November 25, 28

 The fog has finally lifted. We had rain overnight. The temperature is still mild, especially for the end of November but that is expected to change starting tomorrow. The last forecast I saw, yesterday, predicted possible snow over the weekend. I think the four pots I cleaned out yesterday will be the last work outside unless it gets dry enough to sweep up leaves.

A couple of days ago Treasury Secretary Bessent appeared on one of the Sunday current affairs talk shows and tried again to convince people that they aren't really experiencing inflation. He is an economist and was relying on the idea that people generally don't know that the technical definition of inflation doesn't actually refer to prices. When people talk about inflation they us the term colloquially to refer to increasing prices for everyday items. Bessent is still trying to gaslight us into thinking we don't know what is happening in our lives.

28************************************************

Sunny so far today. We didn't get any noticeable precipitation yesterday. The next front should be moving in later this afternoon which the weather people say should drop significant snow, perhaps as much as a foot. I brought the snow shovel out of the shed and put it in an accessible corner of the patio and the sidewalk deicer which is in the house by the door. I turned off the TV news early today. I can't stand listening to Trump, Vance or Hegseth. They spew so much shit that you can fertilize every farm field in the country for a century.

We watched the Chicago and the Macy's Thanksgiving Parades followed by the Weather Channel's coverage of the winter storm marching through the northern tier of the country. The two parades were quite a contrast. Chicago highlighted local culture, or cultures, and local talent. Macy was a slicker production which would have told you very little about the people inhabiting the city. Chicago's production featured performers from local ethnic organizations which keep their music, dance and other art alive. Macy's focused on popular entertainment with several hip-hop artists, one of the stars of WICKED FOR GOOD, and other nationally popular artists. On the whole I preferred the Chicago parade. 

This NBC article has some interesting aspects. The author(s) say that attitudes toward higher education changed significantly starting about 20 years ago. My own attitudes changed slowly starting ten years before that. For the so-called GREATEST GENERATION a four-year degree was worthwhile. Many of them used the G.I. Bill to fund their educations. And those funds were available for both college and trade schools. My father used his to learn to maintain semi-truck engines though he soon found he preferred to drive rather working as a mechanic. All of the professors in the classes I took were Veterans and earned at least their bachelor's degrees through the V.A. A theme that ran through the article was that the respondents thought a college degree was too expensive for what people got was because students were not taught skill that would have prepared them for the labor market. I will ask a different question: could college programs have prepared students for modern work. I would say that they couldn't and don't for all too many students. They were geared for the economy of the 1950s not the economy of the 1980s or any time since. The economy has changed drastically and rapidly and the colleges haven't been good at turning on a dime to meet new needs. One could also ask if a lot of the programs should be offered in a college at all.

Bill Astore at BRACING VIEWS provides a good piece our military spending for your post-Thanksgiving reading: GUNS AS BUTTER. Economists often talk to the general public (or their intro ECON students) in terms of "guns vs. butter." But Astore notes that for the significant part of our economy guns are butter; spending on guns (and everything associated with them) are the butter of the military and its associated industries. And that sector is soaking up so much of the budget it limits the public access to butter (health care, food, education etc.).

November 24

Good morning. It is overcast so the sun promised by the weather people over the weekend has failed to arrive. My thermometer on the fence says the temperature is just above 50F but it certainly doesn't feel like it. I just cleaned out four pots of dead plants and moved the two from the front door to the back. That was enough garden work for today. I have some more cleanup planned but it wait til tomorrow or whenever. I decided that I won't put any pots by the front door. Our landlords insist on keeping the pampas grass (I think that is what the crap is) and I am tired of trying to keep it from falling into my flowers. The news this morning was about the same as it was on Saturday (and on Friday and on Thursday... .)

Ugo Bardi at THE SENECA EFFECT writes about "Global Dumbing: the Consequences." I don't have much faith in IQ test results. I read a bit about how they were developed and Bardi is entirely correct in saying that they were developed for Western peoples. I would go farther: they were developed by White, Western European men for White Western European men and if you aren't in that group you often don't test well. I have read even more on exactly how that works. And there were very early evidence that the level of education was a better indicator of how well a person would test than the results of the test indicating how well anyone would do academically. Those tests showed an increase in "intelligence" across generations. Immigrants scored low but their children scored higher and the grandchildren scored higher yet. The children and grandchildren had higher levels of education as well.

