Mark McNease On Topic (Substack)
My Medicare kicked in yesterday, October 1. It’s oddly exciting, and depressing at the same time. I can finally enjoy national healthcare, but I had to live 65 years to get it (okay, almost 65 years— my birthday is October 28).
We had dinner with some friends last night who were hosting their friends from Germany. After giddily announcing I was finally on Medicare, I had to explain to them what the excitement was about. Like the rest of the developed world, they have national healthcare. Americans are unique in our effusive celebrations of a Medicare card arriving in the mail. It sorts of says, “Congratulations! You’ll be dead soon.” And boy, do I plan on using it. My first of several October doctors’ appointments is today!
The Readlines is now a podcast! No robots, no AI, all Mark all the time. Click and listen.
UPDATE: The government did not shut down. While I continue to assume the worst of Republicans in Congress, we can now wait 45 days for the next ransom note.
The Weekly Readlines September 30
Quote for the Week: “… we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” – Retiring Four-Star General Mark Milley
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Senator Diane Feinstein died at 90, leaving a legacy as the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Senate. General Mark Milley retired as the head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, ignoring calls for his execution by one-term fiasco Trump and his toady, AZ Rep. Paul Gosar. And a government shutdown is all but assured after radical Republicans chose cult over country.
The Writers Guild reached an agreement with studios, ending a five-month strike. President Biden walked the picket line with autoworkers in Michigan, becoming the first American President to join striking union members. And Las Vegas’ Culinary Workers Union authorized a strike, threatening to cripple Gomorrah in the desert.
Possibly realizing it’s a violation of federal law while under indictment, Trump denied purchasing a 9mm Glock after a campaign staffer said he did. And the former President was found by a judge to have committed fraud for years in his real estate businesses. His popularity among the base jumped 20 points. Who says crime doesn’t pay?
Banned Books Week Banned in SC School District Then Not Banned After All
Holy turnabout Banned Man! After issuing an edict that Banned Books Week would be banned in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg School District, the District later changed its mind. Nothing says book banning like banning Banned Books Week? Could be …
“In an email to principals Friday afternoon, a CMS spokeswoman warned that the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week Oct. 1-7 “is not aligned with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools academic curriculum or our pillars of excellence.”
Among the many authors who fail to uphold the administrators’ pillars of excellence:
Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Ta Nehesi-Coates, absolutely any book with any LGBTQ characters anywhere in site, including a coffin.
Do you detect a pattern?
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