The polls have gone cancerous

The news is hideous and diseased — every new poll inspires a frenzy of speculation, and gets promoted heavily on the networks, depending on whether the results meet their biases or not. Unfortunately, that provides an incentive to the Poll Industry to do more polls and to found more polling companies, further undermining their credibility. The latest flurry of rabid prognostication was triggered by a poll that suggested Iowans might favor Harris.

I honestly don’t give a fuck. I have come to despise both polls and the media’s reliance on them to generate “news”.

I am pleased to see that Bob agrees with me.

P.S. Especially Nate Silver, you can just fuck off to the moon.

Don’t let small town values decide the fate of women

Republicans seem to be proud of their ‘solution’ for abortion: they’ll just devolve everything to the states and local authorities, so they don’t have their callousness and brutality thrown into their faces on the national level anymore. As far as I’m concerned, this is the worst possible solution. It puts women under the thumb of the town busybodies and church-goers (pretty much the same thing). The pettiness of small-minded locals knows no bounds.

Here’s a story illustrating what I’m talking about.

Patience Frazier was the kind of person who was a scapegoat for all the problems of rural America. She was poor, sometimes living out of her broken down car, was taking drugs. She got pregnant. Her child was stillborn, and Frazier buried it in her yard, marked with a cross. The story should have ended there.

She was, unfortunately, reported to a self-righteous sheriff’s deputy named Jacqueline Mitcham. Mitcham decided that Frazier must have “killed her baby” and went on a crusade to get her convicted of murder. They dug up the baby’s corpse, finding no evidence of foul play, and then went fishing for a charge that might stick.

While Frazier was tangled up with the law, Mitcham took the baby’s corpse, kept it, and put it in a wooden box near her front door. Already, I smell an obsessive sicko. Frazier, meanwhile, spent two years in jail while the case dragged on. She was finally released.

The judge who ruled in 2021 that she should be released wrote: “Patience has been portrayed as an antichrist, but this Judge thinks she is, instead, just a mother caught hopelessly in the web of poverty with a lack of any support system.”

As for Mitcham taking custody of the fetal remains, Diaz-Tello noted that Frazier only came to the attention of law enforcement because of how she memorialized her loss, which she called “deeply tinged with pain and respect.” Diaz-Tello said it was morally repulsive for the police officer who personally saw to it that Frazier was put in prison to then take those remains, create a memorial, and say to a reporter that it was her baby. “Essentially she’s doing the exact same thing that Patience tried to do [with the remains],” she said, “but Patience should go to prison for it, and this police officer should get to keep this as a trophy.”

That’s what we can expect with an administration that refuses to support the reproductive rights of women.

We have more than just horrifying anecdotes to let us know what to expect. Look to Texas.

The number of women in Texas who died while pregnant, during labor or soon after childbirth skyrocketed following the state’s 2021 ban on abortion care — far outpacing a slower rise in maternal mortality across the nation, a new investigation of federal public health data finds.

From 2019 to 2022, the rate of maternal mortality cases in Texas rose by 56%, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period, according to an analysis by the Gender Equity Policy Institute. The nonprofit research group scoured publicly available reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and shared the analysis exclusively with NBC News.

“There’s only one explanation for this staggering difference in maternal mortality,” said Nancy L. Cohen, president of the GEPI. “All the research points to Texas’ abortion ban as the primary driver of this alarming increase.”

Remember this on Tuesday: A vote for Trump is a vote for more dead babies and mothers.

Mano also writes about benighted Texas.

Caught up!

I am pleased to announce that not only have I gotten all my lectures/discussions planned out for this week, I have completed all grading to date. On Canvas, my to-do list is completely empty, for now.

I was scheduled for jury duty for tomorrow (one of the reasons I was striving to get all caught up), and the case was settled out of court.

Now what? Is there something people do when they’ve finished all their work by mid-afternoon of Sunday? Or are all of you swamped right now too?

Minnesota has a “beaver provision” that prohibits the eating of beaver

I guess we’ve fixed everything in this state, because the DFL has stuck a provision in our latest funding bill that prohibits beaver eating. It’s only under special circumstances, though: you can’t eat “nuisance beavers” that you killed to stop them from flooding your farm with their dams, but if you killed them because you trap them for their fur, yeah, go ahead, you can chow down on that fine furry beaver. Nuisance beavers can still be used for fur, castor oil, or taxidermy, just no eating allowed.

