We’ve been watching the coverage of the uprising in Minneapolis where the cops murdered a black man, George Floyd, while he was handcuffed with four cops holding him down on the pavement with at least one of them pressing a knee to his neck until it choked him to death. From a newer video, it looked like it was more than one. Yet another “I can’t breathe!” And yet another murder by cop without a cop being charged with murder. Hence, the fury in the streets. Trump’s henchman, AG Bill Barr, ordered that charges be dropped against the Eric Garner murder, and now he’s involved in the George Floyd case as well.
It’s hard to watch buildings looted and burning and mobs of angry people. My almost-64-year-old self can ask, “To what end?” But I remember my young teen self, in the late sixties, when it seemed the news showed the entire country burning, night after night, as people rioted and protested the Viet Nam war. My parents were appalled, disgusted, furious that the “the hippies would do this.” And I remember saying, “But nobody listens if you’re peaceful.” That stunned my mother into silence for a few seconds before she started up her rant, “What do you know, you have no idea, you have so much to learn…yada yada yada.” (Her attitudes changed 180° over the years. I like to think at least partially due to the little bits I threw out there now and then).
Last night Twitter told me that the Space Station would be passing overhead in about 5 minutes after posting the tweet, so John and I ran out on the deck and scanned the night sky. It was a lovely night and the sliver moon was directly in front of us (I love its ripply cast of light on the water). We watched for a bit, waiting for our eyes to acclimate, and saw some stars, and THEN. There was a bright star, and it was moving! FAST! And right toward us, and then over our heads. It was so cool! The timing was perfect! We are geeks!
I wasn’t surprised that the new SpaceX launch (taking a couple of astronauts to the Space Station for the first time from American soil since 2011) had to be scrubbed yesterday due to weather. The weather in Florida sounded iffy for hours before the scheduled launch time anyway, and it didn’t seem like it would improve. It also doesn’t sound like Saturday’s rescheduled launch will happen, either, because: thunder storms expected. Eyeroll. To be honest, having Elon Musk behind all of this scares me. He’s a nutcase.
Nate and Sandra live very close to the beach in Everett, and they spend quite a bit of down time there with Quinn (who LOVES the beach). Some great pics they sent me, and I’m hoping that we will be able to enjoy the Harstine beach sometime soon.
