What’s It Gonna Be?

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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.

Spin, of a sort

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In the absence of anything substantial in the way of information, a vacuum can be created, a void into which opinion and conjecture are inserted and assumptions made. The news—what there is of it—about Mitch McConnell is case in point.

There appears to be some medical issue unfolding for weeks now, and the public has been largely kept in the dark about it. Theories abound, the most prominent of which is that Republicans are strategizing and trying to avoid certain eventualities and timeframes so as not to jeopardize their current advantage in the Senate.

McConnell’s wife is not even in the country, the theory here being that she will be unavailable to sign a DNR order until August 3 or thereafter. So, apparently we are to assume that the Senator is on life support and will remain so until it is advantageous to remove him?

See? In the absence of solid info, theories will be floated, and conclusions will be drawn.

Party Pooper

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Are we supposed to care about Taylor and Travis’s wedding? I suppose it took people’s minds off other things that have been nagging at us, but in the larger scheme of things, it’s not unlike a royal wedding—an event that draws outsized media coverage and allows the masses to drool over how the 1-percenters live.

Sure, I might be a bit envious about using Madison Square Garden as the venue, that Adam Sandler officiated, that they marry their fortunes together and will never want for anything. But that jealousy will fade quickly, because there are more pressing events and issues vying for our attention.

For some, it’s a pleasant distraction and a celebrity fix. For me, these or any nuptials don’t really belong in the multi-media sphere, are much ado about nothing, and I’m mystified by the attention paid them.

Drastic Measures, Sometimes

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Daily writing prompt
What villain actually had a good point?
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I’m not that familiar with TV and movie villains, or real villains, for that matter. Well, except for people like Hitler and Jim Jones and Vladimir Putin. I know that, in general, people we consider evil are convinced of their own “good” intentions, their own beliefs and zeal for drastic measures and certain results. I suppose one could argue that the “villain” moniker is a matter of perspective, but I don’t believe that is relevant in every instance.

Anyway, the one person who did come to mind is from V for Vendetta. V at one point says that people should not fear their governments, but governments should fear their people. Or something to that effect. I seem to recall hearing this being spoken lately, or seeing it in print, and find it to be of some relevance, given what we’re facing here in the U.S.

Living under the thumb of a repressive, oppressive dictator wannabe has led to anger and revolt. Donald Trump appears to relish the role of troublemaker and fearless leader, and can easily be dismissed as a shallow pretender who never grew up, who always needs to get his way. But he wields great power and as such commands our attention– even if it’s the people around him, lurking in the shadows, who are more scary and focused and zealous.

In any event, such hard-headed conviction and delusions of grandeur exact a toll on the person harboring such beliefs, and eventually the oppressed win the day. Even if, agonizingly, it takes a while.

Relentless

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The news comes in waves.

Mitch McConnell—is he alive, or at least conscious? Is Putin as evil and crazy as he wants to make us think? Is Trump going to blow up NATO? Did Trump interfere in the process of getting Mr. Balogun back for the Belgium match? That worked out, well, about as expected. Balogun’s presence didn’t matter. In fact, it may have messed with the U.S. players’ mojo, and all Trump really did was to hand Belgium additional motivational fodder and confirm us to be the bad guys the world already suspects us to be.

Did the latest news about Graham Platner’s checkered past hit of its own accord, or was this a calculated, well-timed Republican ploy to drag a potential challenger to Susan Collins even deeper into the mud? If so, how much did the woman who came forward with the allegation get paid?

Politics is indeed a slimy, cutthroat business, and humans can so readily indulge the enterprise. To add to the mess, Donald Trump is so damned inspirational in this regard.

Enough Already

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Daily writing prompt
Is a little chaos actually good for us?
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Honestly, only as a frame of reference, only as it provides contrast to moments of calm and relative peace. I’m tired of chaos, since that’s pretty much all we’ve been getting since 2016.

There’s a difference between the chaos of hosting a houseful of families with children for a long weekend and the constant drumbeat of manufactured drama and insolence and blatant incompetence of a second Trump term. Both come with a shelf life, but the former is a bit easier to tolerate.

I’m at the point where it’s a big No to even a small amount of chaos. I’m tired of it, I abhor it, at least in the context of daily dealing with this gaggle of shysters and low-lifes we loosely refer to as “leaders.”

It does make for some interesting viewing if one is watching a World Cup match, though.

Walk East (or West) ’til Your Hat Floats

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In an old post from July 5, 2020, I was doing a post-mortem on Donald and Melania’s appearance at Mt. Rushmore the previous day, where he gave one of his screeds dressed as a speech in front of 7500 maskless disciples who thumbed their noses at the pandemic in order to come and listen to their fearless leader spend who knows how long spewing more Milleresque poison.

I added at the end that Gutzon Borglum, the brainchild of the landmark, was associated with the KKK. This has gotten me thinking about the messiness of our history and how we grow up learning only parts of stories about places like Mt. Rushmore, often excluding how the local native American tribes, for example, didn’t want a gigantic monument to Manifest Destiny and four white guys, two of whom were slave holders, emblazoned on the side of a mountain on what they considered sacred land.

That whole scene from six years ago was surreal, and now Trump is back, elected to office for a second time, and still dropping hints about wanting to have his face added to the four who are already there.

Sure, why not? It’s not even ridiculous anymore. It actually makes sense, if one understands such a thing to be just the latest attempt at distraction, another tactic that he hopes will get us off the Epstein scent.

Or maybe he’s finally going off the deep end.

Older and Newer

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a lesson you’ve learned recently that shifted your perspective?
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I’ve mentioned this in different contexts, and it’s not a recent learning, but one that has led to significant personal reassessments. After reading Sapiens, by Juval Noah Harari, my view of religious faith changed. A certain doubt took hold. I suppose one could say that it was a mistake for me to pick up the book in the first place, but it was there to read and I had heard good things about it. It ended up changing my perspective on lifelong beliefs and practices. Or perhaps it was just confirming doubts I had already been harboring.

A more current revelation is that the 4th of July I’d prefer to observe has nothing to do with what’s going on in this country at the moment. The current leadership is useless and hateful and uninspiring. I am simply remembering and honoring the events and people associated with what went on in the late 1700s, when a group of leaders put their names on a remarkable document– an act of defiance that would have gotten them hanged if things had worked out differently. Such courage and conviction and imagination are nowhere to be found among this present-day hodgepodge of sycophants and pretenders.

Z land

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Daily writing prompt
What do you do to improve your sleep?
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Lately, I’ve started going to bed earlier. I also try to limit fluid intake after a certain time, in hopes of getting up less during the night. I don’t eat anything heavy after supper, maybe apple slices or dry cereal or a bowl of microwaved popcorn made in a Pampered Chef silicone family sized popper. I turn on one of those tall, rotating floor fans and keep it on low, just to get some air movement.

That’s about it.

Crispy

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Daily writing prompt
Hit 5,000 steps today and drop your achievement here — we’re cheering you on!
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Probably won’t happen today. I did have 14000+ steps on Saturday, when it was still hospitable for humans to be outdoors. So I’m gonna count that as having some in the bank… 🙂

Had a “feels like” temp of 116 here yesterday. More of the same today. And tomorrow.

Kudos to all who get it done today.