Category Archives: Current Affairs

A story for today: “I Hate Dill Pickles”

“Watch this, Amber,” Sara said, building up to a big finish. She whirled around and threw her arms out in a wide flourish. And when she did, the scoop of soft cookies and cream flew right off the top of the cone and landed splat! right on the side window of a parked white van.
Sara heard the splat and stopped to look, and we both saw a long white drip sliding down the dark glass. She turned to me, eyes wide, mouth open, ready to start giggling.
But then the van’s window rolled down several inches, and a man in dark sunglasses looked out at us. “Hey, young lady,” he said, “better be careful with that stuff.”
Now instead of giggling, Sara squealed and we both turned and ran down the block, all the way to where our houses faced each other across the street. When we got to her place I stopped and glanced back, and the van’s window was closed again. We both stood by her porch for a minute, giggling and laughing and trying to catch our breath. Finally Sara said, “That was wild!”
“Yeah,” I said, “if Sanjaya had tried that, he would have won for sure!”

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Say What You Will, Bernie’s Still My Guy

— He’s still in the Senate, with much higher visibility;

— He campaigned fair, and most of his main rivals self-destructed;

— His integrity is intact: (Tax returns? Naddadamthing; he & Jane are comfy, but not millionaires. He kept his word: & supported HRC after the primaries; he works nonstop.)

— His message of fighting oligarchy to save democracy is not only consistent, but it’s also reinforced daily by every billionaire appointment & crazy tweet from On High . . .

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HB2 Fallout: $42K Taxpayers Money Produces $Millions in Bad PR

Several times, NC senators who supported HB2 repeal noted that the one-day special legislative session cost the state’s taxpayers $42,000, money spent to achieve nothing.

Well, the senators were not fully correct abut that last part. Yes, the session produced nothing in legislative terms.

But as an investment in public relations for the state, it was a bonanza, a real goldmine. We’re talking negative PR, but hey: this is the year when such notions have been upended, right?

The Wall Street Journal, another business bible that is hardly a liberal rag, was right there too. I looked up its ad rates: for a half page, it would be $157000, not counting the color.

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Why My Knees Were Knocking That Morning

I finally went to a physical therapist, who gave me some stretching exercises to do. I did them just before the election, and afterward, voila! –both knees hurt. A miracle of modern medicine.
As the election results sank in, my knees hurt worse. By the weekend, a friend had lent me a cane, and some pain pills.
Anyway, the aches come and go. Eerily enough, talking about the impact of the election really bothers them. Like it did when I asked Mansoor the Big Question today.

Mansoor has a shop in the Durham area, and has helped me with some of my gadgets. Right now he was preparing to do heart surgery on my desktop. And as in life, so in tech (or is it now vice versa?): I’m not as worried about the desktop’s survival, as I am about the bill.

I first brought it in, a couple days before the election, just before I had to leave town for a few days. We scrolled across files as if they were MRI images, looking for blocked electronic arteries. In this procedure, up popped my blog post about the 1920s Ku Klux Klan, showing how its agenda and spirit, minus only the robes, had pervaded much of the 2016 election campaign.

I pointed it out and slowed the mouse. Mansoor’s expression was impassive, but I could tell he was interested.

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