September 11, 2020
Dear Everyone:
Nineteen years ago today, a wealthy nutcase
named Osama bin Laden decided to attack the United States with suicidal
acolytes willing to fly airliners into occupied buildings.
Thousands of lives were lost.
Why did he do it?
Good question.
He claimed that the US “infidel” forces had desecrated Saudi Arabia when
President George H.W. Bush sent them in to deal with Saddam Hussein’s
little invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
In reality, bin Laden had (in his own mind) defeated one World
Power, Russia, when he, with the help of a “few” mujahideen, drove the
invaders out of Afghanistan a decade earlier.
He desperately wanted to defeat the other World Power, the United
States, coincidentally recovering some of his former glory.
Instead, he wound up hiding out for the next ten years in the
wilds of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Now we’re learning that another “wealthy” nutcase decided to choose
between his own selfish interests and the well-being of 330 million
residents of the United States, downplaying the dangers of the Covid-19
Pandemic in favor of his reelection plans.
Again, thousands of lives were lost.
Which is more culpable? If
you measure simply by the number of deaths, Donny the Magnificent, wins
hands down. Bin Laden could
only claim around 3,000.
Donny the Magnificent has over 191,000 and counting to his credit.
He’s so much better (BETTER THAN ANYONE!!!) at just about everything.
Even now, he continues to lie with all the enthusiasm of a slightly
demented used car salesman.
“This car is stupendous!
Stupendous!!! It was owned
by a little old lady in Pasadena who never even drove it.”
As for myself, nineteen years ago today, I was
in a high rise office building in downtown Houston, on a business trip.
It took me a week to get home.
On the Plus Side, I was lodged in a four-star hotel with an
expense account.
Also on the Plus Side, I got my flu vaccination
this week, so that’s take care of.
Despite the assurances of Donny the
Magnificent, I keep a mask and gloves in my purse at all times.
No one is allowed inside any stores in California without a mask.
I even have one hanging on the hook in front of my house keys, so
I don’t even take out the garbage, or visit the mailbox without a mask.
It may be hanging out of my pocket when no one else is around,
but I wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without it.
In other news…
Here in California, we’re dealing with a lot of
wildfires. Remember when the
“fire season” didn’t begin until October?
Ah, the Good Old Days.
Two days ago, the air was orange and the sky a
yellowish gray. At nearly
noon, it was so dark that the street lights came on.
Remember when Sci-Fi shows like Star Trek and Lost in
Space would attempt to make an environment look alien by slipping a
colored gel in front of the camera lens?
It looked a lot like that.
But by the next day, the wind had blown a lot
of the smoke further on and things went back to “normal”.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District reported that the
air quality readings were “low”.
Most of the smoke was so high in the atmosphere that it didn’t
quite register.
In the meantime, my car is covered in ash.
I’ll wait until next week to get it washed off.
No sense in going too soon and having to do it all over again a
few days later.
Love, as always,
Pete
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