Month: June 2025

The soundtrack of my life

jeffcnichols

Not sure why, but I recently thought about how my musical obsessions have changed over the years – or in some cases, not changed much. I spent some time this afternoon reviewing audio and video recordings of my past musical loves, and it was…interesting. Fun. Bittersweet. The resultant list is unavoidably biased because I’m not the same person I was in decades past, but I’ve done my best to recall what I actually loved Way Back Then and jot it down here. Here’s a list of the music that I remember most from each era of my life and some of the context.

1965-ish

I remember listening to Chicago AM radio (WLS, AM 890!) on my beloved little six transistor radio with a telescoping antenna. Walking around the eastern KY countryside at the age of 10-11, holding the radio to my ear and being amazed at listening to music from another city/state. I don’t remember a particular song (maybe The Beatles?), but the wonder of getting that low-fi music in my ear was memorable. That was the beginning.

1970-ish James Taylor, Fire and Rain

I remember this song as I was walking down the country road, above Shopes Creek, still listening to my trusty portable six transistor AM radio. “Sweet dreams and flying machines, in pieces, on the ground…” Damn. This also blew my 14 year old mind because I read the lyrics in the Encyclopedia Yearbook at my grandparents house. Poetry, not just music. A little validation that my tastes were OK, even good.

1972 – Grand Funk Railroad, MC5, Blue Oyster Cult, Elton John, Michael Jackson

Album-oriented rock was what they called it back then, and I thought it was the key to the universe. I mostly listened to this on a gigantic stereo console of my parent’s located on the 3rd floor of our new house. I moved the heavy furniture piece to the window and played basketball to the too-loud and distorted sound track. Mostly albums, some radio. Grand Funk was my main jam. MC5’s Kick Out The Jams was what I played to punish my parents.

1974 – Blue Oyster Cult, Yes, Bruce Springsteen, Rush, Be Bop Deluxe, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Linda Ronstadt, Emerson Lake & Palmer

The golden age. Can you imagine me listening to this on my mongo stereo (a big Luxman receiver and dual-stacked Large Advents) in my freshman dorm room while my poor roommate (hi Al, sorry about all that!) wanted listen to Kool & The Gang or Ohio Players? Truth be known, I actually liked those bands too, but I stuck to my prog-rock and hard rock music. Yes’s Tales From Topographic Oceans was literary nonsense and stupid hard to listen to. I loved it. Couldn’t be seen to be too open minded way back then.

1978 – Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, Warren Zevon, Rush

By ’78 I was fully immersed in a deep pool of self-pity and sad music. I was a mess. Jackson Browne’s The Pretender and Late for the Sky didn’t help. I graduated from college and got married in spite of it all. Didn’t have a clue about life.

1982 – Prince, Talking Heads, John Prine, ZZ Top, Tom Waits, Rush, Phil Collins

The party years. My work friends and I listened to all this and more at The Bucket Shop in west Akron, at jet engine decibel levels. Seriously room-shaking volumes. Some of the best days of my life. I miss you, John Wiseman, RIP. My Bucket Shop days (nights) ended when Emily was born, and that’s more than OK. A good tradeoff.

1990s – Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jackson Browne, Nirvana, Indigo Girls

I remember hearing Mary Chapin for the first time at a mall in downtown San Diego. I bought the CD on the spot. She still has the best lyrics and smoothest voice.

2000 – Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Alison Krauss, Guster, John Mayer

Some new voices. I was in yet another tectonic shift of life’s path, having decided that managing people wasn’t for me and recreating my professional self as a technology expert. And another marriage. Those both turned out fine.

Mid 2000s – Jackson Browne, Mark Knopfler, Pink Floyd

The beginnings of my really productive financial years. I traveled a lot – constantly – so I don’t remember being attached to any particular music. I do have a tiny iPod from that era, tucked away in a desk drawer somewhere. There’s probably a treasure trove of music on it, but I lack the patience or the digital interface to access it.

I do remember listening to KFOG 104.5 FM in the Bay Area as I traveled every week to SF and Walnut Creek. Was my favorite radio station back then.

2010 – Keb Mo, Sarah McLachlin, Beck (maybe), who else I don’t know

Kind of a musical desert during these years. I was so totally immersed in work/career that I forgot how to live. Music was just another casualty. I really fucked up by missing Tame Impala’s peak from 2015 to 2022. But at least I discovered them ex post facto. Better late than never.

And I fucked up again in a big way by not going to some Rush concerts as they wound down in the mid 2010s. Their last shows were 2013-2015, when I was fully consumed in making sure that we’d have enough money to retire. That money quest was successful, but at a cost. By the time I realized they were never going to play together again, it was too late.

Today, 2025 – Tame Impala, Khraungbin, Billie Eilish, RUSH!, Diana Krall, Jackson Browne, BOC, Knopfler, David Gilmour – and anything else with a great recording. Sadly, there are no great Rush or BOC recordings. Their recording engineers and/or the technology at the time sucked. Figures.

Today’s essay shows that I’m consistent with a few bands and music types. Rush, Prine, Jackson Browne, Pink Floyd, Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt…they’re constant. In every era, I can listen to them and be happy.

Current favorite song: It Might Be Time, Tame Impala, from The Slow Rush. Soooo on point…just listen to the lyrics. Every time I hear it I’m happy. Same with The Last Days of May by BOC. Rock poetry.

