November 7

 Good morning on this Election Day.

Stray thought: If Jesus came back as a Democratic candidate the Republicans would mount a vicious smear campaign. How, they would ask, can you even consider voting for a man who consorted with women of ill repute, who ate with tax collectors, violently assaulted peaceful merchants in the market outside the temple, and preached kindness and consideration toward the poor, the foreigners, and treated women with respect? Take a listen to The Chieftains rendition of The Rebel Jesus.

This piece on Politico is a good take on the nationalization of politics. 

 FORGET ABOUT POTHOLES — If you didn’t know any better, you might have                                thought Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett was running for federal office.

There he was, campaigning on Saturday with a Democratic congressman from a state over 600 miles away, railing against the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol. It came at the back end of a campaign where Hogsett has been laser-focused on abortion rights in a red state that became the first to enact tighter restrictions in the wake of the fall of Roe v. Wade—even though there’s little the mayor can do on the matter. His opponent, Republican Jefferson Shreve, meanwhile, has assailed Hogsett on the war in Israel, questioning why the two-term mayor allowed a pro-Palestine group to protest at Indianapolis’ war memorials.

It’s not exactly potholes and police, the traditional staples of municipal campaigns. Yet it’s in keeping with an off-year election when state and local campaigns from coast to coast have been seemingly nationalized to an unprecedented degree. It’s as if one of the old dictums of politics — all politics is local — has been thrown out the window.

I live in northwest Indiana well away from Indianapolis so any news about what is going on there is scarce. But that can be said about most news. Our "local" newspaper is a worthless rag. Our TV news comes out of Chicago. Republicans have occupied the mayor's office for at least 12 years and I will vote for the Republican again--the only Republican I have voted for over the last 20 years. Why? Because the city has been very busy repaving streets, repairing sidewalks and curbs, building badly needed parks, and taking care of LOCAL business.

I hope the link on this story from the New York Times archives, dated 2 days ago, works. I have read several stories about banks suddenly and without warning closing customers' accounts. As Mom says: this is getting scary.

And then there is this scary story about banking from CNN Business. One of the attractions of digital banking is speed: your paycheck is automatically deposited and you can draw on it almost immediately. Unless the Automated Clearing House system malfunctions.