Trump and all his works and pomps are despicable, no doubt about it. Yet.....what is more tempting than another round of stories that detail WEEK 13: HIS WORST WEEK EVER! Even worse, if you have been following WEEK 13: you have already read all of this once--even twice.
Now that Steve Bannon has departed, there will be an upsurge in BannonTrumpNews and twice or three times as much effort will go into reporting the pincer movement that the two wing nuts will maneuver into place and that journalists will follow with grim-faced but happy determination.
I am planning to swear off. Can I make it? Will keep you posted.
In the meantime, I can not help observe that Bannon was /or perhaps still is one of ours. No story that sets out his history fails to mention "Catholic": Catholic school, Catholic parents, probably even Catholic grandparents. I recall boys like this in grammar school, but smaller of course and without the fount of archaic knowledge Bannon spouts. Is this one of those Catholic things...searching out arcane pieces of history to promote a current interest--and bullying your way into a conversation about it? In the old days Sister would put a stop to the woebegone history and the bullying, and the Junior Catholic Reactionary would slither back to his seat grinning at the class. He'd get even!! Bring back Sister Bridget.
So instead of the Trump-obsessed NYTimes, I am turning to the Economist (with its boring abundance) and sticking to stories about the rest of the world. Let's see if that works.
I wish you luck. I have been trying - and failing - and trying - and failing yet again - to wean myself from the "news". Some writers, including David Brooks, have recently also said they are trying to swear off, because our heads (and hearts and souls) just can't take it anymore. It's been absolutely relentless since Day 1.
ReplyDeleteBannon does trot out his RC-ness now and then. Kellyanne, Sean Spicer, the Mooch, Michael Flynn, Gen. Kelly, and even Melania claim to be Catholic.
There was a time I foreswore using the term Christian when referring to me. Now I think that "Catholic" is becoming a dirty word in society in general. And the orthotoxic among the faithful will rise up in gleeful martyrdom and shout AMDG!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps checking into the news every other day, every third day and so on until one is down to biweekly. A kind of withdrawal.
ReplyDeleteWake me up if someone manages to actually write up articles of impeachment. In order not to be ignored it needs to be Republicans who do it.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile I will check out The Economist. Not very familiar with it, but yes, we do need to be reminded that it's not all about us.
We were away from yesterday morning until just now. Bannon's departure is news, but not exactly a big surprise, to me. I had several discussions with farmers about wool tariffs and price supports, and "fair trade" products really are fair. It was a lovely 36 hours!
ReplyDeleteI also saw a bluebird! I had never seen one in person before. I also got to pet a lot of angora bunny rabbits.
ReplyDeleteJean: How are the farmers on NAFTA revisions.
ReplyDelete8/20; 3:45 PM...No Newspapers, TV, etc.: So far so good.
Margaret, most of these farmers have some main crop (corn or soybeans) while the wife and kids have the fiber biz on the side--sheep, goats, llamas or alpacas. Alpacas are where the money is. They process and sell domestically, so NAFTA isn't on their radar much.
ReplyDeleteOne old guy was heavy into mohair goats, which the U.S. encouraged with subsidies in the 1970s and early 1980s. The USSR was a big importer of wool generally. Sen. Bob Dole was every goat farmer's friend and supported the program.
However, the mohair goat industry fizzled when the subsidies died. The guy I talked to had to have his heart valve replaced and couldn't shear his flock himself and they gave up the animals. Now they process mohair from other sources. They sell 200 pounds of yarn every year at small festivals and fairs. Several people told me that the Wisconsin festival is the Mecca of fiber fairs followed by North Carolina and Maryland.
Shearing and processing wool are really time consuming and expensive, so only big operators that can do their own make much of a profit. China and India are the main importers of U.S. wool, but they are ramping up their domestic production, so this is a problem for the big operators.
There is an increased demand for lamb and mutton in pet food. Lamb is also lower in fat and some foodies like the idea that lamb is often free range, so small-time farmers can usually find buyers in their area for meat.
Most of the herders report that in areas outside of Michigan, heat and drought has hit even small fiber farmers hard in the way of increased feed prices or scarcity of water. They seem more concerned about climate change than NAFTA.
