It turned out that, although the kayak rental at the county park was open, you can't go in a kayak by yourself unless you're 18 or older and have a driver's license. F and D, especially the latter, did not want to go in tandem kayaks, and anyway, I didn't have my driver's license with me because I wasn't driving, so I'd left my purse at home.
We hiked in the woods instead and had a nice time, but now my feet hurt.
I saw a cardinal a little while ago! It's a warm day today. We are supposed to get some rain this afternoon. I decided I could take the Boston fern out of the basement and hang it up on the patio. Some fronds turned brown over the winter, but I cut them off and the plant should regenerate before too long. Yesterday, I watered lots of them at the store. Question I usually cannot answer this time of year: "Do you have such-and-such plant, and where is it?" I only know the answer if I've watered that plant today. Everything else is a guess based on past observation, and subject to change. (What, they think I get a briefing? It would take hours.) They might find it faster on their own; I can't go look everywhere and report back. And there are still things we don't (or shouldn't) have yet.
“The point is that Russia under its present leadership behaves as if it were already at war with NATO, and it’s a hotter war than most of the actual Cold War. The problem, as usual, is that developed western countries are not pushing back effectively. Our leaders continue to pretend that we can opt out of conflicts if we choose.”
Excellent piece this morning, Marque. Along with that I get the impression that we are producing a generation or more of young people who would rather “cosplay,” than fight in an actual battle. One minute they are so fragile they need a safe space, and the next they have formed these little groups to act out a kind of aggression that makes no sense.
And, I’m angry with Biden for his constant turn about when it comes to Israel. They have our support, but not for (fill in the blank). They can go after Hamas, but they can’t do anything that might harm civilians, which is impossible. We rarely hear anyone call out Hamas, the ones who started this and perpetuate it. Meanwhile, we have spoon fed Ukraine when it comes to weapons, and there were also told that they were limited in how they could respond to Putin.
I can only imagine what other countries, especially the aggressors, are thinking about us these days.
Yeah. Russia, China, Hamas, etc.: It's a pattern. They push on the American population, doing and saying things we used to assume nobody would do, manipulating, trying to keep it off the headlines so as not to trigger outrage, testing us to see if we recognize what they're up to.
This seems like a new form of cold war, and I say it needs a name! (Someone please get the chief Dispatchers on it.)
I think resistance will have to come from the grassroots, we need to make it a thing, and we need to keep in mind that the enemies of freedom still won't acknowledge it. But assembling facts will at least help our grassroots resistance.
Great thoughts! I hope people will start to wake up because this is definitely a Cold War we have going on. It could easily turn into something much worse if we keep ignoring all the warnings.
I just read that University of NC Chapel Hill unanimously voted to defund DEI and give it to campus police. I think that’s three universities that have gotten rid of DEI now. It gives me hope that we might start seeing more willingness to take a stand from board members.
Did you happen to listen to Jamie Weinstein’s interview today with Bill Ayers, co-founder of The Weather Underground? What a revolting person, but I appreciate hearing exactly how people like this think.
I haven't listened. I might check it out, but I have a lot of podcasts to get to. But I agree that the interview can be helpful, and not just to you and me. There are people out there who don't know about the existence of that kind of thing (maybe they have a romanticized conflation of hippies and revolutionaries in their heads) and ought to hear it firsthand.
We did Mothers day celebrations Saturday, since Katie worked Sunday. We ordered pizza, wings, then set out snacks as we sat about the screen room table. We chatted, we joked, we talked walking shoes. We took the dogs for a walk: Zeus (the blonde devil dog) was so excited he was giddy in his walking.
Katie measured my foot, and if she did it correctly, I'm wearing a shoe roughly 1.5 size too small. I wondered why I was taller than my kids but my shoe size was smaller! After I get back from my trip (gone the 15th-24th) I plan to go to a running store and have them recommend a pair of shoes after measuring my feet. BTW, my second toe is longer than my big toe.
At meeting, our pastor is a seminarian, but he trained to be a chaplain, and didn't take preaching courses. It shows. His sermon on Mothers day was about.....a Catholic priest who runs a ministry helping ex-convicts find work. He stated how effective it was, how research on his mission proved he was right (research can predict who is more likely to reoffend, but among the most promising candidates for parole is hardly better than 50%). Afterwards we left to go to Pam's family for Mothers day. We grilled burgers, we had enough food to feed Gaza, we ate, we chatted. It was a good time. Janet seemed better rested, and stayed awake the entire time I was there (she dozes off a lot). We chatted, she was sorry Katie had to work. Her good naturedness reminds me of Pam, Pam is clearly her daughter!
We got home, I took the dogs for a walk. My youngest set up his golf net in the back yard, and practiced some shots. Katie and I sat behind him and watched. I hit a few, he commented they went straight.
All in all a good weekend. And I'm now up to 34 days without the dogs escaping from me!
I've caught grief at the Mothership over this. I feel the current US Ukrainian policy is evil. We needed from the beginning to either go in, or provide no military aid.
If we went in Putin would turn tail and run, he'd sue for peace, there'd be fewer innocent civilian casualties.
