By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, this will be a little shorter than usual, because I must hustle along and finish up a post on Katrina Helene. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Now with the actual birdsong, dang. John was a great proofreader, wish he was still here. –lambert
Mourning Warbler, Shannondale Springs Wildlife Managment Area, Jefferson, West Virginia, United States. “As per Wil Hershberger, this recording is of an adult male Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia) that was visually identified and in sight throughout the recording. This recording was originally archived as Mourning Warbler, but the identification was later mistakenly changed by an ML archivist due to the similarity of this bird’s song to the song of Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica). The subject has been changed back to Mourning Warbler as per the recordist.” Category errors abound.
In Case You Might Miss…
- Routh pleads innocent.
- Party control of the ballot.
- IAM/Boeing talks halt on defined-benefit pensions.
I’m not sure if this is actually helping, but it’s certainly helping-adjacent:
My cousin found this and I think it’s the most delightful thing I’ve seen all week. pic.twitter.com/Mcv94vGkgw
— Kate Rietema (@KateRietema) September 29, 2024
My email address is down by the plant; please send examples of there (“Helpers” in the subject line). In our increasingly desperate and fragile neoliberal society, everyday normal incidents and stories of “the communism of everyday life” are what I am looking for (and not, say, the Red Cross in Hawaii, or even the UNWRA in Gaza).
Politics
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Trump Assassination Attempts (Plural)
“Man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump pleads not guilty to federal charges” [Seattle Times]. Routh did not fire any rounds and did not have Trump in his line of sight, officials have said. He left behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food. Prosecutors have said that he had written of his plans to kill Trump in a handwritten note months before his Sept. 15 arrest in which he referred to his actions as a failed ‘assassination attempt on Donald Trump’ and offered $150,000 for anyone who could ‘finish the job.’ That note was in a box that Routh had apparently dropped off at the home of an unidentified witness months before his arrest. Monday’s hearing was held before a magistrate judge. But further proceedings will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and was also assigned to the criminal case accusing the former president of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.”
Biden Administration
“Top Democrat Backs Lina Khan As Donors Seek Her Ouster” [HuffPo]. “South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, one of the most influential Democrats in the country, on Thursday praised Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s work, endorsing her continued tenure as the United States’ top antitrust regulator. Clyburn spoke to HuffPost in a joint interview with Khan to tout the FTC’s $48 million settlement this week with Invitation Homes, a corporate landlord that the FTC accused of bilking renters for millions of dollars in junk fees, and hiding those fees through false advertising. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Clyburn had investigated allegedly illegal evictions conducted by Invitation Homes in his capacity as chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Invitation Homes is also a major landlord in Clyburn’s home state. Asked about the Democratic megadonors from the business world who have been pushing Vice President Kamala Harris to drop Khan if Harris wins the 2024 White House race, Clyburn described the public pressure as ‘foolishness.’ ‘Should be fired for what? For doing your job? I think she’s doing a good job. I think this is an indication of doing that job,’ he said, referring to the Invitation Homes settlement. ‘I suspect that people who represent Invitation Homes may want her to be replaced by somebody who would not do their jobs.'” • Canny move by Khan. That said, Kamala has yet to give her a hug.
2024
Less than forty days to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
This week’s crop of flag-of-convenience Democrat celebrities and generals didn’t turn the tide either. Despite the micturition and lamentation (very much including my own) about the Trump campaign dogging it when the election is theirs to win (see Gallup, “2024 Election Environment Favorable to GOP” on the issues) do note the steady deterioration in Kamala’s position in the (aggregated) top battlegrounds. (Of course, we on the outside might as well be examining the entrails of birds when we try to predict what will happen to a subset of voters (undecided; irregular) in a subset of states (swing), and the irregulars especially might as well be quantum foam, but presumably the campaign professionals have better data, and have the situation as under control as it can be MR SUBLIMINAL Fooled ya. Kidding!.
* * * Vance-Walz debate:
“Why the Vance-Walz Debate Is Primed To Be Messy” [Time]. “With voting already underway in some states—including Minnesota—and no more made-for-television events on the books before Nov. 5’s Election Day, this undercard debate takes on an importance unseen in the modern era. Both Vance and Walz remain blank slates to much of America; as much as a quarter of the electorate recently told pollsters they have literally heard of Trump’s and Harris’ running mates, according to surveys from the Pew Research Center. Vance was slightly better known than Walz, although Vance carried higher unfavorable numbers among those with an opinion.”
* * * “She’s always looking up.” Somehow they all think alike; Iit’s almost like Gleichschaltung:
Kamala (D): Tomorrow belongs to me (1):
Kamala (D): Tomorrow belongs to me (2):
To be clear, I believe the fascist smorgasbord is a groaning buffet, and both parties partake from it freely, one reason this election is a Sophie’s Choice.
* * * Trump (R): “Why has Melania Trump returned to public life now?” [The New Statesman]. “She does what she likes, and what she likes is to shy from attention and not tell anyone what she is thinking. But her virtual absence from the campaign and the centre of American political life is unsustainable. Her recent catapult into the news cycle is her recognition of that. The memoir, the videos, the Christmas baubles: this is how she is rectifying her multi-year-long retreat. What this suggests is that she, like her husband, is willing to switch up strategies when she has something to sell. If she gets it right, Melania could be exactly what Trump’s campaign needs.” • Well… And selling books.
* * * Trump (R) (James/Erdogan): “Appellate judges skeptical of New York civil fraud case against Trump” [Reuters]. “Members of the five-judge panel on the Appellate Division – the mid-level state appellate court hearing arguments in Trump’s appeal – appeared concerned about possible overreach by James. Two of the judges interrupted Judith Vale, the lawyer arguing for New York, during her opening statement to ask if there were any other examples of the state suing over private business transactions between sophisticated parties under a law aimed at protecting market integrity. Every case that you cite involves damage to consumers, damage to the marketplace,’ Justice David Friedman told Vale. ‘We don’t have anything like that here,’ Friedman added, saying that nobody ‘lost any money.’ The judges also wondered about what constraints applied to the law James cited in bringing the case – one that is typically used to go after fraudsters who target vulnerable consumers. ‘How do we draw a line or at least put up guardrails? Justice Peter Moulton asked. Vale, the state’s deputy solicitor general, said the statute – known as Executive Law 63(12) – is broadly aimed at stopping fraud and illegality, and was therefore appropriate in Trump’s case. ‘When risk is injected into the market, that does hurt the counterparties and it does hurt the market as a whole,’ Vale said.”
