What Are You Doing With Your Life?!! If You're Not Buddhist, You Understand This One Go-Around Is It.

I'm at South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (now Dennis C Moss Cultural Arts Center) a lot.  We've talked about this many times.  It's not at all close to here.  The address is 10950 SW 211 St.  I know.  Boy, do I know.

On Friday, January 17, I was there for Cirque Kalabante.  I don't go to circuses that have non-human animals.  I've been to several Cirque Du Soleil shows, and one Circus Smirkus (the latter is in New England).  I would have said no circus is as good as Cirque Du Soleil.  Cirque Kalabante is as good, or possibly slightly better.  Its origins are somewhere in Africa, and I don't know from where all the performers come.  Some clearly had African accents.  The saxophone player had skin paler than mine.  So maybe he's not from Africa.  These people were spectacular.  The drummer, the saxophone player, and the electric bass (guitar) player only did that.  The rest were generally multi-talented.  The acrobatics were unspeakable.  It seemed none of the performers had bones, and all of them were very muscular.  One guy had neither bones nor cartilage.  His ability to contort was unimaginable.  Do it?  I couldn't even keep track of what he was doing.  And he had an amazingly engaging facial expression that left people laughing as much as they were breathless.  The guy who was sort of the MC or ringleader also played hand drums.  There were two women who also did acrobatics.  Another guy did several things, including acrobatics with a very large hoop.  They made pyramids.  They stood on each other three or four people high.  It really was breathtaking, and I felt a wish that it would never end, mixed with a wish that it would end soon, before anyone got hurt.  Which no one did.

Two days later, I was back for Allan Harris, whom I've seen there maybe twice before over the years.  He sings jazz alternating with reciting poetry.  Several of his recitations were Shakespeare, one was Maya Angelou, one Dylan Thomas, and there were others.  This time, he played guitar (great slide) during only one song.  He had a great backing ensemble, and it was different from his prior ones.  He's also a very charming and super friendly guy.  He's very flirtatious with his audience, and the energy is delightful.  He also had a female singer who's from out of town but staying here temporarily, and she was a knockout, singing-wise and in terms of appearance.  And similarly very connected to the audience, and to Harris.

Tonight (Saturday), I was there for Davina and the Vagabonds.  Davina sings and plays piano.  She's loaded with charisma, and charms her audience in a flirtatious way like Allan Harris charms his.  Someone before the show described Davina as being reminiscent, vocally, of Amy Winehouse.  I didn't hear much that put me in mind of Amy Winehouse.  I heard Mae West, Billie Holliday, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Maria Muldaur, Randy Newman, Peter Wolf, a little Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, and Gregg Allman.  I thought Davina might be in her 30s until she mentioned something from 20 years ago.  So she's in her 40s.  Her drummer looked to be in his 30s.  Her bass player looked to be in his 40s.  And her trombonist looked to be in his 50s.  Yes, I know, you want to know about her trumpet player.  OK, also looked to be maybe 50s.  OK, so you didn't care about the age.  You wanted to know about gender.  Do you want me to guess?  I'd say male, in transition.  And an excellent trumpet player.  They were all excellent musicians.  Davina said they were off to South Carolina for their next show.  I caught up with her after the show to ask about her group.  They're all her regulars except for the bassist, who's newer to the ensemble.  And he was a fabulous bassist.

These are all shows you don't want to end.  And I didn't see you there.  You missed these spectacular presentations.  Come with me.  I'll pick you up, and we can either just go to the show, or we can stop off for dinner on the way.  You won't be sorry.  mosscenter.org, pick the shows you want to see, and either let me know, so we can get seats together, or just get your own.

Oh, Really!

I drive an electric car (electric vehicle, or EV).  I have to charge the batteries.  An argument against what I'm doing is that the electricity I'm putting into my batteries comes from an electrical network that relies on burning fossil fuels.  And I agree that's true.  I counter with 1) my electric car is much more energy efficient than is a gasoline car, and results in less production of greenhouse gases than would a gas car, and 2) FPL has the choice to produce electricity by some means other than burning gas, oil, or coal.  People who drive gas (internal combustion engine, or ICE) cars don't have a choice.

