March 2

 Welcome to March and, for some, the beginning of Spring. I generally wait until the Equinox later this month and even then expect Winter to put up a fight. In my planting zone the safe planting date is mid May, usually. By that time I will see if any of the plants from last year survived. That is always a surprise.

And welcome to the third day of the "what ever they want to call it" against Iran. A couple of the talking heads (Republican variety) tied them into linguistic pretzels avoiding the word "war." A lot of other things were ignored. Some of the commentators noticed a lot of crowing over the ability of the U.S. to project force half way around the world. However, they also noticed that the interviewees didn't address whether that force SHOULD have been projected. Capability but no ethical considerations.

Corbin Trent makes a number of good points about the Trump administration's choice of war and use of the word "evil." I have seen too much labeled as "evil" and seen the discussion dissolve. Almost no one ever asked "evil by what definition?" Trent also does a good job of summarizing the history of the U.S.-Iran relations. And he notices how the initiation of war-like operations in Iran has swallowed any discussion of our other problems for which Trump really has no solutions. I noticed that this morning with the news before I turned on a Harry Potter marathon which doesn't address our national problems but is at least entertaining even though we have seen it often.

Don Moynahan posted a good run down on the various rationales the administration has cycled through trying to hit on one that will resonate with American voters. One sure tell that someone is lying is how they shift story to justify their actions. Lucky for Trump's minions and party supporters, but not for us, most aren't looking for supporting evidence or facts. They aren't even trying to manufacture evidence like George H. did to get us into attacking Iraq. They don't have to.

Stray thought while reading that our Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, when asked about mess in the Middle East, said "Freedom is never free." At least he has a record of military service but tell me where are Don Jr., Eric, and Baron whose daddy evaded the draft with questionable bone spurs. I get tired of people who parrot the same sentiments Waltz expressed but don't pay any of the price themselves. 

February 28, 29

 I would say "good morning" but it really isn't. I woke to the news the Bibi Netanyahu and his hand puppet (a.k.a. Donald Trump, sort of president of the U.S.) have launched air strikes on Iran to obliterate the nuclear capacities they claimed had been obliterated with the last strikes. Perhaps we should have expected a "wag the dog" maneuver since the early midterm election season is looking somewhat dismal for the Republicans. And the Epstein debacle isn't going away. And people don't really believe the administration's blather about a booming economy. We all looking at our lives and questioning for whom that economy booms because it certainly isn't for us.

Bill Astore's post today gives the news almost the right level of sarcasm it deserves. He notes something that I did: the absence of the accurate word "war." Our whole system has become so abstract that an abundance of evils can be at least partially hidden by legalistic language. Remember when the judge in the E. Jean Carroll case said that under "normal usage" what Trump did to her would be called "rape" but because of the wording of the law of NY he could only judge Trump guilty of "sexual assault." It may not be "technically" murder that ICE killed two Minnesota residents and U.S. CITIZENS, but by any normal usage of the word it was. Shakespeare wrote "a rose by any other name is still a rose. I say "war" by any other name is still war, and "Murder" by any other name is still murder.

29*****************************************

Somewhat cloudy this morning in the second day of Trump's and Netanyahu's "war" on Iran. I read something that reinforces the editorial Rachel Maddow wrote on MSNOW asking "cui bono?" The post was Bill McKibben's in which he notes, in the first paragraph, that Iran has the world's 3rd largest reserve oil and the 2nd largest reserve of natural gas. And supposedly the energy moguls are salivating at the thought of going in and "stabilizing" the industry there. They weren't so enthusiastic about Venezuela whose industry is very badly damaged and would be very expensive to refurbish. Not so in Iraq. Follow the money as they always say in criminal investigations.

But something else came to mind. In the early 1950s, The Shah Reza Pahlavi was ousted by a democratic revolution which elected Mohammad Mosaddegh who began nationalizing the energy industry which pissed off the western companies dominating the industry and their home countries. By 1953 the CIA and U.S. money engineered a counter revolution which restored the Shah. The Shah's regime was brutal and his drive to modernize and westernize only intensified the popular resentment which festered until 1979. That brought the Islamic Republic and Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini to power who was succeeded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 1989. Our government ended Khamenei's rule and, according to reports, wiped out a good number of possible successors. No one knows who will come up to lead though I don't doubt that intelligence agencies all over the world has extensive dossiers on all the likely (and not so likely) possibilities. Are we trying to go back to the 1950s? If so, the leaders of Israel and the U.S. should remember the words of Elizabeth I: I do not like wars. Their outcomes are very uncertain.

And McKibben has some interesting tidbits on various Republican law makers who follow the Trump party line decrying, delaying, and stymying renewal power initiatives while quietly installing solar panels and batteries on their own homes to lower their energy bills. Several took advantage of the tax credits they allowed to lapse.

I'll bore you with another historical reference: after the 9/11 attack when the government rushed to try to make sure we "never again" suffer such an attack on our soil and bolstered our law enforcement agencies and incorporated much of it into the new agency "Homeland Security." Dick Chaney was Vice-President at the time and justified this reorganization and, later, our military operation to remove Saddam Husain on the grounds that we had to guard against any threat, even one that a one percent chance of happening. In other words, we have to vigilant and take vigorous action against any threat however remote in time or from any place. Interesting, that we don't take that attitude about 500- or 1000-year floods, or increasingly devastating wildfires, or category 5 hurricanes.

Kautilya the Contemplator has a piece on Iran that has been rattling around in my brain in a much more fragmented state. Trump and his cronies think of Iran as though it was a western country with funny clothes and strange language. If you cut off the head of a western government and obliterate most of the line of succession you basically cripple the government. But the accounts I have heard indicate that there is NO definite line of succession in the Iranian government and power is somewhat decentralized. Kautilya adds to that the dominance of not just Islam but Shi'a Islam with its long history of venerating martyrdom and you have a mix which would make Iran particularly able to survive the kind of military strike the U.S. and Israel have conducted. It reminds me of the DUNE miniseries (the second of the three attempts to remake the novel on film) where Baron Harkonnen whines to the Emperor that Mua'addib is simply a religious fanatic like so many blown in from the desert of whom many are simply bent of suicide. The Emperor asks him how many religious fanatics he has looked in the eyes and that for them martyrdom and suicide are often the same thing. 

February 27

 Well, it is morning though it is still dark outside. We are about an hour and a bit before we will see the first glimmers of light. Last time I checked the Weather Channel they predicted we will have sun and temperatures approaching 60. When we do get more light outside I plan to check whether the snow is gone from the patio and, if it is, start the clean up for spring. I don't have any plan for what I will plant.

Yesterday, I finished organizing my genealogy notes. The basic filing system is hand written so for a lot of this I am going old school. I find it is hard to flip between screens on the computer and it is often hard to find a specific people. I grew up in a time when learning involved listening, reading and writing. And the last was by hand because we didn't have word processors or computers. I am glad for the computer age and the internet. My aunt (Uncle's wife) conducted research on one branch of her family and traveled to various places to get records. I don't have the resources to do that so the internet is absolutely necessary. An amusing thought came up: about forty years ago I was helping a fellow graduate student navigate through various sources for her Masters' Thesis. She didn't consider all of the various hard copy guides to periodicals, newspapers, research papers available because she intended, with her advisor's agreement, to do her work with on-line information. And that was in the age of dial-up connections. I was dumbfounded but here I am doing something similar. 

I found this interesting piece by way of a post on Cultural Capital. The author asks "how far back in time can we read English?" I got to 1300 before the changes became too much for me. It reminded me of a novel by Paul Kingsnorth, THE WAKE, set in the time of the Norman Conquest and narrated by a not-yet-Englishman living in the fens trying to resist the conquerors. It took me quite a while to work through it because Kingsnorth wrote it as if written by the narrator. And the spoken English of past ages might not be all that comprehensible for modern people either. I found a couple of stories which included attempts to actually recite passages from Shakespeare as they would have spoken at the time. Fascinating and very different.

