July 29, 30

 Good very warm morning to you. It is also very humid which only makes it seem warmer. The forecasters keep promising us cooler weather but they keep moving it back by a day or two.

I went looking for articles like this after getting a tease on NZZ but the full article was behind a pay wall. Over a decade ago I read about the hikikomori phenomenon where young people, usually men, continued to live at home refusing to even leave their rooms. No girlfriends, no jobs, no graduating school. Evidently, from the BBC report, the hikikomori phenomenon is ongoing but now extending to younger children. I have seen similar reports of young people in China withdrawing and rejecting the social/political structures that they don't feel serve them: no fighting for places in prestigious colleges and or white collar jobs in prestigious companies. Just this morning a news/commentary show noted the lack of confidence people have in both of the main parties in the U.S. And the lack of confidence is especially pronounced among young people. I wonder how long before lack of confidence will lead to withdrawal.

30*********************************************

Was sunny for a bit this morning but is mostly cloudy now and should be producing thunderstorms later and overnight.

Back in 2009 ABC produced and showed a documentary titled EARTH 2100. You can look it up and actually view it today on Youtube for free. The film presents a possible future through the eyes of a fictional person who was born in 2009 and lived through to 2100 witnessing the changes due to climate change. I make a habit of viewing the show at intervals since. Interestingly many of the changes predicted (based on climate scientists forecasts) were coming about but at a faster rate than predicted. The producers and authors had a definite agenda:1) climate change is happening and the changes are happening faster than originally thought, 2) the changes will be catastrophic for humanity, and 3) that we can avoid the worst of the possible futures by mounting a global effort to change our entire societies and economies to meet the emergency. 

I can agree with the first proposition. Earth's climates have changed often enough in the past and often enough in very short time periods that didn't give humans much time to either move away or adjust. I can also agree with the second proposition as well. Past climate changes have been catastrophic for the populations experiencing the changes. The Anasazi disappeared. The Mayan population collapsed in warfare and possibly cannibalism. The European Little Ice Age caused crop failure, famine and in the 14th century the Black Death that eliminated about half of the population of Western Europe.

 However, I am very skeptical about proposition #3. Only six years after EARTH 2100 aired Donald Trump rode down his golden escalator and campaigned his way into the presidency. Part of his program then and today has been intense. The whole notion of a global action to effectively stop, much less roll back, climate change was a fools dream to begin with. Developing nations (and their populations) want what advanced nations (and their populations) have. The idea of cutting consumption (or anything that supports consumption) is anathema to both groups. A number of the bloggers who write about climate change and the consumer economy tell variations of the story about "activists" who go to and from  climate change rally in a gas guzzling SUV. I remember the caustic references to Gore's "energy saving" incorporations into his house which was huge by most peoples' definition and experience. But most would happily get Gore's mansion or a McMansion if we had the financial wherewithal. We emulate the people we admire. How many of Trump's MAGA fans wouldn't like to have his gold toilets? Or his trophy wives? Or his luxury homes?

EARTH 2100 constantly pushed the idea of collective action on a global scale but everything that worked were local and small scale. In the end the large cities and other large scale efforts failed. I have often thought over the last twenty years or so that successful adaptation to any adversity would be on local and individual levels.

July 28

 Muggy this morning with more possible thunderstorms. If the forecast comes through I won't have to water anything for at least a week. Now if it would just dry out a bit and the temperature would drop a bit I could make some progress in thinning out the planters on the patio. I spent a lazy weekend not doing much but It has already been a busy morning today. Just basic chores. That will give me plenty of time to read my e-mail and (maybe) comment.

First this morning is this post by Ugo Bardi. I wondered often during the war between Russia and Ukraine if it would be a case of Russian "winning" but in the end losing. The use of drones has simply prolonged this mess at a lower human cost--for the Russians of course. However, the Ukrainians have shown themselves quite inventive in the same technology. Bardi has some interesting comments.

