Cloudy with flurries this morning. We decided to turn off the TV early and go with a Lord of the Rings marathon. The news isn't new and no one is saying anything we haven't heard before. So it is time to go to the e-mail.

We have heard about food deserts for a couple of decades now. Efforts to bring in grocery stores in low income neighborhoods have pretty much failed. Some of the chains go into an area with great publicity and quietly exit only a very few years later. Most make the excuse that there just isn't enough profit in the effort. This article at Boondoggle makes a different argument. The big chains make sure that no competitor can move in by tying up the abandoned land and buildings in restrictive covenants. I saw this in action about fifteen years ago. A Kmart store in a town north of us closed down when the chain went bankrupt but he land and perfectly good building sat decaying for most of a decade because the no competing retail outfit of any size could buy it or even rent space. In another case in our area a major grocery store closed and built a new, larger store across the street from the old one but refused to allow any competitor to open up in its old space. Several years later the buildings were torn down and much of the parking lot dug up. It is finally, only now, being redeveloped slowly. Evidently some cities and states are getting tired of the mess.

Yves Smith at NAKED CAPITALISM posted this story about a recent U.N report on "water bankruptcy" around the world. U gave been reading stories from various place about water shortages and none of them bode well for either the people directly affected or the broader areas. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the five states that make up the Colorado River Compact have yet to come to an agreement on how to share the water flowing down the river. They have been negotiating for years now. Recently, the U.S. and Mexico had an episode in their on-going argument over water from the Rio Grande which has often run dry along some of its length. But a very, very short snippet concerning who is supporting Trumps moves on Greenland: tech bros wanting space (and water) for data centers. Resistance to data centers which demand a lot of electricity and water is growing in areas where the tech industry is wanting to place them in this country.

January 10

 Some sun today and a bit more than an inch of snow overnight. It is about 5F right now and only expected to top out at about 10F. Much too cold to do anything outside. Tomorrow is supposed to be slightly warmer but still colder. I am considering when to put in an Instacart order. Even when I was much younger I wouldn't go out to shop either today or tomorrow so I don't want to get anyone else out. Wednesday looks like a better option. 

I have already been busy today getting my laundry which has sat in the dryer since my fall last Friday. I still feel some pain on my ribs when I move wrong but it is much better. I got the clothes folded and a piece of Swiss steak cooked. When that cools I will move it to the fridge. I baked it for about four hours at 250F. We won't eat it today. I have meatloaf sandwiches planned for today.

It's MLK, Jr. day and Heather Cox Richardson has a meditation on what makes a hero. I have thought for some time that people in our society expect an inhuman degree of perfection in heroes. And some are inclined to dismiss the title of HERO for anyone who falls short of their definition of perfection. It reminds me of the Parson Weems depiction of George Washington which gave us the cherry tree and "I cannot tell a lie" story. It was a total fabrication.

January 18

 Overcast today with possible snow--not much I hope. I am so tired of the snow and it hasn't rally been a bad winter as far as cold and snow goes. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be very cold. I am recovering--slowly--from that fall I had on Friday. My ribs still hurt and I haven't slept well. So we'll see what kind of attention I can muster. Right now I am very tired and irritable.

I noticed that Trump has chosen to wield his favorite weapons over the last few days: tariffs in the Greenland controversy, and criminal investigations and legal maneuvers in Minnesota. 

He put the "insurrection act" threat for Minneapolis in favor of "investigations" against the partner of the woman ICE killed and the Governor of the state and mayor of the city. None of that has gone over well but it is what the boy does and none of it has worked well for him so far. Remember the Comey and James cases. Both were dismissed and efforts to get a grand jury to indict James came back two times with "no true bill" decisions. The old saying that a good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich has not held up which says something really sad about the quality of either the prosecutors or the evidence--probably both.

Trump's actions over Greenland remind me of the title of the book by his niece: TOO MUCH, NEVER ENOUGH. I haven't read it but that title lays bare his grasping nature. And the fact that anyone who gives him what he says he wants always finds that he will come back with more demands. Just remember the "discussions" with the universities.

