Am I on the spectrum?

An excellent article in today’s Times explains why autism seems to be increasing.  It’s the diagnosis that’s changed.  Our daughter, who often works with autistic children, explained this to me years ago.  

In the 1980 the 4th edition of the “bible of psychiatry,” the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, changed the definition of autism.  Prior to that, to be autistic meant that before the age of three you had severe cognitive, interpersonal, emotional, and behavioral problems.  

After 1980 if you had something called Asperger’s syndrome, which is more common and much milder, you were on the “Autism spectrum.”

In my high school graduating class we had a guy who doodled by drawing electrical circuits.  For his science project, he made a synthesizer that played music.  In 1959!  He was socially inept, and I don’t think he went to the prom.  We were sort of friends–I was also socially inept and didn’t go to the prom.  I lost touch with him after graduation, and he died before our fifth reunion in a traffic accident.  Was he autistic or just “on the spectrum?”  You can bet that today he would definitely be diagnosed; back then we just thought he was a genius, which I still believe.

There are advantages to being “on the spectrum” in school.  You can get special help.  It can explain bad behavior.  Unfortunately, guys like Robert Kennedy, Jr., are so dumb they think vaccines cause “autism.”  They do their own research.  And some of them are now in charge of our health care.

Ryan MacKenzie, one-term congressman

 At least I hope so.  I called his office to urge him to stand up to Trump.  A young woman answered the phone and took my message.  A few days letter I received a letter that began:

“Thank you for recently contacting my office.  I appreciate hearing from constituents like you because it helps me better represent our entire community.  

“As items move through the legislative process, I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind.”

What crap.  The letter went on to tell me how I could track legislation and how I could receive legislative updates.

I would rather get nothing than a form letter that is insulting to me.  What I really want to hear is that this enormously rich MAGA clone has resigned from the House.  Unfortunately, he will be in until the next Congressional election.  Then he’s toast.

Trump's triumph

Iran’s nuclear capability destroyed (most likely) with just three aircraft.  Iran’s top military officials killed by Israeli drones.  Iran and Israel now agreeing to a cease fire.

Trump and his MAGA minions will be difficult to be around as they preen and strut.  What I worry about is that this will all go to his head, and he will be ordering preparations for the invasion of Greenland.

‘

Hey, it could happen.  In fact, right now I’d say chances are fairly good.

When you can't sleep

Last night about 3 a.m. I woke up thinking about the problems we are facing because of Trump, and sleep would not return.  I got up and grabbed the new novel by Carol Hiaasen entitled Fever Beach.  Hiaasen writes satirical novels about life in Florida, usually with an environmental theme, and Fever Beach is one of his best.  

The book is populated with white supremacists who spell “holocaust” with a K, a congressman who bears a striking resemblance to Matt Gaetz, and a multi-millionaire couple who are starting a scam called “Wee Hammers” based on Habitat for Humanity, except little kids supposedly build the houses.  

I read about 75 pages and was living in Hiassen’s Florida when I fell asleep.  I’ve read that when you can’t fall asleep, get up, do something, take your mind off Trump.  I recommend Hiassen.  As a backup I have a text of European economic history.  That usually takes only five to ten pages. 

Just in case you forgot

Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution:

“The Congress shall have Power...

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”

That clause still stands.  It has not been amended.

 

The Nashville Raids

It seems to me there are three kinds of people.  Some people, a minority probably, would hide Anne Frank.  Some people, one also hopes a minority, would call the Gestapo.  And a third group, probably a majority, would do their best not to get involved.  

ICE and the Tennessee Highway Patrol began pulling people over in the Latin section of Nashville on May 3.  In Nashville people and groups are fighting back.  

The Tennessee Immigrants and Refugee Rights Coalition is posting rights of immigrants on social media and how to respond when taken by ICE.

The American Muslim Advisory Council and the Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors offered a rights workshop for immigrants planning to travel.

The Southern Christian Coalition provides bystander training for how people can help when they see ICE taking people away.

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee has established the Belonging Fund to support agencies that give emergency assistance to families who are affected by ICE arrests.

One organizer said the immigrants who taken are the most visible.  They grow and process the food, stock the stores, wash the dishes in the restaurants where we eat.  They are the guys who pour the concrete, put up the drywall, lay down the roof shingles, clean the office buildings.

These are also the people about whom Trump said “No, they’re not humans.  They’re animals.”

Now some of you will argue “Well, we aren’t killing them.”  Do you know what happens to them?  What if they are put in a prison in El Salvador?  In many cases we don’t know what happens to them after the thugs in masks and unmarked vans speed off with them.  Perhaps you’d like to ask the ICE agents.

Some information for this post is from Margaret Renkl, “The Profound Inhumanity of the ICE Raids, New York Times, (May 23, 2025), p. A20.

Reading books

According to an article in the most recent issue of The Atlantic, a National Endowment for the Arts survey found that fewer than half of American adults read more than a a single book book in 2022.  Is the National Endowment for the Arts still a thing after DOGE?

Are schools still teaching reading?  Is the problem charter schools and home schooling?  This may be “old man syndrome,” but I think the population of this country is getting dumber and dumber.  You want proof?  Look who got a majority of the vote for President in 2024.