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.

September 20

 Here we are at the last day of September. The weather feels more Summer-like than fall. But the shadow of the house covers the fence and has for several days. The fence won't reflect sunlight onto the patio until after the Spring equinox at the end of next March. The nice thing about the shift is we won't see oven-like temperatures for the next six. months. The bad thing is the plants that like full sun won't be happy. This year it isn't as much of a problem since I don't have much still growing--besides weeds. I am still making final decisions about what containers to keep and which to get rid of. But with October starting day after tomorrow  I have to get busy deciding what seeds I will order in November. 

I spent most of the weekend watching soccer, re-runs from our own shelves, and weaving a bunch of 4-inch squares. From what little I saw of news I think my time was better spent. Evidently we had two spectacularly idiotic assholes who decided to act out with guns. One crashed his truck (flying large U.S. flags) into a church and started shooting up the place before setting it on fire. Another decided to run a boat up near a waterfront bar and started shooting. The first died in his firefight with police and the second was captured by the Coast Guard. That might be the worst of the idiocy over the weekend but the behavior of the spectators at the Ryder's Cup yesterday takes the notion of THE UGLY AMERICAN to a new low. Golf used to be the genteel sport but obviously not any more.

Rachel Bitecofer posted an article with an intriguing title: SMART PEOPLE ARE DUMB, DUMB PEOPLE ARE EXPERTS. WELCOME TO THE DE-ENLIGHTENMENT.

I read that the Trump administration planned to give some kind of a hefty life line to Argentina but hadn't followed it. Given how much Trump loves strongmen and Milei in in that camp, I wasn't surprised. This article at POPULAR INFORMATION gives details which though not surprising stinks like a roadkill skunk. The $20billion he plans to provide isn't just a life line for a fellow would-be dictator but a life line for a U.S. billionaire hedge fund manager who is heavily invested in the Argentine economy. Yet another gift to the billionaire class while his Big CRAPPY Bill will take healthcare benefits away from low income Americans.

I started Chris Hayes' THE SIREN'S CALL and like the author of this piece, Jeremiah Johnson, got distracted by other interests. Johnson, however, has actually gone back and finished it during a stay in Switzerland where he did an internet detox and unplugged for a while to read actual books. It takes real effort to keep focus on any particular information thread because you are bombarde by so much. Once upon a time, when I read physical books, I kept a notebook by me to jot down questions or things I wanted to pursue more deeply. Now I simply go from the text on my iPad to the internet to ask the question or get the definition of a word. But sometimes I don't make it back to the book because my magpie mind has been seduced by a shiny new subject.

September 26, 27

 Good sunny morning. Spent a nice morning getting the hexagon granny patches started. Started with one pattern but didn't like it much so I started over with slight changes and like what is going on now. I finally quit when I made the same mistake three times on the last hexagon. I took that back to just before the mistake and put it away. I am using the last of the fingering yarn--I hope. I also brought out the last of the heavier yarn and will use it with the Zoom loom. Slowly my stash is diminishing. 

27***********************************************

Another morning--I continued to reduce my stash by weaving a half a dozen squares on the loom. I tried to read my e-mail but found my eyes didn't want to focus on the print no matter what adjustments I made. I hope that doesn't happen again.

Gisela Selim-Peyer wrote an interesting piece for THE ATLANTIC that is good match for Parker's earlier piece a few days ago. "Authoritarianism feels surprisingly normal--til it doesn't" draws on the experience of Venezuelans through Chavez's and then Maduro's rule and the gradual erosion of their government, economy, and society. I hope her comment towards the end that the 250 year history of American democracy might blunt some of what Trump is doing. I am afraid it might not.

As I read James Marriott article "The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society" I wasn't surprised and thought "OH, we are so f**ked!" For more than half of my 76 years I have heard repeated bleats from so called experts and politicians that we had a crisis in our education system because each year American students achieved lower and lower scores in reading, math, and science. Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s Dunesberry (for those too young to remember, it was a cartoon series) which showed a professor telling his  American lit students that only a decade before he had assigned an extensive reading list including several books with over 500 pages. But for the last five years he cut the list down to only half a dozen books none with more than 250 pages. For the coming year, however, he was only assigning three short books. One of the students yells "Whoa--Three!!??" At the same time experts and politicians were pushing "No Child Left Behind," a common curriculum nationwide, STEM and other ineffective measures, the new generations were less and less capable of working in an environment which requires literacy, numeracy, and advanced science concepts. Ironically, I think the only reasons why we have gotten away with this moronic situation include 1) large numbers of foreign workers (who are now being discouraged and/or deported) and 2) the industries leading our tech dependent industries don't really need all that many workers.

 Cloudy today. We had rain overnight but no thunderstorms. Hopefully the next stretch of days will be sunny and dry. I would like to get out and clear some more of the patio gardens. Until then I have been doing the What-Not room clean up in bits and pieces. I have some light weight yarn but had no idea what to do with it. I thought about finding a hexagon granny pattern and found one this morning. I might start on one later today. I have supper cooking now and it will sit on the stove after it is finished until we want to eat sometime later. 

