Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Earth Day plus or minus earth

 

A smiling elderly woman with glasses holding a framed image of a farm
Jessie, Aka "RantMom"
with a picture of the farm
where she grew up

Grieving sucks, okay. If RantWoman were not frazzled enough by news timelines, there is always RANTMOM to keep one awake.


Saturday was 3 months to the day since RantMom departed to other realms. RantWoman had an in-person gig that went well, thanks be to God, despite RantWoman giving in at 2:30 am to waves of RantMom battering any attempt to sleep. 


Then yesterday was one month to the day since RantMom's memorial. RantWoman unintentionally spent the night before on an all-night YouTube news binge and had a lovely walk in balmy weather before breakfast. RantWoman was basically a zombie all day. 


Today is #EarthDay so bless us all with too much to say and a sort of ragged reflection that is half annotated playlist from the memorial, half tribute to all kinds of things, and half just attempting to ride today's waves of whatever is going on.


As for the playlist, there is a site called something like Hymnary that has a ton of interesting info but RantWoman wants some audible experience opportunity. Hence links, and sometimes several per hymn. 

Cope. 

This list is only the ones RantWoman remembers; Little Sister contributed some other suggestions which RantWoman will look up. The RantSisters did well about each other's preferences. Plus neither one of us wanted Amazing Grace. If Little Sister had wanted Amazing Grace, RantWoman would to have the drums from RantMom's church that she did not entirely relate to as part of worship. The whole playlist and modern renditions is a bit of a timewarp and in several cases RantWoman has vivid memory of considerably more old-fashioned renditions. But this is YouTube.

RantMom, basically tone-deaf herself, was unflagging in her support of RantDad's music. Music has always been part of the backbone of RantWoman's experience of God. YouTube is quite the fountain of musical performances, though in a couple cases RantWoman notes that it seems to be fashionable not to perform some verses. 


Now the playlist
In the prelude. Who one earth puts perfectly lovely hymns in the prelude? Little Sister. That's who. 

RantWoman wanted For the Beauty of the Earth on the hymns list partly because it is lovely and simple, partly because we also had it at RantDad's memorial.


Asterisk about European song festival tradition andsinging of hymns as resistance during Soviet times.
More overdone than RantWoman is used to but ....


RantWoman does not remember the other hymns in the prelude or the first hymn, a requested solo from the music director at Little Sister's church because he sang it solo over li-ve-streamed services during the #Pandemic

There was another hymn and then Little Sister spoke.

Next, 

RantWoman decided to stop at one version.
A favorite from Baptist Sunday school but also a lead-in to RantWoman speaking about she and RantBrother inheriting RantDad's congenital cataracts. It never occurred to RantMom that thick glasses should interfere with expectations about making our beds, doing dishes, and other chores.
Also a bit about God at work in the form of others from her church in Billings who also had, um, challenged adult children.

Then before an invitation to others to speak a hymn about the People of God. RantWoman is not familiar with the tune and might have preferred something more inclusive than just Jesus. But  RantWoman was grateful for all who attended regardless of faith.


Next, after many memories, especially of how RantMom made newcomers feel welcome at her church or in her retirement communities:

Then Pastor Jane spoke.

There is a whole thread about RantMom and PastorJane and #COVID

Pastor Jane also elegantly dispatched emotional landmines about RantBrother who, as Pastor Jane put it, RantMom just had to hand to God.

And in the postlude, again all instrumental
two other hymns RantWoman does not remember and How Great Thou Art. RantWoman in general has heard too many way too dirge-like renditions of How Great Thou Art but the Google says that is where a verse about "Bread of Heaven...Feed me til I want no More " can be found.

The bread of heaven part is important because of MANY frustrations about RantMom not wanting to eat, trying to feed herself, and other details that tore at RantWoman's heart as she read about a weighty Friend's parallel journey out of this world.



RantWoman has other #EarthDay reflections and of course more, more, more reflections of RantMom but this is what RantWoman has to offer today.