I also have solar panels on my house.  And the argument against my relying on them, apart from what environmental damage is reportedly done to make the solar panels, which is like the argument about what happens to eventually spent and unrevivable batteries for my EV, is that they don't produce electricity at night, or not as much when it's overcast.  So I'm relying on FPL at those times anyway.  That's true, too, but again, FPL has a choice about how to create electricity.  They can burn stuff that will damage the environment and all the living things that rely on it, or they can find some other way of creating electricity.

(I should also note that I have on order a new EV, and it will have solar panels on it, and reportedly enough to put 45 miles of power per day into the batteries.  Unless I take a long trip -- the car I ordered has a range of "400 miles," which will mean about 200-300 miles -- I'll never plug in to charge the car with electricity.)

So, I got an e-mail a few days ago from FPL.  It let me know FPL was making a surcharge of just over $23 to cover for something or other due to hurricane damage in central and north Florida (but not here), and that my regular monthly bill will be going up for another reason.

After I got the solar panels on my house in the fall of 2019, my monthly bill quickly enough dropped to $10.05 per month, every month, all year.  This was FPL's state-permitted minimum monthly bill.  My net usage -- amount used against amount created -- was negative, in the sense that I created more electricity on a daily or weekly or monthly basis than I used.  As a contrast, my daughter lives in Massachusetts, where they do not allow the electric company to charge a minimum monthly amount.  My daughter and son-in-law have solar panels, as I do, although not as many as I have.  Their electric bill is frequently zero, and they occasionally get a small check from the electric company, which is effectively buying their excess electricity, which it sells to other people.

In 2022, FPL greased enough legislative palms to get permission to triple their minimum monthly bill, so that I was then suddenly paying $30.17 per month.  Every month.  All year.  But now, FPL has raised rates again.

The e-mail I got a few days ago mentioned solar panels, but it was a very ambiguous e-mail, and I had the impression FPL was increasing the bill on people like me, who had solar panels, to punish us for not buying enough electricity from FPL.  I tried to contact them for clarification, but they have constructed a system whereby you can't talk to anyone.  But today, I got another e-mail from FPL.  This e-mail reiterated the current increase -- to just over $41 per month -- and said there'd be another small increase beginning next month.  And this time, they explained why they've decided to pick the pockets of their customers.  They're getting solar panels.

After all this time of avoiding doing the obvious, that will be cleaner and cheaper, and overcharging their customers for the fact that they have steadfastly refused to do what they should do, so they can continue to make a great deal of money, they've decided to modernize.  And we, their customers, have to pay them to do what they could easily afford to do themselves.  Because they bribe the state legislature to direct the PSC to let them take what they want.

Helluva system.  Helluva legislature.  Helluva state.

The Very Sad End to a Magnificent Story

 Jose Luis Rodriguez (Jose Luis "de la Paz") has died.  I'm told he was in his 50s, which is probably about right.

Jose Luis was a breathtaking flamenco guitar player.  It's likely he was the best I've ever heard in person.  He was from Spain, as most of the best are, and he lived in Miami.

I used to see Jose Luis at various venues, and he played with rotating flamenco ensembles.  Ilisa Rosal's Ballet Flamenco La Rosa was one of them.  Siudy Garrido is a local flamenco dancer who might have been Jose Luis' agent or helper for a while.  One of his more common "band mates" was Adolfo Herrera, who is a delightful person and a spectacular percussionist.

Jose Luis' English was labored, but he was friendly and humble.  Talking to him, you would never get a sense of the massive talent he had.  If you listened to him play, your mouth would be agape.

One of my friends who knew Jose Luis well called to tell me he had died.  I knew he had a serious illness, but I didn't realize it was so imminently terminal.  Jose Luis did not know me personally well enough to have contacted me about his condition, but if he had, I would have visited him as much as he might have needed.  He died at home.

The effect of the news of his death was not dramatically different from the news of the death of Francisco Sanchez Gomez (Paco de Lucia), who died suddenly of a heart attack in Mexico in 2014.

There are very many flamenco guitarists.  I have heard a number of them here in Miami.  But none of them was like Jose Luis.  He will be deeply missed.

