May 31

 Good morning on this last day of May. Meteorological Summer starts tomorrow as well as the first day of hurricane season. The Canadian fire season seems to be in full swing and the weather forecasters predict increased smoke in my neighborhood. They say the wind currents will push that smoke to areas south of the Ohio River. 

Several years ago I read a couple of stories about a young man who wanted to live for a year without leaving his house at all. He intended to order everything he needed on the internet and have it delivered to him. I don't remember if he ever accomplished that goal but now I am in a similar situation. I had been wondering how to manage with Mom's recent injury and surgery. Leaving her alone to go out for groceries wasn't and isn't an option. Even though she is getting around the house more leaving her alone is still not feasible. Well, Instacart to the rescue. 

I am ordering my groceries, cat foods, and other items through them now. That also solves another growing problem: getting some of the heavy items was getting very hard on me. Putting those in the card, putting them on the conveyer for the cashier, putting them back in the cart and then in the car, and finally taking the purchases into the house did a job on my back and my hips and my knees. Now all I have to do is put them on my shelves.

We still have to go out because her doctors don't make house calls and we have a schedule for physical and occupational therapy which is at local hospital. And we will have to go out to get her prescriptions. But that won't be frequent and she can go out with me. She is actually getting along so well I hope the doctors will let her use a cane instead of the walker.

Watching the coverage of Trump's "clemency binge" I thought immediately of the scandal that helped precipitate the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church in the 14th and 15th centuries: the sale of Indulgences. It is obvious that Trump is basically selling pardons and the coin involved in the transaction is either cold hard cash or some form of adulation/support. Pay enough cash or provide enough ego stroking and you can get yourself or someone else out of the purgatory of a prison sentence.

Republicans still have a problem with town halls--when they hold them at all. Another entry for the book of shame was Joni Ernst's last week snippets of which were shown repeatedly especially when she responded the the response of her audience when one objected to her support of Medicaid cuts yelling "people will die." "Everyone will die," she responded. My thought "yeah, but you don't have to throw them under a bus to accelerate the process." 

May 28, 29

Interesting article on Medium which tries to explain "Why we lost the art of lingering?" The article cites "structural" changes which discourage "lingering:" removing benches, changing the configuration of parks and green spaces, placing barriers and obstacles to make stopping or sleeping in certain areas impossible. But I think it is part of a national attitude against standing, or sitting still. Mom and I are retired but learning and accepting the fact that don't HAVE to do anything on schedule which is packed from waking to falling into bed hours later. Often Mom asked me what she, or we, have to do and bewildered by the fact that she, or we, don't have anything at that moment to do or anywhere to be. The last couple of months have been exhausting for me because more days than not I have had to be out and doing. Next week I hope will be the beginning of a more normal phase as the medical situation has stabilized.

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

Nothing much got done yesterday except keeping a medical appointment. That involved an hour car trip (one way) and however long the meeting lasted. We were on time and the doctor was pretty well on time as well. The good news is that we don't have to see that doctor again unless something goes bad. He had been brought in because Mom's fall and the broken neck bones cut one of the blood vessels. However, all of the doctors think that no further surgery is necessary a this time. The next appointment we have out that way is in August with the spine surgeon. Next month involves twice a week appointments for physical and occupational therapy which are booked back to back. However, I do have to make appointments with two other doctors for follow up consultations.

Several commentators have noticed that Trump appears to be increasingly impatient with and critical of Putin and his actions in Ukraine. They have all speculated that Trump may, finally, facing the reality that Putin hasn't really changed and has been playing Trump all along. I am skeptical that Trump can recognize any reality that contradicts his prejudices unless it takes a huge chunk out of his ample butt. Even then I am sure he would find someone else or something to blame which leaves his psyche intact.

Robert Reich posted on "The Reemergence of Social Darwinism." So much of our current events resemble the old saying: second verse; same as the first. The only difference is the names applied to the system and the players. As characters throughout the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series said: all this has happened before and will happen again.