COP30 is winding down with so little accomplished that some question whether another should be held. I heard one report which said that meeting was better attended by the fossil fuels industry than by diplomats and climate scientists.They made sure that any proposals that would affect business as usual for them was removed. The next COP will be in Turkey, if it is held at all.

Well, something did move this morning. The judge who was hearing the Comey and James motions for dismissal of the cases because Halligan was illegally appointed to the office of prosecutor. The motions to dismiss on the grounds of "vindictive and selective prosecution" are still alive.

Stray thought: just this morning on BBC they featured the story of a very young boy who is suffering from Hunter's Syndrome which causes progressive physical and mental deterioration leading to death in the teenage years. His family went to England for gene therapy which has been in development for a couple of decades and which appears to have been successful in arresting and even reversing the symptoms. The only sad thing in the story is that his older brother is also suffering for the same condition but is too old for the trial. But just now MSNow has a segment on Tatiana Schlossberg's new article detailing her struggles with cancer culminating in her new diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia and her doctors' futile efforts to find a treatment. The mRNA research might have yielded a cure for the same condition but not in time for her. But the funds for that research has been terminated by her cousin, RFK, Jr.

The CITIZENS UNITED decision conferring on corporations the rights to use their money to express their political opinions has unleashed a plague of money on our politics. Robert Reich details a way states might erase the effects of the decision though not the decision itself. Corporations are fictional persons formed in states according to state law. The state approves the corporation and can regulate what it can and cannot spend money on and could bar the corporation from spending in political causes. After all physical persons are barred from spending on certain things at certain times. I can't buy beer, wine, and liquor before noon on Sundays. You can't legally donate to terrorist or criminal organizations. Whether you can place a bet on line (or at all) is regulated by the state you live in. Evidently Montana is introducing an initiative to regulate corporate participation in politics. That would be an interesting situation if it passes. 

November 22

Nice sunny morning. First for several days. It didn't always rain but it sure was gloomy. We are watching the soccer games and being lazy. I have washed dishes and cleaned up most of the kitchen--have a bit more to do during half times and the post game shows.

Affordability seems to be the watchword for politics now and Trump is trying very hard to claim it was his own. Unfortunately for him not many believe him. Yves Smith posted this on NAKED CAPITALISM which gives an indication of why. She cross-posted a COMMON DREAMS piece by Stephen which does a deeper dive into food prices that goes beyond Walmart's much touted Thanksgiving family meal which keeps the price down by reducing the number of components by one quarter and substituting lower priced house brands. Hey, Trump, we call that shrinkflation.

Another step in the evolution of THE UNITED STATES OF SURVEILLANCE. I wonder how long before they drop "land of the free" from the STAR SPANGLED BANNER. 

I found this article about rising rates of malnutrition and malnutrition related diseases in the UK which triggered my curiosity. A quick Google search yielded this article at USNews. The U.S. is experiencing similar conditions and increasing food insecurity. This report from the WHO indicates that food insecurity and malnutrition have reached levels not seen since 2008-9. Back in the 1980s the original "green revolution" aimed to reduced hunger by introducing new high yield crops and better farming methods. It seemed to work--at least for a while.

Just when you think you have seen the worst the Big BeautifulUgly Bill/Act included--you find there are even more nasty inclusions. According to CROOKS&LIARS, the (Formerly) Department of Education nursing is no longer a profession and post Bachelor's students won't qualify for all of the available loans designated "professions" would have received. I found other reports which claimed that the Department considers the new designation a cost cutting measure. But I also noticed that several of the re-labeled no longer professions are female dominated. Coincidence? I don't think so.

 Cloudy this morning and cool. The forecast has changed to say we won't see the sun for at least the next seven days. My fuzzy little stubborn "alarm clocks" annoyed me into feeding them about 2am. Then they started in again an hour later. They weren't happy when I ignored them for their mid-morning feeding til 9am. They still haven't adjusted to the time change. And I am sleep deprived. Oh, well.

