The Question

It keeps rattling around in my head, and only partly because it's becoming part of the national zeitgeist:

If school kids can live with the threat

of being gunned down at any moment,

why can't CEOs?

Overheard

(paraphrasing James Baldwin)

I'm never in despair for the world.

Enraged, yes - I'm frequently enraged.

But never despairing.

I can't afford despair.

You can't tell your kids

that there's no hope.

Overheard

The less you're willing to learn,

the more you're likely to believe.

A Question

How come the problem

is childless women,

and not childless men?

Forward

When this authoritarian fever passes - and it will - and assholes like Trump fade away - and he will - I hope always to remember how bad it's made me feel, thinking of the hatred, and the bigotry, and the plain old shitty attitude this whole thing exposed in so many of the people I had loved and admired before all of this blew up.

On Tolerance

In general, we think of tolerance in terms of morality and ethical behavior. And so we end up with the cognitive dissonance of whether or not there are (or should be - or even can be) limits to tolerance.

That dissonance is resolved if we see tolerance not as a moral standard, but as a social contract.

If someone doesn't abide by the terms of a contract, then they're no longer covered by it.

Intolerant people aren't following the rules of the social contract of Mutual Tolerance.

Since they've broken with the terms of the contract, they're no longer covered by it, and we have no obligation to tolerate their intolerant behavior.

A Thought

Consider the word "alpha".

Some American men believe that's the ultimate goal in expressing their masculinity.

I think of it more in terms of software development.

"Alpha" is:

• very glitchy and unstable
• missing important components or features
• not fit for the public

A Thought

I'm currently

barreling thru my life

at many many WTFs an hour

Today's Thought

The easiest way

to be wrong about someone

is to underestimate them.

The Hero In My Own Story

My fatal flaw is knowing that my body's

Check Engine light is flashing,

but I'm still truckin' around like,

"Nah - It'll be OK - I'm fine."

A Thought

One of the great things about being a parent is watching your kids grow into full-functioning, capable, independent humans.

The hard part is learning to live with the combination of swelling pride in the fact that you turned out some pretty good kids, and the abject gut-wrenching fear that you might have missed something, so you've basically set them up for something bad to happen because you're not around 24/7 to look out for them.

But that's mostly your ego kinda working against itself - and you have to let that go too.

In the end, I think every parent is - and has been - as good a parent as they're able to be at any give time.

As you grow older, you learn to watch more and more of the world go on without you.

A Thought

I'm exceedingly grateful

that as I've grown older,

I've grown fatter,

and not more conservative.

A Thought

The people with all the money and power

are telling you to fight against the people

who're fighting against the people

with all the money and power.

Watch out fer them pesky Democrats - they can be on the right side once in a while.

✈️ ATTN ✈️

New Biden admin rules—that were strengthened with legislation—are in place to support passengers, like:

🛬automatic refunds if your flight is canceled or delayed 3+ hours
❌no fees for families to sit together
📞24/7 hotline to get the information you need pic.twitter.com/Y8xlVYfakp

— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) June 23, 2024

Thoughts

A Thought

Satan punishes those who have been bad.

Does that mean Satan is good?

A Thought

Martin Buber

“Why did God create atheists?”

God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of all - the lesson of true compassion.

When an atheist performs an act of charity - visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, cares for the world - he's not doing it because of some religious teaching. He doesn't believe God commanded him to perform this act, because he doesn't believe in God at all.

So his actions are based on his sense of morality.

Look at the kindness he bestows on others simply because he knows it's right.

When someone reaches out for help don't say, "I’ll pray that God will help you." Instead, for that moment, you should become an atheist – imagine there is no God who could help, and say, "I will help you.”

A Thought

If Celine Dion sang the vowels in her name,

it would be Old MacDonald's Farm

A Thought

There's a lot of talk (mostly from the wingnut right) about pardoning Trump, so we can "heal the nation's wounds and move on." 

Some things:

1. No POTUS can pardon him if he's convicted for state crimes
2. Republicans seem to be tacitly admitting he's guilty of the federal charges, and that they expect he'll be on his way to prison before the year is out, but they won't say so in public.
3. When Republicans are willing to look the other way, or rationalize Trump's criminal actions, doesn't that mean the GOP is soft on crime?

Today's Coaching Thing

1) Know when you're happy     - and don't make promises when you're happy
2) Know when you're sad         - and don't make decisions when you're sad
3) Know when you're angry      - and don't reply when you're angry
4) Know when you're ignorant  - and don't judge until you learn
5) Know when you're envious  - and don't criticize in that frame of mind

A Thought

Life is said to necessitate

finding your tolerable level

of permanent unhappiness.

Living requires

a constant effort

not to tolerate

being unhappy.