Morning Update: 09/05/24

Morning Update: 09/05/24

September 5, 2024

No Place Feels Safe [2012 original with AI background]

Parents everywhere are holding their kids a little closer before sending them off to school this morning. Yesterday’s shooting in Winder, Georgia was a grim reminder, just as the school year is getting started, that schools are not the safe place they once were. We have no guarantee when we put them on a bus in the morning that we’re going to see them again that afternoon. Despite shooting after shooting, there is no resolve across America to take any definitive action to stop the problem. Local officials had investigated after the then 13-year-old made threatening statements against the school last year, but laws were too weak to support making an arrest at the time. And here we are, again, going through the motions of grieving, offering empty thoughts and prayers to parents and families who want to know why this keeps happening.

Georgia wasn’t the only place where danger was felt yesterday, though. A man was shot and killed in his own home yesterday around 1:00 PM, just across the street from the kids’ school. The email we received from the school reads: “Moving forward, we are implementing additional measures to enhance the security around our school. These actions include increased monitoring of the surrounding area, close collaboration with local authorities, allowing students to stay inside the building during dismissal until parent pick-up, and reviewing our safety protocols to ensure maximum effectiveness.”

While it was nice to receive some reassurance from the school, there are still questions unanswered. At the top of our minds is what, if anything, is being done to keep kids safe as they’re waiting for public transit to pick them up. A significant number of students ride IndyGo both going to and leaving the school. Their school isn’t the only one that utilizes the public transit system, either. In fact, Tipper mentioned again yesterday afternoon that the bus driver taking them to school yesterday morning was concerned that he might get in trouble because there were too many students on his bus for it to be safe. Bus drivers have complained and requested booster buses be added to the schedule, but nothing has been done. Just traveling to and from school is putting our kids in danger.

Politicians and school administrators are always quick to tell us that our kids are important to them. Where’s the evidence? A list of mass killings just this year is too long. This is an election year, the one time we can do something that might lead to a change in the number of shootings at schools, churches, and shopping areas. If you have any questions about that matter, I can promise you that the Felon isn’t going to risk upsetting Second Amendment supporters. I’m not convinced Democrats will do any better, either, because they haven’t. Regardless of what anyone says, the lack of concrete action proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that our kids really are not that important to them.

I don’t know what else to say. I’ve sat here before and ranted on the subject and it never does anyone any good. Nothing ever changes.

One fact I do know: I’m not getting any better. The evidence for that statement came yesterday when I asked Kat to drop me off at our local Kroger. Yeah, I know, Kroger is a big-time price gouger, and they’re trying to convince everyone that their merger with Albertson’s is going to lower prices for consumers. The problem is that Kroger is the only local store that carries sugar-free bread. No one else has it. Trying to order anything online from Kroger is a pain in the ass. There are always too many substitutions and the ending price never seems to line up with what you were anticipating. So, Kat dropped me off while she ran to Aldi’s. I picked up her prescriptions, my bread, some milk, and a couple of other things we needed. I was in the store for maybe twenty minutes.

I should have left ten minutes sooner. I was just leaving the milk aisle when I began feeling light-headed. I looked around for a place to sit and rest, but there wasn’t one. There never is in a grocery store. So, I kept going. Kat picked me up, we came home, and we started putting the groceries away. Twice I came close to falling. By the time I made it back to the recovery room, I was so dizzy I couldn’t see. I fell into bed and passed out. I ended up staying close to bed for most of the rest of the day. Even this morning, I can feel the pressure behind my eyes telling me to take it easy. Today’s another day where I don’t need to be doing anything more strenuous than walking across the hall.

My friend Rich had his port put in yesterday. He has another CT scan today and then the radiation starts. He’s in for a long road to recovery.

My friend Emily is resting at home after her surgery last week, and that’s where she’ll stay for a few weeks. One doesn’t just bounce back from body-altering surgery.

Another Facebook friend, who I’ve not met in person, is waiting for results back from a biopsy. She’s not expecting good news.

September is Leukemia Awareness Month. The blood cancer generally occurs in adults over age 55, but it is also the most common form of cancer in children under 15. This is supposed to be a disease that one dies with, not from. There are plenty of people who have recovered well and are going on living happy, busy lives. But we learned from Poppa’s situation over twenty years ago that not everyone gets a happy ending. Cancer is always going to suck. Right now, it’s sucking pretty damn hard.

Sitting here at my desk every morning, I read through some important news stories. US warned Nippon its U.S. Steel bid poses a national security risk. Pope Francis calls for climate change action during Istiqlal Mosque visit. Wildfire destroys 20% of Brasilia forest, arson suspected. These are all important stories that unquestionably will affect our future. Yet, I don’t see any real action resulting in change.

Instead, I see that the Felon’s new crypto business could create more conflicts if he’s elected president. US job openings fall as demand for workers weakens. Right-wing influencers were duped to work for covert Russian influence operations. Republicans Seize on False Theories About Immigrant Voting. At a Fox News town hall, the Felon sought to instill doubt that the coming debate would be fair. He’s said the same thing about the election as well. The doubt being sewn becomes fruitful too easily because it’s what we’ve come to expect with everything. We don’t trust the government. We don’t trust politicians, or anyone running for office. We don’t trust corporations. We try to trust our doctors but we don’t trust the pharmaceutical companies that make our medicines. We don’t trust the food we buy, nor the people selling it. We don’t trust our employers. We don’t trust our neighbors.

Perhaps the problem is that we’ve created a society that, at its very core, is its own cancer. And everything about it, like every other form of cancer, sucks.

You know what doesn’t suck? The source of the two big, black eyes staring at me from across the bed. Puppy dog snuggles never suck. They’re both flopped across the mattress acting as if they’re waking up from an all-night drunken binge. For dogs, it’s cute.

And Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty, just hopped up on the desk to say, “Hey, I’m cute, too!”

He most definitely is.

So is this coffee cup. Very cute. Very demure.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 09/04/24

September 4, 2024

Every parent harbors an unspoken fear of something happening to their children. When that moment comes, or it possibly has come, one has to make a decision on how to react. G tested our response yesterday, though he was never in any real danger and arrived home without our help. The “unexpected adventure” started simply enough. “I’m going to explore more of bus route 15 since I have more time today,” was the text he sent me a little before 4:00 yesterday afternoon. I told him that was fine. Having a good knowledge of the bus route is never a bad thing. But then…

When the bus got to the end of the route, he got off. The next bus heading back into town wouldn’t be there for another hour. So, G decided to walk to the nearby Home Depot and explore there for a while. Not finding the store very stimulating, he decided to walk the bus route back, catching the bus at a different stop along the way. While walking along the route, though, he was struck by a sense of nostalgia as he remembered some of the neighborhoods from when his school bus went through them. He detoured to explore a little bit.

As he walked, G’s phone died. He looked around for a public place where he might plug in his charger for a minute, but he was surrounded by retail stores, none of which were conducive to finding an open outlet. He decided to keep walking. And walking.

I didn’t grow concerned until I stepped outside to start the grill for dinner, around 6:30. I sent him a message, but got no response. To some degree, that’s not unusual. G doesn’t live with his phone in front of his face like some teens do. He frequently misses messages completely. When he still wasn’t home and I hadn’t heard anything by 7:00, though, it was time to call Kat. We discussed our options for a moment. We didn’t want to overreact. Still, we both know that Indy’s not the safest place to walk. Over 100 pedestrians were hit on the streets here just in August. After talking it over for a while, Kat decided she’d head back in from Fishers to look for him. I planned to take the meat off the grill, put Hamilton in a harness, and start walking from this direction.

As I was about to take the meat off the grill, I looked up and saw G coming down the sidewalk. I called Kat to let her know that he was safe. G trotted the rest of the way home and jumped the front fence. He had walked the entire six-plus miles from the end of the bus route. He came in, plugged in his phone, called his mom, ate leftover tacos, and fell fast asleep. Our boy was safe. We breathed a sigh of relief.

By this point, Tipper was already asleep as well. I ate my dinner alone, watched a couple of short documentaries, and went to bed thankful that we hadn’t become a statistic in the number of families who lost children. We’re fortunate that G’s a sharp kid and keeps his wits about him even when a situation doesn’t go exactly as planned.

Not everyone’s day ends on a good note. Four people who were killed on a Chicago L train on Monday were likely asleep when they were shot at close range. A Mountain lion attacked a 5-year-old at a Southern California park. Boko Haram militants on motorcycles attacked a Nigerian village, killing over 100. An 11-Year-Old Is Charged in Killing of 82-Year-Old Ex-Mayor and His Daughter. An Ex-Doctor Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in New York Woman’s Suicide. And all that is without considering those killed in continuing wars.

We know that the world is a violent place. We live with the hope that the violence stays away from us, but statistically, we’re all eventually victims in one form or another. None of us get out of here without harm coming to us. This is the reality of the human condition. No, it’s no worse now than it was 100 years ago. The mode and means have changed, but the world has always been like this. If nature isn’t trying to kill us, we’re trying to kill each other. The world has never been safe.

We’re not necessarily the smartest creatures on the planet, either. Another boat carrying several dozen people appears to be making another attempt to cross the English Channel seemingly to Britain from northern France just a day after 12 migrants died. An Oregon hospital was hit with a $303M lawsuit after a nurse was accused of replacing fentanyl with tap water. A Philadelphia woman who was driving a partially automated Mustang Mach-E was charged with DUI homicide.

We also fall for stupid shit. Posts falsely claim video shows Harris promising to censor X and owner Elon Musk. China-linked ‘Spamouflage’ network mimics Americans online to sway US political debate. And Clearview AI was fined $33.7 million by a Dutch data protection watchdog over an ‘illegal database’ of faces.

I know you won’t take the time to click all those links. Hell, it’s rare that anyone double-checks me at all. Do you really trust me that much? Should you? I’ll keep providing the links because no one should take anyone at their word on important matters. That’s what allows us to get stuck with the stupidest of politicians in office.

Speaking of, the Times has an interesting conversation going on in their Opinion section this morning. David Brooks writes How Trump Wins (and Harris and the Democrats Blow It). Then, Ross Douthat counters with How Harris Wins (and Trump and the Republicans Blow It). Next, Thomas L. Friedman enters the fray with How Netanyahu Is Trying to Save Himself, Elect Trump, and Defeat Harris and Thomas B. Edsall winds matters up with Why Is the Presidential Election This Close? You’ll blow most of an hour reading all four pieces, but you’ll be better for doing so.

I wonder if any of us truly know what we’re doing. Maybe we’re fooling ourselves, creating an illusion of competency so that we’re not depressed by the depth of our inadequacy.

Or, maybe we just need more coffee.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 09/03/24

September 3, 2024

Remember, today is Tuesday, not Monday. This happens every time we have a Monday holiday. Trying to keep the days straight this week will be a challenge for many of us. It doesn’t help any that yesterday felt very much like a Sunday. Kat and Tipper were both sick so we didn’t go anywhere or do anything special. We slept. All of us. Naps for everyone! I don’t consider that a bad thing. I am pretty sure that napping was to everyone’s benefit. Tipper is still largely unable to talk, so she’s staying home from school today. I’m not sure yet how Kat’s feeling.

I don’t think we were the only ones who had a quiet holiday, though. The neighborhood was Sunday-morning silent pretty much all day. The most exciting point came when my new readers were delivered. Granted, the fact that I opted for colors rather than basic black or tortoiseshell is kind of a big deal, but when that’s the biggest news coming out of our weekend, it speaks to how boring and unadventurous we are. What might be worse is that none of us really care that we’re boring and unadventurous. I think we all like it that way.

Tipper did manage to ask an interesting question this morning. “Have you ever been in the news?” I dodged the question because yeah, I’ve had my picture in small-town newspapers as I was growing up. It was always related to something I was involved in at school, though, such as a musical or a band contest. “It’s usually not a good thing when you’re in the news,” I told her.

“What if you, like, set an Olympic record or something?” She asked.

I stared at her a moment then said, “Look at me. What Olympic record do you think I have any chance of breaking? Even Paralympians are better athletes than I am.”

“Okay, but maybe you could set a world record for something,” she countered.

“What would that be? Snoring?” I said.

“You do snore pretty loud,” she said. “Like 86 decibels or something. Google and see what the record is.”

We did. The record is 111.6 decibels, kind of like having your house buzzed by a jet all night long. Tipper declared that such a level was “stupid crazy” and that it wouldn’t be a good thing for me to break that record. While I suppose that there is probably some little-known record that I could break if I really tried, that would fall under the heading of being interesting and adventurous, which we just don’t do very often.

Much of this morning’s news is more of the same. Israel, blah, blah, blah. Ukraine, blah, blah, blah. A lot of re-hashing of events with headlines that start, with “Understanding that thing that happened two days ago.” The articles take up space but are of little use. There are a couple of things worth mentioning, though.

If you’re older than I am or a fan of early 1960s beach movies, you might be interested in knowing that James Darren, aka Moondoggie in the ‘Gidget’ franchise, died at age 88. The three movies made him a teen heartthrob, which he later translated into a career as a director of television series like ‘Beverly Hills 90210.’ He was one of those guys who was “always cool,” according to his family. He was supposed to have had heart surgery but was not well enough for that to happen. Don’t be too surprised if the ‘Gidget’ movies show up on streaming platforms.

