May 23

Looks like a nice sunny day. I think the forecast I read yesterday predicted temperatures in the mid 80s. I will have to get out early to water plants. Those temperatures will dry out the plants quickly. Some of my plants are not doing as well as I would expect. But the heatwave hit too soon for them to get well establish. Most of the others are doing very well. I will have to get my dehydrator out soon for those that are doing well. I definitely have to dig out the valerian this fall because it isn't coming in as thickly as it has over the past two years. It is one of the few plants that are truly perennial in my little microclimate.

I think I am getting more than a little tired and irritated by the useless, repetitive, spiteful, and costly "investigations" coming out of the partisan divide in Washington. They aren't really investigations, at least not on the Republican side.They are intended to improve TFG's position and diminish Biden's and nothing more. Unfortunately, these exercises are funded by taxpayers. Worse the "Weaponization of Government" committee has no real rules. What ever Jim Jordan wants goes and all the Democrats can do is call him out. TFG's use of the Justice Department as his own army of bullies isn't at all discussed. "Weaponization of Government" it seems only applies to Democrats since 2020. Republicans can do no wrong.

Another day and another failed "negotiation" over the debt ceiling. How do you negotiate with a robber who holds a gun to your head and demands "your money or your life." The biggest problem is that the robbers (Republicans) want everyone's money--unless you are part of the military-industrial complex. Did anyone notice that the new demand yesterday was that the 20%+ reduction in discretionary spending was to be funneled to an increase in the Pentagon budget. So SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, IRS, etc., etc., etc., are cut while the largest budget which has never been seriously audited. Accountability?? Depends on who you are.

Well, at least some parties can negotiate an agreement. It isn't quite finalized and I wonder where the $1.2 billion the Federal government is planning to spend to shore it up will come from.

Tomdispatch has an interesting post comparing white nationalist violence  in the U.S. with Hindu nationalist violence in India. Too often the news of late has had some story about some form of nationalism rearing its head. Putin is big on Russian nationalism couples with state support for the Russian Orthodox Church and a critique of the West's decadence. Victor Organ is equally focused on Hungarian nationalism while vilifying non-European migrants trying to enter.

Bill Astore has an interesting observation about the ubiquity of the commercials for legal drugs. I think I have mentioned several times over the years that I hate the ads and hate being sold to. He ties the drug ads to the repetitive vilification of Russia. I think he is on to something there. I don't like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and what they have done there. But I don't have to see them as evil incarnate. Mobsters of the mind, indeed, no matter what they are "selling."