George Packer has an interesting (and long) article in THE ATLANTIC: America's Zombie Democracy. He describes the strange feeling that things have changed but nothing seems different. However, the institutions of our democratic system have become impotent. Reading this article I remembered reading about Rome in the last two centuries BCE. It was a tumultuous time politically, economically, and socially. By the time Augustus consolidated power the institutions of the Roman Republic remained but were powerless. A person living during his reign would have similarly looked around and breathed a sigh of relief that everything seemed normal and peaceful but also had a feeling of disquiet that the old normal was gone. Are we there yet?

Another long but right on point article is "America The Irrelevant" by John Feffer in FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS. Hardly a day goes by when some story doesn't describe some country or international organization doesn't outline steps they are taking to accomplish their goals without the U.S. But I also see signs that people, states, and organizations here in this country are also doing the same. We can't depend on an UNstable, not-a-genius to add anything of benefit to our lives.  Instead he is showing every sign of wanting to f**k everything up.

September 24

 Cloudy with rain predicted today. Had a nice three hours crocheting and then got some of the What-Not room straightened up. Have a lot more to do. The big problem is organizing things so I can find them again. I don't know how many times over the years we have bought something simply because we needed it but couldn't find what we already had. In between I also got some little chores done. Haven't really started reading e-mail yet.

However, the news actually has been focused on the shooting at the Ice Facility in Texas. I have a few observations of what has gone on so far--which isn't much. First, I am so glad so many politicians, including Ted Cruz, are speaking out against political insisting it must stop. However, my second observation is that all of the statements seem be insisting that the political violence against government, government agencies, or government-allied persons must stop. There is an old joke that asks what is the difference between a tax collector and a robber? Answer: official permission. We can say the same thing about Ice. What is the difference between a masked, unidentified group of thugs who kidnap people off the street and a group of gangbangers? One is an Ice "officer" hired by the government and the other is just a thug. The politicians are supporting those with official permission leaving unaddressed the underlying mess beneath. Third, we really have no firm notion of the shooter's motive except anti-Ice message written on his ammo. Might they be misdirection? Who knows? Fifth, who were the victims? Finally, someone has asked whether the Ice personnel were the targets and the shooter was a really lousy shot? Or did he have a grudge agains immigrants? Again no one knows. So much verbiage expended and so little facts!!

Another news item that has been churning in my mind was Trump's and Bobby Kennedy's insistence that pregnant women and young children shouldn't take (or be given) Tylenol. For years (decades, actually) Tylenol has been suggested for pain during pregnancy, especially for those who can't use aspirin or had digestive issues that made such pain meds dangerous. As usual in these pronouncements the assertion was made that acetaminophen MAY cause autism. No real evidence and totally ignoring a number of studies which indicate there is no link between the two. But I wondered because Mom's general physician warned against using aspirin because she already prescribed a low dose aspirin to help regulate her blood pressure. I said we could shift to Tylenol but the doctor strongly nixed that. I decided to do some research and found that in high doses (I didn't see a definition of "high") acetaminophen can raise blood pressure. Interesting.

Oh, well! Time to go to my reading.

Denise Donaldson at PONDERMENTS asks if we feel rushed. She writes from her perspective as a crafter. I know what she means. I just got the latest Herrschner's catalog and a large part of it features Christmas projects with a sprinkling of of Spring items. And, yes, I have noticed for a couple of decades now how I have noticed how Christmas shopping season has crept closer to Labor Day. Thanksgiving and Halloween have sort of faded from view. My own response is simple: I don't pay much attention to the speedup. I am a crafter but none of my projects is really geared to a holiday. The only one I can think of at the moment is one with holiday penguins I have been working on for about four years (on and off, mostly off) and am only about a third done. It will get done--someday. I remember a crochet afghan (full bed size) that took me almost a decade. Life just kept intruding. 

September 22, 23

 Welcome to astronomical Fall which arrives sometime today. Many have already shifted their mental seasons beginning September 1--the meteorlogical start of Fall. I have had a busy morning already. Shopping by way of Instacart, another couple of rows on the Bavarian stitch baby blanket, and a load of laundry. I still have dishes to do and clothes to put upstairs. The rains we have had over the last couple of days have done a nice job of reviving my hibiscus plants. Sometime I have to go out and fill the bird feeder. The birds and the little ground squirrels are feeding for winter now,

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

I didn't have too much to say yesterday so I just vegged out and ignored most of the world. We had an appointment with Mom's hearing clinic to get her hearing aids cleaned so between that and doing my morning stint of needlework I haven't done any reading or watching much news. 

I did notice that Disney decided that Kimmel will come back on TV tonight. They faced a rebellion among their subscribers and some of the actors playing in their Marvel movies. The financial threat was enough to send their stock down. I loved the Republicans touting their new talking point about "consequences culture" insisting that people have a right to say what they like but they were not entitled to a job. They intended too apply that to people like Kimmel of course but the same notion can be applied to companies, especially those who depend on public approval for their profits. They can make the decision to fire someone who offends the powers that be but. they aren't entitled to making a profit off those who like what those people say.

