really tired of the undertone of schadenfreude with the whole "people are in the FO phase of FAFO" meme. Just because some people didn't see what those who didn't vote for Trump doesn't mean they deserve the cruelty of this administration. That falls on all of us. Fourth, these stories simply solidifies my thought that we should become as independent of government programs. The old saying "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" reflects a broader truth: whatever is given can be taken away by the giver at any time.

Stray thought: there has been a lot of verbiage spent on 1) whether the strikes on alleged drug-running boats is actually legal (as in justified by actual national or international law), and 2) whether the facts justify charges of war crimes or murder all ignores a fact which might bite good many people in their posteriors: there is no statute of limitations on the most serious possibilities. And we still have elections and the results may not be favorable to those in power now supporting blatant thuggery.

Another stray thought: the shooting of the National Guard troops a few days ago has ignored something that is important though it doesn't absolve the shooter: he was trained by and worked with the CIA as part of a "death squad" in Afghanistan. He work for our government and nobody is looking at how much culpability attaches to that government which waged that pseudo war for two decades. I say "pseudo" because there was no declaration of war to authorize the military action. Well, not everyone is ignoring the background. Corbin Trent at AMERICA'S UNDOING covers it in detail.

November 25, 28

 The fog has finally lifted. We had rain overnight. The temperature is still mild, especially for the end of November but that is expected to change starting tomorrow. The last forecast I saw, yesterday, predicted possible snow over the weekend. I think the four pots I cleaned out yesterday will be the last work outside unless it gets dry enough to sweep up leaves.

A couple of days ago Treasury Secretary Bessent appeared on one of the Sunday current affairs talk shows and tried again to convince people that they aren't really experiencing inflation. He is an economist and was relying on the idea that people generally don't know that the technical definition of inflation doesn't actually refer to prices. When people talk about inflation they us the term colloquially to refer to increasing prices for everyday items. Bessent is still trying to gaslight us into thinking we don't know what is happening in our lives.

28************************************************

Sunny so far today. We didn't get any noticeable precipitation yesterday. The next front should be moving in later this afternoon which the weather people say should drop significant snow, perhaps as much as a foot. I brought the snow shovel out of the shed and put it in an accessible corner of the patio and the sidewalk deicer which is in the house by the door. I turned off the TV news early today. I can't stand listening to Trump, Vance or Hegseth. They spew so much shit that you can fertilize every farm field in the country for a century.

We watched the Chicago and the Macy's Thanksgiving Parades followed by the Weather Channel's coverage of the winter storm marching through the northern tier of the country. The two parades were quite a contrast. Chicago highlighted local culture, or cultures, and local talent. Macy was a slicker production which would have told you very little about the people inhabiting the city. Chicago's production featured performers from local ethnic organizations which keep their music, dance and other art alive. Macy's focused on popular entertainment with several hip-hop artists, one of the stars of WICKED FOR GOOD, and other nationally popular artists. On the whole I preferred the Chicago parade. 

This NBC article has some interesting aspects. The author(s) say that attitudes toward higher education changed significantly starting about 20 years ago. My own attitudes changed slowly starting ten years before that. For the so-called GREATEST GENERATION a four-year degree was worthwhile. Many of them used the G.I. Bill to fund their educations. And those funds were available for both college and trade schools. My father used his to learn to maintain semi-truck engines though he soon found he preferred to drive rather working as a mechanic. All of the professors in the classes I took were Veterans and earned at least their bachelor's degrees through the V.A. A theme that ran through the article was that the respondents thought a college degree was too expensive for what people got was because students were not taught skill that would have prepared them for the labor market. I will ask a different question: could college programs have prepared students for modern work. I would say that they couldn't and don't for all too many students. They were geared for the economy of the 1950s not the economy of the 1980s or any time since. The economy has changed drastically and rapidly and the colleges haven't been good at turning on a dime to meet new needs. One could also ask if a lot of the programs should be offered in a college at all.

Bill Astore at BRACING VIEWS provides a good piece our military spending for your post-Thanksgiving reading: GUNS AS BUTTER. Economists often talk to the general public (or their intro ECON students) in terms of "guns vs. butter." But Astore notes that for the significant part of our economy guns are butter; spending on guns (and everything associated with them) are the butter of the military and its associated industries. And that sector is soaking up so much of the budget it limits the public access to butter (health care, food, education etc.).

November 24

Good morning. It is overcast so the sun promised by the weather people over the weekend has failed to arrive. My thermometer on the fence says the temperature is just above 50F but it certainly doesn't feel like it. I just cleaned out four pots of dead plants and moved the two from the front door to the back. That was enough garden work for today. I have some more cleanup planned but it wait til tomorrow or whenever. I decided that I won't put any pots by the front door. Our landlords insist on keeping the pampas grass (I think that is what the crap is) and I am tired of trying to keep it from falling into my flowers. The news this morning was about the same as it was on Saturday (and on Friday and on Thursday... .)

Ugo Bardi at THE SENECA EFFECT writes about "Global Dumbing: the Consequences." I don't have much faith in IQ test results. I read a bit about how they were developed and Bardi is entirely correct in saying that they were developed for Western peoples. I would go farther: they were developed by White, Western European men for White Western European men and if you aren't in that group you often don't test well. I have read even more on exactly how that works. And there were very early evidence that the level of education was a better indicator of how well a person would test than the results of the test indicating how well anyone would do academically. Those tests showed an increase in "intelligence" across generations. Immigrants scored low but their children scored higher and the grandchildren scored higher yet. The children and grandchildren had higher levels of education as well.

COP30 is winding down with so little accomplished that some question whether another should be held. I heard one report which said that meeting was better attended by the fossil fuels industry than by diplomats and climate scientists.They made sure that any proposals that would affect business as usual for them was removed. The next COP will be in Turkey, if it is held at all.

Well, something did move this morning. The judge who was hearing the Comey and James motions for dismissal of the cases because Halligan was illegally appointed to the office of prosecutor. The motions to dismiss on the grounds of "vindictive and selective prosecution" are still alive.

Stray thought: just this morning on BBC they featured the story of a very young boy who is suffering from Hunter's Syndrome which causes progressive physical and mental deterioration leading to death in the teenage years. His family went to England for gene therapy which has been in development for a couple of decades and which appears to have been successful in arresting and even reversing the symptoms. The only sad thing in the story is that his older brother is also suffering for the same condition but is too old for the trial. But just now MSNow has a segment on Tatiana Schlossberg's new article detailing her struggles with cancer culminating in her new diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia and her doctors' futile efforts to find a treatment. The mRNA research might have yielded a cure for the same condition but not in time for her. But the funds for that research has been terminated by her cousin, RFK, Jr.

The CITIZENS UNITED decision conferring on corporations the rights to use their money to express their political opinions has unleashed a plague of money on our politics. Robert Reich details a way states might erase the effects of the decision though not the decision itself. Corporations are fictional persons formed in states according to state law. The state approves the corporation and can regulate what it can and cannot spend money on and could bar the corporation from spending in political causes. After all physical persons are barred from spending on certain things at certain times. I can't buy beer, wine, and liquor before noon on Sundays. You can't legally donate to terrorist or criminal organizations. Whether you can place a bet on line (or at all) is regulated by the state you live in. Evidently Montana is introducing an initiative to regulate corporate participation in politics. That would be an interesting situation if it passes. 

November 22

Nice sunny morning. First for several days. It didn't always rain but it sure was gloomy. We are watching the soccer games and being lazy. I have washed dishes and cleaned up most of the kitchen--have a bit more to do during half times and the post game shows.

