Edmund Schweppe

I voted in today's Massachusetts primary election. Just like four years ago, the Democratic Party ballot had at least one entry for each of the 13 offices up for election in November (with contests for the nominations for Senator, Governor's Councillor, and District Attorney), while the Republican Party ballot had blanks for six of the thirteen offices and only one contest (for the Governor's nomination). Republicans in Massachusetts are in pretty sad shape.

One woman who came in after me was remarkably (and volubly) confused, apparently believing that her status as unenrolled meant that she could vote in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. I have no idea how the very patient volunteer poll worker was able to resolve her confusion.

A reminder of why the US celebrates this day, on the two hundred fiftieth anniversary thereof:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

I'm not sure whether I find it more frightening or more disgusting that so many of the grievances against King George are also applicable to the behavior of President Donald Trump.

(Transcript from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript)

Per the Associated Press, Defense Department slashes its religious designations list from more than 200 choices to 31:
( specifically removing Unitarians )

As a veteran of the United States Navy, and as a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation, I am ... displeased, to put things mildly. As near as I can tell, the practical effects of this decision will be (a) belittling faiths rejected from the official list and (b) making it more difficult for chaplains of those faiths to reach out and minister to their co-religionists. Neither of those are what I'd call a good reason to pull a stunt like this.

[1] No, I'm not going to call it the Department of War on Donald Trump's say-so. Maybe if Congress actually passes a law renaming the department ...

The good news: A couple of months ago, I found out that my car's rear license plate was not merely faded, but was so badly faded that it would fail the state safety inspection. Fortunately, I could order a replacement plate online, and the receipt therefrom was enough to pass the inspection. Today, the replacement plate finally arrived, and I once again have a rear license plate that is both legible and legal.

The bad news: Gasoline prices at the local el-cheapo stations were $3.97 on Monday (the last time I passed through that particular intersection). They're now up twenty cents to $4.17. Yikes.

(And those prices are only likely to go higher, courtesy of our particularly idiotic President and his particularly idiotic war-of-choice which has resulted in the Strait of Hormuz being closed for the last two months.)

The snowfall is pretty much over, but the National Weather Service still has blizzard warnings up for my neck of the woods through Tuesday morning:
( the snowfall my friend / is blowing in the wind )

It's hard to tell exactly how much snow I got from this, because there's been an awful lot of drifting already, but it's at least a foot (because that's the lowest amount I measured) and probably closer to two feet (because some obvious drifts are higher). Still, this isn't anywhere near as bad as southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island; Warwick RI reportedly had over three feet of snow!

Still have power, though, and thus warmth. First things first.

Earlier this week, the weather folks were predicting a potentially big snowstorm for later this weekend, but the expected tracks were all well to my south.

Not any more ...
( Winter Storm Warning, ten to twenty inches of snow possible )
Boy, am I glad I don't have anywhere to travel Monday!

The latest Winter Storm Warning for my locale:
( 20 to 24 inches possible! )

Yeah, definitely delaying any and all travel for the duration.

There's a water main break near the center of town - and I'm apparently on the downstream side. As in, no water for me, for now. (Apart from the gallon or so in the fridge. And the jerrycan I keep under the kitchen sink. And the spare distilled water I keep for the CPAP.)

The water district has crews on site, and the snowpocalypse won't start snowing until tomorrow. However, it is ridiculously cold. Still, this will hopefully be a relatively short annoyance.

I have once again successfully registered for the All Star 2 conference on Star Island.

Given the general sucktasticness of the last several months, it's good to have something to look forward to.

Once again, one of my fellow choristers is reporting that they've got COVID, and quite possibly spread it at the Christmas Eve service. (Like most of the choir, and most of the congregation, said chorister was not masked for any part of the service.)

Surprisingly (not), we had an outbreak last year around Christmas. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the church's policy is still mask-optional, with almost everyone opting for no mask. We do run a bunch of HEPA filters in the Sanctuary, but the CO2 levels at the Christmas Eve service peaked over 1800ppm by my little Aranet.

The good news for me personally is that I have been constantly using N95-grade singers masks, plus a nasal spray (Covixyl) that has demonstrated some protective properties, ever since I started singing again in-person. And, to date, I'm still testing negative - including just now.

So keep on masking up, folks. COVID ain't fucking over, not by a long shot.

I got my COVID booster today at the local Massachusetts CVS store; this time around, it was in the in-store Minute Clinic rather than at the main pharmacy/vaccination counter.

Very easy online signup this time around, with plenty of same-day timeslots available. The signup form had a single "are you eligible for this vaccine y/n?" checkbox; no need for us under-65s to elaborate which official risk factors are applicable.

Very quick appointment as well: in, jab, and out. The nurse-practitioner wasn't masked, alas; however, they were running air filters in the little examining room.

Another win for Team Moderna.

Our choir director missed yesterday's rehearsal, feeling miserable from what he thought was a moderately bad case of the flu. (We're working on a service themed around the Disney movie "Encanto". First time I'm getting to sing Lin-Manuel Miranda's work in choir.)

Today he let us know that, no, not the flu after all. COVID.

The official public health emergencies may be over, but COVID ain't over yet by any stretch of the imagination. Keep masking up, folks.

Last Sunday evening, my church held what we call a solstice vespers service, where we have a collection of readings and musical pieces, including several choral ones. We currently have a huge choir (35 singers!), and our music director got ambitious with the choral works, including two written in eight-part harmony. The good folks at the local public-access TV channel recorded the service, and have just posted their recording on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni4FxRUz3wQ

The US Government is once again offering everyone in the country four free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests by mail. Tests will start shipping on September 30.

https://special.usps.com/testkits

Monday night around 8:45PM, my Verizon fiber optic internet suddenly went away. Coincidentally or not, the data speeds on my Verizon 5G cell service plummeted to half a megabit/second or less. Which meant I could sometimes load low-bandwidth websites and get some emails.

This (Wednesday) morning around 7:00AM, Verizon services are back.

I suppose I shouldn't complain that much; this is the first serious outage I've had since 2008.