Update: I won't be sweeping anything on the patio. There is still piles of snow that hasn't yet melted. But the ten day weather forecast is promising a shift from the 30s and 40s to the 40s and 50s. 

February 25

 Good morning, all. Clear skies at the moment but it is a very early morning. And I have already been busy with small tasks. I am about to get my second cup of coffee and putting dishes in the sink to soak for a bit before I wash them. No we don't have a non-human dishwasher. In fact, after years of having one that never seemed to work well and finally ignoring it for a couple of years, we asked the landlord to take it out and put in a cabinet to expand our limited storage. Hey, only two of us elderly women here. We don't use enough dishes to make a non-human dishwasher useful. I generally fill the sink once and use that water all day. Sometimes I skip a day because there are so few dishes to wash. I remember laughing when I saw ads for the new lines of machines that supposedly use so much less water and energy because they wouldn't actually save us anything. Like so much technology which over promises and underdeliver in our situation.

I love little stories like this one from Joyce Vance. Some knitters are making a different kind of "red hat" to counter the MAGA red hat. It is based on the Norwegian red hat protest against the Nazi occupation during WWII. The Nazis were so afraid of any show of resistance they outlawed the red "elf" cap Norwegians often wore that often appeared on the characters in Christmas stories and cards. The Norwegians found ways around the ban to still express their displeasure. That is the latest in a long history of people, usually women, finding ways to express their opposition to what ever repressive force they faced. I saw a series on George Washington's spy net work which included a woman who hung her quilts on the clothes line which signaled British movements and plans. During the decades before the Civil War slave women made quilts which were actually maps to safe houses along the underground railroad. During WWII the U.S. government banned the mailing of knitting patterns because they could be used to pass coded messages as one of the Allied operatives did in occupied France. For years after the US repressed any demonstration of defiance after the annexation of Hawaii and removal of their queen. What they didn't realize was the defiance was expressed in the symbols Hawaiian filters incorporated into their quilts. And of course, the pink pussy hats. Where there is a will there is always a way.

Corbin Trent at AMERICA'S UNDOING recounts a history which is all to familiar to me. Parts of my family have lived it also and I can see it any time I might go through Gary, Indiana (which I go out of my way to avoid). Gary's population history followed the same one Trent described in Detroit. And the causes were much the same: industry moved out, wealthy white residents moved out and taxes dried up. No new jobs moved in. Trent warms the tech workers that they are on the same trajectory and AI will accelerate that change. And the costs for maintaining a "middle class" life style keep going up.

February 25

Good morning. We are enjoying a sunny day and the snow is melting rapidly. For the next ten days or so the temperature will be too warm for any snow though we might have a couple of episodes of rain. I had to go out this morning to pay rent. Often I send it through the mail but after nearly two months I drove over to get out a bit. It is always good to touch base with the landlords.

I turned off the TV last night after Trump's first three or four sentences. I am glad I did because we old ladies need our sleep and I knew we would get a detailed description this morning. Evidently, he talked (ranted, spewed crap, claimed imaginary victories, blamed others for his failures) for almost two hours. A couple of reporters this morning said it was Trump's version of speeches by Castro (or, I could add, any Soviet leader). TL/DNL (Too long/ did not listen)

Stray thought: watching Trump's introduction of the gold medal winning men's hockey team I wondered how they felt being a prop for Trump.

Another stray thought: one of the snippets from the speech the news anchors showed what Trump claiming that prices were coming down. He always seems insulted that we think otherwise. Well, three years ago, after Mom became too frail to do our usual shopping with me and I starting keeping track of our expenditures, we were spending about $400/month. That was for the two of us with occasionally more when we replenished our staples or meat in the freezer and an occasional pizza or meal out. Now, that tally is between $500 and $600 without the pizza, a meal in a restaurant or keeping our staples at as high a level as before. I'm sorry Mr. President, my wallet says prices are up. Our expenditures for gas has gone down but only because we don't drive as much any more and only fill up once a month. One of our largest expense last year was Mom's medical care which included major surgery and rehabilitation. That was jaw dropping. Thankfully, we had the wherewithal to cover our part and, thankfully, we had Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan.

A third stray thought: I have often thought Joe Biden made a great mistake in even trying to be elected for a second term. The press concentrated on his mental and physical condition while totally ignoring Trump's mental lapses. But his decision to pursue reelection and the Democrats failure to field a viable candidate earlier (combined with the attempt to coronate Kamala Harris without input of the mass of Democratic base) basically made Trump's election possible. I thought that Trump had lost several steps in his term. I thought it was even more evident with his campaign after being out of office for four years. His capacity was definitely diminished.

Good morning. We still have lake effect coming in spurts. It is hard to tell how much we actually have because the wind is blowing it all over. I don't expect it to stay around long because the the daytime highs should be above freezing. And some of the precipitation will shift to rain. 

Well the Winter Olympic Games has ended until 2030. I dread the Summer Olympics of 2028 because Trump will still be President and will try to make it all about him.

Stray Thought: while watching the extravaganza of the closing ceremonies I remembered when we got the stories and medal counts on our nightly news (back when both the national and foreign news occupied HALF AN HOUR every night). It was always after the fact not simultaneous. But over the last forty years things have changed. The broadcast networks and cable developed the ability to sent reports by satellite and they found that exclusive rights to broadcast the games. USA and NBC devoted extensive amounts of time to showing the games sometimes time-delayed but often in "realtime." If you were a night owl sports fan you could stay up and watch. And the countries hosting the games have made the ceremonies a spectacle. Have we lost something in this?

Second Stray Thought: I have heard a lot of frothing at the mouth about the SAVE Act and decided to read the actual bill yesterday. Much of the verbal diarrhea is overblown as to what it will actually do. To start off the SAVE bill (it isn't an act yet) requires that voters present proof of citizenship and specifies IDs that many people already have which would qualify: Military ID issued by the Federal Government, Tribal ID issued by Tribal governments, Passports issued by the Federal Government, and Real IDs (also called Secure IDs) issued by states in accordance with the requirements of the Federal regulations. I have described my own efforts to get a Real ID drivers' license and finally did so after much effort and a consultation with a lawyer (which thankfully was free). 

Given what is in the text (at the moment) I wondered what the problem is in getting one and why was the SAVE bill even necessary. I can think of a couple of problems. I have been trying to find a birth certificate for my paternal grandmother born in 1905 and paternal grandfather born in 1896. Both were born in rural areas where such records are often haphazard and many were born at home. I read about such problems when the Real ID law was passed in 2005. I also wondered what state compliance looked like since many states objected to the law because it put most of the cost of the law fell on them. All states officially comply but many people object on various grounds including feelings of Federal overreach, cost, and the effort to collect the necessary documents. Though my state has required the process for new licenses and non-drivers' state id's they do allow work arounds in case the documentation is not available. So the SAVE bill won't really have any effect on non-citizens voting (which has been shown negligible in several studies) and I have to ask why bother besides stroking Trumps already over large ego.

Robert Reich posts a political cartoon every week with a speech bubble his readers can fill in. He posts the best suggestions the next Sunday. This new cartoon showed the Supreme Court justices on their high bench looking at the tiny Trump throwing a fit way below and readers have to supply what one of them is saying. I can't enter because I am not a paying reader but my first thought  was "PLEASE!! SOMEONE FIND HIS BINKY!!" For those not familiar with that word binky=pacifier.