Robert Reich makes a good point in his latest post. The CEOs of corporations like McDonalds complain the low and middle income people aren't patronizing them and their profits are falling but they are in fact part of their own problem. They pay low wages to front line workers which forces those workers to sign up for SNAP or other benefits to make up the shortfall. The CEOs "earn" hundreds of dollars more than their average workers but have been, with their corporations, of the Republicans reduction in their taxes. So we pay for the benefits for the lowest wage workers AND we pay for their tax breaks. Their workers don't earn enough to buy the goods they push across the counter to the few low and middle income patrons who are still coming through the door. (Confession here: I haven't patronized a McDonalds in eight years. That was the first time in over a decade before that and only because Mom and I were driving to Denver and couldn't find any other eatery open at the time. The food was incredibly disappointing.)

November 17, 18

 Good sunny mid-November day. Had a couple of errands this morning. Most intended to take us over next week and avoid the holiday shopping. But needed to go to Michaels for some solid color balls of crochet thread and a new winter wreath. I decided that I am not going to make any more wreaths. That has become more of a chore than a pleasure and I can do without it.

18**********************************************

Cloudy today with rain continuing, perhaps, for the next three or four. This is the time of the year when sunny conditions can be more of an irritant because the angle of the sun reflects off the table under the windows right into my eyes. That will happen again six months from now. Got the crochet thread and noticed how restricted the selections were. Almost all of it was in size 10. Luckily that matches most of the partials I have. But I found two old balls of size 30. I don't remember exactly when I got them but I guess they are more than 25 years old. I am planning on paring them with another thread for some project as yet undecided. Michaels used to have an 8 foot section of racks with threads sized from 3 through 30. Not any more. I have watched as the selections of materials for needlework has contracted. I gave up on needlepoint kits when the fashion shifted to long stitch which I hated at first sight. I remember when I began doing embroidery 60 years ago (when I was in my middle teens) I could walk into the local Ben Franklin Five and Dime (or any one of other such stores) and see full aisles of pre-stamped pieces from doilies to table cloths. And any kind of knitting and crocheting threads and yarns from lace weight to bulky. Again, no more. Mom and I have commented with sad amusement that no one sewed or did other needle crafts any more. Thankfully some do and I follow a number of crafting groups on Facebook and some of the work I see is incredible.

Major irritation over the last few days: pundits talking about Michelle Obama's comments about women in politics. She basically said that we, as a society, have a lot of growing up to do before we, again as a society, will elect a woman. A couple of the pundits tried to blame the female candidates who ran because they were "flawed." Exactly what flaws they exhibited the pundits didn't specify. Frankly that notion pisses me off. How many "flawed" male candidates have occupied the White House? UH--how about 47? And the most flawed is the current occupant who managed to be elected twice. It occurs to me that male plumbing makes up for any amount of character deficiencies in a man. And female plumbing erases any number of good qualities in a woman.

Random thought: it is interesting to see people like Marjory Taylor Green fighting with Donald Trump about what and who is MAGA. Some time ago, during Trump 1.0, some MAGA voters were claiming that MAGA wasn't Trump's creation or property. He managed to put a catchy title on MAGA and express a lot of the values of the "movement." But he wasn't inseparable from MAGA. Now some of the MAGA-verse is considering a divorce most explicitly over the Epstein scandal. The disillusionment may go deeper yet.

November 16

 Welcome to half past November. It is a slow and lazy Sunday during which I plan on doing very little beyond fixing what ever we will be eating, planning what I will do over the next week, and going through my reading list. 

On that last, on the top was this article by Timothy Snyder. I think he accurately explains what's going on. His description of what Trump, Vance and their minions see inside the grift bubble aligns pretty well with their attitudes and actions. Snyder's last tow paragraphs are important. The grifters assume that there will always be another grift and that they can turn any crisis to their profit. That works until it doesn't. And there might be crises they can't manage. As a couple of economics writers have written repeatedly over the last years bubbles ALWAYS burst. And as other economics writers have said for some time nothing GROWS FOREVER. There are limits.

Peter published this piece that examines the health insurance history with the decline in adult male height as a proxy for affluence and health. I am still mulling this over. In a sense it parallels the statistics which show that though our health care costs, including insurance, are the highest in the world we are not the healthiest or the longest lived.

I saw a headline on this event but did a search on line to find more information from a more familiar source. I have read about "Gen Z" protests in several countries lately. Young people worldwide are upset about corruption, limited opportunities and poverty. Governments worldwide respond similarly by blaming political opponents and outside agitators.

