October 7

 Sunny today. I watered the gardens yesterday so the plants should be good for a couple of days. The weather forecast predicts moderate temperatures (low 70s) so that will help. I also did a bit of sweeping and moved a couple of my 5-gal planters. Still deciding what to take out and how to cull my pots. Over the last few years I have made changes that make upkeep easier but I still want to change the arrangements to make more room around the air conditioner and around the pot that has the bird feeder anchored in it. Birds are messy feeders and I want to be able to sweep up their leavings more easily. We'll see what happens. I have always found reducing garden spaces difficult but I don't have the energy I did even five years ago.

Dan Moynahan has a post on CAN WE STILL GOVERN which hits the story I have been following lately: the lies around the Federal Government's response to Hurricane Helene. It really irritates me that they call that shit "misinformation." It is outright LIES. A long time ago Supreme Court Justice said that freedom of speech did not cover "yelling fire in a crowded theater. That was refined by a later court ruling to prohibit speech that directly incites violence. Some of what Moynahan points to is incitement to just such violence. But I would say speech which impede the actions of emergency workers or which encourages people to take action which are potentially harmful, to themselves or others, should also be outside Constitutional protections.

Robert Reich published an interesting article titled HOW DID THE GOP BECOME THE PARTY OF CRANKS, CRACKPOTS, AND FRUITCAKES? He says it all. No need for my comment.

Stray thought: as we drive around we notice the lawn signs. In 2020, we saw a lot of Trump/Pence signs and nearly as many Biden/Harris signs. This year we have seen very few signs for any of the presidential candidates but significantly more for Harris/Walz. Only a couple for Trump/Vance. The paucity of yard signs might indicate people are simply not that engaged. However, a large number of people are putting out yard signs but they are for the down ballot candidates without any for the top of the ticket. I wonder how many of those voters will vote but only for the candidates below the presidential level which they plan to leave blank.

I have seen several headlines on early voting and out of curiosity checked on my state. Early, in person voting begins tomorrow (October 8) here. Absentee ballots can be re quested as late as October 28. That is really nice. Also, our system now allows a person to cast an in person ballot at any precinct in the area. We plan to do our usual and visit the polling place in a local church that is only two blocks away.

Robert Lipsyte writes on GROWING OLD IN THE AGE (AND THAT IS THE APPROPRIATE WORD) OF TRUMP.