The Catholic church urges us to pray for those who have died; and urges us to look forward with hope and expectation to meeting God face to face.
I do the former, although probably not as often as I should. As for the latter: I'm not there yet. I love many things about my current life, and I'm not ready to let go of it yet.
And I dread death; I suspect, if I were put to the test, e.g. by standing up to someone in a dangerous situation, for the sake of another or the sake of a principle, I'd be anything but heroic.
And the death of a loved one leaves me bereft. Even the death of a stranger, if it confronts me (as when I'm assisting at a funeral) can leave me emotionally wrung out. I often remark that I don't know if I could be in a funeral ministry, because I'd be an emotional wreck after two weeks.
And too many people who have loomed large in my life, once they die, are mostly forgotten by me after a brief period of time.
I get, intellectually, what the church teaches about death and what comes after. But my heart hasn't caught up yet with my brain. So today I pray: Lord, please change my heart to accept what you teach us about death.
I wouldn't worry about death too much, Jim. Usually circumstances as you age resign you to it. Most of us will die pretty comfortably in a bed with caregivers helping us. I held both my parents' hands when they died and have said goodbye at many death beds. I saw nothing to be terrified about.
ReplyDeleteI do feel a little sad at times that things are winding down. But I don't have too many regrets. I did some dumb things. I learned from them. I carried on. I could/can be stingy at showing affection (except to cats and sick people), but I was never anybody's burden.
I do miss some friends and family who have died, but the memories are very sweet.
Whatever comes after death, if anything, is in God's hands.
I know what you're saying, Jim. I didn't used to think about death every single day. But hitting 70, the Biblical "three score and ten", has kind of been the dividing point. I pray to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph for the grace of a happy death. Which would be, being in the state of grace when I pass. But the thing I want to pray, but don't quite have the chutzpah to pray, is "please, please , please don't let the final suffering be too bad". Because I am a terrible chicken and a wuss. Actually I guess I have prayed that prayer. Because God knew I was thinking it. And I have been kind of reassured by the thought that God has been with me every step of my life, even when I didn't realize it, even when he had to drag me.
ReplyDeleteI feel a bit of sadness that there is a lot more sand in the bottom of the hour glass than in the top, because I have enjoyed life, and had many blessings. And maybe harder than recognizing one's own mortality is the loss of loved ones.
Sometimes those of us in choir are asked to sing or accompany for a funeral. Even if I didn't know the person, I always get a little choked up for that final bit where the priest incenses the casket and says that prayer, "May the saints of God come out to meet you, angels of the Lord lead you to paradise..."
DeleteJim - “The Catholic church …urges us to look forward with hope and expectation to meeting God face to face”.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think about it a lot. I will die someday, sooner rather than later. It will be harder if my husband dies before I do. Demographics predicts that he probably will. I feel I’ve had a good life, we’ve had a good life. I have not acquired wisdom in my old age. I’m more confused and full of doubts than ever. But I have become more resigned to the challenges of old age. I’m not really afraid to die anymore, and have no idea if anything of “me” will live on after my body dies in another realm of existence.
Sometimes I envy you who have a lot of faith. I don’t look forward with hope and expectation that I will meet God face to face. I don’t even know if God exists. I don’t know what God is like if God does exist. All the stories we’re told in Christianity may simply be wishful thinking because they keep us going when life is hard. Most people of any religion hope that they will live on in some way after bodily death.
I do hope that I’m not alone - that someone will be holding my hand at the last breath. I don’t know what “ being in a state of grace” actually means, but I have no doubt that you will be in such a state, Katherine.
I'm not entirely sure what being in a state of grace means, either. Except I think it would mean not being in a state of unrepentant wickedness. Hopefully that would include all of us!
DeleteI have no sense that anyone whom I was close to in life and who has died continues to exist in some kind of afterlife. And my current feeling is that if humans do continue to exist in some way after death, there is no reason to believe what I was taught as a Catholic comes anywhere close to describing what continued existence may be like. I feel that I genuinely respect other people's beliefs along these lines, but it doesn't make sense to me to pray to believe in something I no longer consider to be credible. Unlike the Queen of Hearts in Through the Looking Glass, I can't believe six impossible things before breakfast.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of existing for eternity strikes me as extremely problematic, and the idea of God who would consign his creatures to an eternity of suffering is appalling.
The more trouble I have (because of Parkinson's) getting around and living autonomously, the more I think of death. I very much don't wish to die, but I fear being helpless. I have to keep remind myself that virtually everyone who has ever lived has had to die, and most of them probably experienced more unpleasant circumstances than me. I saw a news report last night on conditions in Sudan which are about as horrific as one could imagine.
I dunno. I have to believe six impossible things before getting out of bed, starting with "Today my neighbor Louie is going to fix his $!#@ muffler."
DeleteI know you have talked about your Parkinson's in the past and about mobility issues. Do the meds help? I know it can take awhile to hit on the right regimen.
Always glad to see you here, and I do notice when you don't show up on a thread.
Yes, it’s always nice to see David here.
DeleteYes
DeleteI am also glad to see David.
DeleteDavid, do you like to sing? My uncle had Parkinson's. He liked to sing in karaoke bars. His doctor encouraged him to do so and even came to see him. Evidently it has proven beneficial for some people.
DeleteJack that's interesting about the singing. My friend Julie plays show tunes on the piano at a nursing home. Apparently singing is good for a lot of ailments.
DeleteGiven that we are already in a fascist country, I’m not sure what the future holds for someone like me or even if a natural death is in the cards. I now count on absolutely nothing from this country or society. As for death, I wouldn’t be surprised if something as utterly weird as subjective consciousness could tunnel beyond its spacetime limitations. I am more prone to think consciousness preceded the physical world and that we are given it or share in it. Perhaps this other life is sometimes presented with too much detail in my Church but I’m of the “eye has not seen nor ear heard” attitude. I still believe the world is moving, if in fits and starts, toward a total good where God is All in All.
ReplyDelete"...I’m of the “eye has not seen nor ear heard” attitude. I still believe the world is moving, if in fits and starts, toward a total good where God is All in All." Me too, Stanley.
DeleteFWIW, this is just my non-scholarly opinion: I think it's likely that Jesus really did teach about eternal life; and that what appears in the New Testament is pretty close to those teachings. For example, that the pursuit and attainment of wealth in this life is a great spiritual peril. I assume the parable of the rich man and Lazarus captures the spirit of what Jesus preached.
DeleteVatican II occurred when I was in college. The pre-Vatican II church was strongly oriented to death, symbolized by the Dies Irae, the dreadful day of judgement, the sequence sung during the Requiem Masses that dominated daily Masses.
ReplyDeleteOrdinary time with its cycle of readings did not exist. Any day that was not a feast day could use the Requiem Mass instead of repeating the readings for the previous Sunday. That almost always happened.
The assumption was that most Catholics would spend a lot of time in purgatory, therefore saying Masses for them was extremely important. One of the main activities of the wake was filling out Mass cards. Mass was the Sacrifice of Christ. Good Friday more than Easter Sunday was the center of liturgical life with Lent and Stations of the Cross.
The Holy Week reforms which occurred when I was in high school began to change that with its emphasis on the paschal vigil. Before that the “Vigil Mass” was simply a service on Holy Saturday Morning at which holy water was blessed. Only those who regularly attended daily Mass came to it.
Funerals dominated my high school experience. My aunt Peggy died young, then my aunt Lois’s first husband, followed by my maternal grandmother, then my paternal grandfather. Saying Masses for the dead was so important that almost all priests said Mass daily even if alone or with only one server.