I debated whether to link to Frieda Berrigan's post on Tomdispatch today. However, considering how much of the country has been in one level of drought or another. Even the area where I live has gone between dry, and moderate drought all summer. And areas of the country have gone from drought to flood in the space of hours. She puts things in a personal light. What would she do if....? What would you do?

We just had a good laugh. I got an e-mail from someone I don't know who obviously doesn't know me. He wished me a Happy Birthday five months late. Crap.

Robert Reich posted on the Jimmy Kimmel snafu and made some very good points. One of the commentators on MSNBC noted how hard it would be for him to cancel Disney which underlined a point I have been dealing with for sometime although my response is somewhat different. Disney doesn't play much of a roll in my life. I see programs on other providers I would like to watch but I would have to get a streaming service which may or may not have anything besides that one show that might appeal to me. And it would be an additional cost on top of the bill for internet/cable service I now have. Better to do without and stay solvent. Incidentally, I never watched Jimmy Kimmel's shows. I haven't watched any late night talk show since before Johnny Carson reigned supreme. I preferred to get my sleep so I could get up and do what ever I had to do the next day. My mother likes the TV because it gives a background noise that makes her tinnitus bearable. If I had my way I would cancel the cable and keep the internet. I get most of my info that way.

Isn't it interesting how often Trump's actions involve money--A LOT of money. Earlier in this monstrous regime he instituted a "Gold Card" which allows someone willing to invest $1million can get entry into this country. Now he has proclaimed a new "fee" of $100k for H1B visas. That required a lot of cleanup because neither the existing H1B visa holders nor the companies who employ them knew the details--like whether it applied to current visa holders or not. The government and the companies are hashing out those details in the media now. But once again it is a case of "pay to play."

September 20

 We have rain. Or rather intermittent rain. And that is what the weather forecasts predict for the next several days. Any days I don't have to water anything on the patio. I spent a nice time watching (or mostly listening to) the Premier League days. We have four today but only one tomorrow. At the same time I continued the simple cross stitch piece Mom felt required smaller stitches than she wanted to try. We have been trying to find something she would like to do and have come up with nothing at all. She quit doing crochet about fifteen years ago just after she finished the lace on three sets of sheets and pillow cases she gave to my siblings and their partners. She complained that it hurt her hands too much. We tried punch needle work but neither of us likes them. She mentioned embroidery several times but I don't think that will go any where. I showed her the needles I use and mentioned that I split the 6-strand thread into 2-strands for most of my pieces she decided, for the moment, to give it a pass.

Rachel Bitecofer posted an interesting piece this morning, or maybe yesterday since I didn't really go through my e-mail. I don't know how her suggestions concerning reigning in social media. She describes how the Nazis used the new media of radio to spread their propaganda. There have been other game changing technology that destabilized the society of the time. Gutenberg's printing press opened up literature to the masses and, especially, allowed people outside the Catholic priesthood to to read and interpret the Bible. Quickly others translated the Bible from the Vulgate Latin and printed a lot of copies across Europe. The Church was no longer the sole arbiter of what the sacred text meant. In the mid 1800s printing was sped up by new presses and a whole lot of printed matter rolled out including the "dime novels" which the intellectual elites found especially harmful to young people. We heard about the Comstock Acts with regard to abortion materials (including printed information) which were labeled "pornography." But the same label was applied to the cheap and entertaining books. In the 1950s the relatively new "comic books" were also seen as a threat to the moral development of children and the Comics Code was instituted which basically infantilized the medium for thirty years. Similarly TV and movies were constrained by various FCC measures to protect the sensibilities of the populace. Most of the measures enacted to control new media were effective but only for a time. Social changes made most toothless after a time. Various authoritarian governments are busily censoring not just the internet sites but also books, newspapers, and magazines. Those will last only as long as the regimes last.

Joyce Vance suggests that we take a page from E. Jean Carroll  who thought emulating Norwegian teachers and students who signaled their resistance to Nazi occupation by wearing a paper clip on their clothes.

I saw that Trump's lawsuit against the New York Times has been thrown out. Heather Cox Richardson lays out the Judge's ruling which was scathing. I heard a number of commentators denounce the spurious nature of many of Trump's legal actions which simply waste time and resources. They notice, as Richardson does, that his lawyers take up 80+ pages to (not) argue two complaints. They don't spell out the complaints until the last five or so pages. I wonder why the judges put up with the frivolous nonsense. Some 30 years ago (+/_) when I lived in Colorado the state judiciary got real tired of a so-called "sovereign citizen" who harassed state officials with spurious leans on their property and frivolous lawsuits which he filed on his own. A state judge eventually banned him from filing on his own and required him to hire a lawyer for any legal action. Surely the Federal Judiciary has a similar remedy. Any lawyer out there know? The judge did limit Trump's team to a 40 page limit for any amended new filing.

