“The problem, as I say, with cultural imperialism is that it can be completely unconscious, which I believe is the case here. For example, you used the phrase knuckle under. By that you mean it is wrong or unseemly for people to submit their will – their whim, even – to a traditional authority. Yet all of Muslim society is based on submission to the will of God, and everything follows from that. You look at us and you see oppression; we see stability and harmony. You see corruption; we see tie of family, friendship, and mutual support. You see feudalism, we see mutual responsibility. You see oppression of women, we see the defense of modesty. But then you say, but look at you! See how poor and weak you are and how rich and strong we are, because of our culture, which prizes freedom above every other human value – no, that destroys every other human value to secure absolute freedom. In response to that, sir, I ask you to look at two things. First, yes, we are poor, but until sixty years ago, you Europeans owned all of us, we worked for you and not for ourselves. So of course we are poor – it took Europe eight centuries to recover from the yoke of Rome and its collapse. I say to you, sir, have a little patience! And the second thing is, for all but the last two and a half centuries, the traditional society you condemn was quite successful. A thousand years ago London was a wooden village occupied by starving barbarians and Baghdad was the greatest and richest city in the world. So perhaps it will be that way again; who can tell what God has planned?” — The Good Son, Michael Gruber
1.
It’s strange how some delusional part of my mind figured that if I haven’t got the SARS-CoV-2 virus by now, maybe I won’t ever get it! Yeah, that’s it. I won’t get it because I haven’t had it. Bwwaahhahaahaaaaaa. On the way to Heathrow (it seems like months ago) on September 24th, Connie and I were masked the entire time (except for our quick snacks and dinner), then on through the airport. We took a bus to Oxford where I unmasked as there were only a few people on it, and it was very open and airy.
Throughout our Oxford stay Connie wore one on occasion but I did not. Nobody was masked in that University town. Same in the Cotswolds. London was a different story. If you’ve been reading my missives here you know the kinds of crowds I described in the city. Also, very few people masked. I wore mine off and on when riding the Tube. And this time returning from Heathrow, I wore it on the plane boarding, but during the 11 hour trip, it was mostly off unless I heard someone nearby with a coughing fit. It was an older plane that did NOT have the personal air blowers above the seats. Also on the plane from San Francisco to Tucson I hardly had one on. We got home Wednesday night and managed to get to Safeway five minutes before they closed at 9:30.
On Thursday night I was clearing my throat a bit but thought it was the dry and dusty Arizona air. Friday morning was feeling pretty normal (other than what I thought was jet lag) so grocery shopped at two locations. Not masked. Oy. Then right after lunch, I was knocked out by ‘something’ and slept the rest of the day. Took two Covid tests that day (morning, evening), both negative, so we were both concerned about a return of the dreaded pneumonia I had in 2014, especially as Friday afternoon into late Saturday morning was my only time of triple digit fever.
Later in the afternoon on Saturday, my temperature was closer to normal but still feeling down and stayed in bed. This time two Covid tests (morning, evening) produced that ‘very faint line’ you don’t want to see. It was then I let Kevin know that it was doubtful I’d be drumming on Sunday. Of course, by now I’m isolating in my room (fortunately, Connie and I each occupy a separate wing of our home) and wearing a mask when I trudge into the kitchen for something, or when she graciously delivers some food.
Then on Sunday morning my Covid test went BAM right away. No doubts.
So with many of my dear friends pushing for me to get Paxlovid, which I resisted at first, and since my timeline was dwindling, I decided to pursue a prescription. I knew I could do it a Walgreens or some such but there would be fees involved. So I left a message for my primary care doc first thing Monday morning, about 8:15am. Around 11:30 or so I was thinking I’d better call back when her assistant Cindy called and told me I was out of the date range. Uhhhh. I said I thought it was five days and asked to speak to ‘my doc.’ She said she was in clinic but then excused herself for a moment and then said ‘my doc’ misread the timeline and will call it in. (In clinic? She was standing right there…) Also, ‘my doc’ prescribed the full dose, which my pharmacist questioned, as my eGFR number was below the minimum for the higher dose. Thank you, madam Chemist. So I started the low dose regimen on Monday evening. So far, very few side effects—and yesterday and today I’m actually feeling normal again.