The Divine Office (especially Lauds and Vespers) with its many psalms of praise and thanksgiving had a more balanced approach with psalms of petition and penance playing a lesser role. I was very happy to see the liturgical reforms of the Mass that brought us more in accord with the Eastern emphasis upon the Mass as the paschal mystery, celebrating the Kingdom of God.
Of course, we have now developed to the place where most Catholics like most Americans believe most people are going directly to heaven. The exception is the Evangelicals who believe that a lot of people are going to end up in hell. Before Vatican II we were a lot like that, except with softened it somewhat with the concept of purgatory.
So, I have been very happy since Vatican II to not have to think about life after death, but rather to focus upon spiritual development here in this life, upon living well rather than dying well. The funeral liturgies that I have attended, much like the Mass this past Sunday, have a positive attitude toward death.
I didn't have any Catholic relatives die before VII. Just a Protestant great uncle who had been a Danish Lutheran. But his funeral was in a Methodist church. The Danish Lutherans didn't seem to fit well with the Missouri Synod ones, who were mainly Germans. The only experience I had with that Dies Irae sequence was in college when the women's chorus sang Gabriel Faure's requiem as a concert piece. When I looked at the English translation, I thought, Yikes! Pretty grim. I don't know who would want to go back to that. (I guess maybe the rad trads?)
DeleteI think post VII we do a better job with funerals. My husband often is asked to do a vigil service, and one or another of the deacons always assist with funerals. He is glad to help with that ministry.
That's really interesting perspective, Jack.
Deletehttps://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04787a.htm
DeleteNEW ADVENT gives an extensive background among points
From this fact may be inferred that the more ancient rule is now in force and that the whole sequence must either be sung by the choir or be "recited" in a high and clear voice with organ accompaniment (cf. American Ecclesiastical Review, August, 1907, p. 201).
As found in the Roman Missal, the Dies Iræ is a Latin poem of fifty-seven lines in accentual (non-quantitative), rhymed, trochaic metre. It comprises nineteen stanza, of which the first seventeen follow the type of the first stanza:
1. Dies iræ, dies illa,
Solvet sæclum in favilla:
Teste David cum Sibyllâ.
The remaining stanzas discard the scheme of triple rhymes in favor of rhymed couplets, while the last two lines use assonance instead of rhyme and are, moreover, catalectic:
The Vatican edition (1907) of the plain-chant melody however, apparently takes account of the fact that the last six lines did not, in all probability, originally belong to the sequence, and divides them into three couplets.
This Missal text of the sequence is found, with light verbal variations, in a thirteenth-century manuscript
Its authorship has been most generally ascribed to Thomas of Celano, the friend, fellow-friar, and biographer of St. Francis.
All of these additional stanzas rather detract from the vigorous beauty of the original hymn, whose oldest known form is, with slight verbal changes, that which is found in the Roman Missal. It appears most likely that this text originally ended with the seventeenth stanza, the first four of the concluding six lines having been found among a series of verses on the responsory "Libera me, Domine" in a manuscript of the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century (cf. Mone, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, Freiburg im Br., 1863, I, 406). It is quite probable that the sequence was first intended for private devotion and that subsequently the six lines were added to it in order to adapt it to liturgical use. The composer found his Biblical text in Soph. (i. 15, 16):
The sequence has been translated many times in various tongues, the largest recorded number (234) being English renderings. Among the names of those who have given complete or fragmentary translations are those of Crashaw (1646); Dryden (1696); Scott (1805); Macaulay (1819); Father Caswall (1849). Amongst American translators we find Dr. Abraham Coles, a physician of Newark, credited with eighteen versions; W. W. Nevin, with nine; and Rev. Dr. Samuel W. Duffield, with six. Space will not permit here an analysis of the Dies Iræ or any quotation of the wealth of eulogy passed upon it by hymnologists of every shade of religious conviction.
This hymn appears to have originated about the 13th century as a private devotion that was imported into the liturgy. I wonder what its relationship might have been to the varied plagues that occurred in Europe. Might they have encouraged its becoming a part of the funeral liturgy, and its subsequent adoption as a kind of death hymn by classical music.
DeleteJack, many thanks for those contributions. The newadvent.org site is the old Catholic Encyclopdia (from more than 100 years ago). WIkipedia's entry on the Dies Irae is also quite interesting:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_irae
The Dies Irae has not been part of my spirituality, so it was quite interesting to read the metrical English version at the Wikipedia site.
Your statement that the pre-conciliar church was "strongly oriented to death", reminds me that in medieval times, wealthy men would leave, in their wills, sufficient funding for a priest to say mass for them daily. Some included chantries, i.e. a church building and associated land, for this purpose.
I suppose the practice continues, in a way, in the common practice of having a mass "said" for a loved one. There is one deceased fellow who is prayed for every week at the early Sunday mass at our parish - this has been the case for years. What the circumstances were that gave rise to this (there is a small fee assessed for this purpose; I'd think it would run to some considerable money after a period of time), I am not sure. I can imagine the man on his deathbed begging his children to arrange for this. Or the widow taking it upon herself, perhaps thinking this was his only chance :-)
Just guessing, the money for the Masses might have been left by the man himself as a way to contribute to the church. The ordinary Mass stipend here is 10 dollars. But it's "free will", you can arrange for a Mass to be said without the stipend.
DeleteYou have probably seen the Mass enrollment cards that religious orders send out. People can arrange for Masses to be said for the deceased or a special intention for a stipend, it supports the missions of the order.
The Early English Text Society transcribed a lot of church, court records, and wills from the Middle Ages. It was very common for wills to have leave money for masses to be said. Sometimes a person would also leave directions for heirs to supply altar candles or linens. That stuff is fun to look through!
DeleteKatherine - my guesses are a little more dramatic :-) But yours sounds more likely!
DeleteJust a self-corrective re something Jim posted above: Yes, Jesus talks about eternal life in the Gospel. It is central to Christian belief. No doubt about it.
ReplyDeleteI do think using Hell as a cudgel to keep people in line or holding out images of happy family reunions in Heaven are distortions of Jesus's teachings about the Hereafter.
I also think that, as earthly creatures, it is right and fitting for us to die. Death prevents the old from stifling the young, and encourages growth and evolution.
I knew I was ready to go when I started to resent change and hark back to when you didn't have to pump your own gas or check yourself out of the grocery store, and $5 on a Saturday afternoon would buy you lunch downtown, a MAD magazine, and a couple 45 records.
Jean, about resenting change, I'm well into old curmudgeon-hood myself. Not that there aren't some changes which need to be resented.
DeleteI agree that it is right and fitting for us to die, when it's time. I've never bought into the idea that death was a punishment. It's just how things are.
A couple of my teacher friends continue to tutor students in composition. They cannot deal with AI as a comp tool, and they disagree with pedagogical policies about it. I understand completely, and we write all kinds of screeds to each other about it.
DeleteBut the reality is that younger people like AI for all sorts of reasons, good and bad. And we oldsters are not the ones who will come up with the best solutions for using it wisely or addressing whatever problems it causes. We just want to ban it.
Same thing happened when kids learned "keyboarding" instead of cursive. Everybody predicted the demise of civilization. Would be better if all of us who can still read cursive would volunteer to help libraries transcribe their collections of letters and journals online for everyone to read.