In another instance of "stolen glory" Machado gave him her Nobel Medal. She couldn't actually give him the prize as the Nobel Committee noted--that isn't transferrable and never rescinded. And she gave it in a pretty gold frame. We all know how much he likes the gaudy.

This piece by Alley Valkyrie has been simmering in the back of my mind for a few days now. Campism is the tendency to see things as simple black or white, gain or loss, us or them situations. I have seen several ads which tell us that if you support ANYTHING at all about the Palestinians, which are equated to Hamas, you are supporting the rape, murder, abuse of Israelis. I have the habit of muting those when they show up. I don't equate Hamas and Palestinians. I don't equate Israel or Israelis with Jews. When it comes to Hamas and Israel I say a pox on both their houses. There is another old saying: two wrongs don't make a right. And there have been more wrongs on each side than I can count bit damned few rights.

A stray thought on Trump and Greenland: most pundits are hyperventilating about the damage Trump's moves might do to Nato. However, what makes them think that matters at all to our would be dictator? He has take the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, destroyed U.S.AID, abandoned the Paris Accord (for the second time), rescinded U.S. membership in 60+ international organizations (many associated with the U.N. He has been very lukewarm, if not downright chilly, about NATO so if his actions in Greenland ruptures NATO I think he would see it as an added benefit.

 

January 14, 15, 16

 Well we decided that we aren't going outside at all today. We had ten+ emergency alerts just a few minutes ago for a snow squall coming in from Lake Michigan. And they expect high winds with dropping temperatures. I won't even put the trash tote out for collection--it can wait til next week, or even to retrieve mail, if we get any--that can wait til tomorrow.

Bill Astore has a very on point essay today. I remember when the Soviet Union imploded and all the experts in politics, foreign affairs, and military planning crowed about the expected "peace dividend." Well, that never came. We quickly deployed troops for the Gulf War to get Saddam out of Kuwait. That was followed by the next Gulf War, Afghanistan (after 9/11), then Iraq to finish off Saddam. We have been involved in various wars that were never called wars in any formal way. And the "defense" budgets kept ratcheting up. Even as DOGE cut non-defense spending and agencies the budgets appropriations for the Pentagon kept going up. Since the Department of Defense has never passed a credible audit it is very misleading to call their hoard of cash a "budget."

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

Bright sun this morning after the clouds cleared out. We got about two inches of snow though the drifts were a bit higher. It is still a bit cold and a bit breezy. I am not as lazy as I was yesterday. Did our usual load of laundry and swept around the cats' feeding area. They are a bit messy with their food. I hadn't intended to use the vacuum but last night I blundered into the small shelves that hold our DVD collection and two of our prize clowns fell off. One came through pretty will with only a bit of the sole of the foot broken off. The other I am afraid did not fare well at all. Unfortunately, it was the one I was most attached to. I remember going with Mom when she picked it out as a birthday present for her mother. It was a multicolor blown glass statue and broke into several pieces. I know from experience that it isn't reparable because I tried to repair a part of it that had broken decades ago--damned careless moving company. That was only one part but I was never able to weld it back to the main statue. Grandma has been gone for nearly 40 years and Mom is 95 later this year. It hurts to lose such a piece of my life but I wrapped up the pieces and laid it to rest in the trash tote.

16********************************************

We have another round of lake effect snow squalls. I managed to get a bill I needed to mail into the mail box but going out to bring in the incoming mail enough snow had fallen that the ice on the sidewalk was obscured. I managed to hit a patch of ice and fell hard. It took me about 10 minutes and two more falls to get my feet under me and get back inside. Luckily I didn't break anything but I will be hobbling around like I am 90 instead of 16. 

January 12, 13

 Sunny today and mild. No precipitation expected til later in the week.