Found this by way of THIS WEEK IN COLLAPSE. Over the last several months I have seen sporadic accounts of a worsening water situation in northern Iran due to an extreme drought. The article reports that the National government is thinking of ordering restriction on the hours of water service and, perhaps, evacuating cities, some of Iran's largest, due to the emergency.

November 12

 Good morning, all. We have sun and chilly, not cold, temps. A lot of the snow that fell has melted and should be mostly gone by the weekend. I don't know if I will make it, but I want to stay awake to see if the aurora will be visible here. We are in the zone which should give us a good show. A friend in Iowa, located just north of I-80, had some spectacular pictures. I put some of the hexagons into the shawl I am constructing. It is looking good so far. I just put in my grocery order through Instacart also and had a lot on the list because I let a lot of items go down. But I have decided that I am going to build my pantry up again. I expect that the political and economic disruptions will continue and I want a cushion against whatever might happen.

Well, the House is back in session and getting ready to swear in the Arizona representative Johnson has refused over the last two months. And they are considering the Senate CR to re-open the government. Before we celebrate we need to remember that it lasts only til the end of January. The end of the ACA subsidies take effect on January 1 and I think the Senators will vote on a bill to continue them was entirely empty. By the time the CR expires the full effect of the insurance increases will have hit.

I guess the housing sector of the economy is really hurting because the FHFA director Pulte took a suggestion to the White House for a "50 year mortgage." I have been laughing ever since. We already have 30 year mortgages available but a lot of people can't qualify. A mortgage going over 50 years would provide lower monthly payments but, as most people should know, you won't make a dent in the principal until late in the term of the loan. We also have adjustable rate mortgages which have screwed a lot of would-be homeowners because the low payment at the start can, and often do, increase drastically at any time. I said "would-be" because until the mortgage is paid off you don't really own the property. Given the economy  not many people stay in a house long enough to pay off the 30 year mortgage. Right now the average age of first time home owners is 40 and I wonder how many would want to still have a mortgage at age 90. I hope others in Trump's orbit laughed him out of the room. Yves Smith at NAKED CAPITALISM goes into the murky depths of the consequences of a 50 year mortgage covering points I made, in greater detail, and points some drawbacks I didn't think of.

November 11

Veterans' Day--the day when some of us ceremoniously "remember" those who fought/died in our various wars while forgetting them the rest of the year. Perhaps that sounds cynical but I have met far too many veterans whose medical, economic and other needs aren't being met. My long deceased ex-husband tried for months to get an appointment with doctors at a VA hospital and died several months before the one appointment he finally had scheduled. I knew a student in an American History course I taught at a community college who had serious injuries from his service in Desert Storm that left him with severe disabilities but who had his benefits threatened because he wouldn't agree to go back into the service. I saw my niece who suffered as injuries she sustained during service got worse and the doctors belittled her because she wanted help with the severe pain. She had to go into a screaming tirade to get help in one hospital. I think I have good  reasons for a bit of cynicism--especially in the age of Trump.

Well, the Senate did indeed pass that continuing resolution and now it is up to the House to do the same. I'm not holding my breath because Speaker Johnson is not in any kind of turbo mode for getting the job done. And there is no assurance that, if they do get it past the House, Trump would sign it. At best we have three or four more days of the shutdown; at worst, God knows.

Jennifer Rubin expresses a thought that occurred to me about this whole mess: how do those Senators who gave the Senate the 60 votes to pass the mess know that as soon as they get the bill the House won't come back with rescission bills to take back what the Senate Republicans promised. That is exactly what happened with the last continuing resolution. Rescission bills can be passed with a simple majority. We might get the worst parts of the bill with none of the good.

Yves Smith at NAKED CAPITALISM posted this article, with her introductory remarks, about how the big-box "super-centers" encourage overconsumption and waste. Nothing about the study surprises me. The whole system is designed to encourage you to buy more than you intended. We used to shop at the local Target and Walmart super-centers but haven't done so regularly for the last fifteen years. For several years we went in for specific items and couldn't find what we wanted or found crappy quality in what we did find. We had already shifted to using a list and rarely deviated from it--only for items we happened to see and had been discussing for some time offered at a good price. Impulse has diminished as we have gotten older. We did shop at a different chain's "super-center" but even there our impulse shopping has fallen as we have gotten older. Since Mom's accident last spring and her long recovery we have gone to using InstaCart and stuck, mostly, to a list. I found Yves' comments to introduce the article struck chords of memory. What was once a convenience has over the last twenty has become, on several considerations, less of a convenience. 

