In the good old summertime

       It has been a typical northern NY transition from winter to spring to summer all in about 2 weeks.   From winter coat weather in mid May to sweltering last weekend to cool and wet weather for the last week, we have had it all.

      In the garden, the radishes and arugula appreciate the cool, wet conditions, but the heat lovers, including summer squash, peppers and tomatoes have stalled.   The garlic is beginning to scape and the leaf lettuces are thriving.  Maggie Mae has rediscovered her affinity for broccoli and carrots, so chances are there won't much harvested except by her.  The beets and swiss chard are also doing well.   All in all, the gardens are doing well, despite the weather.

Ups and Downs

       Once again in the Bizzaro world that is the Republican party we see the deficit hawks decrying the present state of the national finances.   We are $34 trillion in debt they say and the only way out is to slash the social safety net and any discretionary spending.   What they don't tell you is a non trivial portion of the debt, indeed most of it was added under Republican administrations.  As Paul Krugman points out in today's NYT, all it would take to stabilize the debt would be to raise taxes by 2.1%...crickets is all you would hear from them regarding this proposal.

     Meanwhile, in honor of D-Day, president Biden commemorated all the "losers and suckers" who died in defense of democracy.   Of course the losers and suckers comment was uttered by the former guy who refused to visit a WW2 cemetery because the weather might muss his hair.

     We face a crisis this November.  The choice is between a fundamentally decent man and an addled mountebank who will do or say anything to regain power.  Stay tuned.

a convicted criminal for president?

     I know there is an irreducible minimum of about 35% of the electorate who would wade through a field of broken glass to vote for tRump for president.  These people make up the "basket of deplorables" who likely embrace their inner Nazi on a regular basis.  They are for the most part racist, homophobic and misogynist and in a just society they would be shunned.  

     There is another 10-15% who do not fit the above description but are still willing to vote for a convicted criminal for a variety of reasons, mostly political or economic.  they are also still open to persuasion.   tRump won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by a total of around 80,000 votes.  It may seem cynical,  but Democrats need to put a huge push in those three states to ensure a Biden victory in November.   That includes making tRump's new status of convicted criminal the number one issue.

Finally

        Mexican voters elected their first woman president over the weekend.   It is amazing that a macho culture like the one that prevails in Mexico would elect a woman before the USA.   Of course, both major party candidates were women, so it is hard to tell what would have happened if Claudia Scheinbaum had run against a man.  However, she garnered over  58% of the vote, so she may well have won regardless of the sex of her opponent.

      I'm afraid the only way a woman can get elected in America is if both Democrats and Republicans nominate women for president.  Once this hurdle is overcome, the idea a woman can lead the country should be normalized.  Although, Barack Obama's election has not done that for Black men.  His election sparked a backlash which shows no sign of receding.   Hopefully 2 women of color will compete in 2028.  Wouldn't that be something.

All projection all the time

      I can still hear the echoes of "lock her up" during campaign rallies in 2016.  tRump was accusing Hillary Clinton of not protecting the national security due to sloppy use of an email server.  Fast forward to 2024 and the only difference is tRump has actually been indicted for stealing state secrets.   His only hope to avoid another felony conviction is a friendly judge allowing him to avoid trial til after the election.

     I could go on in the same vein for hours, but you get the picture.

Posts of Conviction

       Sorry for the rather indifferent approach to blog posting lately.   In the current political climate all I have felt like doing is posting screeds of impending doom which turns most people off.  However, on a more hopeful note, justice was served in a courtroom in New York yesterday and it deserves a post.

      Donald tRump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a scheme to influence the 2016 elections.   The American system of justice worked in this particular case, unlike the other 3 criminal trials the newly convicted felon is still facing.  Of course, instead of accepting the jury's verdict, tRump and his surrogates immediately went on the attack, blaming everyone in sight instead of looking in the mirror.

     We are about to test the validity of tRump's assertion he could commit murder in broad daylight and not lose support among his faithful.  My execrable congresscritter, Elise Stefanik, has already attacked the system for holding criminals to account in this case.  Many more will follow this dangerous path.  It is up to the rest of us to uphold the rule of law on November 5.

When the bottom falls out

      For the last 6 months or so, I have been doing what I advise everyone else not to do, namely following the trajectory of the stocks in our portfolio on a daily basis.  Some days it's a high and others a miserable bust.   Recently the Dow Jones Average topped 40,000 for the first time in history.  You would never know it happened if you listen to right wing media outlets.  If the same milestone had been surpassed while tRump was in office, a mighty fanfare would be played by these same outlets.   

      As Paul Krugman points out, the stock market is a lousy forecaster for the overall economy, but it does have a cachet among the general population.   I will start to worry when the NYT starts publishing stories about the middle class getting into the market.  Shades of 1929!