William Hartung posted this piece on Tomdispatch today. While Bardi wrote about how drone technology is driving down the cost of killing, Hartung outlines the U.S. military-industrial complex focused on the most costly and questionably effective technologies. I read a novel where one character told his foreign counterpart that he didn't need to defeat any country's military--he only needed to bankrupt that country. I wonder how long it will be before our military "budget" will bankrupt us. Probably only after that sector has gobbled up all the resources spent to support people. By the way, I wonder where the meager "savings" DOGE stole from various parts of the government went.

Bill Astore published an article this morning on the spread of American Militarism and how far that ethos has permeated. I would add an observation or two. I was concerned when I saw the news reports about 15 years ago about the Federal government transferring "surplus" military equipment to state and local police departments. Suddenly every little town and hamlet in the country was lusting for its own storm troopers SWAT teams. Over the intervening time police forces have come to resemble an occupation force finally culminating in in masked, armored, and aggressive (read abusive) men snatching people who may or may not (usually not) be the criminal aliens we were promised were their targets. The militarized mind set has permeated deeply into our society.

July 24

Staying inside as much as possible. We are in the middle of another heat wave and are under a high heat advisory til 10pm tonight. Looking at the forecast that may be extended. We are more careful about planning our errands because of the heat. Tomorrow I have items to return to the library and they open at 9am. So I will be there as close to opening as I can. I think I will also stop on the way home and pick up some ice cream. Thankfully being retired we can generally hibernate.

On one of my brief visits to the What-Not-Room to put something away I found a couple of items I had totally forgotten. One was a crochet work-in-progress using soft thread (almost lace weight yarn) in a Bavarian stitch pattern. That is similar to the Catherine Wheel pattern but using the backpost treble to create an interesting texture. I brought that out to continue it. But right next to the box with the unfinished piece I found a cache of four skeins of baby yarn. I thought the four different colors would make a nice baby blanket using the Bavarian stitch. So I brought it out also.

I have almost finished a scrappy lap afghan using granny squares. Another attempt to get rid of my left over yarns. I have put quite a dent into that stash but have quite a bit more to go. After I finish the border round and weave in the ends it will be done. I also made progress on the to-be-embroidered table cloth. It is about one-third done. I picked up the other table cloth with the damaged motifs but it isn't top priority since I intend to cut the finished motifs out and incorporate them into something else. I found another table cloth stamped for cross stitch but I limited space for WIPs so it is where I will remember it and start it when a couple of other works are done. I have never been a member of the Church of One Project At A time.

ON to reading.

First up this post on Tomdispatch by Juan Cole. He makes a good case that Trump and his minions are well along a path to "Middle-Easternize" the U.S. I remember when the right wing went bat s%^t crazy over "sharia law" being imposed on the U.S. However, they don't seem to notice that whatever Trump is doing has the same effect as the actions of the Middle Eastern autocrats and dictators.

July 22, 23

Good morning, everyone. Not much to say so far. I closed down yesterday before posting the bit I had written. I just did it now. Let's see if I do better today.

The news was very irritating this morning. I turned it in the early minutes of a segment on the murder of the off duty CPB agent during an attempted armed robbery. First irritation, this story has been repeated too frequently over the last couple of days. Second irritation, why? Would the story be worth more than a local news cast if the victim had been Ordinary Joe and the perpetrator had not been an illegal immigrant who could (and probably should) have been deported by normal standards. This story isn't worth the time that has been given to it. Third irritation, first interviewee was that smug, sanctimonious Tom Homan, the "border czar." I didn't stick around for all of the deflections that point to the previous administrations, Democrats from however long ago, and anyone else he can.

23***********************************************

The news is what the news has been: totally idiotic concentration on the inane babbling of the addled the person ACTING as president. I say "acting" because he certainly isn't WORKING as president. Perhaps we should be grateful considering what his minions are doing in his name. I won't say "in our name" because I certainly didn't agree to this corrupt mess. That 49 and a bit percent of those who actually voted (as opposed to slightly--very slightly--less) doesn't mean I have to cede my approval and I won't let them steal it--as they seem to be stealing anything else they can grab.

