editor: fred miller March 26, 2023 #52/March/2023
Hello,
Artemizia Foundation opens their gallery March 30. Please check it out, there is some wonderful, disturbing, evocative art waiting for your eyes. artemizia.org. Their hours are 11-4 Thursday-Sunday.
There have been some truly crappy bills coming out from an increasingly authoritarian coercive legislature. But fortunately there is a veto pen in the gov's office. The 'world' view of some of those legislators borders on fetishism about children and non hetro people.Some of these proposed bills are not something that mentally healthy people would propose. Anyway....Check out the bills coming up for vote and let people know either through request to speak, emails to legislators, or better, calls saying you oppose or support. I'm trying to get the Wire out every week while the lege is in session because it is important that those people hear from us.
fred
...............BISBEE STUFF................
VINTAGE BASEBALL
Vintage base ball at Bisbee’s historic Warren Ballpark April 1st and 2nd. Teams from Bisbee, Tucson, Colorado, California and the Phoenix metro area take to the field to play in the 12th Copper City Classic Vintage Base Ball Tournament at Bisbee’s 113-year-old Warren Ballpark.
Go here for schedule and more info: https://friendsofwarrenballpark.com/
...Go here for a PBS feature on Bisbee Vintage Baseball featuring Mike and Judy Anderson; https://news.azpm.org/s/96361-arizona-spotlight-for-march-23-2023/ Vintage base ball clubs are dressed in uniforms dating back a century play by rules in effect when Abraham Lincoln first ran for president in 1860. One of the teams, the Maricopa Maidens, is an all-female team from the Phoenix metroplex that plays in uniforms identical to those worn by women in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1940s and 50s.
Play gets underway at 10 a.m. Admission is $10 for one day or $15 for both days. Children 12 and under are free with an adult ticket. With gratitude, active military are admitted free with ID. Donations will also be gratefully accepted. Beer and concessions will be sold. All proceeds from the event will be used to pay for renovations and improvements at Warren Ballpark.
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THE BISBEE LIBRARY
It's not just about physical books any more! A huge resource in our community, if you haven't, please check out all the stuff going on through the library.
Electronic Lending for audio and e-books. If you are a member of Bisbee library you can download the Libby app and access electronic books from other libraries just by searching for the libraries and following the prompts. For instance I get books from Pima and Tempe libraries in addition to Cochise.
The Pritchard Art Gallery is located in the Living Room of the Copper Queen Library in Old Bisbee. The Gallery hosts four art shows from local artists each year. All sales are handled directly through the artist and 20% of sale proceeds will be donated to the CQL. Bates Corlieu is currently featured
A CULTURE PASS...An ungainly name for a great deal.
If traveling to Tucson or Phoenix or a number of other places in Arizona, you can get a free pass to many cultural destinations. Get it at the library.
A Culture Pass is free admission for two people at participating arts and cultural institutions. In Tucson...Tohono Chul, Desert Museum, Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, Museum of Art, and more. One pass = two free admissions. Some time restrictions..for more info go here:
VOLUNTEER!
The CQ Library Annex in San Jose is looking for volunteers to cover weekly two-hour shifts at the front desk. Duties include greeting patrons, checking library materials in & out, answering questions, and directing patrons to resources. If you are interested in lending a hand, please stop by the Annex or the Main Library to fill out a City of Bisbee Volunteer Application.
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PHOTOS
The Nature Conservancy, Arizona Highways magazine and Cox Communications are partnering for the 10th annual “Adventures in Nature” student photo contest.
Deadline April 12. Go here for rules: https://www.arizonahighways.com/content/student-photo-contest-rules
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COMING EVENTS
Courtesy of This Week in Bisbee All the events and all the venue where they are happening. A very handy weekly guide for Music, Art + Culture Signup form: http://eepurl.com/h5A0Q1 Or send an email to thisweekinbisbee@gmail.com- to subscribe or send events - you will get an automated reply with the link to sign up. You can help Steve keep putting this out by sending him some dough, like $12 for the year. So Cheap! Send your check to This Week in Bisbee,89 Cochise RowBisbee, AZ 85603-1123.
Burnerella "Weird Wild West" April 19 - 23
Mile High Festival April 20
Alice in Bisbeeland April 22
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...............THE LEGE................