If we stayed completely out and provided no military aid, Russia rolls over Ukraine, Ukraine sues for peace that summer. There'd be fewer innocent civilian casualties.
Instead, we had war-by-proxy-mongers saying how great it is we're using up old ammo so we can replenish it with new stuff, while bleeding the Russians economically and drawing down their weapons. What they leave unsaid is "at a cost to innocent civilians getting killed by the thousands".
I was going to add the observation that humans are so resolute as to let rain keep them from the polls, but found this when digging up evidence: "Rain, rain, voter go away? New evidence on rainfall and voter turnout from the universe of North Carolina voters during the 2012–2020 presidential elections"
We started using mail-in voting, and it’s so much easier. Whenever I went directly to our voting place, I inevitably came across something/someone I wasn’t familiar with. Now, I spend time going over the ballet, and doing some research online.
I'm uncomfortable with universal mail-in due to the elderly being exploited with ballot harvesting schemes. But it's up to the states. If it becomes a problem, it will be fixed.
This state has two-plus weeks of early voting, which is too much by my way of thinking. But the voters seem to like the convenience, even if many don't trust it and vote at the last possible second. (While I was working at the polls, I've had some tell me that they vote in the last hour because there's less chance of their vote being "changed." I cannot make this up.)
If it were left to me there would be an Election Day -- with mail-in ballots available to the elderly, disabled, and anyone willing to go through a rather involved bit of paperwork to get a ballot (including scanned IDs). Election Day would start and end at the same moment across the nation, whether you lived in NYC or Guam and run a full 24 hours. (I don't like elections being decided while polls are still open in Hawaii or wherever.)
But unlike Thomas Friedman, I don't aspire to be Dictator for the Day. So the states will do as they wish. And that's a good thing, too.
I get it, but I’m not as concerned about fraud as maybe I should be. I’m sure there is some fraud just because it seems that it would be impossible to fully prevent it, and still allow as many to vote as possible. And, the downside of being in such a large country is the time zones. People on the East Coast are going to get to vote earlier, and possibly have more influence, but it seems like we’ve managed pretty well.
What I don’t like are the primaries! I hated that Trump already had the nomination sealed by the time I got to vote in Wisconsin. I think Haley could have had a much bigger influence, but it was over before it even got started.
The mail-in ballot thing is a self-correcting problem. You'll know if/when it needs to be revised in your state. But it won't be a pretty moment.
I like Iowa and New Hampshire first to vote for logistical/financial reasons. (Disclosure, I was in NH for wide-open primaries in 1999. What a hoot to meet so many candidates -- even the crazies.) But the rest of the states merit some kind of rotation. This would require cooperation between states -- HA! -- and the parties -- HA SQUARED!
Our best hope is to return to state conventions to award delegates. But that's just one more wish for my benevolent dictatorship.
Regardless of the size of the playground or the bully, this is the same story and the point is as true in world politics as it is in a local playground. If you were Putin, just what about the reaction to the invasion of Ukraine would discourage you? He could very reasonably be thinking all he needs is money for ammunition to go as far as he wants. In fact, he'll be surprised if he meets any real, forceful opposition and why wouldn't that be the case now? (Note, if you're Hamas, you might have the same thought process, though you'd be paying a higher price. Or would you? If they do not value life as we do, and the lives lost are not their own, personal lives, perhaps they don't care about the higher cost.)
I agree with many of your points in here, but also wonder what we should do in response. The reality is stopping the abuses and horrors you mention puts us in the role of the world’s police, and many of us don’t believe that’s our responsibility, nor do they believe we should sacrifice our lives and treasure in that effort. It’s made much more difficult by the fact that we generally play by rules and value human life, while usually the enemies we’re thinking of don’t, which will always put us at a disadvantage. But ignoring them doesn’t work. So what’s the answer? I don’t know.
What I’ve come to believe is there’s no free lunch. It seems pretty obvious to me that we don’t have the luxury of not being involved because the world has grown so small. What happens in other countries does impact us. It might not seem like it in the moment, but projecting outwards tells me that other countries could have a very meaningful negative affect on our country and the lifestyle we are so worried about losing if we do get involved.
I think the opportunity was there all along and still is, albeit with greater risk now. Put USAF and NATO air force resources on the ground and in the air over Ukraine, with public orders to defend the border but not step cross over into Russia's space. Draw a line in the air. Message: You may come to the border but you may not cross it.
Yes, I find that to be the most poignant* criticism of the essay’s point, which sets a moral and ethical bar so high as to imply we must be on a perpetual (military, i.e.: literal) crusade against the world at large. It really is a question as to where to draw the lines.
But I also think we could gain a lot just by changing our posture to one of: We’re not putting up with your crap, punk! Mess with us or our friends and you’re in for a world of hurt!
—
* logical, sensible, rational, reasonable, good-faith, profound, etc.
Good morning. Looks like it will warmup, with predicted highs near 80.
The way that people ignore evil in their midst,thinking that someone else will take care of it,sounds much like how the professional GOP politicians treated Donald trump, as “someone else’s problem.” So he is still around, and is everyone’s problem.
