February 12

 Still snowing. The weather prediction says it should pass by sometime this afternoon. I was feeling fairly good until I got five phone calls in about 40 minutes. Four of them had absolute silence for several seconds before a beep and the call broke off. The one where someone answered wanted my social security information so they could find out if I was eligible for a new program that would pay for my funeral and final expenses. I have also, over the last couple of days received calls trying to get me into the Medicare advantage program that would give me the most "free" services I am "entitled to." Which is a crock of shit because we pay for it through Medicare fees. I am afraid I was very rude. I really am tired of these computer driven calls which are hijacking my phone just as they have hijacked Mom's. Both are now on silent which I don't like because we might miss an important alert or calls from family. End of Rant!

First long piece I read today is this one. I wish I could say that this is the first time I have seen such stories but it isn't. Unfortunately, what is happening in D.C. isn't going to help matters. Before COVID achievement scores for U.S. students had been falling. We have been at the bottom for a long time. Obviously, when people think we are #1 they aren't thinking about children's reading, math, or science proficiency.

So, from the news reports, Trump and his kakistocracy, have thrown Ukraine under the bus Russian tanks and drones. It doesn't surprise me. When the war began I thought an Ukraine win was unlikely just looking at economic and population metrics. Russia had three times Ukraine's population and a larger economy. At the time pundits thought the Russian army was far more effective than it proved to be. Russian ineptitude and countries willing to assist Ukraine financially and militarily allowed the war to continue. Trump has blown a very big hole in that support. But he may, at the same time, chipped a larger hole in our alliances.

February 12

 Watching the snow as it finally has started here, We are in a a winter storm advisory which will last until 3am tomorrow morning. We aren't going anywhere and we have already retrieved the trash tote and collected the mail so we have no reason to go out again today.

I was reading Chris Hayes' new book, THE SIREN'S CALL, but my iPad is loosing its charge rather quickly today. That happens every now and then. I have been considering replacing the device with a Kindle. I recently got a nook for the Barnes & Noble part of my library. but can only access the Amazon part with the iPad. I am still hemming and hawing on that. With the way the economy is going and the chaos in Washington I don't know if I want to make such an outlay right now.

I find it a bit amusing that the price of eggs are rising faster than the judiciary is handing out verdicts against Trumps executive orders. Trump hasn't had much to say about the first since he admitted that bringing prices down is "hard." But he and his lackeys have had plenty to say about judges. Stray thought: I think the Dems are taking the wrong tack in criticizing Trump for not achieving his promise on egg prices. They can't really do anything either. Hitting him harder and more frequently on his attacks on our Constitutional system which deserve flaming condemnation. By the way, my shopping took me to the little independent dairy we frequent and I noticed they still have the limit of two dozen per customer. I didn't look at the eggs section at my local Meijer store. The news segments showing customers at other supermarkets and groceries grabbing up six or eight flats (not dozens) of eggs. Quite a feeding frenzy.

February 11

 Cold and cloudy with a few snow flakes. We are buttoning down for a possible winter storm due tomorrow morning through Thursday. I had thought to put off our shopping until later in the week but reconsidered after looking at the Weather Channel's prediction.  We shop about every three weeks give or take so today was a manor restocking effort. I like to keep enough staples on hand to cook almost anything I normally cook. I don't do much exotic kinds of foods. So I tend to buy a couple of what ever (two cans of baked beans for example) and then put the item on the shopping list when I use the last or next to last item. As I said--today was restocking a number of items we were out of or nearly so.

As I watched the news conference with the King of Jordan and Donald Trump a stray thought came to mind. Trump seemed unable to understand a reporter's question about what would happen to Palestinians who didn't want to relocate outside Gaza. He keept insisting that they would be so happy with new, comfortable, safe homes elsewhere. No matter how the reporters rephrased that question he repeated the same answer and insisted Palestinians would have no "right of return" to a reconstructed Gaza and wouldn't want or need to return. That Palestinians wouldn't want to leave homes that have been thoroughly demolished seemed to elude him. But that is something I have seen before. For some years now a group of Silicon Valley tech bros have been trying to buy up a large part of California and been opposed by people living there who don't want to cash. One of the partners was quoted in an article bemused because people were so attached to their homes. Trump and the Silicon Valley group a representatives of a large part of our population who can't recognize value unless it can be reduced to money or some facsimile there of. For some the phrase "home is where the heart is" isn't just a phrase. It means something tangible--a piece of earth. You don't sell your heart. You don't abandon your heart.

Simplicius made an interesting point on his blog this morning: that Trump's moves have been busily dismantling the "load bearing pillars of the globalist superstructure" which he thinks has been "suffocating the planet for decades." He sees USAID as one of those pillars. I hadn't made that connection. I viewed the extent to which our global has been globalized with a lot of suspicion. Globalization hasn't always been good for individuals or countries. The history of the last fifty years has many examples of the process being harmful to individuals and countries. The responses to COVID. The stripping of industrial capacity as manufacturing was moved to countries with lower cost labor and fewer regulations. The pollution that was exported to those lower cost and less regulated countries has overwhelmed many areas. Globalization has encouraged consolidation of industries which led to massive companies with less accountability to anyone and a lot of political power. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. However, rolling back the process will be messy, painful, and won't be complete--unless our global civilization goes the way of the last one (the Roman) and collapses.