Affordability seems to be the watchword for politics now and Trump is trying very hard to claim it was his own. Unfortunately for him not many believe him. Yves Smith posted this on NAKED CAPITALISM which gives an indication of why. She cross-posted a COMMON DREAMS piece by Stephen which does a deeper dive into food prices that goes beyond Walmart's much touted Thanksgiving family meal which keeps the price down by reducing the number of components by one quarter and substituting lower priced house brands. Hey, Trump, we call that shrinkflation.

Another step in the evolution of THE UNITED STATES OF SURVEILLANCE. I wonder how long before they drop "land of the free" from the STAR SPANGLED BANNER. 

I found this article about rising rates of malnutrition and malnutrition related diseases in the UK which triggered my curiosity. A quick Google search yielded this article at USNews. The U.S. is experiencing similar conditions and increasing food insecurity. This report from the WHO indicates that food insecurity and malnutrition have reached levels not seen since 2008-9. Back in the 1980s the original "green revolution" aimed to reduced hunger by introducing new high yield crops and better farming methods. It seemed to work--at least for a while.

Just when you think you have seen the worst the Big BeautifulUgly Bill/Act included--you find there are even more nasty inclusions. According to CROOKS&LIARS, the (Formerly) Department of Education nursing is no longer a profession and post Bachelor's students won't qualify for all of the available loans designated "professions" would have received. I found other reports which claimed that the Department considers the new designation a cost cutting measure. But I also noticed that several of the re-labeled no longer professions are female dominated. Coincidence? I don't think so.

 Cloudy this morning and cool. The forecast has changed to say we won't see the sun for at least the next seven days. My fuzzy little stubborn "alarm clocks" annoyed me into feeding them about 2am. Then they started in again an hour later. They weren't happy when I ignored them for their mid-morning feeding til 9am. They still haven't adjusted to the time change. And I am sleep deprived. Oh, well.

Robert Reich makes a good point in his latest post. The CEOs of corporations like McDonalds complain the low and middle income people aren't patronizing them and their profits are falling but they are in fact part of their own problem. They pay low wages to front line workers which forces those workers to sign up for SNAP or other benefits to make up the shortfall. The CEOs "earn" hundreds of dollars more than their average workers but have been, with their corporations, of the Republicans reduction in their taxes. So we pay for the benefits for the lowest wage workers AND we pay for their tax breaks. Their workers don't earn enough to buy the goods they push across the counter to the few low and middle income patrons who are still coming through the door. (Confession here: I haven't patronized a McDonalds in eight years. That was the first time in over a decade before that and only because Mom and I were driving to Denver and couldn't find any other eatery open at the time. The food was incredibly disappointing.)

November 17, 18

 Good sunny mid-November day. Had a couple of errands this morning. Most intended to take us over next week and avoid the holiday shopping. But needed to go to Michaels for some solid color balls of crochet thread and a new winter wreath. I decided that I am not going to make any more wreaths. That has become more of a chore than a pleasure and I can do without it.

18**********************************************

Cloudy today with rain continuing, perhaps, for the next three or four. This is the time of the year when sunny conditions can be more of an irritant because the angle of the sun reflects off the table under the windows right into my eyes. That will happen again six months from now. Got the crochet thread and noticed how restricted the selections were. Almost all of it was in size 10. Luckily that matches most of the partials I have. But I found two old balls of size 30. I don't remember exactly when I got them but I guess they are more than 25 years old. I am planning on paring them with another thread for some project as yet undecided. Michaels used to have an 8 foot section of racks with threads sized from 3 through 30. Not any more. I have watched as the selections of materials for needlework has contracted. I gave up on needlepoint kits when the fashion shifted to long stitch which I hated at first sight. I remember when I began doing embroidery 60 years ago (when I was in my middle teens) I could walk into the local Ben Franklin Five and Dime (or any one of other such stores) and see full aisles of pre-stamped pieces from doilies to table cloths. And any kind of knitting and crocheting threads and yarns from lace weight to bulky. Again, no more. Mom and I have commented with sad amusement that no one sewed or did other needle crafts any more. Thankfully some do and I follow a number of crafting groups on Facebook and some of the work I see is incredible.

Major irritation over the last few days: pundits talking about Michelle Obama's comments about women in politics. She basically said that we, as a society, have a lot of growing up to do before we, again as a society, will elect a woman. A couple of the pundits tried to blame the female candidates who ran because they were "flawed." Exactly what flaws they exhibited the pundits didn't specify. Frankly that notion pisses me off. How many "flawed" male candidates have occupied the White House? UH--how about 47? And the most flawed is the current occupant who managed to be elected twice. It occurs to me that male plumbing makes up for any amount of character deficiencies in a man. And female plumbing erases any number of good qualities in a woman.

Random thought: it is interesting to see people like Marjory Taylor Green fighting with Donald Trump about what and who is MAGA. Some time ago, during Trump 1.0, some MAGA voters were claiming that MAGA wasn't Trump's creation or property. He managed to put a catchy title on MAGA and express a lot of the values of the "movement." But he wasn't inseparable from MAGA. Now some of the MAGA-verse is considering a divorce most explicitly over the Epstein scandal. The disillusionment may go deeper yet.

November 16

 Welcome to half past November. It is a slow and lazy Sunday during which I plan on doing very little beyond fixing what ever we will be eating, planning what I will do over the next week, and going through my reading list. 

On that last, on the top was this article by Timothy Snyder. I think he accurately explains what's going on. His description of what Trump, Vance and their minions see inside the grift bubble aligns pretty well with their attitudes and actions. Snyder's last tow paragraphs are important. The grifters assume that there will always be another grift and that they can turn any crisis to their profit. That works until it doesn't. And there might be crises they can't manage. As a couple of economics writers have written repeatedly over the last years bubbles ALWAYS burst. And as other economics writers have said for some time nothing GROWS FOREVER. There are limits.

Peter published this piece that examines the health insurance history with the decline in adult male height as a proxy for affluence and health. I am still mulling this over. In a sense it parallels the statistics which show that though our health care costs, including insurance, are the highest in the world we are not the healthiest or the longest lived.

I saw a headline on this event but did a search on line to find more information from a more familiar source. I have read about "Gen Z" protests in several countries lately. Young people worldwide are upset about corruption, limited opportunities and poverty. Governments worldwide respond similarly by blaming political opponents and outside agitators.

Found this by way of THIS WEEK IN COLLAPSE. Over the last several months I have seen sporadic accounts of a worsening water situation in northern Iran due to an extreme drought. The article reports that the National government is thinking of ordering restriction on the hours of water service and, perhaps, evacuating cities, some of Iran's largest, due to the emergency.

November 12

 Good morning, all. We have sun and chilly, not cold, temps. A lot of the snow that fell has melted and should be mostly gone by the weekend. I don't know if I will make it, but I want to stay awake to see if the aurora will be visible here. We are in the zone which should give us a good show. A friend in Iowa, located just north of I-80, had some spectacular pictures. I put some of the hexagons into the shawl I am constructing. It is looking good so far. I just put in my grocery order through Instacart also and had a lot on the list because I let a lot of items go down. But I have decided that I am going to build my pantry up again. I expect that the political and economic disruptions will continue and I want a cushion against whatever might happen.

Well, the House is back in session and getting ready to swear in the Arizona representative Johnson has refused over the last two months. And they are considering the Senate CR to re-open the government. Before we celebrate we need to remember that it lasts only til the end of January. The end of the ACA subsidies take effect on January 1 and I think the Senators will vote on a bill to continue them was entirely empty. By the time the CR expires the full effect of the insurance increases will have hit.

