It's now one week since Election Day. Mark Leibovich in "The Atlantic" goes all the way back to Hillary Clinton's close loss to Donald Trump in 2016 to explain the source of the Democrats' defeats in 2024.
Leibovich: "Democrats engaged in no real reckoning after 2016. Essentially they became a party that defined itself in opposition to Trump, just as Republicans have been defined in submission to him."
On November 7, the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees adopted a set of legislative priorities for the upcoming 2025-2026 legislative term.
Jim Jordan: "This election was the greatest political comeback we've ever seen."
Well, maybe not. Nixon's win in 1968 was arguably bigger after Nixon's defeat in 1962 and pledge to the press, "You don't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." Biggest comeback and, later, biggest eventual collapse. Maybe something still to look forward to.
"Readers in box seats.
Books fill up the former stalls.
Cafe on the stage."
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| From 2023 03 14 Argentina Patagonia |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from The Grand Splendid Athenaeum, a bookstore in Buenos Aires. In 2019, it was named the "world's most beautiful bookstore" by the National Geographic. It gets no argument from me. It's located in a former theater called Teatro Gran Splendid. Customer seating exists in the still-intact theater boxes. A cafe serves food and drinks on the former stage. Over a million people visit annually, including "L" and me. We didn't buy any books (the vast majority are in Spanish), but we did eat lunch. Beautiful.
Another photo after the jump.
"Beneath city lights,
Buenos Aires sports Kelly Green,
For St. Paddy’s cheer."
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| From 2023 03 14 Argentina Patagonia |
Today's photo-of-the-day is the view from our hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Saint Patrick's Day in 2024. Across the street is the most famous Irish Pub in Buenos Aires, The Kilkenny.
After the jump, The Kilkenny.
"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink." — Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The City of Richardson's Holly Water Tower lost all pressure on Thursday, triggering an alert on the City's website, on social media, and elsewhere (we'll come back to that) to boil water before usage. City staff and volunteers quickly moved into action acquiring truckloads of bottled water for distribution to affected residents. All well and good. Triage before post-mortem, you know. There'll be time enough for questions later. First things first. The City is testing water and hopes to have results back Friday, November 8. When it's deemed safe to drink again, the City will spread the word...somehow.
When that day comes, there are some questions that I'd like the City to publish answers for.
November 5 was disappointing, but not a surprise. It's certainly not like 2016, where the result did catch me by surprise. This time, I took a wait-and-see attitude. Two weeks before the election, I told someone struggling to be optimistic that "the most I can offer is what keeps me from despair. The odds are pretty much 50/50. That's not a reason to be optimistic, but it's equally not a reason to be pessimistic."
Now that the results are in, and Donald Trump's win over Kamala Harris is certain, it's time for despair. Hear me out.
From The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles:
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The City of Richardson is rightly regarded as having some of the best, most diverse, dining options in north Texas ("Eat & Drink"). Feeling a bit like "Opposite Man," I thought I'd offer a list of the ten worst places to eat in Richardson last month. It's based on the City of Richardson's Health Department Restaurant Scores for last month. That is, each month features a different list.
"Floating ice so vast,
A shard of Upsala's might,
Drifting blue and white."
— h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 14 Argentina Patagonia |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of an iceberg from Upsala Glacier in Argentine Patagonia. Another tourist vessel is present for scale. Imagine the size of the glacier that the iceberg broke off from further up the fjord.
"Wide wall of blue ice,
Holding tourists' awed gaze.
Waiting for loud cracks."
— h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 14 Argentina Patagonia |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of Perito Moreno Glacier in the Patagonia region of Argentina. It's also my favorite glacier. It's a particularly stable glacier, at least along its leading edge, thanks to the geography of the fjord which forms a bottleneck that the glacier catches on as it advances. At that point is a boardwalk for tourists, making this one of world's most accessible glaciers for viewing. Stand and watch for a while and you'll be treated to occasional calving of large chunks of ice.
2024-10-01: "The UK Has No Coal-Fired Power Plants for the First Time in 142 Years" | WIRED.
Most of the time, I think our efforts to address climate change amount to too-little, too-late. But every once in a while there's a headline like this that gives me a smidgen of hope.
wired.com/story/uk-no-coal-fir...
2024-10-03: "11 damning details in Jack Smith’s new brief in the Trump election case" | POLITICO.
Damning? These Trump scandals have reached the point of having no effect on public opinion. Maybe they are even counter-productive. With every story, more voters might be moved to support Trump just to get these cases settled than moved to want him to lose to see the cases pursued for another four years. Depressing, but I think that's where we are.
politico.com/news/2024/10/02/j...
2024-10-04: "US economy added a whopping 254,000 jobs last month" | CNN Business.
Those are new jobs, in addition to all the jobs Americans had last month. Even if immigrants are taking some Americans' jobs, there are a "whopping" number of new ones to pick from.
cnn.com/business/live-news/us-...