"Let's Address This," and Other News. On Substack.com.

Whether you call it "Main Stream Media" or "Legacy Media," fewer people are relying on it.  Frankly, it's not trustworthy (if your interest is in knowing what's true and reliable).

I remember when I was younger, and the Miami Herald had a few sections, and was about an inch or more thick.  It's now down to one thin section.  One of my friends who, for whatever reason, still subscribes, uses it for recipes and upcoming events, and occasionally for certain kinds of information.  My friend lives in Coconut Grove, so she's always interested in the goings on there, some of which find their ways into the Herald.  If you remember the frankly weird-looking Herald building east of what is now the Arsht Center, it's gone.  The Herald now occupies a small space somewhere around Doral, has few employees, has been sold by the Knights, and most of its limited and frankly uninteresting content is outsourced.

So, I get my information elsewhere.  I don't watch television, which I wouldn't consider reliable anyway, and I do listen to NPR.  But most of what I expose myself to, and try to rely on, is online.  I have a few sources that I consider very reliable.  Brian Cohen, who likes to go by Brian Tyler Cohen, is pretty reliable, but he's so virulently far left that he sometimes seems to ignore the far left's mistakes, like Biden's decision to run for re-election after he had said repeatedly that he wouldn't do that.  But Cohen is a remarkably smart young man, and I like his presentations, either on his own or in company with Glenn Kirschner, Mark Elias, or Tim Miller.  There's a Scottish young guy whose name I don't know, and his youtube channel is called the "Meidas Touch."  Very engaging and seemingly reliable reporting.  There's another very intelligent young kid who also has a youtube channel, but I don't remember his name.  I stumble across him from time to time.

A lot (most) of my information comes from a variety of accounts on a platform called Substack.  There are some magnificent thinkers and writers on Substack, they tend to do excellent research, and some, for what it might be worth (a lot, depending on the topic) are lawyers.  I have a few favorites, and one of them is Qasim Rashid.  He's a human rights lawyer, Mark Mansour is some other kind of lawyer, and Trygve Hammer is an extremely smart guy and magnificent writer who had been in the armed forces, then taught school (he probably still does) and was running for Congress from ND.  The people of ND didn't have the vision or wisdom to elect him this year.  I hope he'll give them another chance in '26 (after they find out what they did).  One comment I've seen repeatedly in a few places is that this year, Democrats lost.  It won't be long before Republicans come to realize they, too, lost.  I'm guessing that will become painfully obvious fairly soon, and at least Congress will flip in '26.  Anybody can go to Substack.com, and shop around.  You can read almost anything that's posted there.  There are rare accounts you can't read, and many more where you can't comment, unless you "subscribe"/pay.  And it's generally not cheap.  The common charge is $80 per year per account.  Most people don't pay anywhere near that amount for news/information, and couldn't afford to subscribe to several Substack accounts at $80 each.  (Some are $50 per year, and I just now got a 20% off offer, dropping that one to $40, at least for this year).  But still, it's a lot of money when you're accustomed to free news on TV or radio, and much cheaper newspapers.  Of course, it's a vastly higher quality of information/news/opinion, but probably very few people will pay a few or several hundred dollars per year to be able to comment on as many Substack accounts as they like.  My account is free, and some others are, too.

I know more about Qasim Rashid than I do about the rest, because he lets that happen.  Qasim was born in Pakistan, but had his upbringing in this country.  He lives in the midwest, and has no accent other than generic American.  He actually has at least a couple of Substack accounts, one of which he calls "Let's Address This."  He's married, has young'uns, also cares for his parents, has a day job, and I have no idea how he finds the time for his Substack activity, which often enough includes brief replies to readers' comments.  He said in today's post that "Let's Address This" has 80K subscribers, from all 50 states and 139 countries.  I don't know what he charges for his work as a human rights lawyer, but I gather he's making what might be a very generous living writing Substack posts.  (If each of those 80K subscribers, just to "Let's Address This," pays $50 a year, then he's making $4M a year writing them, minus what Substack.com takes.)  They are certainly at or very near the highest quality posts on Substack.  I don't know how to monetize that he's a super nice guy, but he is.  He's Muslim, in the very best way, and years ago, my parents had travelled to some country where they bought two small silk framed Muslim prayer rugs.  None of my parents' other offspring wanted them when my parents died, so I took them, even though I had no wall space for them.  I reached out to Qasim about them, he asked me to send photographs, he declared them "absolutely beautiful," and he agreed to accept them as a gift.  It turns out his brother-in-law (his wife's brother) lives in south Florida, so he came to my house to pick them up.  He'll deliver them next time those families are together.

