March 4

 It is starting out sunny and 52F. Might be time to do more on the patio. I have some drip pans to wash out and put out. I should also see how workable the soils are. As I mentioned yesterday I found green shoots in the pots of chives. It is time to clear away the dead leaves. I noticed the trees outside our front window is starting to put out leaf buds.

Nikki Haley finally got a win in the primaries in Washington, D.C. As the commentators noted last night, it doesn't really matter given the disparity between Trump's delegate count and hers. Super Tuesday is tomorrow so the general election match might be fully set by Wednesday morning. People are accepting the notion that it will be a Biden/Trump rematch whether we like it or not. I don't.

Stray thought: sometime recently I heard on response to the often heard comment that Biden is just too old. Yeah, Biden is old; but the other guy is also old and he's crazy.

Second stray thought: I said before that this election is probably the last hurrah for the baby boomers (my generation) unless something unforeseen happens. I suspect that 2028 will be a real electoral donnybrook. Given the crop of younger politicians on both sides, it might look like blue crabs and red crabs in their separate buckets seeing who will eat whom last.

Next stray thought: I have been thinking about the self immolation of Aaron Bushnell and his statement that he could "no longer be complicit in genocide"--meaning Israel's war in Gaza. The relationship between the U.S. and Israel has looked more like a dysfunctional marriage for the last 30 years. Either a renegotiation of the parameters of the marriage creates a different relationship or there will be a divorce.

Another stray thought: one of the news/commentary shows over the weekend showed a graph of how much aid the U.S. sends Israel and Egypt each year. One commentator mentioned that the whole mess shows how little power a "superpower" has to affect the behavior of supposed allies. Perhaps it is time for some tough love. Cancel this year's military aid for Israel and transfer half of it to Egypt on condition that they accept the Gaza population crowded on the order into a designated area and provide aide with the money. It is time to chart a different course that doesn't involve complicity in genocide.

Bill Astore asks "Who needs Skynet?" Humans seem so eager to do the job, why worry about self-aware AI. The Terminators would probably just look on with bewildered sadness as the last two humans killed each other.

Yet another stray thought: did you all see the report that the U.S. debt is (and has been for several months) growing at the rate of $1 TRILLION/PER DAY. That isn't yelling--it's emphasis.

UPDATE: got 11 buckets cleaned up. I trimmed back the dead branches on two, the lemon balm and a mint, and left the roots to send out new shoots. The others I pulled. They weren't hardy to our winter temps. I started sweeping the leaves gathered around the buckets and pulled the stakes, shepherd's hook, and trellis panels. Also started washing down the fence. Thankfully, the dirt and muck easily wipes off with a wet cloth. I will have to reposition the buckets later. I've done enough today.

The Supreme Court just decided on the 14th Amendment cases: the states don't have the right to disqualify candidates for FEDERAL offices on the basis of Section 3 of that Amendment. I wasn't surprised and not because three of the nine justices were Trump appointees as some have opined. If it had simply been all stripes of conservatives against all stripes of progressive the count would have been 6 to 3 not 9 to zip. So many people forget that we have a Federal government system that is parallel to a system of state governments and each system has its powers and responsibilities. The states do run elections and as the court ruling (which I read) noted can disqualify candidates for STATE offices. But they don't have the power to disqualify candidates for FEDERAL offices on the basis of the 14th (or other) parts of the Constitution. That is in the Federal wheelhouse.

Still another stray thought: we saw two efforts to impeach Trump fail at the Senate trial stage--on political considerations. The second was on the matter of insurrection. We haven't yet had a criminal trial but what if that also fails. The Supreme Court ruled that the states can't disallow a candidate for a Federal office. That appears to be a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation which simply leaves you damned.