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

As you can see I just didn't have much to say about what was on the news yesterday. Since there isn't anything different today I don't know what I will see worth commenting on today. The problem I have is I can't think of anything more to say about the insanity I see. I sometimes think I should learn a new language with some juicy swear words but I would run through those too quickly.

I have been concentrating on tracing the genealogy of my family. I will say that the internet has made a lot of the process much easier since so much is own line. However, I have run into a couple of interesting issues which make me distrust AI and the promises the AI industry is making. Looking up my father's immediate family I was surprised to see the records recorded his parents having several more children than I knew they had. I looked more closely and I found a reference to Pete, Marion, and Jim added to the roster. But Pete was the same as Marion (who was also listed as Carl on another site. My uncle was Carl Marion nicknamed Pete for why I don't know. My mother doesn't know and she is the last of that generation still alive. Jim was double listed with James. They were the same person. I don't know what AI would have done with that but I wouldn't trust that it would have given an accurate list. I am finding other confusing entries which will take research and careful evaluation to sort out.

I heard that Bobby Kennedy Jr. just put out the revised dietary guidelines. The news segments didn't really go into much detail so I looked it up. It looks like a simply 180 degree rotation of the old pyramid that doesn't really change any recommendation of the old one. I will ignore it. We don't eat a lot of meat any way and given how our appetites have shrunk with age (especially Mom's) it isn't really all that relevant. It would be nice if they gave poor families a financial subsidy to afford more fresh fruits and vegetables but you know they won't do that.

Stray thought: the coverage of the unrest in Iran attributed the demonstrations to economic woes. The inflation rate according to some of the pundits was north of 40% and the sanctions are biting. But as I thought about the situation I realized that it isn't so simple. The Iranians are facing a "Polycrisis": a series of concomitant set of crises which reinforce and intensify each other. No one has talked about the water crisis which a couple of weeks ago had Iranian government officials talking about moving the population of Teheran elsewhere--toward the coast was suggested. Only one article mentioned the sever multiyear drought but it is having a major impact. I read and hear more about (unspecified) mismanagement of the economy. That may be but the other factors are very much in play to make matters worse.

Interesting side thought: the Weather Channel had a promotional segment telling people they really should pay attention to the weather. Why? well the weather can raise the energy people need to keep warm (or in other seasons, cool) which raises costs for customers. Also, the droughts (and fires) damage crops reducing yields which means that people have less food available and at higher costs. Oh, and some of those crops feed into ethanol to add to gasoline (increasing costs of gas), or feed the animals that provide meat, milk and eggs that people eat. The prices go up, and up, and up.

This is the only article I have seen that ties the drought in Iran to the inflation in costs of food and the unrest in Iran. They observe that there are other fragile economies that could fail because of adverse weather conditions that cause food shortages. Some of the prepper bloggers I read used to hammer on the fact that most of America is only 9 meals away from riot. Or less because most don't have the minimum of three days of food on hand FEMA once considered the minimum.

January 10, 11

 Mix of snow and rain today and more of the same expected for tomorrow. We had a nice morning watching the FA soccer game today with Sunderland playing Everton. It was finally won by Sunderland after two extra periods of play and a shoot out. That they say never happened before in the FA Challenge. On weekends I try to stay away from the news and politics. 

However, Collin Trent at AMERICA'S UNDOING has some good observations on our current situation. I thought from the start of Trump's term that he was building his own private army with ICE and I heard yesterday that they want to set up some kind of investigative force not answerable to the FBI but to the White House directly to look into "fraud." So are we going to see a "secret police" to complement the private army?

Pissed off comment about the shit I have been seeing about the ICE perpetrated murder in Minneapolis: I would call the piece of crap who said "F###### b####" just after he shot her a son of a b#### but that would insult b####es. I would call him a bastard but that would insult all bastards. I can't think of a form of life so low it wouldn't be insulted by the comparison.