Interesting notes on the coverage of the trade court's invalidation of many of Trump's tariffs. In spite of the celebratory tone of the reports NOT All of the tariffs were cancelled; only those based on one specific law. And the administration has already appealed the decision. How far up the chain it goes is anybody's guess. Also there are several other similar laws Trump can invoke to re issue his tariffs. And finally, the uncertainty remains on whether, when, if Trump will try again.

Thought from a suspicious mind: I wonder what happened with all the data the DOGE Bros accessed. Was any of it copied to unsecured servers? Who would have access to it? 

May 27

 The Memorial Day holiday is over. Like so many holidays that were important when I was much younger this one has become somewhat meaningless. Part of the problem is the commercialization of the day. It is less a day to honor our war dead and surviving soldiers who served to one where we are expected to prove our patriotism by consuming beyond our means. Another part is a strange mutation in our attitudes toward the military and the commemoration of those who have served and are serving. After 9/11 greeting veterans and serving soldiers with "Thank you for your service" became ubiquitous and empty. Similar to the habit of wearing a flag pin on your lapel. Both have become meaningless virtue signaling at the same time military participation in the opening of sporting contests is almost pro forma, the congress has just passed the One Big Beautiful Bill containing a boost in military spending which is approaching the $2trillion mark, and fewer of our population actually serves in the military. What is left is a three day holiday (usually not including the actual Memorial Day) during which people try to cram in a long distance trip through crowded airports and on crowded roads going and coming.

I noticed that Trump has proposed sending the  $3billion he has illegally taken from Harvard to (unspecified) trade schools. He really put a thumb in the eye of an elite educational institution and proposed giving a sop to voters who don't have a college degree but supported him. Again a bit of meaningless virtue signaling which costs Trump nothing. Robert Reich has a longer commentary not just on Trumps robbing the elite Peter to throw a crust to the plebeian Paul but on our love hate affair with higher education. As our society has become increasingly shrill in demanding that all of us go through the academic hoops to at least a bachelor's degree, those degrees have become increasingly useless economically because the bachelor's degree has replaced a high school diploma as the entry ticket to the good job ladder into the middle class.

Saw a new ad by a group I hadn't heard from before: Save Transit Now. They want viewers to pressure their state and local lawmakers to increase funding for transit to forestall a "crisis" in transit that will lead to commuters being caught in traffic jams. Problem: where will those law makers get the money and who will pay. For decades now I have watched local news stories about homeowners, whose property taxes fund much of local budgets, revolting when proposed increases touched their raw nerves. If wages are rising and property values are increasing raising taxes is relatively easy. But if incomes are stagnant or falling the case becomes more difficult especially if the property values stay the same or increase politicians have more difficulty imposing more taxes. During the "Great Recession" I read several stories about state and county governments letting four lane highways go back to two lane roads and paved roads go back to gravel. Choices become more difficult.

May 21

 Cool and misty today. It was very foggy earlier but most of the fog has lifted. No work outside again today so instead I played with some of the squares I made up on the pin loom. I have a bunch of them and I have been experimented with how to connect them in a way that pleases me. I edged several of them with crochet to make some coasters.

So on to the reading today.

First up this piece on THE CONTRARIAN. Summary of first part: all empires end including ours and ours may be closer to the end than we think. My conclusions from the second: we spend too much time and energy on insignificant so-called news. I read opinions which justified such obsessive focus, as far as presidential candidates go, because of Trump's and Biden's ages. Everyone wondered if they would survive their terms in office. Maybe, maybe not. But one has to ask: how serious the death of a president in office might be?. Given our history probably not as much as some think or fear. The concern over the "cognitive decline" is probably just as insignificant. Woodrow Wilson was incapacitated by a stroke during a large part of his second term but his wife and cabinet (possibly illegally) kept his condition secret and conducted the nations business until he recovered enough to convince hostile senators that he was alert enough to have been doing things himself. 

