Yesterday, I was stressed out by the feeling that everything I did or wanted to do was fighting with me. So I’ll likely be brief in my comments on the articles I post. Honestly, I just feel exhausted.
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-first-buddy-is-in-deep-shit
Robert Reich reports Elno is calling himself’ Trump**’s “first buddy.” Without comment on intellectual intelligence which Elno may or may not possess, it’s been clear for some time that his EQ (Emotional intelligence quotient) is a single digit.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-democracy-index
Joyce Vance lays out how she plans to chronicle this Trump** administration (differently from the wayshe did so last time) in hope of minimizing distractions. I’m not sure she realizes that it’s not just the media, or MAGA, or Putin, who are actively working to distract us. When I dug out the Windows 10 laptop earlier ths year, and again when I dug out the Windows 10 desktop, I literally spent over a week on each one just uninstalling distractions. And I have not yet finished on either – I just got to a point where I could cope. But now both are getting worse. Please note too that uninstalling some of this is in no way obvious -but the amount of links providing instructions on how to do so (not all of which even work, which is part of the issue) suggests that I am far from alone in not wanting to be distracted by crap I will never use.
Yesterday, I saw Virgil and we played cribbage. It was an interesting visit in that it really showed how unpredictable his mental acuity is – it’s all over the place. There were time I had to remind him how many cards he should deal us. But there was also a moment when I was telling him I had started going through my costume jewelry, including watches, of which I discovered I had way more than I thought of basically disposable watches which I hadn’t disposed of. He asked how many, and I said I hadn’t counted but at least two dozen, maybe as much as three or even four dozen, and he responded, “Wow! You sure had a lot of time on your hands!” All in all it was a great visit, and the drive was good both ways.
This is from PolitiZoom. I don’t know that I 100% agree, but it surely is interesting speculation. When I think of Stalin, I think of anecdote such as Dmitri Shostakovich keeping a suitcase by his front door every night so that then the secret police came to get him in the middle of the night, he would at least be ready with a few small comforts. Definitely something to think about.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/new-zealand-maori-lawmakers-give
Wonkette picked up this delightful story. If the two articles I picked for Sunday did not complement each other so well, I might have kicked this up to Sunday. But we need enthusiasm on Mondays too. The Maori haka is sacred to the Maori. We could use something like that (I’m not advocating cultural appropriation, nd I don’t mean exactly hakas, but something which might function the same way. Doktor Zoom suggests Jasmine Crockett might provide suggestions.)
Yesterday, unsurprisingly, I received an email from VoteVets. But somehow I was not expecting an email from VoteVets to ne quite thisblunt. For instance, “Being a Veteran has often meant that the promises your country made to you were not always upheld. It meant being lied into wars. It meant that you had to watch as politicians refused to care for your friends as they got sick when they came home from those wars. It meant that the ideals and values you swore to uphold were often cast aside by the people in charge.” I know a lot of people think most veterans are Republican. While I don’t know the actual numbers, I doubt it. I know the people at VoteVets are not Republican. No Republican would ever be that honest. It’s no wonder that one of the most attended play presented by the Theater of War is “Philoctetes” – the title character who has been severely betrayed by “the generals,” and now they want to betray him again. In different ways, Theater of War and Vote Vets have a common goal – to help people heal. Theater of War works with public and private grants. Vote Vets needs contributions, and it is a worthy organization. I apolgize to everyone here and all Vets for crying on Veterans Day. But I’m afraid it seemed like the right thing to do.
This is Robert Reich’s take on the election, and on why geting the right take onthe election is so important going forward. I am with him up to a point. Here’s where I differ: when he says misogyny and racism does not explain it all. Yes, it does. Now, he goes on thedicuss the levels of education of the voter pool, much of which is woefully inadequate. But he fails to make the connection that the right kind of edication will also reduce racism and misogyny – and that nothing else will. It is not misogyny to recognize that misogyny exists. It is not misogyny to believe and say that by putting our best and brightest women into elections which no woman can win with the electorate as it it, we are killing them politically just as surely as outlawing abortion id killing women physically. We are not doingwomen any favors by sacrificing them on the altar of progress. (And I am willing to believe racism is also a factor since Hillary won the popular vote also and Harris did not. But education is also tha only way to put a dent in that.)
