There’s no theme to today’s essay, just a few timely observations.

Last night’s thunderstorm in Louisville was intense. In my six decades of life, I’ve never seen so much lightning – it was constant for about 30 minutes. Luckily, most of it was air-to-air, not air-to-ground strikes. But it made for some crazy scenery. I definitely got my “big storm” fix.

The warm weather over the last week has brought out all the flowering trees. The flowering pears, cherries and magnolias busted out first, then the redbud. Dogwoods are next. It’s a beautiful time of year in this part of the world. Happy to see it. The weather hasn’t been great for pictures yet, so here’s a neighborhood picture from a year ago.

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The political news is just…exhausting. Trump “jokes” about a third term and seems bent on destroying the US economy with idiotic tariffs. JD Vance embarrasses us in Greenland. The US national security team reveals themselves to be dumb, shallow, unserious people. ICE and DHS continue their sadistic actions of disappearing people, Soviet-style. Congress continues to lay down and hope Trump won’t notice them. Musk and DOGE…well, who the hell knows what those guys are up to? As I said, exhausting. It’s all sad and unnecessary, but it’s where we are.

****

This article from A Sea of Blue really says it all about Coach Mark Pope. Great article, great man. We’re lucky to have him.

The UK men’s basketball season ended last night with a thud. The Cats came out flat in the first half and were down by 14 at halftime. Then, as usual, Coach Pope rallied them for a better second half and we outplayed TN by a point or two for that half, but the final score was 78-65. Hated to see us lose to those low-down, dirty and sneaky Vols, but…it was a great season. Pope brought hope back to a cynical, pissed off Big Blue fan base, against all odds. Starting with zero players, then dealing with a historic cluster of injuries at the point guard position, Pope led the newly-transferred Cats to some glorious moments. We beat Duke, TN (twice), Florida, Gonzaga, Texas A&M. When healthy, we could play with anyone. So the 2024-2025 season will go down in UK history as a successful reboot of the program and the start of a hopefully long Mark Pope era. Coach Pope has earned the right to do it all again next year. But now we fans have to wait seven months for the next episode in the series.

****

Note to self – do NOT fly in or out of Reagan National Airport for the foreseeable future. It’s just too dangerous: Collision warning sounds in cockpit of Delta plane due to close call with Air Force jet near Reagan National Airport .

****

My prediction a while back that Mad King Donny’s actions would crater the stock market is looking good (sadly). The Dow is down 2000 points over the last month, or about 5%. I predicted a 20% drop, and we’ll likely get there. To all my wealthy Republican friends – *this* is your economic policy hero? How’s your 401K looking right now?

Meanwhile, Donny’s rapid assault on government agencies, documented history, the judiciary, on healthcare and universities, on law firms that oppose him, on our previous international allies…continues more or less unchecked. Donny’s team is simply ignoring the many legal rulings against their actions. This all very clearly ends with Donny being installed as sole decision maker in a system that used to have mostly-effective checks and balances – that system will be gone. While Donny won’t live to be a long-term king, some other MAGA sewer rat will be annointed to take his place when he dies or decides to step down from power. I just don’t see how this all ends well without a citizen-led revolution taking place, and the American populace is way too complacent to hit the pavement. Though that may change when Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid start failing. Unlike the Vietnam War, when young people protested and demanded change (and got it), this will be a gray revolution – those 50 and up will have to do the hard work of protest. I’m not looking forward to that.

The Sweet 16 starts today, with the UK Wildcats playing TN tomorrow night in Indianapolis. I considered going to see it in person – Indy is only a couple of hours away – but $1000+ for a decent seat is a disincentive. Plus, my luck there is not good. I attended the 2015 Final Four in Indy where KY lost to Wisconsin in the first game. Dook won the championship, so that trip was a huge bust.

The Donny Convict gang of idiots continues to embarrass themselves over Signalgate. Everyone involved is demonstrably lying, making it clear to the whole military and intelligence community that their “leaders” are morally bankrupt, incompetent liars. That has to be demoralizing.

