July 3, 2024

Taking a break from Florida summers

travelling in my solar powered vintage Airstream.
Left 18 May for northeast. Made it as far as St. Andrews, New Brunswick.
Family gathering over 4th on South Shore, below Boston.
We have to pull into civilization for plumbing and a recharge every now and again.
As I made breakfast off of shore power, I realized I left my appliances on. I mean, I paid for it, right.
Wrong. Ordinarily I live on charged batteries.
It occured to me, if we, as a society practiced conservation much more than we do, maybe someone in Barbados or Jamaica would not be contending with catastrophe today.

I suppose, hot water is not a bad thing.

May 15, 2024

NYT tries to explain MSNBC

Source: NYT

Even Comcast, NBC’s corporate owner, which is loath to intervene in news coverage, took the rare step of conveying its concern to MSNBC’s leaders when some hosts and guests criticized Israel as the Hamas attack was unfolding on Oct. 7, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. An abrupt course correction to that coverage followed.

This account of the tensions roiling NBC and its corporate overseers is based on interviews with more than two dozen people with knowledge of the company’s inner workings, almost all of whom insisted on anonymity to share details of internal discussions.

NBC declined to make its top executives available for interviews. The chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, Cesar Conde, has said he wants his division — which encompasses MSNBC, CNBC, a digital streaming service, Telemundo and journalistic stalwarts like “Nightly News,” “Meet the Press” and “Today” — to be a big tent.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/business/media/nbc-msnbc-trump-biden.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sE0.EZcq.j8gmBT6LOAZb&smid=url-share

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Perhaps this explains some hosts commentary.
The turmoil at appeasing conservatives not getting their pablum for ratings.

April 28, 2024

On Jost. We are so used to bombast and hilarity

that the flatness of response is more our weariness than Jost's bite.
The silk purse is no longer there.
Totally unexpected, but the presentation will promote reflection about how humorless is our situation.

March 15, 2024

McAffee, like Hur, has followed in the shoes of

some Supremes, in injecting politics,
rather than limit to the law, with their commentary.
It is almost like an evangelical energy guides their presentation.
We have been dragged pretty low in the last few years.
Let us hope some single issue voters don't sink us.

February 8, 2024

There is a point to be made overlooked by all.

Visualize, if you will, two planes flying through clouds meeting in mid flight. Unanticipated, one might say.
But in the pipeline are miniature radar systems, easily installed, that would have warned the pilots.
Why had the airlines not upgraded? The install was expensive and not yet needed until an accident happened.
Here we have an amendment that addresses an insurrection by name, but congress has not established a statute to manage that crash. Why?
The crash hadn't happened. But the tool to lay blame exists.
The justices are not recognizing this aspect inherent in the amendment.
It is why there is no statute to address a president, on his watch, attempting to overthrow an election.
Section 3 addresses anyone conspiring and acting to upend the constitution as being unfit.
Saying they need a statute is moot because you can only address the future with that statute.
What do you do with an amendment written to exclude an insurrectionist if it requires a statute to enforce? The crime slides because you demand a tool that hasn't been written.
I listened to Lawrence Lesser last night and though about this escape and remembered a plane incident years ago.
Let us ignore the ounce of prevention and let trump get away.
When Florida enacts a condominium statute, eventually every state follows. Florida has studied condominium law.
To say Colorado can't lead on this, shows the shallowness to individual rights over the general good.
Frustrated.

If there is a fallacy to my reasoning, please share.

January 30, 2024

Biden can no longer say he is the only one to

beat trump.
E. Jean Carroll should be part of his rhetoric.

January 23, 2024

Jen Psaki is learning. She has inside insight.

Rachel is esoteric. Jen is connecting that lesson with Liz Smith.

December 19, 2023

Is it okay to wear a forty year old fox jacket to a

NYC wedding at the end of this year?
My wife last wore it there thirty years ago, or so.
I don't think people carry eggs or paint in their pockets, but we don't want to roil the observers.

November 20, 2023

Been contemplating about the younger thinkers out there today.

I was in their midst until 2017 when I clapped my last eraser.
2007 was a seminal year. The smart phone showed up. It was the beginning of shared knowledge from peers rather than expertise. Kids always learn the dirty words from their buds, but still listened to their living ancestors.

Those students of 10 to 18 are now 26 to 34.
They rarely sit at the dinner table.

Think about this contrast: Many of us wished for our Santa presents off a Sears or Zayres or Woolworth's flyer.

Not saying everyone gets what they hope for, but the pressure on those without and even those, with, sparingly, is mighty intense.

Who has influence on the youth?

Not us. We let that go.

I'm sure there is justifiable disagreement, but I suspect that to be anecdotal.

We have little influence on what is coming down in the next decades, but we can fend off a whirlwind of betrayal if we get our dander up one last time.

November 16, 2023

Made a comment the other day on the Biden, Xi

meeting, that we were still in the driver's seat and Biden's response would indicate where we are.

I am not a diplomat and can't gather all the nuance, but Xi knows he has more in the game he can't walk away from.
Biden had to acknowledge this and agree to personal discussions.
Xi knows we know the consequences of war and are opposed to engage.
It is left to an amicable relationship, according to Xi, that there is room enough on the planet for both.

I had an international friend explain to me about NAFTA, that it was going to happen, regardless. Best to manage than be managed.

That is what we face. Tired as he was, Biden faced the press.

Be aware, that is who we face. I'd rather Biden and his team than the alternative by a long shot.