Category: News

  • Here Comes WAR

    I really wish I had a good take on this issue.

    There is a part of me that feels that we, the United States and NATO, should be confronting Russia militarily. I know that would lead to a larger war, but I also feel that not fighting back will lead to a larger war. If the only penalty that Russia will face is a sanctions, that at best will take years to have an effect, then I feel that will only embolden Putin, and other nations, to push against the US and our allies. What is to stop China from taking Taiwan? That’s why I feel a war against Russia now, stops a world war later.

    At the same time, I’m an anti-war person. I think we should make all efforts to avoid war, and it should truly be a last resort. Sadly, I am well aware that such a position can be taken advantage of, hence the situation we are now in.

    What I really don’t like hearing is the narrative that is being created here. It seems Republicans want to blame Biden for this, as he is too weak to stand up to Putin. At the same time, I really don’t like how Democrats are framing the conflict on how it will disrupt the economy. Republicans don’t have to become Biden cheerleaders, but they should be out there condemning Putin for invading another country. And Dem’s need to put this in the context of defending freedom and democracy. What both parties seem to be doing is trying to use the war as an issue for the Midterms.

    Sadly, there is no good answer here.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Storage Unit, More Covid, and Do What You Love

    ODDS and ENDS is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…    

    I am currently in an online chat with a person who works for U-Haul. It turns out that we need a larger storage unit. I feel a little defeated in having to do this. In a sense, I have a second apartment in New York City. An apartment for things I only want to see once a year, or never seen again, but don’t want to throw away. I could say there is a logical reason for this development in our lives, but it feels like our stuff is dictating how we live. So, another project for the weekend! And we get the Christmas stuff out of the apartment as well!

    We got another notice that there was a Covid exposure in the kid’s classroom. Which means that we will have another round of at home testing to see if she has been infected. Ironically, the kid got her second Covid vax yesterday. I know that she still needs about two weeks for the vax to fully get in her system for her to be TOTALLY COMPLELETY 100% AMZAINGLY VACCINATED! Yet, I feel like it is still a matter of time before the schools close and we are back to remoting. This is Omicron’s fault, and not the failing of some person or institution, and I am aware that I am in the minority of people who believe that. Soon, just like with the Delta variant, things will peak, and then a decline will start, so it is a wave we are riding. We all just have to hang in there for a while longer.

    Do what you love, and follow your bliss. Oh, Joseph Campbell, you inspiring mythology professor, you! I have been wrestling with his thought for, well, the past two years actually. As things fell apart, I started to question what I loved and what was my bliss. I wasn’t thinking about who I loved, and who made me happy, as I saw the question pertaining to a “what” – a thing, a desire, a concept even – not a person or persons. And as I thought about my “what” made me happy, my “what” never felt consequential, as I thought, that’s what it should be. Love and bliss should be a burning passion that I can’t live without, right? It should be epic. If it’s not top of the pops, and the best of the best, then can it be worth following? I’m not sure anymore. What brings me joy is not epic, but it is fulfilling. It gives me confidence and purpose, but it isn’t a burning passion. Is this state due to wisdom, or compliancy? But age is a factor.  

  • Covid in The City: Part 3 (But Could be Part 6?)

    I really wanted to write about Tottenham getting back to form and playing Liverpool to a draw. I even thought about putting a sport post together, and talk about the Cowboys as well.

    But alas, it was not to be.

    Because Covid is back in New York City. It feels like this is the third wave that has hit the City, but when I look at the US cases graph, this is like the 6th spike we have been through since the start of this whole thing.

    We can’t get away from it.

    Even though NYC has a 71.6% full vaccination rate, and Manhattan has an 80% full vaccination rate, I cannot deny that the lines of people getting tested, have been growing every day for a week, and now are wrapping around the block. The running of ambulances all day and night has started up again. Just about everyone is in a mask now on the street.

    Covid is back.

    Is it Delta, or Omicron?

    Who knows, but it is starting up again. And it is depressing and disheartening. New Yorkers had taken this thing serious. 70% to 80% was considered herd immunity, and we are there. Once more kids get vaxed, it looked like we were going to close in on 85% to 90%.

    But it feels like even if we do hit those numbers, it won’t stop people from getting sick.

    I have friends right now that are documenting their infection, and in one case reinfection of Covid.

    It has created a feeling malaise, and add that to the general oddness of this Christmas, and it makes a potent combination resignation going into 2022.

    I’m trying to stay upbeat, but a third year of a plague feels really awful. I wish I had a more creative way of saying it, but I have used up all the adjectives.

    It’s just awful.

  • Wildfires and Personal Freedom

    Every Sunday morning, we watch Sunday Morning on CBS. (This isn’t a plug, so just follow me on this.) But this past Sunday, the show wasn’t on, as there was a London NFL game, in Tottenham Stadium of all places. We switched over to Paramount+ (This still isn’t a plug,) to see if we could watch Sunday Morning. It wasn’t on, but what was playing was a long documentary on the California wildfires of the past couple of years. I would share a clip, but I can’t seem to find it on the CBS News website.

    I’m sharing this for a couple of reasons. First, I learned the role modern logging is playing in creating forests that are prone to explosive wildfires, due to their planting of new trees, which are too close to each other making dangerous combustible zones. Second, and I was sort of aware of this but never had it explained in this detail, are the techniques that Native Americans used, such as seasonal burns, cutting low branches, and preparing dwellings in defense of wildfires. Third, the doc showed how people who prepared their homes for wildfires were more likely to survive them.

    And that’s the kicker; there are proven techniques people can do to save their homes and communities. I’m talking about the Five-Feet Rule, which is pretty simple and non-intrusive. The logic is rather clear; if every home in a neighborhood did this, then the likelihood of the community going up in flames is greatly decreased.

    Sadly, the documentary showed, again and again, how communities would refuse to adopt these rules because they don’t want to government telling them what to do. Even when Cal-Fire offered to help people prep their homes, on a purely volunteer basis, people still refused. The people claimed they were defending their freedom from government intervention.

    But is it that? If a fire comes through, and they lose their home, won’t they expect the government to help them out? To get back on their feet. How can you defend freedom by refusing government help in one situation, but retain your freedom by taking government help in a different situation? It doesn’t seem to line up to me.

  • Yes, Of Course Facebook is Lying

    How many out there really needed the whistleblower on 60 Minutes to confirm what you already knew was true? Facebook makes money off of hate, lies about it, and drags its feet when it comes to doing something about it.

    I’m not a religious person, but this has all the trappings of a devil’s bargain; You can do something good with your technology and become rich, or you can ruin the world and become stupidly rich? (Google had the same choice, and we know what their decision was. That’s why they quietly deleted their old company moto; Don’t Be Evil.) Mark and Sheryl and a whole lot of other people chose stupidly rich and evil. We know that’s true because the documents prove it.

    So, how do they sleep at night?

    Somehow, someway, they looked at this data and said, either or both, that it’s not that bad, or it’s not my fault.

    My guess is that they went with, it’s not my fault. I bet they said that people were evil and hate filled to begin with. That people are just using Facebook and social media in general as a platform to spread their self created hate. If they didn’t use Facebook, they would just use another platform.

    Hey, maybe I’m wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.

    But, this platform is out in the world now. It’s being used to do harmful things; from destroying self-esteem, to destabilizing governments, to justifying genocide. Something needs to be done, because the fact is that they cannot be trusted to do the right thing.