I guess the housing sector of the economy is really hurting because the FHFA director Pulte took a suggestion to the White House for a "50 year mortgage." I have been laughing ever since. We already have 30 year mortgages available but a lot of people can't qualify. A mortgage going over 50 years would provide lower monthly payments but, as most people should know, you won't make a dent in the principal until late in the term of the loan. We also have adjustable rate mortgages which have screwed a lot of would-be homeowners because the low payment at the start can, and often do, increase drastically at any time. I said "would-be" because until the mortgage is paid off you don't really own the property. Given the economy  not many people stay in a house long enough to pay off the 30 year mortgage. Right now the average age of first time home owners is 40 and I wonder how many would want to still have a mortgage at age 90. I hope others in Trump's orbit laughed him out of the room. Yves Smith at NAKED CAPITALISM goes into the murky depths of the consequences of a 50 year mortgage covering points I made, in greater detail, and points some drawbacks I didn't think of.

November 11

Veterans' Day--the day when some of us ceremoniously "remember" those who fought/died in our various wars while forgetting them the rest of the year. Perhaps that sounds cynical but I have met far too many veterans whose medical, economic and other needs aren't being met. My long deceased ex-husband tried for months to get an appointment with doctors at a VA hospital and died several months before the one appointment he finally had scheduled. I knew a student in an American History course I taught at a community college who had serious injuries from his service in Desert Storm that left him with severe disabilities but who had his benefits threatened because he wouldn't agree to go back into the service. I saw my niece who suffered as injuries she sustained during service got worse and the doctors belittled her because she wanted help with the severe pain. She had to go into a screaming tirade to get help in one hospital. I think I have good  reasons for a bit of cynicism--especially in the age of Trump.

Well, the Senate did indeed pass that continuing resolution and now it is up to the House to do the same. I'm not holding my breath because Speaker Johnson is not in any kind of turbo mode for getting the job done. And there is no assurance that, if they do get it past the House, Trump would sign it. At best we have three or four more days of the shutdown; at worst, God knows.

Jennifer Rubin expresses a thought that occurred to me about this whole mess: how do those Senators who gave the Senate the 60 votes to pass the mess know that as soon as they get the bill the House won't come back with rescission bills to take back what the Senate Republicans promised. That is exactly what happened with the last continuing resolution. Rescission bills can be passed with a simple majority. We might get the worst parts of the bill with none of the good.

Yves Smith at NAKED CAPITALISM posted this article, with her introductory remarks, about how the big-box "super-centers" encourage overconsumption and waste. Nothing about the study surprises me. The whole system is designed to encourage you to buy more than you intended. We used to shop at the local Target and Walmart super-centers but haven't done so regularly for the last fifteen years. For several years we went in for specific items and couldn't find what we wanted or found crappy quality in what we did find. We had already shifted to using a list and rarely deviated from it--only for items we happened to see and had been discussing for some time offered at a good price. Impulse has diminished as we have gotten older. We did shop at a different chain's "super-center" but even there our impulse shopping has fallen as we have gotten older. Since Mom's accident last spring and her long recovery we have gone to using InstaCart and stuck, mostly, to a list. I found Yves' comments to introduce the article struck chords of memory. What was once a convenience has over the last twenty has become, on several considerations, less of a convenience. 

I also found this article posted with NAKED CAPITALISM. Canada has lost its measles free status and the U.S. is expected to follow if the current outbreak can't be stopped before January. Canada's outbreak has been going since this time last year. And I also saw a headline that China is having a rough flue season with co-infections with H3N2, H2N1, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and rhinovirus.

I guess the numbers are in and they aren't good. The last three years, including this year, are the hottest in the last 176 years and it will be pretty much impossible to maintain an average global temperature of 1.5C over pre-industrial levels.

Stray thought: Schumer has been criticized brutally for everything from not whipping the vote against the continuing resolution to his age. The CR is basically, on the surface, a win for the Republicans but may turn out to be a loss. And the aftermath might be an even greater loss for the Democrats if the Republicans come back with rescission packages which takes away with what little they did get. However, it strikes me that the shutdown progressed exactly as Schumer predicted it would when he persuaded his party to vote for the continuing resolution offered earlier this year. They had no concrete plan for exiting a shutdown and Trump did exactly what Schumer predicted: picked and chose which parts of the government would close and who wouldn't get paid. Schumer was correct then and his prediction came true over the last 40+days.

In case anyone thinks my first paragraph was a bashing of veterans--it isn't. It is a critique of a society that calls people to military service in the name of duty, patriotism or whatever precious value and then shorts them on the care they need once they come back injured, unemployed, in debt. I served before combat was opened to women, my brothers served, my ex-husband served, several uncles served and a niece served. I honor those who also served. They aren't suckers or losers as a certain President claimed. 

November 10

 Well the snow has stopped--for now--though west of here the lake effect snow is still falling. We still have a Winter Weather Warning so more might be coming. We aren't going anywhere. (Update: it's about 12:30 and the new wave of snow is coming down heavily.) I put a big pot of beef/vegetable soup on the stove. It will provide at least two days supper and some left over. I used a lot of our left overs and cleaned out the fridge. I don't use a recipe because I simply dump what ever is on hand into the mix. The best thing is I won't have to cook til at least Wednesday. I have said before that cooking for two is a pain in the butt. It is far easier to cook how I have always done and freeze leftovers--which provides quick meals later.

I tried a couple of crochet patterns with my worsted weight yarns but wasn't too enthusiastic about it so I pulled the stitches out and rewound the balls. I am in that mood where nothing catches fire with the needlework. That is good for finishing projects but lousy for starting something new.

Well, the Senate is working on a plan which might (MIGHT) end the shutdown. The Speaker of the House is optimistic enough to call the Republicans back for a possible vote. The Democrats have been in D.C. for the entire shutdown. The debate on the news/commentary shows this morning revolves around exactly what the gridlock achieved. The bill being drafted is supposed to fund SNAP for the next year, but no movement on the increase in ACA premiums. Unfortunately, the measure would only last until the end of January. My evaluation: 1) both sides really need to review the meaning of the term "Pyrrhic victory." I think, so far, this has been a lose-lose or zero-sum game. Neither side won much for all the damage done and both may have lost more than they realize; 2) we had best buckle up for a repeat performance early next year.

Overnight the Supreme Court refused to agree to revisit Obergefell decision which upheld same sex marriage. They didn't explain why they denied the appeal which brought the issue to the Court again. I am glad. I know same sex couples, including a relative, who married as soon after the decision as they could. After a decade of legal marriage, disallowing it now would be an absolute and total mess.

I am not going to comment on Trump's latest group of pardons. I am trying to curtail my tendency to swear a blue streak at such stories.

November 9

 Snowy morning today. We are getting our first "frost" at the same time we might get as much as a foot of snow. That is the combination of a system that came in overnight and lake effect snow off Lake Michigan. I had thought about getting out an cleaning out a couple more pots and sweeping up but the thought went away and I did other things.

I crocheted a few more hexagons this morning while watching Premier League soccer. When the last game is over I will switch over to a couple of rugby games. I did play a little bit on the computer but I really want to break that habit because it eats up too much time I could be using differently. Right now I am in the process of cleaning out my e-mail.

The first thing I saw on line this morning brought out a string of swear words twice. Once I saw the lead and second when I couldn't follow because of a damned pay wall. I hate pay walls. The teaser said that the Trump administration is demanding that states which put programs in place to fund SNAP benefits in the absence of the Feds immediately dismantle those programs or face the loss of funding. Well, what can you expect when agents of this government roughs up children, puts them in zip ties, and says "F*** the kids?" Right now they are saying "F*** all the little people who can't pay to play with us." (Update: found this on Huffington Post.)