It’s a very peculiar law, because nobody can explain why this rule has been inserted. The Republicans are rightly peeved at this goofy and unnecessary regulation, and the DFL is being evasive and not explaining the purpose.

…a Senate DFL spokesperson issued a statement saying the conference committee dealt with “multiple provisions related to beavers coming from both chambers. This language emerged from many conversations between the House, Senate, DNR, and governor’s office.’’

It sounds like there was a lot of concern about beavers, and I wonder if maybe there might have been more significant issues to address. Apparently not; Minnesota has achieved policy perfection.

Why beavers? I have two hypotheses. One is that it was to give Minnesota Republicans something to do — it’s a distraction. They’re busy right now bragging about how they’ve all eaten beaver.

“I eat beaver. It’s fine,’’ Wesenberg said. “No one is going to get in trouble for doing it. I don’t know why it’s in the bill.’’

OK, dude, I’m happy for you.

My other hypothesis is that this is a cunning anti-Catholic ploy. The Catholic Church decided beaver was a fish and therefore you were allowed to eat all the beaver you want during Lent. This law will deny good Catholic farmers a traditional dish, apparently on a whim.

Don’t say I never criticize Democrats. This is a useless law that accomplishes nothing (they even say it won’t be policed or enforced) and justifies complaints that they’re going to pad the legal system with stupid regulations.

It’s just a tiny violation of the Constitution

I thought that Americans were generally opposed to aristocracy and the concept of nobility. We even had the sentiment written into our Constitution!

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Some of us have that principle imbedded in our generally held principles, but to be real about it, there have always been Americans who desire and envy the label of an unearned title. They’re generally conservative and rich, but those snobs are honestly American. They’re just wrong.

So what kind of person would happily accept a title of nobility from a foreign organization? Would you believe it would be arch-“originalist”, worshipper of their interpretation of the Constitution, Founding Father cultist, and Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito?

The Intelligencer has a story today that actually happened several years ago but — not unlike Alito’s Upside-Down Flag nonsense — didn’t register with the public at the time. As we noted last week, Alito has been taking expensive gifts — as the conservative Supreme Court justices are wont to do! — from a right-wing German princess, but it turns out he’s been cultivating more ties to the European aristocracy.

It turns out the last time Donald Trump was president, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, author of the Dobbs decision setting women’s health care back a few centuries, added a knighthood to his own résumé, pledging an oath to the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George. The knighthood, bestowed in 2017, wasn’t widely reported at the time, but the order’s website was updated in July with Alito’s investiture on the front page.

Cool. I can see where Alito would find the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George appealing — it’s an extremely Catholic organization that fawns over the Papacy. It has only 3000 members and seems to be mainly about grandiloquent cosplaying with elaborate symbols and rituals (they also have a charitable angle of providing food aid to stricken communities in Europe, to their credit). It’s mostly harmless and just a kind of stupid posturing, but sheesh, a Supreme Court justice ought to avoid flagrantly violating the letter of the Constitution…

Oh. Wait. Our current crop of Supreme Court justices are all about partisan bias and shredding the egalitarian principles of the Constitution.

Never mind.

Another headache

My mother’s house just went on the market, which meant the asking price has gone public. As part of the probate process, the names of all of the heirs were publicly posted a while back. There are skeevy people who are tracking that kind of information, who instantly swoop in and contact the heirs, asking if they’d like a fast advance on their inheritance, for the price of a small, tiny, hardly even mentionable fee, so small that they don’t even mention it, and you won’t know about it until after the estate is settled.

It’s like a payday loan scam run by funeral-chasing ghouls. I think I’ve just learned about a whole ‘nother industry full of people I hate.

My whole family is about to get junkmail from these horrible people who promise painless advances on their inheritance, except for the big bite they take out of it (one company was going to skim off 20%) and the nuisance to the executor (me) and his lawyer. I’m just telling everyone to be patient, we’re making good progress on the estate, and I’m hoping we can get everything cleared up by Christmas, so I only have one complicated tax year.

(In good news, we’ve already had 3 people tour the house, so maybe it’ll go fast.)

Who remembers “trickle down economics” and other lies of the right?

Here’s a doozy from the always reliable source of an anonymous far right nobody pontificating on Twitter.