Joey Chestnut Set A New Hot Dog Eating World Record. Why? Because some people find adventure in stuffing their face and getting paid for it. Being a holiday weekend that traditionally involves a lot of grilled hot dogs, I guess it was inevitable that he would pop up at a contest somewhere. And what is the record? 87 hot dogs in ten minutes. That would be another record that I won’t try breaking.

With two months left, Harris and the Orange Felon will devote most of their campaign time to just seven states. Thank the Electoral College. While it was meant to balance out influence across the states, it’s one of those aspects of the Constitution that just doesn’t work well anymore. There have been too many elections where the popular vote is rendered irrelevant by the Electoral College. I get it, if we went with the popular vote, most elections would be decided by people on the coasts. Yet, is that any worse than it being decided by people in seven states? I’ve been waiting my entire life for someone to make this a large enough issue to invoke change. It comes up every four years, but nothing ever happens.

Oh, but the Felon is convinced that he had ‘every right’ to interfere in the 2020 election. I’m not kidding. That’s how he’s framing the whole mess, including the January 6 storming of the Capitol. This creature is fucking insane to even consider making such a statement. Why, oh why, oh why can he not just go away? Why are people encouraging this insane behavior? Oh yeah, because stupid enjoys stupider.

Cooler weather is upon us, but don’t be putting up that winter wardrobe just yet. While it’s currently only 54 degrees in Indianapolis, by Wednesday temps will be back up in the mid-80s. We’ll see another cool weekend, which is perfect football weather, but there’s not much chance of rain in the next ten days or so. We might see a stray shower or two on Friday, but one has to be thinking optimistically to put much stock in that forecast.

Don’t forget: it’s Tuesday. You have to go to work.

Right after one more cup of coffee.

Current Issues / Holidays / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 09/02/24

September 2, 2024

Ending A Long Summer [2012 original with AI background]

Cooler temps prevail this morning as a strong cold front from the North hints at the coming autumn. I don’t know of anyone who is complaining. Days like this are comfortable, with plenty of opportunities to get out and enjoy the holiday. Both twins and Fat Guy, our eldest cat, are helping me write this morning. The dogs are still curled up, sleeping away, showing no signs of wanting to go out. Kat and the kids are still asleep even as the clock approaches the 8:00 hour. I think we’ll make the most of everyone having a day off.

G helped me get all the brush loaded onto Grandpa Bob’s trailer yesterday. The task didn’t take too long. We then took the time to spray pet-safe weed killers around the fence line. The spray we’re using is 20% vinegar, so for a while, the yard smelled like the inside of a pickle jar. I didn’t bother asking Tipper to join us. Trying to get her to do anything outdoors is frustrating. I assigned her to do the dishes instead, which is a chore she doesn’t mind doing. We got everything out of the way early so they could chill the rest of the day.

I did have a rather weird nightmare this morning. It involved me attending some kind of conference held on the campus of a Christian university somewhere in Southwest Texas. I’ve no idea what the conference was about, but there were several friends and acquaintances in attendance. The nightmare part involved going to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. The place was odd for several reasons, not the least of which was the massage room that sat between dining rooms. Without getting into details, matters did not go well and it was well after curfew before I made it back to the dorm in which we were staying. Oh, and I was wearing Tipper’s orange furry tail the entire time. It was just bizarre.

With it being Labor Day, there are a couple of strikes going on that are worth mentioning. One is a housekeeper’s strike at major hotels in eight large cities in the US. Workers in other cities and chains are scheduled to join the strike later this week. The problem is more than just wages, which are stupidly low. Since COVID, there has been a shortage of housekeepers. Hotel chains have attempted to make up for this by offering guests the option of not having daily cleaning. That has backfired, though, as uncleaned rooms often take considerably longer to clean once the guests leave. This has resulted in housekeepers being overworked, expected to complete an impossible cleaning schedule before the next round of guests arrives.

The second is a general strike in Israel as people there are furious with Prime Minister Netanyahu for not agreeing to a previous cease-fire that would have released hostages before they were killed. The general work stoppage across the country affects almost everything, including air travel in and out of the country. The group behind the strike is older than the country itself and carries a lot of influence within the government. It will be interesting to see if Netanyahu continues to dig in his heels as internal pressure grows.

DirectTV users might as well go outside and play today. They lost access to all Disney-owned channels as a contract dispute between the two companies struggled to find a reasonable agreement. The problem is that the majority of Americans are better served without the old cable providers. That’s been true for a number of years now. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of rural areas where satellite-based service is more cost-effective than high-speed Internet. Disney makes more money off their streaming services, so obviously they’d rather emphasize that revenue stream. Since the number of DirectTV users is a small fraction of total viewers, there’s not a lot of motivation for Disney to give in. Of course, as always, it’s the customers that lose.

The Associated Press is floating a story this morning that AI may not steal many jobs after all. It may just make workers more efficient. Having read the article a couple of times now, I think there’s some merit to the thesis, but to make a claim that workers don’t have to worry at all about being replaced by AI is short-sighted. There are some industries where workers will benefit, to be sure, but there are plenty of others where workers will be replaced. The employment market is too broad to be making such a global statement of this kind.

Germans are feeling a bit nervous this morning as the country’s far-right party won a state election yesterday. While there’s still some question as to whether the majority parties will allow the far-right to participate in actually governing, the mere fact that they won the election has some worried for the future and others fearful of repeating the past. The country has worked hard to put its fascist Nazi heritage behind them. There are even laws designed to prevent them from ever coming to power again. Still, the fear that there are people in Eastern Germany who voted for the party is disturbing.

There is an interesting guest essay in this morning’s Times. While the Felon has made the claim that Harris would “take away your hamburgers,” this writer makes the argument that the Felon’s immigration policies would be what removes hamburgers and other meats from the market. The meat packing industry relies heavily on immigrant labor, which the Felon wants to stop. If he wins and implements such plans, the price of meats would, at the very least, rise well beyond affordability for most families. If workers can’t be found, some meats could disappear from the market altogether. Given the amount of burgers being consumed by Americans on holidays such as this one, I’m not sure that losing meat is a risk anyone wants to take.

That’s enough reading for today. The weather is too beautiful for any of us to stay inside. Solaris just turned off my desk lamp (seriously, he did), so that seems like a pretty good indication that I should stop typing and get on about the fun stuff, like napping, since there’s still no one else awake.

Too bad there’s not a football game to watch.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 09/01/24

September 1, 2024

Once Upon A Car [2013 original with AI background]

Saturdays that can be chill moments for everyone are good for the soul. No one was rushing around to get out the door early. Everyone was able to move at their own pace. G worked on a sewing project he started earlier this week in the sewing club. Tipper went over to a friend’s house and hung out most of the afternoon/evening. Kat went to work around 11:30 and then to Brandon’s for the weekend. I got to watch football. If every Saturday this fall can be as restful, we’ll all be a lot healthier. The only one who’s being ornery is Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty, who is determined to either sit directly behind me in my office chair, or directly in front of the monitor while I’m typing. Right now, he’s nudging my coffee cup, encouraging me to get a refill so he can take my seat.

Football was exactly what one would expect from the first game of the season. Everyone who was supposed to win, all the top-ranked teams, pretty much blew out their opponents. OU and Oklahoma State both won. IU and Purdue both won. Georgia and Tennessee both won. None of those games were even close past the first quarter. I was a little surprised that UCLA seemed to have a rough time with Hawai’i, winning with one of the lower scores of the day, 16-13. And how the hell did tiny little Abilene Christian manage to stay so close to Texas Tech? Tech won, barely, 52-51. A score like that indicates that neither team had any defense on the field. I kinda felt sorry for Akron’s starting QB. Akron got a 3-0 jump on Ohio State in the first quarter, but then OSU came roaring back and was absolutely pummeling Akron’s QB. After only four plays into the third quarter, the poor dude limped off the field, never to return to the game. I would imagine he’s reconsidering his career choices this morning. Ah, football.

Speaking of football, it’s the first Sunday in September. Why the hell aren’t the pro teams playing today? Oh, I get it, it all has to do with where the season ends and how the playoff games hit the calendar. Still, it seems odd to not have any pro games to watch today. Of course, San Francisco is probably happy about that after rookie Ricky Pearsall was shot during an attempted robbery yesterday afternoon. Pearsall’s in stable condition this morning and the 17-year-old assailant is in jail.

Someone tried calling me at 11:36 last night. I was so dead asleep that I never heard the phone ring, which is saying something since the ringer was set high while Tipper was out. Local number, not in my contacts list. If that is you, please let me know. My guess, however, is that it was a wrong number.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the hot seat this morning after the bodies of six hostages were recovered. Evidence shows that the hostages were all killed shortly before they might have been rescued. Israelis are blaming Netanyahu for not having signed an earlier cease-fire that would have returned the hostages while they were still alive. It seems the world has grown tired of this senseless war. It’s time for the whole thing to end.

There’s a deeply disturbing story in the Sunday Times. Acadia Healthcare has been holding people against their will to maximize insurance payout. Acadia operates a chain of psychiatric hospitals. Their patients are essentially held captive until the hospital decides to let them go. Attempting to leave a psych hospital without proper authorization can get a person arrested in most states. This gives Acadia the leverage they need to hold patients longer than legitimate treatment would require. The story leaves me wondering just how many other psych hospitals utilize the same method. I’m thinking a nationwide investigation is necessary to get to the bottom of the issue.

Labor Day weekend is when we allegedly celebrate the working person and the advantages brought to the workforce by organized labor. Our adoption of the 5-day, 40-hour workweek was a fundamental change for workers around the world. We may be losing our edge, though. Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek. As hardworking as US people are, Japanese workers break the scale. They even have a phrase (that doesn’t translate well) for working yourself to death. If Japan ends up embracing the 4-day workweek, that will put pressure on all other industrialized nations, including the US, to match the schedule. While a few US companies have tried adding an extra day to the weekend or other variations, no major company has fully adopted the concept and stayed with it. We’ll all be interested to see how this plays out.

You know, I still haven’t found those readers that disappeared yesterday. I did find an old, wire-rimmed pair that sits loosely on my face, so I’m getting by. I’m still baffled by where they could have gone.

I need to get moving, though. There’s some yard work that needs to get done before the temp gets too high. The humidity is suffocating so putting things off works against us.

I think I need another cup of coffee first, though.

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Morning Update: 08/31/24

August 31, 2024

Taking A Bite Of Summer [2011 original with AI background]

Sure, we’re running a little late this morning and yes, it is intentional. I didn’t want to get up. I imagine that several other people feel the same. With the storms that went through last night and a forecast full of maybe-it-will, maybe-it-won’t scattered showers, staying in bed and cuddling with the pups seemed like the most expedient thing to do. Besides, there’s no big breaking news story this morning and nothing dramatic going on here at home. Taking the weekend a little more calmly is an intelligent move, in my opinion.

I’m missing my readers, though. They’ve disappeared. They were sitting on the desk earlier this morning when I fed the cats, and now they’re gone. They’re not behind the desk or on either side, which is the natural first place to look. I can’t imagine either of the twins grabbing them and running off with them. They’ve both stuck pretty close this morning. I’m completely mystified. Fortunately, I can get by without them for most things. As long as I’m not facing any small print, we’ll be okay. I’m pretty sure I have a spare pair around here somewhere.

One thing I have noticed more this week is how fragile my skin has become. It seems that the slightest brush against anything results in bruising, and a faint scratch is enough to draw blood. My most frequent injury comes from the dogs. As they try to get my attention to take them outside, they’ll put a paw on my arm. They’re not being aggressive in the least, but almost every time I get outside, and discover that I have blood running down my arm. I don’t feel the scratch, but it’s there and it will leave a scar. My arms are covered with them. I know this is largely a natural part of aging, with some inherited traits thrown in. Once it is cool enough to wear long sleeves, the problem with go away. The whole issue just highlights how fragile I’ve become.

Speaking of fragile, there’s an interesting story in today’s Times. It seems that the weight loss drug Wegovy reduces instances of death from COVID. Mind you, it doesn’t prevent anyone from getting the disease. However, patients who are on the drug are significantly less likely to die. The problem? No one currently understands why the drug is having this effect. Without understanding the why, it’s almost impossible for doctors to know when/if it is safe to prescribe the drug as a treatment. Studies are underway, of course, but it could be a while before any resolution is found.

Here’s something interesting. Are your kids, especially your daughters worried about getting wrinkles? Apparently, that’s a thing, and it’s causing problems. As young people, we’re talking 11- and 12-year-olds, start watching social media influencers for tips on keeping their skin looking younger, they’re inadvertently doing more harm than good. For starters, all those adult-dosed chemicals, “can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring.” Oh, but that’s not all. “Extensive data suggests a fixation on appearance can affect self-esteem and body image and fuel anxiety, depression and eating disorders.” As I look around and see entire generations suffering from those exact issues, I wonder if we’re accidentally dooming our kids to more problems by not teaching them to love themselves as they are.

In stranger news, an Arizona office worker was found dead in a cubicle 4 days after last scanning in. This happened at a Wells Fargo facility in Tempe. Apparently, the 60-year-old woman worked in a “less populated” area of the building. No one noticed when she didn’t scan out. No one noticed anything until, presumably, the fragrance of rotting flesh became dominant. Not even the housekeeping staff noticed. What does that say about the Wells Fargo work environment? How can someone be dead in their cubicle for four days before anyone notices? Did no manager stop to check on her? Did no one swing by to chat? This story, which is short on details, is both sad and frustrating. Corporate America sucks.