It’s really hard to write lately, including these little essays. I think it’s because my sleep is so bad here in KY – I’m constantly sleep deprived and about 40 IQ points low. I’ve decided to enter the bed lottery again, buying something based on reviews and hoping it helps. Not quite random, but close. It’s a slow, expensive way to do research, but…gotta try something. Though when I shop around today to find a mattress I’m likely to just fall asleep when I lay down on it. That would be a win.

Another shoutout to the Trump team – the new tariffs will make buying a car at least 25% more expensive (and miserable) in 2025. Great job, Donny! Make America Unaffordable Again. I’m not in the market for a new car, fortunately. But I hope this boneheaded move causes a lot of MAGA-types financial problems. Donny’s team says the tariffs will only affect imported vehicles, but (a) how do you define an import when auto parts are sourced from all over the world and Toyotas are made in KY and OH, and (b) do you really think that Fords made in America won’t go up in price when their foreign competitors cost 25% more? With certain imports costing 25% more, I estimate that ALL vehicles will increase 10-15% in price. That’s just the way corporations work – they won’t leave money on the table. And of course used car prices will rise too. Nice job, Donny.

Here's my second post using Dave Winer's Wordland. Looks like the Wordland UI has gotten richer, bigger. (Doh, I know, that's the way software releases are supposed to work.)

There's now support for embedded images, like this one of dancers in Mexico.

It works pretty well, though the window called up to access my photo library wasn't good. That may just be the MacOS' generic Finder window, which tend to be less than useful.

This morning is proof that a poor night's sleep is at least as bad as a hangover, maybe worse. My eyes are blurry, energy low, brain barely working. No ambition other than try to feel better. At least with a hangover you get the "fun" of the night before, maybe some tasty wine with dinner. In this case it's just a long sleepless night followed by a miserable day. I'll certainly try to take a nap, but…damn, sleeplessness sucks.

I spent some time yesterday imagining what the news would look like if it had been the Biden administration caught using a commercial text messaging app to plan a military operation AND accidentally copying a journalist on the group chat. Pretty sure it would have been different, and louder. MAGA world is nothing if not hypocritical. I fuck up, it's horrific and I should be fired/punished/made an example. You fuck up and it's "Meh, people make mistakes. No biggie." Part of the problem is that conservatives control the US social media narrative, whether it's amplification of a message (BUT HER EMAILS) or minimization of a message (the current case). One way or another, the non-MAGA world has to fix this problem of asymmetric signal to noise.

This is really fascinating. Newton was one smart dude.

Holy shit. These are the idiots we have running our country and our military. You 100% couldn’t put this in a novel – you’d get criticized for it being unrealistic, impossible – a naive plot device. But here we are in the real world – our military and Executive branch chain of command is using a Signal group chat to plan a war in Yemen, then discuss the outcome like a bunch of teenage kids on Facebook – with lots of emojis (WTF?). And the worst part is they didn’t realize they had included the editor of a national magazine on their little group war-chat. Oopsie. It’s frightening and disgusting. The world’s fate is in the hands of a bunch of low IQ, drunk by lunchtime, low emotional maturity bullies.

What happened to the idea that the American people need to know when we’re going to war with a nation; to deploy America’s military? For too long the Executive Branch has misused its power to routinely attack other nations with no discussion, no transparency, no checking with Congress or the American people. I get it, you don’t want to announce where/when/how you’re going to stage an attack, but I *would* like to know who we intend to throw bombs at and hear the rationale for it. The why is important. The Executive Branch is completely out of control – has been for quite a few years, but Donny Convict and his gang of fools make the situation even worse.

It’s almost game time, UK vs Illinois, playing for a spot in the Sweet 16. Win or lose it’s been a great year. I’m sure thankful for Coach Mark Pope.

Every interview I see with him and his players is a gem. I hope the good guys win this one.

******

Update – Holy shit, what a great game. Mark Pope can be the UK coach for the rest of my days. Now, on to beating TN for the third time this year!

I created a couple of NCAA Tourney brackets, and neither of them are doing well. I had great hopes for my All-SEC bracket, where I picked every SEC team as the winner in every contest, using the theory that the 2025 SEC was the best conference in the country. That didn’t work so well.