This is a lightly edited verision of this weekly newsletter. It is the best roundup of bills in the Lege. Go here for this weeks full newsletter that includes bills in the Rules committee. https://cebv.substack.com/p/cebv-weekly-march-27-2023?emci=7d0aa174-dcc9-ed11-a8e0-00224832e811&emdi=1a22dc8d-e2cb-ed11-a8e0-00224832e811&ceid=12483701 At the bottom is how to info. CEBV Weekly: March 27, 2023 Melinda Merkel Lyer & Cathy Sigmon Have you heard the term “ESG?” This stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, a term that means responsible investing through a whole-world lens.
Responsible investing considers our environmental future, responsible working conditions, worker health and safety, and other good governance issues. Virtually all large banks, funds and investment vehicles take these factors into account. In fact, long-term financial success depends in part on ESG factors.
Conspiracy theorists have seized on this as a sign of a “woke agenda” and are abandoning their free-market laissez-faire economics in order to ban it, with disastrous results. SB1138, SB1139 and SB1500 below would tie the hands of investors, drastically limiting investment choices and potentially costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide. Is this shortsighted crusade worth legislating Arizona’s county treasurers out of having access to banks they can use for payroll? Ask our lawmakers. No, really. Please do.
Issue 2: New Bills in Request to Speak
Yes, even more brand-new bills to the Weekly! More information is available in the Bills in Committee section below; just search for the bill numbers. If you RTS on nothing else this week, please weigh in on these. (We’re really hopeful this is the last batch.)
SB1106, Rogers (R-7), would ban social media platforms from willfully "deplatforming" or “shadow banning” a candidate. Inspired by a conspiracy theory that right-wingers are being persecuted by Big Tech. OPPOSE.
SB1410, Wadsack (R-17), is now subject to a striker that would require public school boards (but not charter schools or ESA-funded voucher schools) to establish the equivalent of Supt. Horne's "teacher snitch line" for parents to report purported violations of their rights. OPPOSE.
SB1660, Kerr (R-25), would create a whole new category of treated wastewater specifically for a new Phoenix-area Nestlé plant that will need more water than available. This could drain Arizona's groundwater and threaten city tap water quality. OPPOSE.
SCR1027, Wadsack (R-17), would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to outlaw ranked-choice voting for city elections. OPPOSE.
HB2312, Jones (R-17), would allow shelters to refuse to hire “biological male” employees to serve women or minor children. Transgender people are affected by domestic violence and sexual assault at much higher rates than the general population. OPPOSE.
HB2411, Cook (R-7), would force solar and wind farms on state or federal land that is currently leased for grazing to compensate ranchers, effectively forever, for their “loss of profits.” State lease proceeds fund public education and other government functions. OPPOSE. This bill is scheduled for a floor vote on Monday. COW and Third Read floor calendars are released only the night before, so we don’t yet have information for Tuesday through Thursday. Contact your senator or representatives directly, as applicable, on bills you care about. HB2800, sponsored by Matt Gress (R-4), would give pay raises to some district and charter teachers. Though the concept is admirable, the purposeful lack of flexibility means that, if the legislature cuts funding to public schools, districts will be forced to lay off teachers (increasing class sizes) rather than reduce pay to make ends meet. It leaves out special education teachers, half-time teachers, and school support personnel. It ties funds to "accountability," even though public school funding is already highly accountable and we’re flinging hundreds of millions a year at ESA vouchers with zero accountability. It does not provide sufficient funds, even at the beginning, to achieve the promised raises. And those funds would be subject to the AEL school spending cap. Teacher pay bill HB2779 (Schwiebert, D-2), which was constructed thoughtfully with input from many education experts, was not given a hearing. Scheduled for a House floor vote, Monday. OPPOSE. The stakes are higher now. All of these bills have been through committees and a full floor vote in their chamber of origin. From here, the path to the governor’s desk is much shorter: only a single floor vote remains MONDAY HB2305, sponsored by Cory McGarr (R-17), would force elections officials to allow representatives of the two largest political parties to observe signature verification for ballots. The bill presents a number of problems. Space for partisan observers is an issue outside of Maricopa County (many rural elections areas are quite small), and including partisan observers would give them access to view voters’ personal information. Violations would be a class 5 felony, and county attorneys would be forced to prosecute, which the House’s own nonpartisan rules attorneys said is unconstitutional. Once again scheduled for Senate Elections Committee, Monday (held on 3/20). OPPOSE. HB2722, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would allow county elections officials to hand count all of the ballots for any election. In November, the courts blocked Cochise County, where the sponsor lives, from hand-counting all midterm ballots. Elections advocates testified that such a move would put ballot security at risk, create counting errors, and damage voter confidence, ushering in a cascading series of events that would seriously undermine election integrity. Cochise County’s elections director has since resigned, citing a physically and emotionally threatening work environment. Scheduled for Senate Elections Committee, Monday. OPPOSE. TUESDAY SB1040, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would ban trans kids from using the school bathrooms, changing facilities and “sleeping quarters” that align with their gender identities. It would create a situation where trans kids couldn’t use any facilities at all without undue scrutiny of their bodies, calling that a "reasonable