Yesterday, Trinette came over and moved a bunch of stuff for recyclables, trash, and sharity, so that I have “traffic lanes” again. And she brought in all the mail, which included my ballot, which arrived Saturday (I thought it might, though it was just sent Friday.) She also showed me some pictures from her trip to Portugal last year and of her family. Her mother is as beautiful as she is (and she is names after her mother, Trina – Trinette means “little Trina,” which is ironic considering how tall she is.)
I’m not quite sure exactly what the author means by “the political set.” It could mean politicians and their staffs. It could mean people who are outside of politics, but read about it and discuss it because they darned well want to know what they are voting for – or against. It could also mean that segment of the media which concentrates on politics. Or any combination of those three. If there’s one group there which really should be listening to “ordinary people,” though, it’s the politicians. Politicians represent ordinary people, and therefore should always be listening to them.
The entire newsletter from In The Public Interest is in this newsletter, but I’m sharing for just the first article (feel free to read on.) There is a great meme on this topic which I’ll share as today’s cartoon.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Clemenza de Tito” by Mozart. He wrote 22 operas in so many genres (and mixing them up) so that people are still arguing about what genre some of them are in. But at least some people would say he wrote four “opera seria” (“serious opera”) and this is one of them. Opera began with Monteverdi as an attempt to recreate Greek tragedy (which may or may not have included singing), and opera seria generally are based on ancient Greek or Roman plots. This one is centered on the emperor Titus, who ruled from 79-81 CE. The plot is an “idiot plot” which is generally taken to mean that if there were just one character who wasn’t an idiot, there wouldn’t have been a story. So I won’t go into it. Mozart wrote it at the same time as he was writing “The Magic FLute,” and those were his last two operas, so the music is some of his finest.
https://www.marytrump.org/p/what-it-costs-us
Every now and then, when something which will help everyone is being discussed and Republicans are asking “where will the money come from?” someone with an IQ of 100 or higher will ask, “What will it cost us not to do it?” Of course no Republican ever answers, because if they even treated it as a real question, people might learn that the answer is invariablty “a whole lot more than it costs to do it.” The people I have heard asking it include Robert Reich, Beau (and probably now Belle, though the topic hasn’t come up yet, or I’ve missed it), and now Mary Trump, all of whom have IQs which are clearly above 130. She mentions more than one project, although it’s child care which inspired the question.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-9-2024
I’m sure everyone here has heard this by now, but this is the most detail I have seen on it (outside of Woodward’s book, and it may even surpass that.)
https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/what-trump-is-calling-for-is-fascism
Steve Schmidt is getting real (pun intended.) And unfortunately he’s right. It’s not enough to cite fascism. Too many people have no idea what that implies. It needs to be spelled out.
Yesterday, I heard from my “frosted sister” who lives in Bradenton, FL, right in Milton’s eye. I didn’t hear sooner because she had evacuated (which I was hoping she did), but she’s going back by Monday. The only structural damage to her house this time is to a room that’s more loke a covered porch, but she also lost a shed and a lot of fencing. (Michael, I think it was, took out all her windows, and she only just finished getting them fixed earlier this year.) I’m just glad she and her family and all their pets are safe. But now there’s this (Joyce Vance) Finally, Robert Reich’s election video week is here.
There has been a lot of complaining by people who do not follow politics that “We don’t know who [Kamala] is.” This week she has addressed that with appearances in the media which this article from HuffPo addresses – and also the effect of it on the polls (mostly good).
Living through Hurricane Milton must be just like living through the pandemic for those in the path, except that the liars aren’t in power (at least not in federal power) and not everyone lives in the danger zone. Doktor Zoom’s “Don’t make me”is actually pretty mild. I’m a “Don’t make me rethink free speech” level myself.
Yesterday,I was reminded of an expression I used to see all the time in early and middle 20th century detective novels (but it goes farther back than that.) it does, depending on the point being made, “[name] by name and [name] by nature,” or “[name] by name but not by nature.” For instance, the couple who took their interracial marriage to the Supreme Court and got it legalized nationally – you could call them “Loving by name and loving by nature.” what reminded me was reading that Jeff Crank is the Republican running for Congress in my district. Yeah, he’s definitely Crank by name and crank by nature. Oh, well. As long as he’s otnumbered – I realize that’s not certain, but we are working on it. Also yesterday, I got an email fro Scout Walz, sent by the Harris campaign. I expect all or most of you got it too. If not I’ll be happy to forward it. It reads much like a Dodo video. And one more thing, in case you have seen something about it, the Mollie Kathleen gold mine in Teller County, Colorado, which is now a tourist attraction, did not collapse. It did have an equipment malfunction in that the elevator which takes tourists about 1,000 feet down and then uo again, malfunctioned, and would not go back up. One person has died from causes yet unknown, or at least not published, eleven people have been rescued, twelve were still trapped as of yesterday, and at least one of the 24 is a child. Here is a link for more information. Teller County is the county to the immediate west of my county. My county contains a lot of natural beauty, but I think Teller County has more. Normally the most danger around here is from blizzards (which can be prepared for), hail, and occasional wildfires. Lastly, Ethel Kennedy has died. I’m kind of sorry she had to see what her son did to his father’s memory – and then didn’t get to see him put in his place.
Common sense should tell me that a judge, whether a traffic judge or a Supreme Court Justice, cannot know everything that is known by armies of scientists and researchers. And of course that is why trial attornies so often need to call expert witnesses. But this still makes me nervous.
