Monday" need a picture
Pretty much, I hate it when there's French bread in the house, a thin baguette as long as my arm, because I cannot and will not resist it, breaking off a huge piece, warmed and slathered with butter: bread puts me to sleep. The wonderful, bread-induced, so-called carbo-coma blood-pressure plummet nap.
Why is it so wonderful? Because at this age a nap is the best part of life, and when it's induced by a "medical issue" - - extreme hypo-tension, maybe 58/37, there's no guilt of laziness associated with it, the nap is a medical necessity.
Why do I say this? Because, along with a fresh-brewed mug of hot & black, it's my breakfast this morning. So the collapse may be imminent, and when I do wake up I hope it doesn't bother the dermatologist that instead of regular butter I had garlic-butter on my chunk of French bread.
Nomesane?
We have a new Christmas tree. It sat here in the box a couple of days, then Kristen put it up for us. A fake tree, of course, my days of sweeping up the bushel of needles that formed a trail as I dragged it across the living room to the door, out, and to the alley or street are over. For me, especially as a child, the ritual of undecorating the tree and dragging it out, telling it goodbye, and its humiliation as I left it lying on its side for garbage pickup - - was too much of a Good Friday event.
This new tree has the lights already installed, and a new feature: the tiny lightbulbs can be set for either color or clear (white), or for blinking from color to white, or, as we have it set, fading between white and color. Linda will hang some ornaments on it when/if she's ready. Or not, mox nix mir, it's interesting just as it came out of the box.
Can't smell it, of course. Told here many Times, when I was a boy, the Sunday afternoon before Christmas the five of us set out in the car, across Hathaway Bridge, to the scrub oak and piney woods all the way out at the far end of Bay County, almost to Philips Inlet Bridge. Turn left onto a well-packed sand road winding through the woods, and drive slowly until one of us spotted a tree that appeared to be suitable. Inevitably there were half a dozen or so such trees, with Gina having the final say because she was the most patient and would not settle for a tree with a flat side.
Chop the tree down, my job when I got to that age, stuff it into the car trunk, and home with it for the rest of the annual ritual, of which our favorite part was probably opening the boxes of beloved ornaments and exuding as we found each one.
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This tree plugs in, has its own stand, and the electrical connection has a step on on/off switch plus a box with a button for changing the light setting.
No flat side on this tree either.
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What did/do I really want to say? It would be too long, but I'll have a go at it.
A university president has resigned in some level of shame over her handling or mishandling her congressional examination about speech advocating genocide of Jews: does it violate university policy? It was a loaded question.
To answer "yes" would have brought a barrage about why such speech had not been dealt with by administrative clarifying, action, and discipline on her campus.
To answer "no" would have been unthinkable; the unspeakable evil of the Holocaust, which began with "free speech," is the permanent underlayment of everything Jewish and Zionist has to be for self-preservation; and in my extremst view, Holocaust denial is so heinous that it should be a capital crime, the First Amendment notwithstanding.
Instead of being trapped by questions from members of Congress, the university presidents should have said that they are finding out that such supposedly free speech incites violence, is unacceptable, they are just now facing it as a major issue, struggling with it, and learning how to deal with it within the bounds not only of First Amendment rights of free speech but also of traditions of academic freedom versus safety for all students; and that so far they have not dealt with it well, and they know that, but it is the major urgent issue confronting them now.
The university presidents waffled: a university president should reasonably be expected to be too intelligent to be outwitted by any member of Congress, most of whom are arrogant dolts. Does it violate Episcopal Church policy for me to say that Congressmen are contemptible idiots and they can prove it?
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About the Israel/Gaza War. Precedent for self-righteous Americans protesting Israel's determination and action to wipe out Hamas:
+ our response to Pearl Harbor that culminated in the world's first use of nuclear weapons, for us who were there at the Time, entirely proper. Just so with the firebombing of Tokyo, Hamburg, Dresden. Hundreds of thousands of civilians killed by us in stamping out evil at the extreme cost of much that was innocent. In our view, pious condemnatory hindsight is contemptible and worthless. Our winning the war served to limit casualties of a generation of young Americans.
+ not so certain with all our wars since, including Vietnam and our 9/11 response to Afghanistan/Iraq.
Israel's war to eliminate Hamas is necessary beyond all reasonable objection, to hold back a holocaustic resurgence. Anyone who doesn't, can't, or won't understand this just doesn't get human history. The human cost will be horrendous, but Hamas leadership does not care. As for me, I am on Israel's side, and Khaled's side.
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Today the Dermatologist - - will find spots to zap. I have two spots to ask him (he's a male) about. Both on my face. Sometimes he anesthetizes and then cuts. The part I hate is the smell of burning flesh, nomesane?
Tomorrow the Dentist - - will do the six-monthly cleaning, then she (she's a female) will assure me that I'm doing a good job with personal dental hygiene, and put several hundred dollars on my credit card.
Happy Holidays is my wish and blessing.
RSF&PTL
T88&c