Friday Snark

Images courtesy of Politico's Nation's Cartoonists on 

the Week in Politics.

A Family Man

People write and say a lot of hurtful things about Donald J. Trump, some of which are probably justified. What I don’t see commented on is that he has kids from each of his three marriages, appears to love them all, and none of them have turned on him. 

How many people with five children haven’t managed to alienate at least one? He even appears to get along with his ex-wives, a near-miracle, rarely duplicated.

Sure, his money doesn’t hurt as an attractant, but he seems to be all about family. It’s an old-fashioned value. That must say some good things about his character, I believe.

How the Choice Is Made

The attention to the VP debate has me thinking about VP choices and what they show about the person making them. Take Donald Trump’s two quite different choices as a recent example.

His choice of Mike Pence reflects Trump’s status as an outsider to politics and his need to have someone who’d spent a lot of life in politics alongside. That Pence had bona fides with evangelicals didn’t hurt when Trump had the show biz baggage and serial wives. Pence was old GOP.

Contrast Vance with Pence. Vance is new GOP and almost an outsider himself. As a successful President, Trump is no longer a political novice and doesn’t need the sort of legitimacy Pence provided. Now he needs an outreach to younger voters and a MAGA true believer, which Vance has become. 

It’s likely Vance has a future in Republican politics (see below). His non-white wife and mixed race kids are a bonus in the increasingly multiethnic GOP.

The Downward Spiral

One of the talking heads who write for Politico Magazine was impressed enough by J. D. Vance’s winning performance in the debate against Tim Walz to write an article (behind paywall) calling it:

The First Debate of 2028

Here is the abstract they’re willing for us non-payers to see.

J. D. Vance's debate performance may not have done much to help Trump--but it set him up as a top contender next time around.

We’ll see if Vance helped Trump. I expect he did by showing Walz to be a doofus whose selection reflects badly on Harris. It’s tough for a VP to push somebody up, but Vance pulled Harris down, which has much the same net effect in a de facto two party system. 

Consciously or otherwise, Harris has made the same sort of VP choice Biden did. “Knucklehead” Walz would be so lame as VP you’d pray for Harris to stay healthy. 

I’m imagining a spiral of less and less able people as Democrat candidates until we end up with someone off the short bus with an IQ of 40. That right there would be some serious inclusiveness.

Dock Strike Over

The East and Gulf Coast dock strike is over, according to the New York Post. I had written about it two days ago. The workers are supposed to go back to work immediately. 

I wonder if Gov. DeSantis calling out the FL National Guard to run the FL ports had anything to do with the quick settlement? The union secured a 62% raise over six years, but had asked for more.

It's an odd settlement. They've agreed on the money issue, but will continue to negotiate other issues between now and Jan. 15, 2025, while continuing to work. This means last minute Christmas shipments will come through.

Why Pin on a Target?

Something I've long wondered. Why do people with nefarious secrets in their past allow their (or their spouse's) names to be put up for public positions? The opposition research is almost sure to ferret it out and make it public. 

I have three current examples in mind. The first is Tim Walz's various exaggerations about his military service and his trips to China. The second is Doug Emhoff, husband of Kamala Harris, who is said to have slapped a girlfriend perhaps 10 years ago paying hush money to cover it up, and did impregnate a baby sitter while married to his first wife. His current wife can't be loving having her name forever associated with the smirking Willie Brown.

I bet we could come up with dozens more. What would be even more interesting, if hard to learn, is how many people with something shady in their past have consciously avoided public roles where the press might take an interest in them? It's a rare person who doesn't have something in their past about which they are embarrassed,  about which they don't wish to be questioned or hectored.

J. D.Vance wrote a book about his marginal childhood, his addicted mother, absentee father, foulmouthed granny, etc. Even sold the movie rights. It strikes me he did the smart thing and left little for the diggers to find. Now he gets credit for overcoming all that and becoming a success. I bet Walz wishes he'd written his own tell-all autobiography.

Review: Furiosa

I watched Furiosa last night on the plane, and managed to hear most of the dialog. The critics haven't been kind to this Mad Max universe episode. I liked it rather more than they did.

Anya Taylor-Joy has a very mannered, artificial, opaque, frankly odd-but-attractive public persona when interviewed. Maybe it's to show she's acting when she's filthy, wounded, clad in rags and crazy mad as she is in Furiosa.

The make up and costuming folks had fun with this, as did the mechanically creative who dreamed up the various outre' vehicles upon which much of the action hinges. The skeletal face masks and paint and whatever else that constituted their outfits were creative, well-executed, and imaginative in an S&M sort of way. Think psychotic bikers with a necrophiliac twist and you'll be close.