In any event, today's post from Qasim contains three requests.  He requested that readers (the public) support small and local businesses, subscribe to "Let's Address This" (he's a lawyer; what can I say?  Today, I saw a 27 year old patient who's a paralegal and wants to go to law school, and couldn't stop talking about money, of which he seemed to think there could never be too much.  I just couldn't get him to take his foot off that gas.), and uplift marginalized communities.

I want to be straightforward, and acknowledge that Substack is left wing.  But since the majority of Americans are also left wing, and since I consider the left wing to be correct and socially decent, I don't consider this a problem.  Right wingers only win because they lie and cheat.  If right wingers tell the public there isn't room for immigrants, and immigrants are criminals, eat other people's pets, and bring in fentanyl, none of which is true, you can get people to vote right.  Or, if you can suppress enough voting among people who are more likely to vote left, or gerrymander the hell out of states, so you can minimize the left wing voters, you can win.  Or if you tell the public that tax money that is intended to support the country will somehow "trickle down" if given to people who already have vastly more than they can spend, is somehow a good idea.  If you're honest and fair, you'll never win with a platform that doesn't appeal to most Americans.

So do check out Substack.com, and see what you think.  If you don't feel a need to comment (but you still read everyone else's comments), almost all of it is free.  I will tell you that Substack is getting so prevalent that I have heard NPR moderators mention it more than once.  (No, I doubt very, very much that anyone on Fox News mentioned it.)

The Olivas

I'm very glad I got solar panels on my house.  My bill dropped to the then minimum monthly bill of $10.05 per month, every month, all year, until the Florida legislature allowed the Public "Service" Commission (PSC) to allow FPL to triple the minimum monthly bill to $30.17 per month.  That's what I pay every month, all year.  From time to time, I get calls from some company that wants to help me lower my electric bill (by getting solar panels, which I already have), and they start out asking if I pay at least $150 per month to FPL.  Boy, are bills like that in the rearview mirror.

I don't remember why I was talking to Mike and Melanie Oliva about my thought to get solar panels, but they already have them.  They live on the corner of 6th Avenue and 119th St, and Mike suggested the contractor who had installed their panels.  Apparently, that contractor did a good job.  So I reached out to Goldin Solar, and that's how I got my panels.  It was in 2019.  They did a great job, and have been very responsive when I have had questions, or once when I had a problem.  Which they fixed under warranty.  I highly recommend them.  And the minimum monthly bill is still low enough that I'm going to pay myself back for the panels sooner than I thought I would.  Also, the presence of those panels increases the value of my house much more than the cost of the panels.  Goldin Solar sells battery walls, too, to store the excess electricity I create every day, but those batteries are Tesla.  I won't do business with them again, and they're a certain kind of battery that you can't use every day.  Doing that deteriorates them.  I'm still going to get the minimum monthly bill from FPL/the PSC/the Florida legislature (which is paid off by FPL to allow a minimum monthly bill, which then triples) anyway, but it would be nice if I didn't get a minimum bill, and if I could store the excess electricity my solar panels make every day, so I could use it every night.  After I got solar panels, my daughter and son-in-law, who live in Massachusetts, got them, too.  Massachusetts doesn't allow a minimum monthly bill, and my daughter and son-in-law often get a monthly bill of $0, and sometimes a small check by Eversource, the electric company up there.

So I very much appreciate the referral Mike Oliva gave me.  I'm friendly with the Olivas, and I had dinner there one night.  In addition to anything else, Mike is an excellent cook.  Mike and Melanie restrict to a vegan diet, as I do, so there was an added pleasure of joining them for dinner.