On the early morning new: The administration will end the program which allows taxpayers to file directly with IRS themselves. The main parties pushing for the action: the for profit tax preparers. Profits above people--again.

And here is something else which pegged my shit-o-meter: a Safeway store in San Francisco changed their entrances and exits so that if a customer enters but tries to leave without buying something they won't be able to get out. For the last couple of years other Safeway stores have installed alarm systems at the self-checkout counters which require customers to produce their recipes for the readers. Some time ago Chicago went through a period when a couple of bank robbers held up the same banks for small amounts of money--about enough to cover basic living expenses. I said then that the situation indicated that the economy wasn't as rosy as our politicians told us. When grocery stores have to go to such extremes to "prevent theft" I think it is another such indication.

Three Chinese astronauts return to earth was delayed three days because their return vehicle has been hit by space debris. The Chinese Manned Space Agency is looking at the vehicle to determine the extend of the damage. But, given how much trash we have left in space and the increasing number of satellites going into orbit, collisions are becoming more probable.

November 5

Very bright sunny morning today. I think we have already reached the high temp for the day--just above 60. They expect the low tonight to be just about freezing. Right now we have strong winds. I erased what I had typed because it was so grumpy. I think I still wasn't awake and my second cup of coffee hadn't really kicked in. I got some crochet work done today on a new project. As you should know by now I don't now and never have followed the "finish a project before beginning another." I have followed some bloggers who rigorously do that. But I am more like one who has about five different quilts in progress and over the year has already finished a similar number. Right now I have to embroidery pieces on hoops. I   just finished one blanket using worsted weight yarn and another is now in the play-it-until-you-like-it phase. Two light baby weight yarn projects are either works-in-progress or just at the weave-in-loose-ends stage. And two thread weight pieces on hooks. And yes I have enough hoops and hooks to do all those and more. You can never have enough of either.

The various off year elections were interesting. I don't know if they mean much for the next three years or for however long our national dementia lasts. It is obvious that a lot of people are not happy with Trump and how the economy is going. Most of the administration is in the "believe me not your lying eyes" or the fake price tags in the local grocery store. Mamdani, Sherril, Spanberger hit their opponents repeatedly on "affordability" issues when they weren't hitting Trump. It also looks like a significant number of voters are not happy with repeated efforts to rig future elections by mid-decade redistricting. Thank you, Supreme Court, for gutting the Voting Rights Act and allowing political gerrymandering. 

November 3, 4

 Welcome to November. Hope you had a nice Halloween. We were quiet. Several years ago people around here pretty much stopped the neighborhood trick-or-treating so we also stopped getting candy to give out. We simply didn't need to have all that candy around here for us to eat. I think there are several local "block party" celebrations for the kids but, not having kids, I never checked.

Over the weekend I concentrated on needlework and ignored most of the news and my e-mail. I finished the Tunisian stitch blanket and a cross stitch dresser scarf. Made good progress on the table cloth and the other table scarf. This morning I wound a yarn cake into balls so I can start on another blanket. I haven't really decided on what stitches I'll use. I think it will be another Tunisian. Then I went into cleaning mode. I absolutely hate cleaning but several tasks are done.

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

Well, we have a sunny day and very typical of fall--very chilly mornings and cool days. I don't have much ambition today. I did a few rows of crochet--very short rows on hexagon motifs. I will fix up some cupcakes in a bit. But other house keeping can wait. Yesterday's burst of cleaning activity leaves me needing a bit of a rest. Supper today will be loaded baked potatoes.

But a lot of time will be spent watching the news. It looks like a very busy day and one which might have some inconsequence for the next few years. 

The New York City mayoral race with a former governor who was forced out of office under a cloud (Cuomo) against a perennial Republican candidate (Sliwa) and a self described "Democratic Socialist" who won the Democratic Party nomination (Mamdani). Our current "Very Stable Genius" President has announced his support for Cuomo with the nasty comment that given the choice between a "bad" Democrat and a "Communist" he would take the Democrat. Point 1: Trump (along with most Americans) don't recognize any differences between socialists and communists. And there are differences. Point 2: Democratic Socialist parties have been active in most European countries for most of my lifetime (if not before) and the democracies of those countries haven't fallen into despotism. Point 3: Trump's argument that the New York electorate simply hasn't any choice besides Cuomo is ridiculous. I would take the Democratic Socialist over the Chaos and hatefulness of MAGA any day.

Spanberger and Sherrill are trying to become governors of Virginia and New Jersey. Both are moderate Democrats.

California is voting on the measure to allow the redrawing of the electoral districts to favor Democrats by passing the independent commission tasked with that function until after the next census. The governor and fellow politicians hope to negate the Texas mid-cycle redistricting to give Trump five more Representatives in Washington. Other states, both Republican and Democratic, are considering similar moves. The last time a similar contest roiled this country was between 1820 and 1860--and that led to the Civil War. During that time the contest centered on the constitution of the Senate which was balanced between Senators from the southern slaveholding states and the northern states which had eliminated slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed Missouri and Maine into the Union in tandem which maintained the balance of power for the next 34 years and prohibited slavery in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory. The Kansas Nebraska Act (1854) eliminated the Missouri Compromised but was far less successful in tamping down the increasing violence. Today the contest is centered on the House of Representatives because of the close divisions within the electorates (national and state). My crystal ball and tarot cards aren't telling me where this power struggle (and it is a struggle between political parties) to get/keep power will end but I think we are only at the beginning of a massive realignment of this country's political establishment.

Bill Astore has a post today which comments on the death of former Vice President Dick Cheney and ties his record in politics with our various wars over the last 45 years. The news programs have frequent segments on Cheney with various assessments of his life and achievements. I once absolutely despised Cheney, largely for his role in getting the U.S. into our "forever wars," including the "War on Terror." I didn't much like his daughter, Liz Cheney--largely because of her policy stances. However, I have soften a bit. I don't think I would ever have agreed with their politics but I have to respect their moral backbone. They clearly put concerns for the country over the Republican and its current leader, Donald Trump.

Stray thought: I would love it if all the gerrymandering produces results opposite of what the Republicans want. If it produces a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate would be fantastic comeuppance.

Second stray thought: It is interesting that the Democrats simply refused to be complicit in passing the Republican budget which increases the cost of ACA premiums, bigly to use the President's phrase. So we now have the government shut down because the Senate Republicans can't pass the House passed budget by themselves. Now they are blaming the interruption in SNAP payments even though there is an emergency fund they could tap for that purpose but they won't because they are trying to use it to pressure the Democrats to cave in on the budget. I don't blame the Democrats because the Republicans, from Trump on down, are untrustworthy negotiators. They included a number of provisions select Democrat legislators wanted in the continuing resolution passed in February and then passed measures to cancel what they had promised which they were able to pass on their own on a majority vote. The shutdown isn't the Democrats fault. It is the Republicans fault because they aren't trustworthy negotiators.

Third stray thought: I do feel sorry for those who have to make painful choices because their SNAP benefits have been interrupted. However, we should all of us consider something I read lately (sorry, I don't remember where): If someone feeds you, that person can starve you.

Corbin Trent at AMERICA'S UNDOING has written a piece that hits the bull's eye. The America so many MAGA supporters want to "bring back" never existed and what we had then and what we have now doesn't work for most of us.