Just hired – a Research Assistant

jeffcnichols

I’m reading this morning about the Republican funding bill making its way through Congress, and the dire effects of Medicare cuts on rural hospitals. While I have a vague idea as to why this happens, I asked Google’s gemma-3-12b about it.

Me: why do cuts in medicare hurt rural hospitals?

Gemma:

Okay, let’s break down why cuts to Medicare disproportionately hurt rural hospitals. It’s a complex issue with several interconnected factors. Here’s a detailed explanation, broken down into categories:

1. Medicare as a Primary Payer (and the Dependence on It)

  • High Medicare Patient Volume: Rural hospitals rely heavily on Medicare as a primary payer. This is because rural areas generally have:
    • Older Populations: Rural communities tend to have a higher proportion of elderly residents, who are eligible for Medicare.
    • Higher Rates of Chronic Illness: Rural populations often experience higher rates of chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, etc.) that require ongoing medical care covered by Medicare.
    • Limited Private Insurance: Rural residents are less likely to have private insurance, further increasing their reliance on Medicare.
  • Percentage of Revenue: A significantly larger percentage of a rural hospital’s revenue comes from Medicare compared to urban hospitals. Estimates vary, but it can be as high as 60-80% or even higher in some cases. For urban hospitals, it’s typically lower (often 40-50%).
  • Financial Vulnerability: This high dependence makes rural hospitals extremely vulnerable to any cuts or changes in Medicare reimbursement rates.

2. Reimbursement Rates & Cost Structures

  • Lower Reimbursement Rates: Historically, Medicare reimbursement rates for rural hospitals have often been lower than those for urban hospitals. This is due to a variety of factors, including:
    • Cost-Plus vs. Prospective Payment System (PPS): Historically, rural hospitals were often paid on a cost-plus basis (reimbursing their actual costs), which was seen as more equitable. However, the shift to PPS (a fixed payment based on diagnosis) has created challenges for rural hospitals with higher costs.
    • Geographic Cost-of-Care Index (GCC): While the GCC is supposed to account for higher costs in rural areas (due to things like transportation, staffing challenges), it doesn’t always fully capture the differences. The GCC adjustments have been criticized as inadequate and not keeping pace with rising costs.
  • Higher Operating Costs: Rural hospitals face significantly higher operating costs than their urban counterparts:
    • Staffing Challenges: Recruiting and retaining qualified medical professionals (doctors, nurses, specialists) is difficult in rural areas due to lower salaries, limited career opportunities, and geographic isolation. This leads to higher staffing costs (e.g., reliance on traveling nurses, overtime pay).
    • Transportation Costs: Patients often have to travel long distances to reach a rural hospital, increasing transportation costs for both patients and the hospital (e.g., ambulance services).
    • Economies of Scale: Rural hospitals are typically smaller, lacking the economies of scale that larger urban hospitals enjoy. This means they have higher per-patient costs for things like equipment, supplies, and administrative overhead.
    • Limited Ancillary Services: Rural hospitals often have limited or no specialized services (e.g., cardiology, oncology), requiring patients to be transferred to urban hospitals for care. These transfers add costs and complexity.

3. Specific Medicare Cuts & Their Impact

  • Site-of-Service (SOS) Payments: A major point of contention has been changes to SOS payments. Medicare pays less for services provided in a hospital outpatient department (OPD) compared to an independent physician’s office. Rural hospitals often rely heavily on their OPDs for revenue, and cuts to these payments have significantly impacted them.
  • 340B Drug Discount Program: The 340B program provides discounts on drugs for hospitals that serve vulnerable populations. Rural hospitals rely heavily on this program to offset drug costs and provide care. Attempts to restrict or limit 340B have threatened their financial stability.
  • Payment for Telehealth: While telehealth has been a lifeline for rural hospitals, changes to Medicare reimbursement policies regarding telehealth services (particularly after the COVID-19 public health emergency) have created uncertainty and potentially reduced revenue.
  • IPPS (Inpatient Prospective Payment System) Cuts: Annual cuts to IPPS payments, mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (sequestration), have consistently reduced Medicare reimbursement for inpatient services, further straining rural hospitals.

4. The Result: Hospital Closures & Reduced Access to Care

  • Hospital Closures: The cumulative effect of these factors has led to a concerning trend: rural hospital closures. Since 2010, over 180 rural hospitals have closed in the United States.
  • Reduced Services: Even if a hospital doesn’t close, cuts can force it to reduce services (e.g., emergency room hours, specialized programs) or delay necessary investments in equipment and technology.
  • Limited Access to Care: Hospital closures and reduced services create “healthcare deserts,” where residents have limited access to essential medical care. This can lead to:
    • Increased emergency response times
    • Worse health outcomes
    • Greater reliance on already strained ambulance services
    • Increased travel distances for care

In summary, cuts to Medicare disproportionately hurt rural hospitals because of their high dependence on Medicare as a payer, coupled with their unique cost structures and challenges in providing care. These cuts threaten the financial viability of rural hospitals, leading to closures, reduced services, and ultimately, diminished access to healthcare for millions of Americans living in rural communities.

Resources:

Pretty damn impressive, I’d say. I’ve now got a full-time research assistant.

Confused

jeffcnichols

I don’t understand the world anymore. Perhaps that’s part of getting old – your past experience no longer prepares you to deal with the changes happening around you. But all of a sudden I find myself with no explanation as to why some things are happening. It’s confusing.

