May 8

 The last four days have been unusual because we had errands to run each day. Normally we only go out once or twice a week. We went to the dairy on Thursday, the nearby grocery store on Friday, two garden centers on Saturday and, finally, yesterday we had to go out to Target and replace our vacuum which gave up the ghost suddenly. I also got 2 dahlias, ten petunias, and two alyssum planted. Between trying to help Mom figure out what happened to the vacuum and the heat that built up on the patio while I was potting the plants I was and still am exhausted. But I will be out planting some more--focusing on the larger plants first.

Random thought: it is amazing how the freedom to not wear a mask was defended with a stolen phrase of "my body--my choice" but freedom never is discussed when the issue concerns woman making a choice whether to continue a pregnancy. Instead the argument is all about the "baby" but none of the Republican politicians talk about the "babies" when a person with a battlefield weapon (or any gun) shatters babies in school or a mall or in a house. And the argument for the "2nd Amendment" never quotes the FULL amendment which says "A well regulated militia being essential to the security of the republic--." Tell me, please, how the mass shootings we have experienced is related to a "well regulated militia."

Bill Astore has a good post on Tomdispatch today. I am 74--a bit older than he is and I remember everything he talks about: the euphoria when the Soviet Empire disintegrated, the hope of a "peace dividend" which never appeared.

David Kaiser writes about the "decline of the nation-state". He has some interesting arguments and some interesting examples but I am going to have to re-read.

We have heard way too much about "cancel culture." Don Moynihan has an article this morning about that which takes apart another article where the author claims that she was cancelled because the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science rejected it. Moynihan not only provides a critique of of the notion of cancel culture but also demonstrates how totally misleading the article is which is really an opinion piece and not really a scientific study. The situation reminds me of people who think a blogger has to open their blog to any opinion by anyone.

Jan in San Fran has an interesting, and somewhat frightening, graphic describing the increase in mass shootings (4 or more victims not counting the shooter) since 1993. Note the assault weapons ban we once had was enacted in 1994 and expired in 2004. The graph shows an increase in both incidents overall but also in the most sever incidents in which resulted in more than 7 victims.