I also found this article posted with NAKED CAPITALISM. Canada has lost its measles free status and the U.S. is expected to follow if the current outbreak can't be stopped before January. Canada's outbreak has been going since this time last year. And I also saw a headline that China is having a rough flue season with co-infections with H3N2, H2N1, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and rhinovirus.

I guess the numbers are in and they aren't good. The last three years, including this year, are the hottest in the last 176 years and it will be pretty much impossible to maintain an average global temperature of 1.5C over pre-industrial levels.

Stray thought: Schumer has been criticized brutally for everything from not whipping the vote against the continuing resolution to his age. The CR is basically, on the surface, a win for the Republicans but may turn out to be a loss. And the aftermath might be an even greater loss for the Democrats if the Republicans come back with rescission packages which takes away with what little they did get. However, it strikes me that the shutdown progressed exactly as Schumer predicted it would when he persuaded his party to vote for the continuing resolution offered earlier this year. They had no concrete plan for exiting a shutdown and Trump did exactly what Schumer predicted: picked and chose which parts of the government would close and who wouldn't get paid. Schumer was correct then and his prediction came true over the last 40+days.

In case anyone thinks my first paragraph was a bashing of veterans--it isn't. It is a critique of a society that calls people to military service in the name of duty, patriotism or whatever precious value and then shorts them on the care they need once they come back injured, unemployed, in debt. I served before combat was opened to women, my brothers served, my ex-husband served, several uncles served and a niece served. I honor those who also served. They aren't suckers or losers as a certain President claimed. 

November 10

 Well the snow has stopped--for now--though west of here the lake effect snow is still falling. We still have a Winter Weather Warning so more might be coming. We aren't going anywhere. (Update: it's about 12:30 and the new wave of snow is coming down heavily.) I put a big pot of beef/vegetable soup on the stove. It will provide at least two days supper and some left over. I used a lot of our left overs and cleaned out the fridge. I don't use a recipe because I simply dump what ever is on hand into the mix. The best thing is I won't have to cook til at least Wednesday. I have said before that cooking for two is a pain in the butt. It is far easier to cook how I have always done and freeze leftovers--which provides quick meals later.

I tried a couple of crochet patterns with my worsted weight yarns but wasn't too enthusiastic about it so I pulled the stitches out and rewound the balls. I am in that mood where nothing catches fire with the needlework. That is good for finishing projects but lousy for starting something new.

Well, the Senate is working on a plan which might (MIGHT) end the shutdown. The Speaker of the House is optimistic enough to call the Republicans back for a possible vote. The Democrats have been in D.C. for the entire shutdown. The debate on the news/commentary shows this morning revolves around exactly what the gridlock achieved. The bill being drafted is supposed to fund SNAP for the next year, but no movement on the increase in ACA premiums. Unfortunately, the measure would only last until the end of January. My evaluation: 1) both sides really need to review the meaning of the term "Pyrrhic victory." I think, so far, this has been a lose-lose or zero-sum game. Neither side won much for all the damage done and both may have lost more than they realize; 2) we had best buckle up for a repeat performance early next year.

Overnight the Supreme Court refused to agree to revisit Obergefell decision which upheld same sex marriage. They didn't explain why they denied the appeal which brought the issue to the Court again. I am glad. I know same sex couples, including a relative, who married as soon after the decision as they could. After a decade of legal marriage, disallowing it now would be an absolute and total mess.

I am not going to comment on Trump's latest group of pardons. I am trying to curtail my tendency to swear a blue streak at such stories.

November 9

 Snowy morning today. We are getting our first "frost" at the same time we might get as much as a foot of snow. That is the combination of a system that came in overnight and lake effect snow off Lake Michigan. I had thought about getting out an cleaning out a couple more pots and sweeping up but the thought went away and I did other things.