Melanie paints.  She does gorgeous oil paintings.  My daughter liked the one I had bought from Melanie -- it was a mostly red painting, and it featured a bee -- so I gave that one to my daughter, and I bought a different one from Melanie.  I don't know where Melanie sells her art, other than occasionally to people like me, but she has a wonderful talent, and I wouldn't be surprised if she made a living as a painter/artist.

The Olivas are relatively quiet and unassuming neighbors.  It's possible you don't know them.  But they're wonderful neighbors to have, and they're a sort of classic asset to the Village.

Ah, It's Give Miami Day

You have loads of choices.  I encourage you to support as many as appeal to you.

Just now, I got a text message I was asked to communicate.  Here it is:

"I want to share something close to my heart (True):  'Musimelange,' an immersive, multi-sensory concert series featuring world class musicians. (True) These events beautifully blend live classical (almost always) music or jazz (It was flamenco once) with gastronomy in a stage-less environment, creating a true sense of belonging. (True)

"They are also preparing concerts designed especially for 'kids' to spark their love for music. (News to me)

"This week, we're part of 'Give Miami Day' to bring our 2025 season to life.  Your support will help us continue creating these magical (True) evenings and inspiring the next generation.  (If you have kids, this might be a great way to get them redirected from lesser forms of music)

"Donate here: https://www.givemiamiday.org/team/Musimelange (If you just go to www.givemiamiday, you'll find all of the choices, including this one.  Although if you go to this link, and you donate, you'll be offered a route to other organizations.  So you'll get to the same place either way.)

"Even a $25 donation will help us reach our goal -- The Miami Foundation will give us an additional $25 for each donation, up to $1000!  We need 40 donations to unlock the full $1000.  Every contribution makes a difference!

"Thank you! (And then, there are some musical notes and a heart icon)"

I don't donate to musimelange on Give Miami Day, because I give them a larger donation separately.  Although I don't want them to miss out on the extra $1000, so I'll contact them, and ask if they'd rather get my donation today.  I most certainly hope they get more than 40 donations.  Ideally, it would be closer to 100 or more.  It's a very unique experience, and they don't have a lot of patrons.  I have written about them several or more times, and they shouldn't be missed.  It's all the top shelf wine you can drink, all the gourmet food you can eat, a spectacular concert (I have never been to one that was not spectacular), all the dessert you want, experienced in an intimate setting, and in the company of delightful and interesting people.  They should charge more, but they don't.  It's been $95 per evening, or $300 for the four-evening series.  They start in January, and the last evening is in about April.

I encourage you to donate to musimelange, and any of the other organizations that appeal to you, and really, please, do yourselves a huge favor, and attend musimelange's evenings.  They are the most unique cultural experiences you'll ever have.

You Busy? No, Not Today. I'm Talking About Saturday, November 23. You Know, Somewhere Around, Let's Say, 8:00 PM.

 Orchestra Miami presents Puccini's Legacy - Saturday, Nov. 23rd at Scottish Rite (youtube.com)

This will be the second Puccini presentation Orchestra Miami has put on this month.  The first was at someone's house on NE 72nd St and 7th Avenue.  You can preview a short snippet of the upcoming show by using the link above.  It's possible that the arrow in the middle of the picture below will take you to the same place on youtube.

The fact is that it doesn't much matter what Orchestra Miami does.  Every bit of it is first class.  The Artistic Director, and conductress/Maestra is Elaine Rinaldi, who founded Orchestra Miami about 18 years ago.  She chooses the programs.  And the musicians and singers.  And conducts.  And sometimes, if she doesn't have to conduct, plays piano.  And for what it's worth is a delightful person.