11************************************************

It has been a nice slow day again. Two soccer games were entertaining: Portsmouth vs. Arsenal which Arsenal 4-3 and Real Madrid vs. Barcelona which Barcelona won 3-2. Next weekend the Premier League is coming back. The sun has played tag with the clouds but we haven't had any precipitation since sometime last night. Little of the snow we had stuck anywhere.

I saw an article this morning which said that, in Venezuela, heavily armed militias or gangs (depending on your perspective) are conducting traffic stops and otherwise hunting for Americans. That doesn't sound good or as though it will all that easy for our government to "run" things there. I heard a couple of times that Trump was asked how long we would have to be involved there for more than a year. So much for America First. I don't know how many remember how we were told by the Bush Administration that the Iraqi people would greet our troops as "liberators." The attitude was mixed as people were happy to be rid of Saddam but not at all happy about the presence of foreign troops. It looks like a similar sentiment is prevalent in Venezuela. A point that this administration, I think, never learned is that your goals might be very important and good but the way you get there is also very important.

January 9

 Chilly today and the temperatures over the next few days should fall to more normal with possible snow.

Stray thought: I said when Charlie Kirk was killed that it was murder, an assassination, and that the murderer should be tried in court AFTER a thorough investigation. I say the same about the Renee Good murder. It was a murder conducted under the cloak of law but murder nonetheless. The efforts of the administration to smear the victim is abhorrent starting with The Gnome's publicity stunt before any investigation was even started. Trump and his sycophants followed the script. They are doing everything they can to make sure no one is held accountable. The ICE actions at the high school immediately after Good's murder was almost as reprehensible.

Another stray thought: With all the emphasis Trump has placed on destroying the "green" energy sector and pushing "drill, baby, drill" I have to wonder what amount of oil are we harvesting from our own resources. He is certainly repaying the support of the fossil fuel industry. And the reports say he wants to get the price of oil down to about &50/barrel which would be good for consumers (for a while) but disastrous for many oil producers. It would make their margins even narrower, and make further exploration and development unlikely. Trump is finding out that actions, as Newton said, have equal and opposite reactions.

And a third stray thought: I have been watching and reading about the disarray in Europe with the latest winter storm with heavy snow, very cold temperatures and hurricane force winds. Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands has had to cancel over 3000 flights over the last few days. The weather is so unpredictable and so extreme that our infrastructure is stressed. It wasn't built for the extremes we have seen. It reminds me of parts of a couple of books I have recently read about the Little Ice Age. Critics of climate change remark that it is only variable weather but we are finding out how much we depend on reliable weather to grow our food, to allow us to travel, to keep ourselves warm or cool.

January 8

Well I guess it is a good morning. I am still trying to recover my equilibrium after spending about three frustrating hours between yesterday and early this morning. We got an e-mail notification yesterday that Xfinity was ending the economy package we have had for more than a decade and that gave us exactly what we wanted as of this morning and we had to choose a new plan or lose several channels we regularly watch. Damn!!!! I finally got it sorted out but the company site is the most confusing and difficult I have ever dealt with. I am not a clueless elderly woman. I earned four college degrees (two bachelor's and two master's) and other certifications. I have been using computers and the internet from the moment the desktops and dial up became available but dealing with that site had me screaming swearwords. We have to spend more to get services which are marginally better than what we had or accept much inferior services. I guess we will pay that until we decide that we get rid of it all together. 

 Interesting article on neighborhoods where the living is not easy. A very long time ago I was stationed in Washington DC. I remember a city very much like those described: a glittering core which includes all the monuments, shopping areas, government buildings, and accommodations for the rich and politically connected. But travel only a few blocks away and it looked very different, some of it every bit as run down as the areas described in the article. On one of the local military bases the family housing was called "Dogpatch USA." For those of you too young to remember Dogpatch was the home of the cartoon character Li'l Abner.

The BBC had a snippet that said Trump signed an executive order which withdraws the U.S. from 60+ international organizations. DW has a list of some of those agencies. The agencies all deal with Trump's favorite punching bags: poverty, women, children, climate. I think the America First program has gone into the America Alone phase. Soon, giving the recent developments we will be America Isolated. Isolated diplomatically, politically, militarily, and economically.