You may or may not remember hearing of a film named “The Apprentice” last May as it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. You’ve not seen in it theaters, though, because no one in the US wanted to distribute it. The biopic of a young Orange Felon has been threatened with lawsuits by the Felon himself, which caused most companies to stay away from it. Well, that has now changed. Briarcliff Entertainment will release “The Apprentice” on Oct. 11 in U.S. and Canadian theaters a mere two weeks before the November 5 election. We already know that the film is not flattering to the Felon. The question is whether it might sway any voters at the last minute. I certainly don’t think it will affect his base, but it definitely could influence those waiting until the last minute to make a decision.

Then, there’s the delightful fact that Brazil is now blocking access to the entire X (formerly Twitter) platform. A Brazillian judge has ruled that the platform is spreading unchecked misinformation. Elon Musk, surprising absolutely no one, has balked at the order to provide some oversight. In my slightly elevated opinion (I elevated it myself), this is a win for people in Brazil. No one needs X in its current chaotic form. There’s no way to rely on anything posted there. Scams, fakes, and stolen accounts are all over the platform and Musk, screaming about freedom of speech, refuses to do anything about it. Intelligent people are using @Threads instead.

If you have time for a slightly longer read, Jennifer Szalai takes on the question of whether the Constitution is a danger to itself. While we necessarily worry about Project 2025 and what it could mean if Republicans get the presidency or a congressional majority, Szalai finds that some of the biggest issues that could end democracy as we know it lie within the Constitution itself. If you have a spare six or seven minutes, it’s well worth taking a look.

Of course, college football starts today. I’m going to try and watch as much of it as I can. What that actually means is that I’ll most likely catch 10-15 minutes here, a quarter or two there, and the rest will be game highlights after the fact. It takes an incredibly good football game to keep me awake for four quarters and this early in the season, few of the games are ever that good. I’ll give it the ol’ college try, but be aware I slept through a lot of college, too.

I’m trying to not let the gray skies dampen my mood this morning. The disappearance of my readers still has me mind-boggled, though.

Maybe more coffee will help.

Current Issues / Holidays / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics

Morning Update: 08/30/24

August 30, 2024

Here we are at the beginning of Labor Day Weekend. Is anyone besides Kat still going to work today? I know this has long been one of those weekends where people often take off work on Friday to give themselves a four-day weekend, but with schools starting at the beginning of August now, and schools are definitely in session today, only those who are childless or have preschoolers will see any benefit from the extra day of vacation. Today is still hot, too. For the Midwest, rain is coming, and behind that dramatically cooler temps. Grilling out might be a comfortable option this weekend. The weekend’s football games should be fun as well.

Plumbers replaced the hot water heater yesterday. The company sent out a couple of twenty-something guys. They did a good job. I have no complaints there, but they definitely took their time doing it. I think they were hoping that by not finishing until 4:00 they might not be sent out on another call. The big test will come later this morning when I take a shower. Is the pressure high enough? What adjustments to the temperature have to be made at the faucet? There weren’t any leaks when they left, but several minutes of continued use will let us know for sure that the work is solid. I’ll definitely be glad to get back to a normal schedule around the house.

The few people who have been to our house in the past seven years know that we don’t use the front door. The reason we don’t use the front door is because five litter boxes are sitting in front of it. However, bringing a water heater in through the back wasn’t going to work. There’s not enough room. As a result, I had to move all the litter boxes and clean the floor around where they had been sitting so that we could use the front door.

The cats found the open front door curious. No one was surprised when Fat Guy, our eldest, tried slipping out. He’s always the one who wants to go explore. The one that caught us off guard was Gabby, a gray tabby about seven years old. She’s not been outside since she first came to us. Kat went out with her as she carefully, cautiously explored the yard. She was out for roughly twenty minutes and seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit. We’ll see if she continues to want to go out. Pinball was the only cat who had to be shut in a room by himself.

After all the adventure and commotion of this week, I’m hoping that we can play the weekend in chill fashion. I don’t think the kids will mind. They’re both pretty tired as it is. In fact, G thought he was lying down for a short nap and ended up sleeping all night. Tipper’s been on again/off again with her meds, so her sleep schedule is all messed up. I’m hoping that the weekend gives them both a chance to reset. I’m pretty sure I’ve been going on adrenaline all week. I’ve missed too many naps, stayed up late too many nights, and even missed some meals along the way. Getting back on a routine schedule is important. I might even sacrifice a football game for a good nap.

There’s really nothing in this morning’s news that warrants my comment. I didn’t watch last night’s interview with Kamala Harris. The reviews I’ve seen are mostly positive, so I’ll let that bit go for now. Israel and Hamas are on a three-day pause as the World Health Organization administers polio vaccines across Gaza. One case is all it took for medical officials to hit the panic button. The Orange Felon is still riling musicians around the world by using their music in his campaign. The fact that no one wants to be associated with him should be a clear signal as to how unfit he is. Most everything else is a continuation of existing stories.

No one is complaining that the world isn’t burning up as quickly as it normally does. A little bit of a cool-down is good for everyone. The biggest concern is probably whether local violence numbers will take a jump. Families getting together isn’t always a good thing, it seems. We hope that everyone leaves their weapons at home and focuses on having a good time.

Groceries are being delivered soon, so I’m gonna run. Have another cup of coffee. You deserve it.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/29/24

August 29, 2024

The saga of “what’s broken now” continues. Yesterday, the plumber finally arrived to fix the outside spigots. I had managed to stay awake all morning waiting for him. Fortunately, Kat was home by the time he finally gathered everything he needed and started working. He managed to finish shortly before the kids arrived home from school. This should stop the constant flow of water outside the house and lower our bill dramatically. The only real challenge is that I’ll have to actually watch and refill the water bowl the dogs use outside.

Today, the same plumber returns around 8:30 this morning to replace the water heater. Why? Because when he opened the closet where the water heater is, looking to turn off the water for the house, he noticed that there were multiple leaks. There wasn’t any question about it. Water was dripping everywhere. This repair is going to be more of a big deal. Chances are pretty high that he’ll have to take the water heaters in/out of the front door. You know, the one we never use because five litter boxes are sitting in front of it. I asked G to clean up around there last night, but I noticed this morning that there’s still a bit of work to be done before they get here. I’m typing as fast as I can.

Kat made a wonderful dinner last night! I have to take a moment and brag. She’s been making homemade chicken broth for the past couple of weeks so that she has soup to take to work with her. The side effect of that was that we had extra chicken breasts that needed to be cooked. The chicken, the wine-based sauce, over very nice rice, beat out any restaurant that I’ve been to. I’m not sure the kids appreciate how lucky they are that their mom is such a wonderful cook.

There’s a lot that kids don’t notice about their parents, though, such as how tired and rundown they get trying to take care of everyone. Everyone knows that being a parent has never been easy, but now it’s been codified. The US Surgeon General made it official that being a parent is bad for your health. Cue the childless cat ladies who are now grinning from ear to ear. This puts a spotlight on how parents are treated at work, the difficulty of getting time off to care for sick kids, the need for personal days away from the kids, and the overwhelming cost of childcare. The entire report is here if you’re interested in reading it.

Have you been following the whole kerfuffle over the Orange Felon’s campaign taking pictures at Arlington Cemetery on Monday? I’d been largely ignoring it because, at its core, it’s just another incident where the Felon is showing disrespect for the military. he’s good at that. The only reason he was even at the cemetery on Monday was trying to score political points over the way troops left Afghanistan. Now, it seems that cemetery officials had warned the campaign beforehand that they were not allowed to take pictures. That takes away the “we didn’t know” excuse. Don’t be surprised, though. This whole campaign is built on lies and deceit. Expect it, but don’t fall for it.

SpaceX had a boo-boo and now it’s grounded. Literally. the FAA grounded all Falcon 9 launches pending an explanation of why one of them fell over and burst into flames while landing. This immediately affects a number of planned launches, including that one where the billionaire is going to try walking in space. No one was hurt in the accident and peripheral damage was minimal. Still, after having completed several successful missions where the returning rocket didn’t fall over, having one do so raises some serious safety questions.

Journalism took a serious hit yesterday. A Hong Kong court on Thursday found two editors of the now-defunct Stand News media outlet guilty of conspiring to publish seditious articles in a case that has drawn international scrutiny amid a security crackdown in the China-ruled city. Stand News was once a beacon of what a Free Press could do. As China has increased its chokehold on Hong Kong, though, those freedoms have been severely stifled. Be sure that China wants this case to serve as a warning for anyone else who might want to challenge its dominance over the city.

China hasn’t exactly been playing nice for quite some time. Yesterday, a top Chinese military official told White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that the US needs to stop “colluding” with Taiwan. China desperately wants to reunite Taiwan with the mainland. Taiwan, however, doesn’t want to go and the US has long held that China doesn’t have the right to take away their independence. I think it’s pretty certain that the US response to China will be a big “fuck you,” only in more diplomatic language.

Greedy investors caused AI stocks to stumble a bit yesterday after chip maker NVIDIA posted gains that dramatically beat forecasts, but not as much as investors had hoped. Mind you, the company reported a net income of $16.6 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, net income was $16.95 billion. Revenue rose to $30 billion, up 122% from a year ago and 15% from the previous quarter. The problem? “Well, it wasn’t as much above forecasts as other quarters have been.” Greedy much? Growth forecasts for the entire industry are still quite strong. There’s plenty of time here for investors to squeeze out insane profits and buy all their yachts before there’s even a hint of a downturn.

I wish I had something pithy and cute to end with this morning, but there’s nothing really that interesting in this morning’s headlines. The rain that seemed inevitable yesterday morning never developed, staying well to our North. Our next chance for moisture comes with the cool front moving through Friday night. We’ll see how that goes.

I have to get things moved around for the plumber now, so you take the day and run with it, okay? It’s all you. No pressure.

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/28/24

August 28, 2024

The colonoscopy is done. Everything looked fantastic. No polyps needed to be removed. Everything looked good. In fact, apparently, they had a cancellation because I was back in the surgery room well before my scheduled time. We were out of there a little after 10:00 and looking for cheap food. I don’t have to go back for another one for five years. The only potential concern I saw was that my weight had dropped 18 pounds since last month. In theory, that could signal another uptick in my white blood cell count. My weight isn’t too low, though, so I’m not going to worry about it at this point.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for our air conditioning. We noticed that it had stopped cooling during the night but assumed that it had just frozen up and would be fine after being turned off for a while. Wrong. So, we called Grandpa Bob. Bob called the people who installed the AC. They said their after-hours technician would be by after he finished the job he was currently on. We waited. And waited. The temperature inside the house went up to 89. The sun went down. We were still waiting. The kids went to bed, G choosing to sleep on the floor where it was cooler. Still waiting. Finally, around 10:00, my phone made noise, but Verizon’s spam filter cut it off before I had a chance to answer. Cue a couple of rounds of phone tag as it turns out the AC company’s numbers are all on Verizon’s spam list. Around 10:30, the technician arrived.

A burned-out capacitor was the problem. Some four-hundred-plus dollars later, the AC kicked back on. There are plans in the work to physically move the location of the AC as its proximity to the house may have contributed to the capacitor’s demise. I went to bed a little after 11:00, significantly later than my normal bedtime of 8:30.

Through it all, my biggest concern was the dogs and our mane coon hybrid, Jack-Jack (the kids are adaptive, though they complained constantly). Jack’s heavy fur makes him susceptible to heat. He stretched out on the tile floor in the living room and seemed to be okay. The dogs were having a more difficult time. They refused to not be in the same room as me. The Recovery Room is carpeted, so there’s a limit to how cool the floor gets. They lay there, stretched out as much as they could, panting heavily, and frequently getting up to drink water. I knew the AC had cooled the house significantly when they both finally jumped back onto the bed. Everyone seems to be fine this morning.

After all that, you’d think I’d be anxious for a rest day. That’s not going to happen. While Bob was here yesterday, he noticed that both of the outside water spigots were constantly dripping. So, he called the plumber and they will be here sometime this morning to replace both spigots. That’s going to mean turning off the water for an undetermined amount of time. That’s also going to mean shutting the dogs in the Recovery Room. A few years ago, we ran off one plumber from the same company because he was afraid the dogs were going to jump the gate between the living room and the kitchen (they can’t, they’re too fat). My biggest fear is that they’ll look at the 80-year-old pipes and declare that the whole mess has to be replaced. We’re crossing our fingers that the solution doesn’t involve thousands of dollars in new plumbing.

At least I get to eat.

With everything going on here at home, I’m not overly worried about the mundane aspects of this morning’s news. A few things are sticking in my craw, though.

Home improvement chain Lowe’s is scaling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, joining the ranks of a few other companies who have altered their programs since the end of affirmative action in higher education and amid conservative backlash online. This kowtowing to right-wing nut jobs is infuriating. They’re letting the online trolls win. Mind you, the people who are making the most noise don’t know one end of a hammer from the other. They’re not actually shopping at any of the companies they target. Yet, they’re effectively killing jobs and making the US a more inhospitable and inequitable place to live.

Investigators are looking at whether UN World Food Program staff sought to hide the alleged role of Sudan’s army in obstructing aid. That anyone would block aid to starving people is unconscionable. That the people responsible for delivering that aid would cover up the crime is just as bad. Bad actors have no excuse and should be given no assistance in committing their crimes. People all across Sudan are dying because of the nonsense going on there. That the agencies we depend on and financially support are involved in the lies and deceit is inexcusable.

