If the consequences are as dire as many warn, why would the Republicans be so insistent on brinkmanship and refusing to raise the debt limit?

I’ll admit—on the surface, raising the debt ceiling sounds like a dumb thing to do, echoing advice one might hear in a parent/child conversation or Personal Finances seminar: don’t spend more than you have.

But this has been going on for a long time, a way of doing business, both parties complicit in this continuing practice. And it sounds like Kevin McCarthy and his legion of doom are holding the country hostage, threatening to do something he maybe considers fiscally responsible, but definitely politically valuable, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that doing so has grave consequences for this country’s and the world’s economic prospects.

What bothers me about this is that the Republicans appear to be ignoring the fact that it has taken the country a long time to generate such astounding debt—debt that is the result of decades of rubber stamping by both parties. To wield such power now, to be willing to suggest a cold turkey approach– to threaten the existence of longstanding entitlement programs!– seems reckless, dangerous, and as irresponsible as the idea of spending money we don’t have in the first place.

Stepping back, are we looking at a political party who is willing to risk tanking the economy so they can advance their prehistoric agenda? Sounds a bit suicidal.

Well, that ended poorly. Kind of figured it might, but not in the first round.

Though maybe that’s when it needed to happen—couldn’t let the team with the best record go too deep in the playoffs and regain the mojo they had for most of a record-breaking season.

Too bad- would have been nice to see them finish with the Cup.

Go Golden Knights!

Gas ranges in homes. Not exactly a recent development. What is relatively recent is the growing concern that cooking with gas in a relatively closed environment is not good for us. Nitrogen oxide, a lung irritant, is produced.

And this is something just recently discovered?

Natural gas and propane are fossil fuel, or fossil fuel byproduct, being burned indoors, maybe or maybe not with a window open, or some sort of adequate ventilation. The liberal media gets the blame, of course, for sounding an alarm, but doesn’t it make sense, simply from a logical standpoint, that this isn’t necessarily the safest way to cook your food?

Banning these stoves seems a bit over the top, but people need trustworthy, researched, and unbiased opinions so they can make a decision whether or not to look into some other means of cooking a meal or boiling water.

The transition from hospital to hospice has unfolded for Mom. Since it’s difficult to know exactly what she’s hearing and comprehending, because of the stroke, it’s also difficult to know if she has a sense for where she is. I told her both Thursday and yesterday about the coming move, but, again, it’s hard to tell what and how things are being heard.

Having said that, it seemed like maybe she was aware at some level. She was settled in at the new place, but there seemed to be a certain melancholy in her demeanor. It wasn’t fatigue, like she was nodding off to a short nap. It was more like disappointment and introspection, like perhaps she thought she was going back to her apartment and instead ended up in yet another unfamiliar place.

I don’t know. It’s hard to know for sure. But I wouldn’t be surprised, given her mental acuity up until the middle of April, if she has some idea of where she is, and what it means.

We’re hoping for a turnaround, that she may yet turn a corner on all this. But it’s best to be realistic.

Lately, because of Mom’s situation, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the places I grew up. Sixty-plus-year-old memories flooding back, few more intense than sitting outside on a pleasant Spring evening and listening to the cacophony of peepers across the street, tiny frogs who still call that little patch of wetland home.

The sound still stops me, still transports me back to when I was only single digits old.

It’s always a trip down memory lane when we come back this way. Seems a bit more intense this time around.

A quick trip through the newsfeed headlines offered up little that could be described as encouraging. Tucker Carlson isn’t happy about how things are going for him. Rock throwers in Colorado, more strife over transgender rights in Montana, violence among liquored-up college students on spring break, possible record flooding in places that had record snowfall, and the usual spate of gun violence stories.

I need something more hopeful today. It has to be out there somewhere.

So where will Tucker Carlson land? Whose presence will he next grace? And what will he sound like?

Will he still be the voice of the wacky Right, still combative and snarky and argumentative for ratings’ sake?

Fourteen years of hot air on a pseudo news network has come to an end. Will Carlson be angry and vengeful, or will he just find another place that will embrace his penchant for bombast and evocative rhetoric?

He seems like a pretty smart guy. Too bad he couldn’t use his gifts for something more honorable.  

Made the trip from PA to MA yesterday, which has always been a sort of cutesy use of abbreviations. We’ve come to MA and sometimes ME from PA, for the last 30-plus years, to visit Mom and Dad, among others.

Anyway, we’ve made the trip many times over the years, and the complaint is usually the same—once we hit CT, all bets are off regarding how long it will take to go from the NY border to the MA border.

Yesterday was momentous, if only because it was closer to the realization of one’s worst nightmare when trying to go from Point A to Point B. Between heavy merging, congestion, and construction, there were only rare stretches where highway speeds were reached between the border with New York and the other side of Waterbury. Most of the time it was standing still or creeping along at 20 MPH. At least the MPG number was trending in the right direction. Made up a little bit for the slowness after getting through Hartford.

Every time I drive the route, I tell myself to avoid getting caught up in going with the flow, which sometimes means going 80 or higher. I start with good intentions of honoring the speed limit, but most times end up being grateful that I’m off the treadmill and have made it in one piece.

*Or some other more current Formula 1 racer…  

Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump?

How about IBS or congestive heart failure; liver and onions or that abomination that passed for fish chowder in elementary school?

DeSantis or Trump. Maybe they should run on the same ticket. Ya, that’s it! Then there would be a tear in the time/space continuum that returns us to the Middle Ages, to feudal times when ignorance and superstition reigned supreme, people died from splinters and plagues, and you were lucky to live beyond your thirties.

That sounds something like where we’d be heading if either one of these clowns were to prevail.

Not sure why Joe Biden wants to run again– maybe to polish a legacy?

It’s mostly about his age for me. It already seems like he’s not all there, evidenced by his seeming physical fragility and periodic public gaffs. Isn’t there anyone else in the Democratic party who can step forward and handle the job?

I assume this is the plan at the moment because strategists see Joe as still being electable, a sane, middle-of-the-road alternative to the collection of wasted breath and brain drain on the Republican side. I guess this makes me an ageist, or whatever, but Biden in 2024 sounds rather unappealing. He was, somehow, the person for the job in 2020, mostly because he wasn’t Donald Trump. But not this time around.

Seems like the Dems could do better. Or maybe they can’t?