If you were expecting a civil war but not a shooting war, you may want to rethink that. I’m providing the link to NBC, since the Democratic Underground article just summarizes.
This is a very personal take on a World War II battle, and I doubt you’ll see it anywhere else other than here. I hope it helps.
Yesterday, it appeared that Nameless and I were caught together in the shrinking gap between winter storm Anya and Hurricane Rafael. And, yes, I did receive some snow – about an inch and a half, which by afternoon had melted on the asphalt but was still clinking to the unpaved ground. They’r predicting 4″ more today and just under that tomorrow, with mostly sun on Saturday and sun all day Sunday. It’s a good thng for Trinette that she works from home, though. Many people, including people who have been born here, have not grasped that Colorado Springs does not have a climate, but a bundle of microclimates. I could tell you stories. Once I went from needing chains to dry road in the space of one interstate exit. And a coworker of mime when I worked on north Academy who then lived roughly where I live now (but at the time I lived a little north f downtown) setout for work, and at the time it was also dry on North Academy. But across the middle of town therer was asnow so thick and fast it was literally impassible. Anyway, I expect to be fine, and they don’t seem to expect Rafael to go as far west as Nameless. But I surely wish people would pay more attention. This video from Parody Project is much more fun than the Weather Unferground video. And it looks as though we’ll need some fun just in order to stay off of hard drugs
This from what used to be Twitter via Democratic Undergound could help
I recently read, I think it was at Democratic Underground, that it is easier to get to sleep if you go to bed thinking about three good things that happened during the day. They don’t need to be huge good things. Just something which is positive. I won’t go so far as to say it works, but I have tried it, and it does help. Accordingly, here are this, this, and this.
Yesterday, my back bothered me from the middle of my sleep time (it woke me up, and I never really got back to sleep) through the entire rest of the day. I seriously considered sleeping sitting up. I used the TENS unit and ice (not at the same time – those ice bags may be sealed, but that doesn’t stop condensation.) Both helped some, But not enough. Yes, I know, Urgent Care, but the last time I did that (for pain muchless sefver in a much smaller area) I ended up having to do so much walking I exacerbated it. If I exacerbate this much more, I’ll fall and won’t be able to get up. If it persists, I’ll do that.
Pro Publica points out that, while, yes, immigration has increased, that is far from the only change in immigration in recent years. They don’t go into the fact that many, particularly those from Central America are fleeing conditions which we, the United States, made possible by meddling in their nations’ politics through the CIA and, among other programs, the School of the Americas (now whitewashed as the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.”) And both of our major parties have blood on their hands. Our hands. Sure, a lot of that was on account of GOP rule. But I wouldn’t expect those injured by it to be able to make that distinction.
As a former DOJ prosecutor, Joyce Vance knows a whole lot more about the DOJ’s responsibiities than I do. I’ll just let her do the talking.
I didn’t have to look far for an ancient god with whom do discuss our current weather patterns (particularly in the east.) Huracán, the ancient Mayan god of storms, was right under my nose. (Yes, he is where the word “hurricane” derives from.) And if we ever needed a god to lay down the law about something it is now – and he is the one to do it.
I am posting this for today because I had a medical appointment yesterday as a new patient and I didn’t know how much that would throow me off. So there’s no Open Thread today. But please feel free to use this as one and comment about anything that’s on your mind
Some of the best evidence for this comes from the behavior of two of the most powerful beings of the Maya world: The first is a creator god whose name is still spoken by millions of people every fall – Huracán, or “Hurricane.” The second is a god of lightning, K’awiil, from the early first millennium C.E.
As a scholar of the Indigenous religions of the Americas, I recognize that these beings, though separated by over 1,000 years, are related and can teach us something about our relationship to the natural world.
Huracán, the ‘Heart of Sky’
Huracán was once a god of the K’iche’, one of the Maya peoples who today live in the southern highlands of Guatemala. He was one of the main characters of the Popol Vuh, a religious text from the 16th century. His name probably originated in the Caribbean, where other cultures used it to describe the destructive power of storms.
The K’iche’ associated Huracán, which means “one leg” in the K’iche’ language, with weather. He was also their primary god of creation and was responsible for all life on earth, including humans.
Because of this, he was sometimes known as U K’ux K’aj, or “Heart of Sky.” In the K’iche’ language, k’ux was not only the heart but also the spark of life, the source of all thought and imagination.
