Welcome to Thursday July 18, 2024, and National Tropical Fruit Day, of which the tastiest representative is the mango. I learned in India how to cut and eat one (always eat in the hand); here’s the method I use, though I just eat the cubes off the skin (see at 2:20) and gnaw around the seed. Some day I must go to India during mango season, when dozens of varieties are available, but that’s the summer when it’s bloody hot.
It’s also National Sour Candy Day, National Caviar Day, National Dole Whip Day (it’s a soft-serve fruit-flavored dessert), and Nelson Mandela International Day, celebrating the day he was born in 1918 (I’m going to visit his prison cell when I go to South Africa in two weeks).
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the July 18 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*President Biden has announced that his administration will pursue major changes to the Supreme Court, including term limits and a more stringent ethics code for the justices.
The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to make substantive changes to the high court. The potential changes come in response to growing outrage among his supporters about recent ethics scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas and decisions by the new court majority that have changed legal precedent on issues including abortion and federal regulatory powers.
Biden previewed the shift in a Zoom call Saturday with the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“I’m going to need your help on the Supreme Court, because I’m about to come out — I don’t want to prematurely announce it — but I’m about to come out with a major initiative on limiting the court. … I’ve been working with constitutional scholars for the last three months, and I need some help,” Biden said, according to a transcript of the call obtained by The Washington Post.
Term limits and an ethics code would be subject to congressional approval, which would face long odds in the Republican-controlled House and a slim Democratic majority in the Senate. Under current rules, passage in the Senate would require 60 votes. A constitutional amendment requires even more hurdles, including two-thirds support of both chambers, or by a convention of two-thirds of the states, and then approval by three-fourths of state legislatures.
Why is he doing this? He surely doesn’t like the Court’s decisions, but this is not a way to get Democratic votes, since Democrats are already in the chorus. And the fact that Supreme Court Justices, like all federal judges, have lifetime appointments, a provision enshrined in the Constitution, makes eliminating that almost impossible. For curtailing appointments requires not only approval of both houses of Congress, but ratification by 3/4 of the states. How likely is THAT? I tell you: probability zero given American politics. For crying out loud the Equal Rights Amendment hasn’t even been ratified! As for Congressional passage of ethics laws and getting rid of immunity, well, yes, those are great ideas, but again have no probability of passing in a Congress that’s almost certain to have at least one house (and maybe now the Senate) as majority Republican. Biden may be counting on being re-elected, but I’m not confident.
*From the Free Press, an article that made my stomach drop, “The end of Joe Biden—and the Democratic establishment.” But when I read it I found it was pretty biased.
The resilience of the Democratic establishment under present-day conditions makes for a remarkable story, one that speaks to the growing fondness of progressives for conservative and even reactionary structures. After co-opting Obama into the fold, this establishment has done everything that can be expected of it—which is mostly fixing things. It fixed the rules so that Clinton would get the nomination over Sanders in 2016. It did much the same for Biden in 2020 and 2024, going so far as to hinder debates in the 2024 primaries, a decision with profound if unintended consequences.
Democratic submission to hierarchy is astonishing. Biden has been in physical and mental decline for years. Gavin Newsom, governor of California, almost indecently lusts after the presidency. Yet Newsom must genuflect before the president and pledge allegiance to his cause. In name at least, Biden is boss. The rules of the game must be adhered to, without exception.
With Biden, the establishment was presented with a difficult challenge: it was reality itself that needed fixing. The president, we have seen, is an inarticulate speaker, has a bizarre personality, is notoriously thin-skinned and lacks humor and charm as a public person. Furthermore, his administration has been responsible for one disaster after another, at home and abroad. All that had to be fixed. The fictional replica of Biden required an equally fictional—and magnificent—record of achievement.
In an effort that has to be unparalleled in our history, every American institution, from the prestige press to the digital platforms, from academia to the entertainment world and very much including the federal bureaucracy, was recruited to portray President Biden as the second coming of Abraham Lincoln. He was said to be caring, empathetic, a totally normal Everyday Joe who bonded easily with racial minorities—but also serious about his duties, the dignified adult in the room, a reliable ally who would never be manipulated by Vladimir Putin. His administration had defeated the pandemic, saved the economy, embraced migrants of all races, ended a forever war in Afghanistan, and somehow protected Ukraine, Israel, and Hamas simultaneously. As for the president’s age, he was old but wise, sharp in private though a stutterer in public and surrounded by the best and brightest in any case.