Trump (R) (James/Erdogan): “Massive civil fraud verdict against Trump gets frosty reception at New York appeals court” [Politico]. “During oral arguments on Thursday, some members of the five-judge appeals court panel suggested that New York Attorney General Tish James had overstepped by using the particular New York fraud statute she used to bring the case against Trump. As soon as Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale, arguing for James, began her opening remarks, she was cut off by Associate Justice David Friedman, who questioned whether her office had ever before used the statute ‘to upset a private business transaction that was between equally sophisticated partners.’ The justices’ questions echoed one of Trump’s central lines of defense: He has argued that no one was harmed by the inflated valuations.”
* * * MI: “Scoop: Rep. Elissa Slotkin warns Harris is “underwater” in Michigan” [Axios]. “‘I’m not feeling my best right now about where we are on Kamala Harris in a place like Michigan,’ Slotkin said during a virtual fundraiser on Wednesday with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), according to a recording. ‘We have her underwater in our polling,’ Slotkin added. Spokespeople for Slotkin’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. It’s not unusual for campaigns to paint themselves as the polling underdog as a fundraising tactic.” • No, and Slotkin is a CIA Democrat; two reasons she’d by lying.
* * *
Democrats en Déshabillé
“The Mississippi elites who broke democracy” [Unherd]. “A 21-year military career gave [Ty Pinkins] a passport full of stamps, three combat tours, a Bronze Star, and a job in the White House. After retirement, Pinkins earned not one but two law degrees from Georgetown University. He turned down the big money of a Washington law firm for the Delta. Back in his hometown, Rolling Fork, Mississippi, [Ty] Pinkins published a memoir, 23 Miles and Running, and litigated hundreds of civil cases for the underprivileged. In 2021, he made national news by filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of fired black farm labourers, who had been replaced by white South Africans. Filing suit and testifying before Congress on the issue, he forced a settlement. Taking note was Mississippi’s lone Democratic Congressman, Bennie Thompson. The chair of the January 6 Select Committee tapped Pinkins to run for the local school board. By the time Pinkins learned of Thompson’s desire, he had already publicly declared his candidacy for [a] Senate seat.” You’ll never guess what happened next: “In theory, Thompson and state Democratic chair Cheikh Taylor promised Pinkins, the only Democrat to announce for the race, their party’s full support. But though he knew the contest would be an uphill struggle, Pinkins never expected a major hurdle would be Bennie Thompson — his own Congressman and the very politician to first have noticed his talents. At first, his phone calls asking for endorsements went unanswered. Then, when his phone did ring, respondents attacked, apparently upset that Pinkins’ hadn’t followed Thompson’s advice and run for his local school board. As Will Colom, a prominent black Mississippi attorney and party donor allegedly told him: ‘You will lose. You are a loser. And you will always be a loser.’ A young Mississippi state representative also phoned. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, getting your name on the ballot?’ they yelled. ‘You need to go through us gatekeepers.’ Gatekeeper. The term shocked Pinkins. Party insiders refused to support him simply because, as he tells me, ‘I didn’t ask anyone, ‘can I please run?” The candidate’s astonishment went beyond personal ambition. With its pungent whiff of machine politics, what Pinkins calls Mississippi’s ‘Gatekeeper Syndrome’ is the very problem ‘preventing our democracy at the state level from blossoming.'” • As I have often said, control over the ballot is the distinctive competence of the modern political party (though Democrats clearly do it better than Republicans, for reasons I do not understand).
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Awareness of ‘Latinx’ increases among US Latinos, and ‘Latine’ emerges as an alternative” [Associated Press]. “‘Latino’ and ‘Hispanic’ have long been the most prominent terms used to describe people in the U.S. with roots in Latin America and Spain. But over the last several years, ‘Latinx’ has become a de-facto gender neutral alternative to Latino and Hispanic, according to a new study by race and ethnicity researchers. Despite the increased awareness of the term among Latinos — 47% have heard of it — only 4% or 1.9 million people use ‘Latinx’ to describe themselves, an increase of 1 percent since 2019, according to the study by the Pew Research Center. “‘Latinx’ is more broadly known among U.S. Latinos today, but still few embrace it,’ said Mark Lopez, Pew’s director of race and ethnicity research. Of the Latinos who have heard the term, 36% view the usage of the term as a bad thing instead of a good thing, according to the study. And with opinions mixed, about ‘Latinx,’ a new term has emerged: ‘Latine’ (pronounce LA TEE NEH). That term has gained popularity among people from Latin American countries and Spanish speakers who have pushed for the term to be used instead of ‘Latinx,’ because in Spanish ‘e’ can be used to better note gender neutrality, said Josh Guzmán, an associate professor of gender studies at the University of California at Los Angeles. In the U.S., ‘Latinx’ has more popularity than ‘Latine.’ Only 18% of Hispanics have heard of the latter, according to the Pew study. Yet 75% of U.S. Latinos surveyed think the terms should not be used to describe the population, and 81% largely prefer ‘Hispanic’ and ‘Latino.'” • America’s HR department, the PMC, must be really ticked off at their failure to eliminate oldthink.
Syndemics
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC September 23 | Last Week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC September 28 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC September 21 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data September 27: |
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| Positivity | |
| ★ National[7] Walgreens September 30: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic September 21: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| Positivity[9] CDC September 9: | Variants[10] CDC September 9: |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC September 21: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC September 21: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) This week’s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated. Much less intense!
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular. XEC has entered the chat.
[4] (ED) Down, but worth noting that Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Definitely down.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC).
[7] (Walgreens) Big drop continues!
[8] (Cleveland) Dropping.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up, though lagged.
[10] (Travelers: Variants).