"professional... politicians". There's a problem. We have created a whole (and large) class of professional politicians (for the sake of the headcount, I'm including their staffs, etc). This is now a significant machine whose first order of business is self perpetuation and growth, not serving the country.
It’s a cool 41 in Abiquiu, NM, considered the home of Georgia O’Keefe. It’s supposed to warm up to 69. At least we have sun today. The ride yesterday was cold and wet the first 18 mi. The lower the altitude, the warmer the weather was. We descended a few thousand feet over 37 miles. Cerro Padernel is the famous mesa she painted which we had in view much of our ride.
They shuttled us to our starting point up the mountain and we cycled down. We still had a few thousand feet of elevation to climb. Today we start from here and ride 30 mi to Ojo Caliente Resort, another easy day. Fun fact my sister works at Ojo Caliente per her Facebook profile. I put two and two together a few weeks ago. I reached out to her, she didn’t seem too interested in meeting up. Weirdo.
Sorry to hear, but I get it. I, too, have family stories that do not seem to make sense but I've come to understand I can't do anything about it. Not happy with it, but can't change it. Enjoy the ride!
We’re supposed to hit the mid-70s today. Clear blue skies right now. It was clear and chilly over the weekend, with a strong, steady wind pushing dry air. Slight frost this morning on a nearby rooftop.
Good morning, Phil. Looks like a nice day here. My husband is proposing kayaking at the county park, which has a small lake. Although I'm not sure the kayak rental will be operating this early in the season, the worst case is we take a walk in the woods instead, so it's fine.
Today’s special animal friend is the fungus-cultivating termite Macrotermes michaelseni, a keystone species of the Okavango Delta. Over many centuries, these insects and other termite species were responsible for building up islands in the wetlands, allowing for the growth of trees and the creation of a more diverse ecosystem than would otherwise have existed. The termites’ mound may be 13 feet high above the ground and cover over 500 square feet of area, beneath which are the subsurface chambers and passages. These may be the largest structures not built by humans.
The mound is made of clay mixed with the insects’ saliva, creating a solid, water-resistant surface. Inside, a million or more termites live, reproduce, and digest large quantities of grass, leaves, woody material, and elephant dung. Young worker termites chew up the vegetable material, digest and excrete it, and mold comb-like structures from their feces. In these combs, the fungus Termitomyces schimperi grow. These fungi break down the cellulose in the plant matter. Later, the termites eat the fungus-covered comb, passing the spores through their digestive tracts and helping the fungus to reproduce.
Termite society includes workers, warriors, and reproductive individuals called “alates.” All the inhabitants of the colony are the offspring of the queen, who may produce hundreds of millions of eggs in her lifetime. Once per year, the current generation of alates – both male and female – fly from the mound. They go a fairly short distance, and when a young queen lands, she scrapes off her wings. If she is in proximity to male, the two dig into the ground and start making eggs. A queen will lay an egg every three seconds for 15 years, and she will grow from large-ant size to as big as your index finger. When a queen finally dies, the mound is usually abandoned.
Termite life requires high humidity and a constant temperature of 84-88 degrees. The mound superstructure helps to control the temperature: hot air rises from the underground chambers up a chimney in the center of the mound and is dissipated through an array of thin-walled passages near the surface.
Termites are an important food source in their ecosystem. People eat the flying alates when they emerge each year. So do frogs, spiders, wild puppies and kittens, and birds of prey.
There are other genera and species of termites in southern Africa, all involved in different kinds of decomposition and nutrient recycling. The Jwaneng Diamond Mine in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana was discovered because prospectors observed signs of diamond-containing clays, “Kimberlite,” in soil disturbed by termites over thousands of years.
I saw mentioned somewhere that social insects shouldn’t be thought of in the same paradigm as “higher order” animals. The insect version is more akin to a multicellular organism than social mammalians. The different individuals in insects have very limited and specific roles to play, more like the different tissues in an individual plant or animal.
"The insect version is more akin to a multicellular organism than social mammalians."
Seems reasonable. Consider a fungal mycelium, for example. It grows, reproduces itself, reacts to positive and negative stimuli, defends itself, communicates (in a way).
Good morning. Crushing morosity for the win! Speaking of evil, over at the Mothership, a podcaster has an interview with Bill Ayers, an unapologetic terrorist. I guess when you're a celebrity, you can expect people to treat you as if you have something worth saying. I don't plan to listen.
It will be fascinating to see if Obama attends his funeral someday. Betting money is no, he probably just used Ayres for his own ends. Ayres seems the type to be used by others a lot.
As an aside, does it seem that the Jamie Weinstein podcasts aren't worth the effort? I keep trying and stopping before the end. I think I'm done trying.
I’d give him high marks for being intellectually curious and open. But it also doesn’t typically hold my interest the way some of their other podcasts do. Although I’d like to be able to listen to it, the subject matter of AO is typically too arcane to hold my attention, either.
As for news roundups, I like the Commentary podcast and Reason Roundtable when I have the time. A lot of times I tire of the blather and just want music, though.