The US isn’t the only country with a far-right problem. Eastern Germany is finding that far-right factions there are both making hiring difficult for business and causing problems for renewable energy. The far-right is hoping to gain some ground in upcoming elections, so they’re flexing their muscle. Remember what happened the last time the far right came to power in Germany? The entire reason the country was divided between East and West after WWII was so that they couldn’t become a global threat again. The world hailed the reunification of the country as a sign of progress and peace, but now it would seem that the original concerns might have been more accurate than anyone cares to admit.

If you’re a Lego fan, as I know my older boys are, be prepared for a price jump on those building blocks. Lego has announced that they’re replacing the oil-based plastic with a biodegradable version. The problem with that is the price tag is considerably higher. The popular blocks we all played with as children, and many as collectors, have never been cheap, but no one is expecting Lego to eat the increased production costs, despite the fact that the company is outperforming the overall toy market in Europe and the US. No one is sure when that price jump will hit retail stores, but stocking up on those collectible kits might not be a bad idea.

The Mormon Church is going after transgender rights again. They’re now prohibiting anyone even considering transitioning from working with children and prohibiting those who have transitioned from being baptized. The percentage of Mormons who are trans isn’t necessarily high, and anyone who has looked critically at the faith largely considers them to be more cultish than a legitimate religion. Nonetheless, they are far too public an entity for this type of action to not have repercussions throughout the trans community. Feel free to shame them.

If you had any remaining concerns as to whether Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was a complete nut job, I think the case has just been sealed. According to his daughter, Kick Kennedy (seriously, that’s her name), the fool “chain-sawed the head off a dead whale on a beach in Hyannis Port, Mass., bungee-corded it to their vehicle’s roof, and drove it five hours to the family home in Mount Kisco, N.Y.” She first told the story in a 2012 interview in Town and Country magazine, but now the political arm of the Center for Biological Diversity, a progressive environmental organization, is screaming for an investigation.

Another youth football player has died from injuries sustained on the field. This season is getting off to an especially rocky start as the number of injuries overall appears to have increased. Of course, it’s too early for there to be any hard numbers behind that assumption, but there seems to be plenty of cause for concern. Not that I expect every parent to pay attention to those concerns. Why? Travis and Jason Kelce just signed a $100 million podcast deal with Amazon. That along with a litany of stories of NIT wealth at the college level, obsessed parents are pushing harder than ever to make sure their kids are the ones bringing home the bacon. As long as there’s money on the table, greedy parents are going to treat their kids dirty, health and safety be damned.

Speaking of sports, have you ever known a major-league player to play for both teams in a game? It happened Monday as catcher Danny Jantsen played for both the Red Sox and the Bluejays in the resumption of a rain-delayed game from two months ago. The issue is that Jantsen was playing for the Bluejays when the game was originally scheduled. During the interim, he was traded to the Red Sox. So, he appeared on both teams’ rosters. You know that has to make scoring the game a bit difficult.

On the upside, Dolly Parton is at it again, sending books to five-year-olds in 21 states and a growing international participation as well. In many states, her Imagination Library has the ability to reach every child with new books before they even start kindergarten. In a world full of greedy sons of bitches, the 78-year-old singer is a shining example of one using their privilege to help others.

That seems like a good place to stop this morning. We’re expecting heavy rain with a chance of severe weather across the Midwest this afternoon, but that’s not going to do anything to bring down the record-setting temps. That makes me all the more thankful that we have the AC back up and working.

I never have liked iced coffee, but if they hadn’t fixed the AC I’d be considering it.

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal

Morning Update: 08/27/24

August 27, 2024

This morning’s update is going to be short and to the point. I’ve not eaten anything since Sunday. I’ve not had anything to drink since 5:00 AM. I spent the night going back and forth between the bed and bathroom. I can’t have any coffee. There should be no surprise that I’m grumpy, short on patience, and ready for this whole colonoscopy thing to be over. The prep for these things is never fun, but this time around seems more aggravating than the last.

The news isn’t much different than yesterday. Israel. Hezbollah. Ukraine. Russia. China seems to be begging for a fight. The insurgency in Pakistan grew worse and 70 are now dead. Sicily is without water and the “capitalists” are taking advantage.

That’s about all there is. Let’s hope tomorrow is better.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/26/84

August 26, 2024

Hot Even At Night [2011 original with AI background]

Today is prep day for tomorrow’s colonoscopy. Only clear liquids today, and then the all-so-lovely “cleanse” starts this afternoon. I’m looking over the instructions and realize that I forgot to order Dulcolax tablets, so I’ll have to hunt those down this morning. We’ve done this before. Most anyone over 50 and a lot of people over 40 have been through this ordeal. It’s never fun. I warned G this morning that I’d be controlling the bathroom this evening. I would have told Tipper but she did not want to talk with anyone this morning. I rather feel sorry for her teachers today.

We did what we could with the lawn yesterday. There’s still a bit of trimming I’d like to do today, but the entire Midwest is under a heat advisory through Wednesday, so I’m not sure anything will actually happen. I just took the dogs out and it didn’t feel too oppressive, but there’s no breeze so once the sun is fully up the heat will take over quickly.

Am I the only one who feels as though August has gone by terribly slowly? It seems as though the kids have been in school forever at this point. While I was outside, the school bus that the kids used to ride passed by the house. The driver honked and waved. I’m sure Tipper would rather have Ms. Theresa drive her to school than take the city bus. She’s not enjoying public transit and is disappointed she doesn’t have an alternative. Kat told her yesterday that she could go ahead and begin studying for her driver’s exam, but she doesn’t want to drive, either. I’m not sure what our princess expects, but she’s pretty much stuck with the city bus, at least until her brother learns to drive.

I’m not all that anxious for either of them to drive. Being teenagers is dangerous enough and this morning’s headlines just drive that fact home. An 11-year-old was killed and four others, ages 13 and 15 were injured over the weekend when the car they were in ran into a tree. Police are not sure who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident, but obviously, none of the kids were old enough to be driving. Given the aggressiveness of drivers today, I’m not sure 16 is all that safe of an age for one to be driving. Kids have always pushed boundaries, I get that, but now it seems that danger is chasing them more than it once did.

Not that one has to be in a vehicle to get hurt. Friday night was the first football game of the season for a lot of high schools. No one thinks much of a football game being all that dangerous. Coaches and high school athletic associations have done a lot to make the game safer for everyone. But yet, there’s still that random chance, and this past Friday, that chance hit an Alabama quarterback who died from his injury on Saturday. One bad tackle. The injury wasn’t intentional, of course. But one school is mourning and at another school a young man is dealing with the fact that his tackle accidentally killed someone. I’ve seen this before. Everyone loses.

There are a number of newsworthy things that are supposed to happen today, but none of them have started yet. I’m looking at pages filled with rehashes of yesterday’s headlines. How many different ways can one say that the Gaza war is expanding to include Hezbollah in Lebanon? There’s no real question at this point, it’s happening. I’m still waiting for China and Taiwan to get into a tussle as well. They’re playing war games and sooner or later there’s going to be a provocation that likely gets the US and Japan involved. Then, who the fuck knows what’s behind the murder of 31 people in Pakistan? People were yanked from cars, buses, and trucks only to be executed by insurgents who then burned the vehicles. There’s no way to make that kind of brutality make sense.

What does make sense? There’s a tough question to answer. When I think of everything that friends are going through right now, perhaps the answer is ‘nothing.’

At least coffee’s on the list of acceptable things to drink.

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/25/24

August 25, 2024

There’s nothing I’d rather do this morning than go back to bed and back to sleep. I’m tired. I know the kids are tired. The dogs are so tired they didn’t even touch their breakfast this morning. The cats… well, they sleep all day anyway so it’s rather difficult to tell. Nonetheless, it would be nice to have a day off, but we can’t. We’re not done with the yard. There are at least two to three more hours of work to be done. We were hampered yesterday by my short-sightedness. The cord I had purchased for our electric mower was too short and only allowed us to reach about half the yard. When I realized the problem, I ordered a new cord but it didn’t get here until after 11:00 and by then it was already too hot to safely be outside. So, we get to finish everything today.

I was also wrong about college football starting yesterday. I mean, technically, it did as Georgia Tech and Florida State played in Dublin. A good friend and Tech alum was in Ireland for the game and kept everyone updated with Facebook posts as Tech won the game with a field goal in the fourth quarter. Everyone else doesn’t start until next Saturday, though. Perhaps I’ll be able to clear my calendar and watch some games live this time.

After napping for a couple of hours, my friend Emily picked me up, and we went to her house out in New Palestine for a party honoring the demise of her breasts as she’s facing a double mastectomy in the morning. On the way over, we talked about all the emotions that come with such a decision and perhaps the biggest question of all, “Is it worth it?” There’s no way to treat cancer without inflicting some manner of trauma on the body. For her, it’s surgery. I chose two years of chemo. Everyone’s experience is different, but the emotions and questions are all the same. Fighting cancer involves sacrifices you never wanted to make. We cry. We scream in anger. We feel depressed. And all those admonitions to “keep going” and “stay strong” feel meaningless and useless when you can literally feel life draining from your body.

Not everyone survives. We all know that. We trust our doctors to guide us toward the best decisions. They all tell us what the success rate is. But we know those numbers mask individual tragedies. Before my father started radiation for melanoma, the oncologist told him there was a 96% success rate. Six months later, he died. He was one of the four percent who didn’t make it. I know others, former classmates, friends, spouses of friends, all who did exactly what their doctors told them and they still didn’t make it. Every cancer patient knows someone for whom the medicine wasn’t enough. Those stories linger in the back of our minds and even when we’re trying to be brave, when we’re trying to put on a good face for family and friends, those stories still nag at us and cause us to wonder if maybe we’re next.

Cancer treatment has come a long way since Poppa died over 20 years ago. I’m not sitting here with an IV of poison stuck in my arm. Success rates are higher than ever. Treatment options have expanded greatly. Even when radiation is necessary, it takes half the time that it used to. But for people like Emily and Rich and me, there will always be moments when we ask ourselves, “Is it worth it?” And we’re never quite sure of the correct answer.

There is tragedy everywhere. Israel and Hezbollah traded heavy fire before pulling back, jolting a region braced for war. I think it’s safe to say that efforts to avoid the war expanding have failed. Thirteen are dead after a boat capsized off Yemen, a migration agency says. But there were no billionaires on board, so it’s not likely that anyone will open an investigation. 2 separate bus accidents in Pakistan left at least 35 people dead. A flash flood on Indonesia’s eastern Ternate Island swept away buildings and left 13 dead. The shooting death of a 16-year-old girl by police is among a spate that’s upset Anchorage residents. A Mudslide in Thailand’s Phuket kills 13. Wildfires rage in sugar cane fields in Brazil’s southeast. Asian migrants have been trapped for weeks in Brazilian airport limbo. Uganda confirms two more cases of mpox. Those are just from today. There will be more tomorrow.

So, we look for things to distract us. The Sunday edition of the New York Times is always a good source of distractions. Here are some stories from today’s paper:

The Christian Persecution Narrative Rings Hollow (6 min read)
Daffy Donald, Turning Pea Green With Envy (4 min read)
Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Tradwife? (5 min read)
What Sex Therapists Wish You Knew (5 min read)
David Copperfield Vanished. The Problem of His Penthouse Remains. (7 min read)
Battle-Hardened Poets Fuel a Literary Revival in Ukraine (5 min read)
Nude Diplomacy: ‘Whatever Happens in the Sauna Stays in the Sauna’ (4 min read)
Soaring Insurance Costs Could ‘End’ Affordable Housing, Developers Warn (6 min read)
The Bitter Fight Over the Meaning of ‘Genocide’ (6 min read)

All of those articles together still won’t eat up an hour of your time. We look for movies to watch, books to read, games to play, and chores to do (if we can’t find anything else). These serve little purpose other than to take our minds off pain, misery, and the increasing feeling that existence is futile. Eventually, usually when you’re lying in bed trying to fall asleep, the questions come back. How many times will I fall down tomorrow? Will I still throw up everything I eat? Will I ever feel “normal” again?

Cancer sucks.

It’s a damn good thing there’s coffee.

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / pop culture / science / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/24/24

August 24, 2024

On The Town [2011 original with AI background]

Friday was a better day, healthwise, than was Thursday, but my stomach was still a bit tentative so we were careful and stayed close to the bed to be safe. The animals certainly don’t seem to mind and I suppose it does a good job of keeping me out of trouble. I’m having more trouble maintaining a sense of time and place, though. Most frequently, I forget what day it is and have to consult my watch or my phone to keep me somewhat grounded. Even this morning, I first woke thinking it was Friday, not Saturday. I don’t think I was the only one, though, as both of the kids were up shortly after me.

Perhaps it’s just a sign of age, but I’m concerned about how rapidly friends are being diagnosed with cancer. Another friend revealed yesterday that he has stage-3 colorectal cancer. He’ll start five weeks of radiation soon. The husband of another friend was recently diagnosed as well. He’s looking at five-and-a-half weeks of radiation. Perhaps we’re paying for all the red meat we’ve eaten, the lifestyles we’ve lived, or other not-so-wise choices we’ve made. Maybe the natural course of being human has us caught in the cancer web. As I prepare for another colonoscopy this week, I find that I’m hoping all the chemo I’ve been taking has kept anything from growing anywhere else. I’m not sure chemo works that way, but until someone tells me differently, I’ll hope.