I think AI is another venture further out on the limb of unsustainable technological civilization headed for collapse. At some point, automobiles, of which the ownership and operation is considered by Americans a God given right, will be replaced by feet, bicycles, small electric conveyances and public transportation, if we’re lucky. What evidence do I have for this? The average price of an auto is now $50k. Same for AI. The power requirements are formidable and how much material has to be mined and processed to support it. The Green Revolution, its fertilizer and machinery, depends on oil. As oil becomes harder to extract, this’ll go away, too. How far “backwards” we’ll slide, I don’t know. I think Amish-level technology can support 2B humans worldwide. So they, like the monks of old, preserve the knowledge we may need. If it’s worse than that, it’ll be Amazonian native skills that will sustain maybe tens of millions of humans, since their proven lifestyle persisted through ice ages and much longer than civilization. This is a sadness as I think some of the fruits of civilization are wonderful. But maybe we have to back up to take some other path. The worst loss would be that of lessons learned in establishing a civilization so we don’t repeat our mistakes. I think a big problem is that our technologies develop and are implemented so rapidly before we know what they’ll do to us. As for a technological path forward that we might take now, it wouldn’t be bad if we looked at nature’s solutions. What is the magic element of life? The carbon atom. It’s everywhere, even in the atmosphere. We have found new forms of it like buckyballs and graphene. If we can make civilization and its gadgets participate in the carbon cycle, perhaps we can finally attain a sustainable high civilization.
DeleteI think there is such a thing as an AI "bubble", that we'll reach the point, I think sooner rather than later, where taking AI farther gets to the point of diminishing returns. It isn't going away, and has some valuable uses, but if it hogs an unsustainable amount of energy and resources, Stein's Law will kick in.
DeleteI'm not sure the Amish will be able to cope better than the rest of us in the heated-up and polluted trash heap the world seems destined to become. Never mind 18th century medicine trying to deal with more widespread parasites, infectious diseases, and cancers that will go with it.
DeleteAnd the Amish are quickly losing their skills. More than half are working in factories, those still farming are using gas powered tractors and buying seed corn from Monsanto like everybody else because patents won't let them save any back. They don't make their own woodstoves, buggies, houses, or even clothes because women are busy making crafts for the Amish tourist traps. Raber's Amish cousins were bemoaning having to hire English farriers because they don't have one to service their horses anymore.
Plus, the Amish all have 8th grade educations at most. They're not going to figure out how to harness buckyballs and graphene.
The buckyballs and graphene would be to continue our present line of development. If we go backwards, we’ll need old “obsolete” skills. I’m sure the Amish are taking hits but hopefully some of them still have some know how. When certain Central American civilizations collapsed, the people returned to the jungle. Wrt medical science, the fancy tools might not be available but hopefully the knowledge would persist and help even with the decreased instrumentality. Germ theory, for example. I watched a show on TV once where some knowledgable people were isolated in a warehouse with limited supplies. One guy built a spark gap radio. They managed to run a truck engine off of wood gas. Personally, I like civilization but people take it for granted. They also take their resources for granted and squander it in conveniences and luxuries. Can we sustain our food production without oil? Not yet. So why is the lady idling her car at the school bus pickup point so she can drive little Billy 83 feet back to the house? If we need oil to eat, why burn it up moving tons of metal to go pick up a new toothbrush. The private car, internal combustion or electric, has to go. I see no way around this.
DeleteYou might enjoy the dystopian I just finished, The Subprimes, 2015, by Karl Taro Greenfield.
DeleteThanks, Jean. I looked it up and got it.
DeleteI agree with Katherine ‘s comment on Nov 4
DeleteSpeaking of souls, Dick Cheney, to whom uncountable Iraqis and Afghanis owe their premature deaths, recently passed away peacefully in his bed. He helped pave the way for our current situation with the military adventures of the Bush administration and the Patriot Act. And Heimatland, I mean Homeland Security. All this was vigorously opposed by the peace loving Democrats. NOT. I remember a Twilight Zone where a fellow with an accent is aboard a British cruise ship. He has amnesia but feels the ship is doomed. It is. A German U-boat surfaces and he sees on the conning tower, himself the captain, giving the order to sink the unarmed vessel. And then it starts anew. Dick Cheney deserves to spend at least three score and ten times all the lives he snuffed for oil and Israeli benefit, in a very not nice place. In my Twilight Zone episode, he’s given the option of spending 70,000,000 years in that place and then going to heaven or having immediate and irrevocable oblivion.
ReplyDeleteNot sticking up for Dick Cheney's policies, but just speaking generally, how much of the evil that people do stems from incomplete info and inability to imagine long-term consequences? Only God, who is not stuck on the linear time-space continuum like the rest of us, can judge that.
DeleteAlso: I'd shave a few years off his TZ sentence for telling people not to vote for Trump.
That said, "Vice," with Christian Bale and Sam Rockwell as Cheney and Bush is cathartic.
(In other historical movie news, avoid "King and Conqueror." Almost complete fabrication that turns a sad and fascinating political saga into cheap family psychodrama. Although Sweyn and Tostig Godwinson were brothers nobody would want.)
I think Cheney was horrible, but certainly no more horrible than trump. He probably deserves some years off because he refused to endorse trump and he raised a daughter (with whom I also disagreed on many issues) who had enough integrity to sacrifice her own career rather than cave to MAGA.
DeleteIt’s a shame. That’s an interesting transition in history and I would have liked to watch the series if it would assuage my ignorance instead of adding to it. But thanks for the warning. As for Cheney, Harris welcomed his support which was more proof of capitalist, imperialist and zionist duopoly. Now that Mamdani won, I hope what he is he says he is and remains so but I see that great progressive-digesting amoebic blob called the Democratic Party in the background waiting to engulf. Sorry for the hyperbole but I don’t think it’s hyperbole and I watched every 1950’s science fiction movie, good or bad.
DeleteI sympathize with anybody trying to dramatize the events of 1066, which was a four-way dogfight with ever-shifting factions and loyalties. I suppose simplifying things for TV was inevitable. But the dramatic license needed to be revoked as soon as King Edward the Confessor started talking to his relic of St Swithin.
DeleteWe watched a PBS thing on William the Conquerer. He did not come off as good guy. Of course if you have the word "conquerer" as a suffix to your name, that would be a given.
DeleteRead a biography of William the Conqueror, a number of years ago now. IIRC, the court intrigue (not in Britain, but in Normandy) was intricate and bloody. I'd make a comparison to "Game of Thrones" but I haven't seen it. Well, saw two episodes. My impression was: "Bridgerton" with slightly less sex but way more violence.
DeleteWilliam was ruthless, ambitious, and wanted to bleed England for money to fund his French ambitions. The Domesday Book was an inventory of what it was all worth. He spent very little time there.
DeleteWilliam had tremendous luck when the weather broke and he crossed to England. He landed when Harold's army was depleted from fighting the Danes in the north, and what was left was tired out.
Morcar and Edwin, who controlled Mercia and were put in charge of Northumbria, were busy with incursions there and either could or would not send troops to Hastings. They made an attempt to lead a rebellion against William, but Edwin ended up dead.
Morcar tried to cut a deal with William, but William "invited" him to France and kept him locked up. William likely hoped that he could squeeze some ransome out of somebody for Morcar's return.
Almost forgot. Happy Guy Fawkes day, everyone!
ReplyDeleteKatherine, William not a good guy, kind of like Alexander the Great, who was not very great but a pretty terrible person.
ReplyDeleteI don’t read or watch science fiction and dystopian books or movies. So maybe my imagination isn’t up to some of the worst case scenarios. I also still have faith in human ingenuity and problem solving capabilities. I don’t think that the entire human race will be forced to live like the Amish.