Today is the anniversary of my Mother’s death 43 years ago. She would have been 89 today, turning 90 this fall, had she lived. So much missed time, so many missed experiences. Somewhere there’s a timeline where she got to have all those experiences. Though she did get to skip Trump, the eastern KY opioid disaster, and COVID – kind of a win there.

Somewhere among all the basketball watching and a golf outing, I managed to finish The Way. It’s easily the best book I’ve read in a decade (apologies to my writer friends, that statement doesn’t diminish your great work), and maybe an all-time Top 10. As someone who has read thousands of books, a Top 10 is a big deal (Rough estimate: 60 years x 12 months x 2 books/month = 1440 books. And two per month is on the low side – I’ve had long periods where I burn through two per week.)

The Way is such a good book I’m looking forward to re-reading it, soonish. And while I have no illusions about writing something a good as The Way, it makes me want to dive back in and write, like every day. I miss writing. A lot, in fact. It’s the thing that fills (filled) in all the extra time I have now that I’m truly retired. Even after time with the grandkids, golf, minor chores around the house(s), the occasional trip or concert event, there’s still a LOT of time left to fill. In my working life I averaged about two hours a day commuting and 9-10 hours at work. That’s twelve hours a day that I’ve gotten back since my last consulting project in 2022. Turns out you can do quite a bit with twelve hours a day, and I’m feeling a little lost without a purpose.

Call it writer’s block, call it laziness or lack of discipline – the result is that the only writing I’m doing is this little blog. My novel-in-progress has become a boring chore – I’ve restarted it too many times, and the story no longer inspires me. I do have a few other ideas, and I need to pick one of them up and run with it.

Today is the first day of Spring, the Vernal Equinox. And as luck would have it, it’s *cold* in Louisville. Damp and cold, around 39 degrees F, decidedly uncomfortable. Tonight will be the low, and a few days after that it should warm up respectable Spring temperatures. I just hope it doesn’t kill all the flowering trees/plants in the meantime.

The cold bothers me a lot more than it used to. I was previously built like a walrus, with plenty of insulation on me. Now I’m not, and the cold soaks right through to my bones. I guess that’s why all those New York folks moved to Florida as they got older (and skinnier). I have a new respect for body fat, and I kinda miss having it. I’m playing in a golf tourney tomorrow, and I’ll have to dress like I’m in Antarctica. That won’t help the golf swing.

Spending most of today inside, hanging pictures from Keepsake and reading. Could be worse.

Dave Winer, pretty much the godfather of blogging, has asked people to write something in support of what he calls The Writer’s Web. I’ve been reading Dave’s essays for 25+ years, and it seems he and I are very much of the same opinion on current affairs and politics. So I’m inclined to support his request.

As it turns out, I’m not that far behind Dave in terms of blogging history. (Let me be clear – I’m not a blogging innovator/inventor like Dave – I just jumped on the bandwagon fairly early). My first blog was started in early 2002 using a Dave Winer blogging platform called “Radio Weblogs”. My blog was called “A Still Verdictless Life”, taking the name from the John Mayer song “Why Georgia“. In retrospect, 23 years later, I’d say my life is not quite verdictless but still unresolved.

Since then I’ve written close to a million words online, lately via essays in this WordPress-based blog. Better Late Than Never (BLTN) was originally about travel and photography, and has has evolved to be the platform for me to write about politics, music, current events, and yes, travel and photography. It’s been therapeutic. I write something here almost every day. Sometimes inane, sometimes pithy.

I took a break from online essays (blogging) during my corporate career heyday from 2008-2018. I worked for some politically sensitive companies, and decided I didn’t want the complication of publishing my unfiltered opinions where they could be used against me at work. I have some regrets about that decision, but those years paid the bills.

Here’s an excerpt from ASVL in early 2003. I rescued a little of the content years ago by saving the raw HTML. All the links are broken, but the main content remains.

Even back then I was railing against US culture moving relentlessly toward conservatism (now toward authoritarianism). This was written in response to The Patriot Act, a law that should have frightened us just with its name.