For example, the US stock market is booming – it’s near an all-time high. I predicted a small crash (20% down), based on Donny Convict’s insane and chaotic economic tariff-focused policy. For a while that drop did indeed happen, but markets have now recovered and even grown. The chaos, the unpredictability, the tendency to war…all these are things that should drive market futures down. But they aren’t.

Another is today’s SCOTUS decision on birthright citizenship. SCOTUS sided 6-3 with the government’s lawyers, ruling that a federal judge’s decision – in this case a block of Trump’s EO on birthright citizenship – cannot be applied to all fifty states. Despite birthright citizenship being very clear in the Constitution, Donny issued an executive order saying birthright citizenship would now be null and void in America. So the first thing I don’t understand is how any judge could allow such a proclamation to stand. Is the President able to roll back any part of the Constitution by simple proclamation? That would then make the President a king.

Justice Sotomayor agrees with me. Here’s a part of her formal dissent:

No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates. Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from law abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship. The majority holds that, absent cumbersome class-action litigation, courts cannot completely enjoin even such plainly unlawful policies unless doing so is necessary to afford the formal parties complete relief. That holding renders constitutional guarantees meaningful in name only for any individuals who are not parties to a lawsuit. Because I will not be complicit in so grave an attack on our system of law, I dissent.

The conservative majority in SCOTUS is doing everything they can to weaken the Judicial branch of federal government and strengthen the Executive branch. WTF? This is just another example of things happening that I cannot understand.

UPDATE: After watching the news for a while and thinking about this and similar SCOTUS rulings, one huge effect is a more rapid fractioning of America into purely red and blue states. Laws will be very different by state, even more than today, in Texas as opposed to CA or NY. If you want your child to be born as a citizen and receive a social security number, you will have to move to a blue state. If you want the right to choose in reproductive situations, you will have to move to a blue state. If you want the right to carry a concealed firearm with no review/regulation, you should move to a red state. So, more rapid and. more extreme fractioning of the population. Net effect, red states will eventually have no immigrants within their borders. Let’s see how well agriculture and construction work when that happens.

Once again, I’m pretty much ready for CA to secede and become an independent nation. We would be the 4th largest world economy, so I think we’d be fine.

Summertime

jeffcnichols

For once I picked the right place to be, weather-wise. It’s *hot* in Louisville, and I’m enjoying breezy high 70s weather in Socal. I just hope my thermostat settings and AC in the Louisville house work to keep the house from being a pressure cooker. I’ll know next week. But the tomatoes should be happy.

There’s a lot of news in the world, almost all of it bad, so I won’t bother with a recap. Convict Donny’s frantic, weird attempts to drum up support for a Nobel Peace Prize (seriously?) and to distract everyone from the illegal shitshow that ICE is spreading across America are increasingly entertaining. Donny is panicked, and his late-night social media posts show it. Deranged babbling by a narcissist sociopath – very Presidential.

Looking ahead, there’s quite a bit of goodness on the calendar this summer:

  • Front-row seats for Jackson Browne at the beautiful Chateau St Michelle winery in Woodinville WA
  • 4th of July fireworks in KY
  • A birthday week get-together with all of my brothers (a rare event)
  • A little over a week roaming around in Costa Rica, a place I’ve always wanted to visit
  • A CA visit by my buddy Jon
  • And at the end of summer, Jon and I will play in our last Tchefuncta member-guest tourney – he’s relocating to AZ (!?!?), so he’s leaving the NOLA club

So a lot to look forward to. I hope I can fit a creative writing restart in there somewhere. As for the title photo, have a giraffe.

The Constitution Party

jeffcnichols

Here’s an idea: The Constitution Party.

Our two-party political system is a mess. Untenable, dysfunctional. Both parties have been hijacked by extremists and are populated by “representatives” who only represent themselves, whose only goal is to stay in office. Infinite money has corrupted Congress, absolutely.

So we need a fresh start, a fresh brand. I propose The Constitution Party, with the following core principles.

  • Reversal of the SCOTUS Citizens United decision, which allows infinite money into our politics. Infinite money allows corporations and billionaires to buy their politicians and judges. Those politicians and judges then do NOT represent their communities; they represent their financial sugar daddies.
  • Term limits for every elected or appointed office. Senators, House Representatives, The Prez, SCOTUS, Federal judges…term limits for them all. Senators and judges need to go back and live in the community they’re created with their decisions and votes.
  • Reversal of the decision (Trump v. United States, July 2024) that gave the President unlimited legal immunity. This must be a country ruled by laws, and the law must apply to everyone.
  • 100% separation of church and state. That includes removing the much-abused federal tax exemption for churches. No position whatsoever on cultural/religious belief issues. Citizens are free to believe whatever they wish with no government interference or support, so long as exercise of those beliefs do not interfere with other citizens’ rights. (For example, you may believe that abortion is immoral, but you cannot stand in the way of others seeking that procedure.
  • A new Constitutional Amendment (to be drafted) that clearly delineates the powers of the President. Those powers cannot be unlimited – our system of checks and balances worked well for 250 years until an egotistical greedy sociopath became President and began erasing all previous boundaries. We need a list of powers that are and are NOT available to the Chief Executive, so we do not have to wrestle with another evil cretin like Trump.
  • A new Amendment that sets a limit on the Federal deficit. I propose that limit would be 1-2x the five-year moving average of annual GDP. I’m not a professional economist, but I’m sure we can find one who can give us a rationale for a limit.
  • A law requiring universal service for young Americans. Our culture is producing adults with inadequate education, no sense of community, no understanding of their place in the world. This is an attempt to replicate the great success of the Conservation Corps, the make-work service program that resulted from the Great Depression. Beginning the fall after high school, American youth would be required to serve two years in either military or civil service. This service would include education about how American democracy actually works, something schools have apparently stopped teaching. And it would give every American a chance to meet with others outside their bubble and understand they don’t have to be fearful/suspicious of those who don’t look like them.