There’s a lot on the docket today. First up is the lawn. No one gets out of helping. Everything has to look neat and clean by Monday. That work will necessitate an overdue shower, which I’m rather eagerly anticipating. Depending on how schedules work out, I’m going to enjoy the first Saturday of college football and watch at least part of the Akron-Ohio State game. Finally, I hope to spend some time with a dear friend who’s facing a double mastectomy on Monday. That sounds like a lot when I list it, but trust me, I’ll be sure to get my naps in.

One of the things I look for when going over the morning news is what events are most likely to affect me or those I care about. Lately, every time I see the word Oklahoma in a headline, my heart sinks. I grew up in Oklahoma. I still have many friends there. This morning, it popped up in the AP feed twice. The first story is how Oklahoma classrooms seem to be ignoring the State Superintendent’s order to teach the Bible in all classes. School districts have been offered guidance from law firms that represent them, the state’s Attorney General, and the state’s largest teachers union, the Oklahoma Education Association, that the superintendent doesn’t have the unilateral authority to issue such a requirement and that the edict is unenforceable.

At the same time, though, an Oklahoma teacher lost her license to teach after giving her students the QR code to the Brooklyn library as a source for reading banned books. The firing was more performance on the part of the state board of education. The teacher involved now works for that same Brooklyn library in New York, so revoking her license to teach is mere pettiness, which the state’s superintendent is good at. What’s sad in all this is that students are the ones losing. Oklahoma education is near the bottom of the country now. It didn’t use to be that way. When we graduated 45 years ago, being from Oklahoma was a source of pride. Now, it’s a liability.

I did get a little excited when Nestle, one of the biggest food companies in the world, unceremoniously dumped Mark Schneider as its CEO yesterday. Schneider has been vicious in raising the cost of food since the COVID-19 pandemic, but that hasn’t been enough to satisfy greedy board members. Mind you, don’t look for any prices to drop voluntarily. Nestle is bound and determined to squeeze every cent out of every resource they can find. They are one of the primary reasons Kamala Harris is targeting price gouging in her campaign. Anything bad that happens at Nestle makes me happy.

Space is in the news a couple of times this morning. NASA will announce today whether the Boeing capsule is safe enough to bring its astronauts back home, or if they’re stuck up there until next year. I can only imagine how nerve-wracking this ordeal has been for the two astronauts and their families. The first private spacewalk is on the schedule for next week as SpaceX is sending up a new crew with new technology. There’s definitely reason to be concerned for their safety. In addition to new “slim” spacesuits, there’s no freaking airlock on this spaceship. The fact that one of the “astronauts” is a billionaire probably doesn’t bode well for the crew, either, as the universe seems to have a habit of slapping their egos back into place when they do something stupid. Let’s hope this doesn’t end in tragedy.

The sadistic side of me is laughing at a story in this morning’s New York Times. It seems that as women continue to make great strides, now earning more college degrees and being the breadwinners for their families, Many Gen Z men feel left behind. Actually, it’s pretty much those young men without college degrees who are complaining. They feel that the economic odds are stacked against them. As a result, they’re turning to the excuse-maker-in-chief, the Orange Felon, as their hope for the future. They want a more “traditional” patriarchy, with all the misogyny and sexism that their grandfathers exploited. Perhaps you can understand why I’d just as soon give the bunch of them a middle-finger salute.

Okay, there’s too much to do today for me to continue sitting here. There’s still plenty to read this weekend, so enjoy the time where you can!

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/23/24

August 23, 2024

Midwest Morning [2011 original with AI background]

Somewhat to my own surprise, I’m still alive this morning. There were moments yesterday when I wasn’t convinced that would be the case. I’m assuming at this point that I contracted some manner of stomach bug that left me thankful that the bathroom is right across the hall from me. I’m feeling tentative still this morning, but I’ve been up for an hour now and haven’t puked, so let’s take that as an improvement. Since I spent most of yesterday either in bed or in the bathroom, I have no idea how the kids’ day went. I’m pretty sure we were all three asleep by the time Kat got home last night.

The dogs, however, managed to provide a story to share this morning. As construction on the house next door continues, the pups have a habit of running over to the fence and checking out what’s going on. There was extra noise yesterday as heavy equipment was digging trenches for the gas and water meters to be installed. So, I wasn’t surprised when I let them out the back door and they bolted around the side of the house. But then, I heard a different kind of barking than what they normally give the construction workers.

“No, no… Gigi! Come back!” was what I heard. I stepped around the house in time to see a young Irish setter running as fast as she could back toward her home. The sudden appearance of our dogs scared the living daylights out of the pup and she wasn’t going to stick around to see what happened next. She slipped her collar and took off. As a young woman chased after her, a man was trying desperately to keep a second setter from doing the same thing. In desperation, he yelled, “Why did we come this way? The sign on the gate says ‘Beware of Dog!'” He finally got his dog under control and headed back home.

The boys, of course, came trotting over to me with smiles on their faces, proud of themselves for having scared off what they saw as potential intruders. I could only laugh. I can’t count the number of times our dogs have been the ones who slipped their collar and started running. That’s the primary reason we use front-fastening harnesses on them now when we take them for walks.

Naturally, all the news this morning is focused on Kamala Harris and the last night of the DNC. There were some highlights, such as Kerry Washington and Harris’ grandnieces teaching DNC attendees how to pronounce Kamala. But there were some slips and problems as well. There was also a lot of attention on Tim Walz’s son, Gus, after Ann Coulter, a wicked bitch if ever there was one, made fun of the young man for openly crying as his Dad accepted the vice presidential nomination Wednesday night. Advocates for special needs individuals came out of the woodwork in support of Gus all across social media. The convention was the easy part, though. Now, the real work begins to convince fence-sitting voters to vote for the Democratic ticket, and that may not be an easy sell.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. tried to take some of the attention away from the DNC by hinting that he would drop out of the race today and support the Orange Felon. While the press did take note, it doesn’t seem that voters cared. It also raises the question as to whether increasing the number of crazy people in the GOP’s campaign is going to increase or decrease the entertainment value.

What seems to have slipped past most major news outlets is the Secret Service’s abrupt interruption of an interview the Felon was giving. While the story popped up all over aggregator’s feeds yesterday afternoon, none of the mainstream outlets picked it up, raising the question of whether it actually happened or not. None of the websites still carrying the story this morning can exactly be trusted, and NewsNation, who was conducting the interview, is far from being above creating a sensational headline for their own benefit.

The security detail that is concerning comes from Germany where security was stepped up at a NATO airbase in response to an “Increase in threat level.” This came just a day after the FBI Director said that he’s never seen so many different kinds of threats. Put the two together and perhaps there’s reason to be lowkey worried about what’s going on. At the moment, there’s a lot of focus on Iran, partly because of their hacking of both campaigns and also because of the continuing war in Gaza. That doesn’t mean they’re the reason for the status change at the airbase, though.

Religious tyranny jumped to the forefront yesterday as the Taliban published new laws that bar not only women’s faces but also their voices in public. Are we surprised? No. This is a return to the exact situation that existed in Afghanistan prior to 9/11 and the subsequent invasion by American forces that temporarily toppled the religious extremists. What bothers me is not only the severe human rights violation but the fact that it was in this environment that the whole 9/11 plan was formulated. We have to be on alert and not be so cocky as to think it can’t happen again.

In lighter news, The biggest diamond in over a century is found in Botswana — a whopping 2,492 carats. The rock’s as big as the palm of your hand, so trying to put it on someone’s finger is probably a bad idea. And a second set of giant panda cubs has been born in Berlin. This means that within a couple of months, we should be seeing plenty of videos of the cuddly little cubs rolling around and making us smile.

Okay, I still haven’t puked this morning, but I’m questioning whether it’s safe to eat breakfast and take my meds. Nothing hurts quite as much as vomiting up a chemo drug. I’m weighing my options carefully.

Hey, it’s Friday! Smiles, everyone! Smiles!

Cancer Update / Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/22/24

August 22, 2024

The letter we’d been dreading all summer finally came yesterday. Its message is too familiar: clear the weeds from your yard or we’ll charge you $2,000 to do it. Kat looked for our lawn shears and couldn’t find them, forcing us to buy more. She and G then took to the lawn while Tipper finished cleaning the litter boxes and I stayed in bed trying to not puke. They got a lot done, but there’s still more along the outside of the fence line that needs cutting. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do with everything they’ve gut down. Some of the polk weeds had gotten rather large.

I’m not sure what’s up with all the nausea of late. There was a widely-published story yesterday about an article in Lancet stating that eating red meat more than twice a week may be a primary cause of type 2 diabetes. If this proves to be true, my death may be more imminent than previously imagined. While we’ve been substituting ground turkey for much of the ground beef we use, I still like a good, old-fashioned hamburger. Mexican food? Yeah, there’s going to be beef or pork there, too. And who can go without barbecue ribs in their life? I definitely need to make some kind of adjustment somewhere, though. The number of days where I struggle to eat is becoming too frequent.

This morning I’m fighting a headache on top of the nausea. Solaris is helping me type, taking on some of the proofreading duties. The only problem with that is his tail keeps moving the mouse across the screen, causing extra windows to pop up. Of course, part of the issue is that there’s no good way of knowing whether my symptoms are from the chemo, the diabetes, the hypertension, or something that has yet to be diagnosed. They all blur together in this mess where the symptoms are too common across everything to pin down a specific cause. There’s a lot of trial and error going on here.

Get ready for prices to take another jump and no, there’s nothing the Biden administration can do to stop it. This time, it’s caused by a work stoppage on Canada’s rail lines. We’ve seen this coming all week but were hoping that they might find a last-minute agreement. They didn’t. This is going to affect a lot of US shipments for everything from food to construction materials. Since this disruption was telegraphed, my guess is that some prices have already increased to offset the slowdown. We can only hope that the matter is resolved before we start seeing shortages in critical supplies.

Misinformation reared its ugly head again yesterday, and this time it was so convincing that even Reuters and NPR were fooled. The story, which was seen all over social media, claimed that the Orange Felon was in talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, the former asking the latter to not sign a cease-fire agreement until after the election. Another variation had the same conversation taking place with Russia’s Putin. Both are completely false. NPR’s veteran reporter Judy Woodruff apologized for repeating what she had assumed to be legitimate news. Mind you, this did not come from either of the presidential campaigns. These are foreign players who are doing their best to create chaos. Yesterday, they won.

Misinformation is only one of the challenges the US currently faces. FBI Director Christopher Wray said yesterday that he is “hard-pressed to think of a time in my career where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once.” Cybercrime, AI, deliberate misinformation, and outright terrorism are all on the table at levels that would probably keep everyone awake at night if we only knew what was happening. The question in my mind this morning, though, is why Director Wray chose now to make such a statement. Be sure that he has a reason. I would assume it’s a fear that with such a firehose deluge of threats, something could slip through. Issuing an open warning now gives the FBI an excuse if something does happen.

Speaking of warnings, a US government report says fluoride at twice the recommended limit is linked to lower IQ in kids. First, let’s say this again, IQ tests are not a solid measure of a child’s capability. Their validity is severely limited and plenty of children who score low go on to do great things. Something else to consider: report findings are not based on a survey of anything in the US. Tests were conducted in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Mexico. Floride in the US water supply is tightly controlled to not exceed recommended levels. However, the report is still important as children can still get an “overdose” of fluoride from other sources. One more thing for parents to worry about.

Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz sounded exactly like what he is, a football coach, as he spoke at the DNC last night. Phrases like, “Leave it all on the field,” and “It’s the fourth quarter and we’re down a field goal,” were just a few of the football references in a speech that was reminiscent of a half-time pep talk in a championship game. The crowd in Chicago was excited, as they had been all week, making the news that the Harris/Walz campaign raised four times as much as the Orange Felon in July almost unsurprising. I know the text messages requesting donations have been hitting my phone relentlessly since Biden dropped out. They’re definitely making a strong push.

The Felon, on the other hand, is already laying the groundwork to challenge the results of the November election. Speaking in North Carolina, the Felon repeated false claims about the 2020 election and challenged the outcome of the November vote before anyone has had a chance to cast a ballot. “When, if, but when — I have to always say ‘if,’ you know, because they cheat,” the Felon said of Democrats. “I would say ‘when’ if they didn’t cheat, but they cheat. That’s the one thing — they’re great at cheating in elections.” This type of rhetoric sounds as though he’s already giving up campaigning on the issues. We’re in for a rough road between here and November 5.

Adding to the confusion is this story, hidden below the fold on page three or four: Former Oath Keepers Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Tampering With Jan. 6 Evidence. Who’s cheating now?

Let’s end this morning with this bizarre story. A passenger has been arrested at an Australian airport after he left a stationary airliner through an emergency exit, walked along a wing, and then climbed down a jet engine to the tarmac. The plane had just landed and apparently, this dude couldn’t wait to get off the plane. An understandable amount of chaos ensued. This proves that people are crazy no matter where you go.

Solaris has fallen asleep on the job, but Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty, says we’re done. You have a good day and I’ll see if I can stand and walk.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/21/24

August 21, 2024

Step Outside To Smoke [2012 original with modified background]

What would we do, you and I, if we woke one morning to suddenly find that everything was, in our opinions, perfect? Would we know how to react? There are plenty of things for us to complain about as it is now. The kids and I disagreed this morning on whether they sufficiently completed yesterday’s chores. The dogs didn’t like my decision of when to get up this morning. Queen Bit argued loudly that I stepped too close to her tail. I’m sure Kat and I disagree about something, I just don’t know what it is yet.