I first heard the term "zombie companies" during the Great Recession and it applied mainly to troubled Chinese companies who had more debt costs than income. The Chinese government carried some of those companies hoping the economic conditions would improve the situation and keep unemployment low. Closing the companies would have ment a lot of people out of work potentially increasing political and social unrest. This piece, found at Yahoo economics, indicates that we have some zombies of our own and some large companies are on the list.

Hello, all. Welcome to the last week of October. Another sunny day in a continuing cool but sunny streak of days. I think the forecasters are still predicting rain for later in the week. But the western storm system is supposed to dip south to join a wet system drenching the southeast. Oh well, just caught the latest updated forecast and the rain has been removed. It doesn't matter because I am contemplating simply taking out what is still struggling along in the pots. I still want to take out three or four more containers but haven't got up the energy to empty them.

Bill Astore writes a good piece on his BRACING VEIWS site and I can give a whole heartedly AMEN! to it. However, I don't expect any of the politicians in power now to do what politicians for the last hundred years failed to do. 

I just saw a report on the news this morning that Milei has won his re-election in Argentina. I guess Trump's $20billion "investment" has achieved the first part of his agenda. The banks that coughed up another $20billion are breathing a sigh of relief along with the hedge fund billionaires who had already invested heavily in the Argentine economy. That doesn't mean Argentina and Milei are out of the deep water--they just got a leaky life raft. The economy is still deep in the crap.

Rachel Biticofer provides a history lesson showing where we came from and where we might be going. Do we really want to go there?

We hear people say often that "those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it." Usually that is coupled with a recommendation that we are taught history. Over the last 40 years I have come to reconsider that notion. I don't think people really remember anything of the past unless they have themselves experienced it. Biticofer mentions the Franklin Roosevelt "revolution" which was a response to the Depression. Historians I have read often say that his administration saved American Capitalism from socialism. Socialism and Fascism were very strong movements during the late 1920s and the 1930s. But the memory of the Depression is fading and has been for some time. My mother is 94 and she barely remembers that time because she was born in 1931. Most of her early memories are of the 1940s. And the cultural memory is largely reduced to what is written and not what was viscerally felt. The Second World War is similarly remembered largely by what is written about it as those who actually experienced it fades from living memory. Vietnam is now 50 years in the rear view mirror. A generation has grown up since Sept 9, 2001. What is really sad is that those who want us to go back to what they think of as a halcyon era have no more real, visceral memory of that time that those of us who don't want to go back.

Ugo Bardi wrote an account of what might seem to be a remote episode (or rather episodes) of collapse in the Chincha Islands off Peru. The Chincha people disappeared when their population declined by about 99% as a result of diseases and political chaos that came with the Spanish conquest. The islands became a profitable source of guano (bird shit) for a world wide expansion of agriculture in the 1840s. The industry grew exponentially until just before 1880 when it crashed. Another growth of the industry came in the 1920s but was shorter and never reached the earlier level of production before collapsing about 1960. The Peruvian government tried to rebuild the bird population and were moderately successful but eventually populations precipitously to only 500k. Bardi provides a number of factors involved in all of the collapses but the most basic cause throughout was the overexploitation of a limited resource which couldn't be rebuilt in a timely manner--after all birds can only provide so much shit.

October 25

 We had several surrounding areas that posted their first frosts of the fall. We were near that but not quite yet. We might get rain later and it is mostly cloudy today. Nothing much on the agenda today: needlework, cooking a pot of great northern beans and ham, and (later) cutting Mom's birthday cake. I got a carrot cake and promised her I wouldn't try to put 94 candles on it. Right now we are waiting for the cornbread muffins to finish baking before eating supper.

Not many things worth commenting on but one is this post by Heather Cox Richardson. She notes that the AWOL Speaker of the House has extended their PAID vacation for at least another week while the funds to pay SNAP benefits runs out. I saw an angry quip on Facebook which said that the military and government workers should be paid during the shutdown but NOT the members of the House and Senate. I agree.

But as I read the piece I had the same thoughts I usually have reading about SNAP, ACA subsidies, Medicare and other programs Republicans love to threaten. If we had a truly just economic system people wouldn't need those benefits. That so many people rely on those benefits is a sad commentary on our Capitalist system. I remember pundits who pointed out during the Great Recession when Walmart workers were going to food banks and applying for SNAP that those workers earned so little they QUALIFIED for supports for the POOR even though they had jobs. And Walmart encouraged its workers to apply until the news got hold of the story and they quickly came out all disapproving and denying. I think they even fired a few of the workers who were interviewed. Capitalism has become a system that pays subsistence wages to the people who do the work which allows those at the top to live lavishly and the system is propped up by the society through taxes funding the subsidies that keep the workers body and soul together.

Richardson goes beyond the discussion over the ACA subsidies the Democrats are focused on and drills down into a basic philosophical difference between the two Parties and it is well worth reading all of the post.

This post from CORBIN TRENT AND AMERICA'S UNDOING had me giggling from the beginning--not because it was funny but I had to giggle or swear. I am trying to break myself of swearing so much. As a culture we have indeed convinced ourselves that cost equals value. I would add that in addition to cost we have been suckered by the notion that the more functions something has (whether you need them or they work well or not) the better. I have a flip phone and even that has more functionality than I need. Also we have been sold the fable that new is better. The latest model has more features so it must be better. About five years ago we gave up on the programable automatic coffee makers because we had to replace them about every three or four years. The plastic degraded with the heat and the tubing became clogged with mineral deposits. The first problem wasn't fixable and I could have cured the second by buying distilled water. Or buying a line cleaner to remove the sediments. But both are additional expenses on top of the cost of the machine. Now I use a pour through system and heat the water in a steel camping coffee pot on the stove. I clean the pot every week by leaving diluted white vinegar in it over night. I always keep vinegar on hand because it is so useful in cleaning generally. Often simple and cheap are better.

October 24

 Damn--we are almost at the end of another month. I got out this morning to run errands: bank, grocery store (needed a cake for Mom's birthday (turning 94 tomorrow) and some hamburger buns for the sloppy joes we are having for supper, pay rent, and fill up the car's gas tank. It is a nice day though cool enough to remind us that the seasons are changing definitely. The colors are coming up on the trees and some patches are very pretty. I can see a few areas which are stress from the dry conditions we have. The rain we got didn't do much for long.

Making good progress on needlework though for the last couple of days I haven't spent as much time as I would have liked because my concentration wasn't up to the task for long. I thought it better to just stop before I became too frustrated. That was a good strategy because I got a good bit done today on the granny hexagons and I have a good notion of what I will do with the project: a new shawl.

So now the errands are done and the needlework is put away. I am going through my e-mail.

 Does it really surprise anyone that the Administration is having some difficulties revamping up the numbers of ICE agents? Reports over the last couple of days indicate that recruits arrived for training without having been fully vetted, can't pass the minimal physical tests, were academically deficient, had failed drug tests and had criminal backgrounds. And the department has to offer $50K signing bonuses. I have read for years about how the military can't make their recruiting targets because so many of the prospective recruits are unfit, academically challenged, and often have failed drug tests or criminal backgrounds. Military recruiters have also resorted, last I heard, to offering signing bonuses and reenlistment bonuses.

Among the most annoying ads on TV are those urging viewers to bet on something, on anything. Given the long list of every possible aspect of any sporting event one can lay a wager on, the gambling scandal that has embroiled and embarrassed the NBA seems like it was always inevitable.