Nothing like this had been seen before. For the Democrats in power to spin the truth was predictable. For the institutions of information and knowledge to debase themselves so completely on behalf of a political nonentity added to their crisis of authority by precipitating a depressing meltdown of integrity.
And Repubicans don’t spin the truth? If they are going to slander Biden this way, well, Trump is even riper for slander. I do, however, think that the Democrats are in tatters. Led by a President who should resign, with only cartographer Kamala “I can read maps” Harris as a likely replacement, and dragged down by the “progressive” Left, which most of America dislikes, the Party lacks unity. So yes, the Dems don’t look good, and that makes me feel constantly queasy. But the article is grossly exaggerated and neglects the many flaws of Republicans, who happen to have united around a megalomaniac. I hope the Free Press isn’t going to endorse Trump! If they presume to be rational and thoughtful, and if they don’t like Biden (or whoever replaces him) it’s best not to endorse anyone!
*The BBC reports that Human Rights Watch, which has long been anti-Israel, has finally admitted that, yes, war crimes by Hamas took place on October 7. DUHHH! (h/t Malgorzata, Jinny)
Hamas and at least four other Palestinian armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the 7 October attack on southern Israel, the campaign group Human Rights Watch says.
A new report accuses the hundreds of gunmen who breached the Gaza border fence of violations including deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, wilful killing of persons in custody, sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation of bodies and looting.
It also found the killing of civilians and hostage-taking were “central aims of the planned attack” and not an “afterthought”.
Hamas angrily rejected what it called HRW’s “lies” and demanded an apology.
About 1,200 Israelis and foreigners – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others were taken as hostages when more than Israeli communities and towns, as well as number of military bases, two music festivals and a beach party were attacked nine months ago.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza with the aims of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages.
More than 38,790 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
HRW’s report does not cover alleged violations of the laws of war by Israeli forces and Palestinian groups in the conflict that was triggered by the 7 October attack.
The report released by HRW on Wednesday is based on interviews with 144 people, including witnesses to the 7 October attack, as well as analysis of more than 280 photographs and videos posted on social media or shared with the group’s researchers.
This is important because HRW has been a constant critic of Israel, writing incessantly about its war crimes, but (as far as I know) has never written anything substantial, or anything at all, indicting Hamas for war crimes. It’s a bit late, but better late than never. And for Hamas to deny that it committed war crimes on October 7? Well, we know that the terrorist group lies like a rug. I’m hoping this marks a sea change so that these “rights” groups, almost uniformly opposed to Israel, start being more objective, but I’ve been around long enough to know that that hope is pretty futile. Here’s a tweet thread (h/t Malgorzata) about HRW when it was blatantly anti-Israel:
As an organization, @HRW is obsessively devoted to demonizing Israel. Their reaction to the Oct 7 attack was true to form. @HRW waited until Oct 9 and then posted a statement promoting a narrative that the massacres were somehow justified or at least must be contextualized. > pic.twitter.com/fq7yIH8yhP
— NGO Monitor (@NGOmonitor) July 17, 2024
*On his Substack site Singal-Minded, Jesse Singal said, “I watched Biden’s NAACP so you don’t have to, unless you did, in which case I am so sorry.” That’s the subtitle of his critique, which is titled, “This is no longer remotely tenable.” Note: I didn’t watch the speech, but I’ve put it below. It’s half an hour long. (I watched snippets and got freaked out.)
Singal:
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No, I’m not deliberately overdoing the criticisms of Biden: have a look at the front page or op-eds of the NYT to see how many people are desperately calling on Biden to step down. And maybe he will: the NYT reports that “President Biden said in an interview released on Wednesday that he would re-evaluate whether to stay in the presidential race if a doctor told him directly that he had a medical condition that made that necessary.” But many of us centrist Democrats feel like we’re about to get sick, for our party can’t seem to do anything to defeat The Orange Demagogue. I keep telling myself, “Well, if he’s elected, it’s only four more years, then it’s over.” But I also tell myself, “I may die when Trump is President.”
*An article by Martin Gurri I couldn’t resist from the NYT: “Cowboy boots are the great American icebreaker.”