I know I’m not necessarily in the mood to argue matters that I’ve spoken about before. Standards for completing chores have been sufficiently outlined. Those standards were not met. I’m not going to stand in the hallway arguing the matter with a 14-year-old at 6:00 AM. They’ll get the chance to lick their calf over when they get home this afternoon. Today is an early release day, so they’ll have plenty of time.

We can’t take that approach to everything, though. I wish we could tell Congress to, “Go back and do it over until you get it right,” but that doesn’t seem to work. We’ve really only one option for punishing elected officials and waiting until the next election rolls around doesn’t necessarily send the message as strongly as we might like. Approval ratings and polls carry no real clout. We need the ability to exercise more immediate consequences for stupid actions.

For example, the Orange Felon decided that it might be a good idea to release AI-generated images of Taylor Swift endorsing him. This is a feeble, less-than-successful attempt to turn the media spotlight on himself when the Democratic Convention is getting all the attention. One would think that fakes like this would be illegal. There have been multiple attempts in Congress to regulate such material, but opponents scream that it’s squashing their First Amendment right to free speech, so nothing has passed. Meanwhile, the confusion over what is real or fake only grows deeper.

Maybe Congress is fake. They don’t really exist.

What’s not fake is the way Michelle Obama tore apart the Orange Felon at the DNC last night. The ultimate quote from the night is, “Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs?'” One could make the argument, if prone to do so, that Mrs. Obama’s speech was stronger than the one her husband gave after her.

Sometimes people do realize their mistake and correct it. Disney has decided that using its Disney+ Terms of Service to block a wrongful death lawsuit is, in a word, wrongful. They’ve dropped that particular objection and will likely limit their defense to more realistic information. While Disney never has been up for sainthood, it’s nice to see them admit their mistake for once.

Former Detroit Lions’ Offensive Tackle Gosder Cherilus is realizing he made a mistake after being arrested for urinating on a passenger aboard a Delta flight headed to Dublin. He has apologized, saying, “The flight was unexpectedly delayed for approximately four hours, and it did not take off until after 12:30 a.m. In preparation for the unexpected overnight flight, I took a sleeping medication that I don’t normally use, which resulted in behavior that is not representative of my character, and I would like to apologize to the passengers and flight crew.” I doubt the apology will prevent him from being hit with a hefty fine, though. Some actions can’t be reversed.

Everyone makes mistakes. A perfect world requires perfect people and those don’t exist. What matters is how we respond to those errors, both our own and those of others. Project 2025 is a mistake. Electing a felon is a mistake. How are we going to respond?

Your call.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/20/24

August 20, 2024

A Lovely Moment [2010 original with AI adjustments]

Coffee isn’t going to be enough to keep me awake this morning, even though I made it super strong. There was a battle for bed space between the cats and dogs and I was the loser. Add to that some really strange dreams (including a coupon for $3 off the tail-end of a movie), and I woke this morning feeling anything but rested. Fortunately, nothing is demanding my attention today. The dogs are already signaling that they’re ready for a nap. I’m happy to oblige.

G spent most of his school day applying the new point-driven merit system he developed for The Lab. He was tired enough that he skipped playing D&D with his friends, came home, and crashed. Tipper went to the robotics club for the first time after school and discovered that she’s very good at assembling wheels. If she was tentative going in, she was thoroughly convinced that the club is a good thing by the time she left. She’s looking forward to staying again today.

Something must have happened on the bus last week, though. Tipper had been fine with riding the bus home alone, but now she doesn’t want to if she can’t take the first bus right after school. The reason? She doesn’t want “creepy old men” touching her. I know every woman on the planet can relate. Her solution would be to carry pepper spray, but that is totally prohibited at school (for understandable reasons). My solution is for me to take the bus down to the transit center on days she stays late and ride the bus home with her. She likes that idea because, in her words, “it gives us more Daddy/Daughter time.” I’m going to talk with the school’s Dean about the situation first, though, and see if they have any suggestions.

The news this morning is focused on President Biden’s “handoff” speech at the Democratic Convention last night. US intelligence officials say Iran is to blame for hacks targeting Trump, Biden-Harris campaigns, which confirms what already seemed evident. Taiwan flexed its missile firepower on rare trip to sensitive test site, sending a warning to China. I’m just waiting for that whole South China Sea situation to blow up in everyone’s face. And a magnitude 5.3 earthquake shook parts of Pakistan and the Himalayan region of Kashmir early Tuesday, panicking residents.

There are a couple of “below the fold” stories that I find interesting. Earlier this year, Stephen Chamberlain and Mike Lynch were co-defendants in a fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard. Both men were acquitted of the charges in June. But then, earlier this month, Chamberlain was killed in a traffic accident in London. That might not have raised many eyebrows were it not for the fact that Lynch is among the missing after a yacht sank off the coast of Sicily last week. The circumstances of the yacht’s sinking are still a mystery, which raises the specter of the two “accidents” being related, if not to the Autonomy deal, then perhaps some other business dealing gone wrong. There’s not enough information about either incident at the moment to form a firm link between them, but given the situation, it seems a stretch to look at them as just a coincidence.

The second story comes from Nicaragua where 1500 NGOs, including a number of churches, were forcibly closed without warning yesterday. What it comes down to is authoritarian President Daniel Ortega is eliminating any space that might include dialogue he can’t control. He’s especially concerned about churches preaching against his atrocious human rights record. While he’s been closing Catholic churches for a while, this round included several Pentecostal and Baptist churches as well. As the situation in Nicaragua continues to deteriorate, immigration away from that country to the US inevitably increases. Can you blame them?

Indy’s summer violence continues even as temperatures have cooled down for this week. Among the headlines this morning:

Instances of violence may be decreasing elsewhere in the country, but Indianapolis seems determined to keep the numbers high.

The animals are telling me that nap time is at hand. I’d be a fool to not join them. Ya’ll stay safe.

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Morning Update: 08/19/24

August 19, 2024

Another Monday [2011 original with AI background]

Cats are flinging themselves at each other as I try to read this morning’s news updates. The noise from the laundry room sounds as if one of them may have fallen into the washing machine for a while. Don’t worry, they’ve done it before and they can get themselves out. This is the kind of chaos we can expect for today, though. Brace yourself because there are enough on-the-edge events that it feels as though anything could happen at any time. In fact, if I had a fraidy hole, I might just go ahead and jump in it to be safe.

With all the pop-up showers and brief downpours yesterday, we once again lost out on being able to do any yard work. That doesn’t mean the kids were satisfied with the downtime. Tipper decided that the dogs needed a bath. Outside. Oh, this was entertaining. She was especially concerned about Hamilton. Hamilton doesn’t like water on his skin. He refuses to stay in the tub if we try to bathe him inside, but the kids figured if they put a leash on him they might be able to get the job done with the hose. I stood under the tree and watched, knowing exactly what was about to happen. The instant water hit his back, Ham slipped out of the leash and shook hard, sending water everywhere. This went on, back and forth between the two dogs, for almost twenty minutes. By the time they gave up, I’m not sure who was wetter, the dogs or the kids. Of course, the dogs immediately went and rolled in the dirt.

We’re starting the fourth week of school and I need to make some adjustments to accommodate the kids’ changing schedules. What it boils down to is that most days neither of them will get home before 6:00 PM, and some days could be even later. This means they’ll be coming in exhausted, frequently in less-than-positive moods, and prioritizing sleep over eating. They will eat, eventually, but sometimes that may not be until after I’ve gone to bed. We’ve tried different things, but both inevitably go for what’s easiest. For G, that means Ramen, with zero nutritional value. Tipper usually chooses a fruit smoothie, which is better, but still not giving her all the nutrition they need. Neither of them will touch leftovers. I’m grasping at straws for the moment trying to find a reasonably healthy solution.

This was a rough weekend for Indianapolis. Take a look at these headlines:

Those last three hurt my soul because this isn’t the first weekend we’ve seen headlines like that. We’re not watching our little ones. We’re not protecting them and keeping them safely out of harm’s way. We’re being careless and there’s no way to police carelessness. Child Protective Services is already overwhelmed with the number of cases they have, to the point that they cannot be the solution for every kid who lives in danger. The solution is for adults to wake up to the problem, and help out overwhelmed and overstressed parents who are working two and three jobs to barely pay rent. No, it’s not convenient, but children’s lives are on the line.

There was some positive local news. Caitlin Clark broke the WNBA rookie assists record as the Fever beat the Storm 92-75 last night. The well-hyped rookie is living up to her reputation, but she’s facing a one-game suspension if she doesn’t get her temper under control. She was charged with her fifth technical of the season after punching the pads at the bottom of the goal post. Two more, and she gets to sit out a game. I’m wondering if the WNBA and NBA are possibly being a little over-reactive, though. Look at tennis. Portuguese tennis star Christiano Rinaldo has thrown so many tantrums on the court that the New York Times has ranked them by severity. Why is it okay to display such childish behavior in one sport but not another? Make it make sense.

Of course, all eyes are on the Democratic Convention opening today in Chicago. They’ll try to keep it light and lively so that they come out of it with a nice surge in the polls. History paints a different picture, though. Democratic conventions can be rough. Already, anti-war protesters have gathered and are making noise that won’t go unnoticed. Moderates be warned, 3 Women With Harrowing Pregnancy Stories Will Speak at the Convention. While the goal is unity, I think we can expect a lively exchange, though probably not to the extent of the 1968 riots.

Secretary of State Blinken is warning both Hamas and Israel that they may be looking at their last chance for peace. What bothers me, and likely bothers the Secretary, is the fact that there are too many people on both sides who are more than willing to keep on fighting. I don’t see how the people of Gaza can handle much more. They’ve already lost their homes, their families, access to food and clean water, and the constant bombardment of medical facilities. If a cease-fire isn’t reached, Iran is almost certainly going to enter the war, making a bad situation worse. I’m not sure the innocent people even stand a chance.

Like I said at the beginning, the day is made of chaos. There are so many potential eruption points around the world that it’s impossible to list them all or guess which one is going to explode next. What can we do?

Eat well. Stay safe.

Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / Politics / pop culture / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/18/24

August 18, 2024

After a night filled with rain, we’re slowly getting around this morning. The kids came in from the PowWow earlier than I expected, which isn’t a bad thing, but both went straight to bed and only reappeared briefly for a snack. Even the dogs were restless last night, and at least one of the cats decided that the litter box was too far away to bother finding it. I’m not sure what this means for the rest of the day. I’m inclined to let the kids chill. While I had planned on doing yard work this morning, it’s far too wet. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ve been underestimating the toll that their long school day takes on them.

I do need some help with the yard, though, especially along the fence line. The problem isn’t so much the weeds, but the trees growing there, their branches intertwined with the fencing. Last Sunday, a young man coming through the neighborhood offered to clear the fenceline for $20, but it was too late in the day for him to start. I told him to come back on Wednesday, but he never showed up. With at least six more weeks before the first chance of a heavy frost, we need to clean it up now.

Both kids enjoyed the PowWow in different ways. G took advantage of the raffles, winning three times. I’m not sure what he’s going to do with the shawl, but all the items are rather nice. Tipper, being the furry that she is, was drawn to the various pelts. She convinced Kat to buy her a new tail since her existing one had broken after being yanked too many times. She explained to the person running the booth how her tail was treated by people at school. As she was walking away, the man came over to Kat and handed her a pair of heart-shaped earrings to give to Tipper so that she would know “Not everyone is mean.”

There are too many people who are mean, though, and the fact that one of those people is running for president is bothersome. The Orange Felon went completely off the rails yesterday, resorting to calling Vice President Harris names and throwing insults. He also complained, again, about the Olympic Boxers, vowing to “keep men out of women’s sports.” This is more than mean, it’s insane. Why are we giving such a poor example of humanity any kind of stage to spread such filth? His continued presence at the top of the political dung heap boggles my mind.

Meanness grabs eyeballs, though. It always has. A New York Times reading group has been taken with Emily Wilson’s 2023 translation of the Iliad, the epic poem attributed to Homer. War, wickedness, and revenge are strong themes throughout the work that keep readers coming back generation after generation. While there is ostensibly something to be said for learning from war, I wonder if too often we’re taking in the wrong lessons. Instead of learning how to avoid the foolishness of war, we seem to be paying more attention to the tricks and strategies used to win one.

I’m bothered by the fact that Vietnam’s new leader, To Lam, chose China as his first international visit. There’s no question that we botched that war in every way possible. Did the thousands of US troops who died there do so in vain? Looking at the mean side of that equation, it’s reasonable to make the argument that US leaders were less concerned about Communists taking over the small Southeast Asian country and used the war as a way to stop the uprising of the common people that was taking place. While war protests were loud and strong, the fact is that forced military service took away thousands of young men from lower- and middle-class neighborhoods that could have forever changed the direction of American politics. We’ll never know for sure, will we? But using a foreign war sure was a mean cover, wasn’t it?

Some people enjoy being mean. A Chechen warlord invited Elon Musk to Russia after he was filmed driving a machine-gun-mounted Cybertruck. As Ukraine takes advantage of its unexpected incursion into Russia, Russian officials are resorting to increasingly mean tactics in an attempt to regain the upper hand. They’ve bombed schools, children’s hospitals, and residential neighborhoods, much in the same way that Israel has continued to bombard Gaza in that senseless war. Both wars should have been over months ago and could have been, but leaders on all sides have their heads too far up their asses. They equate peace with weakness. In their view, being mean is a strength.

