3/4 of a Century

~ It sounds much more respectable than 75 years, doesn't it? That is how old I turned this past Wednesday. There are days I feel and act every day of that and there are other days I'm still 25 in my mind. (Depends on what music I'm listening to or how much news I've consumed.) No great wisdom to impart at this milestone but here are some observations: 1) I'm happy I was born when I was - I got to experience the hopefulness of having several exceptional men elected as our president. Their leadership was transformational in a most positive way. I also got to experience the low of having one of them taken away far too soon. I still remember that afternoon in junior high, hearing the announcement that the President had been shot, only to learn later that he was gone. In the days following - days off from school - the chaos of having his assassin shot, the transfer of power to a man who would not run when the term he finished was up, the solemnity of the funeral. Aside from the political, I am so blessed to have experienced the music I did - the 60s, 70s and 80s - the folk music, rock and roll, protest music. All hopeful and positive, unlike the grunge, rap, and heavy metal that followed in the 90s and beyond. Some serious songwriting chops back then! And the singers! Ah, Dan Fogelberg, Steve Perry, and more. 2) In some ways I've become more conservative as I have matured and in other ways more radical. The chaos and grift and downright incompetence of the Trump eras have sent me out to the streets to protest, more than once. But I still cling to many of the values instilled in me by my parents - I'd never get a tattoo, likely will never dye my hair a color not found in nature and I don't see any need for recreational drugs. And I have pretty much given up alcohol on a regular basis. I don't see any need to waste my time on what passes for television entertainment these days. It's all low class humor or staged reality tv, designed to appeal to people who are so unhappy with their lives that they thrive on someone else's misfortune. 3) I'm more tolerant of some ideas and less of others. If you do not believe that all people are created equal and have the same rights and that no one is above the law, you are not my kind of person. If you think you are entitled to some special treatment because of who you are, what your name is, where you are from or how much money you have, you are also not my kind of person. If you bully and talk down to children, women, people who are "different" from you, you are not my kind of person. If you mistreat animals, you are not my kind of person. I will do my best to call you out on those behaviors because someone needs to do so. 4) I'm happy I was fortunate enough to finally find a career instead of a job. It was something it turned out I was good at and enjoyed (until the business mindset took hold of higher education!) And I was happy to have discovered what I wanted to do in my retirement. I feel as if I've been moderately successful in my little business. And I'm happy to have realized it is time to leave it behind.

FINALLY - - - MAYBE???

~ The S__T really hit the fan this week when the Trump administration put out a memo that the files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation were not being released as there was nothing there..I.E. there was no “list” of his associates to be had. (This after making a huge show of declaring the list would be released as soon as Trump took office and handing out a preliminary summary in fancy binders that turned out to contain only previously released information.) The press went wild, one of Trump’s appointed FBI underlings charged AG Pam Bondi with all sorts of things, and (UNEXPECTEDLY!!!) the MAGA base went absolutely crazy and are turning against him. ~ Trump is currently telling everyone to let it go and move on because there are other more pressing things to talk about. (A move that sort of is a tell that he is likely implicated in this report!) And while I agree because of the disastrous floods in Texas and New Mexico, the president of the largest country in the world should be able to multitask well enough to deal with all this. While I suspect this will not be his undoing I did not see this coming.

One Big Befuddlement of a Bill!!

~ Today Trump's master plan bill passed the House after passing the Senate earlier in the week. This is an monster piece of legislation. It will rip social safety nets away from the most vulnerable in this country, shift wealth up the the 1% who do not need it, and generally make life more difficult for everyone. I'm sick about it. How can these people look in the mirror at themselves and not see the cruelty? The R's in the House actually cheered after the results were announced, amid chants of "USA". Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, spent over 8 hours, starting before 5 this morning, holding the floor and holding up the vote. He reviewed every ammendment the Dems put forth, all of which were voted down by the R's. This bill gives ICE a larger budget than the FBI, and other intelligence agancies combined. And just Tuesday, Trump was in Florida to inspect the latest abomination of a detention center which they dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. Trump's "advisor" Laura Loomer, posted a disgusting "Witicism" on X about how the alligators were going to be eating 65,000 immigrants. These are not serious people! They are all about public perception with no morals or intelligence to make the country better for anyone but themselves. Trump just said the bill will turn the country's economy into a rocket ship. I hope it's not one of Elon's exploding ones. ~ Speaking of Elon, he has surfaced and promised to start a 3rd political party if the bill passes. He certainly went from First Friend to First Foe in a nanosecond! ~ On Sunday, Brenda and I went to the Belfast Arts in the Park show. It was good to see and talk with some of my friends but I was happy not to be participating as they had crammed so many vendors in that everyone was cheek by jowl. I would not have been very happy, that's for certain. I never did spectaculrly well at that show - I suspect it was just the wrong time of the year for quilted things. I did observe that there were not many bags being carried around. I hope that is not a sign of things to come but suspect people may be pulling back on spending. We'll see.