Morning Update: 07/17/24

Apologies are necessary if there is some confusion this morning. WordPress, the engine we use for publishing this website, was upgraded this morning. I’m already noticing a number of differences simply in the editing styles. I have no idea yet if anything on the website, such as photos or videos, is broken. Feel free to peruse archives on your own and let me know if you find something out of place or strange.

The rain that lasted well into yesterday morning made the day a good one for sleeping. None of the animals seemed to mind. They cuddled in close and did a good job of keeping me company. A few groceries were delivered (yes, the ice cream was very soft), and a couple of things arrived from Amazon (though, more were delayed which is always disturbing). Nausea ruled the afternoon and into the evening, though. The kids did fine taking care of themselves so I didn’t have to cook. Yet, despite my inclination to not eat anything, my glucose was still over 250. I do not understand how that works and I am disturbed that the gains we thought we were making a couple of weeks ago now seem to be completely lost.

I thought that the kids’ back-to-school stuff was today, but apparently it’s tomorrow. The consequences of that are doing things today, such as mowing, that I had planned to do tomorrow when it’s supposed to be cooler. The humidity was stifling when I took the dogs out this morning, but we both know it’s not going to get any more comfortable as the day goes on. I’ll take my meds and we’ll make the best of it. That’s what we all have to do anyway, isn’t it? Chemo or not, things still have to get done.

Some things are slipping through the media cracks that bother me, though. Like, there was a serious enough threat from Iran on the Orange Felon that the security detail had already been upgraded. A helluva lot of good it did, but the fact that, according to AP, these threats have been pretty damn consistent speaks directly to the extent of foreign involvement in our election. Russia and China tend to keep their involvement quiet, but Iran’s out here like, “Oh hell no, we’re gonna take someone out and we don’t care who knows it.” Am I the only one who thinks this should be a bigger issue than it is?

The continued power outages in the Houston area are causing the insanity to rise to the top. People are doing stupid things such as throwing rocks, drawing guns, and refusing to let linemen onto their property to get the electricity flowing again. Texas’ continued inability to respond to power outages speaks to the ineptness of both their politicians and the state’s electric utilities to address issues that have existed over the entirety of Greg Abbot’s governorship. Here’s the lesson all states need to learn: we’ve created a society 100% dependent on electricity. All our means of communication, our livelihoods, our productivity, and even our meal prep depend on that juice flowing. Electricity is the most critical piece of infrastructure in the country. Even if roads become undrivable, we can stay home and still get shit done as long as there is electricity. Such dependence makes us vulnerable when states and their utilities fail to prioritize an adequate plan for service recovery in the face of inevitable weather-related outages. This also makes us vulnerable to terrorism, which, again, no one seems to want to talk about.

At the same time, somewhere in the neighborhood of 55,000 Catholics are invading Indianapolis for the first National Eucharist Congress since 1941. As if enduring a week of Southern Baptists last month wasn’t enough, these folks are invading downtown and will even snarl traffic with a 1.5-mile walk on Saturday afternoon. While Catholics generally are not the tightwads that Southern Baptists are, their presence, some in full religious regalia, creates an uncomfortable atmosphere as they do a lot of talking and little, if any, actual helping. Anyone who champions women’s rights and autonomy is going to find the presence of so much religion more than a little off-putting. We really wish the city would stop bringing these religious events to town.

Meanwhile, there’s already been another critical shooting in Indy this morning. This is on top of a road rage murder at Thompson and Emerson yesterday afternoon. And a severe lack of affordable childcare continues to slow any economic growth in the city. These are problems that no number of religious conventions are going to solve. The problems in the city are so severe, has anyone even noticed that the Brickyard 400 is this weekend? I haven’t checked to be sure, but I don’t think the East gate to the North 40 is even going to be open, so parking in our neighborhood is pointless (I’ll double-check to make sure that’s accurate).

Where political and religious conventions totally miss the boat is right here, at home, on the streets where all of us non-politicians and real people live. Politicians are surrounded by money, have people like Elon Musk throwing money at them, and want for nothing more than power. The rest of us? We want to live, peacefully, in our homes, next to our neighbors (without giving a shit where they’re from), eating food that isn’t going to kill us, enjoying pastimes that give us joy, and raising vibrant families. We don’t need an Orange Felon telling us lies such as vaccinations ‘radically changing’ our children. We don’t need politicians yanking hardworking people out of their jobs and deporting them when we already have the lowest unemployment rate in decades. We don’t need a VP candidate telling women they need to stay home and have more babies. None of that helps anyone and the fact that all of those issues are part of the GOP platform demonstrates not only how horribly out of touch they are with reality, but how dangerous they are to the American way of life.

Want to make my life safer? Do something about the vulnerability of the nation’s infrastructure. Want to make life more prosperous? Reduce the cost of child care so women can hold the jobs they want to have. Want to make life more enjoyable? Give us easy-to-access healthcare that doesn’t force us into bankruptcy. Want to make life worth living? Get the fuck out of our way and stop trying to control our lives.

That only happens if we upset the political tables and run conservative-leaning politicians out of town.

Sigh. I need to go mow. It’s not going to get any cooler.

I hope these posts are still viewable.