I crocheted a few more hexagons this morning while watching Premier League soccer. When the last game is over I will switch over to a couple of rugby games. I did play a little bit on the computer but I really want to break that habit because it eats up too much time I could be using differently. Right now I am in the process of cleaning out my e-mail.

The first thing I saw on line this morning brought out a string of swear words twice. Once I saw the lead and second when I couldn't follow because of a damned pay wall. I hate pay walls. The teaser said that the Trump administration is demanding that states which put programs in place to fund SNAP benefits in the absence of the Feds immediately dismantle those programs or face the loss of funding. Well, what can you expect when agents of this government roughs up children, puts them in zip ties, and says "F*** the kids?" Right now they are saying "F*** all the little people who can't pay to play with us." (Update: found this on Huffington Post.)

On the early morning new: The administration will end the program which allows taxpayers to file directly with IRS themselves. The main parties pushing for the action: the for profit tax preparers. Profits above people--again.

And here is something else which pegged my shit-o-meter: a Safeway store in San Francisco changed their entrances and exits so that if a customer enters but tries to leave without buying something they won't be able to get out. For the last couple of years other Safeway stores have installed alarm systems at the self-checkout counters which require customers to produce their recipes for the readers. Some time ago Chicago went through a period when a couple of bank robbers held up the same banks for small amounts of money--about enough to cover basic living expenses. I said then that the situation indicated that the economy wasn't as rosy as our politicians told us. When grocery stores have to go to such extremes to "prevent theft" I think it is another such indication.

Three Chinese astronauts return to earth was delayed three days because their return vehicle has been hit by space debris. The Chinese Manned Space Agency is looking at the vehicle to determine the extend of the damage. But, given how much trash we have left in space and the increasing number of satellites going into orbit, collisions are becoming more probable.

November 5

Very bright sunny morning today. I think we have already reached the high temp for the day--just above 60. They expect the low tonight to be just about freezing. Right now we have strong winds. I erased what I had typed because it was so grumpy. I think I still wasn't awake and my second cup of coffee hadn't really kicked in. I got some crochet work done today on a new project. As you should know by now I don't now and never have followed the "finish a project before beginning another." I have followed some bloggers who rigorously do that. But I am more like one who has about five different quilts in progress and over the year has already finished a similar number. Right now I have to embroidery pieces on hoops. I   just finished one blanket using worsted weight yarn and another is now in the play-it-until-you-like-it phase. Two light baby weight yarn projects are either works-in-progress or just at the weave-in-loose-ends stage. And two thread weight pieces on hooks. And yes I have enough hoops and hooks to do all those and more. You can never have enough of either.

The various off year elections were interesting. I don't know if they mean much for the next three years or for however long our national dementia lasts. It is obvious that a lot of people are not happy with Trump and how the economy is going. Most of the administration is in the "believe me not your lying eyes" or the fake price tags in the local grocery store. Mamdani, Sherril, Spanberger hit their opponents repeatedly on "affordability" issues when they weren't hitting Trump. It also looks like a significant number of voters are not happy with repeated efforts to rig future elections by mid-decade redistricting. Thank you, Supreme Court, for gutting the Voting Rights Act and allowing political gerrymandering. 

November 3, 4

 Welcome to November. Hope you had a nice Halloween. We were quiet. Several years ago people around here pretty much stopped the neighborhood trick-or-treating so we also stopped getting candy to give out. We simply didn't need to have all that candy around here for us to eat. I think there are several local "block party" celebrations for the kids but, not having kids, I never checked.

Over the weekend I concentrated on needlework and ignored most of the news and my e-mail. I finished the Tunisian stitch blanket and a cross stitch dresser scarf. Made good progress on the table cloth and the other table scarf. This morning I wound a yarn cake into balls so I can start on another blanket. I haven't really decided on what stitches I'll use. I think it will be another Tunisian. Then I went into cleaning mode. I absolutely hate cleaning but several tasks are done.

04************************************************

Well, we have a sunny day and very typical of fall--very chilly mornings and cool days. I don't have much ambition today. I did a few rows of crochet--very short rows on hexagon motifs. I will fix up some cupcakes in a bit. But other house keeping can wait. Yesterday's burst of cleaning activity leaves me needing a bit of a rest. Supper today will be loaded baked potatoes.

