Light posting, Lynnie is here

 Lynn is here for about 10 days, and visiting with her makes for light posting. However, here are a bunch of images from a desert botanical garden we visited.

Ladies and Gentlemen: (Drumroll please)

 Sure, some people think our potential Presidential Candidate, Trump, isn't mentally fit for the job. And so, to convince you he is ready, he went on an 11-minute discussion about the size of Arnold Palmer's penis.

Are you ready to vote for him now:

Death of Hamas Leader - What it could mean

 If Israel were a sane diplomatic player, a new path in Gaza would be available, and it would be a significant move towards an endgame. 

Israel has killed the leader of Hamas. Israel's stated position is that they needed to end Hamas. This killing did not do that completely, but it is an oversized news item.

At this point, Israel should declare a unilateral ceasefire for 3 weeks. Israel has divided Gaza into two districts, so they can rightly say that if the cease-fire is breached in one of the regions, the war in that region will begin again. This allows Israel to offer a plan of hope in return for peace. And it can offer this carrot and stick to the two areas and react accordingly.

Why 3 weeks? Netanyahu is waiting to see what the outcome of the US Election is. If Trump wins, he goes all in on killing as many Palestinians as he can. If Harris wins, then he will have to change his plans to wipe out Palestinians and find another way to move forward.

In either case, a cease-fire could be helpful time to reinforce their army or, hopefully, plan for the peace.

But as implied in the first sentence, I don't think Israel is a sane diplomatic player. I believe Netanyahu is blundering his way through a conflict to save his skin for crimes. NOTE: this is not an anti-Israeli or anti-semitic rant or sentiment. I definitely hope for peace, and I believe that this path proves the most positive way forward for Israel.

Colossal BioTech

 Colossal Biological Sciences company ( https://colossal.com/ ) is a company studying genetics and a working to "de-extinct" some of the lost species of the world. It is a boutique operation, but trying to resolve a bigger problem. 

The three acknowledged animals they are trying to bring back are the showiest ones, the Wooly Mammoth, the Tasmanian Tiger, and the Dodo - who doesn't want the Dodo back? But the science behind this could also help keep some animals from extinction at all. 

Imagine if a male Northern White Rhino(s) could be brought back. They might mate with the two living females and start to repopulate the species. Anyway, it is an interesting company (with cool graphics).

See, cool images.

My new substack is up if you want to look

 The Intersection of Geography and Economics

My new post is up. It is about the Russian-Japanese War of 1904, not so much the logistics or gains/losses of the war as how it ushered in multiple changes in how wars are won. It also documents the rise of Asia as a power center in the World.

If you read it and like it, tell others that signing up is free, and they benefit from my weekly thoughts on history as seen through the prism of geography and enconomics.

A Great Article about Hunting and Gun Deaths that defies easy explanations

 Let me start by saying this. The headline here does not do the article justice. The article itself is written by a criminologist who is also a hunter.

He sees through both eyes as a hunter and researcher. And as hunting has reduced in popularity, gun ownership, and mass shootings have gone up. He is from Maine, where gun ownership is very high, but gun violence is not. In many ways, he attributes this dichotomy partly to the training hunters must undergo to get a license. He also attributes part of it to stupid ass laws. Take this for instance:

Second, there are laws that apply to hunting that do not apply to other types of gun carrying. For example, in Maine, when driving the logging roads looking for game, I cannot have a weapon loaded in my vehicle. If we spot a partridge, we must stop the vehicle, step outside of it, load, and then fire. The purpose of this regulation is, of course, to promote safety, a concept that is of utmost concern for hunters. But if you are carrying a gun for nonhunting purposes? Then it’s fine to have it loaded in your car. It’s literally written into the legislation on guns and vehicles in Maine. So if you want to shoot a deer, you have to be safe about it. If you want to shoot a person, throw caution to the wind.

He rejects the easy arguments that color both sides of the debate. He agrees that guns don't kill people, people do - but having a means of killing people easily at your disposal is not a good thing. He has investigated the idea that killing animals makes it easier to kill people, and debunks it.

He has gone to great lengths to find a correlation between gun access and gun violence, but there is not a clear correlation at all, possibly due to the widespread ownership of guns for self-defense vs. hunting vs. illegal use. There might be a correlation between gun violence and handgun ownership, but there is no good way to measure this because gun ownership is not broken down that way.

I THINK - changing from commenting on this to commenting about gun violence - that registration and insurance might be helpful to change this story in this country. Guns can kill people, and cars can kill people. Everyone has to take driver's ed to get a license. And everyone has to have insurance to drive. The same process could be used for guns. 