I’m genuinely shocked. I do not approve of giving unrepentant Weather Underground terrorists a platform. In a sane society, Bill Ayer’s association with Barack Obama should have ended the latter’s political career.
If you try to compare the way so-called right-wing extremists are treated with how left-wing extremists are treated…I could rant from here on.
Hitler was enabled by the Communists and the USSR: when the Comintern told the German communists they were not to form a coalition government with the social democrats in Weimar Germany, it gave the Hitlerites the opening to form a minority government. Then, Stalin entered into the pact with Hitler to carve up Poland and East Europe. Hitler turned on Stalin, and we made friends with Stalin, who went on to pile corpses up like cordwood all around the world.
And in the postwar years until this day, one of those parties is hated and the other viewed even by Americans as the great ally that sacrificed so much to help us win WWII.
The far right should not be given a whitewashed free pass. But neither should the far left.
Ayres and his brethren should have spent a good long time behind bars. And had they managed to kill anyone other than a couple of their own people, they should have met the same fate as Timothy McVeigh.
McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Bill Ayers and the like all cut from the same bolt of soiled-rotten cloth, regardless of what side of the divide their *politics* falls on. Disgusting.
Bill Ayers escaped jail time (which he richly deserved) for his involvement in several bombings, because overzealous FBI agents were deemed to have conducted illegal searches and wiretaps to get evidence on him.
That means he should get down on his knees and thank God every morning that he remained a free man. Of course, I doubt he believes in God.
Yeah, aware of his *history*. And now he's been 'rehabilitated' enough by the press and others to be "respectable". My a**. Only sorry they didn't get him and his cadre when they had the chance. But the G men blew it, so what'er ya' gonna' do?
But the fact that this guy ultimately became a professor and got to teach university classes is pathetic.
Left-wing extremists are referred to as “activists” while those on the right are rioters, racists, cultists, and other generally less positive labels. It makes me nuts.
While the filthy plague of Trumpism associated itself with such words as classical liberal and conservative, discrediting their benign influences in the eyes of much of the public.
They also posted an interview with Glen Lowry. I’ll probably listen to that aside from the Econtalk episode, I assume.
If the gun politics issues tickle your fancy, I see that Stephen Gutowski of “The Reload” logged a podcast interview with Keven Williamson. The video version is here:
If you're interested in the politics of firearms, The Reload and Gutowski are 1st rate sources of pretty unbiased news. I say "pretty unbiased" only because Gutowski is a "gun guy", and he'd have to be some kind of superhuman to eliminate absolutely every single drop of bias from his reporting. But if the mainstream media were 1/10th of 1% as good at reporting the facts surrounding gun issues as clearly and as free of bias as Gutowski is, we'd all be a hell of a lot better off. I highly recommend The Reload to anyone interested. Even the "free" edition is enough to keep one well informed on issues.
Edit: Didn't see your comment below before I wrote this. Obviously, you're familiar with his work. But I still highly recommend it to anyone interested.
The details of gun-stuff don't interest me, although I admire Mr. Williamson's quixotic quest to introduce actual facts on the subject to the journalistical milieu.
I’ve been a fan of his—and Gutowski’s on the issue. Gutowski first got my attention when he was at the Free Beacon for having very level-headed, fact-based reporting on guns that was a model contrast to the mainstream media’s inflamed issue advocacy and flagrant misinformation.
When he set out on his own to create a gun policy news site, I signed up, even if I’m not very passionate about the issues. That’s not a small step: setting out to set up your own news site and brand it as trying to be as objective as possible.
Gutowski is also a firearms instructor and has offered gun classes to DC area reporters who are interested in the facts about guns rather than the fictions propagated by gun-hating editorial boards.
It turned out that, although the kayak rental at the county park was open, you can't go in a kayak by yourself unless you're 18 or older and have a driver's license. F and D, especially the latter, did not want to go in tandem kayaks, and anyway, I didn't have my driver's license with me because I wasn't driving, so I'd left my purse at home.
We hiked in the woods instead and had a nice time, but now my feet hurt.
And yet, it beats fretting about the end times.
So true.
I saw a cardinal a little while ago! It's a warm day today. We are supposed to get some rain this afternoon. I decided I could take the Boston fern out of the basement and hang it up on the patio. Some fronds turned brown over the winter, but I cut them off and the plant should regenerate before too long. Yesterday, I watered lots of them at the store. Question I usually cannot answer this time of year: "Do you have such-and-such plant, and where is it?" I only know the answer if I've watered that plant today. Everything else is a guess based on past observation, and subject to change. (What, they think I get a briefing? It would take hours.) They might find it faster on their own; I can't go look everywhere and report back. And there are still things we don't (or shouldn't) have yet.
Didn't rain here, but it looks like it might.
“The point is that Russia under its present leadership behaves as if it were already at war with NATO, and it’s a hotter war than most of the actual Cold War. The problem, as usual, is that developed western countries are not pushing back effectively. Our leaders continue to pretend that we can opt out of conflicts if we choose.”
