January 31, February 1

 Well our winter weather hit overnight and we have about six more inches of snow. The city snow plows are working but I don't expect to go outside at all. It took our landlord's landscaping people about four days to clear the last storm's leavings. I don't think there are any more bills to come in but I won't worry about it. Whatever comes in the mail will wait til I can safely get out to the mail box. (Note: the mail delivery van just drove by.) Shoveling the path to the patio gate can wait til Monday. I have been getting some quality stitching time in over the last few days. I had several hexagons to fit into the two pieces I am working on. They both are building nicely. I did some more on the three embroidery pieces I have been working on. Update: the snow removal crews were out and got sidewalks cleared. I am going to have to look out the upstairs window to see if the cleared around the cars. Last time they didn't.

Feb. 1*******************************************

The sun is just coming up and they say we will have it around until sometime this afternoon. The temperatures should start warming--slightly--over this next month. January did seem a bit long especially the last two weeks when Nature froze us in place and snowed us in.

I saw a bit on Facebook which had me smiling and hoping it was true: Minneapolis has been nominated for this year's Nobel Prize. I had to check it out and IT'S TRUE. Check it out here. Of course, the HILL decided to downplay the story by describing the nominating organization (The NATION) as a PROGRESSIVE outlet. I hope the city and its people get the award and Trump does not. The first deserves it; the second DOES NOT.

A second story on Facebook reported the the United Nations High Commissioner for Civil Rights has accused ICE of violating human rights and dignity. Evidently that is also true according to the Vatican News. It is amazing how many in Trump's administration are Catholic but have forgotten, as Joe Scarborough often notes, to read the "red words" in their Bibles--or skipped them in the first place.

William Hogeland put out a post that is intriguing. I didn't read all of it because half of it is behind a pay wall and I don't know exactly how he will develop his ideas. He starts off describing two authors on what he describes as legacy outlets who link the protests against ICE and Pretti's carrying a handgun to a protest to the Founding Fathers ideas. Hogeland notes that those are very tenuous links. He points to a very prevalent among pundits: taking modern events and putting a patina of approval on them by linking them back to our national Saints. We rather hope the present will work out like the past because we know how it ended and we have been taught all our lives how good and appropriate the ending that led to the beginning of us. But as has often been said "history doesn't repeat but it does rhyme. those rhyming chords might be the start of a new and different song. 

January 29

 Cloudy with episodes of sun so far. But still cold enough I don't want to spend much time outside. I should let the car run for a bit but as cold as it is I might drain the battery. I will wait for a warmer day. Right now I am waiting for my grocery order to arrive. I put in a short order Tuesday but that was heavy items like cat litter. Today it was all food. The ten days we had snow and extremely cold weather I used what we had on hand so a number of often used items is either low or gone.

Stray thought: watching a segment with an interview with Minnesota Governor Walz and I was struck by his description of his phone call with Trump. Trump asked "What's the matter with Minnesota?" to which Walz replied "Nothing." Trump came back with the observation that the ICE operations in other cities didn't have the same problems and Venezuela operation went off smoothly with no loss of American lives. Walz replied with thoughts I had: none of the other cities had the same level of ICE initiated violence and aggression. And what the hell does Venezuela have with Minneapolis unless Trump is equating a U.S. with a foreign adversary. That is troubling.

Second stray thought: watching Homan's press conference I was underwhelmed. He mentioned "agreements" with the State and city which gave the Feds what they wanted like having prison and jail authorities inform ICE when they are releasing prisoners on whom they have removal orders. That raised alarm bells in my mind and one of the reporters asked if the prisoners they wanted were non-violent offenders who often were only guilty of crossing the border without permission. He provided a vague non-answer answer. The devil is, as they say, in the details. Also he didn't address any of the abuses Walz and others wanted cured: remove the masks, make the agents wear uniforms and badges, and get warrants--real judicial warrants. Note: I am not against the deportation of undocumented people CONVICTED of violent crime. Key word there is CONVICTED. And a second key word is VIOLENT. A minor traffic citation two decades ago doesn't qualify.

I saw the account of the FBI, with Tulsi Gabbard (head of CIA) present, seized the ballots and other records (evidently with a warrant) from the Fulton County Election facility. Still looking for fraud which wasn't there. There are sore losers and sore winners--Trump is the perfect example of both.

January 28

 Sunny this morning but not at all warm. But I had to go out to drag the trash tote out for collection. No real choice about it because it was full after a month of missing the collection. Christmas took care of one because I forgot which day it would shift to--same for New Year. Then the weather over the last two weeks--ten days of which I spent recovering from the fall I described before. I am finally able to breathe and move my arms freely without pain. I think I bruised my ribs badly. But I don't heal up as fast as I once did.

When I said I had to drag the tote out I mean exactly that because of the weight and the remaining snow. But It will be easier to bring it back in when they do empty it. I don't leave it out because those things have a tendency to go rolling down the street in a wind.