2.
There is no justification for the killing of civilians. I’m not going to attempt to take a deep dive into the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian debacle as it’s far too complex to unpack. I will note, however, that the dangers and comparisons of the Netanyahu coalition and the authoritarianism that we in the U.S. are barely holding at bay, should not be ignored.
Yuval Noah Harari, a professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Wednesday. Here is an excerpt.
For many years, Israel has been governed by a populist strongman…who is a public-relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. He has repeatedly preferred his personal interests over the national interest and has built his career on dividing the nation against itself. He has appointed people to key positions based on loyalty more than qualifications, took credit for every success while never taking responsibility for failures, and seemed to give little importance to either telling or hearing the truth.
The coalition Netanyahu established in December 2022 has been by far the worst. It is an alliance of messianic zealots and shameless opportunists, who ignored Israel’s many problems — including the deteriorating security situation — and focused instead on grabbing unlimited power for themselves. In pursuit of this goal, they adopted extremely divisive policies, spread outrageous conspiracy theories about state institutions that oppose their policies, and labeled the country’s serving elites as “deep state” traitors.
The radical Christian Right in this country are already banning books, asserting that a true American must be Christian, stomping on women’s rights, opposing teaching critical views of U.S. racial history in schools; it’s been happening right before our eyes. And a handful of the hard-right insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capital prayed in the Senate that day. The impulse to defend a personal Christian and American identity transforms into an all-or-nothing struggle for existence, where the end justifies the means.
For a short, succinct piece on how and why the Republican Party is dedicated to the deconstruction of the administrative state, read Thom Hartmann’s piece from last Wednesday. The GOP, Putin, and fossil fuel billionaires are all working toward the same goal: to do away with or at least fatally weaken the institutions of our government that prevent the morbidly rich and wannabee strongman autocrats from taking over America.
3.
And in news of the very weird, and related to the article above, is a Kansas woman named Joan Farr. She has written she is running for President to try and put God back in control of our country. On her website it states that Joan ultimately decided that if Jesus was alive, he wouldn't be a member of either party, and that is why she was registered as an Independent for so long. However, after seeing all of the fraud that occurred to cause President Trump to lose, she switched back to Republican in November 2020 to support him. When Joan ran in both Kansas and Oklahoma in 2022, she became the first person to run for the United States Senate in two states at the same time.
Sherman Smith, editor in chief of Kansas Reflector, wrote a piece last week that headlined: How a fake Keanu Reeves convinced a Kansas woman to abandon her dream of being president. Seriously, this is my kind of news. She was quoted as saying, “I am finally done with my ongoing battle of trying to get into government, thanks to Keanu. I feel like our country is so messed up, I’m just going to go live a peaceful life and wait for Jesus. At least Keanu was able to make his suffering end by telling them to kill him off in the last movie. My saga is never-ending, since I am not a rich and famous person who can wave a magic wand and make it happen. I am more like a speck of dust on the hind leg of a flea on the hind leg of a dog, and not even Keanu’s dog at that.”
Jim Jordan, you’ve been outdone.
4.
As a bonus today, here’s Yogi Berra explaining jazz:
Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?
Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong.
Interviewer: I don't understand.
Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it.
Interviewer: Do you understand it?
Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it.
Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?
Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it.
Interviewer: What is syncopation?
Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.
Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.
Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.
5.
That’s all I can muster today…a crazy news week and a strange and isolating time for me, losing time I can’t get back. But, hey, thanks to modern medicine, I’m alive to stumble around some more soon. Thanks for reading!
And now…
It's got to be extra hard on an over achiever like you to be under the weather, and yet you manage to still produce. Gary, We who are not over achievers SALUTE you. Thanks kw
Heal apace, Gary. Sending healing vibes.