So back to the present, yes Dave, I support the Writer’s Web. Been doing it for a long time, and intend to keep on keepin’ on.

Spent a lot of the day in one of the most American, most common activities – shopping in a classic suburban mall. Kind of a nightmare, but necessary for the upcoming Derby. Most of my clothes the last year have been purchased at Costco, and a few online from Chinese makers via Amazon. Not exactly haute couture. So I’m trying to move upscale a little for the big week. It’s been a looooong time since I bought any dressy clothes. Retirement from full-time in office work, then a couple years of at-home pandemic work, then a few more years of actual retirement. So shopping for formal/dressy clothes in a mall is a very unusual thing. It wasn’t fun.

I was mostly successful. Everything fits (mostly), and everything looks good. I’ll say that Von Maur prices are crazy high (didn’t buy there), and Macy’s prices (with clothing on sale) were acceptable. Pretty much the same clothes, but Von Maur was 2-4x more expensive. How do they stay in business?

Shifting gears, it appears that a constellation of federal judges are challenging Donnie Convict more directly. And Donnie is ignoring them. That’s a Constitutional crisis – the Executive branch is defying the Judicial branch. So it’ll be “interesting” to see how this plays out. If the judges fold, we have a dictator, a king. Crazy. I sure hope sanity prevails, but so far “sanity” is well hidden.

Maybe Spring will bring new light to all of this.

I dropped by Carmichael’s to buy a birthday card, knowing full well that the price of a step into Carmichael’s is at least $30 – the cost of a hardcover novel these days. There’s always something there that must be purchased, and today was no different.

Well, it was a little different. My usual buying process is to buy authors I know about or books of which I’ve read good reviews. But my eye kept coming back to one book on the SF shelf – The Way, by Cary Groner. I had never heard of the book nor the author, but I bought it anyway. It seemed to call to me.

Even though it’s a nice, mostly sunny afternoon here in Louisville, I decided to start the book. Call me lazy. And I’m delighted to report that it’s good. Very good. Deep, philosophical, poetic, thought provoking, with a great central character and an increasingly fascinating story. I’m only halfway through it and I’m already mourning the minute when I finish it. Some books are just so good that I want them to go on and on.

I have to admit being less happy about the Carmichael’s tax. The book was $30 purchased in the shop, and only $14.50 on Amazon. That’s a much bigger delta than I would have guessed. While I do love traditional, in-person bookstores, it’s irritating to pay more than double the price. And concerning – how long can an independent bookshop compete with that kind of delta?

Anyhow, in a time when all hell seems to be breaking loose, a book like this is good medicine. A way to calm the mind. Maybe that’s what the author means with the title. I’m sure I’ll discover that in the second half of the book.

This is another one of those days when I shouldn’t have read the news.

Trump’s border czar: “I don’t care what the judges think” 

Trump’s Open Defiance Of Federal Courts Is Now At Hand

Trump Lays Groundwork for Investigating People Pardoned by Biden

EXCLUSIVE: Memo details Trump plan to sabotage the Social Security Administration 

Exclusive: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order 

Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants

With Arrival of Bongino, Trump Loyalists Take Command of the F.B.I.

Trump Halted an Agent Orange Cleanup. That Puts Hundreds of Thousands at Risk for Poisoning.

MAGA figures start chatter over Derek Chauvin pardon

Trump Gloats About Dubious Golf Title as Americans Die in Severe Storms

Retail sales came in weaker than expected, another bad sign for the US economy

I’m not even gonna bother to comment. The headlines say it all. Add to all this misery, an early morning fire killed seven llamas at a farm across the street from my daughter’s house. Their barn caught on fire and they were locked inside. And sadly, that’s pretty much our situation as US citizens.

I saw this quote online in a discussion about reasoning with MAGA-types. The shoe quote definitely fits.

“Arguing with idiots is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good you are, they’ll just knock over the pieces, shit on the board, and strut around like they won.”

Pigeon behavior, cult behavior. That’s where we are with a whole lot of Americans.

