4/22/23

 Saturday, April 22, 2023

In bed at 9:30, up at 6:44 after a restless night with 6 pss.  One dream of Mike McChrystal in Traverse City, waking thoughts of TSJ.  35℉, high of 43℉, cloudy day, wind W at 6 mph, gusts up to 23 mph today, Sun rose at 5:57, sets at 7:42, 13+44

Earl and Clyde morning.  Making coffee I was reminded of an old Pickles cartoon strip in which Earl and his buddy Clyde are sitting on a park bench.  Clyde says to Earl: 'How are you?" and Earl replies "Fine, And you?" to which Clyde replies "Fine."  Earl then says 'Actually, I'm feeling kinda crappy.' Clyde replies "Yeah, me too."

WaPo covers Ottawa County, MI.  "Sylvia Rhodea, the [county] board’s new vice chair, put forward a motion to change the motto that sat atop the county’s website and graced its official stationery. “Whereas the vision statement of ‘Where You Belong’ has been used to promote the divisive Marxist ideology of the race, equity movement,” Rhodea said. . . Rhodea’s resolution continued on for 20 “whereases,” connecting the current motto to a broader effort that she said aimed to “divide people by race,” reduce their “personal agency,” and teach them to “hate America and doubt the goodness of her people.”  Her proposed alternative, she said, sought to unite county residents around America’s “true history” as a “land of systemic opportunity built on the Constitution, Christianity, and capitalism.’”  She flipped to her resolution’s final page and leaned closer to the mic. “Now, therefore, let it be resolved that the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners establishes a new county vision statement and motto of ‘Where Freedom Rings.’"

My take: what this Christian nationalist claims are the building blocks of America's 'systemic opportunity' are precisely what I think are the major problems in American society: the Constitution, Christianity, and capitalism."  Also, the right wing meaning of "freedom" is the freedom/license to oppress or harm others less powerful than the powerful.

(To be continued)

Dinner guests + Geek Squad.  Geek Squad arrived at 3:30 and installed an EERO Mesh system to replace Spectrum router and 2 extenders.  Caren & Dan, David & Pip coming for dinner at 6.

Marilynne Robinson on YouTube.  At the Library of Congress "Fiction, Faith, and the Imagination"  with 3 other authors Geraldine Brooks, Alan Lightman, and Paul Harding.  I liked Paul Harding (actually all of them) a lot, and ordered his novel "Tinkers" from Amazon Kindle.

Marilynne Robinson's Jack.  I bought my Kindle edition and just started reading it.