That’s it for the top-level principles. The devil is always in the details, but I believe that enacting these seven principles would allow our country to heal itself to a great extent. We need sanity, surety, and stability in government, and we’ve had none of those for the last decade.

Living, not writing

jeffcnichols

My writing is sparse this week due to the grandsons being in CA. We’re having a great time, with frequent dips in the pool, a visit to the Del Mar Fair (it’s actually the San Diego County Fair these days, but I like the old name) and the Wild Animal Park (same deal, I *really* dislike the new name – San Diego Safari Park, so I go with the original WAP – the Wild Animal Park). A trip to the beach and lots of weirdo meals (based on what we think the boys will eat) will round out the week.

Raising kids is definitely a young person’s game – the boys are perpetual motion machines, with a random measure of crazy mode – once in a while they just glitch. Parenting is hard, good parenting is really hard, so everything we can do in culture to support good parenting gets my vote.

But it’s all worth it. Seeing these guys evolve and grow so quickly is a lesson – life moves fast, so pay attention and don’t miss it.

Another casualty of being around kids is reading. Anything that requires quiet concentration is a casualty, but reading is the most noticeable casualty. I don’t know how my daughter does it – I think she only gets a few minutes of quiet at a time, yet she still manages to read quite a lot of books.

I mention this because I finally finished (finally, because..see “complications in quiet concentration” above) When We Were Real, by Daryl Gregory. It’s a wonderful book detailing how we actually live in a simulation, written loosely in the form of The Canterbury Tales. I loved the book, but I now can’t imagine trying to write a better one about the idea that our world/universe may actually be a simulation. Gregory ruined that idea for me – talented bastard.

I’m trying to inspire myself to start a new writing project, but this attempt backfired. So back to living for now.

Too much excitement

jeffcnichols

My return to Socal Monday was a little more exciting than I wanted. The trip itself was perfect – I set a new record of 6.5 hours door-to-door, Louisville to Fallbrook, by catching an earlier flight in my connection city of Phoenix. SW didn’t book me on that flight because it started boarding about the time I landed, but I hustled from C concourse to D and made the flight. AND, I got my favorite seat (exit row window) on both flights. Amazing.

Once home, I planned on relaxing, but that wasn’t gonna happen. We had a big irrigation system problem (a locked-up valve on a 1.5 inch water main) and a non-working garage door opener problem, both saved for me to fix. So I (1) tried to fix both myself, with no luck, then (2) got on the phone to beg service people to get here and help.

In both cases, after quite a few tries, we got help. Both problems fixed by about 3pm. Time to relax…NOT.

Right at 3pm this happened.

This was the view from our back deck – the beginning of a rapidly-growing fire about 2 miles away from us. With the hot prevailing wind blowing east (toward us), this could be very bad. We started thinking about packing the cars for evacuation. Fortunately Calfire launched a bunch of planes and copters and suppressed the fire, limiting it to about 20 acres.

By then it was 5pm (8pm body clock time), and I was wiped out. Way too much excitement for one day.

No Kings part two

jeffcnichols

After a decent night’s rest, I’ve decided I just overdid it yesterday. Sure felt like a cold or flu, but this morning it’s just mild congestion and the overwhelming fatigue is replaced by the normal “wish I had gotten a little more sleep” feeling. So the brain is working again.

My journey to the No Kings protest in Louisville yesterday was fun. I parked a long way away from the event, figuring parking there would be impossible. I was partly right – if you navigated the maze of street closures correctly, you could have parked within a block or two. But I didn’t know that going in, so I parked close to the soccer stadium on River Road and walked into downtown.

Within a few blocks on Market going west, I thought “wow, the protest is huge – it’s spread here 5-6 blocks away”. Turns out nope, that is/was a classic car show covering Market through Bourbon Row. Pretty big show, and in retrospect, a brilliant move on someone’s part. All the white male muscle-car aficionados, very likely to be MAGA, were there, segregated safely 5-6 blocks away from No Kings. They were having a good time.

But these were not my people, so I trudged on westward toward the protest. Got soaked by a 10-15 minute shower before I arrived at the protest’s perimeter. I’ve already published some good pictures of the big crowd, so I’ll just leave a couple more.

Just as interesting, here are quotes/sayings from the many creative homemade signs I saw both in person and online.

  • Hey Trump. Nobody paid us, we all hate you for free.
  • If you don’t want criminals and rapists entering the country, stop electing them as President.
  • Make Orwell fiction again.
  • We shall overcomb!
  • When cruelty becomes normal, compassion looks radical.
  • Cleanup on aisle 47.
  • Happy birthday, asshole!
  • We The People are fucking done.

And finally, here’s the winner for Shirt of the Day.

I’m glad I went. It was helpful/hopeful to see so many people who care enough to get out and make themselves seen and heard. Maybe there’s hope for the next elections.