I wondered  how long the carve outs for Alaska Murkowski got in exchange for the Big Bad Bill would last. I figured it wouldn't be long especially with the recision package going through Congress. If CROOKS&LIARS is correct some are already gone and Murkowski feels cheated. I just wonder why she feels badly used or couldn't predict what happened. Trump has never NOT reneged on an agreement.

July 21

 Hello, all. Nice sunny day so far. Should be somewhat moderate in temperature today but starting tomorrow the weather people predict a new stretch of 90s. We turned off the news early and are watching some reruns of our own. I also have a stack of videos borrowed from the library. They provided with a nice Saturday and Sunday watching a couple of seasons of MIDSOMMER MURDERS and a couple of episodes of SHERLOCK. I still have several other disks for the rest of the week.

A paragraph for LAST WEEK IN COLLAPSE caught my eye. I seem to remember some snippet about CATastrophe Bonds in an article about the woes of the insurance industry. This explains it a bit more:

Investors and hedge funds looking for yields not tightly related to the fortunes of the stock market are increasingly turning to CATastrophe bonds, which are basically bundles of disaster insurance contracts that pay most of their profits (if there are any) to institutional investors instead of to insurance companies. This arrangement helps insurance companies offload rising risk caused by flooding and other climate risks. The risk of a year stuffed with disasters grew too great for some insurance companies to cover all clients, fearful that they could be wiped out if a devastating year occurred. The market for CAT bonds began in the 1990s, and has hit record highs (and reportedly record profits) in 2025.

So far this year is shaping up to be another bad one for property damage.

By the way did anyone notice that the Administrations has allowed the transfer of Medicaid information (names, SSNs, addresses, and phone numbers to ICE? I wonder how long it will be before a similar transfer will involve Social Security and Medicare. I wouldn't take any bets on how secure IRS data is or how soon the DOGE boys get their greedy little hands on it.

I found this report on an Arkansas news site (by way of CROOKS&LIARS) which says that the number of Arkansas farmers filing bankruptcy petitions in this year's 4th quarter is nearly double the number of such petitions filed last year. The C&L piece notes that Arkansas farmers went for Trump in a large way and now find themselves in a much worse position. I don't blame Trump for ALL of their problems. The tariff threats have created a great deal of uncertainty and the loss of some markets (such as China) who consider the U.S. unreliable (which we have become). No one likes to make long term plans when the future is so uncertain. But the weather has also played holy hell with wide swaths of the country and farming is a time dependent activity. Seed has to go in the ground at a certain time, the sufficient rains have fall at the right time, there has to be enough sun and appropriate temperatures at the right time followed by harvest at the right time. That schedule has been thoroughly screwed up. Tariffs aren't the only thing that will push food prices up and there is damned little Trump (for all his arrogance) can do about those other things.

July 16, 17

 Just saw the head line of a post I didn't bother reading. It said the new Superman movie was fun but "is it Woke?" Point 1) I really don't give a damn. Point 2) why the hell would it matter? Point 3) by what definition of "woke?" Maybe we should just enjoy things and not play "language police."

17************************************************

Yesterday wasn't a good day for me. The night before the cats kept bothering me so I was a bit sleep deprived, headachy, and grumpy. You can probably tell from the single entry above. The whole notion of "woke" irritates me just as much as "political correctness" did before. Both notions were pushed to the point of meaninglessness. I keep thinking of my reaction when a Trump voter interviewed just after the last election was jubilant because the could use the word n$%#r again without getting flack from those who heard her. I wondered if she was such a coward or so ashamed that she couldn't enjoy being rude in public.

