Colin Allred Faces His Constituents

"What does it profit a man to change the trade deficit with China a little but allow human rights in Hong Kong to be strangled?" — Rep. Colin Allred



Representative Colin Allred (TX 32) held a townhall meeting at Yale Elementary School in Richardson Saturday morning, sponsored by Richardson Area Democrats. The crowd and the mood were decidedly different from former representative Pete Sessions' 2017 townhall meeting at Richardson High School. Then, an overflow crowd of about 1900 people dissented from most of Sessions' position. In contrast, the much smaller crowd of about 100 people Saturday gave Allred a warm welcome and greeted his answers to questions with polite applause and sounds of approval.

POTD: Cliff Palace

From 2018 09 21 Mesa Verde

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. This ruin is called the Cliff Palace and is more than 700 years old. It's impressive. It's also tragic in that we know virtually nothing about the people who built it, who lived in it for hundreds of years, who then completely abandoned it. The Cliff Palace is just one of many impressive dwellings in the park, most of which hug the canyon cliffs, presumably for defense. Or for safety from forest fires, which are still a threat today (see photos below). But who knows?

Bonus photos after the jump.

Review: Wind/Pinball

Amazon

From Wind/Pinball: Two Novels, by Haruki Murakami:

In the bottom of the first inning, Hilton slammed Sotokoba's first pitch into left field for a clean double. The satisfying crack when the bat met the ball resounded throughout Jingu Stadium. Scattered applause rose around me. In that instant, for no reason and based on no grounds whatsoever, it suddenly struck me: I think I can write a novel."

The foreward (above) to "Wind" reveals how Murakami decided to become an author. The result is two short works that share a narrator and characters and setting.

Country Music (TV 2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Country Music (TV 2019): 16 hour Ken Burns love letter to 100 years of an American art form. It's all here, hillbilly, bluegrass, Western swing, rockabilly, stars. Educational, entertaining, fast-paced. Could use more critical introspection of business and politics. Yeehaw! A-

Idle Thoughts: What the Hell is Going On?

Tweets from September, 2019:

• 2019-09-01: Mr. President, how about calling for a total and complete shutdown of gun sales in the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on? (Link)
• 2019-09-02: Drop ice in the ocean to stop hurricanes? Fly military jets clockwise in hurricanes to stop them? Silly man. Everyone knows the real answer is to bomb hurricanes with nukes. (Link)
• 2019-09-02: @RepLanceGooden, the protest movement in Hong Kong does have the attention of our leaders like you. Almost to the exclusion of attention that should be paid to the growing threat of authoritarianism here at home. Not good.
• 2019-09-03: "Religion makes good people better and bad people worse." -- H. Richard Niebuhr.
  God grant me the humility not to automatically assume I'm in the former category.

After the jump, more idle thoughts.

Downton Abbey (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Downton Abbey (2019) Faithful to the TV series. Julian Fellowes gives every story line that wasn't wrapped up in the series finale a happy ending. If you've never seen it, you'll be lost by all the characters and subplots, and raise your eyebrows at some plot contrivances. B+

Battle of the Bands

From 2019 09 27 Duncanville vs Berkner

Duncanville Band

The Berkner Rams faced off against Duncanville High School Friday night. Besides seeing the Rams and the #1 ranked Panther football team, fans were treated to two of the state's best marching bands as well. Halftime was a real treat.

More photos after the jump.