[11] Deaths low, positivity down.
[12] Deaths low, ED down.
Stats Watch
Manufacturing: “United States Chicago PMI|” [Trading Economics]. “The Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago PMI, edged up to 46.6 in September 2024 from 46.1 in August and compared to forecasts of 46.2. Still, the Barometer has remained in contractionary territory for 24 of the past 25 months.”
Manufacturing: “United States Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ general business activity index for manufacturing in Texas edged higher to -9 in September of 2024 from -9.7 in the previous month, indicating the softest pessimism in the sector since January 2023.”
Finance: “A ton of people are now underwater on their car loans” [Jalopnik]. A new survey shows that 31 percent of American drivers who financed their car are underwater on their loans. The problem is even worse for EV owners – 46 percent of those folks have negative equity in their electric cars. Furthering the issue is the fact that over half of the drivers surveyed overestimated their vehicle’s value.” • Best economy ever!
Tech: Because there are no hurricanes in Silicon Valley (1):
Electric Vehicles that have been flooded in saltwater can catch fire. If you evacuated and left an electric vehicle or golf cart in your garage or under a building and you are not able to get to it or move it, we want you to let us know. /1 pic.twitter.com/dpfiXRAGuR
— Pinellas County (@PinellasGov) September 28, 2024
Tech: Because there are no hurricanes in Silicon Valley (2):
Your regular reminder to make sure that nothing in your house is "smart" if you ever plan to be able to use your house in an emergency https://t.co/XGmiWlqzHj
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) September 29, 2024
Tech: “Major outage: Verizon confirms it’s working to restore service after widespread complaints” [CNN]. “Complaints to Verizon’s verified account on X show that customers have been frustrated by a lack of cell service and an inability to connect to the network. Many Verizon iPhone customers complained that their phones had been stuck in “SOS” mode Monday morning, allowing only emergency calls via satellite.” • Hmm.
Manufacturing: “Latest talks between Boeing and its striking machinists break off without progress, union says” [Associated Press]. “No further negotiation dates were scheduled after Friday’s session led by federal mediators, IAM District 751 said. The union added that it remained ‘open to talks with the company, either direct or mediated’…. The strike will not disrupt airline flights anytime soon, but has put more pressure on a company that has already faced a series of financial, legal and mechanical challenges this year.”
Mnaufacturing: “Boeing’s long-lost pension is at the center of broken-down strike talks” [Quartz]. “‘While conversations were direct, we did not make progress on the pension issue,’ the union said in an update to membership on Friday. ‘The company remains adamant that it will not unfreeze the defined benefit plan.’ After the 30,000-plus workers represented by the IAM went on strike earlier this month following the rejection of a contract that would have given them 25% raises. The union was seeking a 40% increase, and a since-rejected ‘best and final offer’ of a 30% bump was deemed ‘a blatant show of disrespect’ because the company didn’t seek to negotiate it first. Meanwhile, beneath the surface of wage negotiations, a push to revive defined-benefit pensions has emerged. These retirement plans, which provide guaranteed payouts to long-serving employees after retirement, were part of Boeing’s benefits package until 2014. That year, a contract extension shifted workers to defined-contribution plans like 401(k)s. Major corporations like Boeing started shifting away from pensions because making sure all those workers got their promised retirement pay was a significant liability. Defined-contribution plans put that risk on the workers themselves instead because they’re the ones primarily responsible for building their nest eggs.” “Has emerged”? Note lack of agency; not the union leadership, apparently….
Manufacturing: “Boeing suppliers fear long-term jobs hit from strike” [Reuters]. “Until recently, Boeing had pledged to take as much inventory from suppliers as possible to keep supply lines “hot” or active. But Boeing’s ability to support suppliers is fading. The company’s credit rating is hovering at close to junk status, and its defense arm has been losing as much as it used to make.” • Cash not forthcoming?
Manufacturing: “For This Boeing Family, the Job Is the Same. The Payoff Isn’t” [Wall Sreet Journal]. “Some 33,000 members of Boeing’s largest union have been on strike since Sept. 13, costing the jet maker hundreds of millions of dollars a week and imperiling its turnaround effort. Members overwhelmingly rejected a contract that would have raised pay by 25% over four years. Boeing sweetened its offer to a 30% increase, which the union said still falls short. The union says Boeing, in the past decade, has raised wages by 8%—not enough when inflation has increased nationally by more than 46% in the same period. Workers are seeing real declines in their standard of living, and that is driving a harder line on union contracts at Boeing and elsewhere, said Rep. Adam Smith, (D., Wash.) who has represented the region since 1997. ‘Your wages simply didn’t keep up with the cost of housing, education, energy, everything,’ he said. “It’s not just the wages they [not “we”] are making, but the expense of the world around them.'”
Manufacturing: “Federal Judge in Texas Will Hear Arguments Over Boeing’s Plea Deal in 737 Max Case” [Manufacturing.net]. “A federal judge on Friday ordered a hearing next month over Boeing’s agreement to plead guilty to conspiracy in connection with the 737 Max jetliner, two of which crashed, killing 346 people. Families of some of the passengers killed in the crashes object to the agreement. They want to put Boeing on trial, where it could face tougher punishment. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor set a hearing for Oct. 11 in Fort Worth, Texas. Boeing is accused of misleading regulators who approved minimal, computer-based training for Boeing 737 pilots before they could fly the Max. Boeing wanted to prevent regulators from requiring training in flight simulators, which would have raised the cost for airlines to operate the plane. The Justice Department argued in court filings that conspiracy to defraud the government is the most serious charge it can prove. Prosecutors said they lack evidence to show that Boeing’s actions caused the crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 73 Greed (previous close: 67 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 63 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Sep 30 at 1:21:16 PM ET.
Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 180. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Hard to believe the Rapture Index is going down. Do these people know something we don’t?