Here’s a sad story of a Wisconsin Trump voter who doomed his wife to ICE detention. FAFO, my friend. You voted for this.

In more constructive items, I’ve discovered the absolute best online picture framing service: Keepsake. Great prices, high quality, and fast, efficient production/delivery. For example, I ordered three nice medium-sized framed photos on Wednesday, and they were delivered on Saturday! Frames are made in Kentucky, so that’s a bonus. Highly recommended.

Today is Selection Sunday for the NCAA tourney, so I’ll also throw some money away entering my tournament bracket picks. It’s a tradition…

Well then. UK got whacked in last night’s game, Democrats caved to the MAGA budget bill, and the predicted thunderstorms didn’t show up here. Three strikes – a decidedly shitty night.

I knew the Democrats were bad at messaging (and that conservatives were good at it), but it’s much, much worse than I thought. According to media Matters, Conservatives reach five times as many Americans with their messages than their counterparts on left. That explains a lot. It’s not just Faux News on traditional TV – it’s every online media platform. Read the article, it’s eye opening. Conservatives play the long game and they’re winning hearts and minds, bigly. This is how and why at least half of America’s population has morphed into MAGA culture.

Politics aside, I decided to go punish some golf balls rather than wallow in today’s news. I went back to Crescent Hill GC, and on a Saturday morning, no one was there. (Pro tip, if you want the course to yourself, go when there’s a tornado warning across the area. Sane people stay home. The courses are open.) I enjoyed my windy round. Weather has its upsides.

I couldn’t stand it, I got out of bed to watch the second half of the game. 115am ending! What a game! Otega Oweh broke Oklahoma’s back again.

The refs were *horrible*. Awful. We got mugged multiple times with no call. I have to say, I’m learning to hate the OK team, especially Jeremiah Fears – glad I won’t have to see them again for a while. This Sea of Blue comment said it well:

The refs treated Fears like he was a 10 time NBA All-Star. He pushed off nearly every time and we couldn’t touch him or even get close to him. Last second wins & cold beer RULE!!!

764 comments on the game thread, by the way. Big Blue Nation showed up in person and online. Gonna be hard to get to sleep now after a heart-pounding half. Easier than if we lost, though.

All four games today were barn burners. I’m tempted to drive to Nashville tomorrow for the KY-Alabama game.

Today is my normal day for a writer’s read/review session in Socal. But…I’m not writing much lately, and I’m not in Socal.

It’s not that I’m laying around – I’m staying busy. Just today, I’ve planted a truckload of flowering plants, cleaned out junk from the basement, played 9 holes of golf, read most of a book, did some minor cleaning around the house…and now I’m watching SEC basketball. And it’s not even 5pm. In the previous couple of days, it’s been a lot of staying with the grandsons while their parents are busy. So no grass growing under these feet.

Not sure why, just haven’t felt like writing. Other than short blog posts. I suppose that’s OK, but you can’t get published if you don’t get finished.

Part of it is that I’m just tired of the Lost Hope story. Bored with it. In my head it’s complete, but on paper…not. Maybe I should start a new story, pure SF, my happy place. Fuck all those people who say they don’t like world building. I’ll leave on that positive thought and think about it a bit more.

Well, it’s gameday. Tonight, *late* tonight, it’ll be the Cats versus Oklahoma in the second round of the SEC tournament. And that brings up some questions.

As a fan, I care a lot more about UK progressing deep into the NCAA tournament, the Big Show, that starts next week. March Madness. So who in the world thought it would be a good idea to take our teams and put them through a rapid fire meat grinder called the SEC tournament, the week before the NCAA? I don’t know the answer to who, but I can safely say that it’s a TERRIBLE idea. The teams need a week of rest, time to heal. Not a hellacious day-after-day competition with the same dudes who beat the crap out of them all season long. Crown the SEC Champion based on the regular season record, not after some made-for-TV, crammed-in-between tournament. Auburn, you win. Here’s a trophy. Now let’s rest a week and get ready for competing with the rest of the nation’s teams.