The male characters were a collection of testosterone-poisoned guys except those who were out-there perverts of various stripes. Everybody postures, everybody is tougher and sicker than the next guy, and absolutely nobody is reasonable or normal, though one or two come close, briefly. A couple of the guys had long hair a coed would envy, a la Fabio.

Mostly the characters are there to make the action scenes work and they do. The stuff's fun to watch, if you're able to suspend belief. You'll like it or hate it, I doubt there is any middle ground with this flick.

Young Migrants

Nostalgia sells, who knew? The Wall Street Journal reports (no paywall) increasing numbers of graduating seniors in the northeast and the rest of the country are applying to colleges and universities in the Southeast. 

Why you might ask. Because being conservative, those southern schools are still delivering what kids think college should be. Homecoming, pep rallies, keggers, a lively fraternity and sorority culture if that's your bag. Winning athletic teams, school spirit and pride, minimal or no protests, and tailgating. Add in warmer weather (and friendlier people) and a thriving economy with jobs on offer. What's not to like?

Who's suffering? The Ivies and other 'prestige' schools in the Northeast. Who's winning? The South's state schools. Actually the South is winning because out-of-state students pay more, and a large percentage of students take jobs after graduation in the area where their school is located. What do you bet their parents end up following them South?

Brain drain - North; brain gain - South. Another example of the marketplace and consumers picking winners, leaving losers behind.

Personal note: My undergrad campus was known as a "party school" (but is no longer) and I spent most of my career teaching at another "party school" (probably also 'former' since I left). Nice places, nice students, good experiences, decent degrees. 

Weird Hydrology Science

Elon Musk, today's version of Ben Franklin or Thomas Edison, has been quoted as saying desalination of water has become "absurdly cheap." Of course, when you have his money everything is absurdly cheap, but a Brit who likes to search statistics and crunch numbers has decided to see if he is correct for the rest of us.

It turns out to be true for developed countries, if you're talking about household water for drinking, washing, etc. Less so for poor countries.

Here’s the surprising figure. Producing enough drinking water for someone — assuming 3 litres per day — costs just $2.30 for the entire year. That’s less than the cost of a single bottle of water in many countries.

Where it becomes absolutely not true is when you factor in agriculture which uses most of our fresh water. Using desalinated water for agriculture would double or triple the cost of basic food stocks.

It might just be economic in fringe cases for high-value crops, grown in conditions that are much more water-efficient — such as indoor farming — but we’re still pretty far from having solutions that could make a big dent in meeting water demand for staple crops.

In other words, dope farmers could make it work; corn and wheat farmers, and ranchers of meat animals not so much. Food production will have to continue to utilize naturally occurring sources of fresh water.

Caveat: As the author notes, she made some unrealistic assumptions, like we will get all of our water from desalination. Obviously we never will. It isn't going to stop raining and snowing, ask the folks in North Carolina, who wish for less of nature's bounty.

Weird Aeronautical Science

Skydweller Aero, a firm in Oklahoma, has developed an unmanned autonomous aircraft powered entirely by solar cells, that will be able to stay aloft more or less indefinitely. They have had two successful test flights recently, each lasting most of a day. The craft generates zero carbon emissions. DOD is one funding agency.

The Skydweller aircraft, made entirely of carbon fiber, boasts a wingspan larger than a Boeing 747 but weighs as little as a Ford F-150. These uncrewed solar-powered aircraft are designed to perform ultra-long duration missions, such as maritime patrol, monitoring naval activities, and detecting smuggling operations, all while leaving zero carbon footprint.

I can see these aircraft replacing geosynchronous satellites for certain applications. Putting these in the air has to be much cheaper than boosting a satellite into orbit. Needing to provide no human support, they can fly high above the weather with their enormous wings, circling gently over a point on the ground. 

Afterthought: That carbon fiber body might not reflect radar waves, turning a big target into a little one.

Morning Musings

I just ate breakfast using a fork, looked at the fork and began thinking about when and how it joined our family. When I was a kid too many years ago some of the first package mixes for cakes and biscuits came out under the Betty Crocker brand, produced by General Mills. Each box had a coupon printed on it which indicated the number of points it was worth. My frugal mother collected these, and saved Green Stamps too.

When you accumulated enough points, those coupons and a modest amount of money would bring Twin Star-patterned stainless knives, forks, and spoons mailed to your home. The tableware was sturdy, well made, and close to indestructible. I’m certain the fork I used this a.m. is 60-70 years old and looks brand new. 

It has lived in homes, apartments, motorhomes, travel trailers, and vacation homes. It isn’t scratched, worn-down, or discolored in any way. It entirely as functional as the day it was made. For all I know it may outlive the pyramids of Egypt and the Yucatán.