This is an example of the e-mails Elaine sends out for these kinds of shows:

Hello, friends! I hope you all had a beautiful Veteran's Day and took a moment to remember and honor those ho have served, and continue to serve in the armed forces. It was so wonderful to see many of you at our Unknown Puccini concert last night, which featured the Studio Artists of the Florida Grand Opera. We had a great time learning more about Maestro Puccini and playing a round of "Name That Tune- Puccini Version"! See below for some pictures. We're less than 2 weeks away from our main event- Puccini's Legacy! Now is the perfect time to avoid the rush at the door and get your tickets. I'm so excited to introduce to you our spectacular guest artists for the Puccini's Legacy concert. Scroll down to meet our guests! I can't wait to see you all on the 23rd. Until then, stay well!! Warmly, Elaine Rinaldi Founder & Artistic Director Orchestra Miami

Elaine usually undercharges for these shows, but I must be making contact, because tickets for this one are more of a fair price.  Still on the low side for this kind of event, but more fair.

It's most likely you're not familiar with the Scottish Rite venue, but when I started going to Orchestra Miami shows, most of them were there.  It's an interesting historic building, very close to downtown Miami, and parking is free in the grassy lot, or you can pay on the street.

Frankly, I hope you show up.  You'll love it.  For all I know, you might come to love Orchestra Miami, too.  Elaine and the crew perform at various places from as far down as Pinecrest Gardens to as far up as the Miami Beach Bandshell.

Reporting Back

Zak (the baker) Stern hosted a very delightful and very well attended event Friday late afternoon, October 18.  Zak has become very well known in Dade County, because of his sourdough-based baked goods, and he's a BP resident!  He lives on 118th St, two houses from where Sylvia Linke used to live, and he bought Sylvia's house as well, as a place for his offspring to live.

Zak served a variety of edibles, and he also provided wine.  When the general mingling ended, Zak recapitulated the story of his life, which started in Kendall, and his adventures in places like Israel and France, and finally, how he decided to make a career in the food business.  Zak settled into a storefront/bakery in Wynwood, which is still his base, and he bakes for that outlet, a number of local restaurants, and several nearby Whole Foods stores.  My sense is that Zak, who is a very nice guy, is modest, and my best guess is that he's very successful.

When Zak finished his presentation, about himself and his evolution as a frankly master baker, he offered to take questions (a Q&A component).  One person asked him what local restaurants he himself likes.  His top choice was Walrus Rodeo on NE 2nd Ave at about 52nd St.  Since I had no other compelling food plans on Saturday, I decided to try them out.

Walrus Rodeo is a medium-sized restaurant, and it seemed almost full when my companion and I arrived.  The maitresse d' said there were no available tables, and we would have to wait about 1 1/4 hours for one.  I said we'd leave, and maybe come back another time -- I had not the slightest willingness to wait that long -- and the maitresse d' suddenly found us an open table.  (Hmm)

Our waiter was a little sketchy about the sizes of items on order, and he suggested we order about four items, even though he said inconsistently that items were somewhat small, but large enough to share.  Since neither of us was terribly hungry, we ordered a "za" (pizza, like Kanye West calls himself "Ye") and a kale salad.  Between those two dishes and the absence of ravenous appetites, what we ordered was in fact enough.

I would not return to Walrus Rodeo.  I'll set aside what felt like the manipulativeness of the seating.  The food was too expensive.  A relatively small six-slice pizza was $22, and it was not nearly as good as a much larger (about twice the size) $26 veggie with no cheese pizza from Tomato and Basil, which is much closer.  The salad ($17, which was much too much money) was fine, but neither the pizza choices nor the salad choices, nor anything else on the menu, allowed me to keep my preferred vegan restriction.  The restaurant was oddly much too noisy.  The ceiling appeared to have been covered with some contoured metal tiles, and the ceiling was high, so maybe it was that.  There was a tiny, but bizarre, 2% add-on to the bill ($.75) , and it was called a "Health Care Service Charge."  I asked about it, and the waiter said he assumed it was the restaurant's attempt to recover the amount they spent for health care for employees.  Also, I'm not particular about water, so I asked for tap water.  There was an extra $1 charge for Vero water.  I'm happy for Zak if he likes eating there, but it was so trendy as to be annoying, way too expensive, way too noisy, and not as good as I can get elsewhere.