Robert Reich posted this hilarious piece today: a letter from Nixon (in Hell) to Elon Musk.

Ian Welsh also posted an interesting but not at all hilarious article: It's the end of the American Era. Period. 

February 9

 Some sun and some cloudy and COLD. Feels even colder considering the warm January we had. We have been ignoring the news so far this weekend. Things are just so insane it takes a bit to clear my head.

Some observations:

The arrogance of the Trump/Musk administration is beyond belief. Well they did tell us what they intended. Many of us simply couldn't believe they would actually do it. And certainly we didn't think Musk would bring on barely post pubescent boys who think it is great to have been "racist before it was cool" or who seems to think using an internet handle of "big balls" really indicates he is an alpha male or competent.

The courts have, at least momentarily, slowed their assault on our politics and finances. But even if the final decisions of the courts go against them things won't go back to where they started. Either Musk, et al., will simply play the Andrew Jackson card telling the judiciary to enforce their own decisions or they will simply tell their opponents to fix things themselves. They will have broken it but we will have to fix it.

Some things, once broken, won't be fixable. How many of the organizations, governments, or people who depend on USAID will trust it or the U.S. again? How many of the farmers who sold their crops to USAID will recover from the losses they are suffering and will suffer? And how many other things will be broken because USAID has been shattered? The U.S. has become very unreliable  on several fronts. For decades we have been told we are and  have had the appearance of being the leader on the international stage. "Leader of the free world." "Leader of the world's democracies." Not so much, I think, anymore. Trump may be a big fish but his pond has become smaller. Maybe that is why he keeps hallucinating about adding Greenland, Canada, and/or Gaza to the U.S.

One of these days I might stop being surprised by the myopia of experts. A couple of days ago I was watching a segment on CNBC where their guest opined that the U.S. economy was not likely to slide into recession. He talked about a strong job market, a strong stock market and a couple of the usual metrics solely relating to the rarified economics. He never considered how Trump/Musk mucking around with the government agencies and firing people might affect the job market. Or how breached contracts might contract the economy. Or how foreign affairs cockups might destabilize the world economy and ours.

Similarly, all those who bitch about the price of eggs don't seem to realize that bird flu is raging and producers have lost tens of millions of birds over the last year alone. And that isn't something either Republicans or Democrats can do anything about. I was somewhat amused by the reports of thieves stealing 100k eggs recently. But I remember when a warm winter caused a drop in maple syrup production and thieves hit shippers for the syrup. I am sure you can recall similar episodes over the last few years.

February 5, 6

 Overcast and cold--barely above 30F right now. The weather people say we may get a wintery mix of precipitation going to freezing rain by tomorrow morning. We don't have to go out until next week.

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

Overcast and icy this morning. The mail box was covered in ice and a couple of spots on the sidewalk nearly sent me sprawling on ice I didn't see. Nearly because I don't move as fast as I once did and was able to regain my balance. I spent the usual couple of hours doing some needlework, making coffee, fixing breakfast and washing dishes. That punctuated by reading. I finished Madeleine Albright's HELL AND OTHER DESTINATIONS yesterday. It was a thoroughly enjoyable autobiography. Just started Henry Kissinger's THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS. I will read that in small bites over, probably, the next year--it is 1800+ pages including all of the notes, etc. at the end. I will put a couple of shorter books in as well.

Also I still have a long list of sites I normally read when the authors post. It is a bit shorter because I spend a bit of time purging some sites that either aren't interesting to me any more or aren't what I expected them to be. 

First off this morning I found Brian Merchant's "Government by Grok" on his BLOOD IN THE MACHINE site. I am not a great fan of automation or AI. I won't be using Chat or DeepSeek or any of those programs. And I am VERY skeptical of allowing Elon Musk to run rampant in the government systems. There is simply too much information that he should have access to. I don't like the thought that he can simply turn off systems and lock people out. Unfortunately, the rapid growth and adoption of AI and other systems is probably a tidal wave we can't avoid. All we can do I try to mitigate the harm or inconvenience it will cause.

The Trump/Netanyahu press conference amazed me with its lunacy and self-serving crap. To say that Trump's notion that the Palestinians should "be moved out" and then the U.S. could build a Riviera on the eastern Mediterranean is so ridiculous you would have to laugh it anyone but the addled President of the U.S. proposed it. Of course he insisted the he had talked to the Egyptians and Jordanians and they were enthusiastic. I heard that and wondered if someone had slipped Trump something mind altering in his Diet Coke. They have consistently and strenuously refused to allow more Palestinians into their countries just as Palestinians have strenuously rejected the notion of leaving in spite of the rubble surrounding them. And for Bibi to call that asinine suggestion an example of "thinking outside the box" is even more ridiculous. It is an old way various rulers have dealt with a rebellious or fractious population. Look up the Jewish Babylonian Exile. Or look at the Roman removal of Jews after putting down the 135 c.e. rebellion. I could go on but why? The media talking heads are saying he is walking that back some.