Unearthed by an archeologist 1000 years from now I expect it will look much the same. They will read the lettering on the recessed underside and see “ONEIDA COMMUNITY STAINLESS” all in caps and wonder what that meant. And what its ceremonial purpose or function might have been.

Travel Blogging Coda

We’re home, Travel Blogging will end for a couple of weeks until we leave for our next cruise, when it will resume. I consider this trip a success even if the other DrC did catch the “ship’s cold.” I will probably get it from her. It is a definite downside of cruising. Coop up 200+ people on a ship and someone will have brought a cold. It will circulate among those aboard. 

In the old sailing ship days of months-long voyages, the first few weeks out would see the colds circulate and eventually die out. Then they’d be mostly healthy until they hit a new port and brought a new strain of respiratory virus on shipboard. Rinse and repeat.

Knowing this is why they quarantine astronauts for weeks before a launch, so they don’t take a virus with them. It makes for more comfortable trips. This NASA precaution is never going to happen on cruise ships so we deal with “the ship’s cold.”

Afterthought:  Jackson airport has none of those covered tubes that cozy up to a plane and make walking off easy. We have to descend to the tarmac and walk to the terminal. 

Upon arriving at Jackson I discovered that two weeks away - starting at 800 ft. in St. Paul and ending at or below sea level in NOLA - had destroyed our bodily adjustment to living over a mile high. 

I got out of breath just walking the maybe 100 yds. to the luggage carousel. Since we're only here a week before heading south, I probably don't have time to regrow those extra red blood cells that had become redundant down near sea level.

Travel Blogging XVII

Atlanta, GA: We are on our way home, we had to fly here from NOLA to get a direct flight to Jackson, WY. That was a brief flight, this next one won’t be. 

We boarded a bus in “Nawlins” this morning at 8:30 and got here around 1 p.m. local time. We’ll board our next flight around 5:30 p.m. and arrive in Jackson around 8 p.m. mountain time meaning about 4 hrs in the air. 

Say a half hour to get our luggage and then a drive home that will take over an hour. Most of the day spent sitting and traveling or sitting and waiting.

When you live in remote areas this is how every trip ends.

—————-

American Cruise Lines is amazing, I’m a fan. You pay plenty up front but we didn’t spend an additional cent for 15 days, there was zero nickel-and-diming going on. Every time you turned around there was food on offer, plus booze, juices, soft drinks and fancy coffees.

Three entrees to choose from every night, one a seafood. Three desserts, ice cream plus two others. Pizza on offer at lunch almost every day except when they ran out and couldn’t get a delivery, burgers cooked to order, and snacks just there for the taking. Movies to watch on the TV, plus broadcast TV.

They build their own ships, own their own buses and the drivers are employees who follow the ship down the river to each stop, The logistics of making all of this work boggles the mind. 

The crew are all Americans but multiethnic as anything. Whoever does their hiring is good at their job, everyone we dealt with was pleasant and, as the other DrC notes, kind and caring too. She had a cold so they took the meal I ordered for her to our room, including a beverage. And our cabin attendant showed up daily with a different sweet treat for two.

Sacking the Coach

The early returns are in, there’s wide agreement Vance won last night’s debate with Walz. The two didn’t do a lot of personal attacks - someone called it “Midwest Nice” - and the debate was deemed policy-heavy. 

It turned out about as expected from their lives to date: a lifelong successful enlisted man vs. clear officer material. Vance has upside potential, Walz doesn’t. 

Vance is president material, Walz is another Joe Biden, as MN governor he has already reached what Prof. Peter called his level of incompetence. Trump picked someone smarter than he is, Harris picked someone who won’t threaten to outshine her.

I would like to predict four more years of Trump followed by eight of President Vance, but our electorate is too fickle for that to be likely. Be happy with last night’s win, and keep fingers crossed going forward.

Travel Blogging XVI

On the River: We are southbound having left Baton Rouge during supper - crab-stuffed lobster tail, pilaf, asparagus, and crème brule’ on the menu. 

The Big River is a very different ‘animal’ south of Baton Rouge. Ships travel faster, the river is both wider and deeper, and plenty of ocean-going ships sail up river as far as BR. They are a shock to see after a steady 'diet' of barges and push boats.

We disembark tomorrow a.m. around 8:30 and are bussed to the NOLA airport. Tonight we pack and look for reports of how the VP debate went.

Escalation Dominance

The Washington Post's Mark Theissen interviewed Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and managed to get a clear statement of the Trump foreign policy, as contrasted with that of Biden/Harris.

Listening to Trump discuss how he deterred America’s adversaries, a theme emerges: Biden emboldens our enemies by signaling that he fears escalation; Trump makes our enemies fear escalation, which causes them to back down.

