Good morning campers. Oh it’s 2:22 PM, that’s technically afternoon. I didn’t wake up until 12:15 so for me it’s morning. When I sleep late like that, I call it the land of the lotus eaters. I was doing that often for a while and I forced myself to stop. I’ll let myself do it on Saturdays, but I don’t want to do it even then. This is not a matter of my going to sleep and staying asleep for 10 hours. I first woke up at 8:08 and let myself go back to sleep. I then surfed the boundary of sleep and wakefulness for four hours. That’s the land of the lotus eaters. It is extremely pleasant, and it takes a conscious effort to break out of it. I can, all it takes is sitting up, taking my meds, and getting out of bed. Some days I can’t summon the will to do that. When I’m like this, dreams turn to daydreams then back to dreams. When I move towards consciousness I think about the dream and soon I’m fully asleep and continuing the dream. I have never taken mind altering drugs, but this is what I imagine it’s like and my difficulty resisting it is why I have never taken mind altering drugs.
I’ve been isolated this week; I haven’t seen a friend since Katherine’s party on Sunday. The only one I’ve talked to on the phone since then is Katrina. I need to make an effort to reach out. It’s a beautiful day. I should meet somebody outdoors. Does anyone want to go to the Bronx Zoo or New York Botanical Garden with me?
Most people I know are disgusted by the Senate Bill 8, the Texas abortion ban. I am too and have been thinking about possible tactics to combat it. One that I’m surprised hasn’t been suggested is publicly breaking the law by transporting a woman to another state for an abortion, and then challenging the suit in court. The reason SCOTUS gave for not acting on it was that it doesn’t involve state actors so they could not preemptively ban enforcement. While we can wait for a case to come up, we should expedite the process and make sure the person enabling the abortion has the resources to fight the suit. The law says that anyone in Texas can sue anyone that abets and abortion by a woman in Texas for $10,000. This is terrible and I don’t see why people can’t get the basic facts right. I heard a political commentator say that anyone in the world can file the suit. I’ve seen multiple people on Facebook say that the woman having the abortion can be sued, she can’t. You’d think that if someone was that outraged, they’d make the effort to get the basic facts right.
Another tactic we can try is enacting laws in blue states to let private citizens sue anyone in the state for keeping a gun, not getting vaccinated when there’s no health problem preventing it, or not wearing a mask. Unlike abortion these things all potentially endanger the plaintiff, they have standing beyond that given by legislative fiat. That might discourage the right from giving states that power. The entire idea that you can’t pre-emptively challenge a law that violates constitutional rights because enforcement is by civil courts is absurd. How about a law saying you can sue someone for publishing something that hurts your feelings? Why not a law letting you sue a business for suing kosher foods? Here’s a good one, suing someone for protesting at an abortion clinic? By the court’s logic none of these could be stayed until there’s been a private lawsuit. My problem with this strategy is that I’m afraid that many people on both the right and left would be happy with this. People love imposing their personal values on others.
While writing this the score of the Met-National game has gone from 9-0 Mets to 9-7. I need to give the team my full support then go for my walk. Till then, Vaya con el monstruo de espagueti volador mis compañeros.
Wise Madness 