Games
“What Fiction Writers Can Learn from Dungeons & Dragons” [Literary Hub]. “In the late 1980s, my friends and I knew something called Dungeons & Dragons existed—and we knew that it was for us. But no shop in our little upstate New York hometown carried the books, and the World Wide Web was still a few years off. We did have a set of the dice, so we worked with the scraps we’d gleaned from related books and video games, crafting rules and settings to help us tell the stories we wanted to tell. It was a messy process, but it worked. Over countless weekends and summer nights, we conducted our imaginary characters through marvelous journeys, high-stakes intrigues, and absurd escapades. Tabletop roleplaying games had been around for some fifteen years at this point, but we felt we were tapping into something both mythic and new. Which is exactly what we were doing. D&D owes its existence to a peculiar mix of ancient legend and folklore, fantasy literature, tactical wargames, and improvisational theater. Now fifty years old, the game is more popular than ever, but what keeps it new is the players who gather with friends to make it their own.” • I was born much too early for D&D. Too bad!
“Steam Removes Forced Arbitration Clause, Gamers Can Now Sue Valve” [404 Media]. “In a pretty notable terms of service update, Valve has removed the forced arbitration clause from Steam’s subscriber agreement, meaning users will now have the ability to sue Valve over disputes, and will also have greater ability to file class-action lawsuits against the company…. Valve did not say exactly why it got rid of its forced arbitration clause. But the company is currently being sued in a class action lawsuit in Washington state over the dominance of the Steam platform and over claims that it has overcharged for some games. The plaintiffs in that case actually went to arbitration and convinced an arbitrator that the forced arbitration clause should not apply to them, and were allowed to sue.” • Good!
Gallery
I wonder if Van Gogh ever painted a dog in a manger:
Many Van Gogh works are in private collections.
Some are impossible to visit.
10 VG masterpieces you haven't seen in person 👇
(No.10 was sold for 82.5M, the buyer wanted to be cremated with it)
1. Landscape Under a Stormy Sky pic.twitter.com/xLxZgK6DRN
— Impressions (@impression_ists) September 29, 2024
And:
10. Portrait of Dr. Gachet
In 1990, Ryoei Sato bought one of the two Portrait of Dr.Gachet for $82.5M and sparked controversy by saying he would have it cremated with him.
He died. It hasn't been seen in any public exhibition since. pic.twitter.com/aJwuVYdsdV
— Impressions (@impression_ists) September 29, 2024
Terror on the New York Subway system:
It’s hilarious how conservatives are terrified of crime on the NYC subway when this is a much more accurate depiction of what it’s like pic.twitter.com/eIHD1jAdlL
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) September 29, 2024
I could file this under “Look for the helpers,” too, though it takes some time to turn out that way.
Tradcath seeks Hobbiton:
“US East and Gulf Coast Ports Face Imminent Shutdown as Union Announces Intent to Strike” [gCaptain]. “The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) on Sunday announced plans for a widespread strike at all Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, scheduled to begin at 12:01 am on Tuesday, October 1, 2024…. The strike would involve 85,000 ILA members and impact ports from Maine to Texas, the ILA said in a Sunday update posted to Facebook. ‘United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) refuses to address a half-century of wage subjugation where Ocean Carriers profits skyrocketed from millions to mega-billion dollars, while ILA longshore wages remained flat,’ the update said. The potential work stoppage will affect 45,000 port workers at 36 ports responsible for handling more than 40% of total containerized goods entering the United States. The strike also comes at a particularly challenging time for ocean supply chains, which have already faced significant disruptions in 2024 due to conflicts in the Red Sea, drought in the Panama Canal, and the Baltimore bridge collapse. The disruptions, combined with strong U.S. demand, have already caused average spot freight rates from the Far East to the U.S. East Coast to increase by over 300% between December 2023 and early July 2024, according to Xeneta. Despite the high stakes, the Biden administration has indicated that the president does not plan to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, a federal law that allows presidential intervention in labor disputes that create a national emergency.”
“Alien ‘Cryptoterrestrials’ Could Be Secretly Hiding Deep Underground, Harvard Scientists Claim” [Popular Mechanics]. “The authors openly wonder if [unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs)] hold humans from the future, looking to study their own history and avoiding identification for fear of damaging timelines. Finally, and perhaps most daringly, their writing takes time to incorporate the theological, wondering if our proposed ‘aliens’ are really a breed of ‘earthbound angels.'” • Our timeline is pretty damaged already…
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I wish as a gay person I was not permanently cut out of such things if I ever want to have a remotely statistically likely chance of finding a mate. Though we can retire to them I suppose.
“Tradcath seeks Hobbiton”
>Though we can retire to them I suppose.
Rhinebeck NY awaits :)
My thoughts on this “villages” idea is… to do what, exactly? Don’t get me wrong, I’d live in a community like that in a heartbeat, if I could get away from my work in the city I call home. But that’s my point – do what in this village? How would said village pull in the cash necessary for taxes and permits and building supplies? We can’t all be retirees or remote tech workers.
Best I’ve been able to think of is something modeled after the ceramics villages in rural Japan, but there’s many a slip between dress and drawers with that sort of plan.
“Be they small towns or big city blocks”
These areas – city blocks – exist with many gay people present, but tend to have a higher cost of living.
That description of a village with public space sounds more like what we’d call a market in the UK. Where you would find a market, inns, maybe a hotel, and other services, and one to ten thousand plus inhabitants.
A village is a few houses with a church: pub and shop are optional. The public space is the village square or green. Villages are *small* – and frankly claustrophobic.
This “village” idea is pretty old New Urbanism. Here’s a sample of how it could work in every context from rural to urban
One other commenter asks how people could earn a living, or have anything of value in such environs. The current New Urbanist developments command premiums from 600% (Seaside Fl) to 40% (Orenco Station, Oregon). Those are old comparable sales, but even old pedestrian-friendly, mixed use neighborhoods command premiums. People are willing to pay more to live there, and everything from Union Square (San Francisco) to McKinley Park (Sacramento) gets favored by Mr. Market.
One other bit of business: These require much less driving (surprise!)… 1/3 to 2/3 the vehicle miles traveled.
Hmm, where I live group living is common among gay men. Not a village, but has a similar feel.
As a retired gay person I guess I don’t have even a remote statistical chance to find someone to share my life with. No snark, certainly been my experience.
Best of luck to you.