Stray thought: some people think Trump wants to return the U.S. to the 1950s, or 1930s, or the world of 1900 but I think he really wants to go further back to the 17th century and the age of the "Divine Right of Kings" age, with himself as king of course. He should remember that didn't turn out so well for some of those kings. Charles I was executed in England. His younger son, James ll, was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution. And though Louis XIV died of very old age in his bed, his grandson, Louis XVI was beheaded in the 1789 revolution in France. And those were societies with traditions of monarchy. This society has a tradition of successfully revolting against monarchy.

Aurelian has an interesting article on the problems of "managing the powerful." The political structures may change but that remains a common feature whether managing kings or presidents or dictators. 

 The sun is going in and out, and the wind is blowing the snow that has already fallen all around. I got out and shoveled the path to the back gate and cleared around the trash tote. The people our landlords call in to clear snow got our sidewalk to the street and the mail boxes. As I suspected there wasn't anything important in there. The electric bill has been on my table since this last storm started and I knew if I mailed it in it wouldn't get through before the due date but trying to set up a payment was a thoroughly frustrating and futile process. I spent a lot of time going through the chatbot assistant which couldn't help, and had to be transferred to a real person who couldn't help either and who transferred me to billing which disconnected me. In a fury I decided to just write the check which will go out tomorrow and pay the late charge if necessary. I have decided the next time I have a problem getting the payment out in a timely manner I will simply wait til the next month and catch up. I have never found on-line interactions at all easier or more efficient. I do hope we won't have another winter storm like this last one any time soon.

Watching BBC this morning and a major story covered was the free trade deal signed between India and the EU. That combines the first and third largest populations in the world. But I had another thought: besides being economically beneficial to both countries it might be India's way of gaining protection from Trump who has been aggressive about India buying Russian oil. Will the U.S. market mean as much to India when they have a partner with a population slightly larger than the US and a GDP a bit more than 2/3 of the US.?

And think about end-around maneuvers the latest Trump moves removing Bovino from command of the ICE troops in Minneapolis and pulling some out. I notice that a number of REPUBLICAN members of the Senate have said they won't vote for the new funding bill with the more money for an already bloated ICE. I have a suspicious mind and think Trump is trying to promise little (pulling out some of ICE and demoting Bovino) and get a lot (Republicans voting for his funding bill.

I noticed a number of commentators this morning gave the Trump's ouster of Bovino and announcement of removing some ICE thugs very short shrift. As one said plugging Homan in at the top of the ICE operation is a tell since he has been a big supporter of the policy behind ICE. He is only moderate compared to Bovino. As a couple noted the moves is more to try to create better optics and does not signal a new policy.

 Sunny this morning--so far. We got somewhere between 6 and ten inches of snow. The crews have made a good start on removing it from the streets, driveways and sidewalks. Someone came along with a little tractor and cleared part of our sidewalks but the part of the pavement from the door to where it joins the path to the street still remains snow packed. I swept the snow away from the patio door step. I started the chili just now. The meat is browning with the beans and tomatoes on the side waiting to be added. That should do nicely for the rest of the week which is expected to be very cold.

One of the commentators on the morning talk/news/commentary shows was discussing a perceived split in the ICE/Homeland Security Agency on the increasing brutality of their operations. The comment that stood out was that Christi Noem and Steven Miller wanted/approved of the "spectacle of violence" they see in the news from Minneapolis. It brought to mind what the agent who shot Renee Good was doing while he confronted her--he was using his phone to "make content" of what was going on. That seems to be a common activity among Trump's minions--making content to push out their, usually fraudulent, story. The Romans had their "circuses" where gladiators fought til bloody or dead. Those "spectacles of violence" were routine parts of Roman life. Every inauguration of newly elected consuls, every military triumph, and other significant event was celebrated with celebratory bloodletting. Our city streets are now the scene of our government's gladiatorial contests but it is pitting combat equipped thugs against citizens with signs and cell phones.

Attorney General Pam Bondi laid bare the real reason for the Administration's brutality in Minnesota (and probably for the rest of ICE actions): political extortion. Her letter to Minnesota's governor says ICE might be withdrawn IF he gives the Feds their voter data, their lists of everyone receiving SNAP or Medicaid benefits, cancels the "sanctuary city" programs, and generally "aid" ICE/CBP in their efforts to round up immigrants. The Founders of this Republic divided sovereignty between a Federal government and the several States. Here the Federal power is trying to erase the state sovereignty. Some time ago, a couple of decades actually, I expressed the thought that the U.S. was at a fork in the road where one road would lead to a cutting back of the Federal power and restoration of sovereign states and the other would see the Federal government all powerful with the States reduced to mere provinces. Trump loves the Second Article of the Constitution which he and his enablers insist give him absolute power. They forget the 10th Amendment  which restricts the powers of the federal government to specific actions and reserves the rights of the states and the people to all other actions.

Timothy Snider has an interesting re-writing of the Bill Of Rights reflecting the Age of Trump. The calls it the Bill Of Wrongs and I can't disagree.

Snowy today and very cold. The cold is supposed to continue for the next week which means I won't be going out myself and carefully looking at the weather for when I should order groceries. I may not have to until late in the week. We'll see. We had enough snow that the snow plows and salt spreaders will be out and the people our landlord hires should get the public walkways somewhat cleared. I just put some mini-quiches into the oven and have some ground beef and chorizo to thaw so I can cook up a big pot of chili. That should take care of our suppers for the next week--especially since I have two small casserole dishes of tuna casserole and one of meatloaf in the freezer.