Excellent piece this morning, Marque. Along with that I get the impression that we are producing a generation or more of young people who would rather “cosplay,” than fight in an actual battle. One minute they are so fragile they need a safe space, and the next they have formed these little groups to act out a kind of aggression that makes no sense.
And, I’m angry with Biden for his constant turn about when it comes to Israel. They have our support, but not for (fill in the blank). They can go after Hamas, but they can’t do anything that might harm civilians, which is impossible. We rarely hear anyone call out Hamas, the ones who started this and perpetuate it. Meanwhile, we have spoon fed Ukraine when it comes to weapons, and there were also told that they were limited in how they could respond to Putin.
I can only imagine what other countries, especially the aggressors, are thinking about us these days.
Yeah. Russia, China, Hamas, etc.: It's a pattern. They push on the American population, doing and saying things we used to assume nobody would do, manipulating, trying to keep it off the headlines so as not to trigger outrage, testing us to see if we recognize what they're up to.
This seems like a new form of cold war, and I say it needs a name! (Someone please get the chief Dispatchers on it.)
I think resistance will have to come from the grassroots, we need to make it a thing, and we need to keep in mind that the enemies of freedom still won't acknowledge it. But assembling facts will at least help our grassroots resistance.
Great thoughts! I hope people will start to wake up because this is definitely a Cold War we have going on. It could easily turn into something much worse if we keep ignoring all the warnings.
I just read that University of NC Chapel Hill unanimously voted to defund DEI and give it to campus police. I think that’s three universities that have gotten rid of DEI now. It gives me hope that we might start seeing more willingness to take a stand from board members.
Did you happen to listen to Jamie Weinstein’s interview today with Bill Ayers, co-founder of The Weather Underground? What a revolting person, but I appreciate hearing exactly how people like this think.
I haven't listened. I might check it out, but I have a lot of podcasts to get to. But I agree that the interview can be helpful, and not just to you and me. There are people out there who don't know about the existence of that kind of thing (maybe they have a romanticized conflation of hippies and revolutionaries in their heads) and ought to hear it firsthand.
Don’t worry. Mostly you would find yourself clenching your fists and grinding your teeth!! (I subscribe to way too many podcasts!)
We did Mothers day celebrations Saturday, since Katie worked Sunday. We ordered pizza, wings, then set out snacks as we sat about the screen room table. We chatted, we joked, we talked walking shoes. We took the dogs for a walk: Zeus (the blonde devil dog) was so excited he was giddy in his walking.
Katie measured my foot, and if she did it correctly, I'm wearing a shoe roughly 1.5 size too small. I wondered why I was taller than my kids but my shoe size was smaller! After I get back from my trip (gone the 15th-24th) I plan to go to a running store and have them recommend a pair of shoes after measuring my feet. BTW, my second toe is longer than my big toe.
At meeting, our pastor is a seminarian, but he trained to be a chaplain, and didn't take preaching courses. It shows. His sermon on Mothers day was about.....a Catholic priest who runs a ministry helping ex-convicts find work. He stated how effective it was, how research on his mission proved he was right (research can predict who is more likely to reoffend, but among the most promising candidates for parole is hardly better than 50%). Afterwards we left to go to Pam's family for Mothers day. We grilled burgers, we had enough food to feed Gaza, we ate, we chatted. It was a good time. Janet seemed better rested, and stayed awake the entire time I was there (she dozes off a lot). We chatted, she was sorry Katie had to work. Her good naturedness reminds me of Pam, Pam is clearly her daughter!
We got home, I took the dogs for a walk. My youngest set up his golf net in the back yard, and practiced some shots. Katie and I sat behind him and watched. I hit a few, he commented they went straight.
All in all a good weekend. And I'm now up to 34 days without the dogs escaping from me!
You have Morton's Foot!
Give it back, Jay! Now who has Jay’s foot?
Several jays in my yard seem to have only the usual number of feet, no extras.
I've caught grief at the Mothership over this. I feel the current US Ukrainian policy is evil. We needed from the beginning to either go in, or provide no military aid.
If we went in Putin would turn tail and run, he'd sue for peace, there'd be fewer innocent civilian casualties.
If we stayed completely out and provided no military aid, Russia rolls over Ukraine, Ukraine sues for peace that summer. There'd be fewer innocent civilian casualties.
Instead, we had war-by-proxy-mongers saying how great it is we're using up old ammo so we can replenish it with new stuff, while bleeding the Russians economically and drawing down their weapons. What they leave unsaid is "at a cost to innocent civilians getting killed by the thousands".
Biden's policy is evil.
I vehemently disagree. Death is not the only kind of civilian casuality.
I had composed a thoughtful, concise response but it evaporated. I will try again later.
Lovely. Just lovely.
I was going to add the observation that humans are so resolute as to let rain keep them from the polls, but found this when digging up evidence: "Rain, rain, voter go away? New evidence on rainfall and voter turnout from the universe of North Carolina voters during the 2012–2020 presidential elections"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629824000209
In short, alternative voting methods, including early voting, decrease the impact of weather on turnout.
We have primary run-offs tomorrow forecast high of 71 F and 91% chance of rain.