Several news commentators and bloggers have covered Trump's troubles dealing with the Epstein mess, a controversy of his own making. He has tried to get the MAGA parts of the Republican Party and the "news" media" to just "shut the f-- up" about it only to face serious push back. He has gone so far as to disown those supporters declaring them "stupid" or "fools duped by Democrats" or insisting the whole thing is a "hoax" created by Democrats. He even claimed he didn't "want their support." He insisted Epstein was arrested, tried, and died during Biden's tenure when in fact that all happened when Trump was President the first time. As one said this morning "you live by the Epstein; you die by the Epstein."

So the Trump Vengeance Train rolls on claiming Maurene Comey,  a successful Federal prosecutor in several high profile cases and James Comey's daughter. 

July 14

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=canada+U.S.+water+conflict&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8Good morning and Happy Bastille Day. And welcome to half past July. Sunny though the sky is looking a bit pale. I don't know if that is because of smoke coming down from Canada or some high thin clouds. I just checked the Weather Channel which reports an air quality alert through tomorrow. We are in a stretch of high 80s and low 90s for temperature. I was able to get out to water the few plants I would like to see survive this year. We haven't had any significant rain for about a week and none is predicted til, maybe, mid week. We'll see if we actually get it. I pulled a couple of weeds but I am deferring the real work for when the temperatures drop enough to allow me to get out for longer periods.

The discussions over the Medicaid cuts the administration promised wouldn't happen but somehow did and what those mean for rural hospitals. Few of the commentators talked about what those cuts mean for URBAN hospitals. Well, this last weekend reporters at one of the Chicago stations talked about that issue. Three hospitals, including one of the largest, are planning staff layoffs and curtailing services or closing entirely. 

The COVID emergency and the extra funding that the Biden Administration managed to get through held off the crisis for a bit but the problems hospitals and other parts of our health care "system" are long standing. One of my brothers was supposed to have back surgery today but found out last week that the hospital he thought he would be using refused his Medicare Advantage insurance. His efforts to find another have hit a brick wall. The problem with insurance isn't a new one for him. A physicians group he has dealt with for a long time no longer accepts Medicare. His problems reminds me of the problem we had trying to find a new family doctor about a decade ago as many were no longer accepting Medicare. The problems include the perennial ones we have heard of so often: low compensation for services, difficulty getting services approved, increased paperwork. Trumps One Big Beautiful (NOT) BILL have only exacerbated the problems.

Watching BBC this morning I was intrigued by a brief mention of a controversy between Canada and the U.S. over water; in particular, over renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty which governs the relationship between the countries with regard to the river. Le Monde published this article on the matter last March. But I found this page by way of GOOGLE which also discusses similar problems over the Great Lakes Compact which covers the Great Lakes. We are also in a diplomatic tussle with Mexico over the distribution of waters from the Lower Colorado River. GOOGLE also had a good article on this issue.

July 9

Storms came in overnight and today is partly cloudy with the possibility of more. We are far enough from Chicago that we didn't get any major flooding. Our city government has worked to improve the drainage over the past decade or so. I remember wading through ankle deep water to get to a grocery store after a heavy rain once. We didn't have any system to tell us where such ponding occurred then--we do now. That is one of the first areas that were reworked to improve the runoff. I have often said that the local Republican mayor is one of the very few Republicans I vote for. He has been in office for about the last 15 years (minus one term because he didn't run for reelection that year) because of the improvements his administrations have made--very needful improvements. A big contrast with the idiots in Washington.

As you might guess from the above Chicago did get some flooding last night which forced the rescue of people at a music concert and others caught in the rising water. The weather channel has shown the Chicago flood along with New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Raleigh, Yonkers and other areas. The monsoon season has begun in the Southwest. Ruidoso had the added problem of heavy rain falling on the burn scars from last years fires.

Michael Goldfarb at FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY poses an interesting question: What is a Nation in the 21st century?" 

I guess we shouldn't feel like the Lone Ranger (to use a phrase from my long ago childhood) with all of our freakish weather. EuroNews reports wild fires in France, Spain and Türkiye. Those areas had a heat wave with temperatures in the mid 40sC (about 115F). Türkiye also had a problem with electrical lines. The Balkans had a heat wave in the same range and are now experiencing storms with flooding. I read sometime in the last week that St. Petersburg, Russia was bracing for a flood along the Neva River.

