Yesterday, with the bathroom issue fixed (at least for now) I tried phonimg the internet/phone people’s customer support, which turned out to be useless. I tried to fine an email address, but apparently they only accept on line communication through Fakebook, Xitter, and Instagram, none of which I would touch. Trying to think of some other way, I added to my draft a paragraph about hating chat and that I would log out as soon as I had posted it, I copied and pasted the letter requested a transcript, and logged out. I am anticipating having to go to snailmail, and am prepared for that.
Heather Cox Richardson is always thoughtful and knowledgeable, but sometimes she produces a real zinger – stuff from history which is so pertinent to what we are experiencing that it almost makes the hair stand up on the back of one’s neck. IMO this is one of those times.
This from The Root – it’s totally unrelated to the US or to our politics but it’s so upbeat I felt I needed to share it And y’all needed to see it.
Yesterday, the Riccardis took the song “Who shot the Sheriff” and turned it into “I thought the tariffs” and really covered just about every discouraging point. Well done. I also learned that a 2025 commemorative stamp for Betty White will be released sometime in 2025. She’s one of those people who are/were pretty much universally loved. I also did a little online shopping – I need to get what I need from China before the inauguration while I can still afford to.
Robert Reich on DOGE. I can’t imagine Trump** has the foggiest notion of the other meaning of the acronym – a term from the Italian Renaissance for an absolute ruler. Most people think first of Venice, but other city states also had them, notably Genoa (Simon Boccanegra was one, though the Verdi opera based on him is not 100% historically accurate.) The word is a now obsolete variant of “Il Duce.” Hiding fascism in plain sight. I’d also point out that destroying “bureaucracy” is not an admirable or a desirable goal. As i learned in MBA school, “bureaucracy” was invented to replace partisan government service which had unfairness baked in with a non-partisan, merit based system which would be unbiased. No human institution is perfect, but I would far prefer and always recommend some form of bureaucracy over any other system for running a large country. You might still get screwed by a bureaucrat, but it wouldn’t be for any personal reason. With Trump** and apparently Elno, everything is personal because everything is transactional. (And that part of Verdi’s opera – the dude saying “you gotta reward me because I made you Doge” – and not getting his way and then poisoning Simon – is quite historically accurate, and appropriate to a Trump** administration.)
Robert Hubbell points out that the “red mirage” has not ended, and that the count is still changing – certainly through this week, and maybe longer. More counts will not change the results, because of the electoral college – but we have already seen Trump** fall below 50% of the popular vote, and we may yet see him slip below Kamala’s popular vote total. So much for the “landslide” that really never was anyway.
I don’t know what to do about this -I tried everything I could think of including re-downloading it from my original source, which by the way is here – https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219725786