As I was leaving Friday evening's event, Ryan Huntington approached me to ask if he could talk to me about his campaign.  We agreed on Sunday morning at 11:00.  What was initially curious about Ryan's having approached me is that he has never approached me before (but clearly knows who I am), has never called me by name, has not (now twice) asked me to host one of his yard signs, even though it's inconceivable that Mac Kennedy has not mentioned this possible opportunity to Ryan (twice), and has not, for example, said that he heard about this blog, and my always ready willingness to have candidates be guest authors, so they can use the blog as part of their campaigns.  But I cheerfully agreed to meet Ryan (why he wanted to meet at the recreation center was curious and unexplained).

Ryan knocked on my door at about 10:00 Sunday morning.  This time, he addressed me by name ("Fred"), and told me he needed to cancel our meeting, because his wife wasn't feeling well.  He said he'd get back to me to reschedule.  It is now 6:30 Monday afternoon, and I never heard back from Ryan.  We had exchanged phone numbers, so all he had to do was call.  In fact, we could have had our conversation by phone, if his wife wasn't feeling well.  That does not appear to be what Ryan had in mind.  As it happens, I have one of Mac Kennedy's campaign signs, and a Harris/Walz sign, clearly visible in my swale.  Ryan didn't even ask if he could add his sign.  Neither did Dan Samaria, who had come by to drop off his campaign literature.

So that's my report.  I won't go back to Walrus Rodeo, and I'm not voting for any BP Commissioners.  Mac Kennedy will get the most votes, as he should, and I don't care who comes in second or third.  The only difference it might make is that Dan Samaria might use his time to argue with Mac, and Ryan might not do the same.  But it remains to be seen.  There might be three functional Commissioners, or there might be two.  I've spoken to Dan, but not to Ryan, and I can't be bothered to guess what either of them will do.  As it happens, Mac sent out an e-mail today, and he talked about what he considers to be the Commission's recent accomplishments, which he seems to say he powered.  If that's true, then he can create a functional majority after the next two years whether Dan gets a four year term or Ryan does.

A Problem With Democrats

Democrats don't have enough faith, or enough devotion.  They're Democrats -- they'll tell you that -- but they often lack tenacious commitment, especially to other Democrats.

In recent years, take, for example, the matter of Al Franken, who was a Senator from Minnesota for a time.  But a photograph surfaced showing Franken, who had been a comedian before he went into politics, pretending to reach for the breasts of a woman sleeping on a military airplane.  Franken had been a surprisingly (considering that his former career was as a comedian) wonderful Senator.  He was uniquely smart, and perhaps thanks to his former career in entertainment, he was very good at expressing himself, sometimes particularly in light-hearted ways that almost masked the seriousness of the matter at hand.

But when that photograph surfaced, Democrats urged him to resign, which he did.  He hadn't touched the sleeping woman, or done anything to her, but he was comedically non-serious in a way that his colleagues felt was unbecoming his office.  They didn't argue in favor of his value to the Senate, or to point out that he hadn't done anything to the woman in the photograph.  And they certainly didn't pretend he didn't do what the photograph showed him pretending to do.  They jettisoned, or abandoned, him.  Because he betrayed their idea of proper enough decorum.

Or take the matter of Bob Menendez, a Senator from NJ.  He was found with unexplained money and specie, which he shouldn't have had, and which it appeared he had gotten from Egyptian oligarchs.  His colleagues have leaned, and continue to lean, heavily on him to resign.  The "optics" are very bad, and there's every indication he accepted bribes.  His Democratic colleagues would have nothing to do with apparent behavior like that, and he, too, has been fighting off being pushed out by his own party.

Or think of Tulsi Gabbard, or Kyrsten Sinema, or Joe Manchin.  They were all reliable Democratic votes, but they were felt not to have upheld the Democratic agenda.  Gabbard and Sinema are out -- Sinema having changed parties (again) -- and Manchin is not running for re-election.

Much more recently, consider Joe Biden.  One bad debate, and Democrats quickly got all over him to abandon his re-election bid.

You don't generally find problems like that with Republicans.  They are mostly unwaveringly committed to their party, and if any one flinches, he or she gets extruded.  Republicans don't seem to care what their agenda or platform is, or who represents it, or how.  They are stalwart in standing alongside even the most absurd, ridiculous, or self-contradictory members of their party.  They will support even convicted felons in their party.  If anyone declares him- or herself Republican, a large number of other Republicans will have his or her back, no matter what.