July 8

 Sunny this morning but possible thunderstorms this afternoon. I won't complain since rain from the sky means I won't have to water from the faucet.

I don't know what I will find to comment on. 

The search and Rescue/Recovery in Texas continues along with the questions about what wasn't done but should have been and what should be done going forward. I was curious that the fact that Kerr County (pop. 53,000) and the town of Kerrville didn't have warning sirens and voted down the measure to install such a system. The system they considered would have cost $50k and the consensus was it was too expensive. For a largely rural it might have been a bit of a stretch. That made me wonder what the flooding history of the area is. This year's flood is the THIRD highest behind a 1936 flood and a 1987 flood. There have been other more modest floods but those are the ones that equal the magnitude of this one. The county voted down the siren system in 2017--thirty years after the 1987 flood. And the state refused to fund rural flood warning systems though the issue has been put on the agenda for the special legislative session. Whether it will still be there after the news spotlight moves on is questionable. 

I read somewhere a good while ago that humans are hard wired to look for short term risks. The carnivore skulking in the tall grass nearby is a threat now but one a mile away is may be a threat but not now. A flood a year ago, two years ago, or sometime in the past only grandpa remembers doesn't mean there is a threat now. Expending resources on a future threats that might not happen might leave you short dealing with an emergency or a chronic problem here and now,

The Contrarian has a new article on the Make America Healthy Again program of RFK, Jr. The administration's actions are more designed to do just the opposite. That is well beyond half-assed.

A couple of songs from my youth, one by Joni Mitchell and one by Cinderella, make the point that "you don't know what you got til its gone." This post on NON-ZERO NEWS LETTER makes the same about the notion (and structures) of international law: we're going to miss it when it is gone.

NZZ (a Swiss site) has this analysis of the "Big, Beautiful, Bill." It diverges greatly from the administration's view (inflation isn't a problem and probably in spite of the tariffs, the tariffs will be an economic windfall, nothing to see here) and considers the Democrat's to be unfocused and without a program. Sounds pretty right on to me.

THE NEW DEM DISPATCH posted a more comprehensive coverage of the Big Beautiful Bill. The author details a number of consequences that the Republican boosters tried to sweep under the what ever verbal rug they could find. And they also write about the very foreseeable secondary and tertiary effects. We will feel it all.

July 7

 The last post was a bit longer than usual on a single subject. And that was triggered by the first item in my e-mail. Today is another day so let's see what my e-mail has.

First on my list was this piece by Ugo Bardi. He has written about the "Seneca Cliff" for a long time. The notion comes from a quote from the Roman philosopher, Seneca, who proposed the growth is gradual but the subsequent ruin comes on quickly. Much like the often cited comment from Hemingway who replied to a question about how he went bankrupt "slowly then all at once." Usually writers apply the Seneca cliff when discussing economics, but Bardi decided to apply it to our dysfunctional politics. he presents a very interesting argument. I love the word borborygmus. Yeah, hot air going through pipes.

Anna Dorn on MEDIUM asks a question in the title of her new post "Is ChatGPT causing delusion or merely holding up a mirror?" She doesn't really answer that question but it brought up an image in my mind from the old SciFi classic FORBIDDEN PLANET. The technology of an extinct race allowed them to create psychic avatars which fanned out across the planet to exact deadly, bloody revenge on their enemies, real and imagined. Those avatars wiped out the entire population overnight. Eons later a scientist taps into that system which allows him to do the same without realizing what he is doing. We all have a dark side and perhaps that is what our social media, including ChatGPT, is revealing but how many of us recognize or dark selves in that dark mirror?