Stray thought: the news said that about 20k workers who were offered the "buy out" have opted to take it and the administration hopes that by tomorrow that number would reach 40k. I would guess that two groups of employees might be tempted (in spite of all of the questions about legality and who is offering the money). The first group would be older workers who are close to retirement and are don't want to put up with the crap dished out by DOGE. The second would be young workers who don't have a lot invested in the job/career yet and want to cut their losses. That is just a guess but that would follow from what happened in the wake of the Pandemic and recession.

Another stray thought: I remarked some time ago that the Donald Trump who campaigned for the presidency in 2016-17 was not the Donald Trump who campaigned in 2019-29 and certainly was not the Donald Trump who ran in 2024 and is now President. It is like watching an image fading over time. He has lost more than a few levels of physical vitality and mental acuity. The only attributes that have strengthened are his sense of victimhood and desire for retribution. And his disregard for Constitutional limits.

February 3

 Hazy this morning and the temperature should go into the low 50s. Won't stay there long. Been a busy morning so far. Got some stitching done on the embroidered table cloth. And we are doing laundry. We originally thought to do it Saturday but, as we say here, you know what thought did--not a damned thing. The news this morning has been focused on the tariffs. Stock markets around the world dropped and people are speculating on what is going to happen. The speculative camps are divided between those who think that the talks between Trump and his counterparts will come to an agreement that will cancel the whole thing. Evidently the Mexican President has been satisfied enough to put her country's countermeasures on hold for a month. The two plane crashes have gone on a back burner. I looked at the stock market which has trimmed its losses in hopes that the whole thing will go away.

In the mean time, Musk has evidently, according to various stories, gained control of the government payments systems. That and the purging of various government employees (FBI as an example) is worrying on an entirely different level. Two observations: first, Trump plays the bully on the international front. Basically he punches his opponents in the gut and as they straighten up says "Now let's talk about your pretty face." I don't know how long before someone or several someones come up and smash him in the mouth, metaphorically. Second: it is all a distraction here at home because as our attention is on more distant, maybe threats his "co-president" is taking over key agencies here. There is an old saying that there are many ways to skin a cat and I would say there are many ways to create an economic catastrophe.

February 2

 Well, it is a cloudy Groundhog Day and so far the Pennsylvania groundhog, Phil, predicted six more weeks of winter. Other such rodents might have other prognostications. It is supposed to be cooler after tomorrow which should register a balmy 50F. Then we go back to normal or near normal (in the mid 30s). It has been a nice weekend so far. Yesterday we spent watching soccer all morning and a hockey game in the afternoon. Today the Six Nations Rugby Tournament begins. So far we watched France crush Wales and now Scotland came back from a near death experience as Italy tied things at the half. They won 31 to 19. We have one more game, Ireland vs. England, and then we will go to the speed skating. I noticed that the schedule for tomorrow has a Premier League game tomorrow afternoon. Anything to avoid being irritating by the so called news.

Dave Karpf has a good Substack post on how things are going to crap faster than he thought possible. Normally I wouldn't use the word "crap" but I am trying to get away from swearing. (Part of why I am avoiding the news.) Did anyone notice that Musk minions went to the government office that disperses government payments demanding that they be given access to the computers. Needless to say they didn't have clearance. The official in charge told them no and to "f---off" when they persisted before he resigned. My first thought was "Oh, s##t. They would have all of the bank routing numbers, account numbers, social security and corporate id numbers, for anyone, individual or corporation or whoever, who gets government payments." They could decide to suspend payments to anyone they don't want to pay and, perhaps, claw back payments already made. For years, decades even, presidents have asked Congress to give them the power of a line item veto and they have been denied. We don't need an unelected, unaccountable "first buddy" mucking up the system.

So Trump followed through on his threat to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. From what they were saying last night 25% tariffs are to start Tuesday on Canada (l10% on Canadian fossil fuels) and Canada while China is only hit with 10%. Canada's outgoing Prime Minister announced tariffs an a number of American products we export to Canada and Mexico is mulling a similar response. Haven't heard anything about China's response. I hope some of these countries learn that the only way to handle a bully is to punch him in the face. I wonder how much Trump's minions, especially in the lower classes, like paying more for their winter tomatoes, peppers and other veggies. They are usually grown in Mexico, Southern California and Florida. With the weather problems in Florida and California not much will come from those areas. I had hoped that Columbia would have told Trump to "f##koff" on the military transports but they simply decided to send their own military planes for migrants. That only encourages Trump.

Update on the rugby game: Ireland 27--England 22.