The news today is smothered in the tragedy in Minneapolis. Trump's ICE (a.k.a., Gestapo, jackbooted thugs, Tonton Macoutes) shot a middle aged white woman at an "enforcement action" as Kristi (the Gnome) Noem said in a press conference before any investigation had been done. I'll leave that to the news/commentary pundits. Instead, I offer up this longish article. A number of the writers I follow have been looking into our future as a people and asking where the f*** are we going. (decided to be a bit more polite because I have used up more than my daily allotment of profanity). A lot have been saying "That's not who we are" while others say "No, that's exactly who we are and have always been." The point Colin Trent makes is that both are correct. The first group are thinking about what has been the ideal of America as a tolerant, welcoming place where people have the freedom to build their own lives on their own terms. The second group rightly note that we have constantly deviated from that ideal from the beginning. We say the Pilgrims came for religious freedom. Well, for their freedom yes, not for anyone else's freedom. The vigorously suppressed dissenters from their ideas (Roger Williams), they hanged more Quakers than they did witches, and they massacred Indians regularly. We were no kinder to other groups who came over or were brought over at various times as seen by the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Black Codes, signs saying "no dogs, or Irish." He rightly says that the hypocrisy that pundits have taken note of reflects the gap between our ideals and our reality. Will we turn back to our ideals? Will we jettison those ideals? Will we completely turn toward the reality Steven Miller sees where might makes right and the rest have the choice of surrender or die. Who are they nominating for Voldemort?

Ugo Bardi has an interesting article looking at the careers of Napoleon and Benito Mussolini through the lens of his "Seneca Cliff" notion--human events follow a pattern of gradual build up to a peak and a rapid fall back to a baseline. An interesting observation he brings up from diaries of people close to both conquerers is that they seemed to fall into the grip of an unshakable faith in their own infallibility and going into military adventures agains sage advice. He speculates that Trump might be at the peak or perhaps at the precipice.

Stray thought: one segment on the news today featured an interview with NY Governor Hochul about the Trump administration's suspension of child care payments to state organizations using accusations of fraud. Asked about the rational she and the pundits in the discussion remind the audience of the administration's  previous assaults on programs serving poor children and their families. They are all outraged on the "war on children." I thought they were missing the real point: it is a war on women. After all if they take away the support for childhood nutrition someone has to supply the need. If they take away the support for child care someone has to supply that need. And overwhelmingly the burden falls on women. Have they seen the statistics for women leaving the labor force? 

December 5, 6

 Really bright sun today and some moderate temperatures. I had a brief errand today to pick up a new prescription for Mom. I also decided to go by the grocery store (just across the street from the drugstore) and pick up breakfast rolls, cold cereal (I forgot to put on my Instacart list) and a heat-and-eat Mac&cheese for supper. I intended to simply barbecue a couple of chicken thighs. I didn't expect them to be so BIG. Mom wouldn't be able to eat a whole one. So I removed the skin and deboned them which was far more work than I anticipated for this morning. I almost gave cooking any dinner at all a pass but a bit of a rest gave me back some energy. I still have the "family" pack of chicken breasts to break up and put into individual packages for freezing. It has been a long time since we were able to eat one each. Now I split those as well. I spent far more than I anticipated because I let a lot of items go down to nothing or nearly nothing. But those stocks are back where they should be. And the bones and skin from processing the thighs are cooling after simmering most of the morning. Tomorrow I will put the broth into mason jars and freeze the stock.

06********************************************

We are back to cloudy conditions with some chance of rain. But the temperatures are still well above what was once normal for this time of year. I have been busy so far this morning. I spent a couple of hours of embroidery working on the third corner of one of the tablecloths on hoops. I warmed up the broth I made from the bones and skin from yesterday's work on skinning and deboning the chicken thighs because it had gelled in the fridge overnight. Again more work than I wanted to do but finally got everything strained and put up two quart jars of stock. I also had to get the chicken breasts separate into individual packages for the freezer. I put the navy beans on to cook in vegetable broth with onions, bacon, and ham. It is about done. Usually I make cornbread but decided it was too much effort after a busy morning.