No Kings in Louisville

jeffcnichols

It’s been a day. An appointment to get some updated eyeglasses, then a trip to a vintage audio show. A little rest, then off to the No Kings protest. That was memorable. Then a visit to the local NY Pizza shop then home, where some kind of cold/flu/crud took over. Now I feel…bad.

I have a lot I could write about the protest, but it’ll have to wait. The very short story is that it was crowded, energetic, and peaceful – all good. Here are a few good pictures from the event. More narrative will have to wait until my congested brain starts working again.

Invested

jeffcnichols

It feels great to get more and more invested in my home state of Kentucky. When I look at the whole picture, I’m really invested – financially and emotionally – in the state. Those investments include:

  • All the family members based here – several generations of my immediate family, plus the resultant cousins, nieces and nephews.
  • We own a few rental properties in Louisville.
  • We own a home in the beautiful Crescent Hill/Frankfort Ave area.
  • I don’t often have a chance to mention it, but I’m a bona fide Kentucky Colonel; have been for many years.
  • My undergraduate engineering degree is from the University of KY.
  • In 2024 I became a UK men’s basketball season ticket holder – a lifelong dream.
  • I’m a minority partner in a Louisville rental car business (Kinetic Rentals, a Turo business).

And now I have one more cool investment in Kentucky culture – we now own a racehorse! To be precise, we own a share of a syndicate that will buy thoroughbred brood mares in order to sell their foals in a couple of years. The thoroughbred syndicate is run by Hermitage Farm, and the mares and foals will be kept there, where we can go and gaze on them and then have a great meal at Barn8. You can’t get more Kentucky than that.

A fraught weekend

jeffcnichols

Watching MSNBC and the replays/discussion about a US Senator getting manhandled for asking a question at a press conference. The MSNBC’ers keep talking about a Rubicon being crossed – hell, we cross the Rubicon every day lately. Five months into Convict Donnie’s second reign, we’re way, way into banana republic territory. It’s frightening.

The media is stoking up the fires for this weekend – No King’s Day protests (assemblies? parades?) on Saturday, combined with Convict Donnie’s insulting military/birthday parade in DC. Hopefully heavy rain or thunderstorms cools everyone off.

I really just want to veg out and watch/play golf, play with the grandsons, plant some flowers out back, do some writing – but history keeps being made as our wannabe king tries to assert his power on multiple fronts – law, education, regulation, states rights, citizens’ rights, religious freedom…Mad King Donnie is pushing the line on every front. I’ve said it before, it’s exhausting. Hard to just live your life when the world you thought was stable comes unglued.

In a likely futile response, I’ve started building a set of “go-bags” for us in KY. Things we may need if/when law & order breaks down and we can’t count on civilized norms and state/local services like water, electricity, Internet. I know I’m waaaaay too old to prosper in a post apocalyptic civil war, but…if you see it coming, you’ve gotta try. A good go-bag maybe buys you a week or two of survival, but after that…if you’re older or weaker, you’re not going to make it.

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th. This weekend is Father’s Day, Flag Day, Mad King Donnie’s birthday, No King’s Day, the weekend after Brian Wilson died, the first crash of a 787…a lot to take in. I just watched Rick Wilson’s short & blunt video (from The Lincoln Project) about what happened today, and I’m with him. It’s infuriating. Everyone should watch it.

In the clear light of day this morning, Noem’s fascist event is even worse. From Heather Cox Richardson’s column today:

While much focus has been on the assault itself, what Noem was saying before Padilla spoke out is crucially important. “We are not going away,” she said. “We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.”

In other words, the Trump administration is vowing to get rid of the democratically elected government of California by using military force. That threat is the definition of a coup. It suggests MAGA considers any political victory but their own to be illegitimate and considers themselves justified in removing those governmental officials with violence: a continuation of the attempt of January 6, 2021, to overturn the results of a presidential election.

“We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists…”. Unreal. The federal government doesn’t like the way California rolls, so they’re bringing in the military to take over. We used to call that a military hunta when it happened in banana republics. Never in a million years would I have believed the states-rights-crazed Republicans would put up with this. If the Feds came into Alabama to liberate those folks from their conservative leaders, we’d have a shooting war. The hypocrisy is stunning.

I believe/hope that Donnie Convict and his minions have finally over-reached, and that this takeover of LA will be the turning point. A Federal occupation of a US city for political reasons cannot stand – even hard core MAGAts have to understand that.

Step aside, Senator – no free speech for you

jeffcnichols

I’ve been busy today – a couple of business meetings, and watching some US Open footage from Oakmont.

Even so, the ongoing overthrow of the US democracy elbowed its way in to my attention. This happened:

In a stunning and unprecedented development, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) was forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security press conference led by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles today. According to the video, Padilla was also detained by law enforcement during the incident, even if temporarily.

So much for free speech. Then there’s this headline, from Politico:

Hegseth won’t commit to obeying courts on Marines in Los Angeles

They’ve stopped pretending. The law is what the MAGA administration says it is, and even then it only applies to “the little people”. Not them.

What’s it going to take for the courts and citizens to say “Enough!”? This routine, now universal ignoring the law by Convict Donnie’s administration is destructive. Dangerous. Inflammatory.

This weekend is shaping up to be pivotal.

Dark summer days

jeffcnichols

As we approach the summer solstice, the days in north America are getting longer. Here in KY, on the western edge of the eastern time zone, we’ve got blue skies and sunshine until 9pm. But even with all that light, these are dark days.