But a lot of time will be spent watching the news. It looks like a very busy day and one which might have some inconsequence for the next few years. 

The New York City mayoral race with a former governor who was forced out of office under a cloud (Cuomo) against a perennial Republican candidate (Sliwa) and a self described "Democratic Socialist" who won the Democratic Party nomination (Mamdani). Our current "Very Stable Genius" President has announced his support for Cuomo with the nasty comment that given the choice between a "bad" Democrat and a "Communist" he would take the Democrat. Point 1: Trump (along with most Americans) don't recognize any differences between socialists and communists. And there are differences. Point 2: Democratic Socialist parties have been active in most European countries for most of my lifetime (if not before) and the democracies of those countries haven't fallen into despotism. Point 3: Trump's argument that the New York electorate simply hasn't any choice besides Cuomo is ridiculous. I would take the Democratic Socialist over the Chaos and hatefulness of MAGA any day.

Spanberger and Sherrill are trying to become governors of Virginia and New Jersey. Both are moderate Democrats.

California is voting on the measure to allow the redrawing of the electoral districts to favor Democrats by passing the independent commission tasked with that function until after the next census. The governor and fellow politicians hope to negate the Texas mid-cycle redistricting to give Trump five more Representatives in Washington. Other states, both Republican and Democratic, are considering similar moves. The last time a similar contest roiled this country was between 1820 and 1860--and that led to the Civil War. During that time the contest centered on the constitution of the Senate which was balanced between Senators from the southern slaveholding states and the northern states which had eliminated slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed Missouri and Maine into the Union in tandem which maintained the balance of power for the next 34 years and prohibited slavery in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory. The Kansas Nebraska Act (1854) eliminated the Missouri Compromised but was far less successful in tamping down the increasing violence. Today the contest is centered on the House of Representatives because of the close divisions within the electorates (national and state). My crystal ball and tarot cards aren't telling me where this power struggle (and it is a struggle between political parties) to get/keep power will end but I think we are only at the beginning of a massive realignment of this country's political establishment.

Bill Astore has a post today which comments on the death of former Vice President Dick Cheney and ties his record in politics with our various wars over the last 45 years. The news programs have frequent segments on Cheney with various assessments of his life and achievements. I once absolutely despised Cheney, largely for his role in getting the U.S. into our "forever wars," including the "War on Terror." I didn't much like his daughter, Liz Cheney--largely because of her policy stances. However, I have soften a bit. I don't think I would ever have agreed with their politics but I have to respect their moral backbone. They clearly put concerns for the country over the Republican and its current leader, Donald Trump.

Stray thought: I would love it if all the gerrymandering produces results opposite of what the Republicans want. If it produces a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate would be fantastic comeuppance.

Second stray thought: It is interesting that the Democrats simply refused to be complicit in passing the Republican budget which increases the cost of ACA premiums, bigly to use the President's phrase. So we now have the government shut down because the Senate Republicans can't pass the House passed budget by themselves. Now they are blaming the interruption in SNAP payments even though there is an emergency fund they could tap for that purpose but they won't because they are trying to use it to pressure the Democrats to cave in on the budget. I don't blame the Democrats because the Republicans, from Trump on down, are untrustworthy negotiators. They included a number of provisions select Democrat legislators wanted in the continuing resolution passed in February and then passed measures to cancel what they had promised which they were able to pass on their own on a majority vote. The shutdown isn't the Democrats fault. It is the Republicans fault because they aren't trustworthy negotiators.

Third stray thought: I do feel sorry for those who have to make painful choices because their SNAP benefits have been interrupted. However, we should all of us consider something I read lately (sorry, I don't remember where): If someone feeds you, that person can starve you.

Corbin Trent at AMERICA'S UNDOING has written a piece that hits the bull's eye. The America so many MAGA supporters want to "bring back" never existed and what we had then and what we have now doesn't work for most of us.

I first heard the term "zombie companies" during the Great Recession and it applied mainly to troubled Chinese companies who had more debt costs than income. The Chinese government carried some of those companies hoping the economic conditions would improve the situation and keep unemployment low. Closing the companies would have ment a lot of people out of work potentially increasing political and social unrest. This piece, found at Yahoo economics, indicates that we have some zombies of our own and some large companies are on the list.