When my eldest son was born I quit my job to stay home. Nineteen months later #2 arrived. By the time they were 4 and 2 1/2 I was bored at home full time. So I started freelancing part-time. My first client (and only client for 12 years) was a small consulting firm started by two men who had worked on a joint Saudi Arabian-American Economic Commission. After the Commission ended its work, they started their consulting firm with several Saudi Arabian agencies as clients. The two most important were the Finance ministry and the Energy (oil) ministry. In the early 80s OPEC’s power had peaked and was waning, with oil prices falling. They were propped up by SA. They had cut their oil production so low that further cuts would damage the oil fields. They knew some OPEC partners were cheating - lifting and exporting more oil than agreed upon - increasing supply while demand was flat. OPECs huge price hikes of the previous decade had made extracting oil from places like the North Sea economically feasible, so supply had also gone up. Oil prices fell. I worked mostly on the Finance agency stuff, but also worked on a couple of oil ministry projects. I was immersed in oil industry data and information. There was a lot of talk then about two future concerns - the coming of a new ice age, and the world running out of oil by the end of the century. No new ice age, but instead - warming. Oil did not run out, and it’s unlikely to run out any time soon (soon being centuries), even with AI. By then, alternatives such as solar might have developed and could replace fossil fuels.
Personal cars are unlikely to disappear unless something equally convenient is invented. Maybe solar powered cars. The cars may be powered differently, but they will still be wanted. Not everyone wants to live in high rises in cities, just to access public transportation or be able to walk to do every errand - shopping, soccer practices, docs and dentists, groceries, church etc. Buses and street cars also need power. Most people still like some green space around them, not pavement (the current resident of the WH is an exception). I would not have survived raising three always- hungry sons if I had not had a car. You can’t take 3 kids to a grocery store on a bicycle, and you sure can’t bring them AND 6 bags of groceries home on one. I shopped an average of 3 times/week and had an average of 6 bags to get home each trip. Doing this trip on a bus would have been really hard also.
I tend to think that things will work out, but the details aren’t yet known. I don’t lose sleep over AI. I agree with Katherine’s view.
As the song says, you can’t always get what you want. There are 8B people in the world. Only 1B automobiles. That means there are billions of people who can’t afford them and live without them. That percentage may increase as the price of cars increases and wages are stagnant. Personally, I don’t see a technofix on the horizon. But, in lieu of cars, groceries are now delivered. Adjustments like that may work better than electric cars.
DeleteIf Americans are to invent the solution for autos, I think it needs to be some sort of battery system that doesn't rely on rare metals that only can be obtained beyond our borders.
DeleteI think most people don't care enough about the environment to break the dependence on personal automobiles. And I think most elites don't care enough about human lives to turn away from the path of least resistance, which is nuclear power. I see a nuclear future, with all of us living (or not) with the risks.
That's if the US remains free and independent. We're proving more than capable of living with the transformation of one of our two major parties into some new variation of authoritarianism; and beyond our borders, our adversaries are not sitting idly by while we become less serious and formidable by the year. Oh, and while we choose to dismantle the trans-Atlantic alliances that have accounted for freedom and prosperity during the bulk of our lives.
I'm holding on to hope for economically viable cold fusion. It's possible that AI could help us get there. We know it's possible, we just haven't figured out a way to make it use less energy than it takes to make it happen.
DeleteI think there will always be a need for individual cars. We have no public transportation here. I wish we did have passenger trains like we used to, but we don't even have depots anymore. There's only 3 places in the state where you can catch Amtrack and you have to get there in the middle of the night. We do better with air travel if you're going far. I would love self driving cars but I'm too much of a control freak to trust them. Even less do I trust being on the interstate with self driving semis.
Again, I agree with Katherine. Humans are an inventive lot. Fortunately there are some who are gifted at solving seemingly intractable problems. Long distance travel by train might work if we invested enough billions into building bullet trains such as those in Japan and Europe. Not likely to happen. Close to home, most Americans will want to have cars. If the prices continue to climb there will be a market correction. People will buy used cars, and not replace their cars as frequently. So if they buy used, the prices of new cars will stop climbing. If new technologies are found to power them without using gasoline, it will be all good. But people will still want the convenience of their own cars.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteUltracapacitors using graphene are another possibility for energy storage. They don’t store chemical energy, just pure electric charge. But you still have to insulate the “plates” from each other and I don’t know if they still need tantalum, which comes from coltan which is dug up by poor people and little kids.
DeleteI understand people not wanting to read dystopian novels. Fine by me. Histories and the newspaper are sufficient to scare anybody.
ReplyDeleteBut I think there's a misconception that dystopians are a) uniformly depressing or b) are prophecies of the human race's destruction. Usually they're cautionary tales about what happens when people lose their sense of common decency.
Dystopian used to be about authoritarian governments, then the Bomb, then environmental disasters, now they're increasingly about the class war.
A common set-up: As the working class gets poorer and more unable to maintain nice hair, nice teeth, good clothes, maintain nice homes, drive nice cars, a decent education, the well-off will find them ever more loathsome. The icky people live in moldy apartments with bad air conditioning and anesthetize their woes with dope and screens, while the rich live in climate controlled domiciled inside gated communities with private security forces.
Thank heavens THAT'S just fiction!
For those who are interested, there is another example of idiocy on the part of the Trump administration. That is the proposed resumption of nuclear bomb tests. Why is that basically counterproductive even if you’re a militarist? We have conducted over 1000 tests. The Russians around 750, the Chinese around 45. The acquisition of knowledge from these tests for bomb design is subject to diminishing returns. If we start testing and then the Chinese follow suit, the Chinese will gain much more than we, closing the gap between us. So new nuclear tests would amount to another example of Trump merely showing off in this TV series our country has become.
ReplyDeleteMy comment is based on what I found at the Union of Concerned Scientists website.
DeletePar for the course when you elect a 12- year-old juvenile delinquent as leader. Why burn ants with a magnifying glass or douse cats with gasoline when you can vaporize people on boats or blow up the biggest bombs on earth?!
Delete“ So new nuclear tests would amount to another example of Trump merely showing off in this TV series our country has become.”
DeleteYup. I commented way back in 2016 that Trumps base was voting for him because they found him entertaining, with his mindless monologues that featured crude and vulgar insults aimed at the people they hated. His base was drawn from the audience of his TV show, after all. Unfortunately our country and the whole world are forced to be the captive audience in his deadly reality show. The women he’s hired have to fit MAGA “beauty” standards - (usually) blonde, long, straight hair, thin, high heels, heavy eye makeup, fake eyelashes, fire engine red lipstick, and everyday jewelry consisting of some kind of cross on a chain, to demonstrate their “Christian “ bona fides. ICE Barbie isn’t blonde, but her long dark tresses, are a feature that she displays prominently, assisted by hair extensions to enhance the look. She has done ads for a teeth whitening company. But her dark heart and soul are still the most prominent features. She’s the female star of this dystopian reality - not fiction, but reality. The men - Hegseth is the trumpian ideal apparently (has anyone but me wondered if trump is bi?). He’s hired something like 34 staff members from Fox - photogenic of course. This man and his kakistocracy government are in charge of the fate of the entire world. He plans now to invite his wrestling buddies to put on a special show at the WH on the 4th of July. The “ballroom” won’t be ready (probably the Mar a Lago decorated bunker will be done first, enlarged to hold his closest billionaire friends too) so maybe they will set up a ring in the paved over Rose Garden.
I read in local news this week that attendance at the Kennedy Center is way down these days. Pretty easy to figure out why.
"Kakistocracy"! My new favorite word!
DeleteNo, I never wondered if Trump was bisexual. That would mean he could be attracted to and interested in providing pleasure to somebody but himself.
"ICE Barbie isn’t blonde, but her long dark tresses, are a feature that she displays prominently"
DeleteWhen she was guv, I believe she had a shorter, more professional 'do; and she started growing out her hair specifically to signal to MAGA World that she was to be taken seriously for a Cabinet position.