Convict Donny and his flying monkeys are busy creating chaos and violence in LA. Sending in National Guard and US Marines to face off with protesters is basically declaring war on US citizens, war on the First Amendment, war on CA’s state government. He has created the conditions for a fight and is sending in the military to fight against US citizens. This is a line I never thought I would see crossed. A dangerous precedent.

Donny will preside over a repugnant North Korean-style military parade in DC this weekend while millions protest his actions all across the US (No Kings Day). Violence will almost certainly break out in multiple cities, giving Donny the excuse to federalize more soldiers and send them into previously-sovereign states as enforcers of MAGA hate. It’s a dark and dangerous time.

Simultaneously, the nutjob now heading up US healthcare is busy removing all science and medical leaders from positions in the NIH and CDC. As one prominent (now unemployed) CDC scientist said, “Scientific expertise is no longer of use.” That’s a sad, terrifying quote. The US once led the world in medical science, and that is being destroyed quickly by a science-denying idiot that Trump placed in charge of our national health policy. What could possibly go wrong?

And seeing an opportunity now that white nationalists are firmly in charge of the federal government, my old family cult (the southern Baptists) are making a strong play to remove the sin of same-sex marriage from our culture. Jesus loves us all, you know – except the gays. And for extra credit, the southern Baptists have also decided to fight against “willful childlessness” in our culture. All you healthy childless couples out there, shame on you. The Patriarchy needs you to get busy and raise a few new hateful racists. Get with the program, you lazy woke heretics!

It’s all so exhausting, the simultaneous attacks on democracy, culture, law, and science. The destructive cycle led by our Mad King Donny is an epic tragedy. It’s too much to comprehend, too much loss to mourn effectively. My way of coping with that today will be a drive through beautiful KY to a red-state stronghold (Mt Sterling) to visit an old family friend in need of some company. It’s a reminder that friendship and honor are what’s important, not my-cultural-belief versus yours. Not imposing my will on you. And being out in nature a bit helps too. That said, I can’t help but feel I’m doing the Nero thing while Rome burns. And I can’t even play the violin.

This isn’t good

jeffcnichols

As a writer (OK, an aspiring writer), this is alarming. Here’s the story gemma produced when I told it to write a 1000 word story about Drew’s cousins, a follow-up to Shine.

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NOTICE – the following is an AI-generated story.

The Hollow Echoes

Drew’s world was carved from the mountains of Kentucky, a landscape etched with resilience and whispered secrets. But beyond his immediate family, nestled deeper within the Appalachian fold, lived his cousins – the Holloways. Silas, Maeve, and young Finn were a different breed of mountain folk, their lives echoing Drew’s own struggles but resonating with a distinct melody.

The Holloways lived in a ramshackle cabin further up the ridge, their land scarred by years of hardscrabble farming. Silas, the eldest at 45, carried a weariness that settled deep in his bones. He was a man of few words, his face a roadmap of sun-baked wrinkles and quiet disappointment. Maeve, Silas’s wife, was the fiery heart of their family, a woman who fought for every inch of ground and refused to let despair take root. Finn, their son at 12, was a whirlwind of restless energy, his eyes reflecting the boundless spirit of the mountains.

Drew hadn’t seen them in years, a consequence of their differing paths. Drew had clung to the traditions, fiercely guarding his family’s legacy. The Holloways, however, had embraced a different kind of survival – one that involved leaving the mountains behind. Silas had worked odd jobs in Lexington, Maeve cleaned houses, and Finn dreamed of escaping to the city.

The reason for Drew’s visit was a summons from Maeve, her voice tight with urgency over the crackling phone line. Silas had fallen ill, a harsh cough rattling his chest and stealing his breath. Drew felt a pang of guilt for the years lost, the shared history gathering dust.

The cabin was smaller than he remembered, the scent of woodsmoke and damp earth clinging to everything. Silas lay in a narrow bed, his face pale and drawn. Maeve hovered nearby, her usual fire dimmed by worry. Finn sat on the floor, silently sketching in a notebook.

“He’s been like this for weeks,” Maeve said, her voice rough with exhaustion. “Doctors say it’s just a bad flu, but… he’s getting worse.”

Drew examined Silas, his hand instinctively reaching for the knowledge passed down through generations. He recognized the signs – a persistent fever, labored breathing, and a telltale discoloration on Silas’s skin. It wasn’t just the flu.

“It looks like pneumonia,” Drew said, his voice low and serious. “And it’s advanced.”

Maeve let out a choked sob, burying her face in her hands. Finn stopped sketching and stared at Drew with wide, frightened eyes.

“What can we do?” she pleaded.

Drew thought for a moment, recalling the remedies his grandfather had taught him. “There’s a poultice of horehound and elderflower that can help ease the breathing,” he said. “And a tea made from wild cherry bark can help break the fever.”

He spent the next few hours gathering herbs, carefully preparing the poultice and tea. He worked alongside Maeve, their movements synchronized by years of shared experience. Finn watched intently, absorbing every detail.

“You remember those old ways, don’t you?” Maeve asked, her voice filled with a mixture of gratitude and wistfulness.

“My grandfather taught me,” Drew replied, his gaze fixed on the simmering pot of tea. “He said knowing these things is a responsibility.”

