World Cup and Stuff

Late to the party here, but it sure is tough for a second-tier team trying to make it to the elite level getting preferential treatment from FIFA and still shitting the bed against Belgium.  Does the USMNT ever live this down?  We'll find out in four years at the earliest!

But we already knew everything Trump touches turns to shit.

Meanwhile, I'm rooting for Norway and Morocco.  If I was betting, I'd put it all on France -- they look really good, and they look like they haven't really played their best games yet.

Pet-sitting continues.  Maryland had a killer heat-wave last weekend but it's died down to thunderstorms and cooler weather.  I'll take it.

We're at war with Iran again and this strikes me as much of a forever war as Iraq II and Afghanistan were.  Worse, actually, because instead of fighting insurgents Trump has basically declared war on a prominent global geographic feature.

Not All Experiments Succeed

America is facing a pretty essential question right now -- What happens when a Democracy has a critical mass of folks (roughly one-third) who are too dumb to act and / or vote in their own self interest?  Who will vote for somebody hurtling towards dementia with his only goal being to loot the US treasury for himself and his family?

Granted, even Socrates knew this could be an issue.

An Educated Populace and Freedom of the Press!

It's 2026 and major news outlets (even the so-called liberal ones!) still breathlessly report Trump statements as if they were facts and / or factual.

It's almost charming at this point.

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Republicans are allowed to gerrymander as they please.  Democrats are not.

Any Democrat worth his or her salt must now realize a) there is no "going back" to the way things were before Trump and b) to follow rules that the GOP no longer abides by is to capitulate and appease.

Happy Confederate Surrender Day!

 

I'm a day late to Confederate Surrender Day, but really I just wanted an excuse to post this image.

And speaking of college sports, am I wrong to think the last few NCAA basketball tournaments have been criminally bereft of upsets?  I mean, I guess the seeders are getting better at their jobs.  That's a shame.

Epstein Epstein Epstein

Another war with Iran, all to cover up millions of unreleased Epstein documents.  Also, to somehow re-"eradicate" their nuclear program.

Sad!

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia

First picture is looking roughly east into Virginia and Maryland.  Third picture is Jefferson Rock, visited by Thomas Jefferson himself.

Poor Kitties

If you like fireworks, why not go see the big shows? Why turn my neighborhood into a warzone?

Yes, I am old.

So It Begins

Two Democratic state legislators were shot in Minnesota, one fatally and one critically.

Cue the New York Times telling us both sides are responsible.

Double Loss

We lost Sly Stone and Brian Wilson in the same week, two musical geniuses who brought a lot to American pop music.

Slava Ukraini

Ukraine destroyed a significant number of Russian bombers with drones and the equivalent of rented U-hauls.

There are a lot of things to be upset about right now as an American, but the fact we aren't giving full support to Ukraine as they fight Russian occupation is up towards the top for me.

Rest Well, Jimmy

 

My sister and I braved the cold to pay our respects to President Carter.  May we all have second acts in life that involved serving others.

"likely never read well without explicit instruction in sounding out words⁠"

I've been teaching for nearly 20 years now, albeit in some unconventional places and spaces, primarily 12 years teaching ESL in South Korea.  These days I'm a substitute teacher at all grade levels and many subjects (including P.E.!).  Anyhow, the debate over phonics or not-to-phonics kind of escaped me while I was living in South Korea, and this article (while seeming a bit biased) was fascinating to me:

"In first grade, these 'independent reading' hours were torture for my kids, who, I would eventually learn, were among the roughly half of all children who, research shows, will likely never read well without explicit instruction in sounding out words⁠. My kids’ reactions to being expected to sit quietly each day pretending to read ran along stereotypical gender lines. My daughter silently berated herself for not being able to read; my son acted out, once attempting to push over a bookshelf."

The whole thing is downright amazing.  All I have to add is that graduate school education programs struggle to justify their own existence every ten years or so by developing entirely new paradigms and approaches, even when existing ones seem to work pretty well.  That's true for other departments as well, but only Ed Schools use children as guinea pigs.