2028 isn't far away. I would expect ICE Barbie to be among the GOP candidates. This week's election results suggest that being responsible for gulag inflow isn't a popular role with Americans; but it might take her pretty far in the GOP primary. And Democrats appear quite capable of picking the wrong candidate.
DeleteJim - “ she started growing out her hair specifically to signal to MAGA World that she was to be taken seriously for a Cabinet position.”
DeleteThat literally made me laugh out loud. Thanks
I don't care for the MAGA Lady look, but there are SO many real issues to nail these people on. Not gonna get drawn into making fun of what usually amounts to the insecurity of other women to let their bare face hang out.
DeleteWell then, Jean, you might have to give up any hopes you had of joining this administration. Their MAGA style is obviously just to demonstrate that they are part of the club. There are bloggers (“influencers” ) online that actually demonstrate how to do MAGA makeup right. I’m guessing they all hate starvation and 4”stilettos as much as normal women, but think they have to go along to get along. At least Melania never dyed her hair blonde even if she’s still in stilettos in public.
DeleteThere's a gay guy on TikTok guy who demonstrates MAGA girl makeup, wigs, and outfits on himself then says stuff like, "God made girls to make boys feel strong, loud, bold, and proud!"
DeleteSecond time today that a comment here made me laugh. Since laughs are rare these days I really appreciate it! I don’t look at Tik Tok but maybe I should.
DeleteThis past Sunday at Mass, the pastor brought forward a young man who’s joining the Army so that he could be applauded. I didn’t, I couldn’t clap. My hands refused to rise from my lap. I wish him well but he’ll have airheads making decisions about putting him in harm’s way, and who are violating international law. He may even be called to move against US civilians. I recently attended a retirement party. I learned one young woman physicist is leaving because of her conscience. Another guy I know is considering it. One thing about Trump is that he says the quiet parts out loud. He and his sycophants are brutally incompetent but I’m not sure the goals are all that different from previous administrations. We’re always saving someone from some bad thing but there’s always seems to be a lot of oil there. Or things like coltan and lithium these days. Thus the present noises being made about Venezuela. Why die for this nonsense? Maybe it’s the only job one can get.
DeleteStanley, I get it - why you didn’t clap. It’s a sad thing really but I’m sure he thinks he’s doing a good thing. The dangers to one’s moral compass are part of joining the military where you are expected to blindly follow orders. That’s why I recently wrote that I was glad that none of our sons wanted to be priests nor join the military. Most priests and most military never have to face the situation of compromising their moral convictions because they swore an oath of obedience to an authority. But some do, and it’s a terrible situation to be in. I understand needing a Dept of Defense in the real world, unfortunately, but a Dept of War is something else.
DeleteAdmiral Alvin Holsey, in charge of Caribbean operations is retiring in December reportedly due to the strikes on Venezuelan boats in the Carribean. The man has integrity. The top leadership of the US is trash.
DeleteNot going to stick up for what political administrations do with our military or the obscene amounts of money it wastes or sinks into weapons development. Also won't stick up for the toxic warrior culture that has infected the Air Force or Marines at times.
DeleteBut I will stick up for the opportunities that the military offers to servicepeople. The military is the closest thing you can get to a meritocracy in this country. It provides men and women with transferable job skills. It offers money for education.
When Raber was on maneuvers with NATO, he participated in crew exchanges with British and German sailors. He got to see great places like Singapore, Paris, Rome, the pyramids, and some very sad places in Haiti and the Philippines. He also got a chance to see how Americans reacted to the rest of the world. It wasn't always pretty, but it was a valuable part of his education.
"But I will stick up for the opportunities that the military offers to servicepeople." Me too. I have known young people who got educational opportunities from their military service that wouldn't have otherwise been available by cause of cost.
DeleteMy husband was in the National Guard for ten years, and didn't qualify for most of the benefits ( you have to have served in active duty for a certain length of time), but we did qualify for a VA mortgage under favorable terms, which was very helpful.
Guess I was thinking more about intangible benefits, but, yes, we benefited from a VA loan, and Raber has coverage at a VA hospital if he needs long-term care. Guy in my cancer group in end-stage gets phenomenal care from the VA in Minneapolis. He should. He got cancer in Vietnam from all the Napalm and Agent Orange they sprayed over there. And how do we know that stuff is death-dealing? Cuz U.S. servicemen raised a ruckus about it. Sure wasn't the war profiteers at Dow Chemical who blew the whistle on carcinogens.
DeleteThe military has had to make up for the failures in our education system for too many. My first longterm client was the small consulting firm that worked with Saudi Arabia. My second long term client was a big consulting firm whose clients were DOD, military services, and the intelligence community (CIA, DIA, NSA etc). Although my work with them began with a project using my economics background, I eventually worked on other projects, including proposals responding to the RFPs from DOD, the military services themselves, and the IC agencies. These proposals included resumes of proposed staff. It was an eye opener. So many were enlisted with highly specialized skills who hadn’t had the opportunity to go to college or get a decent job after high school. The military did educate them - during their service and after. Their service and the education they received through their work experience in the service and by formal education paid for by the military enabled them to get really good jobs once they went back to civilian life - jobs in companies like this big defense contractor. But it also meant that their lives were completely controlled by the military for years. My brother in law was a 20 year Navy officer, whose undergrad Ivy League college education was funded by NROTC. The worst aspect of the life for his family was having to move every two or three years. But he was lucky - he never faced a potentially fatal situation in those 20 years Ben though it was the Viet Nam era. Jean, you are too young to have been in school during the peak years of fighting. Was Rabers Navy service during those peak Viet Nam years? . If my brother in law had been in the Army or Air Force or Marines his life might have been at higher risk and he wouldn’t have been able to say No. When working with another huge defense contractor, my computer cubby ( that I could use when at their offices - I mostly worked from home) was directly across the hallway from a lovely man who was Iraqi. His family had fled Iraq because of Saddam Hussein. The WaPo had a photo spread every couple of weeks of the young Americans who had died that week fighting in Iraq, with a brief bio. He put that photo spread on his wall and added to it every time it was updated. He wanted to remind himself that non- Iraqis were fighting and dying for his people. He couldn’t imagine that they would sacrifice their own lives for people halfway across the world. Like Stanley, I am part of the Viet Nam generation, and several high school classmates died there. The brother of a college classmate died there. A work colleague of my husband was shot down ( he was a helicopter pilot) but was rescued before he could be captured. My husband was finished with his Marine reserves duty before Viet Nam was peaking. They had one scare when they were ordered to suit up to prepare to go to Cuba during the Missile crisis.
DeleteRich and powerful families, including trumps and Bushes - George the Younger- either bought a deferment ( trump’s “ bone spurs” ) or domestic assignments in the reserves or National Guard or whatever ( Bush the Younger). Clinton got educational deferments for his Georgetown and Oxford years, and once forced to finally go into the draft he lucked out with a high lottery number. I knew a lot of guys at Loyola of Los Angeles who did AFROTC and then went to law school also to avoid Viet Nam. Some ended up finally going as AF officers with law degrees, posted a long way from the fighting. I believe Stanley said his government job was a critical position so he didn’t go. ( am I remembering correctly?)
But the horrors of war crimes like My Lai have stayed with me. I never wanted my sons to be in a position to be forced to “obey orders”. Apparently Hegseth was reported by his own men for a potential war crime. It’s not surprising to me that both he and trump are unconcerned with the Geneva Convention and have shown that they are OK with war crimes.
Military service is a mixed bag of positives and negatives. The draft ended because of the backlash to Viet Nam, and the all volunteer military was launched. This has been both good and bad for those who have fewer educational and career advantages in our country than others. I struggle with it because it has been true throughout history that the more privileged usually don’t have to risk their own lives or those of their children in war unless they really want to. I admire those who are willing to risk their own lives to help the “ stranger” in another country, as the young people did whose photos were on my Iraqi office neighbor’s wall. But it’s just another example of the privileges of the better off.
