Prostitutes want my body

When I went on my posting sabbatical last summer, on the day I signed off I listed my email address in case any of my thousands of followers wished to contact me.  Naive and trusting person that I was, it never occurred to me that this was not a good step to take.  

Soon I began to get solicitations from stores, fake invoices that I had ordered various goods, and very explicit come-ons from various sites featuring scantily-clad women who told me they were just waiting for me.

I had enough sense not to click on the prostitutes, but I kept unsubscribing the various companies.  This seemed to result in other companies sending me ads.

When I took my computer in for service last week, it was explained to me that when I unsubscribe, that shows that a living person is there, and companies will sell that email address to other companies.  As for the prostitutes, I had been doing the right thing–delete without opening. 

To end this silliness, I could get a new email address while keeping the old address.  I would then let people who email me know the new address.  At some point I could then delete the old address.  This seems like too much trouble, and it doesn’t take all that long to hit the delete key.  

Remember when the internet was supposed to be this wonderful tool for communicating and would tie the world together?  

I really hate Verizon

We have two landlines in our house.  On Tuesday night during a rain storm both went out.  No dial tone, and the phone says “No Line.”  On Wednesday I call.  You don’t speak to a person, just a disembodied robot.  The robot booked an appointment for Thursday between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., and said an adult had to be home and couldn’t have Covid.  

No one came all day, but about 4 p.m. robot texted that the problem had been resolved.  It hadn’t.  No dial tone, no line.  We called back, but the next appointment won’t be until Monday.  That is almost a week with no service.  My elderly neighbor up the road also has no service; she and I must be on the same line.  She has no cell phone, and she is in poor health.

Verizon robot gives you a number for the Penna. PUC to call if you aren’t satisfied.  If we ever get our landline back, I am calling the PUC first thing. 

DDT ban anniversary

It’s the 2nd anniversary of the attempt by Trump and his dupes to overturn the election.  Today Biden held a medal awards ceremony for some of the men and women who stepped forward to help to preserve our democracy.  It was both fitting and moving.

Not to detract from that ceremony, but this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the banning of the insecticide DDT.  Residue from DDT is “bio-accumulated,” which meets it builds up in fatty tissues.  Animals higher in the food chain are especially affected.  Thus robins began to die because their food was earthworms, which had ingested DDT residue.

When DDT was banned, Pennsylvania had three pairs of nesting bald eagles, our national bird.  Prior to the introduction of DDT after World War II, the state had hundreds of pairs.  Slowly the eagles recovered, and they were removed from the threatened list in Pennsylvania in 2014.  Today there are more than three hundred pairs in the state.

(Info on the DDT ban is from Bob Frye, “The DDT Story,”  Pennsylvania Game News, (Jan. 2023), pp. 16-18.)

Kevin McCarthy frightens me

Nancy Pelosi had members of her caucus who were less than happy with electing her as speaker.  Known as “the Squad,” they were to the left of most House Democrats.  In spite of their differences, they understood the importance of unity, of the need for some compromise in order to accomplish even limited goals.

In the Senate Joe Manchin of West Virginia was not in favor of much of the Biden agenda, but he understood the need to compromise, and the more liberal Democrats understood the need to placate him, given the views of Manchin’s constituents. 

Republicans who oppose McCarthy aren’t like that.  McCarthy isn’t like that either.  They have no policies they want to enact, no goals they want to achieve other than to hold power, no matter what the cost.  

On one level I enjoy watching the Republican House debacle.  On the other hand, the amorality of those people scares me.  I don’t understand how so-called “moderate” Republican members of Congress can even associate with them.  

Tomorrow I’m taking my computer into “Double Click” in Bethlehem for a tuneup.  I don’t know how long it will take to “de-frag” it, but I may be off-line for a number of days. 

Mifepristone in pharmacies

The Food and Drug Administration has given approval for pharmacies to dispense Mifepristone with a doctor’s prescription.  Before this drug was available only in clinics or from doctors.  The drug, taken in combination with a second drug misoprostol, will induce an abortion.  Misoprostol is already widely available.

I don’t know if pharmacies in states like Texas will stock the drug.  I don’t even know if it would be legal to prescribe the drug in those states.  I do know it will be a lot easier to obtain and ship the drugs to friends and family members across the country.  Just saying. 

Speaker Kevin McCarthy?

Tomorrow we will have a new Speaker of the House of Representatives.  The Speaker of the House is third in line for the presidency.  It has been Nancy Pelosi, a true leader who could control her frequently cantankerous caucus and get bills passed.  She is a woman of integrity whose appointments to the Jan. 6 committee showed both her leadership skills and her commitment to democracy.

The new Speaker, although not officially selected as of this writing, will probably be Kevin McCarthy.  If he becomes speaker it will be because he caved for people like that Q-Anon idiot from Georgia and that election denier from Ohio and other House members who aren’t fit to hold office in Parryville, let alone be serving in the House.

McCarthy is the guy who after the Jan. 6 insurrection criticized Trump–for a week.  Then, seeing the way the Republican wind was blowing, sucked up to Trump.  I would say McCarthy is a weasel, but I do not want to insult weasels.   

New Year's Resolutions

I made quite a few:

eat more kale and spinach, 

lay off the rum, 

defeat Republican candidates; 

submit, write, and read more poems, 

eat less beef to help the planet, 

do more to support Ukraine, and 

expand my blog readership by giving out cash prizes.