As I stood at the kitchen window this morning, before I turned on the light over the sink and poured my cold brew, I couldn’t help but notice the twinkling stars and the quiet of the predawn. It’s like this every morning, though not always clear. Sometimes the clouds hang low, or fog diffuses the light bathing the steeple of the Christian Church one street over.

But my day starts with peace and quiet in a warm house with electricity and running water. And every morning my thoughts turn immediately to Gaza or Ukraine or somewhere that currently exists in some sort of forbidden hellscape.

I think about accidents of birth. I ponder the concepts of fairness and luck, and the cold hearts of people who are leaders in title only, people filled with hate and selfishness and a contemptuous apathy.

I think about the frailty of my own relative contentment, about what separates my peaceful morning from the shattered existence of people who live in places where war seems to be the only reality, where leaders don’t care, where losses mount, where government services have broken down or don’t exist, where prospects for any kind of future are dim, and no one comes to help.

And then I go downstairs for my two hours of quiet time, tucked away from everything and everybody, awash in the comfort and familiarity of my daily routine. I do indeed feel lucky. I savor every moment, convinced of my good fortune, all the while unable to shake a certain guilt and restlessness because my awareness and sensitivities have yet to blossom into anything more than thoughts and an occasional prayer.

Trump’s VP choice. Does it really matter? Will it be arm candy, or might he surprise everybody and choose somebody who’s… capable? More likely, it’ll simply be a placeholder, a yes-person, maybe a pretty face.

They won’t work as a team. You wouldn’t think he’d pick anyone who could possibly outshine him or even offer advice. Trump will be off doing his own thing all the time, while the VP will stand dutifully to the side, maybe given some obscure assignment or mission that won’t overshadow or take away from whatever Trump would be opining about.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? How easy it has become to speak as if a second Trump term could actually come to pass! There’s a world of hurt circling above him that has to start dropping before too much longer. And if he does somehow make it to November, when push comes to shove, will voters be able to bring themselves to choose him?

He can’t get that far. For numerous reasons, he shouldn’t even be in this process. Many know that, and yet… there he is. He’s way worse than a bad penny.

Greg Abbott and the rest of the mostly southern governors are playing with fire, upping the ante with this grandstanding show at the border, which is probably their intent.

I’m tired of their antics, though. One-issue cowboys doing their best rebel imitations, trying to muscle their way into the national spotlight. Don’t mess with Texas… the South will rise again… enough of the provincial bullshit.

Yes, immigration is a serious issue, but it’s not the only issue. And while sending busloads of unwitting immigrants all over the country might “raise awareness,” it’s not the best way to curry favor with all those perceived coastal elites who are dealing with their own challenges and don’t necessarily appreciate being force fed some morality tale.

One thing it may do is add to the bad blood that’s been coursing through the veins since before the Civil War.

What’s somewhat of a mystery is how there can be such a disconnect between certain economic numbers of late—which have been quite rosy—and the opinion polls regarding how people feel about the economy. I guess it has something to do with the (still) high cost of food.

Or is it more complicated than that? Is it somehow related to consistent negative reporting that’s getting more attention and having more of an effect? Many, after all, don’t listen to MSNBC or any of the other major networks besides Fox.

Are there more people in the Trump camp than there are in the Biden camp who will say their lives suck simply because they know it will dampen enthusiasm for Biden? Or is it more the sad reality that there are many more people who are still having to make the difficult choice between paying for food, or medicine?

What will happen if Trump loses again? Will he finally shut up (that’s funny)? Will the nooses from all the indictments finally tighten? Or would we be in for yet another four years of griping and whining about results and witch hunts and rigged voting?

Will this misery never end?

I liked what Bill Maher had to say about the music that people are listening to, and the messages within the music. There is an unmistakable emphasis on money and acquiring stuff, a message which inevitably resonates and wriggles its way into immature psyches everywhere.

Watch next weekend, when many eyes will be focused on Sin City, aptly named, as the Super Bowl hype machine unfolds for the masses to marvel at and consume and even absorb. It is gross, over-the-top hyper-marketing, with a loud, in-your-face halftime show that probably will induce a few seizures and flaunt someone’s sexuality and convey a message about fame and fortune or a skewed picture of what love is.

Or maybe Taylor Swift’s presence will distract from everything because people will be waiting to see if she drops down from the rafters to endorse Joe Biden.

It would be more of an issue if Fani Willis was dating someone on the defense team. Sounds like someone on Trump’s legal team, or whoever blew the whistle on this “scandal,” is grasping at straws, which is what people around Trump are liable to be doing at this point. They’ll take anything that looks like a smoking gun and run with it, even if it amounts to a hill of beans.

Still, it inevitably will raise questions and take time to sort out, which is exactly what the Trump camp is hoping for—more wasting of time and drawing things out.

Delay, delay, delay. We’re all familiar with the strategy.

I imagine that China and Russia have the same capabilities. They could fly sorties from their respective homelands and wreak havoc here, like the U.S. apparently did the other day when they flew B-1s across the pond to hit targets in Iraq and Syria.

It’s a fine line we’re walking—trying to respond in a measured way, to send a message about capabilities without provoking all-out war with Iran and who knows who else.

What the hell is a measured response, anyway? I’m sure Iran and the rest are beside themselves with appreciation that we were just behaving with restraint in a “measured” way…

It’s all aggression, though, isn’t it? That’s the bottom line. There will be no hints taken from our measured approach, nothing understood or appreciated. Everybody’s looking for an excuse to fan the flames and really go at it. There’s always someone aching for a fight.

It’s the same old shit. Lessons we must be hardwired not to learn.

Just what we need. God’s Army on a mission to “take our border back.”

Is this how Civil War 1.2.1 begins? Or is it more a whimper by misguided “patriots” in search of meaning and purpose in their lives?

They are on a mission from God, so there’s that. And they are probably well-armed and fired up, maybe liquored up, too?

MAGA on display. Does it make you proud, Donald? Or would you prefer not to know these people?

There are more ways than bombs and other offensive weaponry to inflict damage on a nation. China seems to be intent on wreaking havoc with cyber-attacks on our critical infrastructure, according to current reporting. This would indeed introduce panic and discomfort and anger, and violence would ensue without sending one bomb.

I can’t believe we have to think about this stuff. It makes me sound like a paranoid doomsdayer. But the efforts, according to CNN, are real and ongoing.

We better have a robust defense against such heinous behavior, better be keeping one step ahead. Besides biological or chemical warfare, cyber warfare is about as insidious as it gets. Computer technology turns out to be a mixed blessing, at best.

I wonder what Bill Gates thinks about all this—if he’s confident we can stay ahead of it, or if he recognizes that the other shoe will inevitably drop. Because to hackers, it’s like an addictive game, with the added considerations of geopolitical supremacy and national pride.

They get off on the challenge of solving riddles. Breaking things, busting through firewalls and causing chaos. I’m sure there are high fives all around.