Feb 21

 Cloudy and cooler as expected. The next seven days should be in the 30s and 40s with some kind of precipitation possible for most of the time. We don't have any appointments next week though I plan to take the rent check to the rental office in person. After about two months largely housebound--not even going out to the mail box several days so I wouldn't have to negotiate the ice--getting out feels really nice. We aren't, in modern times, used to being immobilized by weather. But it might become more familiar in the near future.

BLOOD IN THE MACHINE posted this article about areas where Flock cameras have been destroyed. I've watched over the last half century as we have become a surveilled society. It seems as though in the argument between "law and order" and "freedom" the first group wins. So much of this has progressed not quite in the dark but in governmental bodies that few of us pay much attention to. But when it does come to into the open people really don't like it. Robert Heinlein's character Lazarus Long said "In a government of the people, for the people--don't tell the people" or ignore the people or refuse to let them speak. That only works for so long.

February 19, 20

 Rainy and cloudy but I looked out on the patio and didn't see any snow. Yeah!! The temperature today is predicted to go into the middle 50s but it should crash back to the more normal mid 30s tomorrow. I puttered around a bit with another afghan using worsted weight yarns I still have on hand. I pulled out my corded hooks to do some double hook Tunisian work. I got to the point where I really didn't want to do more crochet I am working on with size 10 thread. And I didn't want to bring out any of my three embroidery projects on hoops now. That happens every now and then. Luckily I didn't need any new materials to help me break my needlework blahs

A piece on a news/talk show last night reported that the administration has instructed DHS to "investigate" NATURALIZED CITIZENS for "voter fraud." For ever since Trump, during his first campaign for the Presidency, claimed that masses of "illegal aliens" were voting they have been trying to find examples of activity. They haven't found any significant numbers--about 20 examples nationwide last I heard which is negligible. So now they want to enlarge the target group hoping to find evidence of such fraud. I have heard more stories of Republicans committing election fraud.

However the story brought up a Stray Thought: a couple of decades ago I read an account of how IBM enabled the Nazi regime to trace Germans descended from Jews who converted and assimilated. They then removed the citizenship from those Germans and rounded them up with their Jewish neighbors. What will the administration do if (when?) they don't find the fraud they want to find? Trace the lineage and keep looking?

20*********************************************

Hard rain and high winds today. And much colder temperatures. I am sitting in front of my computer with one cat sprawled on my lap impeding my ability to type and the other one sitting behind the screen looking at me accusing me because she thinks I should already have given her the second breakfast of the day. I will probably relent because I need my second cup of coffee.

So much of the news I see skim and pass over. There isn't a damned thing I can do about it so--"que sera, sera" as the old song says. We did watch the thrilling gold medal ice hockey match yesterday between Canada and the U.S. which the U.S. won in sudden death overtime.

First interesting bit I found this morning was this piece on CROOKS&LIARS. I had never heard of psychrobacter bacteria so I immediately looked up the term and found that it refers to strains of bacteria that live in cold temperatures. They might be simply cold tolerant or they may actually thrive best at cold temperatures. The recently discovered strain was RESISTANT TO 10 MODERN ANTIBIOTICS. That is surprising since it was found in a 5000 year old layer of ice from a Romanian ice cave. Supposedly that bacteria hadn't been exposed to those antibiotics so the resistance is entirely innate. We have already had episodes of anthrax being released from frozen reindeer carcass in tundra that thawed. This episode in Russia infected more animals and some people. It doesn't take much imagination to picture the effects of an unknown disease arising from something like the psychrobacter.

Stray thought: the Federal government spent a couple of decades intensely forcing state governments to adopt the "Secure ID" drivers' licenses. To get one you had to document your identity. I have already described our problems with that since both my mother and I changed our names when we married (Mom twice.) We had to show birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce papers for each stage. AND WE SHOW THAT ID WHEN WE VOTE. I have read the accounts of the SAVE act and I have to ask why should we need another ID that basically wants the same document chain? Why should we need ANOTHER F***ING ID?

February 18

 Another sunny day with above "normal" temperatures. We had rain last night and temperatures above freezing so almost all of the snow remaining on the patio and the shadowed areas is gone. Just checked the Weather wondering about how they think the next week or so will be and got diverted by two stories. First indicates wildfire season has already started with blazes going in western Oklahoma, and in Texas and Kansas. The second covers a 30-car crash on southbound I-25 near Pueblo. High winds and a dust cloud contributed to the mess which included several semi trucks. We expect high 50s and 60s today and tomorrow then ten days of more normal temps in the 30s and 40s. Thankfully not much precipitation and that should be rain.

Stray thought as I was reading a short piece on CROOKS&LIARS which notes the the Pharma execs are faced with a problem they should have seen coming: with the shifting attitudes of the administration concerning vaccines and the latest refusal of the Food and Drug Administration to approve the latest Moderna mRNA vaccine their funding (public and private) is trying up. I saw the snippets of "news" which showed Governor Newsom of California reminding beleaguered parties that Trump only has 2 years 10 months left before he will be gone. Unfortunately, gone maybe but forgotten not at all. Much of what Trump and his minions are doing will linger far beyond 2029 when he is supposed to leave office. And even if he does leave, who will come after and how much of his wrecking ball policies will remain?

February 18

 Sunny again with predictions of temperatures in the 50s. We are two weeks away from meteorological Spring and a month away from astronomical Spring. I am sure the weather gods are teasing us as always. they will clobber us again I am sure. Oh, well, I will enjoy this while it is here. I decided to put my needlework off til this evening. I plan to work on the genealogy project and reading for the rest of the day. Also doing some planning about meals. Mom's appetite is getting somewhat chancy. One day she will reject something she has enjoyed before. Or complain that is it way too much. I have already told her that if a bird ate the amount she does it would starve to death. I am trying to work in several small snacks over the day. We'll see how things go.

Timothy Snyder has a new post titled "Consumptive Capitalism" that is very interesting considering our personal issues. (I say "our" because dealing with Mom's health is a joint project.) That title is the one on an article he reposts from Sara Silverstein dealing with the business of health care--the very expensive business. She starts with an account of tuberculosis or (as it was called in the 19th and early 20th century) consumption. Medical "science" of the day prescribed stays in sanatoria to "hopefully" arrest and cure the disease. Silverstein makes the case that what they were really selling was hope because there were no cures before modern antibiotics were discovered. Even now the programs a months long course of multiple antibiotics unless the bug is drug resistant where the treatment is more prolonged and complicated. Just looked up the costs of treatment and it ranges from about $20,000 for the standard 4 to 6 month treatment to more than $100K for a more complicated and longer course dealing with multiply drug resistant forms and more than $400K for the "extremely" multiply drug resistant bugs. It is still a very expensive prospect which few people can afford out of pocket. At the end she notes that the "wellness" industry nowadays exceeds $2trillion. I can well believe it considering the number of ads for various drugs, nutritional aids, and devices we see every day. As Silverstein wrote the so-called Make America Healthy Again program pushed by Bobby K. Jr is a pipe dream.

Heather Cox Richardson put up another of her LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN essays which brush on the theme of health and weird weather (which touches on the theme of climate change which on writers has called "weather weirding"). She also ties it into Valentine's Day because on Valentine's Day in 1884 Theodore Roosevelt experienced what worst day of his life when both his wife of three years died giving birth to their daughter Alice and his mother died of typhoid. The younger Mrs. Roosevelt died of (they think) Bright's disease a kidney condition often the lingering result of a strep infection. Both diseases were common diseases in the overcrowded cities of industrializing America and at a time when antibiotics were not yet available. The rich could die almost as easily as the poor just in more comfortable conditions. Roosevelt took his grief out west to a ranch he had purchased until the horrendous winter of 1886-7 killed off a huge number of free range cattle including half of Roosevelts. As a side note Richardson didn't mention was that winter ended traditional open range cattle ranching and boosted the market for barbed wire. Roosevelt himself went back east to make a name for himself in progressive politics, shedding the dismissive tag eastern politicians had given him (dude) and, eventually in 1901, succeeding the assassinated McKinley.