Well, Trump's adventure in Venezuela have, so far all the hallmarks of his activities: brilliant military operation that goes off flawlessly, apprehension of Nicolas Maduro and his wife who are moved to the U.S. for "trial", and ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA OF WHO IS GOING TO DO WHAT OR WHAT WILL HAPPEN GOING FORWARD. So far the Chavista regime is still in place with the former vice president sworn in as "interim" president but she was a supporter and the entire structure of the government is still in place. She is trying to navigate between Trump's demands and the powerful figure who still occupy important positions. Trump has basically admitted that oil was his aim but the Venezuelan oil industry has been neglected for a couple of decades with crumbling infrastructure and most of whatever was valuable stolen long ago. Trump claims that the U.S. oil industry is salivating to get back into Venezuela but he also said that they will spend billions to rebuild the infrastructure and BE REPAID BY THE U.S. If so U.S. taxpayers will fund the oil industry. Trump takes care of his own.

January 7

 Another cloudy day. We have had a string of those punctuated by some sun every now and then. Still much above seasonal norms for temperatures. Unlike what is happening in Northern Europe. They are getting a winter much like what we expect here.

Stray thought: throughout the Venezuela escapade a line from a song I first heard sung by the Tannahill Weavers "A PARCEL OF ROGUES IN A NATION" popped into my mind.  It is a song from the Jacobite Rebellions and decries the members of the Scottish Parliament that signed the Act of Union of 1707 betraying, in the mind of the writer of the lyrics, their country for British gold.

We're bought and sold for English gold-

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

We and the Venezuelans have both been sold to Big Oil by the parcel of  Rogues in the Trump court starting with Trump himself.

Second stray thought: A brief segment on the MORNING JOE show this morning cited a very large poll asking people in several countries what concerned them revealed that, almost universally, people are focused on the same problems: jobs, affordability, health care. And yes, the U.S. was included in the poll. That poll parallels what I have been reading from bloggers and others from Europe. Most were pessimistic about their situation improving and very distrustful of any institutions, authorities, or information.

Another stray thought: a lot of pundits have expressed outrage about the administration's attempt to sanitize and rewrite the story of January 6 especially with the new White House linked site devoted to telling the story as seen from Trump. But it is hardly a new phenomenon with the Trump administration. Remember the Attempt to purge all non-white, non-male people from the archives of what was once called the Defense Department. Nor is this phenomenon isolated to the Trump people. I remember the successful effort by WWII veterans to scuttle the planned Enola Gay exhibition at the Smithsonian for the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. They were upset by mentions of the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima which noted the suffering of the Japanese. The exhibit was stripped down to the front of the plane and an insipid plaque. Politicians about that same time in Florida demanded that history textbooks in the state be purged of any historical references which depicted the U.S. in anything but a glowingly positive light so students would be taught true patriotism. Every generation struggles to both tell the story of the past and to control who tells what to whom.

January 4

 Nice quiet Sunday with the sun trying to peek through the clouds. No errands today but I have one absolutely necessary one for tomorrow which shouldn't take very long. I got some very good stitching time in today watching the Premier League game which got rather interesting as traditional rivals (Leeds United and Manchester United) squared off. It turned into a 1-1 tie. Right now Fulham and Liverpool are in their second half at 1-0 in Fulham's favor. I will probably turn on the Bears vs Lions game after. Much more interesting than everything else.

Most of the news centers on the Venezuela escapade and Trump's assertion that WE will run things there. Well, the current Venezuelan Vice President has undercut Trump's narrative that she told our Secretary of State that she would fully cooperate with U.S. aims. Who is lying to whom? And, given Trump's business track record I wouldn't trust him to manage a public toilet profitably. 

