Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 8

Diary 268

Friday, December 11th

The former ‘president’ has been holding parties at which masks were not in great evidence. Asked about it in a White House question session he did not deny it, but said he’d seen ‘a lot of masks’ amongst the guests. Those masks would have been removed for eating and drinking and photo ops, of course.  Clearly there is one law for the rich and one for the poor, but in this case it seems the wealthy are happy to risk destroying themselves. It’s a topsy-turvy world in Donaldland. As Jimi Hendrix sang, “If the six became a nine, I don’t mind.”

But it gets worse. Stephen Hahn, the chief of the FDA, has told reporters that he was instructed by the White House, via Mark Meadows, to approve the vaccine right away or find a new job. Is this the way we want to operate?

Between 2700 and 3300 covid deaths were recorded each day this week.

The good news is that the Supreme Court reject a lawsuit filed by Texas to overturn the election results. My hope is that the people who paid for this ridiculous suit lose their money and so get the opportunity to think again about what they’re doing.

Diary 267

Thursday, December 10th

Vaccinations are still a few days away in the US. In England there has been push-back from various doctors who say they won’t be part of it (according to the Guardian). Of course, England has other problems to face, also, particularly those that will start to pile up after it leaves the EU on December 31st.

What I notice is that there seems to be a sense that ‘this will all be over soon’ now that vaccines are becoming available – and there seem to be several to choose from. I doubt that anything will be over soon. Things don’t tend to work that way, and this is not a switch that can simply be turned off. I recall the old World War One slogan: “It’ll all be over by Christmas.” That didn’t quite work out, did it?

In the US there has been a sudden, pre-Christmas rush to execute inmates on death row.  Why would an outgoing ‘president’ choose such a strange way to mark his last few days? Why would any human being do that?

Diary 266

Diary 266

Wednesday, December 9th

This magnificent four-flowered amaryllis came to us through the good offices of our dear friend Sally Young.  Thank you, Sally!!  It’s a reminder of how astonishing Nature truly is – the entity that human kind seems to be hell bent on destroying.

Covid vaccinations have started in England. The first person to get one was a lady of 90. I was surprised by this – most 90 year olds (with a few exceptions) are a tad on the frail side already, even before being zapped with a vaccine.  But this was the choice of Britain’s health services, and was not a unique instance. Some people have had rather severe reactions – especially those who suffer from allergies.  This is not good news for me, as I do have allergies. Still, with luck this will all work out in time for the UK to plunge out of the EU on December 31st, thus officially becoming an outcast nation.

The US is still dragging in the vaccine stakes. The former ‘president’, who still refuses to admit defeat in the polls, supposedly turned down the offer of millions of vaccines sometime in October.  He really can’t do anything right.

And his golf course in Scotland? You remember that? The opposition to it said it’d destroy an area of ecological importance. The developers said it would be fine. Well, it’s not. Ecologists have just declared there’s nothing left to preserve anymore – because the golf course destroyed it all. So now the plan is to build another course. This, despite the first one never having turned a profit.  What kind of insanity is this?

Diary 265

Tuesday, December 8th.

The UK started covid vaccinations today. Let us see if they’re truly as effective as claimed. I can only hope so. By tomorrow, if all continues as it has, the US will have its 15 millionth Covid case.

In Russia, Putin’s former son in law seems to have gathered $380 million in stocks for a payment of just $100. We may think our outgoing ‘president’ is ghastly and corrupt, but compared to this he seems like a clueless bungler. Which, actually, is what he is.

Diary 264

Tuesday, December 8th.

The UK started covid vaccinations today. Let us see if they’re truly as effective as claimed. I can only hope so. By tomorrow, if all continues as it has, the US will have its 15 millionth Covid case.

In Russia, Putin’s former son in law seems to have gathered $380 million in stocks for a payment of just $100. We may think our outgoing ‘president’ is ghastly and corrupt, but compared to this he seems like a clueless bungler. Which, actually, is what he is.

Diary 263

Diary 263

Sunday, December 6th

Yesterday we went to a Japanese bakery, Koko’s on California Street, and ate wonderful ham and onion rolls — totally unlike anything I’d ever eaten that answered to a similar description, and yet obviously they were the same thing. They also had baguettes and croissants – but I thought that French pastries in a Japanese bakery followed by Indian Chai in the USA was too confusing for me to cope with at that hour of the morning. Of course, in retrospect I should just have bought one of everything in the shop. 

And it occurred to me that this is the true aspect of what the US could be: multinational and immeasurably enriched by it. This is what those conservatives in the Midwest don’t get to see much of, and I suspect they feel it’s somehow un-American, weird, frightening.

Diary 262

Saturday, December 5th

Snow came this evening, wet, but plenty of it, swirling and dancing around the streetlights. This meant that I could take the granddaughters out to play – and play we did! While most of the neighborhood was inside taking shelter, we were out, throwing snow, laughing, squealing, and trying to make snow angels. I’m sure the weather gods, if there are any, were delighted by how we were using their gift.

In a few years these two girls will be teenagers. Perhaps they won’t want to skip around in a snowstorm at that stage. Perhaps they’ll sulk indoors with the electronic media.  

But for this evening, it was pure magic.

Diary 261

Friday, December 4th

Beyond all the news of lockdowns, Covid deaths and infections lurks (for me) another question; the attitude to Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year celebrations. I’m not referring to the religious aspects of these days, which is surely up to each individual to decide. No, I’m looking at the accoutrements of ‘holidays’. We’re told that these are traditional times of festivity. But to what extent were these festivals manufactured simply to sell us things? Now we’ve become accustomed to them in this form so we regard them as a right, and as somehow essential to preserve in that crowds-at-close-quarters version.

These were always days of celebration. Yet in the not-so distant past all the major festivals were likely to be held in summer, when the weather was good and people could travel easily, since they were probably going to have to travel on unpaved roads and on foot. These were the big summer festivals. Thanksgiving or Harvest Festivals were in the Fall, when food was plentiful, so they were about feasting. Christmas was also about food because it was time to slaughter the livestock for which there was insufficient fodder to allow them to survive the winter. You didn’t give people a present so much as you handed them a slice of mutton.

I don’t want to return to those old days. I just want to consider that as with children, if you give them a cookie when they come in from school, then you must expect to always to have to give them a cookie whenever they come in from wherever. The rising expectations of treats seem to have taken over our lives. 

Here, in Covid time, we have the opportunity to rethink some of this, perhaps to scale back on the waste that seems synonymous with Christmas. Plastic waste that goes to landfills and the oceans and degrades our world.

When people protest against holiday season restrictions, do we know what is really at issue?

Diary 260

Diary 260

Thursday, December 3rd

Denmark has decided to phase out all oil and gas explorations. In the US the ex ’president’ is busy selling the rights to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Refuge wilderness.  He’s scrambling to sell before he leaves office.  The Danes are stopping their explorations before the world chokes and drowns.

Diary 259

Diary 259

Wednesday, December 2nd

It seems that in England people are rejecting honors (knighthoods and such) which are offered by the Monarchy. The ’New Year’s Honours List’ was once the mark a life well lived, but that seems to be in the past – specifically the colonial past of Empires and exploitation. One wonders how much impact a series like ‘The Queen’ will have in the future, too.

According to The Guardian the ex-‘president’ has been inquiring as to the possibility of presidential pardons for Jared and Ivanka – before they’ve been convicted of anything. Quite apart from the red flags that let us know they have indeed been doing illegal things, and they know it, isn’t this a bit like the selling of Papal Indulgences that set off the Reformation?

And on that note, I wonder if I’m the only person still eating Thanksgiving turkey left overs?