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In view of the fact that my daily routine over the past couple of years has been to sit around the house and do sweet bugger all, today ranked as a productive day. Went to get my third shot this morning at Nemocnice na Františku, which went very smoothly, then walked around the center with Helena, ate breakfast at McDonald’s, ran a couple of other errands, came home, wrote a short, sort of silly poem but it’s good enough, sorted out the poems I’ll read at tomorrow night’s poetry reading, watched a couple of episodes of Star Trek Enterprise, went out again, dropped off some more books at Shakespeare and Sons, the only place in the world people can buy my books without going online, and did a little Christmas shopping. That’s about it but, as I say, by my standards that’s a productive day.
Especially the third shot. I feel super healthy.

I was out on our balcony an hour or so ago, and some parts of the windows were foggy and some were clear and when I looked through the clear parts, the street lights looked like normal street lights but when I looked through the foggy parts each one had a circular rainbow around it, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, hanging in mid air like huge, globular, floating Christmas tree ornaments, and occasionally an oncoming car would come on with rainbow headlights, and it was very beautiful. Mist, light, night.
I have often noticed that people I know on Facebook, whether they be in Montana or the Philippines, in the city or in the country, in the desert or in the mountains, post pictures of the sky. From fluffy blue skies with wispy clouds, to glorious sunsets (far outnumber the glorious sunrises – most people just don’t get up that early). There is no doubt about it, the atmosphere we live in is a beautiful thing.
But there was nothing beautiful about it last night for the folks in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky (by far the hardest hit) and Illinois. The dead are still being counted, but it’s likely that more than a hundred were killed, many more left homeless, and the power was knocked out for hundreds of miles. It was a night of terror that those who lived through it will never forget.
And it was clear evidence of global climate change, it was a big voice coming out of sky and saying “Change your ways!”
These tornadoes were a bit different. I’m not saying that part of the country has never had a tornado before, but they are not famous for them like Oklahoma, Kansas (Wizard of Oz country), and Nebraska. Growing up in Iowa, I remember a lot of them, but nothing like last night.
Also, tornadoes are traditionally a summertime thing. Tornadoes in December? Totally out of line.
For now, I hope the people in the affected areas manage to rebuild quickly, and I hope they get all the assistance they desperately need.
For the long term, we need to get off fossil fuels NOW. Or there might not be a long term.

To add to the long list of cases in which the U.S. judicial system has shown complete contempt for truth, justice, and common human decency, you can add the case of Steven Donziger. It’s a bit complicated (because Exxon’s lawyers want it to be), so I am including here a link to the Wikipedia page for those who want all the details, but here are the basic facts: Steven Donziger, Harvard graduate, journalist, civil rights advocate (helped many Cuban exiles in Florida through the immigration process) and, most importantly, environmentalist lawyer, spent years suing Exxon for environmental damage on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadorians. He won at every level, because Exxon kept appealing until it got to the Ecuadorian Supreme Court. Exxon was found guilty, and ordered to pay $9.5 billion. Not the first time Exxon has been found guilty of environmental damage. Probably won’t be the last. When it comes to environmental damage, Exxon is the definition of a repeat offender.
Instead of just paying the 9.5 billion, which they can afford, and getting a bit of good PR out of a cleanup, they removed all their assets from Mexico, and started going after Donziger, personally. They charged him with corruption and bribery for things that had happened during the trial, and during the making of a movie about the event. They couldn’t prove anything was false in the movie, so they subpoenaed all the outtakes, film that wasn’t even used. Donziger said no, you can’t have that, and is still serving a term for contempt of court for that. Yes, that’s right. For things he didn’t publish, for film he didn’t show, because he was being cautious.
If they can put a guy in jail for that, they can put just about anybody in jail for anything. You don’t even need to print it, just think it.

The news of Julian Assange’s impending extradition has me extremely depressed. Not that it was unexpected. The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict was also expected, yet it let a mass murderer back out on the streets, and it’s not surprising the the Ghislaine Maxwell trial is proceeding with almost no publicity, and I fully expect it to end without additional charges being brought against her clients: Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew, among many others.
There is just no damn justice in the world. Nothing Julian Assange has ever published has been shown to be untrue, and if it damages U.S. security for the world to know that our drone strikes do, indeed, target journalists, then U.S. security deserves to be damaged. The assassination of journalists does not serve the American people. But, it does keep the truth from getting out. That’s what “U.S. security” is all about.
Every day that Assange spends in prison reinforces the fact that the world we are living in is based on lies. The U.S. military continues to rain hell down on innocent civilians, U.S. oil companies continue to rape the planet, and the truth be damned.

I truly am one of those people who tends to have an opinion on almost everything, which is why I write a blog, but there are sometimes subjects on which I hold several contradictory positions simultaneously. This can be convenient when you just want to float with the current in a group conversation, but on the other hand it can be damned confusing, and damaging to my self-esteem – why can’t I tell right from wrong here?
I am talking about New Zealand’s impending ban on tobacco. The idea is to raise the age every year so that Kiwis who are currently 14 or under will never live in a New Zealand where they can purchase tobacco – at least not legally. Of course, this may lead to a black market in tobacco but, as an island nation, New Zealand can control their borders a lot more easily than other countries can. But, as a nation with a moderate climate, tobacco would probably grow just fine there, and plenty of sheep farmers might grow a little patch for themselves and their friends. On the other hand, that’s a lot of work for a cigarette, so I doubt it would ever become a major industry. Tobacco is not marijuana. Tobacco is not alcohol. I imagine most people, faced with the lack of access, will stop smoking and very soon realize the health benefits, and compensate for the loss of tobacco with some other bad habit, e.g. nail biting, or gum chewing. Even their current restrictive policy on tobacco has led to an increase in vaping.
So, I expect the ban will have great health benefits and New Zealand, being a small, island nation can probably pull it off. The world should pay more attention to small nations. They can do cool stuff, and the experimentation may show us the way to the future. Costa Rica has no army, and has built itself into an eco-vacation paradise. Iceland threw all their bankers in jail, and has also done amazing things in the field of genetics. Denmark and the Netherlands are world leaders in bike paths, and clean energy.
On the other hand, it is an assault on personal freedom, especially among the Maoris. (who smoke at a significantly higher rate than white New Zealanders)
So, mixed feelings.