I don’t often have opportunities to find things in common with most strangers in general, but especially in rural Nevada. Coming from a bicoastal Black family, possessing no love for sport, or business, I find most of my conversations center on topics like art and history and human rights, or some hodgepodge of the three. My interests make it hard, on the surface, to relate to a rural Mormon. (A snap judgment, I know.) But to my surprise, Ed and I have more things to talk about. We’re well versed in the region’s botany (including the Great Basin’s sagebrush and juniper trees). We also understand ranching practices (my family owns 200 acres of meadow and forest near the Colorado River in Egypt, Texas, and Ed learned what he knows from a lifetime of experience in Alamo, Nev.). That initial conversation about my boots led to many more. It strikes me that we have, in the most tacit of senses, become friends thanks to my footwear.
My boots are composed of stacked leather, and are lavishly embellished with romantic stitching. Cowboy boots are a coalition of several cultures. The riding boot dates back to the Mongol Empire. Mongol riding boots and cowboy boots look like cousins down to the pointed toe, but the former model is much smaller and doesn’t have a prominent heel. The direct progenitors of our modest spur-sporters are the British Wellington and the Spanish riding boot, shoes created for military action and ranching respectively. According to legend, the design was altered around the 1870s to sport a scalloped top, which provided ease of access and removal. The design of the boot is thick enough to repel chafing, scrub brush and ornery varmints; stalwart as to endure difficult working conditions; nimble and supportive for fast action; and still powerful and noble-looking after a shine.
The cowboy boot is innately American, shoe as nationalist symbol. The more normalized depiction of Black cowboys in recent popular culture (see: Beyoncé’s album “Cowboy Carter,” Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” the brilliant Dom Flemons’s music, the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo) might prompt more people of color to purchase a pair, identifying with an essential aspect of Americana from which we have so often been excluded. The cowboy boot and its legacy are complex, but it may be the gear we need right now. Americans can’t agree on much these days, but if we can come to a consensus on the cowboy boot, we might be able to find other things we have in common.
Back in Las Vegas, I’m getting my tire changed. I use my local llantera religiously for this ever-necessary maintenance. Jerry, the man who runs the shop, approaches me during this rotation, declaring: “I’ve got a great pair of ropers! Maaaaan, I love to take them dancing.” I’ve been coming to his shop for seven years, and this is the first thing he’s said to me that wasn’t related to auto repair. I’m wearing a new burgundy pair of boots, and maybe the color caught his eye. We go on for the next 20 minutes about his love of cowboy boots, his collection, his kids and mine and how we dress them in a Western style for important events. I’m once again astonished at how my shoes have expanded a relationship I had only superficially engaged.
It’s all true! Men’s footwear, save cowboy boots, is UGLY: we have far fewer choices than women. Boots are cool, and I even got Steve Pinker onto them, so he now wears them constantly. I can always start a conversation with someone if I see them wearing boots, as I know a lot about cowboy boots given my large collection. (Sadly, I haven’t worn them much lately.) I met Elizabeth Weiss at a Stanford meeting, for instance, because I noticed she was wearing boots and remarked on them. Now we are e-friends. They are far more comfortable than most people realize, and can be worn either with a suit (as does Steve) or with jeans (as do I). Try them!
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili notes the many uncollected fallen apples:
Hili: You have to collect these apples.A: I don’t have time.Hili: You always have excuses.
Hili: Musisz pozbierać te jabłka.Ja: Nie mam czasu.Hili: Zawsze masz jakieś wykręty.
And a photo of Baby Kulka:
*******************
From Cat Memes:
From America’s Cultural Decline Into Idiocy via Antonio Maches:
From Strange, Silly, or Stupid Signs via John Grant:
From Masih, a clever tweet. The implication, trained dogs have more control than many Muslim men, who apparently cannot be trained!
“Hey women! if you are unveiled in public, then the men have the right to get aroused and rape you.”
This is what the Islamic Republic officials in Iran believe.
But let’s test this logic with a different scenario.
Here, we have a dog and a delicious steak. Watch it yourself! pic.twitter.com/mgSdUcxIZL— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 17, 2024
From Simon, who proffers this in a time when he doesn’t find very much funny (join the club!):
I think the building is giving up. pic.twitter.com/IQR4NfpTeb
— Timothy Imholt (@TimothyImholt) July 16, 2024
From my feed, which is usually full of heartwarming stuff and animals:
Guy saving a seagull in Glasgow, Scotland
pic.twitter.com/RRjRy4ArE6— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) July 16, 2024
From Malcolm, whose comment is “insane”. Or very, very skillful!
