Eye Floater

On Thursday morning, I went to the optometrists’ office, where one of the optometrists (not the one I usually see) looked at images of my eyes, and then dilated my left pupil, and examined my left eye directly. Fortunately, there is no sign of my retina detaching, but I have an appointment to come in next month for a follow-up exam, to make sure.

The Red Queen’s Race

This week, an amendment appeared on my Amended docket; this happened quite recently, so I haven’t examined the amendment, and have no real opinions about it. Anyway, I’m up to one case on my Amended docket.

I finished my oldest Regular New application early this week, and went to work on another Regular New. I was trying to write an Office Action on it today, but there’s a computer problem, and written Official Correspondence cannot be saved to the server. Because of this, I took a break to file my Financial Disclosure Form, which is something that has to be done by the middle of February. Then I did some actual examining that did not involve writing up my determinations of patentability or its opposite.

Article by Robert Kagan about Ukraine

Robert Kagan had an article in The Atlantic recently, “Trump Is Facing a Catastrophic Defeat,” warning that without adequate American aid, or even with it, Ukraine may be outright conquered by Russia.

Much of it made good sense to me (alas), but I will quote a pair of sentences which did not: “Many people, and not just Trump’s supporters, similarly assumed that the mere election of Trump would be enough to force Putin to agree to a peace deal. Trump’s tough-guy image and deal making prowess supposedly gave him, in the view of one former Defense official, ‘the power and the credibility with Putin to tell him he must make a just, lasting peace.’”

I certainly never assumed anything like that! Cadet Bone Spurs may have a tough-guy image among the ignorant, but I can’t think of any evidence that he has real courage. As to his credibility, someone may have misspelled “credulity.” We’re talking about the man who accepted Putin’s assurances over the assessments of America’s intelligence agencies, so I would be very much surprised if Putin does not see Trump as a weakling and easily bamboozled chump.

If, Lord forbid, Russia succeeds in conquering Ukraine, I see some possible good coming of it: Some of the less delusional MAGAts may see this as a blow and a national shame to the United States, and Trump’s support may erode. The real estate crash and national debt crisis which we are likely to see in another year or two may also discredit the would-be caudillo. I fear, though, that this could be a very painful and costly way for the country to learn a lesson.