accommodation." Anyone who “encounters” a trans person in a bathroom could file suit against public schools. A federal court found that these policies violate the US Constitution and Title IX, so in addition to being monstrously cruel and creating harm from continued anti-trans rhetoric, this would open Arizona to a host of lawsuits at taxpayer expense. Polls show that Americans from every political ideology and age group oppose anti-trans legislation. Scheduled for House Education Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE. SB1106, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would ban social media platforms from willfully "deplatforming" or “shadow banning” a candidate. Inspired by a conspiracy theory that right-wingers, candidates in particular, are being persecuted by Big Tech via settings which let the user post and browse the site normally but limits their posts’ reach to other users. Scheduled for House Commerce Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE. SB1138, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would ban banks that do business in Arizona from "discriminating" based on political affiliation or social or environmental values. If the measure passes, most banks would not be able to work with any Arizona counties. Fourteen of Arizona's 15 county treasurers (10 of whom are Republicans) oppose the bill; as the Coconino County treasurer says, “How are teachers going to get payroll if I don’t have a bank I can work with?” Such efforts could cost Arizona millions. Scheduled for House Commerce Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE. SB1410, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), is now subject to a striker from Lupe Diaz (R-19) that would require public school boards (but not charter schools or ESA-funded voucher schools) to establish the equivalent of Supt. Horne's "teacher snitch line" for parents to report purported violations of their rights. School boards would have to designate an administrator at each school to receive parent complaints; these administrators would then have to prepare quarterly reports for ADE. Scheduled for House Education Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE. SB1660, sponsored by Sine Kerr (R-25), would create a whole new category of treated wastewater specifically for manufacturers. Water experts say that could drain Arizona's groundwater, threatening the quality of city tap water. The issue is a new Phoenix-area Nestlé plant that will need more water than available. This change in law would effectively cut out state-licensed public and private water providers. Nearly every Valley city, numerous water officials, and multiple business associations oppose the bill. Scheduled for House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE. HB2312, sponsored by Rachel Jones (R-17), would allow shelters to refuse to hire “biological male” employees to serve women or minors who live there, and would attempt to exempt shelters from existing gender discrimination statutes. This is a blatant attempt to allow discrimination against transgender people, who are affected by domestic violence and sexual assault at much higher rates than the general population. State and federal law both explicitly ban discrimination on the basis of sex. Scheduled for Senate Health & Human Services Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE. HB2338, sponsored by Amish Shah (D-5), would expand Arizona’s Medicaid system to include preventive dental care. This would help maintain overall health and wellness, and save money by helping people avoid serious dental problems. Research shows that gum disease (which is preventable with routine care) may play a role in the development of a number of other conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and respiratory disease. Currently, adults on AHCCCS get only emergency dental care; exams, X-rays, cleanings and other preventive dentistry is not covered. Scheduled for Senate Appropriations Committee, Tuesday. SUPPORT. WEDNESDAY SB1028, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would classify drag performances as “adult cabaret” (a category historically limited to strip shows) and ban them from public property or anywhere else a minor may be able to see them. As Arizona law contains no definition for drag performances, this could ban everything from drag story hours for kids to performances of Cabaret, Rent and even Peter Pan. A first violation would carry to up to 6 months in jail; a subsequent violation would be a felony. Part of a package of bills to ostracize LGBTQ people, perpetuate false offensive narratives, and marginalize or shutter dozens of businesses statewide. Similar attacks on free expression have been proposed in at least 10 states this year. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1029, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would expand Arizona’s first-degree murder statutes to include deaths by fentanyl if the drug can be traced back to a specific individual. The bill’s broad language could subject friends or family of overdose victims to prosecution that includes penalties of life in prison or the death penalty. Cancer patients, for example, use fentanyl patches for pain management, and accidental overdoses by children have become common. Law enforcement should focus on high-risk offenders, expand rehabilitative programs, and work to reduce prison populations, rather than further criminalizing drug use. Part of a package of bills from Republican state lawmakers that would mandate stiffer sentences and punishment for drug enforcement. Once again scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday (discussed and held last week). OPPOSE. SB1030, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would mandate that counties change their zoning laws to define business that hold “drag shows” as adult-oriented, and would also ban the beloved Sunday drag brunch. Part of a package of bills to ostracize LGBTQ people, perpetuate false offensive narratives, and marginalize or shutter dozens of businesses statewide. Polls show Americans from every political ideology and age group oppose anti-trans legislation. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1135, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would force voters who try to return their early ballots at the polls on Election Day to stand in line, surrender their early ballot, show ID, and then wait their turn to fill in a fresh ballot. In November 2022, nearly 1 in 5 voters chose to return their early ballots on Election Day. This bill would also end “emergency voting,” as in-person voting the weekend before Election Day is called. The sponsor says he is trying to “stop voter fraud”; despite copious conspiracy theories, experts say that is exceedingly rare. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1144, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would ban “electronic vote adjudication,” or the process of resolving ballots that may include things like write-in votes, overvotes or marks in the margins. Currently the process is used sparingly, and there’s no good reason to say elections officials can’t use it. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1239, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would allow state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as payment by partnering with a private third-party company. Cryptocurrency is an environmentally destructive bubble that is already popping and a playground for the mega-rich. Even the Wall Street Journal says crypto should be banned, calling it “a gambling contract with a nearly 100% edge for the house.” Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1264, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would ban any elections officer from forming a PAC. This “sore loser bill” is clearly motivated by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer doing just that to back pro-democracy Republicans. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1265, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would ban the use of ranked choice voting in Arizona. Ranked choice voting, similar to an automatic runoff, would open up partisan primaries to all voters regardless of party registration, and tends to result in more centrist, less polarized victors. A coalition of center-right Republicans is discussing a 2024 ballot measure — so, naturally, MAGA is terrified of it. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1281, sponsored by Janae Shamp (R-29), would mandate state income tax rebates of $200 individual, $400 joint, for tax year 2022. The bill’s fiscal note estimates this would cost the state a jaw-dropping $936 million. Part of an overall package of tax cuts which would impact the state General Fund by billions of dollars. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1323, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would put Arizona public school teachers (but not teachers at ESA-funded private schools) behind bars for up to two years if they so much as recommend a book to students that lawmakers consider too “sexually explicit.” The bill builds on last year’s ban, which has essentially frozen the teaching of books like “The Color Purple,” “The Canterbury Tales” and “Atlas Shrugged,” preventing Arizona's students from getting a well-rounded education. State law already makes it a felony to show pornography to children. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1332, sponsored by Janae Shamp (R-29), would make the “cast vote record” (a receipt of everything scanned by a voting machine) a public record. Election deniers have overwhelmed the Maricopa County Elections Department with a deluge of requests for this tedious and routine document, insisting baselessly that it will help detect fraudulent voting patterns. It’s the latest example of the endless, fruitless quest for a smoking gun that has so far yielded no proof of election wrongdoing. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1413, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), would require cities and counties to immediately remove any "homeless encampment" and throw away all materials found there. Homeless people on private property would be charged with trespassing. The bill does not include solutions for housing or shelter. The definition of “homeless encampment” is so broadly written as to criminalize recreational camping. In addition to being blatantly cruel, this bill criminalizes homelessness and has constitutionality issues. The bill was written by the libertarian lobbyist group Goldwater Institute. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1471, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would set up a “man-versus-machine test” of whether humans are better or worse than machines at counting ballots. This would essentially serve as a hand-count audit, measuring accuracy as well as the time and resources required to implement hand counting statewide. Driven by a false belief that machine counting is inherently suspect and susceptible to fraud. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is supporting the bill, saying it “will build confidence in our election system by showing that machine tabulation is highly accurate, free of bias, and fast.” Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1559, sponsored by Steve Kaiser (R-2), would exempt from state taxes all of the profits for a corporation in its first year of business, half the profits in its second year, and a quarter in its third year. Arizona already gives away far more in tax loopholes and carve-outs than it spends in its state budget every year. Most corporations in Arizona pay only the minimum tax of $50, and the bill’s fiscal note observes “a lack of detailed business income data” as a barrier to estimating the cost. State revenues are forecast to crater over the next two years; this is no time to further cut taxes. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1596, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would require government offices, including school districts, to serve as polling places if elections officials ask for it. The chaos of Election Day is disruptive to a school’s normal operation, so the bill would require schools to close. Teachers would be required to attend inservice training and banned from taking a vacation day, presumably to keep them from working the polls. Arizona and the nation are already struggling to find enough elections workers. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1611, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would ban government from contracting with any company unless the contract specifies the company will not "discriminate" based on political affiliation or social or environmental values. Similar to a failed bill from last year and several this session. One recent study says such efforts could cost Arizona millions. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SB1694, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would ban the state, including public schools, from requiring "diversity, equity, and inclusion programs" for its employees, spending public funds on such programs, or setting policies to influence the composition of its workforce on the basis of race, sex, or color. Any employee required to participate could sue. Diversity, equity and inclusion is a philosophy designed to harness the differences, talents and unique qualities of all individuals; this bill pretends our differences don’t exist. When did living in a country that looks like the world, and intentionally making space for all different kinds of people, become a bad thing? Paradoxically, the sponsor says his bill is what MLK would have wanted. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SCR1002, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would ask voters to restrict their own direct democracy powers by requiring a supermajority vote on constitutional amendments. Last year’s Prop 132, which instituted a requirement for a 60% supermajority vote on tax measures, started out as applying to all voter-initiated ballot measures. That high bar doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country. The bill is motivated by majority lawmakers’ increasing frustration with measures they don’t like (voters’ frustration with lawmakers who don’t listen apparently doesn’t figure in) and their fear of losing control of the lawmaking process. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SCR1023, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to repeal charter cities in Arizona. Currently larger cities can adopt a charter, which supersedes any state law that conflicts with purely municipal affairs. State lawmakers have long hated charter cities, passing numerous laws that preempt city regulations on elections, firearms, immigration, smoking, plastic bag use, puppy mills, sugary drinks, water distribution, regulation of dark money, and so much more. The bill’s sponsor has said her intent is to get more Republicans elected to the Tucson City Council. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SCR1024, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), is now subject to a striker that asks voters to enshrine racism in the state Constitution. This culture-war-driven measure would prevent the state from giving minority-owned businesses any preference in state contracts, keep school districts from specifically hiring black or brown teachers in an effort to increase representation, block teachers from discussing inclusion and equity issues that have arisen despite the 14th Amendment, and ban certain content from being taught in schools. This would negatively impact student learning, teacher retention and recruitment, and does nothing to prevent discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity in taxpayer-funded private schools receiving ESA vouchers. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. SCR1027, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to outlaw ranked-choice voting for city elections. This reform is most easily implemented at the local level. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. HB2291, sponsored by David Cook (R-7), is now subject to a striker that would continue the Arizona Schools for the Deaf & Blind (ASDB) for another 8 years. The school, which has educated students with auditory and visual issues since Arizona's statehood in 1912, would have to close by July 1 if the bill does not pass. The delay on reauthorization, usually a clean and seamless process, has fueled suspicions of a more nefarious agenda. Earlier this session, Justine Wadsack (R-17) attempted to force ASDB to offer services to any child with a disability, forcing numerous staffing and programmatic changes and increasing ASDB's annual operating costs by $295 million annually. The school received a clean audit last year as part of its review; we urge lawmakers to continue ASDB so it can continue to help these children with unique needs as Arizona's Constitution requires. Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. SUPPORT. HB2379, sponsored by Matt Gress (R-4), would ban Arizona and its cities and counties from requiring hotels and motels to participate in housing voucher programs that house homeless individuals or families in unoccupied guest rooms. This bill represents NIMBYism at its worst. Arizona has one of the worst homelessness crises in the nation, with a 23% increase last year alone; housing vouchers for apartments remain in short supply. Social service agencies often use hotel vouchers to temporarily shelter homeless people during bad weather or natural disasters; they give people the dignity of privacy, and can accommodate couples, families and people with pets. A recent survey shows nearly all people experiencing homelessness want housing, but not group shelters, mostly due to lack of privacy and safety concerns. Quickly moving people into housing can solve long-term homelessness. Scheduled for Senate Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. HB2533, sponsored by John Gillette (R-30), is a rehash of a bill from last year that would require public schools to post a list of every single item teachers use or discuss with students. The burden this places on already overworked, underpaid Arizona teachers cannot be overstated. Private schools and microschools are exempt. Backed by the Goldwater Institute, and similar to legislation proposed in at least 17 other states. Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE. <......... Use Request to Speak. Our elected officials need to know what we think! Get a RTS Account Use our website. Civic Engagement Beyond Voting’s website features tons of resources, including a RTS training video that’s 5 minutes well spent.
