Empathy Doesn't Take Sides

My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones in the Hamas attack on October 6, those who were taken hostage, and those who await their safe return.  

My heart also goes out to those who have lost loved ones under the relentless destruction that continues to be visited upon those living and working in Gaza.  

It is often difficult to feel compassion for people on both sides of a conflict.  It is much easier to simply choose one side, embrace deep compassion for them, and vilify the other; negating their perspective, and disregarding their injury - including that to non-combatants.  

This is lazy, and makes us less fully human.  More importantly, it lowers our psychological barriers to demagogues and zealots, who exploit the wedges we have allowed to grow in our own awareness.  Before you know it, a modern-day Joe McCarthy emerges, to try to clean out government, or academia of any who don't align with their own radical views - and we have voluntarily disarmed ourselves against them.  

Ken Paxton and Eternal Shame

Ken Paxton Threatens Doctors / Hospitals

This criminal, inhuman POS barely escaped with his career (though not his reputation) intact this fall - only because of his affiliation with an equally corrupt party.   

Paxton Survived on near party-line votes

His shame will long outlive him - even if many of his victims don't.

2023 records - Global Temp & US Mass Murders

2023 is a banner year, breaking at least a couple of less-than-desirable records.

- The US has broken the annual record for mass murder rampages.
- This is also the hottest year on record for the planet.

Any coach who is worthy of that title will tell you that records are meant to be broken ... and it is unlikely that either of these will stand for long.

Abstention and Good Manners

Office parties, family gatherings, bowl games; there are lots of reasons to get together with friends and family this time of year to laugh, eat and drink.  

Over time, though, I'm finding more and more of my friends opting to to not drink alcohol at these events.  They seem to have a pretty good time anyway.

There are a lot of reasons our friends might choose to abstain.  The one thing they have in common is that they are none of my business.  

Let's each celebrate the holidays in our own way, and enjoy one another's company, without asking a bunch of dumb questions. 

Stochastic Violence

I have been hearing the term 'stochastic violence' recently, and it rings true.  The instigator need not specifically state the time and place, or method ... they only need program their myrmidons to hate, and be assured that any action they take will be justified. 

It leaves plausible (barely) deniability, while assuring terrorism. 

Tom Cole - (R) OK

I don't make a habit of giving advice to congressional Republicans (at least nothing longer than three to five words – including the f-bomb).  And I am enjoying the clown car thing they've been doing ... 

But, there are serious issues that need to be addressed promptly, and maturely; so I suggest that they close the doors to the clown-car, ignore the fools and the fire-eaters, and select Tom Cole to lead them until the next election.  

I'm not saying that I agree with Representative Cole on much.  I've heard him speak on a couple of occasions, and we differ on most issues.  But he is educated, intelligent, moderate (at least by the standards of the current crop of elected Republicans).  He speaks in complete sentences, and doesn't lean on derogatory insults of his opponents to make his point.  

Sadly, most of these characteristics probably make him unelectable to  leadership in the Republican caucus.  And I'm sure he would prefer to remain upwind from this anyway, so it would be a feat to even get him to toss his hat into the ring.  

Courage, instead of Fire

The most powerful thing, the most courageous action Netanyahu can take at this point is to not invade Gaza – to NOT take the most crowded real estate on Earth, and collectively punish the residents there by compressing them into an area half its size.  

I wish there were a possibility that Netanyahu had the courage to take that step – but he won't.  His ruling coalition relies on partners who will settle for nothing less than total ethnic cleansing – the utter annihilation, or removal, of the Palestinians in the captive territories of Gaza and the West Bank.  And, if his ruling coalition falls, Netanyahu returns to the reach of the long arm of the law, and would face the corruption trial he barely dodged a few months ago, when he formed this ruling coalition to escape it. 

Legislating Away Diversity

We, who are happy in the body assigned to us at birth (albeit with a little less paunch, and maybe a tad taller); we who are attracted to members of the opposite sex; we who conform to society's expectations and norms in any number of ways – our lives are complex enough.  Imagine if we faced the additional challenges of not easily fitting in in these ways. 