David Kaiser often writes an article worth reading. Today he writes about "The End of An Era." Often eras are often, provisionally, identified after the fact. I say provisionally because those eras are redefined as time passes. But I agree that the events he is talking are serious breaks from our recent past. I often cite Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION series as perhaps the best fictional presentation of the inertia of history and how hard it is to change trajectory. I remember telling my students when I taught history in college "no great change of politics or culture happens from a single cause." 

I would question Kaiser's assertion that most Americans support the new Voter ID initiatives. It all depends on which measures of which proposals you are talking about. I also question the notion that such new Voter IDs are necessary. I remember what I went through to get the mandated Secure ID driver's license which states have been pretty much been bullied by the Federal Government to adopt. My first attempt was stymied because my current name, affirmed by the court decision in my divorce. is not my birth name. Part of the Save Act (which is still a proposed bill) demands that the names match. My mother has gone from maiden name to first married name to second married name. When I tried the second time to get the Secure Id driver's license it sailed through with no problem. I think someone far more forceful than I made a case that stuck for accepting the court establishment of name after divorce.

February 13

 Sunny today and the temperatures should be well over freezing. It is still cold enough overnight to leave frost on the roofs. Much of the snow pack on the parking slips is much reduced and I hope it will be gone by Monday when we have an appointment. For much of the last month the snow made it impossible for Mom to leave the house. She needs her walker but navigating through that mess was dangerous. Even a wheelchair, which she really doesn't need now, wouldn't have made any difference. Right now we are waiting for an Instacart order. It should arrive shortly.

In the interim I am going through my e-mail and listening/watching BBC. We have already seen the early news/commentary on a U.S. site. Evidently only two really significant stories were covered: the new announcement that the Minnesota ICE operation is over and its thugs will be withdrawn (according to Tom Homan), and no agreement has been reached on funding for Homeland Security so that part of the government will technically shut down. 

However, Homeland Security (and ICE) were given a massive infusion of cash in the last budget which made ICE the LARGEST "law enforcement" agency in the government--bigger than the FBI, SECRET SERVICE with other agencies thrown in combined. And Kristi Noem is sitting on billions of dollars that should have been distributed to various states as directed by the Congress.

Stray thought: listening to the news that the Administration has decided to reject the climate science that previous administrations used to control greenhouse gas emissions. As  you may know I have a magpie mind that skips from one thing to another and I thought of the law an early 20th century Indiana legislature passed to define the value of pi as 3. As most of us know the actual value is 3.14159+and unknown number of other digits. The law, even signed by the then governor, didn't make any difference in the mathematical fact or in the geometry math taught to students. Ignoring the science underlying the greenhouse effects won't change the facts.

While reading the segment on ICE leaving Minnesota (depends on how you define "leaving") I wondered where those 2300 ICE people (left in place after Homan "drew down" 700 thugs) would go. This article on CROOKS&LIARS draws on other news sources to detail leases ICE has signed for new concentration camps (I refuse to call them "detention centers which sound far more innocuous that the reality) sited near large cities. We have only heard about the areas where major local disapproval caused either ICE or local politicians to cancel the plans. Evidently others don't mind our incipient police state.

Another stray thought: I didn't see much of Pam Bondi's testimony before that Congressional Committee. What I did see reminded me of something I heard, maybe, forty years ago. Democrats believed government could work and tried to make it better (however you want to define "work" and "better") but Republicans don't think government can work and tried to limit it as much as possible (again depending on your definition of "work" and "limit"). Most of the problem with the definition of work is what you want to work toward, who you think should benefit from the work, and at what cost. Over the years the whole issue has become somewhat fuzzy for Democrats and the Republicans have been laser focused on, as one of their patron saints said, reducing the size of government to the point where it can be drowned in a bathtub. That says there is nothing positive that comes from government but that begs the question of "for whom." And it is increasingly clear that unless government actions is only valuable if it benefits the top 1% of the economic ladder. And benefit means increasing their wealth and influence.

February 11

 Oh my!! Almost half past February. I keep complaining how fast time seems to fly by but It just keeps speeding up. I spent yesterday transcribing by genealogy notes from Ancestry.com to my own files. I often don't see gaps or discrepancies as I go between files on Ancestry. Writing it out and putting it into my own summaries helps. So far Ancestry is the easiest for me to use of the programs I have tried. It is a bit odd that I have had a more difficult time finding information of my nearest relations that some of the more distant ones. Part of the problem is that we are a spread out family that over the years lost contact. I am probably the oldest my generation of the family and I found my childhood memories sometimes reliable. Mom is the only member of her generation left and sometimes her memory isn't reliable.

Just found this article by Robert Reich which describes the economy very well and why people aren't feeling good about it. For most of the last century economists have touted "productivity" which is defined as "output per worker." However, various business and finance people have discovered that they can boost "productivity" by cutting workers and pushing the work on those who remain. Yeah, they actually produce more per worker. Or, they can invest in automation which will allow them to, again, cut worker bodies creating the impression of higher productivity. Each strategy will increase GDP and may increase profits, though Rachel Bitecofer I saw recently indicates that companies can invest in expensive technology and yet not turn a profit. But that totally ignores the workers who are without jobs. We were always told not to worry about that because new, higher paying jobs would open up for them. That isn't always true. As we have found out.

Stray thought: my what a bunch of whiney babies some of the Republicans are. Now they want to "investigate" the Bad Bunny halftime show. As if they really don't have more important matters to deal with. But I guess having the vapors over an AMERICAN from Puerto Rico singing in Spanish is easier than dealing with those problems.

Second stray thought: I have a vague memory that I read someone once said that disasters make for bad law. Politicians have a tendency to over react and make vague and over broad laws which tend to be messy in practice. I remember thinking of that back in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks when Homeland Security was established and agencies like FEMA were rolled up into it. Allegedly for efficiency. Instead FEMA has been neutered and made ineffectual. And under the current administration nothing runs efficiently--except the gutting of every program that helps those of us who are not part of the "Epstein class."

Another stray thought: those poor right wing snowflakes went spastic about Bad Bunny starting with his very polite sentiments about ICE but no one has mentioned Billie Eilish's comment which I though was absolutely right on point: "no one is illegal on STOLEN LAND."

Yet another stray thought: a number of commercials are so irritating that I mute them so I can more easily ignore them. We leave the TV on because it is Mom's main amusement. However, I had a slightly different reaction to the Homeland Security encomium to ICE declaring the men of ICE are loving fathers, little league coaches and valiant upholders of law and right. I mute it just like the other irritating commercials but in my mind I remember the Joseph Goebbels was also a loving father and when the Third Reich was in its very last moments gave his six young children morphine followed by cyanide before he and his wife took their own cyanide pills. You can be a loving father and still be a monster.

Bill Astore asks on his substack if Iran will be our next "forever war." I would argue we have never ended our Middle East/Central Asian forever war. We have just moved "assets" around to counter this or that perceived threat. We won't get out of these wars until we realize how bankrupt we are. And re-evaluate our ties to Israel.  I don't recommend cutting those ties but a deep examination of the relationship.