This might be the one thing I agreed with Cal on – the SEC tournament doesn’t matter. It’s a damaging distraction, particularly in the SEC, as the level of competition is waaaay tougher than in most conferences. If ACC or PAC12 teams had to play in the SEC they’d be at the dead bottom.

You can try to make the Darwinistic “competition creates stronger teams” argument, and that is probably true in the long term. But in the short term, getting the hell beat out of you a few days in a row just makes you weaker. Tired. Injured.

So I’ll watch the games, because my team is playing, but I think the whole SEC Tourney thing is a horrible idea. A disservice to the players.

Sociopathic grifters to the core. This is disgusting.

The good people in the world are boycotting US-made goods. Yeah, that’ll MAPA (Make America Poor Again.)

People are starting to wake up to what I think is the true story of Trump. Here’s a recent comment in the NY Times:

It’s almost like a foreign adversary succeeded in securing an asset for four decades who accidentally wound up president, and then that asset proceeded to do everything he could to damage the country. Right?

Politico tells the story quite convincingly. The Guardian elaborates on the story, with testimony from an aging Russian spy. From The Guardian article:

But the Moscow Project, an initiative of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, found the Trump campaign and transition team had at least 272 known contacts and at least 38 known meetings with Russia-linked operatives.

And this history explains pretty much everything that’s happening today. Trump was compromised in 1987, and Putin’s agents came calling for him when he ran for President starting in 2015. His first wife, Ivana – connected to Russia. His closest ally, Paul Manafort – connected to Russia. Etc, etc.

And at this moment the mask is coming off. Trump and Putin see a way to raid the world’s largest piggy bank, together – America’s national wealth. When Putin became Russian President-for-life (a dictator, in other words), this is exactly what he and his cronies did to Russia’s wealth and natural resources – they carved it up among friends. That playbook is being enacted here and now by Trump and Putin, with Musk playing some weird role also.

Trump’s second term is/was about (1) gaining criminal immunity for himself, (2) revenge against anyone who impeded him in the 2020 election, and (3) maximizing his financial gain. No other explanation for current behavior is needed.

Thanks, MAGA. You dumbshits. My retirement funds have taken a 4% loss in six weeks, with another likely 15-20% loss coming. That’ll be 2-3 years of financial growth wiped out.

From today’s Letters from an American: According to MarketWatch, this is the worst start to a presidential term since 2009, when the country was in the subprime mortgage crisis. Trump did not inherit an economy mired in crisis, of course; he inherited what was, at the time, the strongest economy in the world. That booming economy is no more: Goldman is now predicting higher inflation and slower growth than it had previously forecast, while its forecast for Europe is now stronger than it had been.

At least the billionaire hypocrites are feeling the pain too: Billionaires at Trump’s Swearing-In Have Since Lost $210 Billion 

Doesn’t take a genius to understand that if (at this point, more like when) President Demento crashes the US economy, who will buy all the crap that Amazon, Tesla, and Apple are selling?

I’m just not sure what we all did to deserve the era we’re in. Think about it. Starting in 2016, we got Trump, then pandemic, then more Trump. Twelve years of hell, and we’re only in Year 9.

And for something a little less awful, here’s a smart take on AI. Machines only know what they’re taught. Maybe there’s a place for humans in the post-AGI world after all.

After a full day’s travel yesterday, a very short night’s sleep due to daylight savings time and an early flight, I have no reason to feel good this morning. But I woke at 6am EST feeling great – go figure. Nice way to start the week.

LOTS to do this trip to get ready for Derby guests. Some little chores, some big ones, inside and out. I have no reason to be bored the next few weeks.

Offsetting the good vibes (somewhat), I’m halfway through reading a heartbreaking book about an alien civilization that is doomed by a pandemic, and our Star-Trek inspired “no intervention” policy keeps the humans from saving them. The aliens are written to be peaceful, intelligent, and above all, universally kind. Their evolution did not require them to develop the aggressive fight or flight mechanism we have, along with our tribalism. They’re (much) better people than us, and we’re going to let them die off because, rules. Unless the author pulls a kick save at the buzzer, it’s gonna be a hard book to finish. Recommended, nonetheless – The Last Days of Good People, by AT Sayre.