September 18

 Good morning again. Not much going on in either the weather (thankfully) and the needlework progresses. A number of crafters call hand needlework slow stitch for a reason. Handwork has always been slow which is why various machines were created to speed up the process. However, one reason I like crochet so much is because, according to a history of fiber work I read ages ago, nobody has found a way to mechanize it. Spinning was hooked up to water power in the mid 18th century and later to electricity. Weaving followed not much later. People had found various ways to speed up knitting like knitting looms of various kinds. But the looping pattern of crochet stitches has somehow eluded mechanics. Good.

Well, another late night comedy/talk show host has fallen to the new "cancel culture." Jimmy Kimmel had the temerity to accuse the MAGA crowd is using the Charlie Kirk murder for political ends and that the accused assassin was really MAGA. The first is somewhat obvious but the second is questionable and is on the same objectionable level as the MAGA insistence that somehow a shadowy liberal cabal is involved. The news/commentary shows noted that ABC which pulled the Kimmel program (under not at all veiled threat from the head of the FCC) is involved in an acquisition which requires the government's approval. Shades of the Colbert mess. The commentators noted that these media conglomerates are both deeply connected to the right wing/MAGA/conservative politicians and businessmen and are deeply dependent on the Federal Government. That makes them susceptible to government pressure.

September 17

 Good morning, everyone. The view outside is the same today as it was yesterday and the forecast is also the same. I will have to water things tomorrow on the patio because we, probably, won't get any significant rain til next Tuesday. Had a quiet morning stitching so far and got a good bit done on the cross-stitch scarf I took over from Mom because she thought the pattern called for smaller stitches than she wanted to work. The iron-on pattern packs I ordered from Amazon came yesterday. They do look interesting but I don't think I will set up a different project for Mom soon. She keeps going back and forth on whether she wants to do anything. I think she is bored. 

Most of the news focused on Trumps unprecedented state visit to the U.K. The British are pulling out all the stops to stroke his ego. I wish there was something we could offer them to keep him. Oh well, it is a nice change of pace to Kash Patel's infantile temper tantrum before Congress. On a sad note Robert Redford has died at age 89. Sad because we won't have any more great films from him; but he did have a long and productive life that gave us some iconic movies.

Rachel Biticofer put this up on THE CYCLE detailing the many ways Trumps tariffs are a con we are paying for. What really burns me up is that we have a legislative branch split between cowards who won't cross Trump, true believers who think the sun rises out of his ass, and some Democrats who talk a good game of opposing the MAGA bully but caves in so they won't be blamed for shutting down the government. I have news for that last group: you are going to be blamed anyway so it's better to do what is right and then be aggressive about telling people who is actually to blame.

The New Dem Dispatch posted this piece on a joint round table hosted by Rep. Janelle Bynum and Rep. Andrea Salinas focused on the needs of rural communities. I have thought for sometimes, and on occasion mentioned, that our Federal government's policies seem designed to bleed rural communities dry. I guess that food appears magically on the supermarket shelves.

September 16

 Good morning, everyone. It is a nice sunny day predicted to be dry and warm (mid 80s). I spent a nice morning working with my Zoom Loom. I thought I would try using two yarns together but found that too bulky to work easily so I took out the first square only about 4 strands into the last pass. I managed to pull out the weaving and instead made two squares with each of the strands. It was a bit lighter than I like but not bad. And it tightened up a bit after I removed it from the loom. After that I played with using a light worsted yarn as the base and a fingering weight for the last past. That actually made an interesting block. I still have to get back (sometime) to edging and blocking the crib sized blanket I have almost finished. House work? As a joke I saw on Facebook says house work is what you do when you run out of fabric, thread, or yarn. I have managed to not reach that dire condition so far.

Now I am looking at my e-mails. First thing I looked at was the message from Amazon telling me that the iron-on pattern packs I ordered have been shipped. When I receive them I will actually have to do some housework and clear my work space upstairs in the What-Not room so I can prepare a piece for Mom to work.

Bill Astore, writing at Tomdispatch, has some interesting thoughts about the (what's old is new again) Department of War. I wonder when the administration will change the slogan of the Strategic Air Command because "Peace is our Profession" seems out of step with the ethos of a Trumpian America.

Evidently "cancel culture" is alive and well. Jennifer Rubin notes, on CONTRARIAN, that many who whined about cancel culture when it was people they liked being called to account for attacking people they don't like are very happy with it when people are "punished" for criticizing them. I don't approve of any one rejoicing in anyone's pain or death. But tit for tat doesn't sound like a very constructive policy.

Stray thought: when I was (much!) younger and still attended church, somewhat, regularly I often heard a certain phrase: hate the sin, lover the sinner. It appears to me that many have jettisoned the last part of the phrase and decided to hate the (perceived) sinner as well. And they have expanded the definition of what is a sin.

