Just a little more than usual
I came out to the kitchen a bit before 5 this morning, and saw that the Moon was casting its light through the window that looks out on the back yard. It was quite bright, and I had to get a picture of it. Of course, the pic won’t do it justice, but it still looks kind of cool. The snow pack adds to the ambience.
I found and find it amazing that the brightness is reflected light that has traveled 240,000 miles to bathe our countertops with enough light to mix a batch of pancakes.
We got it with some help from a program at the place I worked, sometime in 1990 or maybe early 1991. The system included a CRT monitor, which sat atop the small CPU, which sat on the desktop; a keyboard and mouse, and we sprung for a dot matrix printer. I can’t remember the basic specs– RAM and hard drive space, etc.– but they likely were measured in kilobytes. The monitor measured 10 inches diagonally, maybe a bit more, with an amber tint.
It was quite expensive, relative to what we can get today for 1/4 of the price, thus the reason for the financial help from the program at work. We should have held onto everything– might be worth something as an antique. It got us through 4 years of seminary and into 1996, I think, when we awaited the arrival of a big box decorated in a black and white cow motif.
An army of redactors can help them sleep better. It took an extra month or so, but more Epstein files have been made public, and we’ll see what’s still left in the way of breadcrumbs. We already know the Trump administration will call it all a big nothing burger, as well as pinning blame and pointing to all the Democrats who flew on Epstein’s plane or sailed on his boat or spent time on his island.
Trump will emerge unscathed, as usual, and we’ll move on to the next crisis—election interference, more payback, ill-advised policy decisions, etc.
The default answer is jumping out of an airplane, but that’s too easy. In terms of relevance to the present day, I’d have to say committing to a position on what we see happening in this country right now, and then acting accordingly– whether it’s adding my voice and physical presence to the demonstrations, being ready to defend my neighbors, regularly submitting editorials to the local paper, contacting our Congress members. Just being more vocal and actively involved.
One might think there have already been enough precipitating occurrences and insane verbiage to prompt a response of some sort from just about everybody. Maybe what I’m most scared to do is admit that we’re where we’re at, that we’ve sunk so far, so fast.
I’d been wondering where Tulsi Gabbard had gone—hadn’t heard from or about her for a while. Turns out she’s sniffing for dirt in the Georgia election case, still part of the grand Epstein cover-up, most likely looking for something that won’t exist but will cause consternation among the talking heads at Fox News and elsewhere and give Republicans in Congress something else to crow about and use as their own diversion.
We should stop asking how low they can go. They’re nowhere near the bottom.
The Trump administration, though mostly lament.
I recently heard a commentator suggest that Donald Trump could change the tone of immigration policy by basically muzzling Stephen Miller, because Miller appears to be the one calling the shots when it comes to these heavy-handed ICE raids and the growing unrest as a result of them.
Miller, it appears, has been an L7 weenie most of his life, and now, on the biggest of stages, he gets to finally confirm this for all to see. What we’re seeing in the Trump administration, when it comes to immigration policy, besides laziness and cowardice, isn’t restraint or fairness or anything approaching a reasonable treatment of the issue. Instead we get this deprived soul who calls murdered protesters domestic terrorists, conjures a goon squad, runs rough shod over peoples’ lives and livelihoods, dispensing “justice”, deporting people who have visas or are in the process of doing the right things to gain citizenship, who have families and are holding jobs and trying to free themselves from deplorable conditions in their home countries.
Sure, some who have been caught are illegals and criminals, but not all of them, and there seems to be little effort expended toward discerning the difference. The larger policy is one of zero tolerance and mistrust, a skewed understanding of “what is fair,” and an overarching suspicion and fear of people who aren’t white.
I wonder what happened in Miller’s early years that turned him into such a pariah.
And what are we to think of an administration whose platform’s appeal, in part, appears to reside in picking on people, kicking them when they’re down?
I could watch golf anytime, which might make some cringe and wonder how that could be possible. It’s relaxing, the scenery is often sublime, and the level of play is mindboggling. It makes a difference when you play the game yourself, because you begin to appreciate how good these folks are.
I enjoy watching a football match, whether it’s one of the world pro circuits or college or MLS here in the states, and I enjoy American football, though I’d never play it. There’s something about a big rivalry game in college football that’s exciting, a real event.
Hockey was big when I was in high school– we couldn’t wait to get home from school so we could head down to the pond and play until dark. It was also high on the must watch list, back in the days when Bobby Orr was lighting things up, but not so much anymore. And I’ll catch bits and pieces of a baseball game every now and then.
If it was a large amount, we’d do our best to show restraint and not say anything for a while, find a safe place for the ticket, and eventually contact somebody who could steer us in the direction of a prudent plan.
I’ve often had visions of being able to help our kids, donate to community projects, buy a nice house with a couple acres of land and space for a woodshop. I’d buy a brand new Toyota Tacoma extended cab, and pay off all bills, including the mortgage. Maybe we’d do some extended road trips.
If it wasn’t much, I’d probably buy more tickets and hope for the best.
Joe Posnanski wrote a book titled Why We Love Baseball, which I read a couple of years ago. I see he’s written one about football, so I’ll have to pick that one up at some point. I’m hoping he treats other sports, because I’d probably read them all.
I’m not in the mood for anything too heavy– we get enough heaviness and opinion on a daily basis just turning on the TV or going online. But every now and then a good bio comes out, like Jon Meacham’s And There Was Light, about Abraham Lincoln, and I am curious enough to either get it on Kindle or pick it up at the library.
Revisiting a classic every now and then is worth the time. I started The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, a while back, but still have a ways to go.
3 Cents' 