On my morning random play by Apple Music, this song popped up. A personal favorite, I think it’s 1000% applicable to the moment we’re all living through – Mercy Now, by Mary Gautier.

My father could use a little mercy now
The fruits of his labor                                                         
Fall and rot slowly on the ground
His work is almost over
It won’t be long and he won’t be around
I love my father, and he could use some mercy now

My brother could use a little mercy now
He’s a stranger to freedom
He’s shackled to his fears and doubts
The pain that he lives in is
Almost more than living will allow
I love my brother, and he could use some mercy now

My Church and my Country could use a little mercy now
As they sink into a poisoned pit
That’s going to take forever to climb out
They carry the weight of the faithful
Who follow ‘em down
I love my Church and Country and they could use some mercy now

Every living thing could use a little mercy now
Only the hand of grace can end the race
Towards another mushroom cloud
People in power, well
They’ll do anything to keep their crown
I love life, and life itself could use some mercy now

Yea, we all could use a little mercy now
I know we don’t deserve it
But we need it anyhow
We hang in the balance
Dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground
Every single one of us could use some mercy now
Every single one of us could use some mercy now
Every single one of us could use some mercy now

The culture wars are in full swing. According to the NY Times, these are the words that the Donnie Convict administration is spending beaucoup time and money erasing from all government systems and documents.

Our tax dollars at work. Investigate this, DOGE.

I realize I’ve fallen into another cycle of despair over what Donnie Convict and his gang of malevolent idiots are doing to the country. On one hand, what else should one write about? It’s the news of the century, a series of events that will haunt my grandsons for most or all of their lives. On the other hand, life goes on, mostly. Letting Donnie and his minions drive us into despair is a win for the bad guys.

So I’ll try hard to write about something else, anything else. Today it’s Bluetooth 5.3. In 2024 I bought a couple of 1Mii Bluetooth DACs to bring the KY and CA stereo systems into the modern age of wireless streaming. Turns out I didn’t do enough research – they’re good, but they’re not state of the art. Each of them supports Bluetooth 5.1, which is solid, but BT 5.3 has improved audio features that I want. Better audio streaming, lower power consumption, better channel synchronization, longer range. This table is a good summary.

And it turns out that my model iPhone supports BT 5.3, so that end of the connection is as it should be. Soooo, it’s time to upgrade the stereo end of the link. Fortunately, the 1Mii devices aren’t expensive. The ones previously purchased were about $70 each. The new BT 5.3 compatible version is $80, so no big deal.

Who knows, I may not be able to hear the difference between the 5.1 and 5.3 wireless links. We’re at a moment where digital music fidelity often exceeds the ability of the human ear to discern. But I’m an engineer, and better is better.

And one last nod to politics, in the spirit of doing something to push back on the forces of darkness, I donated to Louisville Public Media today. All PBS-adjacent outlets are under attack by DOGE, so donating to them makes sense. Independent public media is likely to turn out to be critical to fighting against The Big Lies that Donnie and his minions constantly toss out there. Supporting LPM just makes sense.

The President said some really stupid shit last night. I didn’t watch it, but in viewing some of the highlights lowlights this morning, these gems stand out:

“…eight million dollars for making mice transgender. This is real…” Ummm, no. it’s not real. The $8M was spent on transgenic mouse research, where human genes are transplanted into mice so that they can be used to test drugs. Transgenic is not even close to transgender, you ignorant asshole.

“…over 130,000 people, according to the Social Security database, are over 160 years old…”. He said this idiotic thing to “prove” that there’s waste and corruption in Social Security payments. Well, not so fast, you moron. This is a MAGA talking point that’s been debunked multiple times. The SS database uses a specific date in the 1800s as a placeholder when the actual birth date of a person is unknown. The 1800s date is used to make it VERY CLEAR that there’s a problem with an entry, making it easier for analysts to go in and fix the problem when the true birth date is found. It should be very clear to anyone who isn’t an idiot, as it turns out.