February 6. 7

 Cloudy but temps are in the high 30s so the light snow that fell overnight probably won't stay long. I spent the morning with a bit of crochet and a couple of housekeeping chores. Then I continued my genealogical explorations. This all began when Mom wondered what ever happened to her father who disappeared from her life when she was very young. I did find he had died in the late 1980s in California but he has proven to be a hard person to track. But he wasn't the focus of this morning's untangling process. I found an entry which listed a second wife and about a dozen children for an ancestor four or five generations back (early 1800s to late 1800s). It took awhile for me to straighten the entry out. I think I found the source of the problem: a summary of a census report. I checked out all of the census reports available for him and found only one wife mentioned and about six children. I found another census report for one of his sons and found that the man and his wife lived on one parcel of land adjacent to parcels on which the son and his family and a daughter and her husband lived. Someone had mashed all the people together. It took me the morning to get everything amended. By then it was dinner time so I will pick it up tomorrow.

I saw a snippet of a news report last night which showed the start--attempted start--of a wrestling. I think the announcer was introducing the fighters one of whom looked stunned as the audience started chanting "F%%k ICE". It was os unexpected I don't think anyone knew what to do. CROOKS&LIARS has a good account of the incident.

07*********************************************

After a cloudy morning the sun has come out brightly. I hope the remnants of the snow on the sidewalks. The weather people are saying we are going to have a warm up. Hope they are right. We caught the early Chicago news which covered the Olympics and Super Bowl without much else. That suits me because it gives me a break from the chaos.

Then I spent the rest of the morning washing dishes and working on my time lines for the genealogy. That helps me see discrepancies and keep the people straight. I sometimes get lost when working on the computer for a long time.

08***********************************************

Bright sun but cold today. We had a dusting of fresh flakes overnight. 

February 3, 4

 Good morning. Still cold but no new snow and the temperature is high enough that some of the accumulation we have already had is disappearing. I got out and shoveled the path to the gate. Tomorrow morning I should be able to get the trash out for collection. I will get a closer look at the snow around the car. I would like to get into it without too much shoveling so I can start it up for a bit.

Rachel Maddow had a nice bit yesterday which listed a number of cities and states resisting Trump's attempt to establish his own Gulag Archipelago. If you don't know what I am referring to I suggest you read up on the Soviet system of internal exile in distant prison camps and follow it up with some of Alexander Solshenitsyn's work--like ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH. NBC had this story today which covers the same. I refuse to dignify those with the term "centers"--they are concentration camps pure and simple.

04**********************************************

Cold and cloudy. So far no more snow. I think I said a couple of days ago I am so tired of winter. Punxsutawny Phil saw his shadow so, according to the lore, we have six more weeks of winter. That would take us to the Spring equinox. But if Springs plays like winter has we won't be done with the cold and snow til June. UHG!!

I was so disgusted by the news I turned it off real early and started working on the genealogy records. In between I got got a bit of housework done and put in a grocery order.

I saw an interesting post on Facebook. The poster said that in Ireland they say that you leave a part of your soul in everything you crochet and you should make an intentional mistake to leave your soul an escape path. I don't have to worry about that because I have yet crochet a perfect piece. I remember reading that Navajo weavers weave in a line from the pattern to the edge. It is a "spirit line" which allows the weaver's spirit to leave the finished piece before she starts another. I love the notion that there are spiritual elements to the creation of fabrics.

Oh isn't it nice that Tom Homan has announced 700 ICE agents are leaving Minneapolis. Hey, Tom, what about the other 2300 that are still there? And, yes, I am being very sarcastic.

January 31, February 1

 Well our winter weather hit overnight and we have about six more inches of snow. The city snow plows are working but I don't expect to go outside at all. It took our landlord's landscaping people about four days to clear the last storm's leavings. I don't think there are any more bills to come in but I won't worry about it. Whatever comes in the mail will wait til I can safely get out to the mail box. (Note: the mail delivery van just drove by.) Shoveling the path to the patio gate can wait til Monday. I have been getting some quality stitching time in over the last few days. I had several hexagons to fit into the two pieces I am working on. They both are building nicely. I did some more on the three embroidery pieces I have been working on. Update: the snow removal crews were out and got sidewalks cleared. I am going to have to look out the upstairs window to see if the cleared around the cars. Last time they didn't.

Feb. 1*******************************************

The sun is just coming up and they say we will have it around until sometime this afternoon. The temperatures should start warming--slightly--over this next month. January did seem a bit long especially the last two weeks when Nature froze us in place and snowed us in.

I saw a bit on Facebook which had me smiling and hoping it was true: Minneapolis has been nominated for this year's Nobel Prize. I had to check it out and IT'S TRUE. Check it out here. Of course, the HILL decided to downplay the story by describing the nominating organization (The NATION) as a PROGRESSIVE outlet. I hope the city and its people get the award and Trump does not. The first deserves it; the second DOES NOT.

A second story on Facebook reported the the United Nations High Commissioner for Civil Rights has accused ICE of violating human rights and dignity. Evidently that is also true according to the Vatican News. It is amazing how many in Trump's administration are Catholic but have forgotten, as Joe Scarborough often notes, to read the "red words" in their Bibles--or skipped them in the first place.

William Hogeland put out a post that is intriguing. I didn't read all of it because half of it is behind a pay wall and I don't know exactly how he will develop his ideas. He starts off describing two authors on what he describes as legacy outlets who link the protests against ICE and Pretti's carrying a handgun to a protest to the Founding Fathers ideas. Hogeland notes that those are very tenuous links. He points to a very prevalent among pundits: taking modern events and putting a patina of approval on them by linking them back to our national Saints. We rather hope the present will work out like the past because we know how it ended and we have been taught all our lives how good and appropriate the ending that led to the beginning of us. But as has often been said "history doesn't repeat but it does rhyme. those rhyming chords might be the start of a new and different song. 

January 29

 Cloudy with episodes of sun so far. But still cold enough I don't want to spend much time outside. I should let the car run for a bit but as cold as it is I might drain the battery. I will wait for a warmer day. Right now I am waiting for my grocery order to arrive. I put in a short order Tuesday but that was heavy items like cat litter. Today it was all food. The ten days we had snow and extremely cold weather I used what we had on hand so a number of often used items is either low or gone.

Stray thought: watching a segment with an interview with Minnesota Governor Walz and I was struck by his description of his phone call with Trump. Trump asked "What's the matter with Minnesota?" to which Walz replied "Nothing." Trump came back with the observation that the ICE operations in other cities didn't have the same problems and Venezuela operation went off smoothly with no loss of American lives. Walz replied with thoughts I had: none of the other cities had the same level of ICE initiated violence and aggression. And what the hell does Venezuela have with Minneapolis unless Trump is equating a U.S. with a foreign adversary. That is troubling.

Second stray thought: watching Homan's press conference I was underwhelmed. He mentioned "agreements" with the State and city which gave the Feds what they wanted like having prison and jail authorities inform ICE when they are releasing prisoners on whom they have removal orders. That raised alarm bells in my mind and one of the reporters asked if the prisoners they wanted were non-violent offenders who often were only guilty of crossing the border without permission. He provided a vague non-answer answer. The devil is, as they say, in the details. Also he didn't address any of the abuses Walz and others wanted cured: remove the masks, make the agents wear uniforms and badges, and get warrants--real judicial warrants. Note: I am not against the deportation of undocumented people CONVICTED of violent crime. Key word there is CONVICTED. And a second key word is VIOLENT. A minor traffic citation two decades ago doesn't qualify.

I saw the account of the FBI, with Tulsi Gabbard (head of CIA) present, seized the ballots and other records (evidently with a warrant) from the Fulton County Election facility. Still looking for fraud which wasn't there. There are sore losers and sore winners--Trump is the perfect example of both.

January 28

 Sunny this morning but not at all warm. But I had to go out to drag the trash tote out for collection. No real choice about it because it was full after a month of missing the collection. Christmas took care of one because I forgot which day it would shift to--same for New Year. Then the weather over the last two weeks--ten days of which I spent recovering from the fall I described before. I am finally able to breathe and move my arms freely without pain. I think I bruised my ribs badly. But I don't heal up as fast as I once did.

