Physical and Metaphorical Demolition of America
While I thought that civil war could happen again in the United States, I never thought I would live to experience democracy die. I find the pictures of portions of the White House being demolished on the whim of a single person to be breathtaking. Unimaginable only a few years ago, now seemingly barely a blip on the news.
For years it became generally accepted to bitch about the U.S. government’s failures and inefficiencies. Government is too slow, they say, not knowing that was the very point. Dictatorships are more efficient but at the price of being enslaved to the whims of the dictator. Dictators being human are as prone to horrific acts in response to greed and anger as the human who decides to burst in to an elementary school and kill everyone inside. Worse still is the fact that the U.S. dictator has access to weapons of mass destruction far worse than AR-15s.
I really like how Dave Winer’s Old School blog platform handles pictures, it’s one of the things I wish could be replicated here.
Obligatory selfie along Tunnel of Trees, M119, that runs along the Lake Michigan shore.
We think the fall colors were at or near peak in the parts of the southern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan were we traveled, though these pictures don’t do it all justice.
This first picture is from the top of Pine Mountain, Iron Mountain, Michigan
We drove through the Tunnel of Trees on M119 in northern Lower Michigan. The trees in this picture haven’t really turned much yet.
This next picture shows the colors better along M119 with Lake Michigan in the back ground.
Here are a couple of Great Lakes pictures from our fall trip. The first is of Lake Huron.
And this is Lake Michigan.
Last week we went on our annual fall trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I took this picture of the Mackinac Bridge.
Great win by the Chicago Cubs last night to force a division series deciding game on Saturday night. They finally score in more than one inning of a game in this series! Both teams could employ bullpen pitchers to start the game and that will make it interesting. I do have a bone to pick with MLB for making the Cubs/Brewers game the late starter last night rather than the Dodgers/Phillies in LA, that made no sense.
Freedom For Whom
I am reading Thomas Zimmer’s essay about Russell Vought that I think correctly states what is happening in the United States. The MAGA project is the destruction of the United States that they view as already been destroyed. In their view this is the third American Revolution, the second American Revolution started with the New Deal and culminated in Obama’s election. I think in order to fight against this I think more attention needs to be put on the question of what comes after the U.S. government is entirely destroyed.
Rooted in this question is the reality that these people only place value in freedom for themselves, freedom is not for their opponents. Democracy, including the U.S. Republican one, allows the possibility of one’s opponents gaining power and therefore impeding upon their freedom. Consequently, Democracy is flawed and the only way to assure their freedom is a dictator. The form of what is in place may have the appearance all one thinks of about the United States, a Congress, President, Supreme Court, but for that structure to remain there must be guarantee the opposition can never gain power.
Consider the current government shutdown, doesn’t it feel different to you? The difference is that the current Republicans behind the shutdown do not fear the voters, they don’t fear not being re-elected, because they believe so long as the fall in line with the MAGA project they will continue to have a share of power.
Of course, anyone who understands what is going on ought to be sober enough to know that when everything relies on human feelings rather than laws sooner or later you can, and likely will, become the opposition to that person. Marjorie Taylor Green might being finding this out right now.
Stop calling it mainstream media, instead call it corporate media or capitalist media. What is even considered mainstream today any way? It is definitely not “the press” as intended by the First Amendment.
I think that Craig Counsell has done a poor job of managing the Chicago Cubs in this NDLS against the Brewers. First, he should not have started Boyd for game 1 on only three days rest and second it is absolutely wrong to not start your hottest hitter, Michael Busch even when going against left handed pitcher. How do you justify starting PCA who clearly has difficulty with left handed pitching and no start Busch. Pat Murphy was Counsell’s bench coach and I am beginning to think he did more the managing than Counsell when he was in Milwaukee. His performance does not justify being the top paid manager in baseball. David Ross could have equally managed to the two losses that have occurred in this series.
The Viwoods AIPaper Mini
Reading The Web
Today I finished reading Stephanie Booth’s three series posts on “Rebooting The Blogosphere” cited by others who I follow. In general I agree with Stephanie’s points and her description of a web reading tool that easily provides a way to create blog posts based on another post being read, create new blog posts from scratch, and convert a comment you are writing on another’s blog into a full post for your own blog. Her suggestion assumes one is reading within a RSS reader app like NetNewsWire.
Like Stephanie I would prefer less friction between reading and posting about what I am reading to my blog. The problem, however, is that most RSS feeds that I follow do not include the full content of a post. The sites that rely on advertising usually include just a link to their site or a snippet only so that you must end up going to the site to read the entire post.
Game 1 of the NLDS between the Cubs and Brewers was over for the Cubs before the first three Brewer outs of the game was recorded. Starting Boyd on only three days rest went very badly. Obviously the Cubs need to flush this game and win game 2 on Monday.
Anti-social Web?
I know there is a lot of writing lately about blogging and rebooting the “social web.” The core of this thought has to do with breaking free from the corporate silos, and I get that and agree with that idea. However, at least for me, I think the situation might be a bit more nuanced than one might think and that is driven by what motivates people to do any of this stuff.
What exactly does “social” mean in the context of the web? For example, does “social” require comments? Likes? Follows? What if “social” simply means sharing?
The Chicago Cubs managed to hold on to a 3-1 lead and beat the San Diego Padres yesterday to advance to the best of five game NLDS against Milwaukee. It should be a fun series starting Saturday.
Really enjoyed this article, You Don’t Have To Swallow Frogs, and particularly this advice:
You just have to think for yourself. Know what tradition you’re aligned with, whether it’s a philosophical one, a religious one, or one that rises out of a particular past oppression—or all of the above. There might even be a group or a school of thought you’re reacting against. If you haven’t thought about these things before, read less daily news and try to find an approach that reflects what matters to you.
Read Ilya Soman’s article on the Perils of Unitary Executive Theory and the phrase “two wrongs don’t make a right” comes to mind. I think the better question now is, who benefits from the President of the United States given ultimate power with no oversight from Congress and immunity from the courts? And what of the purpose of the Constitution to restrain power and preserve rights? What of the ninth amendment?
The Cubs got shutout yesterday in the second Wild Card game, so today there is an elimination game with San Diego. Got to score runs to win a baseball game. Because the Dodgers won their series, which was the only sweep, the Cubs/Padres game starts at 5 PM today while the Tigers/Guardians game starts at 3 PM.
Wild Card Game 1
The Cubs won the first wild card game today against the San Diego Padres. I do believe it might be their first ever wild card game win. The 3-1 win was due to the pitching staff, in fact as I watch the other games played today, the old adage of good pitching beating good hitting seems to hold. The sharpest example was in Cleveland where the hottest team in baseball the Cleveland Guardians was beat by the coldest Detroit Tigers thanks to the game’s best pitcher, the Tiger’s Tarik Skull.
I see the Cub’s have announced they are starting tomorrow’s game with an opener as recent closer Andrew Kittredge will start the game. My guess is that Shota Imanga will follow Kittredge but I wouldn’t be surprised if Shota only pitches one time through the Padres line up. Counsell can’t blow out pitching because there might be a game three if they don’t win, but the Cub’s want to win this next one while they have the advantage of elimination game pressure on their opponent.