By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index
October lived up to its reputation for the macabre, unexpected and frightful. Who needs zombies and haunted houses with news like this?
Israel’s 9/11
Israel, if not the world, will forever take note of October 7, 2023. Hamas rockets rained down on that country’s cities as armed men streamed across the border in pickup trucks, on foot, motorcycle, and even on paragliders across, over and around barricades. Hundreds were killed, wounded or taken. Israel responded with an invasion of Gaza. You can see background on Gaza here.
The first casualty of war is truth
It would be easy to make the argument that war accomplishes little, other than ever-expanding realms of destruction – physical, social, moral and psychological, if not more.
Wars are rarely “won”, with any simmering issues settled or reconciled. Most wars “end” with one, or both sides, depleted and demoralized. How wars conclude is rarely firm, clear or even agreed upon.
How wars begin is even murkier. Few if any nations or groups claim credit for initiating any war.
Visible and tangible invasions are often, if not usually, justified by real or perceived injustice and oppression. “No justice, no peace” is a common summation of this principle.
Few, if any, actually want war, but there are few regions or eras free from it.
Any massive outbreak of violence has deep roots of resentment and oppression, if not desperation. Those “roots” bear fruit for generations to come.
Gas prices jump – and drop
Trouble in the Middle East generally indicates an increase in oil prices – and they did jump briefly, and then dropped.
Chaos in our capitol
Republican Kevin McCarthy, (former) Speaker of the House, was the first U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives in our nation’s history voted out by his own caucus.
Eight Republicans on October 3rd joined all House Democrats to vote to remove McCarthy as speaker.
It took McCarthy 15 rounds of voting to be elected back in January.
Congress was essentially paralyzed through most of the month without a House Speaker.
Those office holders who ran on the platform that “government is the problem” seem determined to prove their case.
Competence and integrity seem to be forgotten relics of a more innocent age.
One member of the GOP majority felt compelled to remind his colleagues that they were part of an “actual government” – not just a platform for personal agendas.
On October 25, a Speaker was finally chosen – Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.). Johnson, who served as vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, was the GOP’s fourth nominee for the speakership.
Johnson helped lead and legally justify the opposition to the results of the 2020 presidential election. He also objected to certifying Biden’s electoral win and was one of the architects of a legal attack on the election that consisted of arguing that states’ voting accommodations during the pandemic were unconstitutional.
To put it mildly, his legislative record was not memorable. Even many fellow House members had to Google his name to find our more about him.
Many political commentators do not expect him to 1). pull together a fractious branch of our government or 2). last more than a month or two as Speaker.
Pharmacies are not well
You may have noticed that more and more pharmacies are boarded up. We can expect more to close.
One of the largest pharmacy chains in the country, Rite Aid, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the middle of October. The Chapter 11 filing allows a company to stay in business while restructuring its debts through a court-controlled process.
Rite Aid reported in June that it had $3.3 billion in debt, compared to $135.5 million in cash it had on hand.
Rite Aid was founded in 1962 and (as of summer of 2023), had more than 2,000 stores in 17 states. Rite Aid bought out Washington state based Bartell’s in 2020.
Earthquakes here and afar
Two strong earthquakes hit western Afghanistan on October 7— with up to 2,000 feared dead and many more injured and dislocated. It’s one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades. A series of 6.3 magnitude quakes flattened stone and mud-brick homes.
A much smaller earthquake (a little over 4.0) hit the center of Puget Sound on the evening of October 8, with no reports of major damage or injury.
A key principle of earthquake safety is that earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings kill people.
To monitor earthquakes here and around the world, keep an eye on this website.
In technology
LinkedIn will begin to add artificial intelligence features to its core businesses, allowing recruiters to find job candidates by asking questions in natural language. Will this make the employment process easier or even more stressful?
LinkedIn later in the month announced that they were cutting up to 700 positions.