DeleteWhen I started working for the military in 1968, I was impressed by the civilian integration of black people and everyone else. All of a sudden, I was working with blacks, jews, asians. Later on, muslims and arabs. There’s more equality in the military than any other segment of US society. But the US electorate is naive when it comes to politicians, capitalists and war. Another note. I consider Catholics avoiding the military to be avoiding the occasion of sin. Especially now.
DeleteBeing sick or caring for sick people is the slog most of us face by age 70. It was hard to find help for my mom and dad. Revolving door.
DeleteMy GP Thursday wanted to know how happy I was with my life on a scale of 1 to 10. I said 6. She asked what would give me joy. I almost said, "For Jason Momoa to bring be a gin rickey," but I choked it back.
She set me up with an audiologist instead.
So there's that.
There is one person who doesn't fit the MAGA woman mold. That would be Usha Vance. I don't think she is happy. I am reading a lot of commentary that, she knew what she was getting into when she married JD. Actually, she didn't. He hadn't gone MAGA yet. He was sort of liberal, and didn't think highly of Trump. Well that changed!
ReplyDeleteHis high body contact embrace with the widow Kirk at a public event was very strange. According to MAGA principles, Erica Kirk would be the perfect show wife for Vance as opposed to Usha Vance. Perhaps the fix is in the works. Charlie Kirk, in his final days, was changing from his pro-Israel views. He was heavily funded by US zionist billionaires and they were withdrawing their support. Everything is so odd surrounding Kirk’s assassination and Erika Kirk’s takeover of the TPUSA franchise.
DeleteQuestion: Now that Vance is supposedly Catholic, could he have his marriage to Usha annulled because of her Hinduism? Is the Petrine Privilege applicable? How would the Church handle the bad PR on THAT?
I know it all sounds like wacky conspiracy theory stuff but when fascists take over, as in Germany, all kinds of weird stuff starts happening. But maybe there’s a new nice sort of fascist. Also, when millions USD are involved, people have been known to be killed.
DeleteYeah that wasn't a "sign of peace" hug. Grieving people sometimes do odd things, but that was just super weird.
DeleteAnd I feel bad for Usha the way JD and a reporter were discussing her religious beliefs in a public way. That was definitely is a "fools rush in where angels fear to tread" scenario, and not respectful.
Trump said he could murder someone in public and he wouldn’t lose any followers. I think his minions think that immunity applies to them and maybe it does. I can’t predict what mAGA will do because i don’t think like them. Anyway, I don’t think they care about what anything they do in public looks like. Kirk’s widow did a TV interview on Fox and nothing looked or sounded genuine despite her continuously dabbing her tearless eyes. Despite nothing qualifying as a federal crime, the FBI was immediately involved and providing immediate answers involving trans. The alleged texts from the alleged assassin were quickly provided and they were strangely worded. I trust nothing from the Trump government. Strange days indeed.
DeleteI also don’t trust anything that comes from this administration. As far as conspiracy theories go, I’m not sure I’m ready to believe that Kirk’s murder as the result of an Israeli plot (but I suppose it’s possible). Especially when I have learned of who else is promoting this idea. I’m not a big fan of Kathleen Parker, but her column today is interesting, discussing Tucker Carlson’s failure to challenge Nick Fuentes.
Delete“ Jew-hating has become all the rage in certain once-respectable circles. It’s just that this time, Carlson and his guest went too far even for friends and political allies….. It shouldn’t be long before fellow bigot-baiter Candace Owens bellows a rant too far. She’s not in Carlson’s league as listeners go, but she’s not a nobody. She has millions of social media followers. Her 2024 eviction from conservative (Jewish) commentator Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire for antisemitic rhetoric apparently didn’t hurt her standing with her fans. Among other offenses, she liked a social media post that asked if a rabbi was “drunk on Christian blood again.” She and Carlson have seemed to suggest that Israel was behind the murder of Charlie Kirk. The Israel-Gaza war has given such entertainers (they’re not journalists) excuses to talk trash about Jews, but the comments in question far exceed criticism. Plenty of people left and right, as well as nations, have expressed concerns about what many view as Israel’s disproportionate response to the terrorist slaughter of civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. More accurately, Owens and Carlson engage in dog-whistling tropes that historically have been used to marginalize Jews and to justify much worse.”
If anyone equates criticism of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism, I am nonplussed. If you compare the number of muslims that have been killed over the last few years to the number of jews, I’d say that Islamophobia is more in style than antisemitism. Candace Owens just interviewed Norman Finkelstein, an anti Zionist jew whose parents survived the Shoah. She could very well veer toward antisemitism or rub against it but the biggest antisemitic crusade today is the mass killing of arabs. I am not concerned about antizionist cancel culture while people are being persecuted and murdered. If she can turn MAGAs against Israel, I consider it useful for humanitarian reasons. The consensus in the US is turning against Israel but the politicians, funded by AIPAC and afraid of AIPAC, are way behind the curve. Will all this crosswire into some hatred and prejudice against Jews? Unfortunately, yes. Hopefully, it will subside when Israel stops killing and persecuting Palestinians.
DeleteI put Candace Owens in the same category as Alex Jones. She is still banging on about Brigitte Macron being trans, and she's really her brother. Cuckoo land.
DeleteNick Fuentes is being mentioned as the successor to Charlie Kirk.
DeleteCriticism of Israel is not anti-semitism, but Fuentes, Carlson and Owens are promoting anti-Jewish-anti-semitism. I am 100% against Israel's actions but the Israeli government does not represent all Jews - not in the US or even in Israel. The kind of hate expressed by Candace Owens is beyond the pale.
" Will all this crosswire into some hatred and prejudice against Jews? Unfortunately, yes"
That sounds too much like Charlie Kirk's comment as few weeks after the deaths of the schoolchildren in TN, about not having any regulations at all for gun control. "Unfortunately it means that some innocent people will die but it will be worth it". He just never imagined one of those deaths would be his own.
Those like Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens are encouraging hatred of all Jews, just as the Nazis did. The Muslim deaths are truly horrible, but still don't come anywhere near the horror of the 6 million deaths in the Shoah
.
Israel bears most of the guilt of the horror in Gaza, but as far as I'm concerned, the responsibility for the deaths of tens thousands during the last 70 years belongs to both the Israelis and the various Muslim groups and countries there.
I don't know the answer. I don't think there is an answer. This fight has gone on pretty much forever, ever since the Jews were driven out of Palestine almost 2000 years ago.
Zionism was a white-supremacy racist project from the start. It has always been and always will be. It has weaponized the Holocaust for propaganda purposes. If you delve into the actual sayings of Israeli leaders past and present and replace “germans” with “jews” and “jews” with “muslims”, you’ll find that they and Hitler coincide. Europe has been fighting for thousands of years, too. This Palestine thing for 100 years. Domestically, if we attain Orwellian status, it will be with the help of Pegasus and other Israeli spy software. Personally, I think the collapse of Israel would be a great thing for the US and humanity. But I think we are joined at the hip (thanks to the AIPAC-controlled politicians) and will probably collapse together. One can accuse me of anti-semitism for stating these things but then maybe Ashley Judd was antisemitic because she refused Harvey Weinstein his sexual requests which ruined her career. I am really tired of this blank check for Israel mentality and wish people would see it for what it is, no more and no less.
DeleteIf you see videos of how Jewish settlers treat Palestinians, it’s like the KKK all over again. They can beat and kill with impunity. Any IDF soldiers in attendance, it’s like a black man in the Deep South in the 1950’s getting help from a sheriff. Pro-palestinian Americans who go there, even if American, are like Northern civil rights workers in the 1960’s South. Again and again, the template fits.