Touching the void on the most breathtaking ridge of the Dolomites😱 pic.twitter.com/VdVke93PTE
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) July 12, 2024
The wonders of AI:
Marvelous!
And time goes fast …
— Figen (@TheFigen_) July 16, 2024
From the Auschwitz Memorial, one I retweeted:
Killed with cyanide gas upon arrival at Auschwitz. She was seven years old. https://t.co/1cGjbLJss0
— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) July 18, 2024
Two tweets from Dr. Cobb. First, a cat losing his flour before he can make biscuits:
He needs flour to make biscuits. pic.twitter.com/dtQU0V5ENi
— Why you should have a cat (@ShouldHaveCat) July 13, 2024
I’d argue that the others have some claim, and “H is for Hawk” is as much autobiography as a work of science, But still, five science-related books out of 100 is pathetic!
On NYT book list: It’s a shame (tho unsurprising) that only one nonfiction nature/science work made top 100, the deserving H IS FOR HAWK. Others w/ a claim:
6TH EXTINCTION, Kolbert
SPILLOVER, Quammen
DEATH & LIFE OF GREAT LAKES, Egan
IMMORTAL LIFE OF H LACKS, Skloot.What else?
— Ben Goldfarb (@ben_a_goldfarb) July 13, 2024
Red Wings are pretty good as a conventional boot footwear – better than Timberland, IMHO – though I’m open minded.
On the subject of footwear, I recently had to bin a pair of workboots I’ve had for years. Nothing particularly spectacular about the boots, but the combinations of lacing (to get them to fit snugly) with zipped sides so I can put them on/ off in a few seconds made them by far my most used boot .. until the soles wore out.
Utility beats beauty, every time. Now I’m on Jalattes, for the pull-on/ kick off convenience, but without the laced-on fitting.
They make these laces now that are called … one brand name is Lock Laces. Sort of yank the cord and a crimping ferrule type thing locks them.
Have not bought one yet, but looked interesting.
The 2002 Yzerman-Datsyuk Red Wings were the best.
🤣
I know you know – but just so we know – I checked a number of times, but no there is no connection here :
Detroit Red Wings hockey
Red Wing Shoes – Red Wing, Minnesota, 55066
… the logo is very similar too but not in detail.
I was HOPING they were related somehow!….
… but maybe the farm team is…
I’m just grateful you didn’t refer to it as “ice hockey” 🙂
“Men’s footwear, save cowboy boots, is UGLY: we have far fewer choices than women. ” Whaaa!??
There’s lots of cool footwear for men, *including* Western Boots! There’s wooden clogs (very good for foot support while bike riding), there’s wingtips, there’s huaraches (I love mine in the summer – when I identify as Latin American;-), then there’s those motorcycling booties with laces, but with integrated spats covering the laces…
I have all those kinds of shoes and love them for suitable events/applications.
Note: Sandals are a no-go for me, with those flip-flops being the worst abomination!
Can you believe people wearing those on airline flights! But then I’m old-fashioned, from an age when taking a flight or going to the movies was done in a coat and tie (i.e. informal). Also, men should never wear short pants (no matter how hot it is out). I guess you got me started, but now I better stop!
Biden continues to surf on the edge between “He is too old and too far gone” and “The time is too short to replace him”. Each week, he’ll be older and his mental issues become more obvious, but each there will be one less week for a replacement to be selected and to campaign.
Which way will this break? I have no clue, but the only winner is Trump.
Nancy Pelosi had recently stepped in and told Biden that he cannot win and that his candidacy is threatening the whole applecart. I am hoping this will be the watershed moment, but who knows.
Now that Tr*mp has been shot at, Biden can’t win. The Dems might as well try somebody else – it couldn’t get any worse.
Biden won 14,465,519 votes out of 16,610,102 votes cast in the Dem primary. Do these votes mean nothing?
What is the principle here?
Power and money.
There weren’t any other realistic candidates campaigning or on our ballots, only a few ‘never heard of them’ outliers. If we’d had a Democratic primary campaign and choices such as Whitmer, Klobuchar, Newson, Booker, Shapiro, etc., the numbers would be very different.
A maxim herewith for primary season:
“Treason doth never prosper — what’s the reason?
Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.” — John Harrington
No one wants to be the first to attack the King, in case his fellows turn on him and help the King hang him. But no one wants to be the last to stick his knife in, lest his loyalty to the cabal be questioned. There is nothing quite so ugly as a sitting leader being intrigued against by members of his own party. Canadian parties do this routinely, right now as a matter of fact, because we don’t have primaries to give the spectacle a veneer of respectability.
I would love for someone here to tell us about the etymological roots shared between “spectacle” and “respectability”.
Which Trump? Ivanka, or the Donald. Or … there is a son (or several) floating around, but he doesn’t seem to be making much noise. Not being interested in what dad does is not an option, so I do wonder what he’s up to. As your first aid training tells you – keep a close eye on the silent ones.
That didn’t make much news over here – and it is news to me. It actually sounds like he was fluffing a moderately funny joke, but I know my sense of humour is not everyone’s.
On which subject, my wife hates a tee-shirt I got from the Artist’s “Jesus’n’Mo” shop, but I think it is hilarious. Is it still on sale? It’s still on the website (link : https://www.jesusandmo.net/wp-content/themes/responsive_comicpress-3col/images/jesus_mo_thankyou2.jpg but labelled as “unavailable”. And the previous “merchandising link
Checking if the image link works.
If the Artist reads here, perhaps a re-issue of this shirt with a reference to Masiah would sell well.
Oh, I see form the site “T-shirts and mugs are no longer available to purchase, as CafePress closed our shop after complaints from the Pakistan government. Feel free to use the images on this site to make your own.” Shame on CafePress!
I’m trying to find the large version of the image, so people can (per the Artist’s instructions) make their own. But, I’ll go out of the 15 minute “edit” window.
At least the tee-shirt link works.
OK, I found it (thankfully, I d/l’d and stored all the JnM cartoons some years ago – much quicker searching there than on the site.
The tee-shirt design comes from the 2007-02-22 (Valentine’s Day + ?) cartoon “hijab” (not a burkah – sorry!)
To quote the Artist’s “boilerplate” :
Jesus & Mo is licensed under a Creative Commons License:Feel free to copy for noncommercial purposes, under the same license.
Please provide a link back to jesusandmo.net
You never know – if CafePress receive dozens of requests for the image as a tee/ poster/ whatever, each complaining about the shutting of the Artist’s shop, perhaps they’ll relent.
It’s sad that Biden now has COVID-19. With the kind of pressure he is now under—to perform flawlessly (which he cannot do) or get out of the race—he may not make it through the election without suffering a major health crisis. Is this that crisis? I don’t know, but I don’t think that he’ll be in the running much longer.
Quick question about cowboy boots: How tall do you have to be to wear them convincingly? I love them and almost bought a pair in Calgary but I was afraid I’d look “all hat and no cattle.” So I compromised and bought a friend a leather vest in women’s size two. I knew she wouldn’t look ridiculous in it.
There are versions with a short shaft (or whatever the upright part is called). I think those look great.
I have done no research on the matter, but I perceive that women wear their jeans inside their boot, so that the height (and decorative stitching) of the shaft becomes an issue.
I perceive that with the occasional exception of jeans men wear their pants over the boot shaft, especially when wearing suits. Tastes vary regarding the amount and kind of decorative stitching. In my older age I prefer black and maroon eel with no stitching on the foot. I can’t get seem to get an unstitched shaft (and it’s made of leather not eel, I suppose for cost-cutting purpose and perhaps also because the pants generally cover the shaft.) Years ago, while in the Navy and visiting Pusan (now Busan?) Korea, I ordered two pairs and had them shipped back to the U.S., where I finally got to don them over three years later when I left the Navy. The shafts were unstitched eel. It took a few months for the fishy smell to subside. I made them last about twenty years. Subsequent eel boots don’t seem to possess the fishy smell.
Thank you both very much, Mark and Filippo. I should have made it clear I’m a (short) man but I can interpret your advice accordingly. I would only wear them with long jeans or Dockers so I’d probably go with full height just for authenticity. I can see the short shank working on a short woman like my wife, with bare legs.
Best!
Everyone I know wears western boots. I guess by “convincingly” you mean looking like you wear boots all the time. The solution is of course to wear boots regularly, if not all the time.
The same goes for hats. Most of the folks I socialize with have their boots, hats, and often their shirts custom made, but I think most people could get excellent results by taken the clerk’s advice at a well established western store.
Importantly, western wear is not exclusionary. Nobody is ever going to give you grief over appropriating anything. The only test is whether you yourself feel comfortable.