I remember seeing the obliteration of the White House Rose Garden and feeling like someone punched me in my gut. I was pained and breathless. And the soul-less, tasteless "patio" Trump put in so the cameras could get a clear shot of him walking along the path. The supreme narcissist couldn't abide having to share the frame with flowers. I had another emotion when I saw the gaudy gold embellishment's he slapped on the Oval Office--contempt for a man with such a fragile ego that he had to have such things to buck him up. And when he demolished the East Wing of the White House to build his Versailles on the Potomac, I was angry. This petty man had to erase part of a symbol of our country and a emblem of our history so he could pretend he was a true peer of the likes of Louis XIV, Vladimir Putin, or, perhaps, the Chinese emperors in their Forbidden City.

I have said before that the insurance business model is breaking (perhaps already broken). It is caught in a statistical scissors  because the costs of paying out on premiums are increasing while the population of people able to afford the premiums is shrinking as the middle class shrinks. That is playing holy hell with their bottom line. NBC posted this story which covers the choices facing ordinary people with the rise in costs because the extension of the subsidies for ACA insurance. People at my level of the socio-economic system have mostly bad choices. They can try to keep their insurance and find other expenses to trim (or cut out). [I wonder if anyone remembers stories in the late 1970s and early 1980s showing retirees eating cat/dog food because human grade meats were out of their reach because of inflation.] Or they can drop the insurance and pray they don't experience a major health catastrophe. But take a look at the chart in the article of the costs for ordinary medical treatments. How many have that much money in a savings account. Even those of us with Medicare would find it difficult to cover the 20% Medicare doesn't cover. I read once that treatment for a broken bone could add up to more than $10K--which means that the retiree would be on the hook for $2K.

I decided I wanted some cold cereal today so I picked up a box of Corn Chex when I went to the grocery store. The cost was $7 for the box (family size but the only one available in that variety.) I did check my usual supermarket on line and they had smaller boxes of the same cereal for much less but still considerably more than I remembered. To be honest, we haven't had cold cereal for several years. And I don't want the sweetened brands. I thought of that when I read this article on THE ECOLOGIST. In the back of my mind as I read all of the stories about effect of the tariffs on inflation generally and on food prices specifically was the question about the effects of our weird weather. Though the article concerns the situation in the U.K. We have had strange weather also and I haven't seen any information on what our harvests are like. But, as I remarked to Mom, I haven't seen any news that carried farm reports like they did when I was much younger. And I just read a small snippet that North China's grain producing region got flattened by storms and floods.

Paul Krugman has a few comments on Trump and his self aggrandizing style. Krugman mentioned Louis XIV and I suddenly remembered that the extravagance of the Sun King's court and of his grandson Louis XVI eventually led to the Revolution which cost the latter his throne and head.

One one of the people interviewed on a news/commentary show (sorry I can't remember who or which show) made some interesting comments on her recent trip to Canada and how the U.S. is viewed up there indicates that the trade relations won't be repaired very soon. From the license plates she saw the traffic was overwhelmingly Americans visiting Canada and returning to the States. Canadians used to come here often. Also ordinary people are making choices that basically remove U.S. products from their lives. No alcohol from U.S. producers on the shelfs. Replacing U.S. fruit and produce with Canadian grown. 

October 29

 Good sunny morning--it is still morning but not by much. We had intermittent rain, sometimes heavy, over the weekend. I took a break from blogging and, though I skimmed my e-mail, from commenting. Mom has been losing track of time often asking what day of the week or what month--sometimes even which year. The problem is that the days are so much the same that they blend together until we forget exactly what day it is. Well, the news is much the same. It blends to the point you don't remember lose track. I did finish the stitching on the Bavarian stitch blanket leaving only the tedious task of weaving in the threads. Also made some progress on the Tunisian stitch blanket but put it away earlier than I intended because I made a mistake and took out about a third of a row to fix it but then made the same mistake three times in the next row and had to repeat the process of pulling out and then restitching. Thankfully I caught the problem before it would have been a REAL PAIN to fix. I also got a good bit of the cross-stitch dresser scarf done. Another couple of stitching session and it will be done. I seem to be accomplishing a lot more constructive work than our politicians and I don't get six figure salaries.

On today's reading:

Bill Astore posted this on his BRACING VIEWS site. The notion that the U.S. would only be destroyed from within goes all the way back to the very establishment of our Constitution. Benjamin Franklin, according to one story some historians say is apocryphal, told a woman who asked what kind of government he and his associates had given the country said "a republic--if you can keep it."

In a rather ironic twist I just saw a story on the Weather Channel saying that a ski area at high elevation in Colorado is making snow in preparation for opening ski season but over the weekend I read a piece that noted three small ski towns in eastern France (not far from Switzerland and Italy) are closing permanently and dismantling their ski infrastructure. They have had several years where the snow falls have measured barely a third of what they had normally received. They don't expect the situation to improve in the near future.

I think I wrote about my brother's problems with trying to get some back surgery doctors recommended but the best hospital with the best surgeons to perform the procedure refused his insurance. It put him in a quandary because he has not only medicare but a Medicare Advantage plan provided by his former employer as part of his retirement package. However the insurance company was one that has been dropped by not only the hospital and its doctors but other specialists Brother used. The hospital and its doctors did Mom's spine surgery after her fall and they really are top notch. Luckily she dropped the union affiliated company several years ago after they put her medications into more expensive tiers which raised her costs nearly four times. Since then she went with another insurance company which the hospital did accept. This article found on NAKED CAPITALISM explains the problem. I concluded some time ago that that the Insurance business model is now in crisis phase. Whether in health care or in homeowners policies the costs to cover their customers is strangling them. Replacing covered property after disasters or covering covered medical procedures is simply too costly. But customers are in a quandary because we have come to depend on the insurance. My brother found a doctor who agreed to look at his situation and gave him some very different advice. He said that he could do the surgery but given Brothers medical history he doubted it would really improve his condition. Brother is exploring alternatives. If Mom hadn't had the insurance she has the cost of her surgery would have not only wiped us both out but left a massive debt we couldn't have paid off given we are both on Social Security. 

October 15

 Good rainy morning to you all. The rain was not in the forecast yesterday but I won't complain because I don't have to water the hibiscus plants or the petunias. We are just about at the average first frost date but it hasn't happened yet--not even close. So let's see what is in my reading lists today.

First up is this article from the Guardian. I have read several articles about the looming insurance crisis here in the U.S. Those have concentrated on California and the Gulf Coast but the prices for homeowners insurance is going up all over the country. Well, we aren't the LONE RANGERS, kiddos. The U.K. is evidently having similar problems.

And then there is this report about the aftermath of typhoon Halong on the west coast of Alaska early on Monday. I saw this on the news feeds early this morning but haven't seen much on the broadcast news except for sporadic snippets on the Weather Channel.

Anyone remember when we thought MEASLES had been eradicated in the U.S.? W-e-l-l, that isn't at all true any more. South Carolina looks like it might continue the outbreak that started in Texas and New Mexico. I won't blame Bobby Kennedy, Jr., since vaccine skepticism has been growing for the last 30 years or so. His policies won't help going forward.

October 14

 Sort of overcast today. However, the forecast says no rain. The weather for the next week should be partly sunny with temps in the 60s and 70s and rain on two days--maybe. The news is giving Trump plenty of attention as the Gaza "truce" starts. His appearance with Netanyahu at the Knesset yesterday was covered in way too much detail. A few commentators noted the glaring omission from all the politicians remarks--the Palestinians. And I don't count the references to Hamas as references to the larger group of Palestinians. They aren't the same just as MAGA isn't the same as Americans generally.