I just saw reports (see here) that the judge in the trial of Luigi Mangione has dismissed the murder charges linked to terrorism. The judge ruled that the evidence the prosecution produced to support the linking of the murder to terrorism. Terrorism, like so many other words, has been thrown about indiscriminately and I agree with the judge.

September14. 15

Bright and sunny today, The rain cleared out late yesterday. The  forecast says the temperature should be in the mid-80s. And we might get a stray shower. Mom asked yesterday if I had an embroidery piece she could work on. I have been busily reducing the number of to-be-started items in my stash. I found one which looked like a simple project--just six colors, no complicated color changes and only cross-stitch and outline stitch needed. I put it all together she decided it wouldn't really do. The cross-stitching is hard to follow and too small. I put it in my pile and started on it earlier. Now I have three crochet pieces on the hook, a small blanket I am finishing made up of woven squares, and four embroidery pieces on hoops.

I don't have any other pieces she would find enjoyable so I decided to look at iron-on patterns that can be applied to some of the plain fabric I have in my stash. I found and ordered four packs of Aunt Martha's patterns which should arrive early next week. I had thought about using the iron-on patterns before because I was finding so little I really wanted from my usual sources. Mom had a kit from Michaels but it just didn't work out for her. The background is so flimsy it has already torn where she had to remove stitches she didn't like. I will throw it away soon and keep only the left over thread and hoop.

15***********************************************

Half-past September already and it is still sunny and cool. I like this time of the year because I can open the windows and patio door for some fresh air--at least as fresh as our air can be in this age of massive and continuing fires. One of the gardening bloggers calls this the messy time of the garden year. It isn't so messy this year because I got so little planted. Mom's month and a half in hospitals followed by another six weeks of physical therapy came at a most inconvenient time-- just when I should have been putting out plants. I hope next year will be better.

Bill Astore at BRACING VIEWS has some good thoughts about AI and the study of history. He calls AI generated history the "dirty purple" a reference I hadn't seen before to the old mimeographed summaries with their messy purple inks that got on everyone's fingers. The key word there is "summaries." No deep dive. Computers from the beginning have encouraged a superficial, uncurious scholarship. I remember card catalogs fondly. Yes they were slow, and sometimes confusing. But I found tangents in the search of the cards which I never would have found in any computerized catalog. It took a while to ask "what else it there" and not take the computer info as holy writ.

Astore makes a good point when he writes that the superficial view appears to be the preferred one among segments of our political, social, and cultural leadership. Think about how Trump responded to the 1619 PROJECT. He seemed to feel personally insulted that the authors started American history with the arrival of the first African slaves in Virginia. He preferred to start our history with 1776. I have a contrary preference: keep 1619 because the introduction of slavery was important but remember that that year also saw Virginia inaugurate the House of Burgesses, the first democrat legislative assembly. You can debate all you like, as you should how democratic and by what definition of democracy it was but the members were chosen by a vote. Both events were pivotal.

I knew the soccer World Cup is scheduled for next year with the U.S., Mexico, and Canada jointly hosting the games. But Pat Garofalo at BOONDOGGLE describes the plant for "dynamic pricing" for the tickets. I enjoy watching soccer when our media decides to carry it. However, I have no plans to see any of the games and, if I had seen this article, I would have changed my plans. Tickets should be sold at a definite price for a specific seat at a given event. We have long had varying prices based on time of events (matinee vs. evening shows, for example) or location of seats (sidelines vs "nose bleed areas). But unless you were so desperate that you paid extra to get sold out tickets from a scalper you knew what you had to pay for a particular seat at a particular time. The price didn't change just because a lot of people wanted them. I have been very skeptical of "surge pricing" and other attempts to bleed the public. The more I hear of Mamdani the more I like him.

September 13

 Well, we are almost through another month. We have some nice rain I hadn't expected but I did remark yesterday that it wouldn't take much to change the forecast. We are watching Premier League soccer this morning and later, after the last game, I will put on re-runs from our collection. The weekends are a respite from what passes for news. 

Brian Merchant at BLOOD IN THE MACHINE posted a good critique of both the news and social media. I have never been a fervent follower of social media. I do go onto Facebook but largely because a number of crafting groups are very interesting. As some of you may know I crochet, cross-stitch, embroider, and have take a stab at pin loom weaving. A lot of inspiring crafters post there. but I avoid the political crap. I haven't seen much since I started blocking those posters. I limit my viewing of the so-called news which now is either trying to canonize Charlie Kirk as their newest saint and carrying the Widow Kirk's demand for retribution against "all those who supported" the assassin. It isn't enough that the individual who fired the shot be held accountable but a whole nebulous class of people, loosely labeled "liberals," must be tarred with the same brush.

Denise Donaldson ends her piece at PONDERMENTS, Disparity Hurts, with a very appropriate statement. "Disparity, along with doublespeak, is the defining quality of our present moment, to the detriment of all."

I think that will be all for the day. I going to the What-Not Room to see if I have an embroidery piece Mom might like to work.

