Edition #1157

Tuesday. And a beautiful day here in the mountains. Should have compensated when I cooked my scallops the other night. Don’t get me wrong, they were good, but I learned after the fact that I needed to make sure they were drier than usual to avoid the evaporation on the cooking side preventing a good char, and also perhaps a higher temperature for the same reason. Live and learn, right?

“Many a time freedom has been rolled back, and always for the same sorry reason: fear.” Molly Ivins, quoted in the Greensboro News & Record. Unfortunately, that is the one emotion that consistently allows reason and rationality to fall by the wayside. Nothing motivates us like fear. Not love, not happiness, not joy, not sadness, not disgust, not anything else. And those who know how to wield that emotion for the masses use it to their own benefit.

I am sure you saw enough of this one last week. But since I was out of touch with you, I did not have an opportunity to chime in. But I will now. In an interview ten days or so ago, as the subject of “wokeness” was brought up, AOC said something to the effect that “woke 1.0 was craaaazy.” And sure, it most definitely was. And it is obvious that AOC is trying to position herself as a 2028 presidential candidate and moving away from some of the extremist positions of the far left and DSA folk. But I thought it was most interesting that she did not take any accountability for her part in what she now describes as woke 1.0. By phrasing it as “man, that was crazy,” she is talking as if she was not a part of it. If she really wants to make a statement and gain some validity for reevaluating the excesses, she should take responsibility for any part she may have played and call out some specifics of where it all went wrong. She should detail whatever she believes are still legitimate issues that Woke 1.0 was supposed to, in her mind, address, and how the extremes disallowed the nuance and context that needed to be included in any real-world solutions. Saying something is crazy is not the same as saying that it was wrong. It may allow some small segment of society to see AOC in a slightly different light, but it also invites derision and an invitation for more direct questioning that she could have gotten ahead of but now will be playing catch-up. Yes, Alexandria, Woke 1.0 was crazy. But how are you going to put the record straight?

…………………..Freezing Eggs –

I do applaud AOC for the very public airing of her process of freezing her eggs. While it is becoming a more common practice, as women delay having kids, the process can be brutal for some, and mysterious for others. And while some will scorn her with accusations of promoting a lifestyle where a woman can have everything, I believe that is misplaced. Every decision we make entails sacrifice and compromise. The decision to delay creating a family has impacts. The decision not to delay creating a family has impacts. And the fact that today’s technologies allow for multiple paths for women and men to determine how their lives play out merely means that there are more options for people. And those options are personal to them. These decisions do not impact on anyone other than those making them. And to the extent that AOC can bring this out of the shadows, as Betty Ford did for breast cancer decades ago, again, I applaud her.

So last week, a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster took off from New Zealand, headed for Antarctica. Two hours into its flight, it turned around. It appears that some alien spacecraft was detected approaching from outside of our atmosphere. As that craft slowed down, an illumination of some kind shone outward as if these alien creatures were advertising some product. Could it be that the universal business model throughout is one of using every possible surface for advertising? Is that how these aliens financed their efforts to get here? Well, we will never know because I just made most of that up on the spot. But if it got out, there would only be one more conspiracy theory out there for idiots to like and share…and believe. But the part of the story that is real is that a C-17 was forced to turn around after the Russians issued a warning of potential danger due to unspecified space activity above the area. It could have been space debris from an unexpected deorbit of one of their satellites. Or it could have been some weapon system test that, while normally notice would have been given well in advance, the Russians did not want to give advance notice. Or, it could have been an alien spacecraft advertising some skin care products…you never know.

I wrote a few times about an attempt to save a solar observation satellite called SWIFT. I wrote about it when LINK, the probe that was to attach to SWIFT and push it up into a more stable orbit. I then wrote when LINK started to tumble slowly in orbit but was thought to be salvageable. And now I am writing to tell you that this brave and ambitious mission failed. Engineers were unable to gain control of LINK’s attitude control. And we hate when we cannot control our attitudes. They are still trying to maneuver LINK to learn its capabilities and be better prepared for any future recovery missions. But any hopes of recovery for SWIFT are now dashed. So SWIFT will deorbit sometime before the end of the year, and NASA will be looking for alternatives to fill in the gaps that will result from its absence. I anticipate that there will be one last Nugget on SWIFT’s demise, as that news develops.

As I read about our national debt exceeding forty trillion dollars, approaching a level that has not been seen since World War II, I could not help but think that those who voted for Trump because of his alleged business acumen were right. They got exactly what they voted for. Trump’s business background is littered with bankruptcies and failed businesses. Any analysis of his typical operating style shows a business model of over-leveraging assets to the point of bankruptcy, and then leveraging that debt to extort advantage, leaving banks, investors, vendors, and contractors to absorb the losses. And now, the country he leads is pushing the boundaries of financial stability, on the precipice of relinquishing the position of the world’s stable reserve currency. But this is not the work of a good businessman. This is the work of a conman, the work of a scam artist. This is the work of an unethical, deceitful, self-promoting cult leader. But it is exactly what those folk voted for.

So, just as I was missing Kim Jong-un, or “Little Rocket Man” as our delightful president once called him, it seems that Trump also was missing his bromance with the little guy. Maybe this is because his pal Vladimir is not being all that responsive, and Xi is just not emotionally available for Don. But it is certainly a consistent message to the world by Trump. Allies are to be shunted aside, treated like the spineless parasites that they are, and called upon to back us up at our discretion upon demand, while rivals and authoritarians around the world are to be placated and fawned over, regardless of the dangers they pose, or the values that they portray. And so it is in this light that Trump tried to call off the annual military exercises that the US and South Korea engage in. As these war games were already almost underway, he merely shortened them, calling them a provocation towards his pal, Kim. And as we all know, Kim and his regime have put out all kinds of feelers towards South Korea and the West, attempting to engage in better global citizenship, negotiate an end to the separation of the two Koreas, and forgo his prior global criminal activities. If only any of that were true. If only North Korea were not sending troops, missiles, technology, intelligence, and more to Russia in its war against Ukraine. If only North Korea were not strengthening its relationships and alliances with Russia and China and Iran in creating a bulwark against the United States and the West. Then, maybe Trump’s yearning to meet with Kim would make some sense. But for now, as it is clear that Kim has no interest in meeting with Trump, and it is clear to Kim and his leadership that Trump wants/needs something positive from Kim, Trump will get played by Kim once again.

You will have to excuse me, as I am still catching up a bit, and will get to some of the more current pursuits of our species. So stay healthy and be good to each other.

Me.