As Drew tended to Silas, he noticed the subtle differences between their lives. Silas’s hands were calloused from years of manual labor, but his eyes held a quiet resignation. Drew’s hands were strong and capable, but his eyes burned with an unwavering determination.

“Why did you leave?” Drew asked Silas, the question hanging in the air like a heavy weight.

Silas coughed weakly, struggling to speak. “The mountains… they weren’t enough for me,” he rasped. “I wanted something more.”

“And did you find it?” Drew asked gently.

Silas shook his head slowly. “Not really,” he admitted, his voice barely a whisper. “I chased shadows.”

Drew didn’t respond, but he understood. Silas had sought escape from the hardships of mountain life, only to find that true fulfillment lay within its embrace.

As the night wore on, Drew continued to care for Silas, monitoring his condition and adjusting the remedies as needed. Finn stayed close, offering quiet assistance and asking insightful questions. Drew saw a spark of hope in the boy’s eyes, a desire to learn and connect with his heritage.

“You remind me of myself when I was your age,” Drew said to Finn, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Full of questions and eager to explore.”

“I want to learn everything you know,” Finn replied, his voice filled with earnestness. “About the mountains, about the herbs… everything.”

Drew nodded approvingly. He saw in Finn a chance to pass on his knowledge, to ensure that the traditions of their ancestors would not be forgotten.

As dawn broke over the mountains, Silas’s condition began to stabilize. The fever subsided, and his breathing became easier. Maeve let out a sigh of relief, her face etched with exhaustion but radiating hope.

“You saved him,” she said to Drew, her voice choked with emotion. “Thank you.”

Drew simply nodded, feeling a sense of quiet satisfaction. He had done what he could, using the knowledge passed down through generations to heal a man in need.

As Drew prepared to leave, Finn approached him, holding out his sketchbook. It was filled with drawings of the mountains, the herbs, and the faces of his family. In one corner, he had drawn a portrait of Drew, his face illuminated by the rising sun.

“Thank you for teaching me,” Finn said, his voice filled with gratitude. “I’ll never forget it.”

Drew smiled warmly at the boy, feeling a sense of connection that transcended years and differing paths. He knew that Finn would carry the traditions of their ancestors forward, ensuring that the spirit of the mountains would live on.

As Drew walked back down the ridge, he glanced back at the cabin, a wave of nostalgia washing over him. He realized that despite their differences, he and his cousins were bound together by an unbreakable bond – a shared heritage rooted in the heart of Appalachia. The hollow echoes of their lives, though resonating with different melodies, were ultimately part of the same timeless song.

***

Yikes! 1019 words. Some poetic phrases. Interesting character names. Completely unexpected details on herbal remedies (the horehound/elderflower remedy was correct, and the wild cherry bark is a great cough remedy, but isn’t a good remedy for fever). An interesting title. And a decent little story, overall. Maybe a bit trite, but…it only took 30 seconds to generate! LLMs have the potential to completely destroy many creative human jobs – think ad copy, movie scripts, technical writing, user manuals, cookbooks, project reports…the list is very long. The future of writing is going to be very different. And the implications for school…mind blown.

Something will have to be done about identity and provenance – perhaps a provably human-generated story will have more value than a machine-generated. Like an original painting has more value than copies of the same. The art world has experts who (allegedly) can determine is a painting is an original, by a particular artist. The literary world will need the same.

Summer malaise

jeffcnichols

Posting has been sparse on the blog of late. Same goes for any creative writing – not much happening. I suppose you could call it writer’s block, but it feels worse than that. It’s a lack of enthusiasm about things. Writing is hard work, and to work hard you have to be motivated, ideally by positive forces (negative motivation works, but the end result may not be pretty). I’ve done a lot of thinking about this lately, and haven’t come up with any single cause for the creative malaise.

Last night’s news about the Feds sending troops into LA to control protests is shocking, but is consistent with the Trump regime’s ongoing moves toward autocracy. If there’s a line defining Presidential power, they’ll cross it to determine exactly how much they can get away with. This is no exception, and it has the added MAGA benefit of shitting all over California and Gov Newsome. An ugly pattern emerges – ICE comes into a city heavy-handed, ignoring citizen’s rights. A protest(s) ensues, and DHS then uses that protest as the reason to send in other Federal agents (troops, the national Guard or even regular Army) in response to “the violence”. Even if the protestors are peaceful, the fact that they dare confront ICE is enough for DHS to declare “violence”. Next weekend and the national “No Kings” protest should be…interesting.

Next weekend is also the golf US Open, held at Oakmont this year. I have a love-hate relationship with Oakmont, having played there a few times. It’s a memorable course, very difficult. Some say the most difficult in all of golf. It certainly was for me, as I played it in mid-summer (temps around 100 degrees each day), overweight (you have to walk the hilly course; no carts allowed), sleep deprived and at times hung over (very dumb, self-inflicted wound due to my golf buddies and I bringing fantastic wines to the weekend). So a lot of regrets about my times at Oakmont – I wish I had played it in my best shape. But it’s unlikely I’ll ever play there again (I’ve come to really dislike the person who hosted us there – he is/was a friend of a friend, but no friend to me). So I’ll have to watch the show and try to remember the good parts of my experiences there.

