"Newsom choice let down Black women"

California governor Newsom appointed a Latino man to replace VP-elect Kamala Harris as Senator. A Los Angeles Times columnist insisted that it should have been a Black woman. I sent this letter in response (not published):

So many who are complaining about this are minimizing the VP-elect. Yes, there will be no Black woman in the Senate. But instead, there's a first-ever Black woman Vice President! That's a pretty good trade-off.

Aging

Another sign of aging. 

Today's LATimes has a feature story on Luis Zapata. In the opening, it mentions that he died earlier this month. 

As I see that, it just adds to the losses evoked by the story. As I've written previously, Kieran knew Zapata and, at my request, got him to autograph a book for Victor, who loaned the book and it never came back. Any mention of Zapata brings Kieran to mind. He died many years ago. 

So, even before getting very far into the story, I'm feeling the loss of Kieran, of Zapata, and of the autographed book. 

And I realize that this is just another sign of aging. More and more things will inevitably remind me of people and things now gone.

Or, as Julia Wick writes in the LATimes about a supercentenarian, "To defy death is to endure a long onslaught of loss."

Or, as Lawrence Wright writes in The New Yorker about Austin, "If you live long enough in a place, it becomes haunted by ghosts: memories of events and friends long gone still inhabit spaces that have been levelled and covered over by the unstoppable newness. It’s a form of double vision: you see things that are no longer there."

Trump and Covid-19

The night they first announced that Trump had tested positive for Coronavirus, I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

If he dies of it, I'll be sorry.
Sorry that I'll never get to see him in prison.

Confirming Supreme Court appointees

The day Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

Mitch McConnell: a liar and proud of it.

Trump is a liar and never admits it, but McConnell is a liar and proud of it.

 

Birtherism again

When idiots started questioning Kamala Harris's birthright to U.S. citizenship, I had one immediate response. I used it as a comment on a couple of Facebook posts that mentioned the subject.

Days later I was kicking myself, saying I should have sent it as a letter to the newspaper. But the next day, the Los Angeles Times had an op-ed about the topic, and that gave me a chance to send them my letter after all. They printed it today:

I hope the new birtherism has the same result as the 2008 version: The Democrat is elected.

Prompted improvisation

This idea came to me in bed in the middle of the night, at least half asleep.

One composer writes a very short piece for a small ensemble. Several other composers write short works (for any or all of the same ensemble) in response. None of the composers are named until the final performance.

In my initial thought, the first piece is played just before intermission and the others respond during intermission, and their responses constitute the second half of the concert. (This is why I named it all "prompted improvisation".)

Upon later reflection, that seems impossible, so I revised it to "prompted composition" with the second set of composers given more time (24 hours? one week?) to respond. And I thought it could be named "Question and Responses".

Maybe I'll suggest this to the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series.

If I Were King

• Repeal the 2nd Amendment
• Universal basic income
• Wealth tax
• Carbon tax
• Term limits for judicial appointments
• Drastically increase the inheritance tax
• Eliminate the cap on earnings subject to Social Security withholding
• Cut at least 8 hours from the standard work week
• Make D.C. a state
• Change "advise and consent" to a time-limited majority-vote veto
• Make Election Day a holiday
• Use ranked-choice voting
• Abolish the Electoral College
• Tax all churches (See here and here and here)
• Small tax on each stock market transaction
• Eliminate vice laws
• Bring back the Fairness Doctrine
• Drastically reduce corporate welfare
• Cut back the Defense Department, especially foreign bases
• Eliminate the filibuster
• Eliminate twice-a-year clock changes

A missing wikipedia page

There's a much-needed page in Wikipedia that I'm sure they wouldn't let me add.

Curious about a Facebook post, I looked up Stella Immanuel in Wikipedia. I find that she is an M.D. and has said

• Alien DNA is being used in medical treatments
• Gynecological problems come from dream sex with demons
• Scientists are developing a vaccine to prevent people from being religious (I wish!!)
• Gay marriage (and more) will destroy the world

among many similarly idiotic things.

At the bottom, Wikipedia shows:

Categories: 1965 births, Living people, 21st-century American women physicians, Cameroonian physicians, Cameroonian Christians, 21st-century Cameroonian women writers, Cameroonian emigrants to the United States, University of Calabar alumni, Women pediatricians, Women Christian religious leaders, African-American women, African-American Christians, African-American physicians, Anti-same-sex-marriage activists, 21st-century American women writers, Women religious writers, American Christian writers

 

but not CRACKPOTS.