It must be a great comfort for Republicans to know they can do whatever they want, and they'll get support.  Democrats don't have that advantage.  They have to behave themselves, honor the Constitution, and put country before party.  Their colleagues are rigorous in demanding all that, and they brook no lapses.

Yes They Do.

The comment made by Tim Walz was that JD Vance's theory about abortion is "two wrongs don't make a right."  Vance had reportedly never before met Walz, but apparently felt free to call him "Tim" -- Walz is a Governor, of which there are 50, and Vance is a Senator, of which there are 100, so if you think the office of Governor is a higher office, I agree with you, making it either simply disrespectful or cocky to call a Governor you don't know by his first name when you're meeting him in person, and you haven't been offered permission.   Regarding the "two wrongs don't make a right" crack, I was a child once, too, but not lately.  But Vance not only didn't confirm that this is his philosophy, but more importantly, he didn't explain it.  And it's worth considering whether Vance, even if his philosophizing is at the immature level of a child, is right.

Walz offered some examples of recent situations in which abortion was withheld.  One of them was of a pregnant adult woman who experienced pregnancy-related problems that could have been life-threatening, but instead turned out to damage her reproductive capacity so that it appears she is unlikely to be able to have children.  Since Vance has made repeatedly publicly clear that in his opinion, there should be more children in this country, and they should be born of American citizen parents, and not welcomed as immigrants, Vance himself would presumably count as a "wrong" that a woman of child-bearing age, who wants children, either dies or can no longer have them, because she didn't get an abortion.  (In very recent examples Walz did not raise, two women actually did die of pregnancy complications because the pregnancies were not terminated when the pregnant women were in medical danger.)

What happens to this arithmetic if we consider, for purpose of imagining, that abortion is "wrong?"  It then becomes the second "wrong."  But it restores women of child-bearing age to an ability to live, and care for their other children, and to have more children, which Vance favors.  So if becoming medically damaged or infertile, or dying, is "wrong," then the second "wrong" -- abortion, makes the situation "right."  It salvages "right" from "wrong."

Another situation Walz mentioned was about a 12 year old girl who was not only raped, but impregnated, by her step-father.  It is most likely that everyone would agree that no one, and certainly not 12 year olds, should be raped.  That, I assume, is what Vance might agree was "wrong."  It's possible that the 12 year old would not have gotten pregnant, but she did.  Vance likes the idea of American children, but we'd have to ask him if he likes the idea -- considers it "right" -- that 12 year old American girls become impregnated, especially if they didn't want the sexual encounter.  I'm very tempted to think that even Vance would find something at least partially "wrong" with a situation like that.

But again, suppose we imagine abortion to be "wrong."  If that raped-by-her-stepfather 12 year old now pregnant girl gets an abortion, so she's no longer 12 years old and pregnant, and can live a vastly more normal life, and perhaps her rapist step-father gets convicted and incarcerated, don't those two "wrongs" combine to make a "right?"  Doesn't the first "wrong" get corrected or eliminated by the second "wrong?"

It was Walz who said Vance thinks "two wrongs don't make a right" (is Vance really an adult?), but Vance didn't disagree.  It was a debate stage.  Both of them were there together, listening to each other.  Vance had every opportunity to correct Walz if he thought Walz misquoted or misunderstood him.  I think we have no choice but to assume Vance said and meant what Walz quoted him as having said.

If that's the case, and again, we don't have a basis to find a way out for Vance, then Vance appears to have been wrong: two "wrongs" really do make a right."  They make things right.  Unfortunately, listening to these examples did not lead Vance to interject that those were unusual cases in which abortion would, in fact, have been the "right" thing.  He's a very stubborn boy.  And perhaps to make matters worse, Vance and his ilk have so terrorized the medical community that they are now afraid to make these clinical decisions, for fear of being punished.  So even if Vance now said these were terrible and exceptional situations, and abortion should have happened, his opinion today isn't going to help dead pregnant women (with dead fetuses), women who can consequently no longer have children, and 12 year old mothers.