A thought about the Texas monster flood: I saw Kristi Noem, alleged director of Homeland Security and FEMA, on a news segment yesterday. It struck me that we should take her pronouncements far more seriously than we tend to because she is a very unserious person. She claimed that FEMA would soon be on site more than 24 hours after the disaster struck. She insisted that it role was ENTIRELY supportive of local efforts but the vast majority of the efforts were local not federal. Once upon a time I remember when FEMA would have pre-positioned resources and personnel to respond. I remember that from Hurricane Katrina. Evidently that isn't done any more given the response to Hurricane Helene. This is a clear expression of George W. Bush's notion of an "ownership society" which I have said is really a "you're on your own society." The Federal government seems to be saying, through Kristi Noem, we'll take your tax money and give you little or nothing back.

Thought about Elon Musk's announcement that he is forming a new political party: Y-a-a-a-wn! I doubt he could come up with a platform that would simultaneously advance his egotistic goals and ANY possible measures that I would find attractive.

A second thought about the flood: Noem seems to be blaming the National Weather Service for the catastrophe. That is rich given the government of which she is a part has cut staffing severely. But her entire shtick seems to be to blame everyone but her, her agency, and the administration. There are some questions about whether there any alerts and how specific the alerts were. But such warning are only effective if they are 1) accurate and 2) if people hearing the warnings take them seriously. And we have to remember that many people don't or can't get the warnings. And we also have to accept that the system deals with people who are variable to put it kindly. There is an old saying about "fool proof" systems--there is always a fool out there who will break it.

Thought about the growing controversy over the warnings and whether they were sounded at all, whether people could get them, whether they paid attention etc. I thought of a story I heard about the Fukushima meltdown, earthquake, and tsunami. Many people did evacuate to higher ground but were swept away as the weather rose to their positions. After the event, some who explored how high the tsunami actually got found markers just at or above those levels. They marked the high water achieved by an earlier tsunami. However, no one remembered what those markers signified.

Another in the string of stories about food thefts over the last decade or so.

And for those who think the insurance crisis being driven by pricy weather disasters driven by the Climate Change Hoax only affects by the poor idiots who live in disaster prone areas.  Also note that the old "Tornado Alley" has move into areas north and east of the southern plains. And we are seeing more 1-in-a-hundred (or five-hundred, or thousand) year events. 

July 4

 Happy Independence Day--might as well celebrate as long as we have any shred of independence. For many of us that independence seems to be disappearing at a rapid pace.

I have spent most of my day reading but not yet on my e-mail. But I am starting reading that now.

First up is this piece by Timothy Snyder. It reflects some thoughts I had (particularly nasty thoughts at that) as I watched Trumps victory parade through his "Alligator Alcatraz." I wondered how soon they would be converted to labor concentration camps. People don't have a long memory and they generally don't read much history. The U.S. has had a long and varied history of "unfree" labor and not just the 2+centuries of African slave labor. 

Much of the work force in the Colonies were bound to masters in various ways. Indentures were contracts between migrants and people who paid their passage. When they arrived those contracts were sold to farmers and others who needed labor. The term of the contract was generally seven years during which the workers were not free to move or seek other employment. And women who became pregnant (whether by their masters, someone else in the household, or any other man) had about two years added to their term because their masters couldn't get the full value of their labor during pregnancy and lactation. 

Parents often made contracts of apprenticeship which bound their children (mostly boys) to a particular master for seven to ten years during which those apprentices would be trained in a craft they would pursue as adults. 

Theoretically, indentured servants and apprentices couldn't leave their masters but the newspapers and broadside sheets carried numerous entries describing the runaway apprentices and servants. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's vice president, was an apprentice tailor who ran away to the frontier of Kentucky. He managed to become literate, married a wealthy woman and prospered. Benjamin Franklin had been apprenticed to his elder brother, a chandler, but ran away to Philadelphia and established himself as a printer before embarking on a retirement that included scientific observations, politics, and diplomacy.

There are three differences between those unfree laborers and Africa slaves. First, either the worker themselves or parents of minor children gave consent. Second, the conditions of work were covered by the contract and by custom. Third, the length of the term was fixed. None of that covered slaves.

