Never Ending!

It’s the time of year when we are bombarded with ads – inducements to buy – offers, discounts, teasers, new products, old products, and more.

Leading up to Black Friday my mailbox, digital and snail mail, was overflowing with deals to consider.  Ah, I thought, when Black Friday was history, now we’ll get a break.  Wrong!  Today is Cyber Monday and the overflow has happened again.  It doesn’t matter that I’m not buying.  They won’t give up.

Unfortunately, never ending is not limited to sales pitches:

            Around the world violence is never ending.

            Around the world political disagreements are never ending.

            Around the world the flow of refugees is never ending.

            Around the world children dying as a result of man made starvation is never ending.

            Around the world income inequality is never ending.

            Around the world gender and sexual preference inequality is never ending.

            Around the world racial discrimination is never ending.

It is hard to be optimistic, to believe that all this will improve.  Why?  Because a study of history shines a bright light on how as far back as we know it has always been this way.  Like it or not, it is a constant of the human condition.  I’ve been watching a video course on the history of civilizations.  Millennia after millennia we see civilizations rise and fall, repeating in one way or another the same destructive processes.

That we see this and don’t like it doesn’t change what seems inevitable.  Maybe when the robots take over things will be different.

Have a nice day!

Got My Attention!

These have got my attention today:

They say they have a way to stop the 58-story Millennium Tower from sinking.  Right!  Seems like we’ve heard this story before.  Good luck to them.

The Warriors have lost three in a row.  The dynasty needs help to stop it from sinking too.

The Facebook bosses are scrambling to cover their asses.  Will their incompetence and duplicity keep them from sinking?  Let’s hope not.

The Argentine submarine that sank a year ago has been found and family members want their loved one’s remains brought home.  It is 2,975 feet down in a deep canyon.  Maybe ‘no can do’ says the navy.

Trying to keep their governments afloat:  The Brexit-burdened Theresa May in Britain and the corrupt Netanyahu in Israel.

Michael Bloomberg has donated $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University.  Now that’s a serious gift.

My favorite from the Bad Poetry Contest at Columbia Univesity:

Your pith in my nails

As I peel you, stinging juice

Squirts into my soul

From “A Story of Unrequited Love in 5 Haikus,” by Dylan Temel

Election Post Mortem!

While I was happy the House flipped, I noticed that overall I was not thrilled, since there doesn't seem a clear repudiation of the path we're on.  And the real game changers, in Florida, Georgia and Texas, all lost.  My mood improved when I read what my friend Sheila posted on Facebook:

Celebrating the incredible victories of these Democratic women of color. Her story was made tonight — the youngest person elected to Congress; the first Native American woman—and the first openly gay lawmaker—to represent Kansas in Congress; the first Somali-American Muslim woman in the House and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota in Congress; the first Black Congresswoman from Massachusetts, the first Native American woman to represent New Mexico in the House; the first African American woman to represent Connecticut in Congress; and the first Palestinian American Muslim woman in Congress. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Then, when I looked at more election results this morning I saw some bright spots.  Walker in Wisconsin lost.  Rohrabacher in Orange County lost.  The Democrat in Nevada flipped a Senate seat.  And more . . .

Onward . . .