Bill Astore sums up the whole sordid mess perfectly: Gangster Capitalism.

I just finished NATURE'S MUTINY: HOW THE "LITTLE ICE AGE" OF THE LONG SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TRANSFORMED THE WEST... . I don't get into the debate about whether Climate Change is real or not. It isn't worth my time. It is either real or not and we'll find out all too soon. However, I do enjoy reading history, politics, sociology, culture and the intersections of all of those. This book blends all of that.  

Robert Reich tells us to not get complacent since the courts seem to have stymied some of Trump's activities and the Epstein scandal seems to have produced a bi-partisan group to block him even more. However, he says that the people behind Trump, not MAGA or spineless Republicans, are still on his side. Those are Big Oil (who look to cash in big time with the Venezuela affair), Big Finance, Big AI etc. He has delivered big time for them and will continue to do so.

In his second article he says that Trump is creating "Thug World." Goes along with the Gangster Capitalism Astore wrote about.

January 2, 3

 Cloudy with possible snow again. I have been busy this morning. I spent some time going through the paper we accumulated last year: lease agreements, insurance policies, paid bills, etc. Most got thrown out. I am changing this year and will only keep the paid bills till the new ones come in. And as the insurance and lease renewals come in the old ones will go out. I took apart some of the Zoom squares I had already put together but never really liked the finished product. I will try something else with them. And I put in my Instacart order which will be a fairly big one because over the holidays I let a number of items go down and needed to replenish them. I also didn't want to put in an order during the snow squalls that came through. I didn't want to go out in that mess and I didn't want anyone else to do so. It was also frustrating because we couldn't remember the password for Mom's e-male and the damned system demanded a new password which I tried to put in three times before it was accepted. Nothing makes me scream like these damned systems--not even Trump.

I finally got the grocery order put away. I still have to break up the packages of chicken breasts and thighs so I can freeze ready to use portions. Had a bit of time to sit down with my breakfast (banana nut muffin). So back to reading.

Nate Bear takes apart the whole argument that progress will save us. Any argument that either conditions today are the best ever or the worst ever depends on what metrics you choose to use. I wrote above that nothing makes me scream like some of the internet systems I have to use but I use them for many hours each day. I also use google which is running some kind of AI which is rather amazing. I don't use it to generate any content on this blog or for any other "creative" activity.  Some such activity AI can't do any way--needlework etc. But getting quick information without trudging to a library and searching the stacks, I'll take that any day. Point though: I don't take anything the system coughs up as gospel. Bad/good/better is very much a matter of perspective.

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

Well, the new year has started off with a bang and not just metaphorically. My cats insisted on waking me up this morning and I couldn't go back to sleep so I got out my iPad intending to read a book for a while. But the news push said something about explosions in Caracas which derailed me. I pulled up the news and discovered that we had launched an attack on Venezuela and arrested (kidnapped, maybe?) Maduro and his wife. Viewed from an historical perspective "regime change" operations haven't gone well for us. Bill Astore has some comments worth pondering.

A thought on the Venezuelan situation: the U.S. has Maduro and wife in custody but the network he built up since he inherited the control of Venezuela from the recently deceased Hugo Chavez is still in place. That doesn't scream more than a change in who is at the head of the system not a change of system.

Stray thought: just a few days ago I read a piece (sorry, I can't find it now) that said Chevron is suing Venezuela through some kind of arbitration because of their lost profits because of the U.S. embargo. That's nasty. The U.S. puts an embargo on Venezuela and an American company sues the embargoed country for its losses. How about collecting from the U.S. for what they have done.

December 31, January 1

 Cloudy and snowy today. We got about an inch overnight. I had to shovel a path to the gate to put the trash tote out for collections. But it shoveled easily and the ice underneath some of it wasn't all that hard or slippery so I was able to move without a problem and didn't put any of the pavement deicer.