Indentured servitude ended because people in England, the major source of servants, became outraged by stories of the conditions under which the workers lived. Economic changes and massive immigration from Europe reduced the need for apprenticeships. Slavery was, theoretically, abolished in 1865 though the southern prison system provided low cost laborers who could be rented from the states (not many today remember chain gangs) and the sharecropping system kept many farmers in a condition of debt slavery.

It doesn't take much imagination to see the "concentration camps" of Trumps Gulag becoming an economic resource from which companies prosper at the expense of the inmates.

 

July 3

 Sunny and very warm. In the 80s now but will be in the low 90s this afternoon. I got out and watered things on the patio. I am watering every other day so tomorrow I think I might get an hour in pulling weeds and, maybe, digging out some of the soil in one of the buckets I am retiring. I also baked a frozen quiche for breakfast and now it is time to catch up on my reading.

The first item on the list was this piece by Arnold Isaacs on Tomdispatch. Several people and news sites have covered some of the attempts Trump and his minions to erase people and events from our history. They aren't the first to do that. I think the first example I read about, which may be--at least in some details--apocryphal, was the case of the first emperor of China,  Qin Shi Huang. In 213 BCE, having unified much of the territory, he ordered the burning of books he thought subversive. And, for good measure, those found in possession of such books or who spread the ideas in those books were buried alive. The move wiped out history, philosophy, and poetry. The Trump people have an ideal of America as a white, Christian, male dominated society which leaves little room for the achievements of women, racial and ethnic minorities, or gender diverse people.

Rachel Biticofer posted an interesting summary of the legal history of individual rights through the last century. A little over 15 years ago I first expressed my opinion that the U.S. was engaged in a debate over which future course it would follow. One path would lead to a diminution of Federal power and return to more powerful and independent states. The other would lead to a more powerful Federal government with states basically functioning as subservient provinces. Right now the "debate" resembles a cage match--or scorpions in a jar.

July 2

 Sunny today and probably dry. I watered the pots well yesterday so I don't have to do that again til tomorrow.

I will probably piss off some people but I think Lisa Murkowski's vote for the Republican mess of a (not) budget bill explainable, somewhat justified, and short sighted. She told a reporter who asked for her response to Rand Paul's condemnation of her vote that she works for "the people of Alaska." She acknowledged that "some" (nice diminishing term) in the lower 48 states would be hurt but her concern is Alaska. If more Republican senators had taken their states' people into consideration they would have joined her in voting that abomination down. She did get some benefits for Alaska--at least for the near future if the bill passes the House. If they have to go back to square one with this process Alaska hasn't lost anything. Why do I say "short sighted?" She could have forced the legislature to go back and start over hopefully getting a true budget at the end. She also has shown that her vote can be bought--and rather cheaply at that. Whether that burnishes her reputation in Alaska is a question I can't answer.

There is an interesting bit of semantics running through the Republican programs. They SAY no one will be kicked off of Medicaid. Then they impose more onerous conditions and paperwork which a significant number of recipients won't be able to comply with. They figure that means that people CHOOSE to exit the programs but do those people really have a choice. The government won't actually go out and say "you, you, and you aren't going to get the goodies any more." Does this qualify as "passive-aggressive"? Reminds me of their argument absolving themselves of blame for deporting U.S. citizen children. Their undocumented mothers made the choice to take the kids with them when they were deported. But was that a true choice? If the mothers are deported without the kids what happens to those kids? Is there anyone to take care of them? Are their fathers present and are they legal residents or citizens? What are the family dynamics? Again the government operatives absolve themselves of any culpability by pretending that the mothers had a real choice between good and bad alternatives. But the choices are between horrendous and hellish. That isn't a choice.

