There was a segment on the NBC Nightly News (aka Fake, in some circles) last night about the prohibitive cost of diabetes medication. People are literally trying to stretch their prescribed insulin dosage beyond what is safe, trying to make it last, because they can’t afford the monthly expense anymore.

So is this just the capitalist, free-market system doing its thing? Is this the “beauty” of it?

Is there a rationale for such price gouging?  How about “Well, people aren’t eating healthy food, they’re gaining weight, so we feel it’s only reasonable to force the issue and raise the price. Maybe this’ll get their attention and get them to reassess their lifestyle choices…”     Hey, that sounds good. Let’s wrap that one with a bow.

I don’t know what big pharma’s motives are, but it seems a safe bet that the bottom line looms large in their thinking. It’s easiest to assume the usual suspects: profit margin and greed.

Pretty cold.    But this is The Donald’s world now, we must remember. We’re all winning. Nothing but winning. Winning all the time.

Claims and counter-claims. “Witch hunt.” Adamant denials.

Partisan politics is such a drag. It’s impressive, in a twisted sort of way– just deny with gusto and ALL CAPS, and you just may weather the storm.  Teach our children well, Donald, teach our children well.

As an observer with his own dog in this race to the bottom, I’m pulling for the Trump camp to be revealed as the ill-intentioned gas bags that most of the country has always known them to be. But will there ever be a way of knowing for sure? President Tweetstorm stays on the offensive, practicing mindlessness, running to another rally where he plays all the old hits for an arena full of zombie disciples who help him feel good about himself.

It’d be laughable if not for the sadness of it.

On the other hand, drought has not been on the minds of anyone here in southeastern PA this summer. Since the middle of July, a rough estimate of local rainfall has us with about 16″ and counting. Maybe more (it’s definitely more- we had almost another 3.5 ” after this was written).

I don’t mind the rain. I look at northern California (OK, pretty much the whole state of California) and southeastern Australia, and am grateful that we’re not dealing with the conditions they are facing without any relief in sight.

Our lawns are green, the reservoirs recharged, the rivers at full bank. I’ll take these conditions any day. I just wish there was a way to spread the wealth.

The word conjures up images of parched landscapes, a merciless withholding of sustenance, where only undesirable things still grow. Tinder dry vegetation, dust, heat, fire.

Locally, we will have periods of drought, it seems often in July. The lawn will turn brown and crunchy. But the weeds seem to thrive.

There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

I wonder what historians will write regarding these current days- if they will be kind to us, or if they will have nothing to offer but an accounting of when everything went to shit, when there became no way to sustain and protect whatever semblance of democracy actually existed here in The Shining City On The Hill.

Will it be written that, in the end, our leaders could not rise above their worst inclinations, their basest instincts, couldn’t live up to the ideals set forth in the founding documents? Ignored appeals to their better angels?

Anyway, the advent of Trump has only reinforced the notion that there is no accounting for taste, and has called into question whether or not humans are capable of learning anything from history or seeing beyond their bellies and recognizing a weasel when there is one in their midst.

It’s not that I’m looking for or expecting a squeaky clean Boy or Girl Scout in the White House. Just someone I respect and trust. The current occupant of the Oval Office exudes neither of these qualities in amounts approaching even a thimble full.

So is it appropriate to be alarmed by Trump’s insistence that certain people be refused their security clearance because they disagree with him? Or what about his plea to disregard what we’re seeing and hearing in the news because what we’re seeing and hearing isn’t what’s actually happening? Or what about the effort by conservative Republicans to impeach Rod Rosenstein?

Is the noose tightening with regard to collusion, or are we witnessing the beginning of the end of checks and balances designed to keep rats from taking over?

This is a massive power struggle, and there will be casualties.

Humility. It’s what the world needs now. Well, that and a Mueller indictment that leaves no shadow of a doubt that this current President is a pox, a stain, a mistake.

Anyway, humility… how is it that we want to instill in our children a certain humility but then teach them to blow their own horns and talk trash? It’s a fine line, I guess, between healthy self-confidence and ego run amok.

As a nation, we’ve had trouble with this lately. The current President is a shameless braggart who sets such a fine example for our children and youth. There are probably those who still look up to him and even want to follow in his footsteps. But how is that possible? How did we get here?

Heavy sigh.

So now Trump is talking tough with Iran. He likes to talk tough, because he’s got the best threats. Believe me, no one has better threats.

People in high places are all for “the rule of law” when such adherence suits their agendas or their biases.

But all laws aren’t fair or just. Or bad. They’re created by people so a semblance of order and decorum is maintained. They are contextual. They reflect bias and ignorance, thorough or shoddy research, knowledge at hand, political and societal climate. Very few are above amendment or repeal, or at least constant scrutiny and interpretation.

The latest concern or opportunity, depending on one’s political bent and in light of Anthony Kennedy’s impending retirement, is that the new Supreme Court justice is going to be anti- Roe v Wade.  Feelings may not be assuaged by the appearance of a judicial body made up largely of men making decisions that affect women’s bodies and lives. That’s not a good look.

Then again, when Roe v Wade was originally upheld, there were no women on the bench. What has changed, or is likely to change, is the philosophical/religious leanings of the justices. Conservative Christian values come into play. Views on and understandings of the sanctity of life come into play.

And just how free are we, as individuals, to make decisions concerning our own bodies? One could argue that this is a very important consideration. Is abortion always the wrong choice? Is it somehow an assault on the common good, some sort of black mark on humanity? Or do the consequences under which this baby was conceived matter? Does the health of the mother matter?

Is it beyond the scope of a judicial body to legislate morality? Do we, in a sense, let the chips fall where they may, leave the decision to the woman?

After all, it is her body, not anyone else’s. In most cases, she is the one who, ultimately, will weigh outcomes and consequences.

Donald Trump will always be the Grinch before his change of heart.