Again, such as it is. The lads from the company have run to and fro; the Internet service has fluctuated between sluggish and totally shut down. Overnight lows were in the single digits last night. No election links here; if you want to mourn or celebrate you can find those links all over the Internet.
Books
Those who have Kindle Unlimited (I don't) may want to collect all of Frances Dall'Alba's books--free this month on KU. I love her topophilia!
Business
Should anyone try to keep a store open in a neighborhood where the store's been robbed of $7000 worth of merchandise in a day?
Meh. The following thoughts were inspired by observation of the behavior of the Giant store chain in DC, especially during the lifetime of Israel Cohen:
1. There is more sympathy for individuals than for corporations. Safeway might want to try a more autonomous franchise arrangement that identifies local residents as store operators. "The Brand Belongs to Safeway but This Store Belongs to Me, A.B. Jones."
2. Train and employ other local residents as armed guards. I remember wondering whether I wanted to shop in a store that needed armed guards, the first time I saw them, but it's better to have more security than you need than to need more than you have.
3. Publicize the store's role as a job creator for neighborhood youth. Emphasize these youth's responsibility to prevent theft so that the store continues to pay them honest wages.
4. Help other local residents identify social needs in the neighborhood. How are individuals being empowered to start their own businesses from wherever they are? What part of the store's parking lot is designated for flea market ventures? How are individuals making progress toward owning the houses where they live? How is the sense of respect for private property being built up?
5. Dissociate the store from "race" organizations and their blather. Make it something for the individuals who want to build a community of honest, respectful neighbors.
Glyphosate Awareness
A beautiful fact sheet. Note especially that glyphosate was supposed to go off the market, according to Bayer's publicists at the time of writing, in 2023. It is NOT off the market in 2025, Gentle Readers. We need legislation with teeth in it...e.g., holding individuals who spray anything but H2O outdoors responsible for any effects reported by complaining neighbors, holding grocers who sell glyphosate-tainted food responsible for any effects reported by complaining consumers...
How serious are we about ending racism? I know, I know, grooooannnn...but seriously, glyphosate does disproportionately affect disadvantaged demographic groups.
Paraquat...harms most people a little more slowly than glyphosate does. If you don't plan to live long enough to develop Parkinson's Disease, do this one for Michael J. Fox, or for Muhammad Ali.
https://www.thenewlede.org/2025/01/epa-moves-to-withdraw-decision-on-paraquat-delays-report-on-risks
Hate
...But the federal government can and should cut off all funding to any schools where outbursts of religious hate and bigotry are reported. And tolerance for rape as an act of war? One little pro-Hamas whine, the school should be 100% self-funded for the next ten years. Petitions for more funding from women's tax dollars should begin with statements about how pro-rapist fools have been expelled and barred from re-entering the campus for a minimum of thirty years.
We must never forget that the Nazis were the Nazional Sozialist party. There are pro-socialist statements that are moderate, reasonable, and worth discussion among decent human beings, such as "Government-funded schools can be better than no schools at all" or "While the Social Security scheme was an unsustainable Ponzi scheme that should not have been allowed to outlive the generation it was meant to preserve from starvation, some sort of public safety net based on disability, not age, could be sustained." But people who want to make those statements need to be vigilant about any resurgence of the, yes, Nazi history of support for moderate, limited socialist schemes. No Jew-bashing allowed.
And anybody comparing Hamas to the Cherokee resistance might once have qualified for a pass, if talking to Palestinians about how and why the Cherokee resistance basically failed, but no longer. No Cherokee did anything as dastardly as the recent Hamas attacks. Even Benge, the half-breed terrorist, showed more in the way of a sense of honor than that. Comparing Hamas to any other group is always an insult to that group. War is never a good thing but armed combat between warriors can be considered to have a kind of honor; terrorist attacks primarily on noncombatants have none. Any legitimate institution of education will denounce such comparisons on the grounds of etiquette, even if they are supported by history.
Music
Chinese music for the Chinese New Year, 1.29.25:
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