Morning Update: 08/01/24

Here it is, August 1, 97 days until the election. IPS starts today, but apparently, the number of little ones we have in the neighborhood has gone down. Previous years, we’d see over a dozen buses running through the neighborhood. This morning has been pretty quiet. I’m not saying there haven’t been any buses, but the number is considerably less than what we’ve seen before.

G and Tipper got off to a good start this morning. G is trying to endure despite the pain of sitting in class and doing nothing as all direction is focused on new students. Tipper, on the other hand, is thrilled with her new furry friend and left this morning armed with her tail, her fox mask, and two favorite plushies to show her friend. She’s delighted to be in an environment where she’s free to express who she is without retribution. Let’s hope that enthusiasm continues once they get into more detailed instruction next week.

I was an idiot yesterday. Okay, there’s an argument to be made that I’m an idiot every day, but yesterday was especially stupid. Looking for a respite from the quiet of the house, I decided to walk to the store. I didn’t really need anything, I just wanted to get out. I wasn’t halfway there before I knew I’d made a mistake. I should have turned around, but didn’t. Mind you, the full trip there and back is only 1.06 miles, not exactly a major trek. I’ve gone a lot further. But this hasn’t been the best week for side effects and by the time I got back home, even leaning on my cane, I could hardly stand. That was it for the rest of the day. I normally don’t use my cane inside or out in the yard with the dogs, but I couldn’t get out of my chair without it. Fortunately, Kat and G took care of dinner. I stayed in/near the bed and was asleep by 8:30. I’ll be careful to not make that mistake again any time soon.

We’re looking at rain most of the afternoon/evening, so I’m not risking anything today. Groceries will be delivered later this morning. Once that’s done, I’m crawling under the covers and hiding between the dogs… and Solaris. So help me, Sol thinks he’s one of the dogs. I could probably put him in a kitty harness and take him outside when I let the dogs out, but something tells me if I put him in a harness, the dogs would want their harnesses, and then I’d have to take everyone for a walk. I don’t have that kind of energy.

What has my attention this morning is the headline that the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, along with two others, has agreed to a plea deal. While some are praising the deal and others are criticizing it, my larger concern is the degree to which justice has been screwed sideways for the past 23 years. Former President George W. Bush established the prison at Guantanamo, Cuba, in 2002, and with it came a severe miscarriage of justice as almost every member of the Taliban with a passport and no small number of Iraqis were rounded up and tossed in the jail. The special circumstances of Guantanamo allowed the government to label the prisoners as “enemy combatants” and hold them endlessly without trial, or even access to representation. They have been tortured endlessly. Alleged mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was waterboarded over 180 times before that particular method of torture was outlawed. At one time, the population at the prison was over 800 thanks to the mass roundup. Now, only 30 prisoners remain.

The fact that the prison is still running is a disgrace. If, after 23 years, the government doesn’t have enough evidence to convict without torturing them into a plea-deal confession, then they simply do not have the evidence to charge any of these men. Period. At this point, whether they are guilty or not is irrelevant. They have been held without legal representation and tortured endlessly for over twenty years! THIS IS NOT JUSTICE! Holding anyone this long under these circumstances is a violation of human rights no matter how one turns the issue. While details of the plea deal haven’t been released, the assumption is that they’re trading the death penalty for life in prison if they’re convicted. The government is assuming that their confessions, which would automatically be thrown out under any other circumstances as being obtained under conditions of duress, will be enough for the special court to convict. What happens, though, if it doesn’t? Will we let them go? Somehow, I doubt it because, again, the intention here is not justice but retribution.

Mind you, I certainly think that the people responsible for the tragic events of 9/11 deserve punishment, and possibly even the death penalty, though I’m no longer convinced that such an exchange of life-for-life is ever justified. However, what our government has done to these men over the past twenty-three years is inhuman. That the special circumstances around the prison at Guantanamo were ever established in the first place is inhuman. This is not the United States at its best. This is evil at its worst. Give them a fair trial. Either convict them on the evidence or let them go. That’s the way justice works. Anything else is simply evil.

Of course, one could make the argument that we are fully engaged with evil. That’s why evil is running for president in the form of the Orange Felon. I’m sure that by now everyone’s aware of the grotesque and racist remarks the fool made to a group of black journalists yesterday. Vice President Harris correctly responded that this is the same tactic of divisiveness and disrespect that he’s always used. That this felon has the support of roughly 46% of the people in the US demonstrates how comfortable we’ve become lying in bed with evil. We cannot claim to care about justice, we cannot hold any claim to fairness, and we cannot even begin to claim any grasp on freedom, as long as this FELON is running for the highest office in the country. His previous election and his current campaign are both a permanent stain upon the ideal of democracy. To not defeat him soundly, with an overwhelming majority in both the electoral college and popular votes, is to embrace the exact same type of evil that planned and carried out the 9/11 terrors. There’s no difference in the mindset, only the methods of their actions. You wouldn’t vote for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would you? The Orange Felon is the same type of person only dressed in a suit and painted orange.

Why am I feeling tired already? I’ve been sitting here guzzling coffee and yet my body is feeling pain and exhaustion as if I’d put in a full day’s work. I can’t go to sleep yet, though. Groceries are being delivered between 10-11. I hate feeling like this.

I’m going to get more coffee. I hope you have a good day.