My regular boot maker was Paul Wheeler then his son Dave, but even he has now retired.
https://wheelerboots.com/over_the_top.html
I get my hats from Texas Hatters, and the best of my shirts are made by Manuel Cuevas.
https://www.aarp.org/espanol/entretenimiento/moda-y-estilo/info-2018/disenador-manuel-cuevas-crea-estilo-y-moda/
I generally try to have at least one shirt that goes well with each pair of boots.
I am just happy that I live in a culture and location where dressing like that is appropriate even in formal situations.
More prosaic than that, Max. It was just, “Do you have to be tall to wear boots with heels higher than a work boot?” But I thank you for your advice, which is, in essence, just wear ‘em.
I don’t think a person’s height is relevant at all.
Somehow, I’m amused by this thread. Honestly? I’d never have guessed that any of you would spend so much time, energy (thought) and money on boots and hats. You all sound like a bunch of, well, women! And, as a woman, I can say that. Revealing? Endearing? Definitely a surprise to me.
Don’t worry about it. I have a cousin who is an actual cowboy, and he’s short. He wears them.
They look great on everybody imo. My uncle, (cousin’s father,) wore his at his daughter’s wedding.
Thanks also, LM.
We all expect politicians of each party to spin, lie, evade. What is stunning over the Trump era is the degree to which our “institutions of information and knowledge” have become part of the party apparatus of lies and deception. News reports read like press releases. Anchors repeat political spin lines verbatim across networks. Interviewers acquiesce to demands for softball questions and edited tapes. Policies are advocated rather than scrutinized. Dissenting voices, especially if in-house or once considered elite, are locked out of mainstream discourse. Ad hominem attacks become the norm. Truth is seldom spoken to power—if that power shares one’s politics.
Someone remind me, in which country do we live? Too early to tell what the post-debate press frenzy suggests about the future of an independent press.
I could post a long list of science-themed NF for the NYT list.
The first handful that pop to mind are:
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Complications by Atul Gawande
The Great Influenza by John Barry
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
Strange Glow by Timothy Jorgensen
The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins
Why Evolution Is True by our host
Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer
Why We Get Sick by Nesse et al.
Just my opinion, but I’d add Steve Stewart-Williams “The Ape That Understood the Universe” to that list.
Just the other day I was using knowledge I’d gleaned from that book to counter my sister’s argument that human – and particularly male – aggression was all down to culture.
With respect to “Democrats in tatters” Tyler Cowen has an interesting take.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/07/the-changes-in-vibes-why-did-they-happen.html
His closing observation is keen: ” If your response to that question [why are Democrats not doing better] is to cite reasons why the Democrats are better than Trump…well then you are exactly part of the problem.”
[edit to add: as usual I’m not American so merely interested but not especially well informed]
One comment at that site:
“They’re not the party of the median voter anymore: Wokism, trans, DEI , violent Palestine protests , sprawling homeless encampments ,brazen , fearless shoplifters , asylum seekers filling up hotels for free isn’t what people want to witness and focus on.
They offer no optimism, no dynamism mostly social conflict and decay.
Biden is also now symptomatic of that decay. No longer sharp but blunted and feeble and increasingly needing props and handlers. The subterfuge worked for quite a while but no one is fooled anymore.”
That comment and a couple others were on the mark. The one by “North”, “… Americans are exquisitely sensitive to the idea that a politician or party is looking down their nose [at] people like them… ”
Thanks for the link, Mike. It was a good, if somewhat disjointed, piece. I love finding new sites like this one that, were it not for weit readers, I’d never know about.
Agree!
Thank you for your suggestion, Mike. The article was an accurate and articulate list of cultural fashions the D’s have adopted in recent years. President Biden has governed from this cultural playbook. The total list is indeed why centrist voters who haven’t joined a political team are scratching their collective heads wondering how keeping the D’s in power is actually helpful to the country’s civic culture.
Terrifying bicycle stunt (I wouldn’t even walk there) but the thick grey belt gave me hope that perhaps he was being belayed.
The young/old hugs video is amazing!
A la flour cat, we once had one of our d*gs scatter the ashes of his partner on their favorite beach via a baggie (with a hole in the bottom) tied to his collar.
My advice to PCC(E) is to just go, man, go!
Look here you!
Voltaire (1694–1778), ‘God is on the side not of the heavy battalions but of the best shots.’