Some of the hobby farmers are older couples who come up from coal mining areas in Ohio and Pennsylvania. They're trying to make a go of it with wool based crafts and other stuff. I bought several things from Jan and Bob, God bless them. They did nice work and have grit to spare. But I doubt that what they made paid for their booth rental, food, and their gas home. Jan needs her knees replaced, and Bob need a new set of dentures. Please add them to your prayers.
My cousin back in PA is an alpaca hobby farmer. She has always loved animals, beginning with my grandparents farm. She still works (for a veterinarian) although her husband has retired. She got into alpaca because she was losing money on miniature horses and other animals that were mainly there for the grandchildren.
DeleteShe has a store on her farm where she sells alpaca gifts, and she also goes to these various fairs where things are sold, and to various meetings of the alpaca farmers. She visits me when she comes to the meetings here in Ohio. Gave me a beautiful pair of alpaca gloves that are very convenient and warm for walking in the cold weather down by the lake.
If only it were possible. Our fellow citizens have placed us in a position where our compassion is required for people here and abroad who are sideswiped by the overweening egoism of the pudgy guy they put in charge. We have to keep track of whom we are going to end up owing big time.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I saved one sentence from an email from my source in the group that anted up $5,000 for the RNC because of the way they think the mainstream media treats that guy. I herewith paste it:
"And they want to insinuate I'm a racist. My pledge just doubled $$ and my voice will be louder."
What set him off was someone on CNN saying that Trump's dog whistles amount to racism, while my correspondent sees nothing racist in keeping brown Mexicans and black and brown Muslims out of the country. That, my friend, is for our protection. And it is racist to bring up Trump's attitude toward foreigners.
Here the farmers and ranchers have a love-hate relationship with NAFTA. They like the idea of expanded markets. But it's a two way street. It tends to hold everybody's commodity prices down. I think the big operators like it better than the smaller ones.
ReplyDeleteI find the Trump scandals fascinating in a horribly negative way. But something interesting I'm NOT seeing any analysis about (in the kind of things I read, anyway), is how he might be weakening the office of the Presidency. I think Congress flexing its muscle on the Russia sanctions did seem to kind of intrude in the executive sphere of influence. And I'm wondering if the Supreme Court will exercise judicial deference (or at least say they are) in some of his executive actions, based on his sidebar tweets and public statements.
ReplyDeleteIrene, I have wondered about that, too. If you google it, there have been a lot of stories about Trump's weak presidency, but not a lot about whether his weaknesses will weaken the presidency overall. It may be too early to tell. The pressures of the job will squeeze out whatever real crazy is in his head, and then Congress and the judiciary will have to assert itself or let him get us all killed. Permanently or not is the question.
DeleteMeantime, today there's an eclipse, and tonight Trump us going to tell us about his plans to ramp up the war in Afghanistan. Why do I have visions of Ragnarok in my head ...
BOYCOTT Report: Skipped print newspaper, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Read the NYT Book review, a couple of stories in the business section, "science,"; have avoided most Trumpstuff but have heard comments from the newspaper reader in the household, who seemed to have read nothing new in the Afghan speech. My neighbor (who reads the NY Post) told me that Venezuelans are now killing and eating zoo animals. Thinks Maduro is worse than Castro....by a lot it would seem.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks to earlier advice on Summer Reading, I am deep into Nicholas Nickleby; so calming. Skipped the eclipse; overcast in NYC.
We watch The NewsHour. Saw the speech, but did not listen to commentary. We're adding troops in Afghanistan to kill terrorists and will give troops more leeway for slaughter. No ine will know about it so as not to tip our hand to the enemy. No more nation-building in our own image. You want to stone adulteresses, fine by us, just keep it all local. We may be escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, but that part seemed kinda murky.
DeleteEnd of seven-day news fast. The combo of not reading print paper, but reading headlines on-line, and questioning the newspaper reader in the family has been very calming. This morning the pardon of Sheriff A in Arizona was too much to pass by. What an outrage.... Brings to mind Timothy Snyder's warnings about the rule of law.
ReplyDeleteNicholas Nickleby...I am half way through. What an incredible collection of characters! Happy Sunday..
Now Trump is trying for another trifecta. First there was the awful Phoenix rally, then it was signing the transgender ban for the military, then the Arpaio pardon, and now he's decided to give the police all kinds of FREE! military war toys, such as grenade launchers, tanks, bayonets. Wait a minute, that's more than three. To heck with a trifecta, he's going for huge. Or should I say yoooge!
ReplyDelete