Thursday--

The most severe weather passed us. We did have thunder last night but not much rain. I will have to see what the gardens look like when we have light outside. The weather people are reporting four confirmed tornadoes overnight in areas west of Chicago.

Nimue Brown has a nice piece this morning about our national smugness.

Friday--

Nice and sunny and somewhat cool this morning but the weather people predict highs in the 80s today. I need to check out the plants outside. I am sure we didn't get enough rain to matter all that much. I saw some areas I need to trim a bit before the plants get overgrown. Otherwise, not much work to do.

I do love Betty White. She is old enough she simply doesn't worry about those who might not like what she says, so she says what she thinks. I agree with this sentiment and thank the Archdruidess for posting it.

Saturday--

Supposed to be warm and sunny today with temps topping out around 90. The first of the lisianthus is blooming. It looks something like a rose which is nice since I can't grow roses out there. I tried but the cold during the winter will freeze my containers solid which roses don't like at all. The beans have also started blooming while the tomatoes and peppers are covered with flowers and some fruit forming with more to come. I really should take some pictures--I have been way too lazy in that area.

An interesting analysis of the political season which notes a few parallels with the situation in Europe. Contrary Perspective also has a good piece which makes points I have noted in conversations over the last months. Like that author have noted, with more than a note of cynicism, that our media had said nothing about the British vote until the unthinkable happened. Then all the commentary has been about the effects on the value of currencies and stocks. It pisses me that our media has become increasingly parochial in this supposedly globalizing world. What? did they think globalization only applied to economics? It occurs to me that Cameron violated a couple of rules taught to budding lawyers and which politicians perhaps should remember. First, never ask a question (or pose a referendum) you don't know the answer to. (Corollary: you never know the answer when an election is involved.) Second, never ask a question you don't want to know the answer to. I find it fascinating that Brexit is all over our news now--of course with slight attention to the underlying causes and overwhelming focus on what might happen to us. We are nothing if not self-centered.

I heard a bare snippet of this on the morning TV news--which hardly surprises since our faux news is totally unexplained or analyzed snippet. But I am reminded of a time I lived in Missouri and the referendum concerning riverboat gambling appeared so often it began to smell like a fish left out for three hot days. The evangelicals opposed it bitterly while others supported it with equal fervor. The supporters won the first round by about the same margin the Leave side won Brexit. The evangelicals came back and won the a second vote by about the same margin. Then the third vote went back the other way. Democracy is not "vote-vote-and-vote-again until your side wins." Nor is it stacking the deck so there is no way the vote can't go your way.

I have seen a number of articles and posts which posit the notion that older Britons screwed the younger ones by voting for Brexit. A good many noted that the young favored remaining in the EU by about the same margin that the older voters wanted to leave. Key: who didn't vote. This article basically makes it clear that the young voters basically screwed themselves because they didn't turn out to vote. One chart reveals that somewhere around 75% of voters older than 35 voted while only about 50% of those under 35 did. Then look at the chart of the age distribution for those voters.