However, the remarks in Jerusalem were of a piece with other actions taken by the Trump administration. A blogger I read almost every day had some remarks on his executive order on "Columbus Day." I didn't make a note of the post so I can't link to it. But it basically makes the "discovery" of the American continent the most momentous event in Western History. In the process he erases a good part of that history--the theft of Native land and the attempts to erase Native cultures. It shouldn't be a surprise since the administration has tried to erase mentions of the achievements of African Americans, women, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and non-fundamentalist Christians from our history. One commentator this morning noted an observation I had made the Trump agenda is to focus solely on aspects of 1776 while skipping over 1619 (or much else of pre-Revolutionary history.)  That interviewee asked why (as I did some time ago) why they can't acknowledge the good with the bad, Yes, African slavery in the U.S. began in 1619; but, representative legislative government in Virginia began with the establishment of the  House of Burgesses also in 1619.

As Trump basked in the adulation showered on him in Jerusalem I had other thoughts: 1) George W. Bush appearing on that aircraft carrier under the "Mission Accomplished" banner (but our military presence in the Middle East didn't end until that disastrous exit from Afghanistan a couple of years ago), or 2) the several truce agreements that never survived the first stage and the release of part of the Israeli hostages. Let's see if they can keep the agreement together.

Joyce Vance posted an article today asking "ARE WE THE NAZIS NOW?". Actually, the question may be more on point than you would think. It started the gears of my memory working and what came up first was an adventure/mystery novel THE LEAGUE OF NIGHT AND FOG. I don't remember much of the novel but I do remember that I was intrigued by the link between the title and Nazi Germany and wondered if it was fictional or real.A bit of exploration led me to the NIGHT AND FOG (NACHT UND NEBEL) DECREE where the Nazi government legitimized extreme measures against any one in occupied territories could be kidnapped and murdered or disappeared at whim. Relatives were specifically forbidden from giving any relatives who enquired from giving any information about their fate. They simply disappeared into the night and fog. Resemble anything you have seen lately?

October 11

 Sunny and cool. The forecast for the next week and a half says we will have temperatures in the 60s and low 70s and no rain. I am about ready to take out the last flowers--the hibiscus and petunias. I have almost got the containers rearranged and have a couple I want to empty and get rid of. I am getting to the end of the Bavarian stitch baby blanket and the latest Tunisian afghan so I am looking at possible new projects. I probably won't have to get any new yarn because I found I still had a large amount of both fingering and light worsted weight yarns. It is a good idea to rearrange your stash every now and then get reacquainted with what you have. I have some new lacy patterns that would work for the baby yarn and I saw an interesting Tunisian variation for the worsted yarn. I also brought out some of my crochet thread to work up a simple Bruges lace crochet. But for now my chili is about an hour from done so lets start looking at my e-mail.

Any one else think it was weird the Trump decided to go in for a second physical exam since he entered office? I think the various questions of his physical (and mental) health are getting to him. He has tried for so long to pretend he isn't what he is an old man--the oldest to be inaugurated. Remember when he tried to keep his blond hair and it often appeared orange? Does anyone really believe he weighs 224 pounds?

This doesn't sound good at all. The story focuses on the recent news that Musk's satellite network is losing 2 or 3 per day but notes that that will probably rise to 5 per day within a decade. Those satellites have projected lifespans of 5 years. How much trash that fails to burn up will fall to earth? Or what happens if Musk's people fail to direct one of those toward earth and it collides with another satellite?

October 6, 8, 9

 Another summery day here but we have hopes of cooler weather starting tomorrow. Today has been so-so. I have spent as much time unraveling my crochet as I actually did stitching. I had a large piece I never liked when I finished it so I put it away hoping that time would make my original assessment. Well, I still didn't like it and had no idea of how to make it better so I took the whole thing out. I have a couple of ideas of what to do with the yarn. I did three rows on the Bavarian stitch blanket before I saw a serious mistake which couldn't be fixed without taking out the work I had just done. So I took out all three rows. The we had to go to a doctor's appointment. We will probably doing the same tomorrow, hopefully without having to take out any stitches, because we have an appointment with another doctor. If that one goes well we hope that there will be some time before any more appointments.

I am late getting to my reading but here goes:

Alfred McCoy posted this article on Tomdispatch today morning. I read McCoy's book (TO GOVERN THE GLOBE) and eagerly anticipate his next one. The main point McCoy makes is that we are now in the "Autumn of America's Empire" which he fully expects to end by 2030. Since we are stuck with Trump til 2029 he might be right.

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

Cool (almost cold) this morning. I wanted to open the windows a bit but it was too cool and closed them. I am slowly getting caught up with my reading. We had doctor's appointments Monday and Tuesday but got good news. Both Doctors are happy with the results and decided we don't need to see them for six months. The only problem is that Mom is very much under weight. Be are trying to boost her calorie intake to help her gain weight. Although her appetite has come back a bit it isn't at all what it was.

We changed the channel from the news early on. They were concentrating way too much on Bondi's "testimony" before the Senate committee. They could have summed everything up very succinctly by saying "Secretary Bondi shrieked like a banshee, insulted the senators, refused to answer outright most questions while praising President Trump in almost every other sentence. Is she in a contest with her fellow cabinet secretaries to see who can mention Trump the most in their testimony?" It's a wonder that I don't have a sprained thumb from hitting the mute button so often."

A lot of verbiage was thrown about back when the push to convert corn to ethanol to mix with gasoline--most of it promised wonderful benefits for all. I wondered at the time about the consequences of diverting the corn from human and animal food (and other production) to ethanol to energy to run our cars. Well, cattlemen in Tennessee are finding out how that kind of competition works as the Jack Daniels company is ending their program to provide free or low cost waste from their production to feed cattle. Instead they are selling it to a local company which will use it to produce renewable gas and fertilizer. Read about it here.

Gail Tverberg at OUR FINITE WORLD asks "What Is Going Wrong With the Economy?" Her prognosis discussion of our, mostly hidden, economic problems parallels Alfred McCoy's comments about our problems, also mostly hidden, in politics. I say "hidden" but perhaps I should say "complex." There are so many moving parts in these interlocking systems that see where and how they interact is difficult. And for the most part the commentators are fixated on the first order effects not the consequent second and third order effects.

09********************************************* 

Sunny but I don't think we will get out of the 60s today. I had to go out and get one of Mom's prescription and wished I had put on one of my flannel shirts instead of the t-shirt. I don't think we will need to use the furnace but that will come. I got a bit of the What-Not room sorted. I went through six of my storage boxes just to look at what I put where. I hadn't been through them in a couple of years so it was a bit of a surprise to see what was there. I split up the fabric between two smaller boxes to reduce the weight and took out some of the very small and irregular pieces to go into a small box. They still have useable areas. I still have two large boxes to go through but I'll leave them for another day. I think cleaning up the kitchen surfaces, the dishes and getting those boxes more organized counts for enough work for the day. So now it is time to look over the e-mail.

So Trump might have a case for a Nobel Peace Prize with the announcement this morning that they expect Hamas and Israel to agree to at least part of the peace plan--mainly the return of the remaining living and dead Israeli hostages and the release of some 200 Palestinian prisoners. The Knesset and cabinet are to vote on phase 1 of the plan later today (if it hasn't happened already). Just the reports that an agreement was immanent had people in Gaza and Jerusalem celebrating. I agree with the headline on one article I saw (but only skimmed): Keep the Champaign Corked. We'll see if the signing does come and how long the agreement lasts. But as another author I did read this morning the Nobel isn't a lock since Trump has done a lot to undermine peace at home and abroad.