Imagine if Joe Biden said stupid shit like this. The media would be clamoring for a competency test, or for him to step down due to dementia problems.

I’m glad I didn’t watch the speech. Those two hours of my life were better spent on…anything else.

There’s really no other logical way to interpret what’s happening right now. We’re being infiltrated by the ultimate insider threat.

It’s gonna be one of those days. I started the day by reading two rejection emails from two different publishers, responding to short stories I had sent them for consideration. Demi Moore isn’t the only one getting passed over by judges.

I have a crew coming in today to cut down more trees, including some giant eucalyptus close to the house. Sad, but probably necessary. Later I have to take my car into the shop – pretty sure I’ve got a damaged shock absorber on one side. Like most of the country, my car is leaning to the right.

Then I made the mistake of reading the news. Holy shit. Maybe I’ll just do a Groundhog Day and crawl back into my den for a few weeks.

Trump chose a lumber industry executive to oversee the Forest Service, so now we’re firing up chainsaws in previously preserved forests, an area the size of Texas.

The stock market is crashing and cars are about to become waaaay more expensive because no one can make any sense of new tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada. (My move last week of funds from the stock market and into real estate is looking pretty good right now.)

The Trump Musk Putin administration has made numerous moves to hurt Ukraine, including now cutting off all forms of US aid to Ukraine. It’s official, we’re on Russia’s side. Dasvdaniya, baby.

Our weather experts at NOAA now no longer have jobs or a place to work.

The chaos just goes on and on.
Social Security Checks Could Stop Going Out by April, Ex-Head Warns 
Trump Celebrates After Killing Anti-Money-Laundering Law 

Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

DC police reinstates officers convicted in death and coverup after pardon by Trump

Yeah, reading the news was a mistake. It’s all too much to cope with. I used to have faith that Congress and federal judges would keep the lunacy in check, but now the Trump administration is simply ignoring judicial orders to stop or reverse. And Congress is completely dysfunctional, neutered. And SCOTUS was captured by Trump years ago. So our wannabe dictator is, in fact, a dictator.

I’m not sure where we go from here, or how we might recover. It’s possible that Trump will complete the destruction of the federal government and the world’s premier democracy and economy. Then what? I keep coming back to the 2024 Alex Garland movie Civil War. Life is sure as shit imitating art.

It’s turned cold in Socal – a damp, chilly Pacific breeze started yesterday. Fireplace weather again. Rumor has it that the breeze is bringing some rain in the next couple of days. That would be nice.

Calfire has just arrested a person they say is responsible for setting the Jan 21 fires near our house. As an arsonist he’s by definition mentally ill, but I hope they throw the book at him. In Socal an arsonist is just a different kind of mass murderer. There’s no place for that person in free society.

Spent a lot of time today making final arrangements for the big Derby weekend. Lots of logistics. But in addition to the Oaks and Derby race days, we have VIP tours of Rabbit Hole and Castle & Key distilleries. Add lunches/dinners at Volare, Jeff Ruby’s, River House, Watch Hill Proper, North of Bourbon, Proof on Main, and Porcini, – it’s a big set of events. I’ll probably need an organ transplant or two after all that.

Yesterday’s UK hoops game felt like the end of the season for me. UK took a beating at home – the injuries have taken their toll, and we’ll be lucky to win another game or two beyond this point. Both Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa are gone for the season, and with Butler still playing-while-hurt, we’re just not deep enough to compete. While it’s a bit sad, I’m very satisfied with Mark Pope’s first year as coach. The man is a treasure. The team had some memorable wins, and without the injury jinx could have made a deep run in the SEC or NCAA tourneys. I’m hopeful for the future – a very different feeling than I’ve had the previous 2-3 years.

The recent Donny Convict-Vance-Zelensky Oval Office meeting is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in US politics. The US government is now a bullying rogue state, reneging on longstanding friendships and partnerships. We seem to be on Russia’s side. Donny certainly is. Our citizens need to say that our “leadership’s” position is NOT America’s position. I for one want to be on the side of Europe and NATO, not Putin. It’s a dark moment.

Finally, it’s Oscars award day in Socal. Meh…