1/4/23

 Wednesday, January 4, 2023

In bed by 10, awake at 4:30, up at 4:40 from a dream of being with Geri and David, snoopy landlord, chopping the stub ends off two very large asparagus, separating sprigs of rosemary to use on roast lamb. Thoughts of fear of a too-long life.  One small cognac last night, very small sipping, savoring.  Looks very wet outside, 37 degrees, mostly cloudy day ahead, high of a balmy 39, wind from SE at 8, wind chill 31.  Sunrise at 7:23, sunset at 4:29, 9 hours, 6 minutes daylight.

Orwellian televisions.  While we are watching TV, TV is watching us.  "Whatever you’re watching on your smart TV, algorithms are tracking your habits. This influences the ads you see on your TV, yes, but if you connect your Google or Facebook account to your TV, it will also affect the ads you see while browsing the web on your computer or phone. In a sense, your TV now isn’t that different from your Instagram timeline or your TikTok recommendations. There’s an old joke: “In America, you watch television; in Soviet Russia, television watches you!” In 2022, TVs track your activity to an extent the Soviets could only dream of. But hey, at least that television is really, really cheap." From The Hidden Cost of Cheap TVs, The Atlantic online. 'Post-purchase monetization' from viewing data sold to advertisers and 'platform revenue' from ads shown on interface.  

How licking Trump's boots pays off.   Last night, in a short conversation with NBC reporter Garrett Haake, Donald Trump refused to say whether he still supports Kevin NTB McCarthy for speaker of the house.  "I got everybody calling me wanting my support.  But let's see what happens and we'll go - I got everybody calling, wanting my support.  That's all I can say.  But we'll see what happens.  We'll see how it all works out."

American Criminal Justice Reached Another Milestone Yesterday. Missouri executed a woman Tuesday who was convicted of murdering her ex-girlfriend in 2003, the Associated Press reported.  Though gender identity is not central to the case, Amber McLaughlin’s execution would mark the first time a transgender convict has been put to death in the United States.  It will also be the first execution of 2023.   Amber McLaughlin’s counsel, retired judges from Missouri, and two members of Congress appealed to Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson (R) to halt her execution.  On Tuesday, only hours away from the scheduled execution, the governor announced that the death sentence would be carried out.

We’re All Complicit in the N.F.L.’s Violent Spectacle . . . If Hamlin’s collapse does not peel the gauze from your eyes, step back and consider other terrifying events we’ve witnessed during this grueling, gruesome season. On Monday night, a few plays before Hamlin collapsed, Bills cornerback Taron Johnson lay on the turf, surrounded by trainers who took several minutes evaluating him for a head injury. This past weekend, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Nick Foles convulsed on the field after being sacked.  Remember Tua Tagovailoa slamming his head against the field in a September game against the Bengals, his hands and fingers stretched out, splayed, frozen? That display was the fencing response, as doctors call it, a sign of brain injury. Tagovailoa ended up being transported to a hospital, just like Hamlin.  Playing against the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 25, Tagovailoa sustained a second concussion.  After that Packers game, and after the Dolphins lost a fifth consecutive game on Sunday, talk among football pundits centered on whether Miami could win its last game of the season and make the playoffs. Their concern was more about whether Tagovailoa would be cleared to play, not whether he would be OK. . . .  [NYT this morning]

The Terrifying Collapse of Damar Hamlin and the Everyday Violence of Football  This season, Week One N.F.L. games averaged more than eighteen million viewers. A Thanksgiving game had forty-two million viewers. The Super Bowl can top a hundred million in the United States. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” averaged 19.3 million viewers in 2021, nearly double the average of the top non-sports program, “N.C.I.S.” No controversy, however big, seemed big enough to threaten the N.F.L.’s place as the nation’s premier entertainment—which is why television networks and tech streaming companies are paying the league a combined hundred and thirteen billion dollars over the next ten years to air it.

Kevin McCarthy, Irony and Shamelessness.  Kevin McCarthy has had virtually the same vote for 5 straight ballots by this afternoon.  He needs 218 and can't get more than 201 or 202.  His major argument against his opponents is 'democracy' and 'majority rule.'  His supporters number 200+, they are only 19 or 20.  The dominance of minority power has never bothered him when it comes to the structure of the U. S. Senate or the Electoral College.  It has never bothered him when it comes to Republicans and Dixiecrats using the filibuster to stop legislation to advance human rights or civil rights or any other legislation favored by a majority of the nation's citizens.  Ironic, shameless.

    Other thoughts watching the circus in the House of Representatives the last 2 days.  Why do I gag watching all those self-centered politicians whose primary interest in life is not getting primaries and getting re-elected stand for the Opening Prayer led by the House Chaplain?  Why do I gag watching them put their hands over their hearts reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, especially those who voted last term to overthrow the democratic results of the 2020 election?  Why do I gag watching the adolescent behavior of these politicians standing and cheering when their candidate for the speaker's position is nominated?  Am I just too cynical thinking of so much of their behavior is what I would expect of high school students?  Why am I reminded of Tracy Flick in Election?  Why was it that in the novel Tracy wins the election (nefariously), goes on the attend Georgetown in Washington, and is last seen working as an aide to a Republican congressman?  Aren't our 'leaders' in Congress supposed to be grown-ups?  Are all these politicians Tracy Flicks?  Most of them or just some of them?  Perhaps the ultimate Tracy Flick is Kevin McCarthy himself.  He seems to stand for nothing in particular except his own accretion of power and status.  I'm not proud of feeling schadenfreude at his apparent failure to accomplish his goal.  It's petty, unadmirable.  In fact, I wish he would succeed.  He would be particularly weak, almost impotent which would be good for the country.  Almost anyone other than McCarthy would be stronger than McCarthy and more pernicious for the nation.

Kieslowski, Dekalog 7.  God these stories are grim.  A 16-year-old student gives birth to a daughter fathered by one of her teachers.  Her mother, the headmistress of the school, raises the girl as her own daughter, pretending the real mother is her older sister.  When the girl is 6 years old, her 'sister', clearly emotionally disturbed, steals away with her intending to take her to Canada.  She is tracked down at a rural train station, the girl sees her mother/grandmother, calls her 'mommy', and her real mother gets on a departing train alone.  Thou shalt not steal.  Honor thy father and mother.