True, not everyone will follow the rules here, but not everyone follows the rules about cars. It still makes society work better than allowing driver's licenses and ownership to anyone who can reach the pedals.

The Atlantic captures our feelings about the election. Boredom and Dread

The Atlantic this month has captured my feelings about this election better than I could. Here is what they said in the print version. 

For the third time in eight years, Americans have to decide whether they want Donald Trump to be their president. No voter could be ignorant by now about who he is. Opinions about Trump aren't just hardened - they're dried out and exhausted. The man's character has been in our faces for so long, blatant and unchanging, that it kills the possibility of new thoughts, which explains the strange mix of boredom and dread in our politics.

Exactly!

Tommie Tomorrow

 Yep.

Slight rant about the attacks on Kamala Harris

 If you aren't in the US swing state, you might not hear the absolutely idiotic things Trump and his sidekick JD Vance are claiming about Kamala Harris. Let's list some of their lies from the last 100 days:

• She "just became" black (her father is a Black Jamaican, and her mother is Indian - Asian Indian)
• She is a low-IQ individual
• She is a retard
• She cheated in the debate with earrings that fed answers to her
• She gave illegal immigrants sex-change operations in jail and detention centers
• She has let in over 1 million migrants since Trump left
• She and the federal government stole disaster funds from Hurricanes Helene and Milton
• She is a "Diversity" here (i.e. she doesn't deserve her position; she got it because she is black - which contradicts the top issue, but Trump is not consistent)
• She isn't a "real mother" - she only has step-children
• She cannot be humble without her own children
• She is a ball-buster who emasculates her husband
• Her laugh is annoying
• She got her first public position by sleeping with a Californian politician
• She has spent her career "down on her knees" 
• She has no positions
• To me, this is the most absurd. She has an 87-page position paper emphasizing new parents, first-time home-buyers, and a fair tax rate.
• Trump has no positions on anything except expelling 11+ million legal and illegal immigrants
• She is "bat-shit crazy"
• She is less attractive than Donald Trump (said by Donald Trump)
• She supports abortion up to and past birth. Claiming that she supports abortion up to the 11th month.
• She allowed 21 Million illegal aliens to cross the border
• By the way, I know this contradicts the 1 million number he quoted earlier. As the election gets closer, his illegal alien number rises.
• She let in 13,099 illegal alien murders and fought to keep them in the country.

It goes on and on. And these aren't one-off comments. They are talking points that most Republicans parrot like the walking zombies most of them are.

Oy

It is Rant Day Sunday - But Today Just a Observation

It is funny to see my reaction to Trump this year (okay - here I mean "funny" as related to "confusing and depressing"). I have managed to stay less OUTRAGED, albeit still annoyed and appalled. 

And yet, I am more depressed by his debasing the America I knew - and had hoped we still were. This drift into the abyss of lies, hatred, and rejection of norms has been continued, normalized, and reinforced*. None of that would surprise me from a tiny minority, but the acceptance of Republican tactics across the board is truly soul-crushing. They (first Trump, now so many others) have devalued the truth by lying and by general acceptance of those lies.

Even the lying is nothing really new. Politicians have distorted their and their opponents' positions as long as elections have been held. But to sell a bill of goods that elections are not fair, judges cannot be trusted, and election officials should be threatened is one thing. For at least the 33% that refuse to acknowledge any news except what they desire is unAmerican.

And a serial liar, sexual abuser, African American hater, misogynist, anti-gay (and those other letters), and anti-science buffoon is in a tie-race with Kamala Harris!?!? You should be able to run Mayor Max III of Idlewyld against a charlatan like that and win 95% of the time.

Even Mayor Max III should be leading in a race against DJT.

I just do not see the country I grew up in, reflected today. I guess that makes me as set in my ways as a MAGA supporter. I think they don't see their America today either. 

I also want America to be great again. But my "great again," would involve a move back to where the Rule of the Law was our goal and where we strive to be an example in parts of the world where cruelty and crushing poverty are endemic.

And the casual dismissal of our shared American values shows that hatred is winning. Winning enough to just ... hurt.

* Two Oxford commas in one sentence is one too many, but I like it.

I Voted

 I voted via early ballot and drop box yesterday. I am now done with the election and the constant barrage of lies and propaganda from Donald Trump. I am done with the hatred of trans and pregnant women. I am supremely done with all this shit.

And I have tried to tune out, but it is overwhelming.

I am tired to the bone.