There goes the neighborhood

© Sheneman, the Star-Ledger

News blues…

White, in-charge-of-the-system, America is slowing waking up to the reality that “white, right-wing extremism” can be synonymous with “domestic terrorism.”
Can business-as-usual grapple with climate change, income inequality, racial inequality, economic collapse, teetering democracy, recalcitrant Republicanism, developing fascism, and “domestic terrorism”?
Under a Biden presidency?
Enquiring minds wanna know.
Federal statutes provide a definition of domestic terrorism, but there is no a specific law that outlaws it .
I suspect We the People will watch months, if not years, of Congressional squabbling as House and Senate grapple with an agreed upon and just solution to address the recent insurrection.
Keep in mind …

Just six weeks after the September 11 attacks, a panicked Congress passed the "USA/Patriot Act," an overnight revision of the nation's surveillance laws that vastly expanded the government's authority to spy on its own citizens, while simultaneously reducing checks and balances on those powers like judicial oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government searches in court.

“Panicked” is the key word.
Congress is panicked again. And pressure is building for Congress to refine “domestic terrorism” – or not. The Patriot Act was controversial at the time . Any tool can be abused.
One view of the pros and cons of The Patriot Act. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Update: My throat is less sore than the early hours of Saturday, but still sore. The care routine I’ve developed over the past 3 days: gargle salt water upon waking; drink orange juice then indulge in coffee; breathe in steam; suck a Strepsil lozenge (flubiporfen 8.75 mg) every 3 to 4 hours; continue to regularly gargle salt water.
After I complained to a friend that I was developing ear ache, he recommended gargling with alcohol. Hmmm. Okay. Of a choice between gin and rum, I prefer rum, so I chose gargling with gin. “Gin might be too strong,” he advised.
As we chatted on the phone, I gargled a small swig of rum.
My friend had suggested I spit it out. Alas, the (grapefruit-flavored) rum gargle tasted great - so I swallowed it.
Delicious.
Next time you have a sore throat, gargle with grapefruit flavor rum.
Not sure it helped my sore throat, but it was a good start to the day.
Observations:
Symptoms lessen during the day.
Sense of smell is robust; no loss of energy nor increased fatigue; no fever; no head- or body aches; no cough.
Conclusion: perhaps a slow-developing cold?