What’s It Gonna Be?

Featured tallthinman72Leave a comment

The Supreme Court ain’t so supreme, of late.

Maybe it has always benefited from a certain undeserved mystique- its members aren’t gods, after all, just human beings tasked with important work. Justices over the years have produced many landmark decisions seemingly based on a sincere and fair treatment of testimony and applicable law, even charting new ground from time to time, especially when it comes to human rights and bodily autonomy.

Lately, though, there seems to be some backsliding. More suspicion, more doubt, more finger pointing in the direction of a hand-picked conservative majority on a mission to, oh, I don’t know, tighten things up, bring us back to a “better” place that pleases straight, white Christians everywhere.

In the midst of the Trump mess, the court seems to not want to stick its neck out and abide by the 14th Amendment provision of forbidding insurrectionists from running for office. Though he hasn’t been accused yet, many know what Trump did and who and what he really is, and how dangerous he has become.

So maybe it comes down to how closely the court adheres to the letter of the law, along with its efforts to reel in the temptation to react to certain public sentiment, and to what many are seeing with their own eyes: Trump running roughshod over, and even making a mockery of certain norms that have long served as guardrails.

Sometimes it looks like nothing can be done to make him go away.

Takes Me Back

tallthinman72Leave a comment

I received a newsletter today from the chairperson of the alumni group from my class in college. It was our 50th anniversary of graduation, and the letter was an update on how things went at the reunion weekend back in May.

The pictures of classmates included in the letter put me in a contemplative mood. The group photos had to be of people from ancient classes from the ’40s and ’50s I used to see in editions of past quarterly magazines honoring the 50+-year classes. Except these were classmates of mine, many of whom I never did get to know, but who I would recognize if their names happened to be included in the captions, which they weren’t.

Anyway, this encounter with the great old days of college has me wistfully reminiscing about a period in my life that now seems like it could have unfolded in a dream. It elicits a certain melancholy, but also sincere gratitude for the experience. And it has me both marveling at and somewhat stunned by this inexorable passage of time that occasionally catches us off guard and has us evaluating what we’ve done with all the years.

Growth of a sort

tallthinman72Leave a comment
Daily writing prompt
What is one way you have grown this year?
View all responses

Physically heavier and a bit softer– I haven’t been to the Y since January. I’ve tried to get some exercise in other ways, but it can’t approximate what I’d be doing in the gym.

And I don’t know if it can be called growth, but my attitude in general has been weighted toward cynical skepticism– if that’s even a thing– as I realize the fate of the world is currently in the hands of lunatics and pretenders.

A Monstrous, Failed Diversion

tallthinman72Leave a comment

Epstein.

Only Donald Trump would boast about a deal that offers up some conditions that existed before Iran was attacked.

The Strait of Hormuz open? That was the reality before the war, except now there will be a fee for passage.

No regime change, Iran still has its uranium. All in all, billions of dollars wasted, lives lost, allies miffed, a reputation sullied even more than it already was. Yet Trump and the sad sacks around him will declare A Deal Like No Other has been reached.

The fact that it was announced on his birthday only adds to the pathetic nature of it all. You gotta figure he needed something else to celebrate besides an ugly UFC extravaganza on the White House lawn.

Whose victory is this, really?

And what’s with the sheet over the Kennedy Center exterior?

Epstein.

Money’s Worth

tallthinman72Leave a comment
Daily writing prompt
What is something you wish you could tell your 20-year-old self?
View all responses

I would have been a sophomore in college at that point, so maybe a little pep talk on buckling down and taking this educational opportunity more seriously. As it was, I was enamored of the carefree, party atmosphere about as much as I was into studying anything, which in retrospect was shortsighted and immature.

I guess that would be the main thing– summon some discipline, find some focus and chart something of a course for myself, develop a plan and take advantage of this privilege which, at the time, I didn’t really recognize as such.