October 4

 We have a pretty day and a full slate of Premier League soccer games. So far a nice easy day which hopefully will stay that way. I got about 15 rows of the Tunisian stitch blanket done this morning. I saw a quip on one of the stitching groups on Facebook a couple of days which reflects my mood: The 30 minutes I spent crocheting this morning were the best 8 hours of my day. Amen!!!

I was also glad to see that the mail seems to be coming again. We don't get a lot of important mail but we do get utility bills and we pay them and our rent by mail. It had been reliable. But over the last couple of weeks. We hadn't received the usual e-mail notice from our bank that the rent check had been paid. Usually within three days of my putting the check in the mail it has already passed and a week and half later no notice in e-mail. I called the rental office to make sure they had received it and all was well. But over the next week and a half we didn't get anything in our box for several days. Nor did we see a single mail car on the street. That is unusual. I wondered what might have interrupted the flow and got on line. I found a number of people in my town that noted the same problem. A couple had traced the problem to the regional distribution center which was having staffing problems and couldn't get everything distributed. A bit more research revealed that the Gary, Indiana center which used to distribute mail in our area had closed and operations moved to somewhere in eastern Illinois. I saw a couple of stories that some future moves even further away are being considered. But throughout the search I saw numerous accounts of interrupted service. The whole episode has us rethinking our set up. The Postal Service seems to have become as unreliable as much else associated with the U.S. government. 

October 3

 Another sunny day but also the third day of the government shutdown. I have seen some of the "coverage" of the stalemate. And, honestly, I am appalled. The Democrats are in a box only partly of their own making. The Republicans are also to blame for simply deciding that having a simple majority gives they the right to demand that the other side should shut the fuck up and vote for measures they find repugnant. The Democrats have the choice now of either continuing on their course with no assurance of getting anything positive from it or giving up still getting nothing positive and the opprobrium of being spineless. The Republicans urge them to pass the CR and discuss the problem of insurance premiums going stratospheric "later." However, that reminds me of what I thought of Southern segregationists' view of the Supreme Court's ruling to desegregate "with all deliberate speed:" maybe about the time Christ comes again. "Later" will become "never." Several legislators agreed to vote for the Big Evil Bill when Trump and others agreed to include funding for programs they wanted only to find that the Republicans came back before Trump's sharpie signature was dried and passed claw back legislation taking those "gains" away. You can't negotiate with a party who will renege at the first opportunity. The commentators have all mentioned that there is no trust between the parties--for good reason.

To put this situation on a personal plane: I have felt under assault since Trump's first term. I can't call myself a citizen of this country any more. Yes, I can still vote but it feels like that is good only until they Republicans gerrymander our districts out of existence. I don't live in Texas or Missouri or any of the other ruby red states but even here in Indiana where we have no Democratic senators and, I think, only one Representative. But "our" legislature and governor (both Republican) are looking at redrawing the northwest counties to eliminate that one Democratic Rep. I may have only one vote but it feels like that vote is invisible.

As a woman, I am thankful that I am long past reproductive age. Otherwise, I would have to worry about whether I could get the medical care I might need to save my life, much less my sanity or my economic status. An unintended pregnancy or even a much desired one gone wrong could leave my doctor and me without options. You can't really call yourself a citizen if you can't make major decisions for yourself, if the people in power think you aren't capable of making those decisions because you might make a choice they don't agree with. My life as an American woman is being slowly strangled and it angers me mightily. This used to be my country. Once I wore a Navy uniform proudly. But my country has been stolen from me by petty men who complained that THEIR  country had been stollen from them. It feels like my very existence offended them and somehow took something away from them.

OK, I'll get off the soapbox and see what is in my mail feed.

First off is this concerning travel warnings--from foreign governments to their citizens thinking about coming here. Who would have ever thought that European countries or Australia would be on that list? But then I think about the flap we had early in the deportation push when ICE and Border Patrol were detaining people they thought were members of Central and South American gangs based on tattoos. Remember the poor guy who had a Real Madrid (that is a popular soccer teams, for those who don't know) tattoo. I saw an interview on BBC which featured a man who had planned to take his family to Disney World but decided otherwise because one of the "gang" tattoos shown on our government's website looked like one he had which he got to celebrate a family event. It is little wonder that the hospitality industry is hurting.

October 2

 Good morning. The weather should be sunny and dry with a temperature in the low 80s. But the mornings are briskly cool which is a relief. I open the windows which entertains the cats and it also gets some nice cool air in. Later when the outside temps get warmer I will close up again but the house should be cool enough that the air conditioning won't come on. This place tends to be a bit of an oven at times. I have been trying to reduce the amount of time we spend on TV. There are damned few shows we want to see and most are re-runs anyway. The news is focused on the shutdown with a few bits of other items thrown in without much explanation or analysis. Even the bloggers I follow tend to rehash things ad nauseam. What can you say when you can't find anything new to say?

Every now and then someone gives things a bit of a twist. For example, Jennifer Rubin, at THE CONTRARIAN, takes off from the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  She uses the first several letters of the English alphabet instead of the Hebrew alphabet to list a few of our collective sins. She lists ARROGANCE, BULLHEADEDNESS, CAUTION/COMPLACENCY, DISTRACTED-ITIS, AND ENNUI. Not a bad list to start. I think we can all continue that list with more such sins.

A bit of sad news: Jane Goodall has died at age 91. I have always admired her.

Erin Brockovich reported on an ongoing problem in a small community not far from Pittsburgh: water with an unhealthy level of magnesium that is totally unusable. After complaints the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered the local authorities to send out notices to residents to not use the water FOR ANY PURPOSE. But evidently those authorities aren't providing safe water as long as the situation lasts.

September 30

 Well, we are about 10 hours away from a government shut down unless one side or the other caves in or a sudden onset of viral sanity happens. And the House members are at home as the institution is in recess so they won't be able to vote on the Epstein discharge petition or on any (unlikely) budge CR that might come out of the Senate. Worse, Trump cancelled the meeting between the Republican and Democratic leaders of both sides of the legislative branch and spent the weekend on the golf course. I guess we know who REALLY wanted the shut down. Oh, yeah, another wave of Trump tariffs will come in at the same time.

I caught, by accident, a bit of Hegseth's address to the flag officers but quickly turned the channel before the nausea became overwhelming. That little bit left me scratching my head wondering why he thought he had to recall them for that drivel and amazed at the tender ego of a very insecure man (?) who doesn't want all those untermenchen (i.e., women, blacks, hispanics, gays, or trans etc.) to play with his toys. What a load of shit!

So the Feds are planning, if they haven't already, to activate and deploy National Guard troops in Portland and Chicago--over the objections of the mayors of both cities and the governors of both states. I am about halfway through a history of South Carolina in the decade before the Civil War: PERFORMING SECESSION. Well before Lincoln was elected or Ft. Sumpter was bombarded South Carolinians were demonstrating their separation from the nation: ejecting undesirable people (usually poor immigrants from northern states looking for work who were white), displaying emblems of resistance to the anti-slavery actions (perceived or real) such as cockades for their hats, and patrolled the population to curtail any perceived deviation from full support of the status quo. Trump is "performing" martial law. Trump's targets are obvious. Chicago has a black mayor and Oregon has a female governor and both object to his immigration policies. The foundation of his fevered dream of returning America to a "golden age" is that we have no "undesirable" immigrants (read not white) and women, blacks and non-Christians shut the f*** up and stay in the back of the bus. And anyone who disagrees will feel the wrath of Trump. Some commentator (can't remember which one) noted that immigrants and "sanctuary" democratic cities won't be the last target because he will find new ones.