Nature – Politics Plus

Yesterday, Trinette emailed about sending Zach over to whack my weeds. I chuckled, because this was the second time in just a few days I had made a correct prediction. The first one was on Saturday, when I told Virgil that by Sunday morning he would forget that was coming to see him. Then when I got home, I looked at the yard and thought I should be hearing from Trinette soon about the weeds. My name is still not Jeane Dixon, and I am still not psychic. Both predictions were based on lots of prior knowledge. But it’s still amusing. Also, when I saw this alert from Axios, the word which caught my eye was “federal” – what could have motivated this regime to prosecute a hate crime? After looking at the details I realized the injured must all be white, and the suspect is Muslim. Sigh. Not that prosecution isn’t appropriate – it is – but in this regime it only goes one way. And that’s not appropriate. Finally, The Nature Conservancy is offering a guide to “day trips” around the country, I gather hoping to get people to look at the natural beauty we have and maybe even care about protecting it. Of course they want you on their mailing list – but if you aren’t already and don’t like that you can always unsubscribe.

“The inmates are running the asylum” is bad enough, but when it comes to the point where the inmates in the asylum are running the country, well, that’s a few levels up. (Americans love sports analogies, and I guess computer gaming is a sport now.) Heather Cox Richardson discusses how Federal budget cuts are going to cost more money than they save, as anyone with a brain could have foreseen. (But Richardson does it better than just “anyone with a brain.”)

Harry Litman discusses independent agencies, the unitary executive theory, the shadow docket of the Supremes, and a dangerous decision from the latter last week. As someone who was born a few month’s after FDR’s death, I have never lived in a United States which did not have independent agencies (and I am the oldest one here, except for Mitch D, and he’s not that much older.) We’ve all studied governments without independent agencies, in history, and in other countries. But we haven’t lived under those conditions. Now we are about to.

I think it’s only fair to Steve Schmidt to share his expose of someone who once worked for him and now works for the Nectarine Napoleon through RFK Jr. Steve has good reason to be furious (including with himself for not seeing fellow Republicans for who they are sooner. Although I get it. It’s tough to see someone gradually falling into insanity – until it’s too late.)

Yesterday, it was fairly quiet again. I had actually waited until morning to change the clocks, which I did when I got up, and also managed to change the newest one, which also shows date and temperature, from Centigrade to Fahrenheit. Let’s just say that was not intuitive. I know, it’s less scientific, but it’s more meaningful to me, being what I grew up with. And, because the degrees are closer together, it feels more accurate to me, although less scientifically useful.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Liz Cheney Brands Tucker Carlson ‘Un-American’ In Fox News Interview
Quote – “You know, it’s the same kind of thing that you hear from people who say that 9/11 was an inside job,” the Republican lawmaker said. “It’s un-American to be spreading those kinds of lies and they are lies. And we have an obligation that goes beyond partisanship, an obligation that we share — Democrats and Republicans together — to make sure that we understand every single piece of the facts about what happened that day and to make sure the people who did are held accountable.”
Click through for a video and a little more text. I realize Cheney msy have a personal interest in 9/11 not being a false flag – because if it were, her dad was involved. But she still gets some points for recognizing and avoiding hypocrisy.

AP News – Culture war fight finds mixed success in school board races
Quote – But across the country, culture and identity fights were less decisive. The political tracking website Ballotpedia identified 96 school districts in more than a dozen states where race education and masking were part of the debate. It found that at least one anti-critical race theory or anti-mask candidate prevailed in 35 of the 86 districts in which it has determined winners, or 40%. “Where they won, they won in really high numbers,” said Doug Kronaizl, a staff writer for Ballotpedia, noting that candidates who won on the issue tended to be concentrated in the same districts. “But overall nationwide they didn’t win that much.”
Click through for specificities. This is hish on my worries list. County, municipal, and school board elections here are “non-partisan,” as I suspect they are in most states. That sounds good, but in practice it means you have no idea for whom you are voting, and no way to find out how they think. And school boards, cities, and counties are where cndidates for state and federal office come from.

GWN (Good Word News) – The longest partial lunar eclipse of the century is coming: date, how to look
Quote – According to NASA, a three-hour, 28-minute partial lunar eclipse will take place on November 18 and 19 and people around the world will only have to walk outside to get a glimpse. Night watchers on the U.S. east coast will be able to watch the event from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. ET, according to NASA. Those on the West Coast can watch the sky between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. PT.
Click through for a bit of background. Midnight till 2 is actually not too bad a time for me, so I may actually be able to see this one. And it shouldn’t require sunglasses.

Food for Thought –

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