At last, after three weeks of hell, I have turned the corner and am on the mend. I still have the occasional chest death rattle and cough like a kudu with pertussis but it’s only about once every ninety minutes or so and I didn’t wake up once last night. I’m still feeling a bit tired and under the weather but I’m hoping it all clears up over the weekend and I can meet next week with full gusto. Fortunately, next week is a light one as both of my full VA days are devoted to classes that I don’t really need, especially the one about defending myself against attackers armed with fresh fruit, or is it pointed sticks?
The world continues to go to hell in the proverbial handbasket, at least here in the USA. I could not bring myself to watch the attempted mob shakedown of Zelenskyy in the oval office, reading about it was bad enough. The right wing was busy chortling about Trump’s masterful diplomatic skills. My take was a couple of thugs who had a petulant temper tantrum when they didn’t get what they wanted. But it might all have been Trump’s understanding of the presidency as some sort of reality TV show where he performs for the cameras and I’m sure he felt it all made for exciting television. Governance brought to you by Real Housewives…
So now that the executive branch is all in for Russia (with the Republicans in congress acting as a cheerleading squad from the sidelines – just don’t let Mitch or Lindsay form the top of the pyramid), I’ll have to assume that our traditional alliances are pretty much on life support. If I were the EU I would not only offer immediate admission to the Ukraine, but I’d throw in Canada and Mexico as well, walling us off in a major time out until our toddler tantrums are done. I am putting off making my major travel plans for the year as I can see the diplomatic wars escalating over the next few months and a US passport may not be as welcome as it was a few months ago. If nothing else, I expect I’ll be socked with some very expensive visas going forward.
It is definitely time to revive Politically Incorrect Cabaret. I’ve got a venue that’s willing to host it going forward and I am in possession of the company’s few assets. I just feel that I’m the wrong age. My generation is on their way out. Dealing with this political moment and the aftermath is going to be a task for the millennials and gen z. So come on, one of you theater kids out there in the greater Birmingham area has to have an interest in Weimar Berlin style cabaret forms, street theater, political satire, and holding that mirror up to society. People assume that PIC is/was an anti-Republican thing. It’s not. It’s a way of using theater to expose the problems in the power structure, no matter which party may be in charge. (Heck, we did a whole show lampooning the Democrats a few years ago). And we never did a number or a sketch about Trump. If you think you and your friends are the right people to pick up the torch, let me know. And now a chorus of Do You Hear the People Sing?
For the first time ever, a state has eliminated previously granted civil rights. The legislature of the state of Iowa passed a law to remove gender identity from the list of innate human characteristics that is protected by anti-discrimination law. So if you live in Dubuque, you are now free to refuse to hire, provide services to, or rent to Caitlin Jenner. The vitriol and cruelty being unleashed against transgender Americans by current political forces reminds me a good deal of the sort of behaviors that led to public lynchings and I won’t be surprised if they start to occur. They’re a tiny minority with zip political power and we’re starting to see denial of state documents such as passports due to ‘incorrect’ gender markers, organized campaigns against their participation in public life and there are moves afoot to force medical detransitioning which would be exceptionally cruel. This was, of course, all begun ‘because of the children’ but the proscriptions are rapidly moving out of pediatric medical treatment to all medical treatment of gender dysphoria. And so many of the proposed laws are so vague and broad that all sorts of things will be caught up in them. No stage depictions of a character in gender inappropriate clothing would get rid of most of the Shakespeare comedies and even Charley’s Aunt, delighting audiences since 1892. (When you’re looking at banning things the Victorian’s didn’t have a problem with, maybe you’re the problem…) Heck, even Les Miserables would be out as Eponine dresses as a boy in order to cross the barricade.
Then there’s the medical front. The Texas measles outbreak continues to mushroom. At least one ill person, of course, got on an airplane so there should be additional pockets of infecton popping up shortly. There has not been one word out of the usually loquacious governor and attorney general of Texas regarding this particular issue. Word has come down from on high that staff at the CDC are prohibited from collaborating, coauthoring papers or doing any other professional work with anyone at WHO. Preventing the sharing of scientific knowledge has never been a winning strategy for any society ever so I’m not sure what the powers that be think they’re going to gain from this decision. And, the destruction of USAID has taken out the TB control programs which prevent its spread. The program not only protected the US, it was also the backbone of the global harm reduction program. We can hope the EU will step into the gap but there’s no guarantees. I wonder what global corporation is investing in new TB sanitariums?
There are other disasters in the offing. We’re two weeks from defaulting on the national debt with a congress that’s completely out of control and which has abdicated a number of its constitutionally mandated duties. Elon and the muskrats took a chainsaw to NOAA and the National Weather Service. Sure, there are private weather forecasting services, but where do you think they get the data that goes into their models. Be prepared for far less accurate warnings of tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis and the like. Twenty-six months to go until I can hide under a rock, if I can make it that long. In the meantime, I have to get back to my other writing projects now that I have a bit more stamina.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 