ABOUT SOME MORNINGS ...
This is exerpted from a longer piece in Chatner (https://www.thechatner.com/p/a-press-conference-about-what-happened?)Ostensibly about a press conference (A Press Conference About What Happened To This Morning Where I Was Going To Get So Much Done)
it kind of sums up this retirement thing.
"...Yes, this morning got away from us. We weren’t out of bed at 9:00. If I were to guess — I don’t like to guess, I’d rather wait until more of the numbers came in, but if we’re just talking about a back-of-the-envelope sketch, I’d say that when we realized it was 9:00 all of a sudden, even though we’d woken up on time at 8:15 and hadn’t done anything since 8:15, so how can you suddenly tell me it’s 45 minutes later when nothing has happened? If you wake up at 8:15 and then nothing happens and suddenly it’s 9:12, what are you supposed to do with that? How are you supposed to develop any sort of meaningful relationship between time and effect, between external and internal signifiers of timeliness — seasonableness — between will and action, between the body and the world the body moves through? You tell me. You tell me that, okay. You go tell those kids in the locker room who just put everything out on the line that actually no time has passed at all, because sometimes you don’t do anything and time passes, and sometimes you do as much as you can and time doesn’t pass, and you go explain that to them.
[Pause for question or comment, inaudible.]
I would have marked the period between 8:15 and 9:12 as waking up slowly, which is a value of mine, and so anything that occurred during that period would have been filed under just generally waking up. The process of waking up. Which takes time, you can’t just — you can’t just flip a switch. And then you’re trying to get your arms wrapped around the day, you’re trying to get a hold of something real, but the morning is just featureless, like a big wet rock face and you’re climbing barefoot. My best guess is that when we realized 9:00 had already come and gone that the best thing to do, the safest thing to do, in the interest of safety, was to hang tight in the same place and wait for the next round number to come around before trying to start anything new.
[Pause for question or comment, inaudible.]
You ever try to start something new at 17 minutes after the hour, son? You ever seen what that does to the human body? If you’d seen that, you wouldn’t be asking me that question. I’ve seen it.
[Pause for question or comment, inaudible.]
I think I already conceded that point.
[Pause for question or comment, inaudible.]
Listen, the morning is gone and it’s not coming back. There might have been a window of opportunity shortly before 10, but that was when we learned there was a delivery coming at 11 — that was supposed to arrive at 11 — I don’t know, we still haven’t heard, I think they don’t have my new number yet so actually I should probably go see if I can log into the client portal and try to update it, as long as there’s no two-step verification — obviously there was no chance of starting something new at 10 with that going on, so — The morning is gone. Okay? And I’m as sorry about that as anyone, but it’s just gone. But this afternoon’s not going to get away from us."
GOOD BASE RUNNING...
The Environmental Working Group puts our various guides on cosmetics, sunscreens and other consumer groups. They rank products according to how many or few harmful ingredients. Here is the one they are most know for. https://www.ewg.org/ PRODUCE WITH HIGH LEVELS OF PESTICIDES 1. Strawberries 2. Spinach 3. Kale, collard & mustard greens 4. Peaches 5. Pears 6. Nectarines 7. Apples 8. Grapes 9. Bell & hot Peppers 10. Cherries 11. Blueberries 12. Green Beans