May 18, 20

 Here we are--more than half past May. And the perennial question is: where the hell has the time gone? The last month has been a stressful fog. But we seem to be getting to some semblance of a "new normal here." All that driving to check in with Mom while she was in the hospital and rehab was draining. I never did like driving and doing the hundred mile round trip daily for a bit more than three weeks left me exhausted. The last week has been a bit of a rest and only two more doctors' appointments over the next two weeks remain. We should be setting an appointment with the family physician she had during her time in the hospital but he is located almost as far away as the hospital was. I think we really need someone closer to home. Unfortunately we live in a car-centric culture which makes things difficult for those of us who aren't that mobile.

We had an ominous "first" a couple of days ago. The weather service issued the first ever "dust storm" warning for our area. Thankfully, we were on the northern edge of the predicted area of impact and didn't get much more than the wind associated with the storm which blew through central and southern Illinois and Indiana. It also spawned tornadoes in southern parts and in Kentucky which caused a lot of damage and took several lives.

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

Cool, wet and windy today--no garden work today. Probably for the next couple either. More of the same weather expected tomorrow and a doctor's appointment for Thursday.

Listened to a talk/news interview this morning that rang a couple of bells in my memory. The interviewee was an author that had published a biography of J.D. Vance. He talked about a pronounced shift in Vance's political beliefs toward a much more "conservative" philosophy. I put that word in quotes because it isn't always clear exactly what conservatives want to conserve. What I found interesting about the discussion was the author's inclusion of other recent shifts in attitude by people like George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. All were politically ambitious men and their shifts aided their ambitions. I remembered a lecture in a class in Early 20th Century United States. The professor described a shift in American society around the 1920s when our culture changed its emphasis from "character" to "personality." Earlier personal development involved internalizing values--developing a sense of shame for violations. People obeyed social rules because their own internal values, backed up by the people in their social circle. In a society that emphasizes personality people don't have an internal set of values but instead "follows the crowd." Their social antennae always are scanning the social environment for the dominant "norms" and the person adapts his/her behavior to conform. Violations of such norms don't involve shame but social ostracism. I think the trends over the last 50 years in our politics means that the shift has hit its apex.

A second interview also rang a memory bell. The interviewee wrote an article about how AI, particularly Chat GPT, has fueled an epidemic of cheating in colleges and universities. The company that owns ChatGPT has offered free subscriptions to college students. Evidently some depend on the program to do research, summarize their reading assignments, and write their essays. Nearly forty years ago I was a history student and teaching assistant at a state university. I encountered a student that planned to do all her research for her Master's thesis on line--an early enthusiast. At that time I did my research in the traditional ways--through paper sources and a card catalog. About 30 years ago I was at another college as an adjunct lecturer. I had two students who lifted a large part of their final essay, cut and paste style, from the same internet sources. They might have got away with it if I hadn't read the two papers almost one after the other. I recognized the pasted parts. It only took me half an hour of on-line searching to find the exact source. I failed them on the exam which dropped their As to Cs. I was talked out of failing them in the class because the head of the department thought I might not have told them about plagiarism. I thought them should have known since they were in college. I guess not. I also remember a news segment about college cheating and most of the students interviewed admitted that, if they were sure they could successfully get away with it, they would cheat. No shame there either. About that time I began hearing students talking about "D for diploma." They didn't worry about poor grades in courses that were not in their major areas. No value for a broad liberal arts education.

Vincent Kelly expresses some good thoughts on that same issue. AI is changing how people work and what work they will perform. But what he shows very well that the final work product will be entirely out of the control of the worker. It is also another homogenizing trend as AI is used to scrub personality out of the product and massage it into the perfect shape desired by the final user. 

May 12, 14

 Slowly getting back to some kind of normal routine. The last month has shredded our normal life badly and, because of Mom's surgery, rehab, and recovery, we will have to devise a new normal. I have been on the phone trying to find out what services are available but the whole mess is confusing. Just contacting some of the organizations is complicated. So far the only success I have had was signing up for Instacart which might prove useful--especially for having the heavy items on our usual list like cat litter or food.