Covid brain damage
On this week’s Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin, starting at minute 42:25, the disturbing results of an ethically questionable experiment Changes in memory and cognition during the SARS-CoV-2 human challenge study, are discussed. It could be reasonably argued that an equally unethical experiment, hopefully mitigated by vaccines and therapies, is continuing on a global scale.
“She’s always looking up.” I posit that she is admiring the F-35s just after take-off en route to the Lebanese capital.
Future poli sci students and campaign junkies will look at Harris clumsy voter manipulations and sigh.
Look up pose in collateral material – check
Emotive hand on heart – check
Non-answers – check
Hollywood production – check
Lipstick on pig, goes for all candidates everywhere – check
Truth – oops
I have never seen a photo of Barack Obama in which his chin was down. Advice from consultants I assume.
Just remembered that Mussolini was notorious for the “chin forward” pose…
Looking up in photos tightens the line of the throat and keeps one from looking “jowl-y. It’s vanity not vision.
A lot of fotos of FDR had him looking up and forward, feigning vigor from his frail body. He did seem to be looking at and for something, seemingly “better,” compared to the faux Mary, Mother of God pose from the Kamal.
After Reagan maybe looking up is trying to spot the trickle down. It’s got to be there somewhere.
More likely to be them enjoying the exquisite release of a full bladder now that they are part of the elite group that gets to provide the trickle that sprinkles down on the rest of us.
Always looking up is a great way of tripping over something right in front of you.
It is the image of the Far Sighted Leader, spotting over the far horizon that of which the rest of us Mere Followers can only dream . . . if even that.
Conservatives scared of crimes. Liberals scared of signs – https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/09/25/political-patties-removes-logo-with-gop-elephant-after-backlash/
Interesting. I wonder how they will do. Unwritten rules for bars in my parts (Midwest) is you don’t talk religion or politics in a bar. Good idea. It doesn’t always turn out well.
One of the bars in town is styled as a Bohemian beer hall. It is pretty authentic (the founder is from the area) and comes complete with signs in Czech and German that “political talk is not allowed.”
Back in the day, when I still did politics, the bar was campaign headquarters– for real.
Sworn off US politics since 2015 after losing a friend to the party… he was a good man, but the party changed him. I had known him for 30-years, and they took from him his soul.
Once you leave a political tribe, watching others still in it can be eye opening…
No doubt, but as a life-long anarchist, I can’t seem to find the damn exit!
I haven’t seen a political candidate’s sign from either party actually stating what faction they are from, for maybe 20 years.
Re D&D
Never too late. Personally I prefer Call of Cthulhu but any game can be fun if you connect with fun people.
Really is never too late. The way our group does it, it’s more an exercise in collective storytelling, randomized by dice rolls. Closest thing I’ve found to childlike play with other adults.
It was definitely a formative experience for me. It was some time longer before it went mainstream and became acceptable, so when I was doing it it was still considered a weird hobby for social misfits – which is ironic as it’s actually extremely social (but socializing with other misfits didn’t count).
Collective storytelling is really the best way to describe it. The rules are there to help, but most people learn fairly quickly not to be too strict about following them to the letter if it conflicts with the story arc.
> Call of Cthulhu
I already write about it, five days a week
LOL #iSeeWotUDidThere
I’m in my early 60s and we played in high school — how old IS Lambert, anyway? 🤨
Actually, this election is more of a Sophist’s Choice. Now prove me wrong. /s
Technically speaking, your argument is Sophistry with puns. Thus making you a Dadist..
…did you hear about the Dadist who fell into an upholstery machine?
He’s fully recovered.
Dadist indeed
However, if that writicism were to be couched in more prosaic terms….Dad tried to cushion the blow.
What’s a surgeon’s favourite style of couch? A resectional.
I’ve heard that Dadist humour is a silo full of corn. Like most Dadist humour, that ‘joke’ goes “with the grain.” Contrary to popular myth, Dadist humour is seldom “organic.”
Which brings us all the way back to ‘contemporary’ political humour. Our Democrat Dadist Party is trying such extreme contortions in ‘messaging’ that I fear it will suffer a Her-nia.
The Dadist Democrat Party is officially a Horror Show. It is now demanding a “willing suspension of disbelief.” (Did Lovecraft really write “The Call of Kamala?”)
I have to stop now. I’m sinking “progressively” into a miasmic mush of meritocratic micturations, also known as the “trickle down effect.” If you doubt me, just ask The Donald and his Moscow Maidens. There, that should finally put these misbegotten musings to bed.
“I was born much too early for D&D.”
I wanted to get into it but this was during the Satanic Panic era so my parents wouldn’t allow it. So, like that article, my friends and I created our own characters, worlds, and stories. Good times and I ended up being a filmmaker so, as the article also discusses, I guess the skills I learned from that experience were worthwhile. :)
>>>it’s almost like Gleichschaltung:
Almost?
“it’s almost like Gleichschaltung:”
Almost?
Small scale pastoral movements like the one in that screenshot are often suspect in their aims and methods. That call to action there at the end of that post? Harkens back to older campaigns to democratically “take over” low population areas with superior numbers. The most salient recent example is the Free Town project in New Hampshire. What a mess.
Locally, an attempt at ideological subversion appears to have taken corporeal form as a renovated church. The views of the new church’s leaders decidedly clash with those of their neighbors — and brings to light a practice I was unaware of, “church planting”. I guess homesteading doesn’t always have to be a rural, or even dwelling-oriented, enterprise.
aye. all these wealthy refugees who have been moving out here for 15 years, buying old settler legacy ranches, running entertainment cows and setting up wineries…they definitely have ideas about the direction that this place should take.
these ideas of course clash with the older, more indigenous, power blocs9great grandsons of pioneers).
the former wants to make it napa valley…the latter, remain a backwater where they rule the roost(and run the meth).
then there’s me.
Eldest’s new girlfriend was out here yesterday…second sunday i got to cook for them at the bar, so i guess its serious,lol.
so, in reference to the vibe of my part of the place…she sez, “it’s like hobbiton, but with hippies”.
i’d never thought of it thataways, before,lol…and now y’all toss this into my playpen.