This is what the isolationist right does not grasp about Trump: His strategy to maintain peace is not to retreat from the world, but to make our enemies retreat. He employs escalation dominance, using both private and public channels to signal to our adversaries that he is ready to jump high up the escalation ladder in a single bound — daring them to do that same — while simultaneously offering them a way down the ladder through negotiation.

Blame Grade Inflation

Writing about the weak leadership the Labor Party is giving the United Kingdom, but similarly applicable elsewhere, see what the editor of sp!ked concludes about modern society.

There’s been a lot of discussion in recent years about Peter Turchin’s concept of ‘elite overproduction’, and the tendency of contemporary Western societies, funnelling ever-more kids through higher education, to produce more would-be members of the ruling class than can possibly be absorbed into the ruling class.

But for me, the more pressing failing seems to be quality control. Just look at the supposed, would-be rulers we are (over)producing. Even those who make it to the top are bereft not just of intellectual seriousness, but of basic common sense, too.

Meloni Speaks

Do yourself a favor and go read a short speech given by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. She speaks in English and credits Michael Jackson as her ‘teacher.’ 

Meloni advocates defense of Western values and the need to support and model them in a world grown too fond of authoritarianism. I am impressed with her clear, non-chauvinistic conservatism. Perhaps you will be as well. Here is a key excerpt.

The West is a system of values in which the person is central, men and women are equal and free, and therefore the systems are democratic, life is sacred, the state is secular, and based on the rule of law.

Above all, we need to recover awareness of who we are. As Western peoples, we have a duty to keep this promise and seek the answer to the problems of the future by having faith in our values: a synthesis born out of the meeting of Greek philosophy, Roman law, and Christian humanism.

Travel Blogging XV

Baton Rouge, LA: We are moored in Baton Rouge, capital of Louisiana and home of LSU. The name is French and translates as “red pole, or red cane.” Our cruise is almost over, this time tomorrow we’ll be sitting in the NOLA airport waiting for our flight to Atlanta, with connections to Jackson, WY. Tomorrow will be a loooong day.

This has been our first experience with American Cruise Lines, and we’ve enjoyed it. They really do their level best to keep us fed, housed in comfort, plied with liquor, entertained, and generally catered to. 

We have spent the last two weeks in an all-inclusive luxury hotel that happens to be a riverboat. An example, we needed a couple of AA batteries and they ducked back into the office and gave us four, and not brand X either. 

We don’t drink much but I know the good brands and they’re pouring the good stuff, plus choice of wines at dinner. Three entrees to choose from each evening and if you don’t like any of them they’ll do you a steak, I had one two nights ago.

ACL is an interesting family-owned firm. They own the shipyard that builds all their ships, and they travel only in the U.S. although they have an affiliate that does a similar shtick in Canada. Their crew is American too. Everybody we’ve dealt with is nice, they do “pleasant and accommodating” very well indeed. 

They have itineraries on the Mississippi, the Columbia, and the Great Lakes, plus Alaska, New England coastal and Florida coastal. We’ve signed up for the Columbia next year.

On Strike

There is a major dockworkers strike on the East and Gulf Coasts. Stuff in transit across the Pacific will probably deflect to West Coast ports, which will become impacted as ships pile up offshore awaiting a turn at the docks. 

I’ve no idea  how long the strike will last. It will have a positive impact on rail transport, a negative impact on imports, and cause some grief for retailers trying to amass inventory for the Christmas shopping season which begins later this month. I’d say the stevedores picked a good time of year to withhold services, a busy time.

Expect lame-duck President Biden to speak in favor of the union. If Joe’s aged brain remembers anything, it is his to-the-bitter-end commitment to unions. It makes him an anachronism as a Democrat, their main voting groups now are college educated women and their androgynous husbands, plus every “victim” group that exists.

Dockworker unions have a checkered past. The ones on the West Coast were led by a Communist and the ones now striking are tainted with mob ties. Neither gains them much sympathy.

Thinking about dockworkers, reminds me of the wiry little guys we watched doing the job in Kowloon. This was when Hong Kong was still a Crown Colony. Clad in shorts and rubber flip-flops they clambered all over stacks of containers hooking cranes to the tie-downs built into the containers. 

All of this in 90 degree heat and near-100% humidity on a sultry South China Sea day. They weren’t all young either. They were nonchalantly doing things I couldn’t have done in my prime, too many decades ago.

Which further reminds me of the bamboo and raffia scaffolding around buildings under construction there. Some of these went up maybe 20 floors or more, tied together with what amounts to string. And they did the job. 

Scary but perversely fascinating. Obviously the men who built them knew exactly what they were doing and what would hold together.