September 12

 Good morning, all. We seem to have entered into a dry stretch. The latest weather forecast says no rain and the temperatures (for now) in the mid to high 80s. The did take the 90s off but all it will take is a slight change in the wind patterns and things will change. So every other day I will need to water plants.

Sorry about my extensive use of capitals yesterday. The assignation of a conservative activist was bad enough but the responses were just as infuriating. Before any suspect has actually been identified too many were claiming the motive was political and aligned with liberals. It reminds me too much of the responses I heard after the Oklahoma City bombing. Most pundits at the time went on and on about Muslim terrorists. It turned out that good-old-boys from the militia movement were responsible for the crime. We have already seen misinformation  (to put matters gently) put out by sources we would usually trust that had to be corrected soon after. It feels like some people are so desperate to get not just the right assassin but the politically palatable assassin. Evidently the trolls on the internet are having a good time throwing out what ever crap comes to mind.

Bill Astore posted this article: The End Game For Gaza. It isn't a pretty picture. Just lately Benjamin Netanyahu announced an extensive new settlement on the Palestinian territory on the West Bank which will bisect what little land remains to the Palestinians. The announced goal, which they said out loud, was to make sure there would not be a Palestinian state. They are also planning to reestablish settlements in Gaza. When a people don't have a place to go (other states in the Middle East have refused repeatedly to take large numbers of refugees) and they really can't stay where they are what choices to they have. Is it any less genocide if you don't kill everyone in a group but simply make living impossible?

Timothy Snyder makes a good point distinguishing between "free speech" and "me speech." Too many of our political "activists" demand "free speech" but are all to happy to squelch people who say things they don't like. Free speech for me but you should shut the f*** up and get with our program. I would broaden Snyders argument and talk about the word "freedom." I remember some people (usually young men) who insisted on stealing the feminist mantra "Our bodies, our choice." They used it to insist on their right to reject masks. Interesting that many of the same type of men who insisted in their freedom concerning masks shifted the game and insisted, when the abortion debate heated up, "Your body, OUR choice." In other words they have the choice in everything and others have no choice. Nobody really asks out loud the underlying question: freedom for whom to do what? It is also interesting that most of those claiming "freedom" are white, straight me and most of those whose freedoms they want to restrict are black, brown, immigrants, women.

Another sunny day and the temperatures should make us feel like summer is still here. The longer forecast predicts 90s for Sunday through Wednesday next week. Damn--I had hoped cooler temperatures would continue. Luckily we don't have anything which would take us out of the house. I got outside to sweep the patio and water the remaining plants. I also used the power setting on the watering wand to clear a lot of the detritus I couldn't reach with the broom.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk has pushed almost everything else off the news on this side of the Atlantic. And "assassination" is appropriate or perhaps "murder." We do so like to soften harsh realities--like the rising number of violent acts in this country. I'll be honest: I had only heard the name before yesterday. I knew he was a MAGA activist but I couldn't have associated his name with a specific idea or political argument. I doubt very much I would have been terribly interested in anything he had to say. I am 45 years older than he was--he was 31. I am female and, as you can see from my use of pronouns, he was male. But, and this is the key point, I don't know who murdered him (I won't soften this by using the passive voice) I DO NOT SUPPORT KILLING ANYONE BECAUSE OF A POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. I can remember times when I thought that a political situation might be greatly improved if we "had several funerals" of some of the stubborn old farts involved. BUT I NEVER THOUGHT ANYONE SHOULD ACTIVELY KILL THEM. Each such act takes us further on the road to barbarism.

A couple of news/commentary segments were interestingly juxtaposed yesterday. One talked about a book, THE BARN which I haven't read, about the Emmett Till murder in 1955. His mother's decision to have an open casket funeral showed the world the consequences of our American apartheid and helped create the political environment leading to the passage of the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT and the VOTING RIGHTS ACT. But the next discussed what little was known about Charlie Kirk's murder (which was damned little) and segued to a list of acts of political violence over the last few years. The commentators referred to several fringe groups like Qanon, and others I hadn't even heard of but who, finding the present unpalatable, want to erase the last 80 years or so. In other words, they want to go back to 1955. I don't remember the 1950s because, having entered this world in 1949, I was way too young. But I do have memories from later times. I remember that my mother, for much of her life, couldn't get a credit card or bank account in her own name. I remember a friend who had a long running struggle with the IRS because they insisted on listing her husband as "head of household" and issuing refund checks in his name. He contributed almost nothing to their income and getting him to fork over the money was an added insult. I remember women I knew who couldn't get a mortgage on their own without a MALE cosigner. So, as you can guess, I HAVE NO DESIRE TO GO BACK TO THE 1950S. When "conservative" pundits talk about increasing social stability by getting rid of no-fault divorce, or celebrate employment statistics showing a drop in women's participation because the back to the office pressures make child care problematic, or when the current administration dismisses capable women in favor of less capable men (usually white men), I am infuriated. I remember all too well being shuffled into home economics classes when I would rather have taken wood working or auto mechanics shop--but those were for boys. Few people asked girls what they wanted to be when they grew up when I was young. Our only options were teacher (until we married and became pregnant), nurses or secretaries. Boys had the world. I have too many memories of the past to want to go back.

