Politics Plus

The day before yesterday, seven score and nineteen years prior, a Natinal Cemetery was dedicated at a tiny town called Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania. Heather Cox Richardson commemorates the occasion in her Letter from an American for November 19. Being a historian, she gets in some detailswhich are little-known along with the story we all know, and her primary point – not new, but often in danger of being forgotten in times like those and these, was Lincoln’s reminder that we have two founding documents, and the Constitution is not the only one which is important.

Yesterday, though, I went to visit Virgil. It waa a quiet day there. We got to sit on the same level one comes in on, and we got to use the deck of cards. I was a bit concerned that the clock can’t be seen from where we sit unless we go down a short flight of stairs – not that easy since I use my wheelchair, and he uses a walker. But the windows (yesm there are windows) cast light and shade on the florr, and later in the afternoon the walls, that it’s almost like having a sundial. And we really do not get many sunless days in Colorado. So I am much lless worried. We played cribbage and I told hi about Joyce Vance’s latest newsletter, which I knew he would enjoy because he thinks silky chickens are just about the cutest things in the world, and she raises them. By the time I exhausted my short term memory, he was green with envy. (She also knits, BTW. I don’t know how she finds time. Of course I’m a lot older.) On the way in I was scoped out by a flock of Canada Geese, and then saw a baby bunny scurry across the pavement in front of me (not close enough to have to sop for, and I was going pretty darn slowly at the timw anyway.) Where I grew up, on the San Franciso peninsula, the only wildlife i saw outside of state or national parks was birds and butterflies – and not all that many of either. After 46 years in Colorado, I haven’t lost my sense of wonder at wildlife, and I hope I bever do.

Grim though it is, I have to mention the mass shooting here in the LGBTQ+ club. Five dead and 18 injured. Just horrible. The suspect is in custody, but even that is small consolation.

Cartoon – 21 Piltdown RTL

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – The White House Admits It: We Might Need to Block the Sun to Stop Climate Change
Quote – The report will be dedicated specifically to a form of geoengineering known as solar radiation management. This is a technique that essentially involves spraying fine aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. The idea is that, once it’s reflected, there’ll be less heat and temperatures will go down. The research plan will be modeling how SRM might impact the atmosphere and assess its viability as a potential technique used to “manage near-term climate risk.” Put it another way: We want to know whether or not we should include this in our “break glass in case of climate disaster” box.
Click through for details. This is a no=brainer, if it can be done safely. It absolutely would work – maybe too well – history shows that The article mentions an 1816 volcanic eruption, but I immediately thought of an eruption in 536 AD, which has been heavily researched. It blocked sunlight so much, and literally around the world, that there was more or less perpetual winter for a couple of years. Some sunlight and warmth is necessary in order to grow food crops, otherwise people starve. IIRC that eruption also facilitated disease transmission until all the particles were gone – or at lease gone from the sky.

Daily Kos – Jan. 6 Panel Creates Subcommittee for Criminal Referrals
Quote – Among those who have ignored subpoenas to appear before the Jan. 6 Committee are GOP Reps. McCarthy, Perry, Jordan, Biggs, Brooks, and of course, TFG himself. Clearly, none of them are out of the barrel just yet. The subcommittee will make recommendations to the full Jan. 6 Panel, which, if approved by a vote, will then pass them along to the Justice Department. This process is hastened by the reality that the GOPosaurs will take control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. That’s only 46 days!
Click through for story. It was actually created about a month ago and has been working, but is just now being made public. Four lawyers, headed by Jamie Raskin (Has anyone besides me noticed that he seems to be aging more rapidly?)

Mother Jones – A Preschool on Wheels Drives Opportunity to Immigrant Families in Colorado
Quote – Parked in the lots of schools, churches, and community centers, the buses are inconspicuous. Most passersby would overlook them, distracted by the natural beauty of their backdrop. But inside, day after day, small wonders are unfolding. Gutted and retrofitted to look like traditional preschool classrooms, these mobile spaces host 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in the valley who, otherwise, likely wouldn’t see a formal learning environment until kindergarten, by which time many of their peers are already steps ahead.
CLck through for more. I had this penciled in before the shooting – and I’m glad I did. I certainly need something positive to offset that tremendous negative, and I hope it will help others too.

Food For Thought