Zack

Pumpkin-headed Halloween figure in a business skirt suit holding a book that says MYSTERY and shushing passersby with a skeletal finger against her lips

Library Halloween decor, 10/10, no notes

He’d come up with some bizarre old school racist justifications. Like Pierce’s dad on “Community.”

We volunteered today at a trunk or treat promoting electric school buses.

Reactions ranged from approval to genuine curiosity, and we handed out nearly a thousand cute stickers that will hopefully remind people to support the idea.

Parenting thought: I’m not “talking to myself in public” I’m “narrating for my toddler.”

When she’s not around, I’m practicing.

Teaching Ancient Athens this week. Thinking about how an excess of democracy leads to tyranny. “We won an election, now the law doesn’t matter” is where we’re at.

When ICE invaded Portland, I knew it was only a matter of time before they arrived to put out the fire at the 3rd precinct and terrorize us.

China’s CO2 emissions have started falling – is this finally the peak? A floating solar farm in Huainan City, China is part of the country’s renewable power build-out Imago / Alamy China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has seen a slight decline in those emissions over the past twelve months, even as demand for power has gone up. This is an encouraging sign the country’s massive buildout of clean energy has begun to displace fossil fuels – but emissions could still surge again.

China’s CO2 emissions have started falling – is this finally the peak?

A floating solar farm in Huainan City, China is part of the country’s renewable power build-out Imago / Alamy China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has seen a slight decline in those emissions over the past…

Grimsby dock revamp to include 'biggest' floating solar farm Green energy plans have been approved for a £100m redevelopment of the Victorian Ice Factory site.

'Biggest' floating solar farm approved for dock

#Lincolnshire #BBCNews

🔗: https://www.bbc.com/news/arti...

Using Malaysia’s 2,000 MW Floating Solar Farm at Lake Kenyir might propel long-term environmental and financial gains By : Norazam Nordin One of the most exciting projects revealed is the floating solar farm at Lake Kenyir, Terengganu; Malaysia is making major progress in its dedication to renewable energy. Among the...

Using Malaysia’s 2,000 MW Floating Solar Farm at Lake Kenyir might propel long-term environmental and financial gains
asianewstoday.com/using-malays...

Did you know floating solar is a thing?

Les Îlots Blandin in France is Europe’s largest floating solar farm. It was recently built on a former gravel quarry site and will generate enough power for over 12,000 homes.

That’s hilarious!

The Trump Admin fired nearly everyone in the Dept. Of Ed’s Office of Special Education.

This is a tragedy for the 7.5M kids with disabilities in the U.S., their families and special educators who dedicate their lives to our students’ success. I’m demanding they reverse these firings immediately.

Total return to the Redemption Court and US v Reese (1876). Louisiana v. Callais, if it shakes out the way it’s looking at argument, will reverse 60 years of progress on voting rights and representation

J. Sotomayor & Mr. Mooppan got into that directly, with Mooppan asserting that the rest of the Louisiana gerrymander is fine, can group together partisan whites, but that creating a maj-min district isn’t b/c race. We can disenfranchise, Sec. 2 requires we do so w/o naming race. It’s bonkers

Back to Louisiana. I’m up to Mooppan’s section, in which he seems to be feeding Alito’s opinion to him while arguing against Sotomayor & Jackson that all governing cases and create a wholly new test. Overturn Gingles, and re-interpret Sec. 2 out of existence.

A black and white photo of Blair sitting on the floor looking at art pages.

Concept art for Alice in Wonderland

Concept art for Dumbo

Concept art for Cinderella

Today is the birthday of artist Mary Blair (Oct. 21, 1911-July 26, 1978). She produced concept art for Disney classics such as Cinderella, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and The Lady and the Tramp. She also illustrated children’s books & helped design Disney rides like It’s a Small World.

“No Kings” Protests Are Just Not Enough These are worthwhile events, and leftists shouldn’t shun them. But stopping Trump requires building power. If protests aren’t coupled with organizing, the right will win.

I think this is a version of the left critique of the recent mass mobilizations that makes sense. No Kings mobilizations are not a diversion of energy that would be used more effectively otherwise they are fertile ground for the organizing folks say they want to do.

Oh you're trying to say the cost of living is skyrocketing?

Donald Trump can't hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom.

The white house, a gaping wound in the east wing. It looks like a ruin or a mound of garbage

No image has ever spoken so succinctly about the current situation in the US.

I finally got to Justice Jackson exasperated having to clear up that saying “we have a problem; we’re being disenfranchised” is not the same thing as saying “we have a problem; we want more power.” Like, this lawyer seems to see rights as entitlements.

Lawyer for the state arguing the Repub. majority opinion to them: Section 2 demands racial discrimination without a compelling state interest.
Problem: it doesn’t. Section 2 is a mechanism for identifying the outcome of racial discrimination. It doesn’t demand a racially charged remedy.

Gorsuch: “sometimes federal district courts order maps .. you’re saying, sometimes acceptable for a federal district court to order a map that intentionally discriminate on the basis of race?”
The lawyer consistently says no, but he keeps asking again like she said yes. It’s that energy up here.

Listening to the Louisiana v. Callais arguments at work. The Republican appointees seem dedicated to a willful misread of the statute. They claim in their questions that Section 2 requires racial discrimination at remedy, and so violates the 14th amendment, which they’ve turned inside out already.

They’re over on Pennsylvania Ave rediscovering the divine right of kings and we’re wondering if SNAP will run out of money.

“In every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People.”
Eugene V. Debs

bananas, painted by james marion shull, 1919

bananas, painted by james marion shull, 1919

A specific frustration I delight in inflicting upon my children is the lesson that verification is essential & not the same thing as distrust or disbelief. You are just going to exist in the superposition between truth and falsehood until X’s parent confirms or refutes that it’s ok to come over

I kinda think it’s more impactful that the demographic of these protests skews older. Winemoms and Boomers carry more cultural weight than younger folks. My instinct.

Right! The fact that there was a No Kings protest there at all surprised me.

But also that 72.9% is significantly people who despise gov’t overreach.

It would be interesting to know if any No Kings folks are also former Tea Partiers. Surely some! Obama—>Trump—>Biden—>Trump voters exist.

Imagining an Atlas Obscura type article from 2150:

“Not many know that the storage annex off the west wing of the White House was originally constructed as a ballroom.”