I’m 80% finished reading Demon Copperhead by Kentucky’s finest author, Barbara Kingsolver. It’s quite the book, but a bit depressing. The title character Demon (Damon) has a shitty orphaned life, and is caught up in Appalachia’s opioid epidemic. There are many, many things I recognize in this story, as they were part of my childhood and teenage life:

  • The country families, the aunts-uncles-cousins in Demon’s Lee County – they could easily have been Boyd County
  • The extremely hard work putting up tobacco and hay by hand – I did this several summers
  • The weird high school glory of being a football “star” and how it warps your teenage mind
  • The damage that pain-killer addiction does to people – in the book it’s Demon and his friends – in my life it was my Dad
  • The childhood pleasures of just playing in the creek
  • The country sayings of Demon’s friends and family – that Appalachian lexicon that Kingsolver slings around is so familiar to me

The book won the Pulitzer Prize, and rightly so. I avoided reading it for quite a while because…well, I’m not sure why. But I’m glad I got past my reluctance and I’m looking forward to how Kingsolver will end the story. I think Demon may turn out OK.

Nat Geo week

jeffcnichols

As my daughter so aptly put it, I’m having a National Geographic week. Animals everywhere. So far this week I’ve encountered:

  • The largest snapping turtle I’ve ever seen, cruising Beargrass Creek
  • A huge groundhog in my backyard (missed getting a picture by seconds)
  • A large bull snake down on the Rough River
  • A beautiful (and big) green turtle crossing the road, also in the Rough River area
  • Our local chucacabra red fox, right outside the house
  • A lesser-known raptor, a kite, also on Beargrass Creek
  • The usual glut of squirrels, rabbits, and cardinals
  • Cicadas, pretty much everywhere

That’s a solid list. Who knows what else I’ll see in the next couple of weeks.

No honor among thieves

jeffcnichols

Today’s online, real time shit-throwing spat between Convict Donny and Elon Musk is entertaining, to say the least. Pass the popcorn nah, screw that, pass the bottle of wine. Watching two of the most powerful people in the world, each of them arguably mentally ill, shitpost each other over and over is…weird, to say the least.

This makes my prediction that Tesla will go bankrupt in the next 18 months look pretty good. TLSA stock will nosedive tomorrow.

And Trump being featured in the Epstein files…finally, somebody states the obvious. The inevitable. Epstein “committed suicide” while Convict Donny was Pres the first time. Occam’s Razor, baby. The simplest explanation is likely the correct one. Donny silenced the man who could take him down.

Maybe Dems don’t have the expertise or power to defeat Donny and his MAGA goons. (Actually, not maybe, they definitely don’t have the juice to defeat MAGA.) But maybe we don’t have to. Maybe Donny and his diseased inner circle will self-destruct.

Predictions

jeffcnichols

Predictions for the next 18 months:

  • We’re going to have another Kent State moment (Four Dead in O-Hi-O) where armed government agents (probably ICE) shoot protestors. Maybe several such moments.
  • The housing market – real estate values – is going to plummet. People are scared, no confidence in the US economy. And scared people don’t buy houses.
  • AI (actually, large language models using generative algorithms) will revolutionize business. Businesses will become 20% more efficient in a short period of time.
  • UK will reach the Final Four in men’s basketball.
  • Almost every health insurance will begin paying for GLP-1 drugs.
  • Tesla will be unable to stop the Musk-inflicted reputation damage and will declare bankruptcy.

That’s probably enough for now. Should be an interesting year and a half.

Culture wars

jeffcnichols

The culture wars make me ill. US politics have become the weapon of religion and culture, veering sharply away from the system of laws and governance it was intended to be. Here are a few sickening culture war headlines from today’s news:


Hegseth Orders Navy to Strip Name of Gay Rights Icon Harvey Milk from Ship 
Trump asks Congress to wipe out funding for public broadcasting 
Trump administration revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions 

China Really Wants to Attract Talented Scientists. Trump Just Helped.

Harvard as Symbol and Target

And that’s just one day. Convict Donny’s administration is obsessed with erasing all evidence of diversity, immigrants, assistance for the poor, and science and historical facts that white nationalists don’t like.

I want a political party that stays the hell away from cultural issues involving race, religion, identity and sexual preference. Make and uphold laws and let the people sort out issues of belief and culture. Sure, have laws that stop people from hurting each other over said issues, but stop there. As a government, don’t take a position. Let’s call it the Objective Party, though Ayn Rand kind of poisoned the well with her tortured view of objectivism, a philospophy now espoused by certain far, far right thinkers. Maybe the Pragmatic Party is a better name.

Lakes and snakes

jeffcnichols

Spent the day yesterday at beautiful Rough River Lake. It’s only 75 minutes from Louisville but it feels like a world away. I looked at lake properties and boats – didn’t find anything suitable, but I sure liked the area. Healthy looking lake, tree and limestone cliff lined, a mix of narrow passages and larger coves – classic KY lake.

I did see this guy at one of the properties – big ole bull snake (not entirely sure of his exact species, but bull snake is my guess).

He disappeared into a crack in the house siding – needless to say, I didn’t buy that place.

The cicadas were loud everywhere at the lake. A constant, not unpleasant buzz. At times their noise would resonate resulting in a dramatic increase in volume.

Turns out my budget for a lake place only fits properties with some kind of tragic flaw – too small, or in bad condition, no view, and/or with difficult lake access. I would have to spend more like $400-500K to get what I think I want, and that’s too much for something we’ll only use a few times each year. So…it’s probably going to be AirBnB and the occasional boat rental.

I’ll still look for some lake property, but likely just land. Something to drop an Amazon container house or a camper on.