Reminds me of the early days of Stephen Gaskin’s “The Farm” community in Summertown, Tennessee. After awhile the originally-wary locals decided this bunch of hippies were solid folk, not rip-off artists or what-have-you, and began thinking of them as “Technicolor Amish.”
https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/nature-and-environment/stephen-gaskin-zmaz77mjzbon/
Thanks for the link, a great read. A true life confederacy of dunces.
Church planting! Reformation colonialism lives on!
The section on Ty Pinkins and Mississippi politics is repeated twice.
We have a similar democracy problem in Kentucky. In 2022 in the 6th district, local leftie perennial candidate, Geoff Young won the Democratic Primary beating the annointed party choice, Berea High School teacher, Chris Preece by about a thousand votes on an antiwar, anti-imperial, anti-Cia pro-union, Pro-Palestine platform and the Kentucky Democrats refused to support him in the election against Andy Barr. Governor Andy Beshear actually said “Geoff Young needs help.” and said that Geoff Young had yelled at him in 2019 when Beshear was in the company of his young son.
So in Kentucky, the Democrats preferred that the Republican candidate win rather than financially support the registered Democratic candidate who won the Democratic primary. Way to disenfranchise, the voters, guys! Mercifully Jill Stein is on the ballot for the Presidential Election so I may signal my disapproval of their actions in a more meaningful way.
RE: Redesigning cities
Another option would be to approach one elderly director who could then make a really bad movie about it. I went to see Coppola’s Megalopolis over the weekend, really wanting it to be good. Scifi movie based on ancient Rome seemed right up my alley. Alas (and alack! [Shakespeare sprinkled throughout the dialog for no apparent reason was one of many head scratchers]), it was a pretty terrible movie. If you want to see a story with developed characters and a semi-coherent plot, even a non-linear one, this is not it.
If however you want to see a video collage of all the thoughts rolling around in Coppola’s head for the last 40 years in no particular order, then this is the flick for you. I will give him credit for trying – there was some effort put into this, and because of that and Coppola’s history, this is still worth seeing. And I thought Aubrey Plaza was very good given what she had to work with. But I’d wait until you can “borrow it from the internet library” rather than paying for it. Coppola doesn’t need the money.
This review sums it up pretty well.
If you want a period piece with minor scifi elements alluding to ancient Rome, I’d recommend watching the underrated Titus. And the writer doesn’t need to throw in random bits from the bard just to look smart since it’s actual Shakespeare.
North Carolina is a disaster. Where is the federal aid? Have all the guardsmen been sent overseas? Hawaiians are still waiting in some cases for their $700 checks, not an encouraging sign.
https://nybreaking.com/bidens-one-time-700-checks-to-hawaii-fire-victims-slammed-as-a-slap-in-the-face-president-earns-even-more-criticism-for-being-out-of-touch-following-his-maui-stop-riddled-by-uncomfortable-moments/
Trucks carrying relief supplies have had tires slashed by gangs at truck stops. This thing’s getting ugly real fast.
Re: Tradcath seeks Hobbiton: (urban planning)
in the words of the great Robert Hughes on LeCorbusier-like urban planning (high rises, auto-centric—which was considered “progressive” and avant-garde in the 1930’s): “…it seems that like plants, we do need the sh____ of others for nutrients..” from his art history book “The Shock of the New”
1970’s TV adaptation…which hopefully a free AI can upscale into HD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C04JZsoqs1A&list=PLFtSvldL7Mh4ismj4BgH33pBR9hbtBkxz&index=4
Someday, when you’re polling awfully low
When the world is cold
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look up tonight
Yes, you’re lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft
There is nothing but for us to love you
And the way you look up tonight
With each word salad your legal tenderness grows
Tearin’ my fear apart
And that laugh wrinkles your nose
Touches my foolish heart
Lovely, never, never change
Keep that breathless charm
Won’t you prearrange it?
‘Cause we love you
A-just the way you look up tonight
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose
It touches my foolish heart
Mm-mm, mm-mm
Just the way you look up tonight
Just the way you look tonight performed by Frank Sinatra
“She’s always looking up.”
I distinctly remember some commenters (not on this site) noting that Pete Buttigieg, during his 2020 election speeches, was tilting his chin up from one side to the other as if he were channeling what Obama used to do during his speeches.
Perhaps Kamala is using the same playbook to “look presidential.” It certainly worked on many dems I know in terms of Pete. It hearkens back to the good old days* when Obama was president.
*/sarc
If you get close to the screen you can almost feel the sincerity!
Note the date in the title of today’s WC:
10-11-2024
I know that we’re all ready to fast-forward to November 6th and get this over with, but losing 11 days seems a bit much.
I fixed it – thank you!!
Whew, I feel like I got 11 days younger!
Thanks!
For a moment there I thought I had been transported back to 1582.
https://www.britannica.com/story/ten-days-that-vanished-the-switch-to-the-gregorian-calendar
Re: Subway
“I could file this under “Look for the helpers,” too, though it takes some time to turn out that way.”
People had to make sure they knew what exactly was crawling out of those bags.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3280444/chinese-woman-finds-type-1-diabetes-reversed-after-stem-cell-transplant-world-first
October 1, 2024
Chinese woman finds type 1 diabetes reversed after stem cell transplant in world first
25-year-old with chronic condition for over a decade has no need for external insulin some 2½ months from minimally invasive surgery
By Zhang Tong
Beijing – Chinese scientists have reported * ** the world’s first case of using cell transplants to treat type 1 diabetes.
The patient, a 25-year-old who had the chronic condition for over a decade, was able to naturally regulate her blood sugar some 2½ months after undergoing the minimally invasive surgery, Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper reported on Saturday.