DeleteI guess we just have to agree to disagree. I am not a Zionist. Most Jews in America aren’t Zionists either. I don’t know enough about Israeli Jews to know. But I have done years of reading about the Holocaust, and about Christian persecution of the Jews from the second century of Christianity on to understand why they wanted their own homeland. The persecution of the Jews started many, many centuries before Hitler. But it reached its peak with Hitler. I studied this a lot because most of our neighbors are Jewish, and some lost relatives in the Holocaust. I have developed a great respect for them, and for Judaism, the foundation of Jesus’s teachings. I even briefly considered looking into converting to Judaism.
DeleteThere are haters in Israel, just as there are in the Muslim countries. That’s why I have no hope that there will be any real peace in the region ever. Neither side can get past their hatred.
If group X persecuted group Y. It does not follow that group X should help group Y steal land from and exterminate group Z. If that does follow for you, then agree to disagree is where we are.
DeleteI’m sorry, I don’t really get your point. I don’t understand what you are trying to say. You see only the horrors committed by Israel during the last two years under its current leadership. I agree that their actions in response to the attack by Hamas are horrors. I agree that the Israeli soldiers do horrible and cruel things to the Palestinians. But that isn’t all Jews. Right now black Americans are still frequently brutalized by our police forces. But not all police do this. Not all white Americans do this. Blaming all Jews for what the worst of them do isn’t right either. Muslims have been known to do some pretty horrible, cruel things to their enemies, including killing some of the hostages they seized two years ago.
DeleteSo I don’t think Israel should be wiped from the world maps. Perhaps the country shouldn’t have been established in the first place, but we can’t go back and undo it. Is that what you think should happen? If so, I don’t agree. It’s not possible. The persecution of Jews by Christians for most of 2000 years was also pretty horrible.
I think there has been plenty of wrongdoing on both sides - for many decades now. I don’t have any hope that it will be resolved longterm. I don’t agree that Israel is planning to exterminate all Palestinians, but they do want to destroy Hamas. The Nazis did plan to exterminate all Jews everywhere in Europe, and beyond if they had succeeded in taking their war beyond Europe.. Some Arab nations have said they would like to exterminate Israel. But perhaps not all Jews everywhere in the world.
The hatred on both sides will keep the tragedies going for a very long time. Sorry, but that’s how I see it. You see the situation differently, and you have as much right to your opinion as I do to mine. So we should agree to disagree.
PS. I am not a Zionist, nor are most Jews, at least in the US. But many evangelicals are, and so are many members of this administration.
Stanley, Netanyahu is a war criminal and so are others in the government and military there. Maybe someday they will be brought to trial, but they most likely won’t. They want to take full control of Gaza and they want to force the Palestinians to relocate. There are similar situations elsewhere in the world. A million Muslims have been forced into refugee camps outside of Myanmar and tens of thousands were killed, including babies who were particularly targeted, with adults tortured, raped. We don’t hear much about this in the US. Refugees in Asia who escape by boat to Australia (as my sons wife and parents escaped after the Viet Nam war) are being warehoused on an island - a refugee island but really a prison island with horrible conditions. The conditions in the refugee camp where my son’s wife was born were pretty horrible, but survivable. There are now several thousand Latinos being held prisoner in the US in for profit prisons in similarly horrible conditions. Survivable but that’s about it. Not humane. More than 400,000 have died in Sudan in their civil war. Hundreds of thousands in Yemen. Now trump wants to send troops to Nigeria because the Muslim terrorists there like Boko Haram are killing Christians. They kill other Muslims there too, but a Americans don’t care about Muslims there ,or Gaza or anywhere except in Muslim countries that offer profit making business opportunities. It is estimated that Idi Amin killed 300,000 but he was never brought to trial. Pol Pot killed an estimated 1.7 million people and died in house arrest, but was never brought to trial in an international court. The tragedies, civil wars, wars against neighboring countries, racist killings in the US, and genocides that have occurred in my adult lifetime create a numbness because of an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. Compassion fatigue.
DeleteThere is no doubt that Netenyahu has committed war crimes. There have been so many in modern history, and Gaza is only one area now suffering from them. Our country has supported Israel, both Republican and Democratic administrations. My heart breaks for Afghanistan, especially for the women there.
Before too much longer, the global deaths from the withdrawal of American humanitarian aid in poor countries will exceed those in Gaza. Eventually they will reach the millions.
We can withhold weapons and money (but most of our aid there is weapons) from Israel, and I wish we would. But I hope that we continue to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia. So I’m inconsistent. I would like us to stop selling weapons to the trump family friends in the mid- east too, but those will continue so that their billions in business dealings aren’t thwarted. I firmly believe that trump forcing Netenyahu to back off for now came about because of Israel’s attack on Doha, where the trump family has $1.5 billion in deals percolating.
The world is toast, and the situation will not change if we wipe Israel off the global map. That would create another 10 million refugees. Where would they go? Israel was founded as a giant refugee camp to solve “the Jewish problem“ after the “ final solution “ of the Holocaust failed to exterminate all Jews.
DeleteI have no solutions to offer for any of these tragic situations that exist in the world today. Mostly we Americans can ignore them by numbing ourselves with mindless “entertainment “ and endless consumption. We turn inward, including me. I need to again focus on our own recurring “ crisis” - our wonderful caregiver is going to have major surgery in January and she doesn’t plan to return. Shes almost 60, and has multiple health issues, and will be looking for a new job starting 8 weeks after her surgery, without the required heavy lifting (literally) that my husband’s care involves. She will find out soon if some of her pain is also due to rheumatoid arthritis. She’s been having many tests for her different issues and we understand that she needs an easier client - one who isn’t paralyzed. I can’t solve the world’s problems but I need to try to solve our own situation. I’m too old and weak ( and too tired - I just want to sleep and sleep but I can’t) to do all the physical care my husband needs, so I’m back to hunting for another caregiver. But mine is a first world problem. It can be addressed with enough money. Fortunately we have enough for a few years. By that time we might be past that need. Others in America face immediate urgent needs for the basic s - food, healthcare and shelter. I can’t do anything about Gaza or Myanmar, but I can still give my monthly donations to the people who help - domestic and international aid organizations- that I refuse to cut because of our greatly increased expenses. We can still afford to help at least in a small way.
Anne, sending prayers that you will find the right caregiver for your husband.
DeleteI pray you get the aid you need, Anne. Unfortunately, this is a “you’re on your own” country now. There is so much that could be done. Moving people is very difficult. Even young nurses have back problems early. A combination of robotics and AI could yield a smart exoskeleton that would enable people with paralysis to move about “on their own”. Your caregiver could still help without the physical burden. It would be very expensive but I can pay more taxes. But I guess Musk et al. can’t. There is so much suffering that could be ameliorated.
DeleteSearching, I found some things available and in development. I think they are mostly for people with weakened limbs, not paralysis. This is where our tax money should be going.
DeleteAnne, is there any respite care for disabled people in your area, so you could get away for a few days, a retreat or something, so you could get some rest?
DeleteTaking care of somebody or being taken care of is pretty much life after 65.
DeleteI offer the following only as a general reality check and not advice, as I think Anne has already explored all these options.
County councils on aging can plug people into some programs, but the demand is high and services are limited. Most respite care is only for a few hours. Went thru several volunteers and caregivers with both my parents because turnover for in-home assistance is high. I had to pick up the slack when people dropped out.
Worth a call to the council or doc's office for referrals, but the only way you to get away for more than an afternoon is to get a doc to write an order for temp nursing home care, guilt-trip family to take over, or pay for RTC nursing care.