We started using mail-in voting, and it’s so much easier. Whenever I went directly to our voting place, I inevitably came across something/someone I wasn’t familiar with. Now, I spend time going over the ballet, and doing some research online.
It's funny how stepping into the voting booth makes the choices look different.
Yes, I’m sure I could find all the info ahead of time. Plus, we go to this little building out in the country, and it’s never busy when we go.
I'm uncomfortable with universal mail-in due to the elderly being exploited with ballot harvesting schemes. But it's up to the states. If it becomes a problem, it will be fixed.
This state has two-plus weeks of early voting, which is too much by my way of thinking. But the voters seem to like the convenience, even if many don't trust it and vote at the last possible second. (While I was working at the polls, I've had some tell me that they vote in the last hour because there's less chance of their vote being "changed." I cannot make this up.)
If it were left to me there would be an Election Day -- with mail-in ballots available to the elderly, disabled, and anyone willing to go through a rather involved bit of paperwork to get a ballot (including scanned IDs). Election Day would start and end at the same moment across the nation, whether you lived in NYC or Guam and run a full 24 hours. (I don't like elections being decided while polls are still open in Hawaii or wherever.)
But unlike Thomas Friedman, I don't aspire to be Dictator for the Day. So the states will do as they wish. And that's a good thing, too.
I get it, but I’m not as concerned about fraud as maybe I should be. I’m sure there is some fraud just because it seems that it would be impossible to fully prevent it, and still allow as many to vote as possible. And, the downside of being in such a large country is the time zones. People on the East Coast are going to get to vote earlier, and possibly have more influence, but it seems like we’ve managed pretty well.
What I don’t like are the primaries! I hated that Trump already had the nomination sealed by the time I got to vote in Wisconsin. I think Haley could have had a much bigger influence, but it was over before it even got started.
The mail-in ballot thing is a self-correcting problem. You'll know if/when it needs to be revised in your state. But it won't be a pretty moment.
I like Iowa and New Hampshire first to vote for logistical/financial reasons. (Disclosure, I was in NH for wide-open primaries in 1999. What a hoot to meet so many candidates -- even the crazies.) But the rest of the states merit some kind of rotation. This would require cooperation between states -- HA! -- and the parties -- HA SQUARED!
Our best hope is to return to state conventions to award delegates. But that's just one more wish for my benevolent dictatorship.
Regardless of the size of the playground or the bully, this is the same story and the point is as true in world politics as it is in a local playground. If you were Putin, just what about the reaction to the invasion of Ukraine would discourage you? He could very reasonably be thinking all he needs is money for ammunition to go as far as he wants. In fact, he'll be surprised if he meets any real, forceful opposition and why wouldn't that be the case now? (Note, if you're Hamas, you might have the same thought process, though you'd be paying a higher price. Or would you? If they do not value life as we do, and the lives lost are not their own, personal lives, perhaps they don't care about the higher cost.)
I agree with many of your points in here, but also wonder what we should do in response. The reality is stopping the abuses and horrors you mention puts us in the role of the world’s police, and many of us don’t believe that’s our responsibility, nor do they believe we should sacrifice our lives and treasure in that effort. It’s made much more difficult by the fact that we generally play by rules and value human life, while usually the enemies we’re thinking of don’t, which will always put us at a disadvantage. But ignoring them doesn’t work. So what’s the answer? I don’t know.
What I’ve come to believe is there’s no free lunch. It seems pretty obvious to me that we don’t have the luxury of not being involved because the world has grown so small. What happens in other countries does impact us. It might not seem like it in the moment, but projecting outwards tells me that other countries could have a very meaningful negative affect on our country and the lifestyle we are so worried about losing if we do get involved.
I think the opportunity was there all along and still is, albeit with greater risk now. Put USAF and NATO air force resources on the ground and in the air over Ukraine, with public orders to defend the border but not step cross over into Russia's space. Draw a line in the air. Message: You may come to the border but you may not cross it.
Yes, I find that to be the most poignant* criticism of the essay’s point, which sets a moral and ethical bar so high as to imply we must be on a perpetual (military, i.e.: literal) crusade against the world at large. It really is a question as to where to draw the lines.
But I also think we could gain a lot just by changing our posture to one of: We’re not putting up with your crap, punk! Mess with us or our friends and you’re in for a world of hurt!
—
* logical, sensible, rational, reasonable, good-faith, profound, etc.
I agree completely. Look at Iran. We’ve let them slide for decades and they’ve only become an even bigger threat and destabilizer.
Good morning. Looks like it will warmup, with predicted highs near 80.
The way that people ignore evil in their midst,thinking that someone else will take care of it,sounds much like how the professional GOP politicians treated Donald trump, as “someone else’s problem.” So he is still around, and is everyone’s problem.
"professional... politicians". There's a problem. We have created a whole (and large) class of professional politicians (for the sake of the headcount, I'm including their staffs, etc). This is now a significant machine whose first order of business is self perpetuation and growth, not serving the country.