* https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03129-3
** https://x.com/i/status/1840823265121677569
So much news I took notes then had to take a walk to cool down. Fwiw:
Polls this shaky this far out is a very big tell. Everything the queenmakers have done was done to delay the moment of truth when POTUS-in-Depends stepped aside but not down. They would have waited longer if they could have because Job #1 has always been to reduce Harris’ exposure to microphones. Cameras good, mics bad (videos suppressed). Harris will drop steadily altho polls may report otherwise.
re: Vance-Walz, both sides have been throwing a lot of mud and if that continues into the debate Vance wins. Voters googling the mud will be exposed to Vance’s genuine roots and Walz’s genuine DUI. Advantage Vance so I expect some high road and maybe an actual disussion of issues at a level neither Harris or Trump could match even if given teleprompters and earpieces.
Melania Trump story made me wonder what Doug whatshisname is up to.
Harris-Walz Michigan strategy now appears to be to apply even more pressure on select voters to vote absentee. They know their voters in Michigan and with early voting not beginning until late October they’re wisely using their ground forces to get voters who signed up for absentee ballots to fill them out and submit them. MIchigan has a permanent absentee ballot list and those ballots were mailed out last Friday. A small amount of hysteria over poll numbers from Harris-Walz is, as noted by our host, quite timely.
D&D: This came up recently in the comments regarding an author of gaming fiction. Never actually played D&D but had to sit thru endless discussions and replays. The words to use in describing the convoluted D&D decision-making process is “contrived.” Game players contrive solutions (only bending the rules when absolutely necessary). This is why gamer novels are an inferior genre, you have to buy into a certain amount of artifice beyond the settings and powers to read these books. Half their adventures involve unnecessary risk taking and a ridiculous refusal to retreat whenever possible. It’s a blast if you’re in the room when it’s happening, less so on the campaign trail when the national team tells you what they expect and you tell them they should’ve pick a smaller venue.
My narrative is that Trump is bumbling towards an easy win assuming we’re allowed to have an election. I still think that’s a big assumption because I see no path to victory for Harris and Team Indictable desperately needs a win. Each day of early voting helps her a lot but between now and November there will almost certainly be bad news from:
• Ukraine
• Gaza/Israel/Lebanon/Yemen/Iran
• Hurricane Helene victims
as well as (pick one):
· Georgia
· Wall St
· Springfield (or another refugee-burdened city)
· Silicon Valley
· more major national security leaks
They’ll never make a good movie out recent times because future audience simply won’t find any of the major ‘narratives’ to be credible.
On the positive side it is an election year so everything is up for grabs and the future will be whatever we decide it should be! /sarc
East Coast / Gulf Coast strike
I get the feeling Harris is gonna lose. Which is kind of weird since I haven’t lived in the US for over 8 years. Which brings me to a question, since everybody who lives in a red state or a blue state has a worthless vote, it makes sense that people will be tuned out to the election. But what about those people who live in those swing States, is it possible they could actually be paying attention to the issues, or at least their own pocketbooks and experiences?
Seems like there should be two entirely different elections going on here…
I was told media in Hungary are openly speculating on a real assassination in case Nov. goes Trump´s way.
Considering we already had two attempts (rather amateurish ones considering the level of sophistication today), it makes sense. Because then they will of course claim “He had it coming, nothing out of the ordinary here!”.
Sic semper populus! The PMC is avenged?
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump has suggested that “one rough hour” of law enforcement action would tamp down retail theft, an echo of his longstanding support for more aggressive and potentially violent policing.
“One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” Trump said Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Et tu Duterte?
p.s. Wasn’t ‘one rough hour’ what 5 minutes seemed like to Stormy?
So we should do away with requiring a fair trial and conviction before punishment as promised by the 6th amendment? Given his opposition’s penchant for accusing him of all manner of illicit activity this doesnt seem a very well thought out plan
Couldn’t get to this one. I have to dig out the transcript.
It sounded to me like he’s thinking of something like that movie “The Purge” but for cops. As if they don’t have enough impunity.
Seems that “Realignment and Legitimacy” content is (partly) duplicated.
Fixed, thanks. I was so anxious to move along to Hurricane Helene that I didn’t proofread properly.
He’s creepy and into crypto
Mysterious and spooky
He’s altogether ooky
The Adams odyssey
Gracie Mansion is a museum
Where people come to see him
They really are a screa-um
The Adams odyssey
Neat. Sweet. Replete.
So get some Turkish Delight to chew on
An indictment you can web crawl on
We’re gonna pay a call on
The Adams odyssey
Very nice and quite appropriate in all regards.
Just a comment on making both Presidential candidates equivalent. They’re not. Why people focus on the personalities of particular candidates rather than the (real) party the represent. In the K. Harris camp you have the full-out bi-partisan war party. In the D. Trump camp you have the ONLY place anti-war people are allowed. I don’t trust Trump to do anything but the people around Trump many times better than those people who surround Harris. Tru imp is the only POTUS major candidate that will get my vote–not because of him but because he is open to the anti-war movement and the left in. The Democrats are no longer either a left of center or even a centrist party–they are far, far, right from my definition of what “left” is. Conservatives are always talking about “the left” while there is nothing of the left left in the DP.
The Dems are “the radical centre” — any deviation therefrom constitutes a threat to “our democracy.”
Feh …
John Milton, ‘Paradise Lost’, Book 2, etc.
High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth or Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
To that bad eminence; and, from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught,
His proud imaginations thus displayed:—
Oooooooh! “..by merit raised..” Milton for PMCs.
Fun in Atlanta this morning: Many report chlorine smell over Atlanta amidst Conyers plume; mayor says fire crews going out with detectors
The plume emanating from the site in Conyers was still substantial Monday morning, traffic cameras showed.
It was more than smell. There was a haze around south Atlanta today and the fumes irritated eyes and lungs. Conyers is 35 miles east of ATL airport.
RU increasing military budget.
Compared to Pentagon it´s tiny.
(report by AFP/Junge Welt, German daily)
“Moscow. Russia is planning a drastic increase in military spending to further finance its offensive in Ukraine. According to the budget plan for 2025 published on the Russian parliament’s website on Monday, the expenditure officially recorded in the area of defense alone is to increase by around 30 percent to 13.5 trillion rubles (the equivalent of around 129.4 billion euros). Additional expenditure in the area of internal security and top secret budget items are also planned for the military operation in Ukraine. In total, the areas of defense and internal security make up around 40 percent of the entire Russian state budget planned for 2025, amounting to 41.5 trillion rubles. The draft budget must now be passed by the Russian parliament in the autumn and finally signed by President Vladimir Putin.