We are crazy if we think that our children, especially teens, aren’t paying attention and noting the actions we condone. We spent all their formative years telling them to be nice and to play well with others, but then they see the adults around them supporting leaders who are anything but nice and certainly don’t know how to play well with anyone. What lesson do you think they’re taking away from that?

I find it interesting that today is the anniversary of women in the US gaining the right to vote. So much of the mean rhetoric coming from right-wing conservatives is directed at women. In fact, the New York Times has a piece this morning on how “masculinity is on the ballot.” What is defining that masculinity? How men treat women. How women vote this November will be a voice for whether they want men to still dominate and abuse them or move toward a more equitable and just society.

The amount of misinformation and outright conspiracy theories regarding migrants is still a problem as well. Do you want to truth? Migrants are not the reason wages have stagnated. Migrants are not taking anyone’s jobs. And, when one balances the number of migrants coming in with the number leaving, total immigration is actually going down. Ask farmers in the West and Southwest, and they may tell you that the problem with immigration is that we don’t have enough migrants. Economically, we are dependent on migrant labor and without it, the economy collapses. So, why are we treating them so mean?

Our Indigenous brothers and sisters have long been a voice of reason against the seemingly inbred hate of the white man. Their society was built on caring for each other, respecting people regardless of gender, and preferring peace over conflict. That was what the kids saw in action as they attended the PowWow yesterday. I hope it is a lesson they take to heart because so much of the rest of the world is only showing them hate.

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Morning Update: 08/17/24

August 17, 2024

You don’t mind if I kind of take today off, do you? Readership has been declining all week and there’s nothing excessively important in this morning’s news that would warrant elaboration. Kat and the kids are heading off to a PowWow today, a trip too long for me to go with them. I feel as though I’ve been sucker punched repeatedly during the night, so I’m most likely going to spend most of the day in bed.

There are a few things worth mentioning. Space telescope data reignites debate over how fast the universe is expanding—and whether ‘new physics’ is needed. I’ve seen Neil deGrasse Tyson mention the problems with how we currently do physics, so this article is an interesting read. The results could dramatically change how we view the universe.

Vice President Harris has offered a string of new economic proposals. It’s worth your time to take a look at them.

The New York Times is looking at how the Orange Felon Would Use Soldiers Against Riots, Crime, and Migrants on U.S. Soil. I find the idea terrifying. This is how dictators act.

FTC sues Asbury Automotive, says it charged Black, Latino customers more. I had to look at this article twice. I find it unbelievable that such blatant racism is still an issue.

San Francisco is going after websites that make AI deep fake nudes of women and girls. On one hand, I’m thinking, “It’s about time someone did,” but at the same time I’m wondering, “Why is this not a federal issue?”

Finally, am I the only one who finds this absolutely hilarious? Lawmakers in Turkey draw blood in a brawl during parliament debate on jailed colleague. Watch for yourself and let me know.

Okay, I’m done. Have a good day. I’m going back to bed.

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Morning Update: 08/16/24

August 16, 2024

Yesterday was one of those days that just existed, nothing more. I spent most of the day in bed (no big surprise). The kids cleaned out all eight litter boxes and refilled them (no small feat). Kat came home early, too exhausted to stand. We have days like this. You have days like this. We all keep going, doing our best, content with the fact that at least nothing horrible happened. Any day where the ground isn’t burning under our feet is a good day.

The headlines in this morning’s news are interesting though not necessarily consequential. The death of actor Matthew Perry has resulted in the arrest of five people, including doctors and dealers. Perry died ten months ago from a ketamine overdose so large that it aroused immediate suspicion. All five of those arrested are looking at severe jail time, possibly even life in prison. While that’s all well and good, I have a question:

Why do we only leverage this level of investigation for celebrities? The same thing happened with Michael Jackson’s death, where his doctor was eventually convicted. When Elvis Presley died on this day in 1977, officials immediately looked at his doctors and blamed them for his overdose. Why don’t we apply the same rules and the same level of inquiry to the overdose deaths of “normal” people? How famous does one have to be to warrant such an investigation?

I know, I know, cost is the primary factor in deciding which cases get more intense treatment. There’s no small amount of PR involved as well. People, for some reason, care who killed a celebrity more than they care about who/what killed the addict down the street. Was Perry really any better than anyone else? He had struggled with addiction for years. If we were to observe the same behaviors in anyone else, we would have considered their death an inevitability.

Where’s the ProLife crowd on this issue? Absent, of course. They’ll happily pass laws that deny women autonomy over their bodies to save a barely-developed zygote while ignoring the guy on the street corner who has someone constantly pushing a stream of harder and more dangerous drugs at him. Heaven forbid we provide public Narcan stations where people can actually get help. The way that our society prioritizes one life over another is nothing short of disgusting.

Speaking of lives, file this one under “I didn’t know they were still alive.” Peter Marshall, the original host of Hollywood Squares died yesterday at the age of 98, well after most of the people who appeared in those squares have long passed. X gets the square and the game, Mr. Marshall. Well played.

I normally don’t pay a lot of attention to changes in heads of state for countries that don’t generally have a dramatic effect on anyone outside their own borders. However, when Thailand’s parliament elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra as the country’s new Prime Minister yesterday, it was a bit like if a fourth member of the Bush family were to become President here. Most famously, her father, Thaskin Shinawatra, who was elected to office three times, was overthrown and exiled in a coup orchestrated by the royal family in 2006. Since then, both her sister and brother-in-law have served as PM as well. This time, though, the royal family exerted its influence to prevent the liberal Move Forward Party, which finished first in a national election, from coming to power.

How does this affect you? Probably not at all. At least, there’s no direct effect. Paetongtarn says she’s going to double Thailand’s minimum wage and improve its public transit system, among other popular things. What’s most likely to happen is an effort to rebuild Thailand’s influence in the tech sector, which could increase competition for companies such as Nvidia. Expect there to be a push to increase tourism as well since the Shinawatra family’s fortune comes from the hotel business. Thailand is a beautiful country full of ancient history. This could be a good time to book a trip, but be aware that should Paetongtarn cross the royal family, she’ll be gone quickly.

Among the more insipidly stupid things you’ll see in today’s news, the Orange Felon says he’s ‘entitled to personal attacks’ on Kamala Harris because of the multiple charges against him. Felon says what? The statements came during yet another rambling and almost incoherent press conference yesterday, which, as we’ve come to expect, requires fact-checking because the Felon doesn’t seem to know the difference between truth and the fiction he creates in his head.

Here’s an interesting story: An association of Indian doctors called for more than a million colleagues nationwide to provide only essential services on Saturday, in a protest over the brutal rape and murder of a medic that is set to be the biggest such strike in recent times. The 31-year-old doctor was found dead on a blood-soaked mattress in the medical college where she worked in the eastern city of Kolkata. She had settled down for a short nap on a carpet in a college lecture hall after working for nearly 20 hours of a 36-hour shift.

Women account for a significant majority of medical professionals in India. While an arrest has been made for the crime, doctors say it highlights the dangers they face just being at work in hospitals across the country. In calling for a shutdown of all but emergency services, more than a million doctors could be absent as part of the strike on Saturday.

What an interesting perspective to have compared to the conditions in the US where women in the medical profession are still routinely abused, denigrated, passed over for promotion, and generally treated as inferior caregivers. In a July survey, a shocking 64% of participants reported a higher prevalence of all forms of gender-based violence for women, including sexual violence, verbal abuse, discrimination, bullying, and physical violence. If the American Medical Association were to suggest a nationwide shutdown in protest, there would not only be an outcry against them, legal action would likely occur in an effort to force them back to work. The US is so far behind other developed countries on this issue that presidential candidates won’t even acknowledge that it’s an issue. We’re not progressive. We’re not a leader in women’s rights. We need to improve dramatically.

Let’s end on a more positive note this morning, shall we? Panda twins were born in Hong Kong to Ying Ying, the world’s oldest first-time mom. By “world’s oldest” we mean that she’s 19 years old, which I guess is almost geriatric for a panda. The twins are still pink, furless little bundles for now, which means we won’t see them in public for a few weeks, but adding two more of the world’s most adorable creatures to the population seems like a very good reason to celebrate.

There are six cats and two large dogs currently sleeping in my bed, so I guess I’m staying up for a while. Good thing there’s more coffee.

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Morning Update: 08/15/24

August 15, 2024

There are mornings when I struggle with how to start this update. This is being one of those mornings. At 4:00 this morning, Frankie, the smashed-face wheezer kitty, decided that he needed to give himself a bath. For any of the other cats, that wouldn’t be a big deal as they’re rather quiet about it. Not Frankie. Thanks to his collapsed sinus, Frankie’s baths sound more like a piece of cellophane trapped at the end of a vacuum cleaner. It’s loud. I’ve been awake ever since and my brain is having difficulty forming words, let alone sentences that make any sense. We’ll see how far we get this morning.

Yesterday afternoon was exciting as Tipper brought home her new friend from school. We’ll call them R for now. R is the friend who took her to the fair last Saturday, and the one who threw up at school on Monday. While they’re older than Tipper, they are several inches shorter and incredibly thin. They do have some cool piercings, though. They hung out in Tipper’s room until after G’s violin lesson, then Kat took them to her favorite hiding spot at Eagle Creek. I’m not sure what time they got back as I was already asleep, but Tipper’s report this morning was that R had a really good time.

The only issue we had was that Hamilton really wanted to be R’s friend. I’d kept the dogs in the Recovery Room when the kids first got home so that they wouldn’t jump on anyone and that worked well for Belvedere. Not so much for Hamilton. He knew that someone new was here and he was desperate to meet them. I took the pups outside and the kids joined us. Hamilton refused to leave R alone, not in an aggressive way, but more of an “I love you please pet me,” manner. Even after we came back in and they retreated to Tipper’s room, Hamilton sat right outside the door, waiting, in case they might come back out.

We all like R, but the details of their life are… challenging. Having Tipper as a friend is good for them. She takes extra snacks to school to share and gives them emotional support when they’re having trouble. It will be interesting to see how their friendship develops.

G is finally getting into the full swing of school. The D&D gang is back together. He likes what he’s working on in class. He’s getting back that rhythm and structure that he missed during the summer. He’s often exhausted by the time he gets home. His days are long, starting at 5:00 AM and often not getting home until after 6:00 PM. We’re having to re-think the whole chore and dinner scenarios because both kids tend to want to hit their bed when they finally get home.

There’s an interesting amount of news related to kids today, too. Associated Press is reporting this morning that chronic absenteeism remains a problem, having never recovered after COVID-related school closings four years ago. Every state except Arkansas has absentee rates that are still higher than they were before COVID. Different schools are trying different things, such as “recess” for high school and paying students for perfect attendance, but not all of those programs are sustainable. I think there are probably a lot of places that could benefit from a micro-school model such as what G has at PPHS, but even that isn’t going to work for everyone. One universal thing, though, is that it takes highly qualified teachers to keep kids in their seats and you’re not going to get that for the meager wages teachers are paid. Schools need more funding. Period.

What happens when kids get bored? One Detroit girl ended up in jail clothes and wearing handcuffs. The scenario is that the girl’s class was on a field trip to a Detroit courtroom. The judge, Kenneth King, saw the girl falling asleep and was offended, finding her inattentiveness disrespectful. The judge told a Detroit TVV station, “I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is and how you are to conduct yourself inside of a courtroom.” Obviously, that action didn’t go over well with the environmental group that sponsored the field trip. The Greening of Detroit released a statement, saying the “young lady was traumatized. The group of students should have been simply asked to leave the courtroom if he thought they were disrespectful.” The judge talked to the girl’s parents and offered to be a mentor, but something tells me this situation is far from over.

Not all kids get to go on field trips, though. The World Health Organization has, for the second time in two years, declared MPOX a global public health emergency. This comes after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to other countries. A new variant, clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact, and is being blamed for the problem. Without a coordinated international response, the disease could easily spread over the African continent and beyond. Yes, doctors and scientists are a bit frightened by how easily this strain is spreading, so expect it to stay in the news for a while.

Sexual abuse is in the news again, too, because we still haven’t fixed the systems that allow for it to happen. The Vatican expelled the founder of Peru’s Sodalitium movement after severe charges of abuse and corruption. While we appreciate that action was taken, it took the Vatican over ten years after first being made aware of the problem before reaching this decision. Why? “… canon law didn’t precisely cover his alleged misconduct.” What the fuck? Perhaps God needs to throw a brick at someone’s head to convince them that abuse is not acceptable. Ever. Period.

This date, August 15, has some history to it. Macbeth was killed in battle in 1057. Panama Canal opened on this day in 1914. And in 1969, this was the first day of the Woodstock Music Festival! Ah, those were the days!

There’s more stuff but my brain has reached its limit for combing through any more stories. I’m thinking that an early nap is absolutely mandatory. Coffee alone just isn’t cutting it.

Weather’s moving in, too. I think the worst is going to our South, but there’s enough here to have me feeling miserable.

Leave a message at the tone.

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Morning Update: 08/14/24

August 14, 2024

One of the things that is interesting around here is how much more noise there is around the house when Kat’s not home. When Kat’s here, we all try to be as quiet as possible. The kids understand that she rarely sleeps well during the night and avoid turning on lights and speaking loudly. When she’s not here? This morning G was up and in the shower at 5:00. Tipper was up shortly thereafter and it wasn’t long before the lights were on and the chatter was going. The dogs went out, the cats were fed, and there were plenty of conversations before they headed out the door for the day. I think I prefer the quiet days because the intensity of the chatter is a bit much for this early in the morning.