Well, another day and another murder on the streets of Minneapolis perpetrated by ICE. You can find news stories all over the internet so I won't be linking any. Once again the Federal officials are 1) insisting that the victim was to blame for carrying a firearm (for which he had a valid concealed carry license), 2) that he was "brandishing" the weapon as he approached the agents and, in Bovino's words, "intending to massacre the agents, 3) have insisted the investigation will be handled privately in house and won't name the agents, and released what they claimed was filmed proof. And every f###ing bit of that is a bald-faced lie. I watched the various videos and 1) didn't see anything in the victim's hands but a cell phone which he held over head, and 2) there was nothing threatening about his movements. This weapon had been taken away from him before those thugs beat the hell out of him before pumping ten shots into him. 

A couple of interesting sequelae to the story: first, one of the legal experts made a remark that doesn't bode well for the Administration's spin machine. He noted that when Trump began this second term he took the Administration's announcements at face value. But so many of those claims have been proven false that he no longer does so and waits to see what new information will come out to either confirm or contradict the slant the Administration puts on events. A number of books and articles over the last forty (or more years) have examined the rise of images and staged events for particular effect in American society. And we can see how important images and presentations are for the Trump minions by how attentive they are to appearance and props: Cash Patel demanding a certain kind of FBI jacket when appearing at the news conferences concerning the Charlie Kirk murder, how Kristi Noem tries the cowboy look to appear tough, and how agents try to intimidate bystanders who are using their phones to film their activities. Many of the pundits expressed the worry that the world of 1984 is coming true. But that commentator's remarks makes me hope that there are limits to the influence of manufactured events and spin.

Michael Goldfarb at FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY on substack wrote this piece which make a number of points--some of which I agree with. He cited "John Burn-Murdoch," who "had this helpful possible explanation for how the leader of what is still called the West came to be a moronic, narcissistic, corrupt, psychopath (he does NOT suffer from dementia, he’s crazy. Know the difference." That brought up a stray memory of long ago when the notion of MAD (mutually assured destruction) in the discussion of nuclear weapons. I speculated the that it was not a bad gambit for a world ruled by reasonable people, after all what sane person would want to play chicken with nukes. However, if some ideologically or religiously driven madman might consider the destruction a good bargain.

I read a good bit of history trying to fill in the deficiencies of my own education. That might be a strange thought since I have a Bachelor's and Master's in history. But I find a lot of details are ignored or skipped over and the details are important. Also the history is presented as a story of progress and continual improvement which makes what has happen seem inevitable. Throughout I read about various crises which were traumatic to the people living through them and which represented a rupture with a political and social order with which people were comfortable--until circumstances changed and it no longer worked. But a new order grew organically our of the crisis and it wasn't anything like what either the rulers of the pre-crisis period or those who rebelled against it wanted. I suspect that the same will happen this time. I wonder what will change, what will be lost and what threads will continue into the future.

So some Democrats are insisting they will not approve the new spending bill with increases in ICE funding. Let's see if they follow through. Given what Trump has with the government so-called budgets I am not sure having the Fed shut down again will have all the disastrous effects predicted. I would feel sorry for those who will be fired or furloughed.  

January 24

Cold, cloudy and intermittent snow. I am looking at the forecast and trying to decide if, probably when, I will get out and get a path to the back gate so I can move the trash tote to the back curb for collection. It is so cold I just gently tossed the last bag of trash I tied up this morning beside the tote because I really didn't want to step outside. I think I will also have to do something about the front walk to the mail boxes. We aren't getting the minimum accumulation of snow that would require the landlord to send out the shoveling crew.

We are avoiding the broadcast news. I prefer to read the news because I don't have to listen to the irritating voices of Trump or his minions. Those just send me into swearing frenzy wishing I could throw something through the screen that would hit them. No such luck. Also by reading the news I don't get all the repetition and the succession of talking heads saying the same things over and over and over and over again.

So what am I finding? Note: I won't link to many of these items. You can find a lot of sources on line. I did.

First up--the story I found on NAKED CAPITALISM citing a UK investigative report from the Guardian describing United Health Care and its "money-saving" (to put it politely) strategies which are potentially (likely) detrimental to the health and longevity of elderly people in nursing homes. The company rang a bell with me so I went looking for more info and found that the U.S. Senate has been investigating that same company on this side of the Atlantic. For the same practices: paying bonuses for nursing homes to NOT transfer ailing patients to hospitals, delaying medically necessary treatment that requires hospitalization and other practices. The accounts almost (ALMOST) made me wish the case against Luigi Mangione would be dismissed. I really do wish we had a corporate "death penalty."

Then there are the poor abused ICE agents who can't find a place to pee in peace. The residents of Minneapolis who are offended by their presence and activities gathering to hassle them when ever the step out of their hulking SUVs and many of the stores and gas stations won't let them in or serve them. Poor babies. Maybe they should wear diapers and brownbag their lunches. Or better yet leave the state.