It’s a cool 41 in Abiquiu, NM, considered the home of Georgia O’Keefe. It’s supposed to warm up to 69. At least we have sun today. The ride yesterday was cold and wet the first 18 mi. The lower the altitude, the warmer the weather was. We descended a few thousand feet over 37 miles. Cerro Padernel is the famous mesa she painted which we had in view much of our ride.
Have a great and safe ride. I’ve driven, not ridden, through quite a bit of NM and love the terrain.
Glad you're having fun!
So, you rode downhill. Will you have to circle back and get back to the starting elevation?
They shuttled us to our starting point up the mountain and we cycled down. We still had a few thousand feet of elevation to climb. Today we start from here and ride 30 mi to Ojo Caliente Resort, another easy day. Fun fact my sister works at Ojo Caliente per her Facebook profile. I put two and two together a few weeks ago. I reached out to her, she didn’t seem too interested in meeting up. Weirdo.
Sorry to hear, but I get it. I, too, have family stories that do not seem to make sense but I've come to understand I can't do anything about it. Not happy with it, but can't change it. Enjoy the ride!
Wow! Sounds breathtaking. I imagine the cool is welcome whenever you have to pedal hard.
We’re supposed to hit the mid-70s today. Clear blue skies right now. It was clear and chilly over the weekend, with a strong, steady wind pushing dry air. Slight frost this morning on a nearby rooftop.
Peonies and poppies are out in full.
We have peonies in bloom in our backyard. They normally bloom closer to Memorial Day, so they are early this year.
Good morning, Phil. Looks like a nice day here. My husband is proposing kayaking at the county park, which has a small lake. Although I'm not sure the kayak rental will be operating this early in the season, the worst case is we take a walk in the woods instead, so it's fine.
Today’s special animal friend is the fungus-cultivating termite Macrotermes michaelseni, a keystone species of the Okavango Delta. Over many centuries, these insects and other termite species were responsible for building up islands in the wetlands, allowing for the growth of trees and the creation of a more diverse ecosystem than would otherwise have existed. The termites’ mound may be 13 feet high above the ground and cover over 500 square feet of area, beneath which are the subsurface chambers and passages. These may be the largest structures not built by humans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGiDwN33WJo
The mound is made of clay mixed with the insects’ saliva, creating a solid, water-resistant surface. Inside, a million or more termites live, reproduce, and digest large quantities of grass, leaves, woody material, and elephant dung. Young worker termites chew up the vegetable material, digest and excrete it, and mold comb-like structures from their feces. In these combs, the fungus Termitomyces schimperi grow. These fungi break down the cellulose in the plant matter. Later, the termites eat the fungus-covered comb, passing the spores through their digestive tracts and helping the fungus to reproduce.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afIqIpQ-vlY
Termite society includes workers, warriors, and reproductive individuals called “alates.” All the inhabitants of the colony are the offspring of the queen, who may produce hundreds of millions of eggs in her lifetime. Once per year, the current generation of alates – both male and female – fly from the mound. They go a fairly short distance, and when a young queen lands, she scrapes off her wings. If she is in proximity to male, the two dig into the ground and start making eggs. A queen will lay an egg every three seconds for 15 years, and she will grow from large-ant size to as big as your index finger. When a queen finally dies, the mound is usually abandoned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO5Fd54Ap_k
Termite life requires high humidity and a constant temperature of 84-88 degrees. The mound superstructure helps to control the temperature: hot air rises from the underground chambers up a chimney in the center of the mound and is dissipated through an array of thin-walled passages near the surface.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=620omdSZzBs
Termites are an important food source in their ecosystem. People eat the flying alates when they emerge each year. So do frogs, spiders, wild puppies and kittens, and birds of prey.
There are other genera and species of termites in southern Africa, all involved in different kinds of decomposition and nutrient recycling. The Jwaneng Diamond Mine in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana was discovered because prospectors observed signs of diamond-containing clays, “Kimberlite,” in soil disturbed by termites over thousands of years.
Just imagine all the Mother's day cards the queen ant got yesterday! Literally the mother of her c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶r̶y̶, mound!
Amazing and disgusting all at once!
I saw mentioned somewhere that social insects shouldn’t be thought of in the same paradigm as “higher order” animals. The insect version is more akin to a multicellular organism than social mammalians. The different individuals in insects have very limited and specific roles to play, more like the different tissues in an individual plant or animal.
"The insect version is more akin to a multicellular organism than social mammalians."
Seems reasonable. Consider a fungal mycelium, for example. It grows, reproduces itself, reacts to positive and negative stimuli, defends itself, communicates (in a way).
Good morning. Crushing morosity for the win! Speaking of evil, over at the Mothership, a podcaster has an interview with Bill Ayers, an unapologetic terrorist. I guess when you're a celebrity, you can expect people to treat you as if you have something worth saying. I don't plan to listen.
It will be fascinating to see if Obama attends his funeral someday. Betting money is no, he probably just used Ayres for his own ends. Ayres seems the type to be used by others a lot.
I am pleased he was denied emeritus status.
As an aside, does it seem that the Jamie Weinstein podcasts aren't worth the effort? I keep trying and stopping before the end. I think I'm done trying.
