The rule of law is taking a real hit. Many Republicans couldn’t care less about legacies or how they will be remembered. They don’t give a rat’s ass about precedent or propriety or opinion polls or what’s right. “Right” is a moving target, contextual, a matter of perspective and expedience.

Are we in the middle of yet another cycle where history is rhyming, calling us to vigilance? Or are we witnessing the end of us?

We have numerous things to be mad about or scared of this morning… Warnings of Armageddon because a Russian oligarch can’t be made to look like a fool and a failure; 36 people dead, mostly young children, in a gun and knife attack in Thailand; 2 dead and 8 wounded in Vegas in this country’s 2 millionth (can’t be many less than that) shooting of the year.

On a lighter note, President Biden looks to pardon low-level marijuana offenders. Cool.

I think Ukrainians have the right idea. Instead of hiding in bunkers waiting for nuclear winter, just gather on a hillside and engage in unbridled sex. That’s the way to go out.

Holy shit.

Watching the timelapse videos of Hurricane Ian making landfall in Florida sort of seals the deal for me. It’s obvious that the forces of nature have no regard for infrastructure, or dream homes we build next to the shore, or the financial and emotional investments we make in building those dream homes next to the shore that become sitting ducks for exactly what unfolded.

These natural forces are impervious to our investments, our feelings. They are impersonal. They just do what they do, yet I imagine they might be perceived as somehow sentient and punitive.

We have enjoyed a propagation of our species because we have a brain that’s wired to avoid life-threatening conditions, help us stay out of harm’s way. Most of us know that in order to remain alive, we will need to vacate our dream homes, leave them behind, and find suitable shelter somewhere else, fully cognizant that those special places may not be there when we are able to return and assess whether to repair or rebuild or move inland.

I don’t know what those most directly affected are thinking and feeling—dazed, confused, snake-bitten, empty, afraid, unsure, grateful…? One thing I do know is that the forces that wrought such destruction and heartache don’t care. Can’t care. They have moved on, fully incapable of sensing the pain they’ve caused. Dissipating, and perhaps regrouping to show up again somewhere in the British Isles or elsewhere.

What more do we need to know and see before truly committing to development of alternative energy sources?

Does it boil anyone else’s blood to read about the Saudis reducing oil production, seemingly arbitrarily, which will of course cause us continued pain at the pump? Increasing domestic output won’t do, isn’t the solution we need. Releasing barrels from the strategic reserve seems ill-advised and next to useless.

The world has gotten itself in a true bind when we can’t risk a downturn in fossil fuel prices for fear of what it will mean for market volatility. Saudi Arabia holds too much sway in this conversation (or does Putin have them in his pocket?), but we keep coming back to the teat. It’s time to wean ourselves off, once and for all.

Enough of this geopolitical hot potato, enough of the talk about needing to maintain some sort of “balanced mix” of clean energy and fucking oil and coal. That sounds like the oil and coal people talking, still holding too many cards, with too many seats at the table, unwilling to let go of their cash cow. And worse yet, refusing to acknowledge what their beloved products are doing to the earth.

Aaron Judge hit No. 62 last night. Good for him. I hope he’s clean. He’s actually the Major League single season home run leader now, despite what he’s been saying. No amount of arguing or rationalizing or explaining away “the era” is going to sway my opinion of Bonds and McGwire and Sosa.

So, congrats Mr. Judge. May your record stand up to scrutiny, rise above suspicion, stand the test of time, and be accepted as legitimately achieved.

-So Trump can just go to the Supreme Court any old time he wants, and expect an audience? Since he or most likely his lawyers asked, they will take a look at his latest stall tactic and possibly make a ruling?

Who knows if the SCOTUS will simply, though figuratively, laugh in his face, or if they will indulge him and actually take it on? I hate to think that we’re witnessing yet another great escape by the King of Entitlements.

-Hearts are breaking (really?) over the latest news from the Brady-Bundchen power couple. Sounds like divorce is in the offing. What a surprise. What’s that settlement gonna look like?

When one takes stock of everywhere meteorological havoc has been wrought, it might get one wondering about how widespread it actually is. It seems like every year we see, or experience for ourselves, destruction of infrastructure and livelihoods and homes that will take a long time to come back from, if recovery happens at all. And all of this in addition to the loss of life.

I wonder about the cumulative effects of such loss, about what’s more likely—that people rebuild and make another go of it, or walk away and find a friendlier climate. Or never truly recover from what they’ve just been through.

I don’t know what I’d do, how I’d feel. I can only imagine that it would be something of a comfort to know that federal and local assistance were available, and that unaffected family members close by or far away were standing at the ready to help.

People like to say that they’re resilient, and such self talk might be helpful. But it’d be really hard to have to navigate this on your own.

An unannounced firing of a ballistic missile over Japan.

Kim Jong Un seems like a 7^th-grader who stumbles onto a stash of fireworks or gets his hands on his father’s gun—he may not know exactly what he’s got but he can still unleash havoc and terror.

Or maybe it’s all calculated, a piece of a strategy that will allow China to attempt a takeover of Taiwan. I have to believe that China is more patient and methodical than the hacks in Russia. Who knows what Xi and Co. have up their sleeves?

The yard signs are everywhere now, about a month out from the midterm elections. I see groupings of candidate names that have me stereotyping the people who allowed the little placards on their lawns.

So you’re a supporter of Doug Mastriano? Say no more. Then you also will vote for Goldtone Shillmeister if he happens to get the nomination again. The slate of Republican candidates in some districts and states is almost comically (in a sadistic sort of way) horrendous. I can’t understand for the life of me how and why these people hold the views that they do, or that they find such support. It has to be, at least in part, a political calculation born of riding the coattails of, or emulating the former President, which at this point seems ill advised.

No. 45 seems to be slowly fading, becoming yesterday’s and last year’s news. He’s growing desperate now. He’s never had anything to offer, and the people who are still kowtowing to him don’t have anything to offer. Yet they continue campaigning as if they have a chance, proud of what they “stand for.”

Based on polling, it looks like many potential voters recognize Mastriano and Meuser and Dr. Oz and the rest for what they are: opportunists trying to find the right combination of contrived words. Dinosaurs and relics making vacuous promises and standing on a rickety platform propped up by stupefying ignorance and hate.

The story out of Indonesia hardly comes as a surprise. Soccer rivalries are often over-the-top—alcohol-fueled?—passion plays where pent-up anger and stupidity reign supreme.

Stampede is a word usually associated with cattle or bison, but it’s also, sadly, part of the vernacular when it comes to football and hyped-up humans in a confined space who, in this case, were spooked by tear gas. Panic ensued, and voila! A totally avoidable tragedy.