Short of a getaway, asking friends in for a regular coffee hour or getting one of those "friendly visitors" to pop in for social time once a week can be helpful.
Raber is eligible for adult day care, but he is ambulatory and his cognition isn't that bad right now. He does go to the gym a few times a week and really enjoys it. That won't work for people with mobility issues.
Things are often easier if you live in a senior apartment complex, where you can run downstairs for some kind of social activity. Every time I make headway getting us into one of those places, Raber balks, so I have given that up.
Hope everyone who needs vaccines this fall has managed to get them. Consider this a friendly reminder to protect yourself and others.
ReplyDeleteWe experienced vax shortages out here in the cornfield this fall, but finally got both flu and covid yesterday thru the doc's office.
Got the flu one. Still thinking about the COVID. But definitely not the Moderna which knocks me out. Maybe Novavax.
DeleteI got my flu shot last week. As far as I know there weren't any shortages here. HyVee was doing a 20 cent/ gallon fuel saver credit if you got it at their pharmacy. I'm planning to get the Covid vax in January since that's when I got it last year. I'm hoping CVS has the Novavax (now called Nuvaxovid) available again. I had no side effects from it.
DeleteMy primary doctor is one who usually pushes for keeping vaccinations up to date, especially shingles and pneumonia. When I was in there in September he reminded me that it had been 10 years since my TDaP. Said " I'll have Leslie give it to you before you leave." But when I asked if he recommended the Covid booster, he carefully said, "that's up to you". It was a little weird, but I plan on getting it anyway.
When I was in Hy Vee getting the flu shot, the other person waiting was a guy in his 40s or 50s. He asked for the Covid vax, and they told him he had to be 65, or have some qualifying health issue. The government regs are so strange, why would they restrict it from an adult?
Doc told me yesterday that vax counseling is a minefield. She was glad I asked before she had to launch into a spiel. They don't have enough for mothers who want kids vaxxed, and trying to persuade elderly people is a hard sell.
DeleteWalgreen's would not give The Boy a shot, but I told him to call his doc and explain that he has an immunity compromised parent. Not going to quarantine from him, but would be nice to have that extra layer of protection.
I don't feel bad with the shot this time, but possibly because my immune system is weakening as the blood counts continue to go haywire.
Never been able to get Novavax here. Various outlets claim to have it on Web sites, but when you call to confirm, it's gone or a mistake.
I don't know why Novavax/Nuvaxovid is so scarce. It has fewer side effects and is good protection. My immune-compromised brother in law got Novavax last year and didn't get Covid when my sister had it.
DeleteAs I understand it, the mRNA vaccines are more effective, but as current covid strains are less virulent than during the pandemic, Novavax should be fine.
DeleteHowever, the feds are not reimbursing vaccine coverage for everyone, and Novavax has not been most people's first choice, so I assume manufacturers are making less of it.
Tried to see if HHS had more info on funding for vaxxes and got this on its Website:
"Mission-critical activities of HHS will continue during the Democrat-led government shutdown. Please use this site as a resource as the Trump Administration works to reopen the government for the American people."
Hoo boy.
Typical blame the Dems bs from HHS. Sounds like the lines I'm seeing on FB from people who ought to know better, "President Trump is going to save the day from the Democrat shutdown and fund Snap and Medicaid by releasing funds." Which is a blatant lie.
DeleteTrump asked the Supreme Court to block the order requiring SNAP payments out of the emergency fund. The court so ordered it. But apparently people in some states have already received SNAP payments.
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/07/white-house-snap-november-court-order
Trump seems to want all largesse to come (or not) at his personal bidding. Interesting movement among Republican/conservative circles calling for an aristocracy to run the country. The Rockbridge network comprised of tech billionaires and young MAGAs like Vance and Trump Junior seems to be at the heart of the push.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/
All us peasants need to learn to love bean soup and oatmeal, grow seasonal produce in the flower beds, and start weaning offa the coffee, which is now the highest priced item in my grocery cart.
Josh Shapiro blasted JD Vance in a press conference yesterday:
Deletehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/josh-shapiro-calls-out-jd-vance-s-appalachia-roots-in-slam-over-snap-benefits-cut/ar-AA1Q1x6p?ocid=BingNewsSerp
I have to confess to a little schadenfreude because he so richly had it coming.
Vance has always loathed his people. Why wouldn't he? Mama and Daddy were welfare drunks and addicts, and Pawpaw beat up Mawmaw.
DeleteRich bros LOVE this story about the Undeserving Poor, and that's why they let him in their club. But he's awkward, chubby, the butt of all those couch-humping jokes, and he's never gonna be anything more than their jester.
My guess is that the rich bros think Trump is a buffoon, too, but he has real power, and if you slip him a few million $$ every so often, he'll deregulate your biz, slap a tariff on your competitors, and throw a girly-a-gogo party for you down in Florida.
More really sad news today. I learned today that my niece, age 41, has committed suicide. She was the daughter of my brother who had disabilities, who died when he was 47, from a brain bleed after being hit in the head with a golf ball. Katie was born with a deformity - her left hand was attached to her elbow, and was missing two fingers. Her mother had died also at 41, as a result of too many prescription drugs interacting and causing a form of pneumonia.She was mentally ill, and imagined that she had every strange disease she read about that could only be diagnosed by symptoms, not blood tests or scans. Diseases like fibromyalgia. She went to different doctors with her symptoms and got a prescription, never telling them about the other doctors, and other prescriptions. It was thought that one of her drugs caused the birth defect, one that pregnant women were told not to take. She had more than 30 prescription medications in her bathroom when she died. Katie was 4. My brother and his wife were divorced and he knew that he would have a very hard time raising her alone. He couldn’t write more than his name, and his reading ability was limited. My eldest niece, Katie’s much older first cousin, and her husband, became her guardians and eventually adopted her. She was 8 when her father, my brother, died. She had ongoing emotional problems growing up and first tried suicide in high school., She tried again a few years later, when in college. She may have tried again as an adult. I think she did a few years ago. She was estranged from her parents (her first cousin and husband). She had many health issues and had several surgeries. But we thought she had finally landed on her feet at 40. She had a good job and several good friends. I’m heartbroken that her lifelong depression finally got her. So, prayers for Katie. I pray that her soul is at peace finally.,
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry to hear that, Anne! I prayed for her at Mass this morning.
DeletePoor girl. I found this Catholic prayer for suicides:
DeleteDearest Lord,
We entrust Katie and all those who have died by suicide to your undying mercy and love.
While in this life, they felt much pain and found life difficult.
May you enfold them now with your love where no pain can find them, but rather your love can heal them.
Make them Guardian Angels for those who struggle with life, for those who struggle to see you and the love that is around them.
Give them, Lord, kind admittance to your Kingdom and bring comfort to their families.
We ask this, as we ask all things, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
S orry to hear this. Suicide is a great sadness for the ones who loved and cared for them and a sadness that someone could be so unhappy and distressed that they felt they needed to do this. I'll remember her in my prayers.
DeleteSo sorry, Anne. Saying a prayer for her.
DeleteIt's a tough thing. Betty faced this with her own daughter. I hope that she is OK. Thankfully Jack is with her to support her. So one niece was murdered, another killed herself. She had been very close to her cousin who was murdered, who had found her unconscience in her room (she was living with that cousin's family at the time (the second time she tried to commit suicide, while in college. The rescue squad said that if she hadn't called when she did, Katie wouldn't have made it. Thank you for all the prayers. Jean, the prayer you found is beautiful. I am saving it.
ReplyDeleteI fervently hope none of us needs it again.
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