It’s mid-April, and there’s good news to report.
After suffering for a month with a compression fracture of her 1st lumbar vertebra, Charlie finally got some relief yesterday, when doctors performed a “kyphoplasty” on her up in St. George, Utah. It involved inserting a balloon in her crushed vertebra, inflating it to restore the original dimensions, and injecting the vertebral cavity with cement. An hour after the procedure Charlie and I drove back to Mesquite, the pain all gone!
Hooray for science!
Also re: Charlie, she had her first cataract surgery done last month and that repaired eye now works much better. She is amazed at the vivid colors that she can now appreciate. Her second eye will be done next week; she can hardly wait!
Hooray for science!
Speaking of health (note: Do old farts really talk about anything else?), JayJay, our Man dog, has been suffering for about a month from an ulcer on his right eye. He’s the guy who had double-cataract surgery a couple of years ago. Anyway, a condition in his eyes due to chronic kidney issues apparently led to this ulcer, which was quite an annoyance to him, causing him to squint in pain. Thanks to a local vet (Dr. Steyee) and an animal ophthalmologist in Las Vegas (Dr. Smith), and the miracles of medicine, JayJay’s right eye seems to be on the mend.
Hooray for science!
Big news: we have pretty much completed our outdoor landscaping here on Buggy Whip Court! The pergola has been constructed on our second patio in the backyard, and Yours Truly has completed the landscaping of our entryway courtyard. The place looks great, as it should after all of the money and sweat equity poured into it.
My poor back really took a beating; maybe I need a kyphoplasty?
Some old friends (Terry DeArmond and Barb Jarvis) made the pilgrimage to Mesquite from So Cal, and we all enjoyed a nice visit. It afforded us a chance to test-out our new fire pit under the new pergola, and we spent several hours under the stars catching up on stuff. The next day, Terry and I hit some balls at the Conestoga Golf Club driving range. Neither of us had played for over a year, and we stunk. But, it was fun, nevertheless.
Speaking of a stench, the redacted Mueller Report has hit the fan and, despite being watered down by Trump’s recently-appointed toady/Attorney General, paints a comprehensive and pathetic picture of the 2016 election hijinx by the Russians, obvious knowledge of same by the Trump campaign, and a significant campaign by the President to derail the subsequent investigation by the Special Counsel.
We already knew most of that, thanks to very fine investigative reporting by the major news organizations (except Fox News). Of course, all of the non-flattering information was derided by the President, at the time, as “Fake!”. But, as everyone knows, he lies a lot.
It is hard to read the 400-page report without feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness that our democracy has devolved to this level: that our elections can be so easily manipulated by foreign powers; that “winning” is more important than honor; and, that the President of our country has no qualms about debasing his Administration in a grand attempt to misdirect scrutiny and criminal liability.
The ease by which the election was impacted by the Russians is a testament to the stupidity and gullibility of many Americans. These are the same folks who keep their kids from getting vaccinations, believe that online dating “matches” are actually who they say they are, send money to Nigerian scam artists (“you have won $1 million dollars; just send us $500 to prove your interest”), deny global warming, give large amounts of money to televangelists for miracle healing cloths, and spend inordinate portions of their lives watching “reality” shows like the Kardashians and The Bachelor. You’ve got some outrageous information to share…they’re in. The moon landing was fake, Barack Obama was born in Africa, the Sandy Hook school massacre was staged, etc…yeah, that makes sense!
The tragic news for America is that these nincompoops are entitled to vote. So, nefarious types (like the Russians, in this case) milk them like cows. (With the Trump Campaign’s blessing, according to the Special Counsel’s report. In fact, just yesterday, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani stated that there is nothing illegal about accepting Russian assistance to get elected. Obviously, in Trumpland, anything that isn’t patently illegal is fair game, even if it is morally reprehensible or works to degrade democracy.)
Apparently (according to the report), the only thing that kept Mueller from determining that Trump legally obstructed justice was the fact(s) that several Administration officials refused orders from the President to scuttle the investigation.
Hooray for principled public servants!
Congress will now have to determine how they want to pursue this matter. If the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, Trump would be impeached, for sure. But, since the Republicans control the Senate, nothing much is likely to be done, except many hearings conducted with the objective of airing dirty linen. The President will claim that he is vindicated, but anyone who actually reads the report will know otherwise. As the saying goes about the Mafia boss, “He got off on a technicality” because he personally didn’t carry out the murder (even though he ordered it).
The most troubling aspect of all of this is that our President has yet to acknowledge the intensity and scope of the Russian debasement of the 2016 election, and why such a thing is bad for our country. Consequently, one wonders how much Administration effort will be applied to make sure that there will be no repeat of such Russian assistance in the 2020 elections?
Trump would have to be a dope to refuse such help again…right?
Our President once said something that was absolutely true (a rarity, for sure) about such matters: that “America, itself, is not so innocent”.
He was undoubtedly referring to the covert and overt efforts by U.S. intelligence and military agencies, over the past 70 years, to ensure that “friendly” leaders were in charge of countries of strategic interest to America. Our C.I.A. has rigged foreign elections, undermined democratically-elected leaders, torpedoed economies, and even assassinated heads of state. We’ve helped to install despots and dictators, and have instigated wars to prop up same, all in the name of protecting our “national security”.
All the while, we congratulated ourselves, as Americans, for being so honest and morally pure. “The Greatest Country on Earth!”, we all like to proclaim.
Our 9-11 calamity was instigated by U.S. covert involvement in Afghanistan, where we actually provided weapons to Osama Bin Laden’s jihadists fighting the Russians. Emboldened by their subsequent victory, the jihadists turned Afghanistan into a thuggist Muslim theocracy (the Taliban), and provided Bin Laden a base (Al Queda) from which to prosecute his war against infidels such as…his heretofore American benefactors.
God is Great!
Of course, the Soviet Union, which had been undermined in Afghanistan by our C.I.A., leading to a humiliating defeat and eventual dissolution of the U.S.S.R., had a score to settle with America for interfering with what they believed to be an internal matter. “Payback”, as the saying goes, “is a bitch.”
In that context, it is hard to criticize Russia for attempting (with success) to place in power an American President that it felt would be easier to manipulate than Hillary Clinton. That intent and motive is right there in the Mueller report, straight from Russian lips.
Hip, Hip, Hooray, Comrade Putin! Well played…
One wonders whether the American public even cares about their once-cherished democracy any more.
We have a PRESIDENT who is disdainful of it, and a Republican Party that that is hell-bent on undermining it. Yesterday, Senator Mitt Romney, who had said he was “appalled” by the Mueller findings, was publicly derided by President Trump for losing the 2012 election. (Of course, Romney didn’t get Russian help, which Trump did without any qualms.)
We’re circling the drain.
Excuse me if I don’t join in to sing “God Bless America”. I’m not in the mood lately.