September 16, 17

Cool again but the temperatures are supposed to start rising for the next week. Thankfully they won't go into the hot range. The weather reporter this morning said that the 7pm sunset is the last for this year. Not a surprise since the Autumnal equinox is only a few days away. By the end of this month the patio will be in shadow with only some sunlight that hits the corners of the fence in the early morning and late afternoon. We have been watching a flock of small birds (maybe two dozen) and a family of ground squirrels feeding--the birds fighting over the perches on the feeder and the squirrels cleaning up what they drop. We wonder if all the frenzied activity means a hard winter is coming. 

The numbers coming out of Libya for the dead and missing are absolutely astounding. So far those numbers stand at 11k dead and another 10k missing. The only other "flooding" disaster I can remember that posted more victims was the 2004 tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean basin and killed almost 230k.

17*********************************************************************

We should get off and on rain today. 

Reading the stories about impeachment, including the embarrassing tit-for-tat nothing burger in Washington and the Paxton crap show of partisan loyalty triumphing over all, I am convinced that it has become a useless article in the various Constitutions state and Federal. Today we have a significant number of our politicians are nothing more than careerists who might as well use it as toilet paper. They are more loyal to their political parties than to any moral or ethical code. I can't imagine any of them signing a document pledging their "lives," "fortunes," and "sacred honor," as the Founding Fathers did in signing the Declaration of Independence. And I wouldn't trust any of them to keep that pledge.

The local (Chicago) TV news mentioned that the ice on and around Antarctica is at the lowest level we have ever seen. And that, as we are going into fall and winter, the southern hemisphere is going into spring and summer. This story on BBC gives more details.

There is a lot of talk about how the 14th Amendment, particularly Section 3, might be applied to The Former Guy--in particular to disqualifying him from running for the presidency again and from office should he be elected. I have misgivings about can or should be used. As a couple of the pundits have noted the issue will, almost certainly be litigated all the way to the (not-so) Supreme Court. How the judiciary might lean on the issue is problematic. Also, the argument that the amendment is self activating just like the requirements on age and citizenship are. Both of those attributes of a candidate are somewhat simple "yes or no" propositions. Either someone is of the required age or not. As we saw, in 2008 and 2012, the issue of citizenship can be contested, though unsuccessfully at that time. The issue of "insurrection," or "rebellion," as a disqualification is very contestable because those enter the realm of law. What is the legal definition of "insurrection," or "rebellion?" Does the the crime have to be charged and tried in court with the alleged criminal convicted before the Amendment is enforced? William Hogeland has a good piece on the history at his Bad History site.