Thursday, June 19, 2025
D+204/137/1311
Sick day #6 (yecch)
1865 Union General Gordon Granger declared all slaves free in Texas, now the date the end of slavery is celebrated across the US as Juneteenth
1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 passesd 73-27
In bed at 9:30 after watching LOD ranting about DJT's dementia and stupidity, up at 5:50 to rewash a load of laundry I forgot to put in the dryer last night, wondering whether DJT had gone to war with Iran. 63°, high of 77°, sunny day ahead.
Kevzara, day 9/14; Trulicity, day 7/7; morning meds at 8 a.m.; Blink pill at 8 a.m.; Eye wipes at 6:15 a.m. and p.m.; Eye mask at 7 a.m. and p.m.; Eye ointment at bedtime.
LTMW this morning, my mind is on Washington, Teheran, and Tel Aviv, but my eyes have been focused on a beautful little chipmunk climbing up the two shepherd's crooks supporting our bird feeders. She knows somehow that there is a vast hoard of nourishing seeds hanging from the tops of those crooks, but she is stymied in her attempt to reach them by the squirrel baffles intended to block the squirrels also trying to feed. I like to think of these little creatures who gather around our feeding station as females with little ones to support, that they are not "just" feeding themselves to stay alive but also supporting a family, and not just a family but the continuation of their species, that is, that I am watching a small but intrinsic part of the creative process of evolution. Some think of it as Nature's creative evolutionary process; others think of it as all part of God's plan; some think they're both the same thing. Whatever. I'm on the cusp of the midpoint of my 9th decade on this earth and I'm further away from knowing the answer to puzzles like that than I was when I was a child. Then God was in His Heaven, the Devil was in Hell, each contending for my immortal soul. God created the world in seven days, including the chipmunks, the white-tail deer, and the birds, and his crowning creation was Man, me. Life was simpler then; it's more mysterious now. As I write this, a white-tail is nibbling on the lillies of the valley and vinca under the tall spruce and short pine trees on the corner of our lot, doing her part in preserving her species. I did my part in begetting and nourished chldren to self-sustaining maturity; ever since, I've been evolutionally useless, wondering whether I should get out of the way, à la The Ballad of Narayama and Plan 75. While I ponder, I enjoy watching the deer scratch an itch with his hind hoof. A little later, I feel a thrill -isn't that the right word? - watching a goldfinch gather as much cotton from our hanging cotton ball as he can manage to stuff into his little beak to take back to the nest he is building with his mate. Each time I watch this process, I wonder how the birds manage to fly with so much cotton seemingly blocking their vision. How do they manage to make it back to the nesting place and to land on a dime with such a large wad of cotton in their beaks? I wonder what the pair of finches do with the cotton once it has been transported back to the nesting spot. Does the cotton carrier 'spit' out the wad and leave it to its partner to place pieces of it into the interstices of the nest, or do they work as a team? How is it even possible that these descendents of dinosaurs are able to construct something as intricate and as sturdy as a birdnest starting with a single twig or tuft of grass? Hamlet pondered "What a piece of work is man!" I no less ponder what a piece of work is a bird! a chipmunk! a deer! Then I think again of Washington, Tel Aviv, and Teheran. . .
It's hard for me to think clearly about Iran, Israel, the U.S., and atom bombs. I used to tell the law clerks working at our law firm "Nothing's simple, nothing's cheap." It was a truism I learned through experience when I left law teaching for law practice. Lay-down winners and losers rarely turn out to be lay-downs (1) when there is someone on the other side of an issue with an interest in contesting the issue, (2) with the money to hire a good advocate, and (3) the result depends on the vagaries of a third-party decisonmaker. Another thing I've learned with age and experience is that wars are never "over." Their effects ripple through time and space. My favorite example of course is the American War Between the States, which was allegedly "over" when Confedeerate General Robert E. Lee surrended his Army of Northern Virginia to the Union's Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, 160 years ago. The battle between the North and the South, or rather the interests represented by each side, is still being fought today, but instead of the Blue and the Gray, we have the Blue States (largely Democratic) and the Red States (largely Republican.) The First World War led inexorably to the Second World War. It's like the so-called butterfly effect in meteorology that posits that even a very minor perturbation in weather somewhere at sometime can lead to very major effects in other places at other times. It is reported that there are those in the Trump administration who believe that destroying Iran's abillity to make a nuclear bomb would be a "one and done" situation, i.e., drop one or two bunker buster bombs on the Fordo uranium enrihment underground facility and that would be it. Fait accompli. Fini. It assumes no retaliation by Iran. No activation of terrorists in America and its allies. No attacks on American bases in the Middle East. No mining or attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Hormuz or from Yemen. No drone attacks from God knows where on God knows what targts. The West is still suffering the baleful effects of George W. Bush's invasion on Iraq in 2003. There is no reason to think that we woulnn't have longterm harmful effects from bombing Iran in 2025.
On the other hand, Iran is the worst kind of autocracy, a theocratic one. It's a government believing itself installed and blessed by God to deal 'death to infidels,' death to Israel, and death to the Great Satan, America. It is the major sponsor of terrorism in the world. It has acted through proxies in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza for years. If it acquires a nuclear arsenal, those weapons become its insurance policy against attacks on it, just as Russia's arsenal protects it from attacks from the West in defense of Ukraine. Iran now is in large measure unable to defend itself against aerial attack. It is only now possible to set its malign nuclear plans back, perhaps by years,l without unacceptable short term costs. If this opportunity is not taken, and Iran does develop its nuclear arsenal, its hand will be strengtened in its goal of dominating the oil rich Middle East and America (Trump) will be blamed for permitting Iran to gain its nuclear deterrent. It will be said that Obama acted to keep Iran from gettng atom bombs and Trumps let them do it. Will Trump's ego and his hatred for Obama (who mocked him brutally at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2011) permit this? I think not. Right now we are engaged in a game of "chicken" between the religous badman who runs Iraq in the name of God and the secular badman who long ago sold his soul to the Devil and runs America. One or the other will have to chicken out or perhaps there will be some deus ex machina third party intervention. The Eu? Who knows? What do I think Trump should do? Probably what he appears to be doing now, hitting the pause button and looking for a negotiated offramp. Mr. Art of the Deal. who so far has not been so great at dealmaking with Russia in Ukraine, with Israel in Gaza, with Congress on his "big, beautfiul budget bill", or with Iran. Big impediment: Iran knows that a treaty with Trump is meaningless. He breaks them at will and with impunity.
Further along, unsure what to do with the face
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