Today is the first day of Pride Month for members of the LGBTQ+ community.  For the rest of us, it's an opportunity to celebrate the color they add to the fabric of our society – a chance to reach out and let our brothers and sisters know that, when they are attacked, or face discrimination and intolerance for openly being their authentic selves, we are their allies, and friends.  

Authorities in many of our more backward states apparently feel that if they use the power of the state to promote bigotry against members of our society who have faced bigotry since the beginning of history, they will simply go away ... without ever asking how they got here in the first place.  

Many of these same authorities believe that if

Aerial Arsonists

Each summer I unfurl my shade sails twice;
Once when the sunny season begins,
Then again after the morons have blown up this year's stash of incendiaries.  

It's not surrender to lower my sails at a time like this; more of a strategic redeployment ... or common sense.  Leaving these spread out in unincorporated Clark County during aerial arson season is just asking for trouble. 

Negotiating with Extortionists

The key lesson President Biden needs to keep in mind over the next few weeks, is that if you bend to the will of extortionists, you only encourage further extortion.  

It is not clear that, if Kevin McCarthy had any control over his caucus,  we would be in this mess.  But his fragile speakership is dependent upon the continued support of a small handful of conspiracy theorists (with apologies to actual 'theorists'), and at least one high-school dropout.  I'm not sure what areas of constitutional law were covered in the GED courses Lauren Boebert took as she was running for Congress three years ago, so I won't assume that she is  unaware that it is unconstitutional to default on our nation's debt - or to even question it.  

Sadly, in our current state, we may not even have a majority of Supreme Court justices that are aware of this ... or even care.  

Train Dodging

Stand By Me - Train Dodging

Multi-tasking Thoughts and Prayers

Here's my theory about what happened.  All those holier-than-thou evangelical gun nuts got distracted by the Easter frenzy, and inadvertently misdirected their 'thoughts and prayers' to that beautiful kosher Sunday ham on the table in front of them, and forgot to use them to protect life ... and BAM! – or more like 'BLAM BLAM BLAM!!', another batch of innocents bites the dust.   

Seriously, I know these aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, but this is really not that tough.  If they can't stay focused through one simple holiday, maybe it's time to consider a new approach.  

Risking the Risk-Free Rate

Investors balance risk with expected return when deciding where to put their money; the greater the risk, the higher interest rate they demand.  

The baseline for this is the ‘risk-free’ rate, for investments which have zero risk of default. US Treasury investments are used in these calculations - they don’t pay much interest, but they don’t miss payments. 

Once again, some politicians are playing chicken with our nation’s finances for political ends.  A refusal to raise the debt ceiling risks a default on payments for money we have already borrowed.  Investors will continue to fund our debt, but even the threat of a default will lower our nation’s credit rating, making borrowing more expensive. 

It’s childish and dangerous - and exactly what we can expect from those running Congress for the next two years. 

McCarthy's Followership Post

This would be funny, if the end result of this farce wasn't destined to be a key component of our national government.  

Whether he gets enough votes today, tomorrow, or the next day, Kevin McCarthy will be beholden to some of the most ignorant, partisan members in Congress for his position - and will need to vet his every move through them for the duration of his tenure.  He will be 'Speaker', but not a leader. 

Since these individuals adamantly oppose any inter-party cooperation, this assures that the legislative wing of government will be stalemated.   

Pelosi's Legacy

A leader's legacy is rarely fully realized until time has passed since their leadership ended.

That being said, it seems clear that Nancy Pelosi will be remembered in history as one of the most effective House speakers in our history, on par with Joe Cannon, Sam Rayburn, Newt Gingrich - even going back to Henry Clay.

We may like or dislike any of these House speakers, but they knew how to promote their agendas; generally, we like the ones who share our agenda, and dislike those with whom we disagree.

There are still some who have not reconciled themselves to the reality of a woman wielding this much power, but that view is being relegated to the dustbin of history. When evaluated on less personal criteria, the long view will deem her tenure as among the most effective speakers in our nation's history.