Jennifer Rubin has a good and brutal appraisal of the foreseeable consequences of the abominable bill. But her article has only described the direct, primary consequences. I occurred to me that few have mentioned the secondary, tertiary, or further downstream consequences. And those might me far more damaging to our society and economy. The Medicaid provisions will probably result in the closure of a large number of rural hospitals That will create "medical deserts" where people simply have no options to get care except to try to travel large distances to get the care they need. I remember news stories forty years ago when I lived in Colorado about the lack of medical care in counties on the western slope. People in those rural areas had to drive three and four hours to see a doctor. But urban hospitals will also be affected. They will have to deal with both the cut in Medicare reimbursements and an increase in patients that won't have any insurance. They will have to lay off employees which will impact the ability to care for people. We will experience a flood moving through the economy.

You can go through the bill and trace a similar track of primary, secondary, tertiary, etc., effects but no one has asked "Why?" Why is it necessary to impose that kind of chaos on low income Americans? Just to give that already obscenely well off more? In the 1970s, CEOs and their tame politicians promised us that moving jobs out of the U.S. to low wage countries would benefit us and new jobs would be created. We got cheap goods and lower paid jobs. Regan promised that prosperity would "trickle down" because of his tax cuts and the hit to the Federal budget would be recouped because the lower rates would yield higher revenues. Time proved the second assertion false and I have often quipped that what trickled down passed through someone's kidneys or bowels. Why should I believe Thune's promise that we will have a golden age of security, safety, and prosperity?

July 1

 Welcome to July. We have a bit of a respite with slightly cooler temperatures. A couple of 90+ degree days over the next ten days with the rest in the 80s. We got some heavy bursts of rain buy few and far between. I go out on the patio to water what few plants I want to survive the season: hibiscus, Asiatic lilies, a couple of petunias. It is still gets too warm too quickly to really clean out some of that mess. As I pulled some of the weeds I got a surprise. A purslane plant has sprouted in one of the small plants. I haven't planted that for several years. No, I did not pull it. It seems to like the heat and the scanty rainfall doesn't seem to bother it. Let's see how it develops for the rest of the year.

A couple of days ago Charles Hughes Smith posted this article detailing how our culture, politics, and economy has been "hollowed out." I have noticed some of what he talks about for the last several years. Often I have either read a novel or watched a movie and found my self wondering where the creative artists have gone. I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings trilogy immensely but The Hobbit trilogy was not very interesting. I have the first DUNE movie, the second translation of the book into film (the miniseries) and THE CHILDREN OF DUNE, and the first two films of the third attempt to interpret the book. Of the three versions the second is the best; the third quickly spiraled into a confused mess. (Note: these are my opinions. I have a long habit of liking music, movies, books others (especially professional critics) don't so I don't mind at all if others like something I don't). Smith makes a good case that the hollowing out extends to most other aspects of our society. He writes that we are left with the "illusion" of strength and stability. That term (his term) reminds me of other pieces others have written over the last half century: Boorstin's THE IMAGE (1962) and Postman's AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH (1985) to name two.

William Hartung has some on point observations on the military "budget" and the "BIG, (NOT) BEAUTIFUL BILL." I had noticed that NO cuts were made to the Pentagon part of the "budget." And NO measures to make the Pentagon reliably audit their programs was included. They are still cutting Medicaid (in a stealthy and duplicitous manner), and setting up some conditions that will threaten Medicare and Social Security.

I just saw a report on NBC that the abomination passed by the usual 51-49 vote. Now the circus moves back to the House.

Simon Rosenberg at HOPIUM CHRONICLES has a bit to say on the matter. However, I was struck by the comments by Anne Applebaum that were included. She reported that the president of Aix-Marseilles University is welcoming U.S." scientific refugees" which he compared to German academics who fled Nazi regime. Given our the administration's assault on colleges and Universities that may not be far wrong.

Robert Reich hits a nail on the head with this post; Trump, Musk, Republicans and the Empathy Bug. I have often wondered what rock these guys (and gals) popped out from under because their responses seem "reptilian" at best, as in cold blooded. Our system seems to have mutated into one which spawns psychopaths/sociopaths whose only focus is on what they want and they will mow down anyone in their way to their goal.

Damn, it's getting hot!. 

I am going to stop now. Time to start supper.