uncommonly feeble and random thoughts

We are in the midst of a polar vortex event, with life-threatening wind chills: James, in Chicago, had a wind chill of -55 yesterday. In the evening, after it had warmed up a bit, he took an Uber to ORD (the freeways at 5 p.m.-ish were nearly empty) and flew to Miami where we picked him up. It was 70 degrees here, so he gained 125 degrees of change over the course of the day. As news of shutdowns (businesses, state and local governments, all schools in mid-Michigan, even MSU, and wait for it... a state of emergency declared by our governor) headlined state news, and the cold headlined national news, this tidbit emerged. The governor of Kentucky (which is known in those parts as "the Commonwealth") announced that shutting everything down was going to "make kids soft". The only thing soft is his brain. Mush. Of course, this is the state that has given us Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell (and, full disclosure, me. But that's totally unrelated. Totally...

I have chosen to believe the president. He said he'd be proud to shut down government, and that he would not blame the Democrats. I heard it (primary source live TV), and I read and saw it (admittedly, secondary sources, but multiple print and media outlets including his own). Thus, it must be true. And I argue that, since others are choosing to believe his latest utterances on topic, I'm logically within rights to believe his earlier statements, especially owing to zero change in his demands. So, now, the author of The Art of the Deal has brought our country to this. We are close to a full month of "shutdown". All-time record. The stuff of legacy. He has made it clear he's not budging. The Senate Majority Leader (Leader; what a bastardization of that term) has stated that he will not bring something to this president which he (the president) will not sign, meaning, anything which does not include $5.7B for a wall, or that-which-might-be-called-something-e...