When will the appetite for chaos be glutted?

Today, I am home with Holly, because Meg has to work, and G has two appointments, back to back, one in St. J and one in Hanover. Tim will be chauffer. We are running out of personnel. And I honestly do not mind; there's been a major wrinkle in the field trip I have planned, so this will give me a little time to figure out a pivot for that. And I had crazy, chaos-laden dreams that involved shooting and me protecting Holly in my car-- luckily, the shooter who aimed for us had loaded his gun with rock salt. Weird, and very distressing, to say the least. I am ready, past ready, for all of the stressors in my daily life to chill out.

So I hope we have a pleasant day, Holly and I. There will be art projects and baking and probably going outdoors for a bit. We'll see how her mood is-- but I have no other plans, really, other than focusing on her today (and that field trip issue, but that's something I need to manage on the sidelines). 

I woke up to the news that there has been a "suspicious death" at a laundromat by the movie theatre overnight. That's upsetting, too. I hope it's not a major story, but the TV crew from Burlington is here in town. Perhaps it is a slow news day, though Burlington has been a hot spot of violence for a while now. It's incredible, but people are people, and there's a national tenor of hostility that is infusing public life in really toxic ways.

The national news grinds on-- more unsubstantiated, racist lies coming from the GOP, climate-related issues in the south and the west, etc. etc. etc. I don't want to seem jaded, but seriously-- it's horrible, and it's daily. Hourly. Enough, already. We can't immediately fix the wild fires and the flooding, but gee whiz, will SOMEONE please rein in the GOP, especially their nominee and his henchman? Everyone is agog about the shooter at the golf course, and that is something noteworthy. But for the GOP noisemakers to pin this crap on the Democratic party is facile and illogical. The shooter is a former Trump supporter, who is not only incredibly afoul of the law (he has a long rap sheet), but he is a disillusioned and unstable person with an assault weapon. Trump had been warned about golfing at his resorts due to the areas being very close to public roads-- too much access-- but he won't listen. Instead, he makes himself out to be a martyr. And the other young man who was killed after actually firing on Trump was also a disillusioned and unstable person with an assault-style weapon. But Trump succeeded in rolling back the laws regarding mental illness and gun access put in place by President Obama, and he's promised the NRA even more deregulation if he is elected. It's just plain stupid, and you'd think he'd start to get the idea that access to assault-style weapons without regulation is dangerous to other people. 

Apparently, he's invincible, except when he's not, and then it's worthy fodder to fundraise from. Crass.

But back to lies that hurt people-- I wish we had the time and money to prosecute every single politician who creates chaos in order to intentionally hurt people. JD Vance is proud of the lies he has told that are creating havoc in his own state. And since that set of lies has had negative backlash, he's perpetrating more lies, this time about HIV and tuberculosis-- also unsubstantiated. In fact, out and out lies. Why is it that intelligent commentary that offers the facts is not listened to as much as hate speech and demagoguery? 

I blame reality TV; we have, as a nation, a disgusting appetite for the prurient, the shocking, and the absurd. In other words, the past 30-40 years of television, internet, and so on. And look at who is topping the GOP ticket. 

It is a puzzle I can't solve.

C