Anyhow, I teach a fair amount of reading intervention classes and phonics and blending are definitely back.  I guess I didn't realize they'd ever gone away.

"far above our poor power to add or detract"

 

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

My sister, my nephew, and I drove up to Gettysburg last weekend for an annual event where they read the names of the Union soldiers who died in battle.  In addition to being super pretty, the event provided a bit of perspective on recent events.  Are we facing literal Civil War?  Probably not!  Are we facing four more years of rule by a criminal rapist clown who couldn't define sacrifice even with a dictionary?  Very much yes!

In any event, it's worth checking out if you're ever in the area.  Hearing a mix of proper names mixed with "Unknown, unknown" is a real gut punch.

And Lincoln was right -- we owe the dead who fought to save this country from slavery so much more.

Everyone's An Authority

 

Husker Du, "In A Free Land"

Prescient!

I don't blame Kamala.  She ran a good race.  I do blame decades of FOX News basically telling people to be afraid, to be scared of their neighbors, to want daddy back to solve all our problems.

Do You Remember The Summer of 24?

I'll come clean -- I thought Joe should just stick it out.  But it's clear the decline is real, and as I know from first-hand experience with taking care of my dad, old age creeps up on you then attacks like a tiger.

The good news is that the Dems are lining up behind Kamala, and there won't be a messy convention spectacle (to the great disappointment of the New York Times and Washington Post.)

The election was always going to be close.  And frankly, Harris is now the underdog, albeit a much younger and energetic and coherent one.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden should and will go down as one of our greatest presidents.

Let's do this!

LOL Nothing Matters

Of course a Trump appointed judge follows the Supreme Court's Trump appointed judges paving the way for a literally lawless presidency.

Yawn

I didn't watch the debate.  I'm genuinely terrified of another Trump administration, but I also can't spend my mental health on this stuff any longer.

To paraphrase, people get the government they want in a Democracy, and they get it good and hard.

I can say with authority none of this spectacle stuff matters on election day.  Register, vote.

Optimism?

Recent polls don't look good for Biden!  Then again, we all know 2024 is going to be close no matter what.

Here's two reasons I'm still optimistic that Biden will prevail though:

1) Trump taking over the RNC as his own piggy bank is going to really hurt GOP candidates all down the ballot, including himself.  That money is going to pay off bills, not buy advertising.

2) It's somewhat clear that Trump never expected to win in 2016, and maybe didn't want to.  Standard disclaimer -- we all have to vote, donate, and do our part.  That said, if I was Trump and now staring down the debt incurred with losing multiple lawsuits (not to mention paying lawyers), what would be better than losing closely this November, then spending yet another four years fund-raising off of that for a 2028 run?

Totally hypothetical I realize.  But to put it another way -- Trump makes a lot more money out of the White House than he does inside of it.

Who knows.

Eldercare Is Never Easy And Always Hard

This Vox piece gives a pretty good overview of just how difficult (and expensive!) eldercare can be, and how a generation of Boomers going into their Twilight Years is going to be rough for lots of their grown children:

"Boomers themselves have driven tectonic shifts in American cultural norms and family structures — a revolution in divorce, along with a trend toward smaller families and away from multigenerational living — that could make that backbone weaker. Compared to their elders, boomers will have fewer people in their lives able to step in and care for them as they age, says Rachel Margolis, a demographer and sociologist at the University of Western Ontario. In 2010, there were more than seven potential family caregivers for every person over 80; by 2030, that ratio is expected to fall to 4:1, and by 2050, it will be less than 3:1, according to AARP. More care responsibilities will fall on fewer family members, most of them adult children, who may find themselves caring for loved ones alone or with little help, sometimes across two different households."

Me and my sister are living this right now.  If I haven't mentioned it here, I have told my friends -- my Dad has excellent health care and a real pension after three decades of high level Federal work.  And even with those resources, a lot of genuine sacrifices and hard decisions still had to be made.  And more will come going forward as he approaches the age of 95.

My only suggestion?  Let the children of older folks pay some reasonable amount to go on their parents' health insurance if they give up work to take care of their mom or dad.

And the move to (return to?) multigenerational homes seems an obvious and necessary trend.