This fear may be new to Joyce Vance, but it isn’t to me. I have not faced violence as an election “judge” but I certainly have seen situations which might have become violent. And that’s inColorado. She lives in Alabama. Violence may not be likely in her precincts, but I’ll bet there are many majority-black precincts which could easily see pre-planned violence and should prepare for it as best they can. Maybe not violence from ISIS – but definitely from vanilla ISIS.
Yesterday, “Nobody can control the weather” was trending. It needs to be said – but it’s not entirely true. No single person or single group can control the weather. The entire human race working together cannot totally control the weather/ But the entire human race working together has some control over the climate, which means some control over the weather in the long run. We cannot bring down the temperature in any given place today. But over time, if we have raised the temperature in almost ever place, and if we can change our ways and minimize our worst habits, we have a chance of bringing it down, over time – over so much time that I for one will not live to see whether we have done it – or not.
I don’t often cite Steve Schmidt, or at least not a full article, but this one had to be shared. It is as much about morality and pholisophy as it is about politics (which should always be about morality at least, and philosophy if possible.) To make it a bit easier, let me state that he does eventually tell you who Rodney Edmonds was and what he did (and when he starts on the story, you may want a hanky.) Also, “revanchist” means “seeking revenge.” I didn’t know that, and figured therefore not everyone would, and wanted to save y’all a trip to the dictionary.)
This is a referral from Wonkette which I agree is well worth getting wider attention. Most people, including me, tend to think the economy is doing well nationally when we are doing well personally, and when we aren’t, it isn’t. Those who see beyond that are likely to look to the stock ,arket as an economic indicator, which it probably is if you are wealthy, but if not, not. Noahpinion gets us the four real indicators of a strong economy, and that is valuable to know.
Yesterday, I posted an article about rhe DHS Inspector General and what a (insert epothet of choice) he is, and mentioned I didn’t know the procedure for firing him. Apparently POGO does, because after the OT posted, I received from them a petition to sign. Here’s the link. Then, last week, Whitney Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, died at the age of 90. Unless you are a huge fan of gospel music, you likely don’t know that Cissy Houston was a great singer in her own right as well as a major inspiration to her daughter. Here’s her story.
I can be blunt when I need to, but I don’t like to need to (even though I personally prefer to hear my news blunt.) I don’t like needing to know about Donald Trump**, but we do. I don’t like what his niece Mary has to say about Trump** and revenge, but we need to know it – we especially, because we on the right side of the divide are all his targets. Steve Schmidt has also written on this topic, and I plan to share his work tomorrow.
This from the Atlanta Black Star – I don’t know whether to be glad that am innocent man won one in Alabama, or outraged at the assault on he rights which had to go to an appellate court at all. I gues I don’t need to decide – no matter how I look at it, it’s both at once.
Yesterday was the first Monday in October, and that means it was the beginning of the current term for the Supreme Court of the United States. If, like most of us,you pay attention to this Court when it makes a decision which will affect you or someone you care about (and I admit that describes me), this may be a good time to dig a little deeper. Jotce Vance is not on the Supreme Court (more’s the pity for us, though she is probably happy she isn’t), but she knows more about it than most people do.) You can if you wishm read he “The Week Ahead” column for this week I guarantee you will learn something.
People who love horses will be interested in these two companion stories. I can’t speak for other states, but, at least in Colorado, no horses are being killed in the interest of reducing equine crowding. And I can’t say what the horses are thinking, but the girls in this program must feel like they are in heaven. I haven’t been on the back of a horse for at least 50 years now, and I know myself better than to try it now, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the feeling.
I don’t know what else one would expect from a Trump** nominee. But I also don’t know what the process is to fire an Inspector General. If it’s as hard as it is to fire a Postmaster General, that would explain why he hasn’t been fired. We can at least hope that this report from POGO will generate some action.
Yesterday, I went to visit Virgil. I managed to stack the deck correctly before he came in to give him the perfect hand (I had tried twice before, once when he was still at Bent, and had not succeeded, but I finally did.) this time. His face didn’t give it away, but he was impressed – I can tell because he kept mentioning it when he got a hand that was not so good. I couldn’t have asked for a better result. I also learned something from Heather Cox Richardson which surprised me – and that is that the Washington Post has an investigative journalist on their staff. His name is Glenn Kessler, and it’s a pity that more people don’t know it, or anything about his work. Here’s a link to Rchardson’s post, parts of which will likely make you angry, but hopefully Kessler’s findings will help some.
This is not a time sensitive article, but an essay on the death penalty by Mary Trump. She is very articulate on the subject, which should not be a surprise since she is a professional psychologist. Even if she doesn’t say anything new, I expect her to have new ways to say what she does.
Well, at least this (from Wonkette) is more plausible than most of their guanopsychotic panics over what children read. It is possible to choose to be a Democrat, or a Republican, for that matter, whereas it’s not possible to choose to be straight, gay, trans, or whatever – you are as you were born, although that may not show up until puberty (except for trans people – that shows up early enough for affirmative care to be helpful, if it can just be allowed.) I could wish the book had gone into the entire Political Compas instead of pretty much just left and right issues, but everyone here knows I strongly believe that. Last week, over at Democratic Underground, where a few were trashing Jeff Flake (who has endorsed Kamala), I left a comment to the effect that this election is not about left and right, it’s about autocracy and egalitarianism, and at least he’s on the right (excuse me, the correct side) of that, and another DUer was kind enough to respond with this: “If all Americans understood this as well as you do we wouldn’t be in this mess.” That made my day.
