Maybe there’s something to be said for the argument that undocumented aliens should be deported. After all, look what happened to the indigenous people on the land that became the United States. The original inhabitants of this territory were rounded up, slaughtered, or forced to live in what amounted/amounts to concentration camps. Perhaps the only fair and reasonable response is to eject the progeny of the original invaders, returning the land to the collective indigenous people. But that’s not quite what the incoming oligarchs are after, is it? Why, I wonder, are the oligarchs and their cult followers so hell-bent on “sending them all back?” I truly do not understand. I understand their announced reasons—to stop the interlopers from taking “American” jobs—but inasmuch as we all should know, that is pure, unmitigated bullshit. What’s the real reason?
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Hypocrisy seems to be my stock and trade. On one hand, I have long been a rabid proponent of private land ownership (as long as it’s mine). On the other, though, I cannot agree with the logic for private real property ownership. Arguments between economic liberals and socialist economists identify land as a commodity, subject to individual ownership. Indigenous peoples, though, tend to see the use of land as something that can be traded or bartered, but that trade involves only the right to use the land, not the underlying land itself. I read somewhere that indigenous peoples consider land as something to be shared, like air or flowing water, not something to be owned and controlled. Except for my hypocritically fierce insistence that I personally can own a piece of land, my philosophies are in much closer alignment with indigenous peoples than with the capitalistic views. And I would gladly relinquish my claims to land—if everyone else would do the same. Still, that’s a deeply hypocritical attitude that merits deep embarrassment and unvarnished shame.
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I have argued for months that I am perfectly capable of driving myself to medical appointments. Yesterday, I drove myself to get an injection of a synthetic protein intended to treat anemia. Later, I drove myself to a meeting that was to have been held online but could not because of a Zoom failure. Later, still, I took a late afternoon nap. And that nap lasted until around 4 this morning. Apparently, driving myself can wear me out. Or, I have just gotten used to very long periods of sleep. Or, perhaps, my need to get an anemia treatment might have been a clue that I easily can get tired, weak, or light-headed.
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Tonight’s overnight low temperature is expected to drop to 23°F. Tomorrow night’s low should hit 16F. Nighttime lows are forecast to be well below freezing until at least the end of the month. I have grown partial to daytime highs of 77°F to 81°F and nighttime lows of 72°F to 74°F. Where, I wonder, can I find such a place that meets those criteria and a number of others in areas involving social and political climate, economic stability, financial affordability, low crime rate, natural beauty, limitless supply of fresh and clean water, etc.? I’d gladly trade my soul for a large, airy, quiet, full-service apartment in such a place.
