the end of things

I’ve been thinking about two things lately, both about the end of things.

One is my own mortality. My father died of a massive stroke when he was 73, my sister died of a massive stroke when she was 76. My mother died of the cumulative damage of years of TIAs when she was 79. I’m going to be 76 on my next birthday at the end of this month. No one in my natal family has survived the 70s so far. I feel healthy, am active, no complaints but then my sister probably felt the same way, and maybe my father, before their brains started leaking in the middle of the night. On the other hand, my father’s sister lived to be 92 and his maternal aunt lived well into her late 90s so I’m hanging my star on them. 

The other thing I’ve been thinking about is that maybe it’s time to get rid of all my frit and wax and other miscellaneous model making and glass casting stuff. I haven’t made anything since September 2022 and while I’ve gone several years before without making anything I never lost interest. Until now. Now I have no interest in working in glass, I don’t even look at any of the glass groups on FB anymore, no longer interested in being a part of the glass art scene. The new technique of working with glass ‘clay’ making sculptural objects without a mold is exciting and were I 20 years younger I’d probably be all in but not now. So what to do with my fairly extensive inventory of transparent and opaque frits and powders (many of the jars are two and three deep on the shelves).

I can probably sell them, and I would at a discounted price, and since I live within a few hours of three big cities it wouldn’t be out of the question for interested glass artists to come here which I would prefer since I’m not really interested in packing and shipping. I just need to post on the glass related groups on FB so that may be happening soon. 

Speaking of the end of things, empires last on average 250 - 300 years. Judging by this last year I’d say the US has lost a great deal of its global power that commands respect and may never get it back. The word of our leaders is no longer trusted when any deals made can and are cast aside willy nilly by the next administration and the other nations are making new alliances that exclude the US. MAGA's America First is turning into America Alone. 

It was reported this week that in January senior officials in the Pentagon summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s ambassador to the US at the time, to a meeting at the Pentagon where they berated him over the Pope’s criticism of Trump’s brutish foreign policies, telling him that the US has the military power to do whatever it wants and that the Church better get on its side. In a veiled threat they even invoked the Avignon Papacy, a period in the 14th century during which the French King used his military to force the pope to live in Avignon, France, exerting direct state control over the papacy. It has so alarmed the Vatican that the Pope’s planned visit to the US later in the year has been canceled. Now that the meeting has been brought to light the Pentagon is, of course, blowing smoke and denies any of that happened. However, a source close to the Pope described the meeting as most unpleasant and confrontational. Because of course. Unpleasant and confrontational is how Trump and his administration of cosplay wannabes does things.

Meanwhile Resurrection Day weekend Trump was threatening to annihilate Iran, easily the oldest continuous civilization on the planet, blasting them all to hell, claiming the Iranian people were begging him to do so while complaining to the children at the annual White House egg hunt about how incompetent Biden was with his autopen. Two days later a 2 week ceasefire was announced, Trump having agreed to a 10 point deal brokered by Pakistan that gave Iran everything and gained the US nothing. Trump has been claiming that Iran has been begging him for a peace deal when in fact it is Trump who has been begging Iran and Iran telling him to fuck off. When Iran would not even agree to meet with the US, Trump secretly went to Pakistan hoping that a proposal from a muslim country would be more acceptable. Iran sneered at the US 15 point proposal and countered it with their own 10 point plan wherein all military action against Iran and Lebanon stops, Iran keeps it’s nuclear material, keeps control of the Strait of Hormuz charging $2 million per ship for transit to pay for the reconstruction of the damage caused by the US and Israel, and the withdrawal of all American troops from the region among other things. Trump is crowing about how he brought Iran to its knees, dollar signs in his eyes as he fantasizes Iran splitting that two mil per ship with him. As if. 

Only one problem, Israel said fuck that shit, nobody asked us, and we’re not stopping the bombing of Lebanon because while Israel would love to take Iran out, Israel’s real goal is to increase their territory, something it has been doing since day one of the partition. So the cease fire lasted less than two days, Iran closed the Strait again after letting some ships through, the news media, politicians, and even some of Trump’s supporters were trashing the deal as the disaster for the US it is so now Trump is back to saber rattling and threats.

How much more certifiably insane does Trump and his merry band of sycophantic yes men have to be before the republicans finally admit this disaster of a president and administration for what it is and do the sane thing. I’m not holding my breath. Apparently hanging onto power is the foremost priority of the republican party no matter how much destruction is wrought here and around the world. It reminds me of a single panel cartoon I saw decades ago. A lone heavily armed soldier is standing in the middle of a wasteland, everything and everyone turned to rubble and he says…

“I think I won!”