A blogger I often read has a regular segment "Words and Phrases we could do without." I would like to add one that has popped up fairly frequently over the last few years: "This isn't who we are." Well all too often this (what ever it is) is exactly who "we" are--and a lot of us wish otherwise.

Today is the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that have scared us as a society. A lot of the news and blogs focused the memories. I remember where I was that day. When the first tower was hit I was in my car driving to my first class in paralegal studies of the day and listening to the radio. I don't think I really reacted to the news which sounded too horrific to be true. The second plane hit the other tower during the break between classes and when we weren't in class we spent the time glued to the TV. I had the sense of being somewhat separate from the rest of the people watching. One student who was a bit further along than I was in the program vowed she would not take a job in a Chicago high rise. I didn't say anything but I thought the response was as bizarre since a similar attack hitting skyscrapers in an inland city was minimal. As it turned out no further such attacks took place. The event still has a surreal feel to it. 

September 10

 It is hazy and partly cloudy but warm enough that I changed from the flannel shirt I wore for my errand to the drugstore into a t-shirt. This is the time of year that what you wear in the morning may not suit that afternoon. But at least we don't have the 90s. We don't have rain either so tomorrow I will have to water the hibiscus plants, the large clump of chives and the Asiatic lilies. That is all I have on the patio right now.

There is so much stupidity in the oral defecations of some political pundits. I heard one yesterday which had me scratching my head in disbelief. A MAGA lawyer said that President Trump could declare an emergency over conditions that he thinks threaten the very existence of the U.S. and suspend elections. She cited the 22nd Amendment as the basis for the notion. That amendment specifically prohibits any one who has been twice elected to the presidency from serving any more terms. Also it prohibits anyone who succeeds to the presidency on the death or disability of the president and serves more than two years of the unfinished term from seeking two full terms in his/her own right. But it DOES NOT provide for any president to declare a national emergency and suspend elections. I decided to check on whether the Constitution has any such provision anywhere and found it does not. I did have to look this up because although I did read the Constitution a long time ago in my high school Civics class (required for graduation). Evidently such classes are nearly extinct in our school systems.

I have been watching the mess in France as its second prime minister in nine months and its fifth in two years. The French government is in the midst of a financial mess with the interest on its debt exceeding what they spend on education and defense together (according to BBC). For the last ten or fifteen years they have been trying to get their fiscal house in order but their usual tactics have been measures that are deeply unpopular such as raising the retirement age to cut down on pension payments, raising fuel taxes etc. All of those affect ordinary citizens while not touching the corporate or financial sectors at all. And they have the additional problem of the pressure to meet the perceived threat from Russia by increasing their defense budgets a lot. France isn't the only country that has tried to deal with budgetary problems by imposing "austerity" on their people. The Greek government almost two decades ago imposed stringed cuts because the IMF and European Central Bank insisted on that to get loans that would allow them to pay their foreign creditors. They also had to sell off national assets at bargain basement prices. The EU has tried to force similar measures on Italy. What always ticks me off is how the notion of "austerity" is always applied to the citizens and not to expenditures for business industry, and the military. Over on this side of the pond similar noises have been made and no one in any government has mentioned the corporate and industrial give-aways or to the Defense Department which hasn't passed a mandatory audit forever.

Poland has, according to reports, shot down Russian drones that invaded their airspace. A lot of pundits are clutching their pearls over the "provocation". From the video I saw this morning the damage in Poland came from the drones that were shot down. I am a curious person so I started looking at the maps of the area and wondered how Russian drones supposedly bound for Ukraine managed to stray into Poland. Well there is one direct path that would put such drones into Polish airspace. If they were launched from Kaliningrad, that little slice of detached Russian territory surrounded by Poland and Lithuania. But, I just saw a plot of the drone traffic over Ukraine and several of the paths the drones were on would take them over Polish territory. However, to say the matter isn't provocative is akin to saying that the Germans at the beginning of both world wars didn't "intend" to invade Belgium but merely took the easiest route to get at France. I always hated the term "collateral damage.

We see another bit of "collateral damage" in Israel's attack on Hamas leaders in Doha. I suppose we should not be surprised since part of the agenda for the talks was whether Hamas would accept an American proposal that would free all the hostages at once. After all, almost every other Israeli attack has come when the peace talks seemed to be gaining ground.  

September 9

 Another sunny and cool day. Temperatures should max out in the mid 70s. We have a doctor's appointment for mom so my reading will be broken up. I got a nice stretch of stitching done this morning. I usually try to spend two or three hours in the morning doing some form of needlework. Yesterday I got a couple of rows on the Bavarian stitch baby blanket. It is large enough that a couple of rows is a lot of work. Day before I got several rows done on the Tunisian stitch blanket after I took out about three rows because of a mistake changing colors. Several days ago I pulled out all the work on the original blanket because I couldn't make the color changes work out right. Decided to do something simpler and review the process. It seems to be working well now. I am getting a "housekeeping" bug and will tackle a junk drawer in my small rolling storage container. Every now and then I simply have to straighten sup such areas. I usually find items I simply forgot I have.

