5/24/2025

Saturday, May 24, 2025

D+178/123

1983 The Supreme Court ruled that the government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminate against students

2020 The New York Times printed its front page with nearly 1,000 names of people who have died from COVID-19, as the US toll nears 100,000

In bed at 9:30, awake at 4:11, and up at 4:23.  43°, high of 57°, mostly clear.  A waning crescent moon in the east, 11% visibility, Venue to its right, highly visible, or is that Saturn?  Sunrise at 5:19, 60° NE.

Early morning birdage:  The first bird to show up at the feeding sttion was a house finch, gender unknown, on the safflower/sunflower tube at 5:13.  Then the hummingbird(s) and a catbird on the suet cake, seeming to prefer the dwindling old cake to the new one I put out yesterday.  Then a male cardinal on the flat feeder and a red-bellied woodpecker, again on the old suet cake, ignoring the fresh one.  Lots of hummingbird action at dawn.  Gloriosky! At 5:41, we are visited by a male rose-breasted grosbeak on the flat feeder.  Then a flood of house finches and a catbird arrive for some orange juice, and, finally, a downy woodpecker shows up to dig into the fresh suet cake.  At 6:05, three white-tail deer amble across our lawn, and two more do the same across our Mequon neighbors' lawn.  At 6:15, a cardinal couple stand side by side on the flat feeder, and he passes a seed to her. The catbirds have set up shop here to stay for the season.  In the afternoon, the oriole returned to feast on an orange.  The catbirds seem to enjoy the oranges even more than the orioles.

Prednisone, day 374 ; 1 mg., day 16/21; Kevzara, day 112/14; CGM, day 7/15; Trulicity, day2/7.  Prednisone at 4:51 a.m.  Other meds at 7:45 a.m.  Eye drops at 5:30 am..  p.m.  and p.m.   Triamcinolone at 5:30  a.m.   Yesterday morning,  I sent this message to the ophthalmologist who performed my cataract surgery on the 9th:  "Dear Dr. Saladi: Please forgive me for adding to your busy schedule with what seems like a silly problem, but here it is. I have been having a lot of trouble with the moxifloxacin eye drops. I keep missing my eye and having to use two or more tries to hit the target. I don't have this problem with the prednisolone. I think the reason for the difference is that the plastic container of the moxifloxacin is so stiff or rigid, and my hand and finger strength is so weak that my hand shakes when I struggle to squeeze the little bottle. In any event, I suspect I am going to run out of the drops before I complete the regimen. If this is not a problem, I don't need any help. If it is a problem, I'm going to need a refill, which I could pick up at the Zablocki pharmacy. Thanks for any help you can provide, and sorry I'm such a klutz."  She called me yesterday afternoon when I was at Sendik's and told me to stop taking the moxifloxacin but to continue taking the prednisolone. which I am happy to do.  

An amusing coincidence.  Two years ago on this date, my journal related that I was working on "my project of clearing up the rat's nest around my TV room recliner.", the same project I've been working on since Geri left for her visit with Kate and Tuz.😋  I'm reminded of the several occasions when Father Mathew would come in for our afternoon visits at the House of Peace and find me muttering "One of these days, I;m going to get organized", to which he invariably replied, with his gentle smile, "Don't count on it."😀 

 On the other hand, one year ago, newly emerged from my weeks of suffering the pains and loss of functionality from PMR, I wrote a fairly long, fairly thoughtful (for something written probably between 3:30 and 5:30 in the morning) reflection on suicide.   It wasn't the first such reflection and probably won't be the last.   

My predawn posting on FB, sharing a post about the cancellation of Harvard's ability to educate foreign students:  

Do you ever wonder whether we have a MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE running our government, out to  destroy our relationships with people and nations that have long been our friends?  Out to destroy our most valued institutions?  Out to turn the 'land of the free and the home of the brave' into the land of the cowering and the home of the craven?  Red alert!  SOS! All hands on deck!  Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!

Despite my wish to shield myself from emotional outrage, I've been reading about the Trump administration's investigations, document demands, and existential assault on Harvard University.  It's mind-boggling, hard to believe, unimaginable in a free society, but nonetheless it is happening before our eyes, shamelessly.  I wonder why no one, to my knowledge at least, is using the term "police state" to describe the situation.  We keep reading and hearing about "authoritarianism," which strikes me as about the least descriptive, least forceful, and least adequate way of describing what is happening in our country.  "Police state," "dictatorship," and "fascism" are the most appropriate descriptors.   Wikipedia describes a police state as

A police state describes a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive, and the deployment of internal security and police forces play a heightened role in governance. A police state is a characteristic of authoritarian, totalitarian or illiberal regimes (contrary to a liberal democratic regime). Such governments are typically one-party states and dominant-party states, but police-state-level control may emerge in multi-party systems as well.

 

Originally, a police state was a state regulated by a civil administration, but since the beginning of the 20th century it has "taken on an emotional and derogatory meaning" by describing an undesirable state of living characterized by the overbearing presence of civil authorities.[1] The inhabitants of a police state may experience restrictions on their mobility, or on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force that operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.

Can there be much doubt that we are already in a police state with respect to the federal government's relations with immigrants and foreigners, terms that covers a lot of human beings in very different circumstances, e.g., naturalized citizens, legal permanent residents, work permit holders, student visa holders, temporary business visa holders (B-1), temporary tourist visa holders (B-2), transit visa holders (C), holders of temporary work visa (11 different categories), asylum seekers of various sorts, illegal immigrants, et al.  How would I feel kright now if I were legally in the United States but spoke a language other than English as my primary language, if I had a dark complexion, and if I had a Hispanic-sounding or unusual surname, knowing that I could be picked up off the street by armed agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in plain clothes, whisked off to a detention center in another state before being put on an aircraft bound for a notorious prison for alleged terrorists in another country?  And that the government's position is that I am not entitled to due process to contest my seizure and demonstrate that I am in the States lawfully?  Indeed, the real power in the White House, Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff and the real domestic policy chief, along with OMB director Russell Vought, has taken the position that the writ of habeas corpus ought to be suspended.  And every Republican member of the House, save two, voted for Trump's "one big, beautiful budget bill" that included a provision that would strip the federal courts of the power to enforce their orders.   "No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued," the provision in the bill, which is more than 1,000 pages long, says.  The provision "would make most existing injunctions—in antitrust cases, police reform cases, school desegregation cases, and others—unenforceable," said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law,  "It serves no purpose but to weaken the power of the federal courts."  Are these not powerful moves toward a police state?

How should Harvard, Columbia, and other universities feel under a government that feels empowered and authorized to make the kinds of demands that have been placed on Harvard and Columbia?  How should their foreign students (and faculty) feel?  How should we feel?

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

Busy day.  For two days in a row, I've kept busy all day, doing a couple of loads of laundry, changing my bedding, doing a little gouache painting, decluttering my rat's nest next to my recliner, going to Stein's Garden Center to buy a small cyclamen to replace my Cuban oregano, going to Best Buy to get a cable that lets me play the music on my iPhone in the Volvo and getting a USB-C adapter for my old thumb drives, vacuuming my bedroom, reading the papers (as much as I do), and writing in my journal/blog.  It may be an early night tonight.  I've felt great all day, but didn't get out onto the country roads or down to the national cemetery.  Maybe tomorrow.  I made mac and cheese for dinner, and I may be ready for a nap.  I hope you're having a great get-together.

A favorite line of the day, by Maureen Dowd: "[Trump]’s selling himself as the president of the United States, staining his office with a blithe display of turpitude.