A beautiful blue urn with a pattern of flowers and butterflies
What's left of RantMom
in her new home

President of the UN General Assembly welcomes 25th forum on Indigenous Issues

#UnitedNations #Indigenous 

This seems like a good item to post on #EarthDay just on principle

Israel is begging for a ceasefire after it's entire northern command got battered

#Iran #Israel 

Posted without further commentary except to note that there are multiple contradictory narratives about practically every thread of the situation in the Middle East.



"The biggest threat to peace and stability in the Middle East is the US working with Israel."
"Iran is NOT an existential threat..the US and Israel are making the problem worse and risk collapsing the international economy."

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Schrodinger's strait. Open? or Closed?

 #Iran #StraitOfHormuz #China




What the US naval blockade is accomplishing with respect to China

Nukes, Israeli spies, and the Canadian PM

#Iran #NuclearIssues


Two US figures share very frank opinions

Scott Ritter on President #StableGenius in the situation room, nuke use and talk of nuke use, generals who refuse illegal orders, the Secretary of #WarCrimes, and starting about minute 14 how the US is broken.



Retired Colonel Douglas mcGregor
a WHOLE bunch of interesting points. Watch the whole video if possible.
STRONG comments about possible offramp and why not basing US forces everywhere would be a good thing.



US has not decided how or when to implement the President's order on nuclear testing.


Part of the back and forth trash talk.



Disrupting Israeli international presence.
Detention of Israeli travelers

Indications that Mossad agents have eyes on Pope Leo XIV over background meetings with Iran
Italy will not use its resources for Israel's purposes



Lawrence O'donell:
Canadian PM calls US President the world's most dangerous and corrupt gangster

Highly Enriched Uranium: HEU

#Iran #NuclearProgram #OperationSapphire #BudapestMemorandum

Readers who want to see RantWoman go off, scroll down past the video and the embedded tweet.

"You can't bomb away their knowledge."

"Trust but verify."

"I think we are going to be dealing with Iran's nuclear program with very few tools...for a long time to come."





RantWoman pops off:

1. If having an insane leader is a reason for the a country not to have nuclear weapons, should the US expect maybe the Argentinian inspector from the IAEA or someone from Sweden to come knocking at our door needing to secure US nuclear weapons?

2. If RantWoman had her way, Israel would be subject to the same level of inspection that is being demanded of Iran. RantWoman thinks Israel will be able even without use of their nukes to wreak horrific carnage across its neighbors, but subjecting itself to international inspection and monitoring COULD be an interesting trust-building exercise.

3. RantWoman rather likes Iran's "How's that working out for you?" reference to the Budapest memorandum. There is plenty of commentary and a certain amount of lament in reference to Russia's war on Ukraine to Ukraine having given up its nukes. Nukes probably would not solve centuries of tug of war about Crimea but Ukraine would have had interesting cards. 

4. Kazakhstan is still cleaning up the consequences of Soviet Nuclear development. Qazaq national identity is grappling with that and, among other things, writing in Latin alphabet instead of Cyrillic.

5. Nostalgia is not exactly the right word, but RantWoman hearkens back to the halcyon days of #StableGenius 1.0 when the President was showing off something pretending to be The Art of the Deal threatening North Korea with nuclear war over Twitter. To this day, RantWoman has no idea why those threats were not deemed a violation of Twitter user agreements, but anyway.
          RantWoman has no exact knowledge of whether that got anywhere or whether the world has just figured out how to live with North Korean nukes. RantWoman does, though, wonder whether conversation would get anywhere if one asked the Dementia Patient in Chief "how's thatworking out for you?" about his previous approach to North Korea. If the President's brain is too far along turning into pudding, is there some lesson the rest of us need to draw.

Terrifying and boring

#Iran #StraitofHormuz


This post dedicated to the 20,000 mariners stuck on cargo ships and oilers in the Persian Gulf because  of military activity.


Every day "Check the crazy. Check the crazy."
50 countries with a common interest to re-open the Strait
European countries "We are not belligerents. We were not consulted...DIPLOMACY"