Another summery day here but we have hopes of cooler weather starting tomorrow. Today has been so-so. I have spent as much time unraveling my crochet as I actually did stitching. I had a large piece I never liked when I finished it so I put it away hoping that time would make my original assessment. Well, I still didn't like it and had no idea of how to make it better so I took the whole thing out. I have a couple of ideas of what to do with the yarn. I did three rows on the Bavarian stitch blanket before I saw a serious mistake which couldn't be fixed without taking out the work I had just done. So I took out all three rows. The we had to go to a doctor's appointment. We will probably doing the same tomorrow, hopefully without having to take out any stitches, because we have an appointment with another doctor. If that one goes well we hope that there will be some time before any more appointments.
I am late getting to my reading but here goes:
Alfred McCoy posted this article on Tomdispatch today morning. I read McCoy's book (TO GOVERN THE GLOBE) and eagerly anticipate his next one. The main point McCoy makes is that we are now in the "Autumn of America's Empire" which he fully expects to end by 2030. Since we are stuck with Trump til 2029 he might be right.
08***********************************************
Cool (almost cold) this morning. I wanted to open the windows a bit but it was too cool and closed them. I am slowly getting caught up with my reading. We had doctor's appointments Monday and Tuesday but got good news. Both Doctors are happy with the results and decided we don't need to see them for six months. The only problem is that Mom is very much under weight. Be are trying to boost her calorie intake to help her gain weight. Although her appetite has come back a bit it isn't at all what it was.
We changed the channel from the news early on. They were concentrating way too much on Bondi's "testimony" before the Senate committee. They could have summed everything up very succinctly by saying "Secretary Bondi shrieked like a banshee, insulted the senators, refused to answer outright most questions while praising President Trump in almost every other sentence. Is she in a contest with her fellow cabinet secretaries to see who can mention Trump the most in their testimony?" It's a wonder that I don't have a sprained thumb from hitting the mute button so often."
A lot of verbiage was thrown about back when the push to convert corn to ethanol to mix with gasoline--most of it promised wonderful benefits for all. I wondered at the time about the consequences of diverting the corn from human and animal food (and other production) to ethanol to energy to run our cars. Well, cattlemen in Tennessee are finding out how that kind of competition works as the Jack Daniels company is ending their program to provide free or low cost waste from their production to feed cattle. Instead they are selling it to a local company which will use it to produce renewable gas and fertilizer. Read about it here.
Gail Tverberg at OUR FINITE WORLD asks "What Is Going Wrong With the Economy?" Her prognosis discussion of our, mostly hidden, economic problems parallels Alfred McCoy's comments about our problems, also mostly hidden, in politics. I say "hidden" but perhaps I should say "complex." There are so many moving parts in these interlocking systems that see where and how they interact is difficult. And for the most part the commentators are fixated on the first order effects not the consequent second and third order effects.
09*********************************************
Sunny but I don't think we will get out of the 60s today. I had to go out and get one of Mom's prescription and wished I had put on one of my flannel shirts instead of the t-shirt. I don't think we will need to use the furnace but that will come. I got a bit of the What-Not room sorted. I went through six of my storage boxes just to look at what I put where. I hadn't been through them in a couple of years so it was a bit of a surprise to see what was there. I split up the fabric between two smaller boxes to reduce the weight and took out some of the very small and irregular pieces to go into a small box. They still have useable areas. I still have two large boxes to go through but I'll leave them for another day. I think cleaning up the kitchen surfaces, the dishes and getting those boxes more organized counts for enough work for the day. So now it is time to look over the e-mail.
So Trump might have a case for a Nobel Peace Prize with the announcement this morning that they expect Hamas and Israel to agree to at least part of the peace plan--mainly the return of the remaining living and dead Israeli hostages and the release of some 200 Palestinian prisoners. The Knesset and cabinet are to vote on phase 1 of the plan later today (if it hasn't happened already). Just the reports that an agreement was immanent had people in Gaza and Jerusalem celebrating. I agree with the headline on one article I saw (but only skimmed): Keep the Champaign Corked. We'll see if the signing does come and how long the agreement lasts. But as another author I did read this morning the Nobel isn't a lock since Trump has done a lot to undermine peace at home and abroad.
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