I’d give him high marks for being intellectually curious and open. But it also doesn’t typically hold my interest the way some of their other podcasts do. Although I’d like to be able to listen to it, the subject matter of AO is typically too arcane to hold my attention, either.
As for news roundups, I like the Commentary podcast and Reason Roundtable when I have the time. A lot of times I tire of the blather and just want music, though.
I pick and choose my AO shows, because like you, I don't sleep in a coffin.
Commentary, Honestly, and Call Me Back are staples for me. GLoP is dessert.
I do audio books more than music now.
Dan Senor had Bibi Netanyahu on his show yesterday. Mr. Netanyahu has such a great radio voice.
Battle of Manila reference. Rabbit hole ...
Was a good one.
I'll catch that one today.
Agree. I made it through one, I think.
And he's hosting Dispatch Live tonight. ... Hard pass.
I’m genuinely shocked. I do not approve of giving unrepentant Weather Underground terrorists a platform. In a sane society, Bill Ayer’s association with Barack Obama should have ended the latter’s political career.
If you try to compare the way so-called right-wing extremists are treated with how left-wing extremists are treated…I could rant from here on.
Hitler was enabled by the Communists and the USSR: when the Comintern told the German communists they were not to form a coalition government with the social democrats in Weimar Germany, it gave the Hitlerites the opening to form a minority government. Then, Stalin entered into the pact with Hitler to carve up Poland and East Europe. Hitler turned on Stalin, and we made friends with Stalin, who went on to pile corpses up like cordwood all around the world.
And in the postwar years until this day, one of those parties is hated and the other viewed even by Americans as the great ally that sacrificed so much to help us win WWII.
The far right should not be given a whitewashed free pass. But neither should the far left.
Ayres and his brethren should have spent a good long time behind bars. And had they managed to kill anyone other than a couple of their own people, they should have met the same fate as Timothy McVeigh.
McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Bill Ayers and the like all cut from the same bolt of soiled-rotten cloth, regardless of what side of the divide their *politics* falls on. Disgusting.
Bill Ayers escaped jail time (which he richly deserved) for his involvement in several bombings, because overzealous FBI agents were deemed to have conducted illegal searches and wiretaps to get evidence on him.
That means he should get down on his knees and thank God every morning that he remained a free man. Of course, I doubt he believes in God.
Yeah, aware of his *history*. And now he's been 'rehabilitated' enough by the press and others to be "respectable". My a**. Only sorry they didn't get him and his cadre when they had the chance. But the G men blew it, so what'er ya' gonna' do?
But the fact that this guy ultimately became a professor and got to teach university classes is pathetic.
Left-wing extremists are referred to as “activists” while those on the right are rioters, racists, cultists, and other generally less positive labels. It makes me nuts.
The Left is far more likely to get that pass than the Right, given that most of the media professionals have at least center-left views.
I agree. Instead, it seems to be the opposite: Barack Obama's shining presence whitewashed the evil of Mr. Ayers and his associates.
While the filthy plague of Trumpism associated itself with such words as classical liberal and conservative, discrediting their benign influences in the eyes of much of the public.
Makes my skin crawl.
They also posted an interview with Glen Lowry. I’ll probably listen to that aside from the Econtalk episode, I assume.
If the gun politics issues tickle your fancy, I see that Stephen Gutowski of “The Reload” logged a podcast interview with Keven Williamson. The video version is here:
https://youtu.be/X5JYG8xrRG4?si=x8Eb5YkvRg7Sgqh3
Audio here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-reload-podcast/id1575280600?i=1000655393635
If you're interested in the politics of firearms, The Reload and Gutowski are 1st rate sources of pretty unbiased news. I say "pretty unbiased" only because Gutowski is a "gun guy", and he'd have to be some kind of superhuman to eliminate absolutely every single drop of bias from his reporting. But if the mainstream media were 1/10th of 1% as good at reporting the facts surrounding gun issues as clearly and as free of bias as Gutowski is, we'd all be a hell of a lot better off. I highly recommend The Reload to anyone interested. Even the "free" edition is enough to keep one well informed on issues.
Edit: Didn't see your comment below before I wrote this. Obviously, you're familiar with his work. But I still highly recommend it to anyone interested.
He has earned the praise.
The details of gun-stuff don't interest me, although I admire Mr. Williamson's quixotic quest to introduce actual facts on the subject to the journalistical milieu.
I’ve been a fan of his—and Gutowski’s on the issue. Gutowski first got my attention when he was at the Free Beacon for having very level-headed, fact-based reporting on guns that was a model contrast to the mainstream media’s inflamed issue advocacy and flagrant misinformation.
When he set out on his own to create a gun policy news site, I signed up, even if I’m not very passionate about the issues. That’s not a small step: setting out to set up your own news site and brand it as trying to be as objective as possible.
Gutowski is also a firearms instructor and has offered gun classes to DC area reporters who are interested in the facts about guns rather than the fictions propagated by gun-hating editorial boards.
It sounds like Mr. Gutowski is doing useful work.
He is.