When I said I had to drag the tote out I mean exactly that because of the weight and the remaining snow. But It will be easier to bring it back in when they do empty it. I don't leave it out because those things have a tendency to go rolling down the street in a wind.

Stray thought: some people think Trump wants to return the U.S. to the 1950s, or 1930s, or the world of 1900 but I think he really wants to go further back to the 17th century and the age of the "Divine Right of Kings" age, with himself as king of course. He should remember that didn't turn out so well for some of those kings. Charles I was executed in England. His younger son, James ll, was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution. And though Louis XIV died of very old age in his bed, his grandson, Louis XVI was beheaded in the 1789 revolution in France. And those were societies with traditions of monarchy. This society has a tradition of successfully revolting against monarchy.

Aurelian has an interesting article on the problems of "managing the powerful." The political structures may change but that remains a common feature whether managing kings or presidents or dictators. 

 The sun is going in and out, and the wind is blowing the snow that has already fallen all around. I got out and shoveled the path to the back gate and cleared around the trash tote. The people our landlords call in to clear snow got our sidewalk to the street and the mail boxes. As I suspected there wasn't anything important in there. The electric bill has been on my table since this last storm started and I knew if I mailed it in it wouldn't get through before the due date but trying to set up a payment was a thoroughly frustrating and futile process. I spent a lot of time going through the chatbot assistant which couldn't help, and had to be transferred to a real person who couldn't help either and who transferred me to billing which disconnected me. In a fury I decided to just write the check which will go out tomorrow and pay the late charge if necessary. I have decided the next time I have a problem getting the payment out in a timely manner I will simply wait til the next month and catch up. I have never found on-line interactions at all easier or more efficient. I do hope we won't have another winter storm like this last one any time soon.

Watching BBC this morning and a major story covered was the free trade deal signed between India and the EU. That combines the first and third largest populations in the world. But I had another thought: besides being economically beneficial to both countries it might be India's way of gaining protection from Trump who has been aggressive about India buying Russian oil. Will the U.S. market mean as much to India when they have a partner with a population slightly larger than the US and a GDP a bit more than 2/3 of the US.?

And think about end-around maneuvers the latest Trump moves removing Bovino from command of the ICE troops in Minneapolis and pulling some out. I notice that a number of REPUBLICAN members of the Senate have said they won't vote for the new funding bill with the more money for an already bloated ICE. I have a suspicious mind and think Trump is trying to promise little (pulling out some of ICE and demoting Bovino) and get a lot (Republicans voting for his funding bill.

I noticed a number of commentators this morning gave the Trump's ouster of Bovino and announcement of removing some ICE thugs very short shrift. As one said plugging Homan in at the top of the ICE operation is a tell since he has been a big supporter of the policy behind ICE. He is only moderate compared to Bovino. As a couple noted the moves is more to try to create better optics and does not signal a new policy.

 Sunny this morning--so far. We got somewhere between 6 and ten inches of snow. The crews have made a good start on removing it from the streets, driveways and sidewalks. Someone came along with a little tractor and cleared part of our sidewalks but the part of the pavement from the door to where it joins the path to the street still remains snow packed. I swept the snow away from the patio door step. I started the chili just now. The meat is browning with the beans and tomatoes on the side waiting to be added. That should do nicely for the rest of the week which is expected to be very cold.

One of the commentators on the morning talk/news/commentary shows was discussing a perceived split in the ICE/Homeland Security Agency on the increasing brutality of their operations. The comment that stood out was that Christi Noem and Steven Miller wanted/approved of the "spectacle of violence" they see in the news from Minneapolis. It brought to mind what the agent who shot Renee Good was doing while he confronted her--he was using his phone to "make content" of what was going on. That seems to be a common activity among Trump's minions--making content to push out their, usually fraudulent, story. The Romans had their "circuses" where gladiators fought til bloody or dead. Those "spectacles of violence" were routine parts of Roman life. Every inauguration of newly elected consuls, every military triumph, and other significant event was celebrated with celebratory bloodletting. Our city streets are now the scene of our government's gladiatorial contests but it is pitting combat equipped thugs against citizens with signs and cell phones.

Attorney General Pam Bondi laid bare the real reason for the Administration's brutality in Minnesota (and probably for the rest of ICE actions): political extortion. Her letter to Minnesota's governor says ICE might be withdrawn IF he gives the Feds their voter data, their lists of everyone receiving SNAP or Medicaid benefits, cancels the "sanctuary city" programs, and generally "aid" ICE/CBP in their efforts to round up immigrants. The Founders of this Republic divided sovereignty between a Federal government and the several States. Here the Federal power is trying to erase the state sovereignty. Some time ago, a couple of decades actually, I expressed the thought that the U.S. was at a fork in the road where one road would lead to a cutting back of the Federal power and restoration of sovereign states and the other would see the Federal government all powerful with the States reduced to mere provinces. Trump loves the Second Article of the Constitution which he and his enablers insist give him absolute power. They forget the 10th Amendment  which restricts the powers of the federal government to specific actions and reserves the rights of the states and the people to all other actions.

Timothy Snider has an interesting re-writing of the Bill Of Rights reflecting the Age of Trump. The calls it the Bill Of Wrongs and I can't disagree.

Snowy today and very cold. The cold is supposed to continue for the next week which means I won't be going out myself and carefully looking at the weather for when I should order groceries. I may not have to until late in the week. We'll see. We had enough snow that the snow plows and salt spreaders will be out and the people our landlord hires should get the public walkways somewhat cleared. I just put some mini-quiches into the oven and have some ground beef and chorizo to thaw so I can cook up a big pot of chili. That should take care of our suppers for the next week--especially since I have two small casserole dishes of tuna casserole and one of meatloaf in the freezer.

Well, another day and another murder on the streets of Minneapolis perpetrated by ICE. You can find news stories all over the internet so I won't be linking any. Once again the Federal officials are 1) insisting that the victim was to blame for carrying a firearm (for which he had a valid concealed carry license), 2) that he was "brandishing" the weapon as he approached the agents and, in Bovino's words, "intending to massacre the agents, 3) have insisted the investigation will be handled privately in house and won't name the agents, and released what they claimed was filmed proof. And every f###ing bit of that is a bald-faced lie. I watched the various videos and 1) didn't see anything in the victim's hands but a cell phone which he held over head, and 2) there was nothing threatening about his movements. This weapon had been taken away from him before those thugs beat the hell out of him before pumping ten shots into him. 

A couple of interesting sequelae to the story: first, one of the legal experts made a remark that doesn't bode well for the Administration's spin machine. He noted that when Trump began this second term he took the Administration's announcements at face value. But so many of those claims have been proven false that he no longer does so and waits to see what new information will come out to either confirm or contradict the slant the Administration puts on events. A number of books and articles over the last forty (or more years) have examined the rise of images and staged events for particular effect in American society. And we can see how important images and presentations are for the Trump minions by how attentive they are to appearance and props: Cash Patel demanding a certain kind of FBI jacket when appearing at the news conferences concerning the Charlie Kirk murder, how Kristi Noem tries the cowboy look to appear tough, and how agents try to intimidate bystanders who are using their phones to film their activities. Many of the pundits expressed the worry that the world of 1984 is coming true. But that commentator's remarks makes me hope that there are limits to the influence of manufactured events and spin.

Michael Goldfarb at FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY on substack wrote this piece which make a number of points--some of which I agree with. He cited "John Burn-Murdoch," who "had this helpful possible explanation for how the leader of what is still called the West came to be a moronic, narcissistic, corrupt, psychopath (he does NOT suffer from dementia, he’s crazy. Know the difference." That brought up a stray memory of long ago when the notion of MAD (mutually assured destruction) in the discussion of nuclear weapons. I speculated the that it was not a bad gambit for a world ruled by reasonable people, after all what sane person would want to play chicken with nukes. However, if some ideologically or religiously driven madman might consider the destruction a good bargain.