I am spending less and less time with the news because after hearing the same BS for the second time I simply want to throw something at the TV. I give the BBC new a bit more time simply because it is somewhat different. The whole Jeffrey Epstein mess only got a simply 30 second statement. The news reader made a passing comment when covering the argument some European governments have concerning the Gaza tragedy: when is genocide actually genocide?. Some of the more "legalistic" politicians insist that Israel isn't committing genocide because no court that has jurisdiction has ruled its actions are genocide. Others look at the devastation and deaths and say, like I do, if it quacks and walks like a duck it is a damned duck. It looks like genocide therefore it is genocide. Ah, well, neither side is any closer to persuading Israel to change course.

Bill Astore has some thoughts on the matter from a slightly different perspective. I had another thought. We have come to associate THE HOLOCAUST with the Nazi efforts to exterminate European Jews. Yes, 6 million Jewish victims is a horrendous number. However, another 6 million other Europeans were also slaughtered: the German "useless eaters" (frail elderly, chronically ill, mentally ill), the Romany (aka, Gypsies), Slavs. homosexuals. I can agree with the sentiment expressed in the slogan "Never Again" but it shouldn't be applied only to one group. It can't be "no genocide for me but mass death for thee."

Chris Armitage on MEDIUM describes "soft secession" as an answer to increasing Federal intrusion into states. Some time ago I said that the U.S. is at a crossroads. Will it continue to be a "federal" system" which divides powers between a national government, state governments, and the people? Or Will it become a truly national government where states are merely administrative divisions with power only to enact what is dictated by the national government? 

September 2, 3, 4

 Nice sunny start for September and meteorological fall. I lazed around yesterday reading and doing needlework. I am not much more energetic today. But got a couple of rows in the Bavarian stitch baby blanket and some of a cross stitch dresser scarf. But the most important chore was getting the Instacart order. I thought at first to put it off but we were out of too many items. Normally, when I did the shopping myself, I wouldn't have gone out on the day after a three-day holiday and was prepared for a longer time before the delivery since a lot of people do shop to get goods they used over the weekend and the lines would be long. But they filled my order and delivered it as quickly as always.

03***********************************************

Yesterday was one of "those" days--what ever get-up-and-go I had early got up and left me behind. So today we had to go to a medical center and get Mom's blood drawn for tests for next week's visit with her doctor. We should have gone in yesterday because we had an appointment but I followed my usual pattern and labeled this week for it without noting day and time. But new doctor and new medical group with a different system. Thankfully they rearranged things quickly and we got slotted in quickly.

We had a strange thing happen this morning. Normally we watch a couple of hours of MSNBC before shifting over to BBC and then the Weather Channel. But this morning MSNBC kept freezing. I wondered if it was a general problem but going through several of our favorite channels we found that the only sites having a problem were MSNBC and CNBC. I checked "IS IT DOWN?" which tracks whether a particular site is functioning and it said MSNBC was up. But on our screen it was still frozen. I checked some of the comments which many of which said they weren't getting the channel and a couple that said it was down on their cable but they could get it working on their on line systems. I checked my iPad and MacBook where I found it working well. So we watched the programing that way until things were fixed about an hour and a half later. I have no idea of what screwed up or with whom.

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

Very chilly this morning and we probably won't get out of the 60s. The trees should change more quickly now. I have already started bringing out our usual colder weather foods: soups, stews, casseroles, and chili. I have also been able to open our windows a bit again. Summer is usually too hot and winter is too cold. 

August 31

 Welcome to the last day of August. Nice and sunny. The temperature is still comfortable. We expect, according to the weather report, a slight increase over the next couple of days but still within the comfortable range. I have taken things easy this weekend. We, as I have often noted, don't really celebrate holidays much. Mom is the last of her generation as far as I can remember. There may be a couple of relatives we have lost contact with. My generation are all retirees now and dealing with health conditions that restrict our mobility to one extent or another. The next is somewhat scattered and, for the most part, involved with their own work and family lives. Getting a large group together is really difficult and has been for some time. So we usually just sit back and vegetate. We are doing that now watching a series of three back-to-back-to-back Premier League soccer games.

George Dillard has an interesting article on  LOOKING THROUGH THE PAST. I knew about the Sumner-Brooks incident because I have spent a lot of time in history classes and reading history. I also knew that Brooks' cane was made of gutta-percha. I didn't know that the substance was the "plastic" of its day and only displaced after petroleum based plastic displaced it. By that time the gutta-percha trees that supplied the sap that was used to supply a glutenous market for things made from it were becoming rare. One thing a market economy has always been good at is depleting resources to meet demand.