Well it is finally the last day of 2025. I haven't seen many retrospectives on the news and I haven't gone looking for any. A long time ago I read TESTAMENT OF YOUTH which is the autobiography of Vera Britain who served as a nurse during the First World War and came out of the experience wanting to understand how her world went insane. She applied to return to university to study history to try to find the answers though she had been studying English Literature before the war. The head of the college tells her that historical study is limited to events before 50 years in the past because some time has to elapse before historians can "rationally" examine the events. I would love to find a way to life for another fifty years to see what historians will make of the last quarter century.

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Welcome to 2026 and Happy New Year. We had sun briefly and now it's cloudy. We got a dusting of snow overnight but not enough for me to shovel anything. Since we aren't going out the snow can stay there.

This time of year (from mid November through mid January) is a good time for reflection. Some things end, some things begin and some continue through. Much of the reflections I see on the news centers on politics and economics, of course. But I am more concerned with my own situation. I feel more contented than I have for several years at other New Year's. I completed several projects that reduced my fiber/fabric stash--mainly small blankets of which two went to grandnephews who welcomed baby boys last year. I still have a stack on a small table upstairs. I plan to finish up two to-be-embroidered tablecloths I started last year. I won't be starting any more such items. Instead, I have a couple of projects fermenting in my mind to work on over next year--or rather this year now. They haven't yet matured to the point of execution. I just finished a small blanket made up of some of the small squares I made on the Zoom loom. I have more to do something with. And I have the two pieces I am building with crocheted hexagons--one uses crochet thread and the other lace weight yarn. They should get finished (or nearly) by next December. I also finished up several small embroidered projects and have another still on the hoop. I saw another two, I think, I might bring out over this next year. I also have several projects that have been in a deep freeze for some time that really should be warmed up.

One of the best things I have done for my self over the last couple of months has been to cut down my exposure to the so-called news. Most of it is either frustrating, or infuriating, or mind-blowing in its utter insanity. Dealing with it even at a distance wastes energy I really don't have to spare.

However, I have two longer term goals (I don't really make resolutions and haven't for some years): tracing my family genealogy and reading more actual books. I signed up for Ancestry.com and made a good start which I will extend over the coming year. 

Books have long been my "kryptonite." I used to go into my favorite books stores for one or two and came out with a dozen. Once upon a time I thought it would be a good idea to make an inventory but gave up when I hit 10k and hadn't done more than half my shelves. Most of those are gone given to friends, relatives, or the local library. Instead I have moved to e-books. I had resisted the change for a long time but most of my books are electronic now. I remember a scene in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD where Helene Hanf writes to her booksellers in England complaining that they haven't sent her any new books from her wish list. She tells them that she is reduced to writing long notes on the margins of library books and is afraid they will find out and cancel her library card. Unfortunately I find it way too easy to order new downloads without thinking about it much. My goal for the coming year is to finish 5 books I already before I buy ONLY one new book. It is time to keep a notebook listing books I come across that might be interesting. In spite of complaining to my self about my addiction I have finished quite a number of books this year including two of Madeleine Albright's memoirs, Nancy Pelosi's memoir, and Liz Cheney's account of the last two years of her time in congress during the January 6 hearings. Just in the past week I also finished THE JACOBITE REBELLIONS OF THE BRITISH ISLES by Andrew Jackson. I wanted more information on that time because one of my (possible) ancestors was transported to the British North American colonies for having fought with the rebels. 

But I am still reading what comes through my e-mail--I just might not comment on the current events and comments from the pundits. However, there is a lot out there worth acknowledging such as this piece from NAKED CAPITALISM on the resurgence of liposuction. This intrigued me because for a while I saw ads on TV for a company offering what sounded much like liposuction (though not any of the companies cited in the above story). I remember the stories concerning the lawsuits over the adverse effects of the procedure and a quick google search revealed that the company running the ads in this market was offering a "modified" liposuction procedure and was the focus of lawsuits concerning various adverse reactions including death. What is old is new again.