Diary

For a break from Emily Dickinson, I decided to make a "Diary" post. I really don't like following the news, but thought that I should say something about Charlie Kirk. I had barely heard of him, so I did minimal research on him to find out what he represented. I came across a video of one of his rallies, in which he had a discussion with an atheist. This was quite interesting, because Kirk was well prepared and listed several arguments for the existence of God. He didn't actually interact much with the atheist, but he wasn't dogmatic. Finally, the atheist, who was an overweight, slightly unkempt young MAGA supporter, said that he wasn't convinced by any of those arguments. Kirk then tried to explain his personal reasoning for his belief in God. This had to do with probabilities – how it seemed impossible that we could be here at all without a God. The atheist tried to explain to him that the universe is extremely large, and that there may be many other civilizations of which we are unaware. That's about as far as the discussion went, but I was surprised how open to discussion Kirk seemed. The audience, however, disliked the atheist and was glad to see him go.

Of course, I haven't changed my position at all on free speech and don't think that Charlie Kirk deserved to be shot. For a right-wing supporter, he was actually quite civil. Even so, he was just a careerist evangelical, and I have no respect for so-called Christians who cozy up to Donald Trump. I've been wincing ever since the 1960's from exposure to people like Billy Graham. At heart, this is just a sophisticated form of hucksterism. Saint Donald has even less credibility than Saint Richard Nixon. These days, any religious movement in the U.S. is likely to be a form of financial opportunism. Once you realize how gullible people are, there is no mystery to this phenomenon.

Another phenomenon that I'm tired of is the rise of blonde-bimboism. There has been an explosion of blonde bimbos, from press secretaries to cabinet members to news reporters. Everywhere now resembles Fox News. I had been closely watching Laura Barrón-López at PBS NewsHour, who covered the White House and obviously disliked the passivity of her co-workers, who have become increasingly corporate in recent years. I can hardly stand Amna Nawaz or Nick Schifrin, who labor to remove any hint of personal judgment from their reporting. This has been a major trend for several years in most news media, including the New York Times and Washington Post. Because of the risks associated with upsetting politicians or corporations, news outlets have now generally adopted the Fox News model, which is infotainment. Under these circumstances, Laura Barrón-López has left PBS NewsHour for MSNBC. And Laura has been replaced by....a blonde bimbo! I'll reserve judgment on the blonde bimbo, but the management strategy at PBS NewsHour had clearly shifted to avoiding upsetting the Trump administration and corporate funders. It is quite unsettling to see law firms, corporations, universities and news media cave in to the Trump administration, but I still think that Trump's success depends on job creation, an area where I don't think he is making any progress. Unfortunately, the economy itself is almost on autopilot and may still do well even if Trump unwittingly damages it.

Back here at the home front, fall is rapidly approaching. The leaves are turning, particularly in the mountains, but may not be as colorful as usual due to the drought. I have too many tomatoes again, and some of them are getting overripe. Fortunately, the yard is surrounded by a gigantic compost pile, so I just chuck them into the woods. The cherry tomatoes that I grew are quite tasty, and I usually just eat them when I'm out in the yard. The telescope is working correctly now, and I've done a little stargazing. This morning at 5:30 there was a deer in the yard and Orion was overhead.

Normally at this time of year there would be mice crawling all over the outside of the house at night and storing food. I haven't seen any at all. As part of my mouse-blocking, last year I removed the one-way mouse door in the eaves that had been placed there by exterminators; I had seen that some mice were getting in through there. I also sealed the remaining hole with caulk. There was an unexpected benefit to that, because flies and other insects had been getting into the walls from there. As the weather cooled, flies started to appear in the house in 2023 and 2024, but there haven't been any this year.