We have scattered thunderstorms moving through. One earlier storm dumped a lot of rain--it rained so that I couldn't see across the street. Before the rain I had to take a bag of trash to our tote and I stopped by a couple of the flowers to put up some trellising because earlier winds and heavy rain had bent them over. The forecasters are predicting about a week of this.
Vinay Prasad posted a piece the resonates with us. Mom has complained about the same behavior in doctors she has seen. Most she hasn't seen a second time. I noticed that other doctors have begun to talk to patients while an assistant enters data in the computer.
15*********************************************************************
Welcome to half-past July. It is going by way too quickly. We have sun right now but are also under a heat warning. The heat index might reach triple digits. Watching the Weather Channel mainly because the news channels are focused 1) on the attempt to assassinate Trump and 2) the Republican Convention. I don't want to focus on either. I look at the print news on line which gives me as much information as I can use and I can ignore the mass of speculation.
Texas is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Beryl. A week after a significant proportion of customers are still without power and some are looking at being without for another week. A lot of people are asking "why"? Few are talking about 1) an aging infrastructure that 2) hasn't had adequate maintenance or upgrades and 3) was designed for a different climate "normal." The problem isn't limited to Texas.
Jeremiah Johnson has an interesting piece this morning: What is the purpose of liberalism? Notice that is liberalism with a small l. It isn't the same as capital L Liberalism. Just as small d democracy isn't the same as capital D Democracy or small r republicanism isn't the same as R Republican. He also notes one of the last prolonged periods of political violence--the 2+centuries of religious warfare. What is evident today is that we have a new generation of demagogues who think their religious/social/political beliefs should be shoved on everyone else. And some of those demagogues don't mind violence to accomplish their ends. Trump is a useful tool for them because he has no ideology, no moral base and is focused only on himself and his immediate desires/whims. However, I am glad that young idiot they think tried to murder him failed. The news reports say he is re-writing his convention speech supposedly to be more moderate. I will believe it when I hear it because he changes like a weather vane. And "moderate" is entirely in the eye (or ear) of the audience.
This post by Ugo Bardi brought an amused smile to my lips. Not a "ha ha" smile but one that says "oh, shit, he is so right." I wrote some time ago that the elections from 2017 through this one is the last gasp of my generation (the Boomers) in presidential politics. But I am rethinking that. The average age of the Senate is 64--the same age as my youngest siblings who were born at the tail end of the Baby Boom. We forget that Trump and Biden (and I) were born at the leading edge of the Boom. Some of those senators might decide to grab for the ring.
I think I will rant on a nonpolitical theme: nuisance phone calls. We have been deluged with calls hawking funeral pre-arrangements, "new" benefits we may qualify for from Medicare, and so many others. We have had more than 20 a day along with calls where no one answers for several a minute or two before the call cuts off. Sometimes we wonder if we can do without it. It makes us wonder about the condition of the insurance companies behind the calls.
No comments:
Post a Comment