I talked so much about Tipper yesterday that I forgot to mention that G is now one of the Lab’s three student ambassadors. He’ll represent the Lab at other schools and different events, and he’s in charge of administering a program that gives points to students for positive behaviors. This is a fantastic leadership opportunity for him and it’s nice to see how seriously he’s taking his responsibilities. He’s overcoming his fears and learning to speak up on issues that are important to him. I’m looking forward to seeing how this year develops.

Yesterday was the last Two Dollar Tuesday of the Indiana State Fair, so I had to go. My hope was to get some selfies with draft horses. Tipper had talked about how many of them were there on Saturday, and I just assumed (an error) that there would still be some there yesterday. Nope. The horse buildings were completely empty. Not a horse of any breed in sight. I was severely disappointed. I did get a picture with the lovely gentleman you see at the top of the page. I figure we black sheep need to stick together, you know? I also made my way around to the DNR building and asked them what I’d need to do to get more bears, wolves, and elk back into state parks. For some reason, they weren’t amused by the question. I put in nearly 10,000 steps for the day, which is probably the most I’ve walked since starting chemo. When I got home, I took the dogs out and then collapsed into bed for a nap.

The dogs really don’t like it when I’m gone all day. They barely left my side when I took them out, and when we came back in, Belvedere tried climbing into my lap while I sat in my office chair. They both have been extra snuggly anyway. I’m a little concerned that they’re sensing something that I’ve yet to grasp.

I know we talked a lot yesterday about women’s autonomy, but over the course of the day, two more states, Arizona and Missouri, put abortion on the ballot for this fall. This brings the total to seven states that are putting some form of abortion measure to a vote. No matter where you live, this is an important matter that requires everyone to get out and vote. Again, these issues are totally separate from the races for president and members of Congress. And while the number of people registering as Democrats has increased over the past three weeks, we have to realize that prior to that point Republicans had been registering significantly more people since last December. It’s going to take a lot of effort in every state to prevent the dangerous and undemocratic policies of Project 2025 from taking effect. There’s no sitting on the sidelines or trying to avoid being political. Everyone needs to speak up and let their position be known. Silence almost certainly leads to disaster come November 5.

Interesting story out of New Zealand where a food bank accidentally distributed potentially lethal doses of meth disguised as candy. Disguising drugs as food items to get past border customs isn’t new, but the question is how they became donated to the Auckland food bank. With a street value of over $600 US per candy, it seems unlikely that this was a deliberate attempt to poison low-income and homeless people. The food bank is trying to get all the candies back, but four people have already been hospitalized for taking the drug.

Folks in Japan are a little on edge after the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its first-ever “megaquake” advisory. Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone places in the word. While last week’s 7.1 quake stayed offshore and provided little threat to the island nation, concern is growing that there’s now a 70-80% chance of a significantly larger quake in the 8-9 range on the Richter scale. Such a large quake could prove devestating. Unfortunately, the announcement didn’t come with any instructions on how people might prepare for such an event. This has led to considerable confusion and criticism of the agency. What may be worse is that without specific planning instructions, people are more likely to disregard the warning, leaving them completely unprepared should such an event occur.

I posted about this on Facebook yesterday afternoon, but I want to get a little more into it this morning. The United Auto Workers Union has filed a complaint of worker intimidation with the National Labor Relations Board against the Orange Felon and Elon Musk after their glitch-filled chat on Monday. While the Felon’s campaign is trying to pass off the complaint as “frivolous” there could be some real meat to the story. Back in June, eight former workers at SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, sued the company and Musk, alleging he ordered them fired after they challenged what they called rampant sexual harassment and a hostile “Animal House”-style work environment at the company. In Monday’s chat, the Felon told Musk, “I look at what you do. You walk in and say, ‘You want to quit?’ I won’t mention the name of the company but they go on strike and you say, ’That’s OK. You’re all gone.’” That statement would seem to be a direct attempt at intimidation against unionizing efforts at Tesla and elsewhere. If you needed another reason to not vote for the lying, cheating, swindling, rapist felon, there you go.

Mornings like this, I kinda wonder if we’re all not a little bit crazy for living in a society as messed up as ours. The economy is questionable, climate change is progressing faster than anyone predicted, and it seems that politicians suck no matter what country one lives in. We can change this, you know. Young people in Bangledesh proved that last week. The question is what will it take for us to get serious about anything?

Maybe I just need more coffee.

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Morning Update: 08/13/24

August 13, 2024

How well do you know your kids? As parents, we want to think that we know our kids pretty well. We’ve taught them what to do in different situations and we’ve seen how they’ve reacted to surprise and change. Yet, all that can disappear in a moment when you get a text from the school saying, “Your child is marked present to school, but absent from advisory. Please talk with them about following their assigned schedule.” That hit my phone at 12:15 yesterday afternoon. Fortunately, I was awake and able to respond quickly.

“Why are you marked absent from advisory?” I messaged her. Sure, they’re not supposed to have their phones out at school, but I assumed that if she was skipping for some reason she would at least take her phone with her.

What was eventually revealed was that one of her friends, the one that took her to the far Saturday night, had gotten sick. Part of her message said, “…I had to watch him literally empty his stomach which was literally only water. I was scared for him.” We chatted briefly and soon after that I got a call from her support coach. She confirmed Tipper’s account and said that Tipper’s level of empathy left her exhausted. The coach recommended we pick her up. Unfortunately, Kat was booked and, of course, I had no way to go get her. Kat gave her permission to leave early and ride the bus home.

When she got home, I gave her a big hug, she cried a bit, and then she went to lie down.

Yeah, this is our child. We’re proud of her. And while her absence will be probably unexcused, her continuing education in caring about other people is just as important. Her empathy is immense and learning how to respond in a caring and appropriate way is more important than immersive Spanish.

Situations like this, however, are why I’m infuriated that women don’t have complete autonomy over their own bodies. The Associated Press ran a story yesterday about how hospital emergency rooms are turning women away despite federal law requiring them to be treated because of punitive state laws promising severe penalties, including long jail sentences if they end a pregnancy for any reason. This is the direct result of allowing Republicans to be in charge of anything. This also emphasizes why it is just as important to vote for Democrats down ballot as well as at the federal level.

We’re at this point where doctors and hospital administrators are afraid to do their jobs because we were lazy at the ballot and let Republicans win. We’re okay with autonomous cars, autonomous volocopters, and autonomous robots, but not autonomous women? As much as we can’t let Republicans grab control of Congress and the White House, we must wrestle control of state houses away from them as well. At the state level, dangerous plans such as Project 2025 are more likely to be successfully implemented. States are more likely to gut education systems, prohibit the teaching of critical race theory, eliminate DEI programs, ban books, limit or eliminate medical funding for poor and elderly people, cut or eliminate food assistance programs, and generally make the world a less tolerable place to live.

I find it interesting that both presidential candidates and President Biden support cutting taxes on tips, but no one’s talking about the fact that the minimum wage for servers remains at the bottom of the barrel where their work is being exploited by restaurant owners. Perhaps we’d rather have a nation where teens are so hopeless and angry that they don helmets and bulletproof vests and then randomly stab people.

The US stands at a tipping point. How we vote in this fall’s election will drastically shape the future and no one is going to be more affected than our children. What happens if empaths like Tipper help a trans friend get the gender-affirming medical care they need? That’s on the ballot this fall. What happens if schools provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ students? That’s on the ballot this fall. What happens if the rules requiring overtime pay are gone? That’s on the ballot this fall. What happens if water becomes undrinkable? That’s on the ballot this fall. What happens when people lose the right to organize at work? That’s on the ballot this fall. What happens when 48 million women lose access to contraception? That’s on the ballot this fall.

Are you beginning to get the picture? This year’s election is much more than winning the White House, which we must do. We have to win at the state and local level as well. Otherwise, living conditions in the US will inevitably suffer. Labor shortages will become common. Safety at every level will decline. More police violence as training programs are cut. Less aid for small businesses after a weather disaster. It’s all on the ballot this year.

Yes, there’s a lot of other news this morning, including the disastrous interview between Elon Musk and the Orange Felon. But you know what? Almost every issue comes down to how you vote this fall. Israel/Gaza. Russia/Ukraine. Global warming. Space exploration. Almost every corner of the globe is going to feel the effects of your vote.

Let’s not let up on the focus on this election. Even when the news seems positive, we must continue pushing all the way through November. Remember, a week before the 2016 election, polls held a 93% certainty that Hillary Clinton was going to win. We see how horribly that turned out. Apathy is a killer. We must keep up the pressure and make sure everyone votes.

We have great kids. Let’s not give them a shitty country.

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Morning Update: 08/12/24

August 12, 2024

Being awake is overrated. I’m convinced of that fact this morning after going through yesterday with nothing more than a 45-minute nap. There were things to do, Amazon deliveries to catch, repeated trips outside with the dogs, and conversations with G about the new game he was playing. By the time we finally finished dinner, I was ready to collapse but waited until after 8:00 so I could take the dogs out one last time. That didn’t work. At 1:30 this morning they informed me that they needed to go out again. The only upside of that was getting to see a bit of the Perseid meteor shower while we were out. I’m still tired this morning, but again, there are things to do, Amazon deliveries to catch, and inevitably repeated trips outside with the dogs.

Tipper had another “date” yesterday afternoon with her BF, Gio, and his family. I think they ended up going to a mall or shopping center of some sort. She came back with loot, again, this time being most proud of an energy drink that had a picture of her favorite anime character on it. This time, Kat picked her up, which gave her a chance to visit some with Gio’s mom. The result is that she’ll be cutting Gio’s hair later this week. No word yet on whether Tipper will arrange to be at the salon that afternoon or not. Any way you slice it, it’s cute.

High blood pressure continues to be an issue this morning. No severe dizzy spells yet, but I can tell that one is just lingering behind my eyes. If this continues, we’ll be making another visit to the doctor. I have a feeling they’ll want that a bit more under control before the colonoscopy scheduled for later this month. I’m wondering if this could partly be a sleep issue, considering that I’ve been well off schedule over the weekend. Unfortunately, today may not be much better.

The Olympics are over, the handoff to LA has been made, the flame has been extinguished. Yet, controversy remains. Jordan Chiles has been stripped of a gymnastics bronze medal, but the USOPC says it will appeal. Apparently, there’s video evidence of some kind and you know that whole conversation is going to get messy before a final solution is reached. Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif filed a legal complaint for online harassment against her because people are fucking stupid. I’d love to see her punch one of those trolls who won’t drop the subject of her gender.

One moment that many may have overlooked was when the US Women’s Basketball Team received their gold medals. Tears flowed hard down Britteny Griner’s face as the national anthem was played. She didn’t bother wiping them away. After spending 10 months in a Russian jail for weed possession, she didn’t think she’d get this opportunity again. The moment was one of the most moving I’ve seen from this Olympics.

While I’ve been purposefully avoiding talking about the Israel/Gaza war, I guess there’s no escaping it this morning. On one hand, Israel is widening evacuation orders for southern Gaza. Where the fuck they expect people to go, I don’t know. Every time people move to get out of the way of battle, Israel just bombs them in the places they told them would be safe. However, tolerance of the war is shrinking as more countries are demanding that a cease-fire be reached. Netanyahu is a stubborn old man so I’m not sure the international pressure will be effective, especially with the US continuing to send them money for weapons. Meanwhile, a nuclear submarine is being sent to the region because threats of the war broadening won’t go away and those on the ground are saying that tensions have never been higher.

Speaking of money, you know how there’s not supposed to be any of it flowing into Russia? Well, guess what Reuters discovered? Not only is both US and EU cash getting through, there’s a lot of it; roughly $2.3 billion worth. While sanctions prohibiting the exchange of cash have been in place since 2022, hard currency is still preferred for a number of businesses, including some arms sales. And while the Chinese Yaun is the dominant currency, individuals still prefer the dollar for small investments, traveling, and international purchases. Now that the situation has been brought to light, it will be interesting to see how, or if, the State Department responds.

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, the rules put in place after WWII to, theoretically, help police violent acts committed by governments and avoid the type of genocide committed during that war. The problem is that no one is paying any attention to those rules. It doesn’t help any that none of the world’s major players, the US, Russia, and China, are members of the International Criminal Court which prosecutes war crimes. So, while the rules exist, there’s no enforcement that has any meaning. We’ve seen countless charges levied against Russia, Hamas, and Israel, but they’ve all fell flat. This leaves us to question whether there’s any point in having the rules at all.

We now know that the plane that crashed in Brazil over the weekend was carrying a group of doctors on their way to an oncology conference. The cause of the accident is still in question. Meteorologists have said there was icing in the Sao Polo region at the time of the crash, but experts warn against jumping to any conclusions. Both black boxes have been recovered, so everyone is hoping that will answer some of the lingering questions.

I’m going to go out on a limb and disagree with some local meteorologists who’ve downplayed today’s chance for rain. I’m looking at the radar now (8:01 AM EDT) and what appeared to be a weak system last night has grown considerably this morning. While severe weather isn’t in the works, I think we could see more than just “a sprinkle” or two this afternoon.

There are some other points of interest sitting out there this morning, but it’s Monday and that alone carries enough weight to be depressing. I’m going to just end it here and strongly consider going back to bed for a little while. The first Amazon delivery for the day has already arrived, so I should have a few hours before the trucks are rolling through the neighborhood.

Today’s goal is to not let the day become overwhelming. I wish us all good luck.

Morning Update: 09/05/24

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