If Trump succeeds in forcing through mass deportations, combined with Elon hacking away at the government, firing people and reducing the deficit – there will be an initial severe overreaction in the economy – this economy propped up with debt (generating asset bubbles) and artificially suppressed wages (as a result of illegal immigration). Markets will tumble. But when the storm passes and everyone realizes we are on a sounder footing, there will be a rapid recovery to a healthier, sustainable economy. History could be made in the coming two years.
Elon Musk says “Sounds about right”

The first part might be right — the economy will be devastated by a Trump victory followed by mass deportations and firings. The last bit? Where the economy will be magically restored by people realizing this will be good for us? That’s pure fantasy, wishful thinking, nothing but moonshine. But hey, the belief in an all-powerful head of state with total control of everyone’s lives worked for North Korea, so maybe we should give it a shot. It’s not as if Republicans haven’t given us sound financial advice since the Reagan years.

Yes, you want to buy a house

My mother’s house is now officially on the market. Go buy it! The price is $435K, but if you want to round up to a half million, I won’t complain.

It’s now empty and shined up and ready to go. Look at this lovely kitchen!

That’s one of the last things my mother had redone on the house before her death. She was very proud of it. I wish my house had a kitchen that nice.

Charming 3-bedroom, 1.75-bathroom rambler with plenty of space and a cozy layout! Great opportunity to make this home your own. Home features a circular floor plan, opening to the living room, then flowing into the dining & kitchen area. Kitchen boasts natural cabinetry, large window above the sink & ample storage & countertop space. Back room has tons of potential, use as a 4th bedroom, second living space or even a play room! Outside, enjoy a large driveway with ample parking and a single-car garage for extra storage or workspace. Large backyard features cozy patio. Easy commute & convenience to everything! Quick access to Hwy 18 & very close to Game Farm Park with ball parks & picnic areas & Wilderness park for enjoying the White River.

Now I want to buy it and move in. Not mentioned is that on a clear day you can see Mt Rainier from the backyard, and that the convenient shed is full of spiders. I don’t know why they left that bit out, especially since it’s going on the market on Halloween.

I have lot of happy memories in that house, so it’s sad to see it empty. Go fill it up to cheer me up.

What horror movie monster are you?

Here’s a Halloween thought for you: what Halloween/movie monster do you most closely identify with? Is it the tragic cursed werewolf, doomed to a life of mad animal viciousness whenever the moon is full? Are you a more modern rage monster, a Freddie or Jason slashing their way through the world? Or a blameless Frankenstein’s monster, hideous and hated? There are a thousand choices. Pick one now and explain your reasoning.

I was thinking of this yesterday while I was doing some drudgery in the lab. I had fed the spiders the other day, lots of big juicy mealworms. I raise mealworms at home, and I have a terrarium in the basement where I cultivate thousands of the little bugs. You throw in a big box of cornmeal every few months, and periodically toss in table scraps — the ends of carrots, a mushy tomato, a shriveled orange, and they thrive in there. I comb my fingers through the meal, which is steadily being converted to frass, and scoop up handfuls of wriggling larval beetles. I drop them one at a time in the adult spiders’ cages.

Here’s the catch: the spiders are adept at quickly killing and eating them, but the way they do it leaves behind a tube of cuticle filled with the soupy mix of digested guts and venom. It’s an amazing medium for bacteria — you would not believe the stench that a rotting mealworm can produce. They reek of death and decay, and I have to go through all the containers and clean them out.

The younger spiders need more delicate food, so I raise fruitflies in an incubator in the lab. Flies are also easy, but the bottles full of medium can get quite nasty, when they got old they get moldy and a bit slimy. So yesterday I was scrubbing out a month’s worth of fly bottles, filling up a sink with scum and floating bits of mold and insect parts, and thinking…hey, this is quite pleasant. Low stress, no demands, light work, I was quite enjoying myself. I could be quite content as a lab assistant, doing the dirty work behind the scenes as long as I didn’t have any more long-term demands on myself.

It’s obvious then. I’d want to be a lesser horror movie character, not a monster, not a mad scientist, I just want to be an Igor, a Fritz, a Karl, maybe occasionally aspiring to a Renfield.

Me and Dwight Frye, we’d be the bestest buddies.

Your turn. What’s your Halloween avatar?