Yet, Huracán was not perfect. He made mistakes and occasionally destroyed his creations. He was also a jealous god who damaged humans so they would not be his equal. In one such episode, he is believed to have clouded their vision, thus preventing them from being able to see the universe as he saw it.
Huracán was one being who existed as three distinct persons: Thunderbolt Huracán, Youngest Thunderbolt and Sudden Thunderbolt. Each of them embodied different types of lightning, ranging from enormous bolts to small or sudden flashes of light.
Despite the fact that he was a god of lightning, there were no strict boundaries between his powers and the powers of other gods. Any of them might wield lightning, or create humanity, or destroy the Earth.
Another storm god
The Popol Vuh implies that gods could mix and match their powers at will, but other religious texts are more explicit. One thousand years before the Popol Vuh was written, there was a different version of Huracán called K’awiil. During the first millennium, people from southern Mexico to western Honduras venerated him as a god of agriculture, lightning and royalty.
Illustrations of K’awiil can be found everywhere on Maya pottery and sculpture. He is almost human in many depictions: He has two arms, two legs and a head. But his forehead is the spark of life – and so it usually has something that produces sparks sticking out of it, such as a flint ax or a flaming torch. And one of his legs does not end in a foot. In its place is a snake with an open mouth, from which another being often emerges.
Indeed, rulers, and even gods, once performed ceremonies to K’awiil in order to try and summon other supernatural beings. As personified lightning, he was believed to create portals to other worlds, through which ancestors and gods might travel.
Representation of power
For the ancient Maya, lightning was raw power. It was basic to all creation and destruction. Because of this, the ancient Maya carved and painted many images of K’awiil. Scribes wrote about him as a kind of energy – as a god with “many faces,” or even as part of a triad similar to Huracán.
He was everywhere in ancient Maya art. But he was also never the focus. As raw power, he was used by others to achieve their ends.
Moreover, Maya artists always had K’awiil doing something or being used to make something happen. They believed that power was something you did, not something you had. Like a bolt of lightning, power was always shifting, always in motion.
An interdependent world
Because of this, the ancient Maya thought that reality was not static but ever-changing. There were no strict boundaries between space and time, the forces of nature or the animate and inanimate worlds.
Residents wade through a street flooded by Hurricane Helene, in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba, on Sept. 26, 2024. AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa
Everything was malleable and interdependent. Theoretically, anything could become anything else – and everything was potentially a living being. Rulers could ritually turn themselves into gods. Sculptures could be hacked to death. Even natural features such as mountains were believed to be alive.
The illusion is not that different things exist. Rather it is that they exist independent from one another. Huracán, in this sense, damaged himself by damaging his creations.
Hurricane season every year should remind us that human beings are not independent from nature but part of it. And like Hurácan, when we damage nature, we damage ourselves.
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Huracán, I can’t even begin to describe how great our gratitude would be if you could just manage to get those who lie about the storms, about the relief efforts, and really about anything and everything to just shut up. We have been trying for what seems like forever, and we can’t manage it.
This from Wonkette is completely off topic (Trump** is not s force of nature, he just thinks he is0, But it’s so remarkable I didn’t want it to wait longer.
Yesterday, I heard from my “frosted sister” who lives in Bradenton, FL, right in Milton’s eye. I didn’t hear sooner because she had evacuated (which I was hoping she did), but she’s going back by Monday. The only structural damage to her house this time is to a room that’s more loke a covered porch, but she also lost a shed and a lot of fencing. (Michael, I think it was, took out all her windows, and she only just finished getting them fixed earlier this year.) I’m just glad she and her family and all their pets are safe. But now there’s this (Joyce Vance) Finally, Robert Reich’s election video week is here.
There has been a lot of complaining by people who do not follow politics that “We don’t know who [Kamala] is.” This week she has addressed that with appearances in the media which this article from HuffPo addresses – and also the effect of it on the polls (mostly good).
Living through Hurricane Milton must be just like living through the pandemic for those in the path, except that the liars aren’t in power (at least not in federal power) and not everyone lives in the danger zone. Doktor Zoom’s “Don’t make me”is actually pretty mild. I’m a “Don’t make me rethink free speech” level myself.
Take this to heart when voting, America