Not Exhaustive

tallthinman72Leave a comment
Daily writing prompt
Write your guide to setting healthy boundaries in relationships.
View all responses

Work on creating a culture of trust. Laugh often. Give each other the benefit of the doubt, at least in the beginning. Recognize that the other is a one-of-a-kind human being with their own origin story. Listen to the story. Check in, but not so often that it gets annoying. Do an unexpected nice thing every now and then. Give each other space. Support each other in their aspirations. Push each other from time to time, but not constantly. Be realistic. Relax. Don’t be in a hurry to move on to The Next Thing. Enjoy each other’s company. Breathe.

And a Peace Deal To Boot!

tallthinman72Leave a comment

Call me whatever you want, but I’m glad the UFC thing is over. This is the kind of great programming one can look forward to with a Paramount Plus subscription.

It must have been the best way to cap off a great 80th birthday for the loser who has everything but a soul and the world’s respect. I hear there’s a chance the gaudiness may stay put on the South Lawn for a while, or as long as Trump resides in the White House. That’s just great.

It’s pretty easy to hate the guy, especially when he uses the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool as backdrops for cheap gladiator shit and turns the residence grounds into some sort of warped carnival. He’s certainly leaving his mark, not dissimilar to skid marks in a pair of his oversized briefs.

Freedom 250? It’s likely not gonna get any better than this. Theirs is a skewed vision. Trump and the rest have no idea what freedom really means. Nor do they care.

Misled

tallthinman72Leave a comment

They’re stringing us out. Donald Trump and the rest of the crew say things that keep us listening. They will, for example, point to the downward trend in gas prices (at least here in northeastern PA) and claim this to be a win for all. But is it, really?

Is our continued addiction to fossil fuels a good thing, or simply the result of a powerful lobby that still gets its way because enough members of Congress—and the POTUS—are beholden to their deep pockets?

I’m growing weary of hearing the litany of troubles the average consumer is facing, which includes high gas prices. Isn’t anyone else tired of having to deal with a commodity as fickle as gasoline and diesel? Haven’t we had enough of the volatility, and the pollution, and being held hostage by an administration that has nixed mandates on fuel efficiency and loosened restrictions on pollution standards to the point of advocating for an anthracite comeback?

Their environmental stance is really no stance at all, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the canary has been laying in the bottom of the cage for a while now, soon with Xs in its eyes. We can’t go on like this. We can’t keep filling our tanks and simultaneously run on empty.

Donald Trump and the fossil fuel industry want to be our junkies, keep us placated with a supply of refined, anaerobically decomposed plant remains and other organic matter from eons ago. If it were up to them—and thus far it seems to be—there would be nary a mention of any other energy source. We shouldn’t let that happen anymore.

Meh

tallthinman72Leave a comment
Daily writing prompt
Do you think humans will ever colonize Mars? What would life there actually look like?
View all responses

I don’t really care. If we do, we do. I’m just not sure what purpose it will serve, other than proof that we could do it. There are most likely visionaries who can see all sorts of benefits, or vendors and manufacturers with dollar signs in their eyes, but colonization would be only for those who could afford it, were handpicked to propagate our species, and who could stand the 7-9-month trip, based on current modes of propulsion.

It’s cynical, I know, but I don’t see the value. And quality of life would be assessed in a different way, couched in a certain amount of restraint and restriction, since the Martian atmosphere is much thinner and colder and harsher than Earth’s.

I’m not a big proponent, but there are those who figure that we’re doing a fine job of messing up our current planetary home, so we best develop a Plan B. If there were important learnings that could benefit us back here on Earth, I might soften the skepticism a bit.

A million of ’em

tallthinman72Leave a comment
Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite meme?
View all responses

There’s one with the Dos Equis guy that has a picture of him with the words, “I don’t often crop pictures, but when I do…” and the last line is unreadable.

There’s a short video clip of a woman fresh from a dentist appointment who can’t close her eye and has a droopy lip. I laugh every time I see it, and that’s without the sound turned on.

Another is a picture of a young, attractive couple who must be candidates for a home improvement show or something, with the caption, “I walk iguanas and my wife sells umbrella insurance from home. Our budget is $2.1 million.”

And from the El Arroyo sign, somewhere in Texas: “What if soy milk is just regular milk introducing itself in Spanish?”

There are so many.