Morning Update: 08/23/24
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!
Morning Update: 09/26/24
When is a fall not really a fall? When you’re already lying down. There’s a feature on my smartwatch, one of the reasons I bought it, that alerts your emergency contact when you fall. I’ve fallen several times over the past two years and not once has it alerted anyone. Until yesterday. The problem? I was sound asleep, napping away, when my watch started a strange ringing. I looked, and the message on the watch was, “Fall detected. Notify emergency contact?” Obviously, I chose to not notify anyone since I was already lying down! This raises the question, however, of exactly what constitutes a fall for the watch. Did I roll over violently? Was I flailing my arms in my sleep? I’ve no idea.
G had his violin lesson yesterday and Tipper seemed to have a good day at school. Kat fixed a fantastic dinner of cheese brats and steamed asparagus. I went to bed a little after 8:00 and fell immediately asleep until 2:30 this morning. That was when my desk lamp decided to spaz out. Normally, if the lamp turns on during the night, it’s because one of the cats walked across it. All the cats were in bed, snoring away. The light would come on, dim, change temperature a couple of times, then go out. I’d close my eyes again, and a few minutes later, it would pop back on. This continued until almost 3:00. I’ve no idea why. The lamp is working fine this morning.
Life is full of mysteries I suppose. For example, Ohio’s GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno says abortion isn’t “an issue” for women “past 50”. Now, why would anyone in their right mind say something that stupid? The backlash is predictably intense and the statement could cause him to lose the election. You’d think that people would open their mouths before saying something stupid. Yet, Republican candidates can’t seem to keep their mouths shut on the issue. The party would prefer they talk about the economy, but candidate after candidate keeps talking about abortion, and when they do, they’re more likely to lose.
But then, that story isn’t nearly as bizarre as the Taliban saying it’s absurd to accuse them of gender discrimination. WTF? Something tells me they don’t understand the meaning of that word. Their defense is that Afghan law is in line with Sharia law. But that’s a non-starter because Sharia law itself is discriminatory toward women. According to AP, “Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands are set to start legal proceedings against the Taliban for violating a U.N. convention on women, to which Afghanistan is a party.” Afghan officials say they don’t understand the problem. Once again, this is what happens when right-wing religious nut jobs are allowed to run a country. Absolute absurdity.
Insane in a different way is the forecast that Hurricane Helene threatens ‘unsurvivable’ storm surge and vast inland damage. Dear Florida friends: go somewhere else. But not here. Local meteorologists are anticipating that by Friday evening, we’ll be getting the leftovers of the hurricane with 40-50 mph winds. Friday night football is having a tough time getting their games in. This will make the third week in a row that some games may have to be canceled due to storms. With wind speeds at that level, we can expect downed tree limbs, possible power outages, and an increased chance of roof damage. Depending on how the system hits and where one lives, the metro area could see as much as two inches of rain by Monday.
Tommy Kramer, another former NFL quarterback, said yesterday that he’s been diagnosed with dementia. Sooner or later, we, as a nation, may have to come to grips with the possibility that football is too violent a sport for our kids to be playing. In fact, if we’re totally honest with ourselves, football may be too dangerous for anyone to play at any age. I’ve been to NFL Players Union events. No one retires from that sport without permanent injury of some kind. While I enjoy watching football as much as the next person, if my pleasure is coming at the expense of people’s lives, then it’s morally wrong. What do you think?
After the mess of the 2020 election, News Outlets are Bracing for Chaos on Election Night (and Perhaps Beyond). GOP rhetoric has been especially violent and more than a few counties are threatening to not certify the election. However, Mark Zuckerberg says he Is Done With Politics. Will that translate to less misinformation on Meta-owned platforms? I wouldn’t bet on it. Zuck is seeing that opening his mouth on political matters costs him money. That’s not likely to push any policy changes within the company itself.
There are times when life is just weird. This is being one of those times.
Just don’t mess with my coffee, okay?
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