Welcome to May. The weather is much like April--cool and wet. I think the temperatures are supposed to be higher and the conditions drier next week. I hope to get to a couple of the garden shops I haven't visited for a while. I am looking for some new things to grow.

So what am I reading? Let's start off with this piece from Tomdispatch featuring piece they published before from Eduardo Galeano's book Children of the Days. Interesting enough I picked up an e-book copy.

I don't often agree with Chris Hedges. I continue reading for a perspective I wouldn't often see. This article, however, is right on point. A few people have noticed that the so-called debt ceiling bill the Republicans are thumping their chests over did not mention any reduction in the Pentagon budget. I have often said that we don't really have two "Wall Street" parties and, yes, the military-industrial-finance-intelligence cabal is part of Wall Street. That is why I didn't vote for either Clinton or The Former Guy in 2016. I can agree that we should have a prepared military but I can't see that throwing almost a trillion dollars a year at the military has given us a truly prepared military.

I lost the current post from Robert Reich on his substack before I could link to it and I can't get it back. However, to summarize, he suggests that Biden simply ignore the Republicans and continue to pay U.S. debts. Reich cites the 14th Amendment which mandates that the public debt of the U.S. "shall not be questioned" and the Federalist #40 which addresses the role of government in paying our debt. It would be interesting to follow the resulting case through the courts if Biden followed the advice.

 The Feds have taken over and sold First Republic Bank which has been tottering since Silicone Valley Bank went under. JP Morgan won the bidding and will take over thus becoming even larger. Earlier reports said the depositors would be fully protected while the stockholder would not be.

We haven't heard much of the Mississippi flooding. According to this article the drought of last fall helped mitigate the effects because the dry soil soaked up a lot of the sudden snow melt during the mid April heat.