April 23

Sunny and, I hope, dry today. But the temps won't get out of the 40s. It might be warmer on my patio which is at 40 right now.

From the BBC this piece of depressing story. 

Another depressing bit but from Le Monde this time. We have heard the facts before--the drop in life expectancy, for example, or the drug overdoses. What did surprise was the statistic that 1 in 25  five-year-old children would not reach age 40. Americans are definitely dying of America's ills.

One of the commentators last night said something that struck me as very appropriate: The Republican Party hasn't been hijacked by T(he Former Guy), he merely gave it permission to be what it wanted to be. Unfortunately what it has wanted to be is an anti-democratic, White Christian (sorta) nationalist cabal than only caters to its own kind and those funding it (millionaires and billionaires).

Thomas Zimmer writes about "The Sabotage Of Twitter." I never used Twitter. I didn't see the utility in a site that gave you a whole 110 (I think it was) to express something. That is the online version of a "sound bite" and everyone know how inadequate, often misleading those. I also never believe much of what Elon Musk says. His "digital town hall" is a euphemism for open season on anyone who disagrees with the most vicious and vitriolic voices. The "blue checks" were never a reliable guarantee that the source was really who or what they claimed to be. And without them that is even more the case. His move to make people to pay for those blue checks was also an illusion. Anyone could pay for a blue check for some bogus identity. He paid twice as much for Twitter as it was worth because he failed to do his research. He intended to offer so much that any competitor would be frozen out and board members would be so salivating over their part of the pay out they would agree. Then he would come back and threaten to pull out. They surprised them by suing to force him to fulfill the contract he signed. Now he wants to squeeze as much as he can to make up for his bad deal. And lets not get sucked into the argument that somehow Twitter is necessary for democracy and its "sabotage" is some how a disaster. Democracy in one form or another existed without Twitter and will exist in some form if it fails.

Chris Hedges writes about the "United States of Paralysis" and the demise of democracy. Because our politics is paralyzed we can't address any of the vital issues plaguing us. The latest Congress is a prime example.