I read a good bit of history trying to fill in the deficiencies of my own education. That might be a strange thought since I have a Bachelor's and Master's in history. But I find a lot of details are ignored or skipped over and the details are important. Also the history is presented as a story of progress and continual improvement which makes what has happen seem inevitable. Throughout I read about various crises which were traumatic to the people living through them and which represented a rupture with a political and social order with which people were comfortable--until circumstances changed and it no longer worked. But a new order grew organically our of the crisis and it wasn't anything like what either the rulers of the pre-crisis period or those who rebelled against it wanted. I suspect that the same will happen this time. I wonder what will change, what will be lost and what threads will continue into the future.

So some Democrats are insisting they will not approve the new spending bill with increases in ICE funding. Let's see if they follow through. Given what Trump has with the government so-called budgets I am not sure having the Fed shut down again will have all the disastrous effects predicted. I would feel sorry for those who will be fired or furloughed.  

January 24

Cold, cloudy and intermittent snow. I am looking at the forecast and trying to decide if, probably when, I will get out and get a path to the back gate so I can move the trash tote to the back curb for collection. It is so cold I just gently tossed the last bag of trash I tied up this morning beside the tote because I really didn't want to step outside. I think I will also have to do something about the front walk to the mail boxes. We aren't getting the minimum accumulation of snow that would require the landlord to send out the shoveling crew.

We are avoiding the broadcast news. I prefer to read the news because I don't have to listen to the irritating voices of Trump or his minions. Those just send me into swearing frenzy wishing I could throw something through the screen that would hit them. No such luck. Also by reading the news I don't get all the repetition and the succession of talking heads saying the same things over and over and over and over again.

So what am I finding? Note: I won't link to many of these items. You can find a lot of sources on line. I did.

First up--the story I found on NAKED CAPITALISM citing a UK investigative report from the Guardian describing United Health Care and its "money-saving" (to put it politely) strategies which are potentially (likely) detrimental to the health and longevity of elderly people in nursing homes. The company rang a bell with me so I went looking for more info and found that the U.S. Senate has been investigating that same company on this side of the Atlantic. For the same practices: paying bonuses for nursing homes to NOT transfer ailing patients to hospitals, delaying medically necessary treatment that requires hospitalization and other practices. The accounts almost (ALMOST) made me wish the case against Luigi Mangione would be dismissed. I really do wish we had a corporate "death penalty."

Then there are the poor abused ICE agents who can't find a place to pee in peace. The residents of Minneapolis who are offended by their presence and activities gathering to hassle them when ever the step out of their hulking SUVs and many of the stores and gas stations won't let them in or serve them. Poor babies. Maybe they should wear diapers and brownbag their lunches. Or better yet leave the state.

 Cloudy with flurries this morning. We decided to turn off the TV early and go with a Lord of the Rings marathon. The news isn't new and no one is saying anything we haven't heard before. So it is time to go to the e-mail.

We have heard about food deserts for a couple of decades now. Efforts to bring in grocery stores in low income neighborhoods have pretty much failed. Some of the chains go into an area with great publicity and quietly exit only a very few years later. Most make the excuse that there just isn't enough profit in the effort. This article at Boondoggle makes a different argument. The big chains make sure that no competitor can move in by tying up the abandoned land and buildings in restrictive covenants. I saw this in action about fifteen years ago. A Kmart store in a town north of us closed down when the chain went bankrupt but he land and perfectly good building sat decaying for most of a decade because the no competing retail outfit of any size could buy it or even rent space. In another case in our area a major grocery store closed and built a new, larger store across the street from the old one but refused to allow any competitor to open up in its old space. Several years later the buildings were torn down and much of the parking lot dug up. It is finally, only now, being redeveloped slowly. Evidently some cities and states are getting tired of the mess.

Yves Smith at NAKED CAPITALISM posted this story about a recent U.N report on "water bankruptcy" around the world. U gave been reading stories from various place about water shortages and none of them bode well for either the people directly affected or the broader areas. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the five states that make up the Colorado River Compact have yet to come to an agreement on how to share the water flowing down the river. They have been negotiating for years now. Recently, the U.S. and Mexico had an episode in their on-going argument over water from the Rio Grande which has often run dry along some of its length. But a very, very short snippet concerning who is supporting Trumps moves on Greenland: tech bros wanting space (and water) for data centers. Resistance to data centers which demand a lot of electricity and water is growing in areas where the tech industry is wanting to place them in this country.

January 10

 Some sun today and a bit more than an inch of snow overnight. It is about 5F right now and only expected to top out at about 10F. Much too cold to do anything outside. Tomorrow is supposed to be slightly warmer but still colder. I am considering when to put in an Instacart order. Even when I was much younger I wouldn't go out to shop either today or tomorrow so I don't want to get anyone else out. Wednesday looks like a better option. 

I have already been busy today getting my laundry which has sat in the dryer since my fall last Friday. I still feel some pain on my ribs when I move wrong but it is much better. I got the clothes folded and a piece of Swiss steak cooked. When that cools I will move it to the fridge. I baked it for about four hours at 250F. We won't eat it today. I have meatloaf sandwiches planned for today.

It's MLK, Jr. day and Heather Cox Richardson has a meditation on what makes a hero. I have thought for some time that people in our society expect an inhuman degree of perfection in heroes. And some are inclined to dismiss the title of HERO for anyone who falls short of their definition of perfection. It reminds me of the Parson Weems depiction of George Washington which gave us the cherry tree and "I cannot tell a lie" story. It was a total fabrication.

January 18

 Overcast today with possible snow--not much I hope. I am so tired of the snow and it hasn't rally been a bad winter as far as cold and snow goes. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be very cold. I am recovering--slowly--from that fall I had on Friday. My ribs still hurt and I haven't slept well. So we'll see what kind of attention I can muster. Right now I am very tired and irritable.

I noticed that Trump has chosen to wield his favorite weapons over the last few days: tariffs in the Greenland controversy, and criminal investigations and legal maneuvers in Minnesota. 

He put the "insurrection act" threat for Minneapolis in favor of "investigations" against the partner of the woman ICE killed and the Governor of the state and mayor of the city. None of that has gone over well but it is what the boy does and none of it has worked well for him so far. Remember the Comey and James cases. Both were dismissed and efforts to get a grand jury to indict James came back two times with "no true bill" decisions. The old saying that a good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich has not held up which says something really sad about the quality of either the prosecutors or the evidence--probably both.

Trump's actions over Greenland remind me of the title of the book by his niece: TOO MUCH, NEVER ENOUGH. I haven't read it but that title lays bare his grasping nature. And the fact that anyone who gives him what he says he wants always finds that he will come back with more demands. Just remember the "discussions" with the universities.

In another instance of "stolen glory" Machado gave him her Nobel Medal. She couldn't actually give him the prize as the Nobel Committee noted--that isn't transferrable and never rescinded. And she gave it in a pretty gold frame. We all know how much he likes the gaudy.

This piece by Alley Valkyrie has been simmering in the back of my mind for a few days now. Campism is the tendency to see things as simple black or white, gain or loss, us or them situations. I have seen several ads which tell us that if you support ANYTHING at all about the Palestinians, which are equated to Hamas, you are supporting the rape, murder, abuse of Israelis. I have the habit of muting those when they show up. I don't equate Hamas and Palestinians. I don't equate Israel or Israelis with Jews. When it comes to Hamas and Israel I say a pox on both their houses. There is another old saying: two wrongs don't make a right. And there have been more wrongs on each side than I can count bit damned few rights.