13**********************************************

We had a bit of a reprieve because Mom's surgeon had to cancel due to illness. That appointment has been rescheduled to next week. I had a whole lot of work to catch up on because of the medical fog of the last month. I feel like I can see a bit more light at the end of this tunnel. We had her evaluation appointment with the therapists yesterday but their reports have to go through the insurance company so we don't know if they will authorize more therapy. I am not sure if I hope they will or hope they won't. I don't know if it would accomplish a lot. She is 93 after all. Perhaps it would be better if she were left to enjoy the rest of her life--however long.

I said in my last entry above that I had successfully signed up for Instacart. Well I was wrong on that. I wan't sure why and didn't have the time or the energy to figure out what went wrong. This morning I went back to the page and added items I had run out of and needed to replace. This time I really did get things right and am totally pleased. Everything arrived within a little more than an hour of when I placed the order. There was only one mistake and that might have been my fault. Intended to order a carton of Fage 4% yogurt and got the Fage 0. We'll use it and I will be more careful of what I click on.

Accomplished several tasks this morning that have been ignored for the last month. Planted four petunias and watered everything. I may have rescued the transplants before I lost them. I am about two weeks behind my normal planting time. Did laundry and a bit more cleaning.

May 8

 Good morning again. Cloudy but no rain so far. Maybe I can get som plants into pots today. Right now the temperature is too cool to go out for long. It should get warmer later.

I was watching BBC earlier and saw some of the celebrations in the UK where the end of WWII is still a big deal and wondered what might be scheduled here. Not much evidently. The President did issue a commemorative proclamation but not much else. I was surprised by that but then remembered how much the end of the Civil War meant here for about the next 80 years. By 1920 we had fought WWII and were in the midst of 30 years of international turmoil, depression, dust bowl, WWII to put a damper on commemorations of the "Great War" of the 19th century. Five Republicans, Grant through McKinley, were elected President between 1865 and1901--all Union officers. Between the end of the Civil War and 1920 only two presidents were Democrats: Cleveland (the first to serve two non-consecutive terms) and Wilson. The Republicans were identified with the successful preservation of the Union and made the most of that in the subsequent elections. To come back to what I said about not being very surprised that VE Day isn't getting much attention here, we seem to remember the traumatic events in our history for between 80 and 100 years before they lose their hold on our collective psyche. One of the British commentators wondered what the 90th commemoration would look like especially because very few of the veterans and survivors of WWII would be left. Mom is 93 and was 13 when the War ended in Europe--and she is, I believe, the last of her generation in our family.

May 7

 Well, I'm back. It has been a difficult three weeks. Mom fell and suffered a serious spinal injury. She had surgery a couple of days later to stabilize her neck where the injury was located. After two weeks in the hospital she spent another 10 days in a rehab center she was REALLY ready to get out. We brought her home yesterday and she was definitely ready to be home. I already have medical appointments for followups over the rest of the month. Since the hospital and rehab unit were between 40 and 60 minutes away I spent a lot of time going back and forth. Thankfully the daily commute is over. Now we have to re-establish a reasonable daily routine.

She noted that she hadn't watched any news for those three weeks but it looks like nothing much has changed. She is right. All the news is a "second verse, same as the first" with a few different details. However, a few things do stand out.

Does anyone remember  when George H.W. Bush was mocked because he visited a grocery store and discovered the price scanner? I do. And I thought at the time "there is a guy who doesn't do his own shopping." I hadn't though anyone could top Bush the Elder for cluelessness but damned if The Donald hasn't done it with his remarks about how Americans were going to feel "pain" because little girls were going to have to make do with three dolls instead of thirty. Most people are trying to figure out how to afford necessities as prices rise. I really do hate it when the well heeled tell the rest of us that "we" are going to have some pain but it will all be good in the end. First, what do you mean "we"? You obviously aren't part of the we who will suffer. Second, it sounds too much like certain religiously oriented people (or those who pretend to such an orientation) who promise heaven as a reward after death if we are good little boys and girls.