Precedents.

 

Today's Tids Issue 4,982

Time to get tough:

 

(Sorry this was late. It was ready to go at 8:30, but Microsoft decided to do some security updates which made my email contact list inert.)

 

I think the USA is entering that nether region of democracy decline where there may be just too many socialism style precedents established from which we may never recover. That combined with a new demographic balance, we may be unwittingly producing an acceptable new normal. Covid has spawned the idea that governors and high officials up to the President can arbitrarily issue executive orders based on real or imagined emergencies. We are seeing the potential abuse of the phrase “Health Emergency” to justify anything. It seems innocent enough now, but this increased use of mandates and the public accepting them does become a precedent for possible future expansion of mandates.  For instance, there is a segment of the venerable AMA who are claiming that racism is a medical emergency. *

 

Afghanistan gets messier and messier. The Pentagon spokesman didn’t seem to present the kind of compassion, the sense of urgency that the people of the USA might expect from leadership. 11 Marines and 1 Navy person were killed and at least 15 others wounded. That is in addition to widespread casualties among civilians at the gates. It was very matter of factory. “Moving on…” Sometimes you got to get off the very military script. Sometimes you gotta say what you feel, like, We’re gonna hunt down those bastards and kill every one of them. At least, that was my second reaction. the first was saying a prayer for the families left behind.

 

Yesterday I drove past a healthy, organic style Farmer’s Market on my way to buy Diet Coke one sale at the supermarket. I felt Guilty. Well, almost momentarily. But I did kind of feel the glaring eyes of young clerks in vegetable stands penetrating the back of my neck.

 

People who think they are doing something wrong sometimes feel that all eyes in the world are upon them. That is 99.9% not the case. Most people mainly care about themselves.

 

I finally found the perfect set of cheap reading glasses and bought several pairs. The ear pieces don’t break. The nose pieces don’t fall off. So that’s good. There is however a small problem of the lenses falling out. I’m working on that. Life is always a compromise at some level.

 

Happy-go-lucky people get no respect.

 

The Question:

Looking for a good movie to stream? Which movies do you think were rated as the best “Thrillers” of the 2010 decade?

 

The Headlines:

--Two Car Bomb Attacks Kill At Least 72 And Injure Over 160; 12 Of The Dead And 15 of Of The Injured Were US Military – 11 Marines And 1 Navel Medical Person Killed.

--Stocks End The Day Down; The Feds At Jackson Hole Watch Is On; Corporate America Reentering Markets In Buy-Back Programs.

--Microsoft Commits To Spending $20Billion On Cybersecurity Over Next Five Years.

--1,500 Americans In Afghan Still Awaiting Evac; US Embassy Warns Americans At Kabul To Flee As Security Threats Heighten.

--Baltimore Orioles Finally Win Game after 29 Straight Losses.

--Tis August Worse Than Last For Covid; 100K In Hospital.

--Kamala Harris Favorability Rating At 37%. By Far Lowest Of Veeps In Past 28 Years.

 

Like Libya, Afghanistan is a tribal oriented landmass with really no central government connection. Khadafi represented unity mainly because he was tribal person himself. There was an element of trust in him from the various and sundry not necessarily friendly tribal chieftains. When he s departed, forming a centralized government became a near impossibility for more than a decade. The Afghan society will be similar. The tribes will eb their own governments and the only thing that they really want from the Afghan Feds is a safe passage for their Poppy produced opium.

 

I hear that the DEA has been consulting with the Whitet House budget office on how to create a Hooked-on Government public mentality; how to create a population addicted to receiving a paycheck for not working. It seems to be working.

 

You can be never lose a homing pigeon. If your homing pigeon doesn’t come back, what you have lost is a pigeon.

 

I actually watch other people carefully because it gives me ideas for the Tids or for characters in that great novel I will write someday.

 

On the day of Henri’s approach all of the roads to the good vantage points were blocked by Police. Is that another use of the government “Save you from yourself” medical emergency concept to impose Gov authority? The next day I went out and found a couple of rocks out in the roiling sea upon which to stand. I figured out a safe way to go all by myself.

 

The cultural elite push their favorite movies, mainly built around seeding their favored causes in viewers minds, by intimidating average regular people into accepting some pretty bad stuff by implying that if you don’t like what they like you are not cool, hip or intelligent. “Why again am I watching this mess?”

 

Why do noses run and feet smell?

 

* “The AMA recognizes that racism negatively impacts and exacerbates health inequities among historically marginalized communities. Without systemic and structural-level change, health inequities will continue to exist, and the overall health of the nation will suffer,” said AMA Board Member Willarda V. Edwards, MD, MBA. “As physicians and leaders in medicine, we are committed to optimal health for all, and are working to ensure all people and communities reach their full health potential,” Dr. Edwards said. “Declaring racism as an urgent public health threat is a step in the right direction toward advancing equity in medicine and public health, while creating pathways for truth, healing, and reconciliation.” The problem with potential precedent setting statements like this, is that politicians often grab them, and can’t be trusted to use such proclamations fairly.

 

The Answer:

Number One was “Get Out” followed by “A Quiet Place”. Then we have  “Shutter Island”, “Split”, “Inception”, “Gone Girl”, “Prisoners”, “Sinister”, “Contagion”, 10 Cloverfield Lane”, “The Town”, “Don’t Breathe”, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “Hereditary” and at #15, “The Equalizer.”

 

It's always good to sit on the edge of your chair wondering every once in a while.