In recent years, Russia had already increased its military spending to the highest level since the end of the Soviet Union in order to increase the production of rockets, cruise missiles and drones and to increase the pay of units in combat. In 2024 alone, spending had increased by 70 percent compared to the previous year. Since 2022, the Russian state has been driving the transition to a war economy, including through the rapid development of new armaments factories with hundreds of thousands of additional employees. The longer-term effects of this development include a heavy dependence of the economy on the country’s military leadership – and an inflation rate of now nine percent. However, the government seems to have paid little attention to these developments so far.
Before submitting the draft budget to parliament, the government in Moscow had announced that, in addition to military spending, funds for social policy measures and investments would also be increased. The “top priority” of the budget is “social support for citizens,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last week. According to the figures now published, however, military spending is more than twice as high as that for social issues – and higher than spending on any other economic sector.
For its part, Ukraine will spend around 60 percent of its budget on defense and security next year. At around 48.4 billion euros, however, Kiev’s military budget is only a good third of Russia’s. Ukraine is therefore dependent on military and financial support from its Western allies.”
“In total, the areas of defense and internal security make up around 40 percent of the entire Russian state budget…”
Comparing:
https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/?reqid=19&step=2&isuri=1&categories=survey#eyJhcHBpZCI6MTksInN0ZXBzIjpbMSwyLDNdLCJkYXRhIjpbWyJjYXRlZ29yaWVzIiwiU3VydmV5Il0sWyJOSVBBX1RhYmxlX0xpc3QiLCI1Il1dfQ==
September 26, 2024
Defense spending was 57.1% of federal government consumption and investment in April through June 2024. *
$1,051.5 / $1,842.2 = 57.1%
* Billions of dollars
So you’re comparing the defense budget of the US to the defense *and* internal security budget of Russia?
Germany, social inequality:
“The number of people receiving housing benefit has risen sharply. This does not lead to relief on the rental market”
Junge Welt:
https://archive.is/HHBFT
“More and more tenants in Germany are receiving housing benefit. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Monday, there were already 1.2 million households by the end of 2023. This is an increase of almost 80 percent compared to the previous year.”
‘Melania could be exactly what Trump’s campaign needs.” • Well… And selling books.’
Can’t hold a flame to Hillary though who a coupla days ago was flogging her fourth new book since her big loss back in 2016. Will no one rid us of this meddlesome authoress?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/sep/23/something-lost-something-gained-reflections-on-life-love-and-liberty-hillary-rodham-clinton-review-the-pain-of-post-trump-stress-disorder
An enjoyably negative review of the psychotic hamster’s new book
“Post-Trump Stress Disorder” lol. Doesn’t seem very “Post-” though.
I like “Trump is living rent free in her head” much better.
And Putin has a summer dacha there.
Together with the millions of deplorables who denied her the throne she deserved.
She’d need a very big property to house all the betrayers.
Maybe one of the US Virgin Islands…
Maybe the United States…
“Robert Jenrick says Star of David should be displayed at every point of entry to the UK
Tory leadership frontrunner addressed Conservative Friends of Israel event in hoodie emblazoned with words ‘Hamas Are Terrorists’”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/robert-jenrick-israel-tory-conference-b2621106.html
Both main UK parties are completely captured
Re that EV setting itself on fire in that garage burning down the whole house, here is an article on it-
https://www.fox13news.com/news/electric-vehicle-catches-fire-garage-destroys-home-during-hurricane-helene
Would any kind of batteries be as likely to set themselves on fire in that situation? Or are some types of batteries more prone to catching fire than other types?
Are there any types of batteries which would be catch- fire-resistant or even catch- fire-immune after a salt-water soaking?
I would guess Lithium Ion batteries are the culprit here. But if we ever had an EV, I would never store it in a garage as it would burn down the house before the fire department could pump several tons of water on it to put it out. And even then they have proven to be able to self-ignite hours or days later. Same goes with those e-bikes.
If it can be shown that lithium ion batteries are the main fire-causer of car-battery types, then electrocar-buyers will begin to shy away from lithium ion battery cars. But that may mean going back to a hybrid-electric concept because non-lithium-ion batteries can only store a fraction of the energy that lithium-ion batteries can store.
But if the battery pack is charged by running a combustion engine enough to charge up the battery and then switch the engine off and run down the battery driving the car till the engine cuts back on to recharge the battery, then a lithium-ion battery system is not needed. The car can carry its own range-giving energy as fuel for the engine. Or am I wrong?
If I am right about that, then the purely electrocar concept will die off, and emissions from hybrid-electric cars will be reduced by reducing driving. And that would require more mass and semi-mass transit to make driving less necessary less often for more people.
Here’s a hint:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine
And here Walter Kirn´s great speech which I recommend to read instead of watching, because it´s a written speech not one to be held – the way he did it at least. (rule#1: Don´t sing if you´re not a singer.)
https://www.racket.news/p/walter-kirns-rescue-the-republic
The camera angles of the event btw illustrate why Harris/Trump usually will only be shown from front.
Unfavourable profile shots like in Kirn´s case I doubt you will ever see with Harris or Trump.
Unless the DOP wants to be fired.
Which tells you how much these events are planned into the last detail – a fact of entertainment not acknowledged by the media publicly nor understood by the countless pseudo analysts in the very home country of entertainment! Odd.
p.s. who has Tim Allen endorsed I wonder?
There is a joke about me hating all politicians (not entirely wrong). Once when that came up someone said like stopped clocks, all politicians can have a good day. I grudgingly have to give that up to Clyburn. Dammit.
I appreciate that he just stepped up for Khan. And I want to note that he also sent a not so subtle message to Harris and her handlers. A message from the man who was absolutely essential to getting Biden and by extension Harristo the top of the Democratic ticket in 2020 and who pretty much dictates when CBC will support or act as a spoiler for Democratic policies.
Let’s just say that for the first time in weeks I actually think Khan might not be sacrificed for Imhoff and West’s friends.