December 5, 6

 Snow today--wet, heavy, fluffy flakes. We might get more than the 1 inch predicted. It isn't all that cold and the temperatures will rise a bit over the next few days (maybe). I don't expect the snow will last long.

Naked Capitalism posted this article on "inflation inequality." I have noted before that the official inflation numbers have been massaged to minimize inflation in the economy. The economists eliminate food and some other costs that affect ordinary people on a daily basis and over emphasize the more "stable" costs like autos and electronics which people don't buy every day or so. That gives them, they think, an idea of "core" inflation which appears stable or declining but the process leaves them bewildered when ordinary Americans complain that their costs, their perceived inflation, are rising. The article explains another phenomenon: price increases hit low cost food items more than higher cost items even when the average doesn't seem so bad. Basically, it means that the upper economic groups can still afford their steak but the lower tiers have trouble affording hamburger.

06*********************************************************************

Most of the snow is already gone. We have an errand today. I hope it will be dry and a bit warmer.

I have just been watching a long bit speechifying on a morning news/entertainment show which started off with the confrontation between Representative Elise Stefanik and a college/university president. Stefanik asked if "calling for genocide against Jews" was against the institution's code of conduct and the president hedged claiming the answer depended on context. There are so many things wrong with the whole sequence. While a stopped clock is right twice a day when the clock is Stefanik I have to double check that it is a clock, that it is indeed stopped, and that it really is coincidentally at the time my own watch is showing. However, if Stefanik was going for gotcha moments she hit pay dirt. The answer the president gave is an example of why anyone espousing "situational ethics" should be very check their moral compass. Think back to an Oliver Wendell Holmes comment on freedom of speech: no one has the right to yell 'fire' in a crowded theater.' The speech doesn't have to be directed at a specific person to be dangerous. Yelling for genocide against any group is the equivalent to yelling fire. It doesn't have to be directed at a specific group to be dangerous. 

The discussion that started yesterday, and continues today, about Rep. Pramila Jayapal's responses to questions of Israel's conduct of the war with Hamas fits in here. I think some of the criticism was over the top and used the same "what-about-ism" they accused her of to attack her. The worst I can say of her responses is that trying to excuse one atrocity by pointing to another doesn't work. Hamas' attack on Israelis was horrific but so is Israel's response. Trying to white wash 1200 dead by pointing out the 15,000 dead on the other side is just that kind of what-about-ism.

Another good historical post from Tomdispatch. File in the "What is old (and not good) is (abhorrently) new" File.

And from The Free Press, another entry in the "What is old (and concerning) is New (with, hopefully, a better response) File. I have seen articles about the new respiratory illness hitting hard in China. And China is again treating the situation as a state secret.

I found this by way of Naked Capitalism. Middle East Monitor reports that Israel may decide to deal with the tunnels under Gaza by flooding them with sea water. The comparison the Naked Capitalism editor had on the link seems apt: Israel taking a page out of Roman history and "salting the earth." If you miss the reference look up the Punic Wars. It may go beyond by fouling the water supply and, perhaps, destabilizing the substrates under Gaza. The Times of Israel has more details.

There is an old challenge that tells people to "put your money where your mouth is." Judd Legum asks whether AT&T is putting their money where they say their values are and find they come very short. They spend their money to support candidates that vote for measures that directly infringe on voting rights, that curtail women's rights to appropriate medical care, support anti-LGBTQ+ laws, etc.

So Kevin McCarthy is resigning effective the end of this month. He won't finish his term. I am not sad about that. I thought he was a miserable excuse for an human being. His seat will be filled by a special election.

RIP Norman Lear.

Erin Brockovich posted a cautionary article on the use of cleaning agents that have quaternary ammonium compounds in them. There are some questions and recent studies which raises doubts about their efficacy and they can be toxic. We have Lysol wipes and Lysol spray but we use them sparingly. We have never been on the ultra-sanitary bandwagon. Our main cleaning agents are white vinegar and bleach (used very separately.) We, humans, have a habit of adopting products before we have any good information about the possible consequences.