A stray thought on Trump and Greenland: most pundits are hyperventilating about the damage Trump's moves might do to Nato. However, what makes them think that matters at all to our would be dictator? He has take the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, destroyed U.S.AID, abandoned the Paris Accord (for the second time), rescinded U.S. membership in 60+ international organizations (many associated with the U.N. He has been very lukewarm, if not downright chilly, about NATO so if his actions in Greenland ruptures NATO I think he would see it as an added benefit.

 

January 14, 15, 16

 Well we decided that we aren't going outside at all today. We had ten+ emergency alerts just a few minutes ago for a snow squall coming in from Lake Michigan. And they expect high winds with dropping temperatures. I won't even put the trash tote out for collection--it can wait til next week, or even to retrieve mail, if we get any--that can wait til tomorrow.

Bill Astore has a very on point essay today. I remember when the Soviet Union imploded and all the experts in politics, foreign affairs, and military planning crowed about the expected "peace dividend." Well, that never came. We quickly deployed troops for the Gulf War to get Saddam out of Kuwait. That was followed by the next Gulf War, Afghanistan (after 9/11), then Iraq to finish off Saddam. We have been involved in various wars that were never called wars in any formal way. And the "defense" budgets kept ratcheting up. Even as DOGE cut non-defense spending and agencies the budgets appropriations for the Pentagon kept going up. Since the Department of Defense has never passed a credible audit it is very misleading to call their hoard of cash a "budget."

15***********************************************

Bright sun this morning after the clouds cleared out. We got about two inches of snow though the drifts were a bit higher. It is still a bit cold and a bit breezy. I am not as lazy as I was yesterday. Did our usual load of laundry and swept around the cats' feeding area. They are a bit messy with their food. I hadn't intended to use the vacuum but last night I blundered into the small shelves that hold our DVD collection and two of our prize clowns fell off. One came through pretty will with only a bit of the sole of the foot broken off. The other I am afraid did not fare well at all. Unfortunately, it was the one I was most attached to. I remember going with Mom when she picked it out as a birthday present for her mother. It was a multicolor blown glass statue and broke into several pieces. I know from experience that it isn't reparable because I tried to repair a part of it that had broken decades ago--damned careless moving company. That was only one part but I was never able to weld it back to the main statue. Grandma has been gone for nearly 40 years and Mom is 95 later this year. It hurts to lose such a piece of my life but I wrapped up the pieces and laid it to rest in the trash tote.

16********************************************

We have another round of lake effect snow squalls. I managed to get a bill I needed to mail into the mail box but going out to bring in the incoming mail enough snow had fallen that the ice on the sidewalk was obscured. I managed to hit a patch of ice and fell hard. It took me about 10 minutes and two more falls to get my feet under me and get back inside. Luckily I didn't break anything but I will be hobbling around like I am 90 instead of 16. 

January 12, 13

 Sunny today and mild. No precipitation expected til later in the week.

13**********************************************

As you can see I just didn't have much to say about what was on the news yesterday. Since there isn't anything different today I don't know what I will see worth commenting on today. The problem I have is I can't think of anything more to say about the insanity I see. I sometimes think I should learn a new language with some juicy swear words but I would run through those too quickly.

I have been concentrating on tracing the genealogy of my family. I will say that the internet has made a lot of the process much easier since so much is own line. However, I have run into a couple of interesting issues which make me distrust AI and the promises the AI industry is making. Looking up my father's immediate family I was surprised to see the records recorded his parents having several more children than I knew they had. I looked more closely and I found a reference to Pete, Marion, and Jim added to the roster. But Pete was the same as Marion (who was also listed as Carl on another site. My uncle was Carl Marion nicknamed Pete for why I don't know. My mother doesn't know and she is the last of that generation still alive. Jim was double listed with James. They were the same person. I don't know what AI would have done with that but I wouldn't trust that it would have given an accurate list. I am finding other confusing entries which will take research and careful evaluation to sort out.

I heard that Bobby Kennedy Jr. just put out the revised dietary guidelines. The news segments didn't really go into much detail so I looked it up. It looks like a simply 180 degree rotation of the old pyramid that doesn't really change any recommendation of the old one. I will ignore it. We don't eat a lot of meat any way and given how our appetites have shrunk with age (especially Mom's) it isn't really all that relevant. It would be nice if they gave poor families a financial subsidy to afford more fresh fruits and vegetables but you know they won't do that.

Stray thought: the coverage of the unrest in Iran attributed the demonstrations to economic woes. The inflation rate according to some of the pundits was north of 40% and the sanctions are biting. But as I thought about the situation I realized that it isn't so simple. The Iranians are facing a "Polycrisis": a series of concomitant set of crises which reinforce and intensify each other. No one has talked about the water crisis which a couple of weeks ago had Iranian government officials talking about moving the population of Teheran elsewhere--toward the coast was suggested. Only one article mentioned the sever multiyear drought but it is having a major impact. I read and hear more about (unspecified) mismanagement of the economy. That may be but the other factors are very much in play to make matters worse.

Interesting side thought: the Weather Channel had a promotional segment telling people they really should pay attention to the weather. Why? well the weather can raise the energy people need to keep warm (or in other seasons, cool) which raises costs for customers. Also, the droughts (and fires) damage crops reducing yields which means that people have less food available and at higher costs. Oh, and some of those crops feed into ethanol to add to gasoline (increasing costs of gas), or feed the animals that provide meat, milk and eggs that people eat. The prices go up, and up, and up.

This is the only article I have seen that ties the drought in Iran to the inflation in costs of food and the unrest in Iran. They observe that there are other fragile economies that could fail because of adverse weather conditions that cause food shortages. Some of the prepper bloggers I read used to hammer on the fact that most of America is only 9 meals away from riot. Or less because most don't have the minimum of three days of food on hand FEMA once considered the minimum.

January 10, 11

 Mix of snow and rain today and more of the same expected for tomorrow. We had a nice morning watching the FA soccer game today with Sunderland playing Everton. It was finally won by Sunderland after two extra periods of play and a shoot out. That they say never happened before in the FA Challenge. On weekends I try to stay away from the news and politics. 

However, Collin Trent at AMERICA'S UNDOING has some good observations on our current situation. I thought from the start of Trump's term that he was building his own private army with ICE and I heard yesterday that they want to set up some kind of investigative force not answerable to the FBI but to the White House directly to look into "fraud." So are we going to see a "secret police" to complement the private army?

Pissed off comment about the shit I have been seeing about the ICE perpetrated murder in Minneapolis: I would call the piece of crap who said "F###### b####" just after he shot her a son of a b#### but that would insult b####es. I would call him a bastard but that would insult all bastards. I can't think of a form of life so low it wouldn't be insulted by the comparison.

11************************************************

It has been a nice slow day again. Two soccer games were entertaining: Portsmouth vs. Arsenal which Arsenal 4-3 and Real Madrid vs. Barcelona which Barcelona won 3-2. Next weekend the Premier League is coming back. The sun has played tag with the clouds but we haven't had any precipitation since sometime last night. Little of the snow we had stuck anywhere.

I saw an article this morning which said that, in Venezuela, heavily armed militias or gangs (depending on your perspective) are conducting traffic stops and otherwise hunting for Americans. That doesn't sound good or as though it will all that easy for our government to "run" things there. I heard a couple of times that Trump was asked how long we would have to be involved there for more than a year. So much for America First. I don't know how many remember how we were told by the Bush Administration that the Iraqi people would greet our troops as "liberators." The attitude was mixed as people were happy to be rid of Saddam but not at all happy about the presence of foreign troops. It looks like a similar sentiment is prevalent in Venezuela. A point that this administration, I think, never learned is that your goals might be very important and good but the way you get there is also very important.