October 29

 The overnight temperature inside dropped to 68F but so far hasn't gone any lower so the furnace isn't kicking in. Outside, according to the Weather Channel, is 44F. Not expected to rise out of the mid 40s. Should get some rain this afternoon and evening.

For the "Things That Totally Irritate Me" file: MAGA Mike, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives says we "don't have a gun problem. We have a 'heart problem'." Great way to simply say nobody has any role or responsibility to do something about the problem except the sick bastards who acquire a military style weapon and blow away their friends (if they have any), neighbors, and family (who have sometimes tried to get help only to have the system fail them). The shooters are the least capable parties to do anything helpful. Shortly before the Uvalde shooting the state of Texas( Governor Greg Abbott) slashed mental health resources.

Perhaps the best decision Mike Pence has made lately is to drop out of the contest for the Republican nomination. He was such an active and effective governor here in Indiana that I didn't even know his name. He never really campaigned outside of the church circuit. Watching him all through out the Former Guy's four years of mismanagement he was simply a ghost who was always in his master's shadow--and I don't mean the Jesus he supposedly worshiped. His one act of courage was to defy that master and certify the election of Joe Biden. Perhaps he thought he, like "America's Mayor" Rudi, could parlay his moment into a larger role. It didn't work. He was neither fish enough nor fowl enough. Not enough MAGA and not enough anti-MAGA. He gave cover for totally corrupt man who violated every fundamental moral belief of his (supposed) Christianity. He gave hope to those who had to hold their noses and vote for The Former Guy that the good man would somehow reform the amoral one. Just like they hope there is a good guy with a gun to take down the bad guy with a gun. HOPIUM!!

Military.Com posted this story which elicited an "Oh, shit!" exclamation from me. Not a good situation. And it also shows the chaos resulting when a technology one depends on fails. And it shows the difficulty involved in taking the system back to a lower tech alternative.

Patrick Lawrence at The Floutist makes a good point. Several news commenters noted almost in passing (as though whistling past a grave yard) that the vote in the U.N. General Assembly reveals that the U.S. is increasingly isolated on the world stage it had once dominated. The U.S. was one of 14 voting against it. Most of our "allies" abstained but that block of 44 reveals both how out of the main the Western blocks are and how fractured they may be as The U.K. and France voted for the resolution. Given The Former Guy's threats over NATO, exiting the Paris Accords on Climate, and other actions, many of our "allies" are questioning how far they should trust us. Sensibly many are charting their own course of action without regard to what the U.S. might say or do. Our government is trying to find its footing in a world which is no longer bi-polar (U.S. vs U.S.S.R.) or unipolar (U.S. alone) which all too many of our politicians can't get their heads around.

Daily News Hungary has a long piece on Viktor Orban that also shows some of the fractures within the EU. Note that Hungary is also a NATO member.

Modern Diplomacy highlights one source of the fractures: money. Some of the arguments parallel those of the politicians on this side of the Atlantic who want to know how new spending will be funded and demanding "pay fors" (i.e., reduction or elimination of already agreed upon spending) to cover new appropriations. It points to a fact most politicians don't want to acknowledge: both sources of funds (taxes and borrowing) are not infinitely elastic. At some point the promises made to Peter are going to be broken to cover those made to Paul. And no one knows what will happen once that cycle begins.

Another irritation: all the various groups and nations insisting that ISRAEL call a pause operations or truce of some kind. Did I miss something here: I seem to remember it was Hamas fighters streaming through the gaps Hamas blown the barriers NOT the Israelis. An old saying goes that it takes two to make peace but only one to make a war. We have seen that with both Ukraine and the Hamas-Israel conflict. I haven't heard of any pressure on Hamas to sue for peace. In fact they are making demands to allow foreign nationals to leave by the southern exit. Doesn't seem like they want to make peace.