Medical problems

After the virus-related problems previously mentioned, our next biggest problem has been getting medical appointments. I'm paying a lot to add Victor to my insurance as of January. We made an appointment for a physical on Friday, March 20^th. On Monday, March 16^th, they began changing all optional appointments to a telephone call because of the virus. I also wanted an optometry appointment for Victor, but now the earliest would be July.

In June, we re-scheduled his physical for July. That actually happened, finally. But then the latest closures took away the optometry appointment. GRRR. I'll try again later.

Separately, a new medical problem for me. I had a red bump on my groin that wasn't a pimple. Days later, I had a larger red patch on my thigh. A couple of more days and another one. This past Tuesday night, a third, and I decided I needed to see a doctor. Overnight, it occurred to me that it might be shingles. As soon as I googled some images, that seemed certain. Yesterday afternoon, an Urgent Care doctor confirmed it (and prescribed a week of three-times-a-day generic Valtrex). Fortunately, my shingles are only slightly painful. 

Aging

Aging has never much concerned me. Until now.

I turn 70 in October. That frightens me. It's the first time any specific age has bothered me. It sounds old. It feels like death is right around the corner.

Because Dad died too young and because I have no older brother, I have had no men in their seventies to watch closely.

It doesn't help that I'm also slowing down. I still walk a lot, but I'm slower now.

Virus woes

Virus woes? Ours are minor. The biggest is canceled travel. So far, we've lost one planned trip in March, two in May, and one in July. (And the one in July was already a second attempt, after we couldn't grab seats in 2019. Now, it's out until 2021.) 

We still have bookings for travel in August and in October, but who knows if they will stand.

After travel, I miss libraries!

Worst President Ever?

In all my adult life, every time I've thought we can't possibly have a worse President, the voters have proved me wrong.

I first thought it about Nixon, then Reagan, then Dubya (with Cheney's help), and now Trump. 

I sure hope I'm finally right, that it can't get any worse!

Social Distancing

After the governor asked us to stay at home, I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

New weekly catch-up with family and friends:
What did you do this week?
Stayed at home.
And what did you do this week?
Stayed at home.

Choosing not to sing carols

When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I opted out of participating in a school holiday program of singing carols. While most students were in rehearsal for the program, the three or four of us who opted out were sent to one classroom to read or study.

The principal, Mrs. Glover, came by to try to talk us into joining. After briefly addressing us as a group, she turned to me and said, "What about you, Rodney? I know your parents wouldn't mind."

Although I only shook my head, I was deeply offended. I had three simultaneous thoughts: This is my own decision. Why do you think you know what my parents would say? Why do you think you know anything about my parents and me regarding religion that I don't know? (As Jews in an overwhelmingly Christian society, we had talked a lot about such things.) 

Prior to this, I had no strong feelings about Mrs. Glover, but now I despised her. I never forgot the incident, and I never forgave her.

What liars do

Still thinking about Trump's inevitable pardon of Stone, I've got another letter ready:

Of course the Liar-in-Chief thinks lying to the FBI is no big deal. What did you expect?

Update 14 July 2020: Trump commuted Stone's sentence July 10th. I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times that day. They did not publish it. 

Pardons

Anticipating Trump's pardoning Roger Stone, I drafted a letter to send when he did it. First, I checked the Constitution, which says, "[The President] shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." 

So I wrote this succinct note:

Other than impeachment, the President's pardon power is absolute. As Lord Acton predicted, this corrupts absolutely. 

Stone is due to be sentenced today. But, two days ago, Trump pardoned a bunch of others. When I saw the strongly condemnatory Los Angeles Times editorial about that, I went ahead and sent my note. Today, they published a revised version:

Disregarding the possibility that Congress can impeach him, the president’s pardon power is absolute. As Lord Acton predicted, this corrupts absolutely.

I think my original is not only shorter and better, but more accurate. I'm no lawyer, but I think the wording in the Constitution means that the President can't pardon, say, a judge who's been impeached, as well as a President who's been impeached.

Hawaii — January 2020

Link to more photos. View the photos individually to see the captions.

We took a tour that went to Oahu, the Big Island, and Maui. There was occasional rain, and there was no lava to see, but things went well. As the photos show, we hit the expected tourist spots: Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes National Park, Maui Ocean Center, a luau.

We didn't buy any of the optional add-on trips, such as snorkeling, submarine, helicopter, or sunrise. They were pricey. Instead, we did a bit of hiking and swimming on our own, and one brief glass-bottom boat ride (lots of coral but only a few fish).